Know, Jack, that we stand ready to help you and Jill. We will stand with Jill to keep her safe, connected to the church family, and full of hope for her future with you. We will stand with you to live as the man of God He calls you to be, to repair your marriage, and to be free of the things that have led to this painful time. We serve a God for whom nothing is too hard. Let us walk by faith, obeying His word, and expecting His grace. Please do be in touch right away.

From “A Pure Church”

This is a very compassionate, wise, and yet firm, approach. I recommend reading it all.

A God-Centered Sexual Ethic
1Corinthians 6:9-20

Intro: Remember that Corinth was afflicted with the love of philosophy and rhetoric. They wanted that which sounded good and seemed wise. It didn’t matter whether or not it was right, they just liked fine sounding and wise sounding things. (Cf. Acts 17:21 They spent their time either hearing or telling new things. Beware the itch for new things when the old will suffice.) Their pride led to division. Now, remember that James told us that envy and strife are accompanied by every evil work (James 3:16). It is no wonder, then, that Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians for the approval of a church member committing incest (1Corinthians 5:1-13). A proud and envious person who is striving with others is never satisfied, and that person is very likely to seek out his satisfaction in any place and manner that he can find it, except in God.

It is in this context that Paul establishes a God-Centered sexual ethic.

1. The Relationship Between Worship And Sex :9-11

They were once sexually immoral, but God has forgiven them and cleansed them of these things. The gospel of Christ is a message of sacrifice of self as well as good news that God gives us that which is better. Having cleansed them of their sins, God has given them Himself.

That being said, immorality is idolatry. Note the downward spiral of sin in Romans 1:18-17. The worship of the Creator is traded for the worship of the creature and carnal passions. It is not that the carnal passions are wrong, but outside of the context of worship of God, they are filthy and immoral, and they lead to that which is unnatural in the pursuit of pleasure and satisfaction. One only need observe the glorification of sex and the objectification of people in our nation to recognize that immoral sex is an act of misdirected worship.

True worship leads to monogamous, heterosexual pleasure. Note that the mandate given to Adam and Eve was not only to take dominion, but first to be fruitful and multiply. This mandate is about imaging forth God. It is about worshiping our Creator and showing His greatness through the way that we live. Being fruitful means having sex and raising children. Note also that there is pleasure associated with it, because Moses said that the man and woman were to cleave to each other, and that they were naked and not ashamed (Genesis 2:24-25). Man and woman were to enjoy their union, and they were unashamed in their union.

Later, Solomon wrote and exhorted his son to rejoice with his wife (Proverbs 5:18-19). Note that he was not instructed to rejoice in his wife, but with his wife. That is, he was told that he and his wife were to together find joy. That joy will first be in God, and then in each other. In other words, the joy that Solomon’s son was to have with his wife was the joy of worshiping Christ through expressing their love for God by loving each other.

This should be not be surprising to us, because husbands are told to have a God-Centered love for their wives- a gospel-motivated love. We are to love our wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25-33). This love is certainly a sacrificial love, but it is also a love that seeks to nurture, protect, and give joy to one’s wife. This includes giving emotional support and sexual pleasure.

Included in the issue of sex and worship is the issue of sexual flirtation and lust. They are both wrong. Jesus told us as much in Matthew 5:27-30 as He warned us against lust and the fact that it will lead to sin which could damn our souls.

2. Make Love As Worshipers Who Understand That God Has A Plan For The Body :12-14

Paul is probably repeating a statement that they made as an excuse for their sexual improprieties: “We are not under the law, so all things are lawful for me”. Paul says that, all things may be lawful, but not everything is helpful, and we are not to be brought under the power and dominion of anything. Only helpful things are truly lawful, and nothing should be lord of our lives other than Jesus Christ.

In saying this, Paul is still relating sexual morality to the gospel. We are not the servants of sin, but the servants of righteousness (Romans 6:17,22), and have been changed from being people dominated by sin (1Corinthians 6:9-11). With this in mind, we should not let sex rule our minds, hearts, and actions. Only Jesus should have that sort of power over our lives.

In verses 13-14, Paul anticipates their arguing that, since we have appetites for food and a stomach for food, that we should also be able to use our sexual appetites and organs to satisfy ourselves. Paul states that God is indeed in favor of our enjoying sex- the body is “for the Lord, and the Lord for the body”. God is not against fleshly pleasures, but He expects us to enjoy fleshly pleasures within the context in which He has created them to be experienced and enjoyed. Note how Paul is no prude at all, but he states that God is in favor of our pleasure. He doesn’t speak only about the negative aspect, but tells us where true pleasure is to be found- under the Lordship of Christ and as worshipers of Him.

To show just how much God is for our bodies, Paul states that the resurrection is proof that God is in favor of the body. Just as He raised up Jesus, He will raise us up from the dead (Cf. Romans 8:11). God is in favor of the body and fleshly pleasure! The body is the Lord’s, and is to be used in worship of Him.

3. Make Love As Worshipers Who Understand That Their Bodies Belong To Jesus :15-20

Our bodies are joined to Christ. Not only are we in Christ (See 2Corinthians 5:17), but we are part of the body of Christ (1Corinthians 12:13). This means that there is a union between us and Christ. We are not physically joined to Christ, but we are spiritually joined to Christ. Our bodies are made and redeemed so that we would give spiritual worship to Christ. That is why physical sin is not merely physical, but a matter of worship, as we have already seen.

When one is sexually joined to another, there is a one flesh union. This is not the same as marriage, which includes a lifetime commitment, but it is still a matter of two bodies joined as one. Being joined to Christ in a spiritual union, those who take the bodies which belong to Christ and commit sexual sin are actually dishonoring Christ. He is dishonored, not only because of our misusing His members; but, our members, being His members, means that we involve Him in our sin, in a sense. Those bodies which represent Christ here on earth surely are misrepresenting Him when involved with a harlot. Not only so, but the fact of most prostitution occurring at idolatrous temples meant that Paul was working hard to help the Corinthians to see that they were to fully leave idolatry.

Not only is sexual sin a sin against Christ, but it is sin against one’s own body, Paul says. John MacArthur says, “No sin has greater potential to destroy the body.” While other sins are apart from the body in that their effects are most often toward others more than toward ourselves, fornication is a sin against (Greek eis= into) that radically affects our bodies. The intimacy brought about by being joined to another is more than physical. It is an emotional intimacy. The damage that can be done to our bodies is indeed physical, and that of such a degree that it can kill us (See Proverbs 5:11,21-23;6:26-35;7:22-27) and condemn us, and that is an extremely emotional thing. In other words, all other sins do not have such a radical effect both immediately and in the hereafter as fornication, and especially that which is connected with idolatrous worship.

But, to take the issue of fornication being a sin into/against one’s body further, we must understand that our bodies are temples. We are desecrating the temple of the Holy Spirit. We remember that God does not take kindly to folks disrespecting His temple (See Leviticus 10:1-3;2Chronicles 26:16-23). No longer do we go to the temple to worship, but we are the temple. We sin into/against our own bodies because we desecrate the very holy of holies. Paul intends to shock (And I’m sure that he does so.) the Corinthians by making fornication analogous to having sex in the holiest place in the temple. In other words, fornication is sacrilege against our own bodies, the temples of God.

Not only so, but we are temples of the Holy Spirit because we have been purchased by the blood of Christ. The gospel truth is that Christ died to make us holy unto Himself (cf 1Corinthians 6:9-11;Ephesians 1:3-7;Titus 2:11-14). A God-Centered sexual ethic remembers that Jesus died to purchase us so that we could/would worship Him and find joy in Him more than in any other passion.

How do we glorify God in our body and in our spirit? We do so by seeking our joy first in Him, then by sharing our joy in Christ by showing Christian love in our sexual activities. We show love in that respect in two manners: 1. by refraining from sexual sin which is theft (1Thessalonians 4:1-8). We steal by taking that which is not our own- it is not our own because we are not married to the person, and it is not our own, because it is not ours to give to one who is not our spouse. 2. by passionately pursuing Christ and showing our joy in Christ to our spouse by being faithful to them as Christ is faithful to us. Not only so, but that love seeks to encourage the joy of our spouse just as Christ came that our joy might be full (John 15:11).

This is by no means an exhaustive study and exposition of the passage that is before us. Neither is it an exhaustive study of biblical sexual morality. I trust, however, that God will use this study to help us to understand where true joy is found (in Christ alone), and to lead us into the experience and sharing of that joy as we commit ourselves to enjoying God in the marriage bed. “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled…” (Hebrews 13:4)

There’s been a firestorm lately regarding the words of Pastor Charles Worley of Maiden, NC. Pastor Worley quite intemperately stated that the solution to the issue of homosexuality and homosexual marriage (He spoke from the pulpit in response to President Obama’s endorsement of the legalization of homosexual marriage.) would be to incarcerate all homosexuals behind an electric fence and drop food to them until they died out.

I’ll not link to any posts that take sides on the issue excepting one: Denny Burk makes the following statement in a post entitled Justified Censure Of A Reckless Pastor.

This pastor’s words are abominable and deserve condemnation and censure from all Christians. This is the kind of thing that props up caricatures of Christians and which harms the progress of the gospel. Anyone who would talk like this in a sermon is not qualified to be a pastor.

 

Granted, Pastor Worley spoke intemperately. I shall also grant, however, that Pastor Worley is not necessarily disqualified from the pastorate based upon this one set of actions. It is possible that he finds that he erred by not presenting the sin of homosexuality in light of the love of God. It is possible that he repents. I tend to think that any of us could speak intemperately from time to time. The question that determines his qualifications is more one of whether this is a pattern of behavior with him, and whether he repents of speaking intemperately and hastily.

The qualifications of Pastor Worley are not the intent of this post. What is the aim of this post is a connection between Worley, Burks, and a post from Russell D. Moore regarding the Catacombs and Christians.

Burk stated,

The video is picking up a good head of steam on the internet, and a lot of people are starting to pay attention to it and to make judgments about Christianity. Countless news organizations are pushing the video with the implication that this is how Christians in general feel about homosexuals. Nothing could be further from the truth… This is the kind of thing that props up caricatures of Christians and which harms the progress of the gospel.

Moore comments about the Christians from the days of Constantine and following:

the catacombs and the cathedrals both remind us of two things: God’s sovereignty in sending down the faith, and the frailty of humanity as stewards of that faith. We can’t romanticize the early persecuted church…

If we only see the catacombs, we could valorize smallness and persecution as, in and of themselves, equivalent to holiness. And we could ignore our responsibility to, as much as possible with us, protect future generations from persecution. If we only see the cathedrals (whether of the ancient sort or of the local suburban megachurch), we could tend to identify godliness with bigness, and authority with “influence.”

Notice that Burk is concerned (and rightly so) that Worley’s words may/will hinder the spread of the Gospel and be used to prop up misrepresentations of Christians.

Moore is concerned (though not addressing Worley at all) that we remember the Christians of the Catacombs and remember our responsibility to protect future generations of Christians from persecution.

As far as I know neither Burk, Moore, nor I believe the homosexuality is acceptable in the eyes of God. I do not think that we shall bend on that issue. This is not about hiding our candles under baskets in order to escape ridicule and persecution. Not at all. Neither is this post about compromising on morality and Christian truth.

This post is a call for Christians needing to be wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. We need to use wisdom in our speech and give no reason to the haters of Christianity to blaspheme and call for the eradication of religion. The careless words of Pastor Worley do much worse than insinuate that he harbors a strong antipathy to homosexuals, they endanger future generations of Christians by helping perpetuate the idea that Christians are haters who are violent and  a danger to society.

Pastor Worley is not living up to his responsibility to live wisely so as to “protect future generations from persecution”. Perhaps, instead of being called upon to step down from the pastorate, he should be rebuked for reckless endangerment of future generations.

The Puritans took the matrimonial duty of sex so seriously that failure to extend “due benevolence” by either partner could be grounds for church discipline. There is at least one case on record in which a husband was excommunicated for “neglecting his wife” by not having intercourse with her for a long period of time.

via Sex In Marriage by Nathan W. Bingham | Ligonier Ministries Blog.

And who said that Puritans were killjoys

I am so thankful that this dear lady has found God faithful, even in the midst of the loss of her precious toddler.

What an inspiration it has been to follow her journey on her blog.  Today she has said,

As I knelt on the floor, the weight of a dresser on my back, trying to keep my son’s head and neck straight as I rolled him to his side so he wouldn’t aspirate on his own vomit . . .

{Was God amazing?}

As I stood shaking in the ER, wanting to be with him (needing to be with him), terrified of being in the way as I heard them trying over and over and over to get him intubated . . .

{Was God faithful?}

And, only minutes after a nurse had told us he would be in room 201, went over the use of the respite rooms, admonished us to be strong for him, as the surgeon came in and told us he couldn’t save our son . . .

{Was God good?}

It isn’t really something we post to Facebook quite like that, but even in tragedy, God is amazing.

via Roscommon Acres » Blog Archive » Is God good?.

Please click through to read the whole post and then the posts to which she links: they tell the complete story.

God is good to give us people such as this to be examples for us.

Perhaps Paul was only condemning disordered, unloving gossip and slander; he just hadn’t imagined the Christian sort. In the first century, the only disobedience to parents on offer was the unChristian kind, but perhaps now we are able to think the possibility of righteous, loving disregard of parents. Good greed and good envy – Paul was too much a man of his culture, and couldn’t yet imagine the insight of a Gordon Gecko, who envisions an entire world-order founded on greed.

And why not idolatry? Paul condemned idolatry just because he didn’t know of the tolerant, nice sort of idolatry that we moderns practice.

What in the world was he talking about?  Well, click the link below to find out.

via Peter J. Leithart » Blog Archive » Loving Idolatry?.

Erik posts on marriage.

You are targets. Your marriages, my marriage – Satan himself is out to get you and don’t you think for a minute he can’t do it if you let him.

via The Growth of a Marriage | Unorthodox Faith.

Some leaders, including D. A. Carson, have already declared their preference for more clearly differentiating between civil and religious marriage, citing practices in other nations, particularly France. I surveyed four experienced pastors for a new feature, TGC Asks: Should pastors separate the Christian wedding ceremony from the civil rite?

Click the link below to see the complete discussion.  Very interesting, to say the least.

via TGC Asks: Should pastors separate the Christian wedding ceremony from the civil rite? – The Gospel Coalition Blog.

Love and War: Finding the Marriage You’ve Dreamed Of by John Eldredge

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
John and Stasi Eldredge have written a very good book here.
With amazing transparency, wisdom, and painful reflection on their own lives they give us much needed direction.
Marriage is not only about love. There is the need for a commitment to loving and cleaving to each other. For a couple to truly make it and have a happy marriage, they will have to fight. We must war for good marriage.
Sadly, too many approach marriage with a romantic sort of story book mentality and then give up when the going gets rough, or they settle into a marriage of commitment without joy. The Eldredges call for us to settle for nothing but a great marriage, and they call for us to fight for it.
They tell us their own story and also tell us how they battled (and still battle) for a good marriage.
Money, looks, temptation, sex, the past, and more are addressed in a very easy to read manner.
Touching, convicting, humorous, and Biblical, LOVE AND WAR is a book to read if one is desirous of a good marriage.

View all my reviews >>

Today’s moralists call for a change in this nation (USA), and they have good, moral concerns.

They also call for passive disobedience, if I understand the Manhattan Declaration correctly.  That is a good thing.

Too often, however, we all speak of these things in a very wrong tone.

Our spirit toward our rulers is often very wrong.

We criticize, condemn, harp about their bad points, and seldom pray for them.

We uphold the righteousness of our cause.  After all, we have the Bible and many thousands of years of history to prove that we have a good morality.

We too often neglect to look within our own hearts and our own congregations to see that we are not what we think we are.

We are all sinners.

We have sinned and failed God.

Is it any wonder, then, that the USA is in the condition it is in?  God’s people are not as they should be, and have not been as they should be for many decades.

John Calvin spoke of a similar situation saying,

“..if we are cruelly tormented by a savage, if we are rapaciously pillaged by an avaricious or luxurious, if we are neglected by a sluggish, if, in short, we are persecuted for righteousness’ sake by an impious and sacrilegious prince, let us first call up the remembrance of our faults, which doubtless the Lord is chastising by such scourges. In this way humility will curb our impatience. And let us reflect that it belongs not to us to cure these evils, that all that remains for us is to implore the help of the Lord, in whose hands are the hearts of kings, and inclinations of kingdoms.658 “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.” Before his face shall fall and be crushed all kings and judges of the earth, who have not kissed his anointed, who have enacted unjust laws to oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble, to make widows a prey, and plunder the fatherless.”
Calvin, J. (1997). Institutes of the Christian religion. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. (Emphasis by the pastor.)