Sex Series Message 1
By Pastor Brian
Fort Bend Community Church
2016.02.14
English Service
Mandarin Service
Introduction
1. Every spring, we have a sex-and-gender month for our youth. It lasts for four Sundays. And we cover a wide range of issues including pre-marital sex, pornography, masturbation, homosexuality, and gender issues.
According to CPYU's statistics, 97% of boys and 83% of girls have been exposed to internet pornography to varying degrees.
In 2013, 47% of high school students reported having sexual intercourse (based on Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) data). Christians or not apparently is not much different.
A lot of us parents are concerned. And we think the sex-and-gender month is good and necessary for our youth.
But this year, we want the adult congregations also talked about this important subject. This is an issue not just for the youth but also an issue for all of us.
Today I would like to talk to you about sex from God's perspective. What is sex in God's eyes? What is the theology of sex in the Bible?
I assume that most of us are not fooling around or planning to have an affair soon. But it does not mean we have a right perspective on sex.
2. Our view on sex is heavily shaped by our culture and the media. There are three different cultural attitudes toward sex through the centuries.
1) Sex as natural appetite
Many of the ancient Greeks and Romans viewed sex as similar to any other bodily activity, such as eating and sleeping. When you felt like doing it, you should just do it--just to be carefully not to overdo it.
This view claims that sex is neutral. It is just one human activity among many. There is only the issue of etiquette not the issue of morality. This is the view being taught in today's public school sex education. We should understand the natural biological drive of sex, realize that if we are not careful sexual activity can have negative consequences. Therefore master it like any other skill, and be responsible.
Sex with a prostitute is to satisfy this natural appetite. And there is a saying that prostitution is the world's older profession. You pay to get your appetite fulfilled. It is just like going to a restaurant to pay for food.
Today in China, sex has become a social status. If you have made it in the world, if you have money, if you have power, you can have sex all you want. Sex becomes the reward and status symbol. Something we secretly envy but don't want to say it loud.
This view says that sex is nothing but a natural appetite.
2) Sex as animal passion
This comes from one of the branches of Hellenistic philosophy. It views the spirit as the highest good and the body as "lesser." That is, the lower, physical, "animal" nature was seen as chaotic and dark. And the higher, more rational, "spiritual" nature was seen as civilized and noble.
This leads to viewing sex as a degrading, dirty thing, a necessary evil for the propagation of the human race. Unfortunately this view took root in many places in the Christian church. Truly spiritual people should refrain from sex. Sex is allowable only if you are trying to have children. Sexual pleasure is not appropriate for high-minded people like you and me.
The traditional Chinese culture is a lot more conservative. Talking about sex is controversial. Whenever sex is mentioned, Chinese people usually consider it as being in bad taste. So we don't talk about it.
3) Sex as self-expression
Sex is viewed as a critical way of self-expression, a way to "be yourself" or "find yourself."
Today it is very normal for two people to have sex if they are in a romantic relationship. If two people are in love, having sex is an expression of that love. It is only natural. The Christian ethic of abstinence outside of marriage is considered laughable, unrealistic, and even pathological and abnormal. Christians who profess the biblical sex ethic can expect to be met with sarcasm or hostility.
This is the mainstream view today. We think that adultery is wrong because it hurts a spouse but that there is nothing wrong with sex between two loving, consenting unmarried adults. It is just a self-expression. "It is none of your business." "Why are you bothering us?"
We see this playing out in movies and in popular songs. Almost all the R-rated movies have sex between two consenting unmarried adults. Among the top ten popular songs last week, 9 of them have direct or indirect references to sexual relationships.
| 1 | 1 | Love Yourself | Justin Bieber |
| 2 | 2 | Stressed Out | twenty one pilots |
| 3 | -- | PILLOWTALK | ZAYN |
| 4 | -- | Work | Rihanna Featuring Drake |
| 5 | 5 | My House | Flo Rida |
| 6 | 3 | Hello | Adele |
| 7 | 8 | Stitches | Shawn Mendes |
| 8 | -- | Summer Sixteen | Drake |
| 9 | 4 | Sorry | Justin Bieber |
| 10 | 6 | Roses | The Chainsmokers Featuring ROZES |
This view says that sex with a prostitute is wrong because it is done for money but not sex with someone you love.
The teaching of Sigmund Freud focused on the conflict between an internal "id," the innate sex drive, and an external "superego," the socially formed conscience developed by our culture and upbringing. By setting up the conscience as an external influence and the sexual instinct as an internal influence, he calls all sexual ethics "repressive" and "artificial."
This is what wrong with Freud, how does he know the conscience to be a totally external, social artifice, separate from an innate, internal basis? He doesn't know that and he has no evidence to prove that. That is not science. In actuality, evidence exists to prove that the sexual appetite is shaped significantly by the external forces of media, peer pressure, and cultural values.
Unfortunately Freud's view has changed our view of sex. Sex becomes a critical self-expression. To repress it is inhuman.
I have a young man coming to my office to see me. He has a particular sexual attraction. He thought that the only way for him to be happy in life is to express this sexual desire. This is who he is. This is his story. Sex is his critical self-expression. He has no choice if he wants to be himself. He does not care if the whole world is against this, he wants to be real, to be authentic, to be himself, to be true to his innate sex drive. But is this true? Our story is not written by our sexual desire. Our story is not written yet. Sex is not a self-thing. It is a sacred gift from God for building His Kingdom.
2008 was a breakout year for China. The summer Olympic in Beijing had formally ushered China onto the world stage as one of the world's super powers. Behind the rise of China, there is a massive cultural shift among the younger generation.
The shift includes a separation of sex and marriage; a separation of sex from love and child-bearing such as Internet sex and one-night stands; an increase in observable sexual diversity such as homo- and bisexual behavior. The post-90 generation has a totally different view of sex. Much more like our younger generation here in America. The post-modern thinking of sex as a self-expression.
The Christian View
What is then the Christian view of sex? The biblical view of sex is radically different from each of these three prominent views.
1. Contrary to the second view, sex as-animal-passion and thus evil, the Bible teaches that sex is very good. "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Gen 1:31) God would not create and command something to be done in marriage that was no good (1 Cor. 7:3-5).
The Song of Solomon is filled with barefaced rejoicing in sexual pleasure. In fact, the Bible is very comfortable talking about sex within marriage.
2. Contrary to the first view, sex-as-an-appetite", the Bible teaches that sexual desires are broken and usually idolatrous. If it is all by themselves, sexual appetites are not a safe guide, and we are instructed to flee our lusts (1 Cor. 6:18).
Our sexual appetite does not operate the same as our other appetites. CS Lewis asks us to imagine a planet where people pay money to watch someone eat a lamb chop, a planet where people pay billions of dollar to look at picture of food. We would think that the appetite of these people was crazy and seriously deranged. Yet that is just how modern people approach sex, isn't it?
3. Contrary to third view, sex-as-self-expression view, the Bible teaches that love and sex are not primary for individual happiness, but as a way to know Christ and build His kingdom.
Let me expand on this further and go into the theology of sex. Christian sexual ethics make little sense unless we first understand the lofty vision of sexuality in the Christian faith. Sex is sacred for three reasons.
I. Sex Procreates.
1. Sex is sacred because, with God, sex co-creates a new soul. Sex propagates the human race (Gen. 1:28). Its purpose is not merely for the building up of a family name. The purpose of sex is to create families of disciples, to establish new kingdom communities. Children are God's, not ours. Raising Godly second generation is disciple-making, the sure way to establish God's kingdom. Sex then is sacred because sex procreates and builds the kingdom of God.
Amazingly, we learn this truth mainly through the remarkable biblical teaching on singleness. Let me explain.
2. Christianity, unlike most traditional religions or cultures, holds out singleness as a viable way of life. Both Jesus and the apostle Paul were single. Jesus spoke about those who remain unmarried in order to better serve the kingdom of God (Matt 19:12).
Paul says singleness is often better for ministering as a sign of the coming kingdom (1 Cor. 7:29-35). The Kingdom is coming. Let us work single-mindedly without the distraction of spouses and children.
According to the Bible, singleness is legitimate, not because sex is questionable activity, but because the mission of the church requires those who were capable of complete service to the Kingdom. And we must remember that the sacrifice made by the single is not that of giving up sex, but the much more significant sacrifice of giving up heirs. There can be no more radical act than this, as it is the clearest institutional expression that one's future is not guaranteed by the family but by the kingdom of God.
Therefore we are to choose between marriage (sex) and singleness (no sex) not on the basis of whether we want to the personal happiness and status of a family but on the basis of which stat makes us most useful in the kingdom of God.
In our traditional cultures, singleness is undesirable because we make family our idol and the propagation of our name and social status is our greatest goal. When we see an older female or male, and the question that comes out of our mouth is "when are you going to get married?" "Do you have a mate yet?" as if it is all about us. Sex is about us. Marriage is about us. But Paul is very clear. One can choose singleness because of the Kingdom of Christ. One can live a sexless life because of Christ.
Therefore marriage is about Christ also. Sex is about Christ. It is about creating a godly next generation. Sex is sacred because of it. It is about Christ primarily. And it is about us secondary. Pre-marital sex or extramarital sex is wrong because it undermines the kingdom. Sex outside of a marriage covenant undermines the character quality of faithfulness. It destroys the kingdom.
The issue here is not just whether X or Y form of sexual activity is right or wrong. Rather the question is what kind of people we should be in supporting the mission of the church.
It is common to hear people say, "Sex is a private affair and no one's business but my own." It is not true. How we use sex has significant Christian ramifications. It is about Christ and His kingdom.
II. Sex Delights.
1. Sex is sacred because it is the analogy of the joyous self-giving and pleasure of love within the life of the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live in a relationship of glorious devoting to each other, pouring love and joy into one another continually (John 1:18; 17:5, 21, 24-25).
Sex between a man and a woman points to the love between the Father and the Son, as well as that between Christ and the believer (1 Cor. 11:3).
The Bible openly celebrates the delights of sex. The Song of Solomon speaks to that. Sex is supposed to be wonderful because it mirrors the joy of relationship in the Trinity and because it points to the eternal ecstasy of soul that we will have in heaven in our loving relationships with God and one another (Prov. 5:18-20; Deut. 24:5).
2. Sex is an important part of what CS Lewis calls the "great dance." According to Lewis, all of God's creation--from the stars and solar systems to the act of sexual intercourse--form an ongoing, dynamic dance, in which "plans without number interlock, and each movement becomes in its season the breaking into flower of the whole design to which all else had been directed." The enjoyment of sex is God's glory. We dance to the glory of God.
III. Sex Unifies.
1. Third, sex is sacred because it constitutes a covenant renewal ceremony. The original purpose of sex was the "become one flesh," meaning a complete personal union. Sex creates deep intimacy, oneness, and communion between two people (Gen. 2:24; 4:14).
In the Bible oneness is not simply a matter of emotional happiness. It is always the creation of a covenant.
In our culture, we consider emotional happiness, love, to be the main condition for marriage. If there is love, sex is warranted, and then comes marriage. But when love dies, it is also allowable to walk away from the marriage. In the biblical view, however, the main condition of marriage is a binding covenant. Sex is not a self-expression as one may think. In the biblical view, sex is self-giving.
2. The Bible is full of covenant renewal ceremonies. When God enters into a personal relationship with someone, he is thinking that mere emotion can serve as the basis for it. He knows that human emotions come and go and that there needs to be something binding to provide consistency and endurance. So God requires a binding, public, legal covenant as the infrastructure for intimacy.
It is far easier to be vulnerable to someone who was bindingly promised to be exclusively faithful to you than to someone who is under no obligation to stay with you for more than one night. Thus God demands covenants. But even that is not enough. He regularly gets his people together to reread the terms of the covenant, remember the history of his acts of grace in their lives, and recommit themselves through renewal of the covenant. The ultimate covenant renewal ceremony is the Lord's Supper.
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper renews the covenant made at baptism. Through the breaking of bread and the pouring out of wine it reenacts the selfless sacrifice of Jesus to us. In addition, the receiving and eating of the sacrament it reenacts the giving of ourselves to Jesus. We reenact the total commitment and oneness we have in Christ as a way of renewing and deepening that oneness.
3. In the same ways, marriage is a covenant, one that creates a place of security for vulnerability. Covenant is necessary for sex. Sex is also necessary for covenant. The covenant will grow stale unless we continually revisit and reenact it. Sex is a covenant renewal ceremony for marriage, the physical reenactment of the inseparable oneness in all other areas--economic, legal, personal, psychological--created by marriage covenant. Sex renews and revitalizes the marriage covenant.
4. Therefore sex only works in the fullest way God intended for one man and one woman within the exclusive, permanent, legal commitment of marriage. Sex is God-invented way to say to another person, "I belong completely and exclusively and permanently to you." That cannot be said outside the permanent, exclusive covenantal commitment of marriage.
The modern sexual revolution finds this to be impossible, even harmful and impractical. Lewis is right. "We have been fed all day long on good solid lies about sex."
Conclusion
1. How we handle our sexual life can either affirm or contradict what we believe about God. God gave himself to us unconditionally in Christ, and He calls us to give ourselves unconditionally to God. God does not offer or ask for intimacy without complete whole-life commitment. If you demand intimacy yet keep control of your life, you are a living contradiction of both the way God relates to you and the way we are to relate to each other in the Christian community.
2. Sex is for fully committed relationships because it is to be a foretaste of the joy that comes from being in the complete union with God. The most rapturous love between a man and woman is only a hint of God's love for us (Rom. 7:1-6; Eph 5:21-33).
3. It is typical for Christians to think of sexual ethics in purely individualistic terms. But that is not the right way to read the Bible.
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 6:9-10.
Paul is calling the church not just individual moral behavior but to be a kingdom community in wich the world's values do not hold. Notice Paul lumps broken sexuality with greed together. Modern view sex as a medium of exchange for fun and convenience and view money as something sacred, special, worth sacrificing for, not something easily shared. But biblical Christianity is just the opposite. Money is merely an exchange, a way to procure goods and services. It is not special nor sacred. It is something to be shared, to be given away to those who need it.
Sex on the other hand, is sacred and special and to be enjoyed only in the right context of pointing us toward the eternal. Paul is calling Christians not just to individual moral behavior but to form a community in which consumerism--both sexual and material--is rejected.
3. Christian will fall prey to the world's view of sex unless we create a community, an alternative city. In this alternative city, singles enjoy their kingdom mission and practice sexual abstinence joyfully. They live in community with Christian families. We need a sufficiently large community of people creating this alternative city.
May the Fort Bend Community be such alternative city of God.
The teaching of Sigmund Freud focused on the conflict between an internal "id," the innate sex drive, and an external "superego," the socially formed conscience developed by our culture and upbringing. By setting up the conscience as an external influence and the sexual instinct as an internal influence, he calls all sexual ethics "repressive" and "artificial."
This is what wrong with Freud, how does he know the conscience to be a totally external, social artifice, separate from an innate, internal basis? He doesn't know that and he has no evidence to prove that. That is not science. In actuality, evidence exists to prove that the sexual appetite is shaped significantly by the external forces of media, peer pressure, and cultural values.
Unfortunately Freud's view has changed our view of sex. Sex becomes a critical self-expression. To repress it is inhuman.
I have a young man coming to my office to see me. He has a particular sexual attraction. He thought that the only way for him to be happy in life is to express this sexual desire. This is who he is. This is his story. Sex is his critical self-expression. He has no choice if he wants to be himself. He does not care if the whole world is against this, he wants to be real, to be authentic, to be himself, to be true to his innate sex drive. But is this true? Our story is not written by our sexual desire. Our story is not written yet. Sex is not a self-thing. It is a sacred gift from God for building His Kingdom.
2008 was a breakout year for China. The summer Olympic in Beijing had formally ushered China onto the world stage as one of the world's super powers. Behind the rise of China, there is a massive cultural shift among the younger generation.
The shift includes a separation of sex and marriage; a separation of sex from love and child-bearing such as Internet sex and one-night stands; an increase in observable sexual diversity such as homo- and bisexual behavior. The post-90 generation has a totally different view of sex. Much more like our younger generation here in America. The post-modern thinking of sex as a self-expression.
The Christian View
What is then the Christian view of sex? The biblical view of sex is radically different from each of these three prominent views.
1. Contrary to the second view, sex as-animal-passion and thus evil, the Bible teaches that sex is very good. "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Gen 1:31) God would not create and command something to be done in marriage that was no good (1 Cor. 7:3-5).
The Song of Solomon is filled with barefaced rejoicing in sexual pleasure. In fact, the Bible is very comfortable talking about sex within marriage.
2. Contrary to the first view, sex-as-an-appetite", the Bible teaches that sexual desires are broken and usually idolatrous. If it is all by themselves, sexual appetites are not a safe guide, and we are instructed to flee our lusts (1 Cor. 6:18).
Our sexual appetite does not operate the same as our other appetites. CS Lewis asks us to imagine a planet where people pay money to watch someone eat a lamb chop, a planet where people pay billions of dollar to look at picture of food. We would think that the appetite of these people was crazy and seriously deranged. Yet that is just how modern people approach sex, isn't it?
3. Contrary to third view, sex-as-self-expression view, the Bible teaches that love and sex are not primary for individual happiness, but as a way to know Christ and build His kingdom.
Let me expand on this further and go into the theology of sex. Christian sexual ethics make little sense unless we first understand the lofty vision of sexuality in the Christian faith. Sex is sacred for three reasons.
I. Sex Procreates.
1. Sex is sacred because, with God, sex co-creates a new soul. Sex propagates the human race (Gen. 1:28). Its purpose is not merely for the building up of a family name. The purpose of sex is to create families of disciples, to establish new kingdom communities. Children are God's, not ours. Raising Godly second generation is disciple-making, the sure way to establish God's kingdom. Sex then is sacred because sex procreates and builds the kingdom of God.
Amazingly, we learn this truth mainly through the remarkable biblical teaching on singleness. Let me explain.
2. Christianity, unlike most traditional religions or cultures, holds out singleness as a viable way of life. Both Jesus and the apostle Paul were single. Jesus spoke about those who remain unmarried in order to better serve the kingdom of God (Matt 19:12).
Paul says singleness is often better for ministering as a sign of the coming kingdom (1 Cor. 7:29-35). The Kingdom is coming. Let us work single-mindedly without the distraction of spouses and children.
According to the Bible, singleness is legitimate, not because sex is questionable activity, but because the mission of the church requires those who were capable of complete service to the Kingdom. And we must remember that the sacrifice made by the single is not that of giving up sex, but the much more significant sacrifice of giving up heirs. There can be no more radical act than this, as it is the clearest institutional expression that one's future is not guaranteed by the family but by the kingdom of God.
Therefore we are to choose between marriage (sex) and singleness (no sex) not on the basis of whether we want to the personal happiness and status of a family but on the basis of which stat makes us most useful in the kingdom of God.
In our traditional cultures, singleness is undesirable because we make family our idol and the propagation of our name and social status is our greatest goal. When we see an older female or male, and the question that comes out of our mouth is "when are you going to get married?" "Do you have a mate yet?" as if it is all about us. Sex is about us. Marriage is about us. But Paul is very clear. One can choose singleness because of the Kingdom of Christ. One can live a sexless life because of Christ.
Therefore marriage is about Christ also. Sex is about Christ. It is about creating a godly next generation. Sex is sacred because of it. It is about Christ primarily. And it is about us secondary. Pre-marital sex or extramarital sex is wrong because it undermines the kingdom. Sex outside of a marriage covenant undermines the character quality of faithfulness. It destroys the kingdom.
The issue here is not just whether X or Y form of sexual activity is right or wrong. Rather the question is what kind of people we should be in supporting the mission of the church.
It is common to hear people say, "Sex is a private affair and no one's business but my own." It is not true. How we use sex has significant Christian ramifications. It is about Christ and His kingdom.
II. Sex Delights.
1. Sex is sacred because it is the analogy of the joyous self-giving and pleasure of love within the life of the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live in a relationship of glorious devoting to each other, pouring love and joy into one another continually (John 1:18; 17:5, 21, 24-25).
Sex between a man and a woman points to the love between the Father and the Son, as well as that between Christ and the believer (1 Cor. 11:3).
The Bible openly celebrates the delights of sex. The Song of Solomon speaks to that. Sex is supposed to be wonderful because it mirrors the joy of relationship in the Trinity and because it points to the eternal ecstasy of soul that we will have in heaven in our loving relationships with God and one another (Prov. 5:18-20; Deut. 24:5).
2. Sex is an important part of what CS Lewis calls the "great dance." According to Lewis, all of God's creation--from the stars and solar systems to the act of sexual intercourse--form an ongoing, dynamic dance, in which "plans without number interlock, and each movement becomes in its season the breaking into flower of the whole design to which all else had been directed." The enjoyment of sex is God's glory. We dance to the glory of God.
III. Sex Unifies.
1. Third, sex is sacred because it constitutes a covenant renewal ceremony. The original purpose of sex was the "become one flesh," meaning a complete personal union. Sex creates deep intimacy, oneness, and communion between two people (Gen. 2:24; 4:14).
In the Bible oneness is not simply a matter of emotional happiness. It is always the creation of a covenant.
In our culture, we consider emotional happiness, love, to be the main condition for marriage. If there is love, sex is warranted, and then comes marriage. But when love dies, it is also allowable to walk away from the marriage. In the biblical view, however, the main condition of marriage is a binding covenant. Sex is not a self-expression as one may think. In the biblical view, sex is self-giving.
2. The Bible is full of covenant renewal ceremonies. When God enters into a personal relationship with someone, he is thinking that mere emotion can serve as the basis for it. He knows that human emotions come and go and that there needs to be something binding to provide consistency and endurance. So God requires a binding, public, legal covenant as the infrastructure for intimacy.
It is far easier to be vulnerable to someone who was bindingly promised to be exclusively faithful to you than to someone who is under no obligation to stay with you for more than one night. Thus God demands covenants. But even that is not enough. He regularly gets his people together to reread the terms of the covenant, remember the history of his acts of grace in their lives, and recommit themselves through renewal of the covenant. The ultimate covenant renewal ceremony is the Lord's Supper.
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper renews the covenant made at baptism. Through the breaking of bread and the pouring out of wine it reenacts the selfless sacrifice of Jesus to us. In addition, the receiving and eating of the sacrament it reenacts the giving of ourselves to Jesus. We reenact the total commitment and oneness we have in Christ as a way of renewing and deepening that oneness.
3. In the same ways, marriage is a covenant, one that creates a place of security for vulnerability. Covenant is necessary for sex. Sex is also necessary for covenant. The covenant will grow stale unless we continually revisit and reenact it. Sex is a covenant renewal ceremony for marriage, the physical reenactment of the inseparable oneness in all other areas--economic, legal, personal, psychological--created by marriage covenant. Sex renews and revitalizes the marriage covenant.
4. Therefore sex only works in the fullest way God intended for one man and one woman within the exclusive, permanent, legal commitment of marriage. Sex is God-invented way to say to another person, "I belong completely and exclusively and permanently to you." That cannot be said outside the permanent, exclusive covenantal commitment of marriage.
The modern sexual revolution finds this to be impossible, even harmful and impractical. Lewis is right. "We have been fed all day long on good solid lies about sex."
Conclusion
1. How we handle our sexual life can either affirm or contradict what we believe about God. God gave himself to us unconditionally in Christ, and He calls us to give ourselves unconditionally to God. God does not offer or ask for intimacy without complete whole-life commitment. If you demand intimacy yet keep control of your life, you are a living contradiction of both the way God relates to you and the way we are to relate to each other in the Christian community.
2. Sex is for fully committed relationships because it is to be a foretaste of the joy that comes from being in the complete union with God. The most rapturous love between a man and woman is only a hint of God's love for us (Rom. 7:1-6; Eph 5:21-33).
3. It is typical for Christians to think of sexual ethics in purely individualistic terms. But that is not the right way to read the Bible.
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 6:9-10.
Paul is calling the church not just individual moral behavior but to be a kingdom community in wich the world's values do not hold. Notice Paul lumps broken sexuality with greed together. Modern view sex as a medium of exchange for fun and convenience and view money as something sacred, special, worth sacrificing for, not something easily shared. But biblical Christianity is just the opposite. Money is merely an exchange, a way to procure goods and services. It is not special nor sacred. It is something to be shared, to be given away to those who need it.
Sex on the other hand, is sacred and special and to be enjoyed only in the right context of pointing us toward the eternal. Paul is calling Christians not just to individual moral behavior but to form a community in which consumerism--both sexual and material--is rejected.
3. Christian will fall prey to the world's view of sex unless we create a community, an alternative city. In this alternative city, singles enjoy their kingdom mission and practice sexual abstinence joyfully. They live in community with Christian families. We need a sufficiently large community of people creating this alternative city.
May the Fort Bend Community be such alternative city of God.
Curiosidades sobre el Sexo / Fun Facts about Sex:
ReplyDeletehttps://alexanderstrauffon.blogspot.com/2012/05/algunas-curiosidades-sobre-el-sexo.html