Matt Nelson - June 26, 2022
I Am What I Desire
LOVE LIES I am what I feel or desire 6.26.22 Two Questions: How did we get here? How do we live faithfully in our current place? Genesis 3:1-7 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Could Eve trust that although the fruit looked pleasing to her, God’s laws weren’t just arbitrary or restrictive but actually for her flourishing? 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. Romans 1:21-28 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. John Mark Comer, Live No Lies: How do we come to normalize the lies of the devil in our culture? Deceptive ideas (the devil) that play to disordered desires (the flesh) that are normalized in a sinful society (the world) Immanuel Kant: We do not live in a world structured by God but by human consciousness. Our minds are the highest forms of authority and to truly be free we must throw off all restraints. Friedrich Nietzsche: Facts do not exist, only interpretations. There is no God – no transcendent or objective foundation that determines human nature or human destiny. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The one who is truly free is the one who is free to be himself. It is following that inner voice that makes one truly free, truly authentic. Sigmund Freud: Sexual restraint may be necessary for civilization but it is harmful and unhealthy for the individual. Humans are machines and satisfaction is our mission. This satisfaction is found primarily through sexual pleasure. Wilhelm Reich: A 1960's psychologist who coined the phrase "sexual revolution" and preached a gospel of redemption through complete immersion in one’s sexual instincts. The core happiness in life is sexual happiness. Michael Foucault: A French postmodernist and author on the history of sexuality who argues that in the space of a few centuries sex went from being just one activity of life to being our core identity. Sex is treated as the master key to knowing who we are....sex is the explanation for everything and is more important than the soul. Margaret Sanger: The founder of Planned Parenthood, she describes history as a struggle to free our bodies and minds from the constraints of morality, "the cruel morality of self-denial and sin." In her view, sexual liberation was "the only method" by which a person could find "inner peace and security and beauty." THE CULTURAL LIES: Subjective OVER Objective Desire OVER Design Mind OVER Body Autonomous self OVER Physical Body Personal freedom OVER Biblical Order License OVER Authorities How do we live faithfully in our current place? The church must move beyond Sunday services and a network of loose friendships to a thriving, counter-cultural movement committed to living the way of Jesus We must find our core identity in Christ and pursue a life of obedience and holiness, which leads to freedom, not bondage. We must live incarnationally in the tension of grace and truth, known for our love and a willingness to live a radically counter-cultural life.