Matt Nelson - June 12, 2022
Sex is Shameful
LOVE LIES Sex is Just Physical/Shameful 6.12.22 License – everything is permissible License leads us to the lie that sex is just physical Legalism – nothing is permissible Legalism leads us to the lie that sex is shameful What is one of the primary tactics of the enemy? To distort what God has created as good and beautiful. Because of sin, our passions and desires for sex are often distorted. Instead of seeing sex as a giving of oneself to someone else, our sinful hearts want to use sex for selfishness, not self-giving. Genesis 1:26-28 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Genesis 1:31 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Developing a theology of sexuality: Scripture describes sex as a gift from God with specific purposes Scripture takes a high view of the physical body Scripture clearly defines and celebrates the differentiation of sex or gender as the foundation for sexual union Scripture teaches us that marriage between a man and woman is a holy mystery in which the two become one flesh Scripture teaches us that sex is God’s appointed way for two people to give all of themselves to each other spiritually, emotionally, and physically Cultural Worldview (Personhood Theory): PERSONAL ------------- BODY 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. A biblical – Christian - God-honoring worldview holds that body and soul are united. Human beings are embodied souls. Genesis 2:25 Adam and Eve were both naked and felt no shame.