Today we’re wrapping up our
discussion of God’s plan for sex. We’ve talked about all the reasons why we
need to stick to God’s plan instead of the plan given to us by our hormones,
but here are three big ones which we need to keep in mind.
First, sexual activity constitutes a
bonding process. Read vss. 15-17 again. When God created human
sexuality, he designed it to be a lot different from most other creatures. With
most of the rest of creation, sexuality is only a biological process for the
purpose of reproduction. There are a few mammals and birds which mate for life,
but most don’t. It’s different for us. When a man and woman engage in sexual
activity, they’re bonded together spiritually and emotionally, not just
physically. That bonding process lasts for a lifetime, and occurs whether they’re
married or not; that’s what it means when he says that they’re “one
flesh.” This “one flesh” union is meant to be with your spouse and with no one else.
If you have sex with a person and then break up, then that harms you as if you
separated your arm from yourself. This will harm you later down the road, I promise.
Once you do get married, you’re going to be bringing that “baggage” with you
into the marriage bed. The less of this you bring, the better.
Second, sexual immorality harms you in
ways that other sins don’t. Paul specifically sets this area of sin
apart from the rest when he says “All other sins a person commits are outside
the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.” What does
this mean? He doesn’t elaborate, so we just have to deduce what the difference
is. It could refer to the fact that this sin commonly has physical (and potentially lifelong) consequences, such as disease and unwanted pregnancy. But there's also the fact that we aren’t merely physical creations: We have a body, a soul, and a spirit
(or however you want to divide or name the parts of us). And no “part” of us is
really separated from the rest: What affects your body affects the nonphysical
aspects of you. And this one activity, for good (doing it God’s way) or ill
(doing it any other way)—in some mysterious way--affects the rest of you more
so than just about anything else you can do with your body.
Third, you don’t belong to yourself.
The common argument by abortion “rights” advocates is “I can do what I want
with my own body.” This attitude is echoed by people in a lot of different
areas, especially the sexual aspects of life. Well, there’s a smidgen of truth
in that. You certainly have the right to do whatever you want with whatever
belongs to you. But your body doesn’t
belong to you. This is true even of nonbelievers, since God created all of
us and thus has a sovereign claim on everyone, whether they acknowledge it or
not. But for those of us who’ve been redeemed (bought back) by the precious
blood of Christ, this is doubly true:
He created us, and then he bought us back with his own blood. We belong to him twice
over.
And when we placed our faith in him,
he placed something—or Someone—in us. Our body is now the temple of the
Holy Spirit, just like the Tabernacle and the Temple. That is where we worship
him and he speaks to us. He lives inside us in a way that the Old Covenant
believers could only dream of. The body of every believer is a permanent house
for the Holy Spirit.
And when we engage in any
sin--especially this one—we dishonor him. We pollute the temple, just like
people in the past who brought idols into God’s house. We bring shame upon him and
grieve the One who loves us with an everlasting love, the One who shed his own
blood for us. He tells us to do the opposite, to honor him in the way we use
our bodies in this arena.
I’d like to end this series on a
positive note. In this same book (1 Corinthians) Paul addressed the fact that
few of the believers in that church had managed to avoid sexual immorality before their conversion to Christ, and some had even fallen into it after becoming believers. But this is his word of hope
to them: After listing several sexual and non-sexual sins, he tells
them “And that is what some of you were.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” No matter what they had done
or even what they were doing, the sin in their past and present didn’t have to
be the last word in their lives. In Christ, we’re “washed. . . sanctified [set
apart for a special purpose]. . . and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God.”
No matter what you’ve done and what
you’re doing right now, he stands more than ready to forgive. All of us fall short of his standards,
even as believers, both in sins sexual and non. But if you read this and are
feeling guilty, know that his promise
to ancient Israel is just as open to you as it was to them:
"Come
now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though
your sins are as scarlet,
They
will be as white as snow;
Though
they are red like crimson,
They
will be like wool."
Feeling dirty? Come to him and be
cleansed. He’s waiting.
Lord Jesus, I thank you that in your
name there is forgiveness, free and total and forever. From now on, by your
grace, we’re doing things your way.
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