Right now it’s only 9:22 a.m. and I’ve only had my radio on for about five minutes and I’ve already heard at least 2 commercials that present a hidden message about what I am supposed to believe about sex and women. I would be surprised if someone could go a day consuming today’s media without hearing a message about sex, whether that message is in your face or whether it’s hidden. As disciples of Jesus, we need to answer the question, “Is this story we hear every day true?”
This past Sunday we looked at what Jesus said about sexual desire and how it’s related to God’s intention for our sexuality and sexual expression and we can only come to the conclusion that the story we hear day in and day out is false.
In Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus says the following:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Jesus makes a stunning comment about our sexual desire here as he equates our passionate desire for another person to whom we’re not married to adultery. This is a big deal because according to the Jewish Law (found in the Old Testament of the Bible) people caught in adultery are supposed to be stoned to death. Therefore according to Jesus, having lust in our hearts for someone is worthy of death? That sounds so harsh today, and yet we have to realize the ways in which God has designed our sexuality to function.
In Genesis 2:24, after having created Eve out of Adam, we are told that when a man and a woman come together as husband and wife, they are to unite in new and mysterious ways. Part of that union takes place in the act of the sexual union shared between the two, and according to Jesus to be burning after someone other than that person to whom you are wed threatens that union to the same degree that adultery does. If we take a look at our culture are we surprised by this? Pornography is only a click away in all our households, and objectifying images of women in our media send messages to both men and women that tell us that sex is really all about satisfying our own desire, not creating a God created union between two people. Is it any wonder then that as a culture we are experiencing so much confusion about not only sex, but love and marriage and commitment?
What we have to do is change our goal, change the very thing we are aiming at in order to find fulfillment for our desires. Imagine a great treasure stored in a case, and that case is set in the middle of the room. Everyone in the room has the choice to head straight to the chest without turning to the right or the left. If the chest represents God’s best for our lives, anyone who would focus on this would find themselves meeting at the chest, and there in the will of God meeting that one person with whom they can share theirs lives and enjoy the gift of sex that God has designed for them. However, if someone chooses to focus on chasing after sex or even chasing after person after person to try and find that special “one” they may never reach the goal God has for them. Our challenge then is to ignore the constant lies our culture tells about the nature and purpose of sex and desire, and instead focus on God, trusting that his will is good and worthy to be trusted.
What do you think? How hard do you think it is to remain sexually pure in today’s world? How can we support one another in our attempt to honor God with our bodies?
Tags: culture, desire, discipleship, junior high, love, lust, parents, senior high, sex
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Sunday Night Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.