2005-05-20
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week the Spirit led me to begin writing about divorce and adultery. There is more to say about these difficult subjects and sexual immorality in general, even though we would love to avoid them. Christ in MT 5: 27-30, makes the Father’s will crystal clear. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart. So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is much better that you lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body go off to hell.” Just so that there is no confusion, let me define adultery as having sex outside of marriage and fornication as having sex without the benefit of marriage. Both of these are clear-cut sin, no matter what human rationalization is given for them. The importance of controlling lust is essential in all that Christ is saying here. In His comments about losing a part of one’s body, rather than the whole, Christ uses hyperbole to draw attention to the need for self-examination and of sifting out bad behavior before it becomes the devil’s stronghold leading to permanently negative consequences.
Since the concept of thoughts leading to sin comes up in the Sermon on the Mount, it matters that we should look at this issue. As the Coordinator of our huge congregation’s prayer chain, people have learned to place their confidences with me. One such person was a young man with two young sons. He never said if these children were born out of wedlock, if he was divorced, or if he was a widower. His sons were elementary school aged. His reason for posting a request with our prayer chain was that he came home from work one day to find his sons visiting a porn site on the computer in their bedroom. He was plagued with guilt, because he had done this himself and was discovering that the boys had paid more attention to his habit than he realized. I not only posted the request for him, minus his name to preserve his privacy, but I also wrote back to him, suggesting that he and the boys get counseling from a competent Christian counselor or their pastor and that he move the computer to where the boys can’t use it without his supervision.
The predicament that this man and his boys were in is an example of how an idea leads to a sin, which if not stopped, can lead to an even more heinous sin. This is nothing new. EZK 23: 14-17 is a passage in a metaphorical part of this book dealing with two sinful sisters, representing Samaria [then, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel] and Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom, Judah. Samaria is called “Oholah,” and Jerusalem is called “Oholibah.” Ezekial refers to the younger sister, “Oholibah,” and writes, “She sank deeper an deeper in her immorality. She was attracted by the images of high Babylonian officials carved into the wall and painted bright red, with sashes around their waists and fancy turbans on their heads. As soon as she saw them, she was filled with lust and sent messengers to them in Babylonia. The Babylonians came to have sex with her. They used her and defiled her so much that finally she became disgusted with them.” We all know that Judah was eventually brought into 70 years of Babylonian captivity from 586-445 BC-dire consequents indeed!
I’m virtually certain that if sex offenders in prison were interviewed on how they got started in their life of crime, many of them would tell us that this is the way they got started on that path. We need only look at the movies, magazines, TV shows and the like to see the preoccupation with sex that our society has. Things are even worse in Europe. When I was over there, it was impossible to miss the sex shops lining the streets of cities like Amsterdam and lack of attire at some of the beaches, for example. People waiting later in life to marry or not planning to marry at all has led to widespread fornication, living together with bothering to get married, children born out of wedlock, and same sex “marriages.” We, as believers, must ask the question: What does God have to say about this? In next week’s devotion, I will begin sharing some of the Scriptures that should give us a clear view of God’s perspective on this pervasive problem. In the meanwhile, God is asking each of us to examine and evaluate our own sexual thoughts and behavior and to see how they stack up with His views. Why do this? Because God wants us to gain wisdom, to better understand the temptations our society offers, and to find appropriate ways to deal with them.
PRAYER: O Most heavenly Father, we come before Your throne today to ask You to help us gain understanding of the challenges our sexuality presents, how to conform our behavior to Your standards, and how to make whatever changes are necessary in our lives to set an example that pleases You. You are a God Who asks us to be teachable. Isaiah’s attitude in IS 50: 4 exemplifies this. “The Sovereign Lord has taught me what to say, so I can strengthen the weary. Every morning He makes me eager to hear what He is going to teach me.” In view of the repetition of sexual wrongdoing, we have a lot to learn to achieve the objectives above. We acknowledge our spiritual emptiness without Your Spirit to guide us to right values and behavior. We understand that without the Holy Spirit and our willingness to comply with your teaching (including Christ’s in the Sermon on the Mount), we cannot overcome the mounting temptations from the media and other sources in our lives. You have told us in JS 1: 9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” We understand, Dearest Abba, that we must first know from the Scriptures and prayer what You say to us. Then, we must put these principles into practice. Moreover, we understand that we must be a blessing to our society, by sharing them with others by example, thought, word, and deed. You have given us clear instruction in 1 COR 6: 9-10 on Your will in sexual matters. “Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God’s Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves-none of these will possess God’s Kingdom.” You are a God in Whom we can and should trust. You are patient, kind, compassionate, and righteous. You gave us Your Son on the cross, so that a way to return to You for eternity through faith in Him should be opened to us [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Additionally, You gave us the Holy Spirit as our Counselor to guide us to victory over death in our lives [JN 14: 16-17]. We dedicate ourselves to faithful obedience to You, and we thank and praise You for Who You are and the constant love You give us. In Christ, we pray. Amen.
It will seem for awhile that I’m straying from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount beginning next week. The Holy Spirit is leading me to travel through the Scriptures on immorality and to share whatever thoughts He gives me with you. In actuality, we will be looking at the principles on this subject that Christ discussed in more detail. And yes, I will return to the Sermon on the Mount after the Spirit has given me all He desires. As time goes on, I think you will come to agree with me that being led by Him this way blesses us. Two verses from Proverbs come to mind. PR 9: 10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” PR 25: 11, “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” God used our Senior Pastor, to bring these verses to me at exactly the right time. Knowing them is giving me the courage to write on the sensitive topic of sexual matters. Our God blesses us by not causing us to have to wonder what His stand on our morality should be. The Scriptures which I will be sharing in the next few messages are meant to allow us to pave our way to heaven and eternal bliss with Him. He loves us so much that He created us in His own image, gave us sexuality so that we could use it for honorable means, and continually renews us in His own image, so we can have a better knowledge of Himself [GN 1: 27; GN 2: 23-24; EPH 5: 21-28; 2 COR 5: 17; COL 3: 9-10]. What greater love can there be?
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn