Sexual Morality

 

Acts 15:15-20 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it, that the remnant[a] of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’ Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

 

Our Pastor Kyle continued his message in the book of Acts preaching that when we understand the Gospel of salvation, we see that our default position before God was in a place of conflict. Because of our willful and unrepentant sin, we were not at peace with God; we were at enmity with God, dead in our trespasses and sins. The wages of sin is death. That fact is not to be beating ourselves up, but just a reminder of who we were before believing, accepting and trusting Christ. So, understanding our lives through the lens of the complete Gospel of knowing what we have been saved “from” in order to appreciate what we have been saved “to” is so important.   

 

Is the biblical call to abstain from sexual immorality with the Church today? Some would say that just like the church eventually evolved and said that it’s OK to you know eat different dietary things. Well that’s kind of like that with the sexual stuff. In other words, is this still relevant to our lives today. Well, the reality is that the biblical call to obey God in the realm of sexual morality is a teaching that has been carried from the earliest pages of genesis that has grounded in creation of God, creating man (male) and woman (female) for a specific purpose of godly intimacy and procreation. It has gone throughout the Profits in the old testament and it carries through the teachings of Jesus himself, who is unwavering on this issue. Sexual morality is found all the way to the final pages in Revelation itself, and it’s reaffirmed again and again and again throughout the Bible.  

 

So, the the question is what is sexual immorality? Well the Greek word that’s there is “Porneia”, meaning illicit sexual intercourse (adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.). It’s any sexual interaction between a man and a woman outside of a marriage and it is controversial today is it has ever been. Can you feel the tension in your own soul as I’m preaching about it right now? It’s an uncomfortable subject and we don’t like to talk about these things. But, when the Bible brings something up, it is my duty as a preacher and communicator of God‘s Word to relay that truth to you in love, and to help you then understand what that means in your life. 

 

And so let’s be honest, some of the greatest problems, regrets, and issues of all of our lives probably stem from sexual immorality. Don’t think it’s different from as it was then. it’s the same today. Intrinsically, we know that God has a way for this part of our lives and we know that our tendency as human beings is to want to follow our own way to do what we think is best, which always leads to a negative outcome. But, God has a way for sex between a man and a woman, that in the context of a marriage is an absolutely beautiful thing. But, there’s another way, that’s our way, that eats us up in the process. 

 

So later down in verse 29 the letter from the Jerusalem Council clarifies the position on sexual immorality even further. It doesn’t say that Christians are saved by their sexual morality. There’s actually nothing that we can do other than believing in Jesus that will save us. What is clarified is he says “you will do well if you follow these things”, and so God put this there for our good. God is not some cosmic wet blanket trying to keep you from having fun in life, God said “this for our good” and this is the most important thing. This is the judgment of James to everybody there he says if you believe in Jesus, you should keep yourself from the cult-like practices, idols and you abstain from sexual immorality. He says “you’re good, you’re going to do well.” 

 

I love the theologian Martin Luther, who put it this way: “we are saved by faith alone, but not by faith, which is alone”. in other words we are not saved by anything we do, but by grace, and if we’ve truly understood and believe the gospel, it will change what we do and how we live. One of the primary evidences of our salvation that the Scriptures is pretty clear is giving our sexuality to God and trusting Him enough to do what He says in that area of our lives. Just like with every issue there’s grace when we blow it. God, is a God of grace. He’s not up there trying to judge us and make us feel bad for things we know are wrong that we fall into. But, the struggle with grace is that it’s always leaving an open door for the possibility of abuse, and perceived freedom from the demands of the Moral Law can quickly unravel into a license to sin. 

 

1 Corinthians 6:17-20 “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

 

And so, Pastor Kyle asks, what is to keep people from becoming less moral now that we understand grace, instead of developing a stronger ethical conscience? Well, I would say there’s one word and it is “grace”(appropriately, the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from Him).  See, the grace of God is what compels us to live differently. Grace saves us and grace compels us to live differently; live a moral life for God that is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

 

In Christ, Brian