Sex And The Church Series

Sex and the Church

Hot Potato #4 that the Church won’t touch

My mentor/instructor Richard Dobbins was a pastor for 25 years and a Christian Counselor for over 25 years was asked to teach a seminar on Sex for a pastor friend. When he arrived at the church he found an ad for the seminar in the foyer advertizing “revival”. He asked his friend what are you doing. He replied, “I had to advertize revival, we really need this teaching on sex and it was the only way I could get away with it.” When is the last time you heard a sermon telling what the Bible says about sex? How about never? I’ve never preached one either. So where do people get their sex education, expectations, and attitudes? Media, locker room, jokes, innuendo, schools, etc. But not often from Christian Parents, the church or the Bible.

I have been increasingly disturbed by the attitude toward sex by our society. It was brought to the forefront by an article about Janet Jackson’s naked breast episode during the Super Bowl half-time show. The writer was disturbed by 22 year old Justin Timberlake, following Jackson around, grinding against her and leering as she tried to dance away from him. And then he grabs her and rips part of her dress off. Jackson was a willing accomplice as Timberlake tried to imitate the gangsta swagger that makes women nothing but the objects of male pleasure. “Just go ahead and do that (behind) shaking thing that you do,” he sings, “I bet I’ll Have you naked by the end of this song. That predatory sexual vibe is running all through today’s mainstream hip-hop and R & B culture. Popular songs are getting more and more blatant. “In the song, “In Da Club,” 50 cents raps, “I’m into having sex, I ain’t into making love.” So don’t expect any respect from him. (Zanesville Times Recorder February 2004)

It may sound strange to some, but sex is not a taboo subject in the Bible. Almost every book says something about sex, and some of the descriptions (as in Song of Solomon, for example) are explicit and even sexually arousing. So the absence of biblical teaching on the subject cannot be attributed to Biblical silence on the subject. In fact if preaching and teaching of topics were proportionate to how often they were discussed in Scripture, sex would demand much more time. In our day of sexual promiscuity many people, including scientific writers, have come to see sex as little more than flesh rubbing flesh for the purpose of achieving erotic experiences. Warmth, concern, love, trust, and especially commitment are all relegated to a position of secondary importance. We desperately need to hear from the creator of SEX to see what he has to say about it.

I Sex and Society

1. Our society suffers from being over-stimulated sexually, and under informed about sex.

2. The advertizing and entertainment industries use sexual stimulation as a major motivator in advancing their various causes. Womens golf “In a TV program an advertizing executive told them (The LPGA) they would need to dress with more sex appeal to sell the sport to the public.

3. What information a child or young person gets about sex is more likely to come from the public school, advertizing, or the entertainment media, friends, porn, than from home or the church.

A. As a result, few believers have a thorough Biblical understanding of this area so basic to life.

B. Therefore, believers tend to adopt one or a combination or the popular attitudes toward sex circulating among the people with whom they work and live. These include:

1. Sex with affection. (This view says if you love each other and practice “safe sex” why wait to marriage.)

2. Casual Sex. (This view Intercourse should be a form of social communication similar to hugging, and not to be confused with loving a person.”

3. Recreational sex (This view views sex as something to be engaged in for fun or sport)

C. Even when believers manage to resist or be repulsed by such approaches to sex and cling to their beliefs in premarital chastity and marital faithfulness, they are not usually able to provide a well articulated Biblical basis for their views.

D. If they are told what the Bible teaches about sex it has often brought them under uncomfortable and crippling misconceptions.

II Sex was Created by God and is Good

a. Of all of God’s creation only humans were made in his image. 1:27

b. In the Genesis account of creation, God pronounced each day’s work “good”, but when he created Adam and Eve unclothed, He looked at them and pronounced them very good. Gen 1:31

c. God gave them the instruction to “be fruitful and multiply” implying sex before the fall. 1:28