ONE: Christ at the Center of Our Sexuality Living with the End in Mind Layne Lebo February 26, 2017

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1 ONE: Christ at the Center of Our Sexuality Living with the End in Mind Layne Lebo February 26, 2017 One of my life verses is John chapter 10 verse 10 where Jesus said, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. That verse accurately describes the situation many people find themselves in, and it also gives us a clear picture of what Jesus desire for us is. The enemy s stealing, killing and destruction of people s lives through sexuality is rampant brokenness is all around us, but, Jesus said, I have come that you might have full life. What s especially troubling to me is that enemy s stealing, killing and destruction is also very evident in the church among followers of Jesus. Many of us are taking our cues for sexual normalcy from the culture around us, rather than from what God sets out for us in his Word. As your pastor, I long to see every one of us experiencing the full life of Jesus, rather than the fallout of the enemy s stealing, killing and destruction. That s why we re preaching this series. We want to clearly communicate God s truth and urge our church family to align themselves with the truth that s in his Word. A question I have for you today is, Are the choices you re making today leading you to where you want to be tomorrow? In the now obsessed, immediate gratification day we live in, it s easy to be consumed with today and discount the future. In a day in which we have news about what s happening now at our fingertips, we ve been programmed to think that now is what matters most, and that makes it more challenging than ever to live our lives with a view toward tomorrow or beyond. Are you living with the end in mind? What do you want your life and specifically your relationships to look like years from now? What do you want your relationship with God to look like? If you re married, what do you envision for your relationship with your spouse? If you re single, how do you envision your relationships with those you re in close community with? If you re married, what do you want your relationship with your children and grandchildren to look like? What legacy will you leave for future generations? The question, Are you living with the end in mind? can apply to any area of our lives, but I m focusing on our sexuality in this sermon series. I want us to understand that how we 1

2 steward how we care for or manage our sexuality today will profoundly impact our relationships tomorrow? In a world that shouts messages like, If it feels good, do it. Carpe diem seize the day! what I m advocating is a foreign concept. And I m convinced that it s that mindset that leads to much of the sexual brokenness we see all around us and which many of us struggle with ourselves. I didn t preach last Sunday, but over the course of last weekend I kept mulling over the thought, What am I going to preach about next Sunday? My dilemma was one that Susan and John and I faced each week we preached during this series, With all there is to say on this subject of sexuality, what am I going to really focus in on? What will I say and what will I leave out? As I considered the question of what to focus on as it pertains to living for the long haul, I was reminded of a principle I read about in a book Andy Stanley wrote titled, The Principle of the Path. Before I share this principle with you I d like us to look at a passage in the Bible that illustrates this principle well. It s found in Proverbs chapter 7 verses This passage of Scripture was written approximately 3,000 years ago, but it s just as timely today as it was when it was written. It tells the story of a foolish young man, but don t let that distract you. It could be a teenager or a man or woman of any age. Proverbs 6:6-23 At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.) She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let s drink deeply of love till morning; let s enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon. 2

3 With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. King Solomon s account doesn t need a lot of explanation, but the last phrase provides an excellent summary. Without thinking about his future or the consequences of his decision this young man followed his eyes and his emotions and he became like an ox going to be slaughtered, a deer stepping unwittingly into a noose or a bird about to be captured in a snare. And Solomon said that he did this little knowing it would cost him his life. And then Solomon speaks these words to his readers Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death. Proverbs 6:24-27 This Scripture passage beautifully highlights The Principle of the Path. The Principle of the Path is this Direction not intention determines our destination. Andy Stanley writes, The direction you are currently traveling relationally, financially, spiritually, and the list goes on and on will determine where you end up in each of those respective areas. For much of our decision making, we focus on our intentions and pay very little attention to the path we ve chosen, but it s our current direction that will ultimately determine our destination. Consider these examples A married man says, I want to my kids to respect me and I hope to have a great relationship with them when they grow up, but he openly flirts with women in the neighborhood and with female co-workers and eventually has an affair that ruins his marriage and rocks his kids. A married woman says, I want to have a great relationship with my husband that grows stronger and stronger as we age, but she makes their children a priority over her husband until their relationship grows more and more distant. A dating couple says, We want to have a relationship that honors God; is fulfilling to each of us; and, is a blessing to others, but they choose to live together before their marriage because it s convenient and because that s what everyone else is doing. A young single woman says, I want to meet and marry a strong Christian man who will love me and lead deeper in my relationship with Jesus, but she dates whoever asks her out as long as he s cute and has a good job. 3

4 A single guy says, I hope to have a great sex life once I m married, but he practices with multiple girls along the way. Each of these people are making choices that lead them toward pain and brokenness, not toward the healthy relationships with God and with others that they say they desire. They re going in an entirely different direction than the destination they say they intend to reach. There isn t alignment between what they hope for later in life and the decisions they re currently making. They aren t living with the end in mind. How about us? Where are the choices we re making leading us? Are there disconnects in our lives? Are there discrepancies between what we say we desire in our heart and what we re actually doing with our lives? Is there alignment between our intentions and the direction we re headed? The reality is that each of us has some inconsistencies in our lives between our intentions and the choices we make. None of us is totally consistent. My wife and kids could quickly share some of my inconsistencies with you. I understand that this message may be difficult truth to receive if you re living with inconsistencies in the area of your sexuality. Throughout this series my prayer has been that we would represent our Heavenly Father well. My goal is that we would be drawn closer to Jesus and his heart of love for us, not be pushed away by judgment, condemnation, guilt and shame. When God reveals his truth to us, his goal is that it would result in conviction which leads to repentance (a turning around). Our enemy, Satan, preys on our weakness and attempts to turn God-initiated conviction into selfcondemnation, guilt, shame and hopelessness. In Christ and through his power we can resist the work of the devil and embrace Jesus truth. As we seek to respond to Jesus truth today I want to remind us once again of our identity. I d like you to read Genesis 1:27 aloud with me. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. You and I and every human being has been created in the image of God. It s our God-created identity. But it doesn t stop there. As followers of Jesus ones who have confessed our sin to Him and have received his forgiveness and the gift of his Holy Spirit living in us we have been adopted into his family. We are one with Christ. He is in our DNA. Listen to the Apostle Paul s words in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14-20: 4

5 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, The two will become one flesh. But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. I Corinthians 6:14-20 The Apostle Paul had a lot to say in the New Testament about our bodies being offered as sacrifices to God and being God s temple, because one of the prevalent ideas that he was frequently trying to correct was one that s also common in our day. The prevalent idea was that our spirits and our bodies are separated. The thinking goes, I can be spiritually connected with Jesus, but I can live with my body the way I please. What I do with my body doesn t affect my spirit. Christianity has always debunked that idea. After all, God thought so much of our bodies that He sent his Son, Jesus, to earth as a human being with a body. And Paul repeats the theme throughout the New Testament that our bodies are God s temple and that He lives in us. Our spirits are one with Christ, but it doesn t stop there our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. He lives in us. We re consecrated to Him. And that consecration isn t just a one-time occurrence something we do at the point of salvation and then move on it s ongoing. Listen to the Apostle Paul s words in Romans chapter 12 verses 1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 The act of worship that our Heavenly Father most desires isn t our singing or our reading of his Word or our prayers although all of these are important. The act of worship that He most desires is offering our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice. And that involves not conforming to the pattern of this world and being transformed by the renewing of our minds. As we resist conforming or as Eugene Peterson says in the Message Paraphrase, being squeezed into the world s mold, we will be able to hear and discern what God s will for us is. God provided a breakthrough for me in the area of my sexual purity when my children were young by helping me think outside of the immediacy of the moment to what I desired for me and for them in the future. My upbringing in a godly family and in church where God s 5

6 Word was taught enabled me to avoid much of sexual brokenness that so many people experience at a young age through no choice of their own. Temptation is always around, and as I grew into young adulthood, my challenge was disciplining my mind and my heart and my eyes in what I looked at and thought about. It was easy for me to be sloppy and undisciplined at times until I d realize I needed to confess my lack of discipline to Jesus and focus more intentionally on purity. I didn t have what I d call major struggles, but I wasn t always walking in the victory that was available to me as a follower of Jesus. One day as I was struggling with disciplining my mind and my heart and eyes, God spoke clearly to my heart. It wasn t audible, but I knew it was Him speaking. He asked me the question, Do want to continue to struggle with this stuff in a way that opens the door for your young children to have to battle this as they get older. Or do you want to walk in victory and lay the groundwork for them to experience freedom in this area? The answer to that was easy. I want my kids to be victorious and to walk in freedom I want them to experience Jesus full life. I, like many others, still battle temptation, but that was a breakthrough moment when God connected the dots for me and enabled me to align my behaviors at that time with what I wanted for my future and for the future of my kids. I want to close this message where we began with the question, Are the choices you re making today leading you to where you want to be tomorrow? Each of us has been made in God s image and if we ve taken the step of inviting Jesus into our lives and identify ourselves as his followers we ve been adopted into his family and our bodies are his temple. We re one with Him and that means that Christ is at the center of our sexuality. So, as we transition to a time of Communion a time for us to remember what Jesus did for us on the cross and to recommit ourselves to his Lordship in our lives I invite you to reflect on these questions, Are there discrepancies between what we say we desire in our heart and what we re actually doing with our lives? Is there alignment between our intentions and the direction we re headed? If not, what steps is the Holy Spirit asking you to take today? 6