Matthew 4:1-11
Genesis 2:5-17; 3:1-7
How God’s Rules on Sex Can Liberate You
Today we begin a new series of messages called the gospel in glee where we are looking at the surprising ways the good news speaks to and through the popular TV musical drama-comedy – glee. Honestly, the first thing I noticed about the show was its sexual content. I don’t know if I’m a prude or what, but it just seems to me that the show pushes the edges with human sexuality. Given the fact that today’s first lesson shows a naked Adam and Eve falling to temptation and the gospel shows Jesus overcoming temptation, I thought we’d just deal with it upfront. The Bible has much to say about sexuality that might surprise you.
You may have heard the story of the young couple that went to see a pastor some time ago about getting married in the church. During the course of their first meeting, the pastor asked the couple if they’d like a traditional or contemporary type of wedding. They opted for the contemporary wedding. About a week before the wedding, torrential rainstorms beat down upon the community. Flash flooding was everywhere. There was so much flooding that on the day of the wedding, the groom had to find a different route to the church. Once he parked his car, he saw that the parking lot was inches deep in water. So he rolled up his pants legs and darted inside, just in time for the best man to lead him to the altar where the pastor was waiting. Just before the bride made her entrance, the pastor said to the groom “Pull down your pants.” The groom thought for a moment and said “On second thought, I think we’ll go with the traditional wedding service.”
I don’t know if it was raining when God married Adam and Eve but I do know it had as much humor as any you’d see today. When talking about the pairing up of Adam and Eve, The Living Bible says in Genesis 2:22, 25
“Then God made . . . a woman and brought her to the man. ‘This is it!’ Adam exclaimed . . . The man and his wife were both naked, but neither was embarrassed or ashamed.”
You could also say that when Adam first laid eyes on Eve, he said “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” In other word, he liked what he saw.
As we consider the ways God’s rules about sex can liberate us, you need to understand why God gave the gift of sex in the first place. There are basically three reasons: First, to promote unity (Mt. 19:4); second, for enjoyment (Proverbs 5:18-19); and third to make kids (Genesis 1:28). It’s important to remember that sexuality is a part of the good creation. Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed.
But sadly, when Adam and Eve took the forbidden fruit in today’s first reading, sin entered the picture and the gift became a burden, clouded by embarrassment and shame. In our day, it is still clouded. Because of sin, our sexual lives are undermined and we are robbed of the beauty that God had envisioned for us from the start.
There are at least three things that turn the gift into a burden:
1) Unhealthy Attitudes: Our society is overwhelmed with unhealthy attitudes about sex. The two most obvious are the notion that sex is somehow dirty or sleazy. People grow up with the impression that physical intimacy is a guilty pleasure that needs to be repented of. Another unhealthy attitude is the focus on body parts.
2) Relationship Problems: A second factor that turns the gift of sex into a burden is the problems in a marriage. When communication has broken down between two lovers, physical intimacy does too. When husband and wife can’t see eye to eye on matters of daily life like money and kids and work and dishes, those all impact the magnetism between the two in the bed.
3) Physical Complications: A third factor that turns the gift into a burden is a person’s physical state. When your body aches with the flu the last thing you want to do is play a little “smacky-mouth.” When you are leaned over the toilet tossing last night’s half-priced burrito, you probably aren’t in the mood for much cuddling. Your physical condition, imperfect as it is, can cast a pall over your love making. And not just once in a while . . . if you are one of millions of Americans who have some form of chronic pain then it goes on and on.
What I want you to know this morning as we consider how God’s rules on sex can liberate you is that there is really only rule that matters. There is really only one thing you need to remember. Remember that there is only one who rules. Jesus rules. Surely you remember that Jesus Christ went to the cross taking all the brokenness and filth and burdens of the world with him. Surely you remember that Jesus Christ defeated sin, death and the devil. Today’s reading from Matthew with how Jesus overcame temptation in the wilderness gives you a sneak peak at Jesus’ ultimate victory. He’s in charge. All that falls short of the glory of God meets its match in Jesus Christ. It is overcome. It is redeemed. It is reconciled. It is renewed. Resurrection is not just about your soul. It is about your body and all that that means. There is a new creation – a new beginning with all that God made.
In season one of glee, there are two people who get a new beginning at a life of love and intimacy. One of the main characters is Fin, the high school quarterback and glee club member lead singer. His father died fighting in Iraq when he was a young boy. Since then, Fin’s mother has been alone. Another glee club character, Curt, has a single dad. The mom and dad meet, fall in love, and get married.
(To see a clip of the celebration click here.)
They get a new start. The Bible tells us that because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, we, too, get a new start. A new start not only with God, but a new start with each other. Friendships can be restored. Relationships between family members can be healed. Estranged business partners can embrace . . . all because the resurrection power.
The Bible says that with Christ the cloud of sin is lifted over our lives.
Romans 8:1
“Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.” (Message)
The power of Christ’s resurrection reclaims our sexual selves as well. Whereas before Christ, the “morning after” a night of love-making could be filled with shame and guilt, as one of God’s redeemed it no longer is. Because of Christ’s work for you on the cross, your sexuality wakes up to a different kind of morning.
As one of the redeemed you wake up after a night of intimacy with your beloved:
To a deep satisfaction.
You find that the love and intimacy you share is good and a part of God’s blessing. In fact, it is holy in a sense. In the Hebrews 13:4, the Bible says,
“Honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between a wife and husband.” (Message)
Did you hear that? The sacredness of sexual intimacy? As one of Christ’s redeemed, there is something pure and holy about what takes place between you and your beloved in the bed.
Not only that, God goes further. God get’s even more explicit. I wouldn’t have included this in the Bible personally, but God didn’t ask me.
In Proverbs 5:18-19 it says,
“Be happy, yes rejoice in your wife . . . Let her tender embrace satisfy you. Let her love alone fill you with delight.”
Look at that word “delight.” In Hebrew, that word is a rich and multilayered word. It has many meanings. So rich is the word in Hebrew that other Bible translations translate it as “ravished” (“Let her love alone ravish you.”), or “enraptured” (“Let her love alone enrapture you.”), or “intoxicated” (“Let her love alone intoxicate you.”). I even saw a translation that said “Let her love alone steal your senses.”
Pretty cool, huh? Redemption means a lot more than we usually think.
Because of Christ’s work for you on the cross, you wake up to a different kind of morning. You wake up to a morning of
unrestrained affection.
Because Christ held nothing back, we are freed from our hassles and hang-ups to give all of ourselves to our beloved. It is unbridled, wild, and free love. It’s the kind of affection that creates a safe place for sharing. To get a glimpse of this kind of sharing look at the Song of Solomon:
“The feelings I get when I see the high mountain ranges – stirrings of desire, longings for the heights – remind me of you, and I’m spoiled for anyone else!” (Song of Solomon 7:1-3)
Because of Christ’s work for you on the cross, you wake up to a different kind of morning. You wake up to a sense of completeness.
I don’t mean this in a sappy, sentimental, or sissy sort of way, like you would see in the movies. Remember Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry McGuire? He goes to Renee’ Zelwegger and says in his neediest voice “You complete me.” Just about makes me want to cry right now.
No I mean the kind of completion that only two lovers can experience who are redeemed by Christ and living in a life-long committed relationship. Because when Christians make love they are not out to “get some” but to give. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:3-5:
“The marriage bed must be a place of mutuality – the husband seeking to satisfy his wife, the wife seeking to satisfy her husband. Marriage is not a place to ‘stand up for your rights.’ Marriage is a decision to serve the other, whether in bed or out.” (Message)
Intimacy is about sharing and giving of yourself to another. When you embrace you lover intimately, you give yourself away. You share a part of your soul. And your partner does the same. As both give, both receive. This is what Jesus says when the two become one. Christ gives you as his own redeemed an intimacy that you cannot find anywhere else.
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