Understanding God's Design for Sexuality and Relationships
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And it's exactly because of that that Paul writes what he does to a broken and yet redeemed church. A church in a very different time and place, but so very much like us. And so with all of that, I think it's crucial that we come to this topic in a prayerful manner. So would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have given us the gift of yourself and that it matters in the lives that we live in the here and now. [00:08:24] (37 seconds)
Throughout the first six chapters, Paul has said, remember who you are and whose you are. Remember who you were and what you have become. Remember that true wisdom comes from God, not from man. You say you're wise, Corinthians, but you have not had the sense, you spiritual people, to kick out the guy carrying on with his splendid laws and restra Lokal. What y 'all have tried? You won't discipline him, but you will take your trivial matters before a corrupt Roman law court. How is that wisdom? [00:10:48] (37 seconds)
Sin, that rebellion against God, that spiritual thing, has physical consequences. Consequences that go to the heart of our sexuality. And the physical world and the spiritual world, and the spiritual world, and the spiritual world, from creation, to Paul, to today, to judgment day, are connected. And the picture that sometimes we have in our minds of the afterlife as some floated on clouds, disembodied plane, harps, kind of universe is not the picture that Christianity paints. It is a physical reality. [00:16:26] (40 seconds)
Paul is saying, married people, you should be having sex, and probably more than you are right now. And Paul gives us two interconnected reasons for this. And the first is what I would call the presenting issue, the obvious issue, the physical one that connects directly to last week. Paul wants to stop or at least reduce our propensity towards running toward bad sex instead of away from it. So Paul's focus is on a catastrophe mitigated. Sex in marriage reduces temptations. [00:17:25] (41 seconds)
And the point being is that immorality is a very significant issue in the Corinthian church. And I would add, the modern 21st century Western church. And so the focus of his attention is on that. And it's not that the questions that we have, or the things that we wish Paul would say in this passage don't matter. It's that they are not the point of immediate concern for Paul at this moment. [00:21:02] (26 seconds)
Paul is making a radical move here he is leveling the playing field and recognizing women's status he is showing in this one short verse that christianity presents a new humanity a fully realized humanity to the world verses three and four far from being a license to demand or to abuse are actually a safeguard against it in marriage we are not supposed to demand but to give to one another. [00:29:36] (34 seconds)
Paul's concern throughout this passage is avoiding sexual sin no matter who we are or what our calling is. All of us, single or not, are to live our callings as Christians in our world. And for those of us who are married, our calling, our covenant, our challenge, and our joy is sex and marriage. It is also a means that God uses to keep us from sexual harm. It's a gift we were made for and was made for us. [00:37:28] (31 seconds)
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