Last night, we had our second straight church conversation, this one about our bylaws. Once again, I was thanking God for the way we conducted ourselves in this important family discussion, as we covered some difficult issues.
I wanted to take some time this afternoon and sit down to write out for you some of my personal and pastoral thoughts about the arena of human sexuality.
As you may or may not know, I set up a side ministry while out in California (trainyourselfministry.com) which focuses on three areas: what I call ‘purity training’ (or biblical sexual ethics), then spiritual disciplines and cultural apologetics. The sexual ethics piece is the area I’m most concerned about, which is why I wrote out an entire 40-day devotional on finding sexual wholeness (“Train Yourself To Be Godly: A 40 Day Journey Toward Sexual Wholeness.”)
In it, I share how the Lord brought me out of real trouble I was in with pornography, and the principles I teach in the book have been a great help to a number of people struggling with all manners of sexual brokenness.
And sexual brokenness and confusion is all around us, outside and inside the church.
This is why there needs to be more talking in church about God’s thinking on our sexuality, not less. (See my article, 5 Reasons Why Your Church Should Offer Regular Purity Training.) But for a church to do this well, there needs to be agreement in the congregation around a number of ideas and observations. Hang with me as I break these out:
1. As in all things, the truth revealed in God’s Word is the foundation on which we build our lives. And where culture and Scripture deviate, we stand on Scripture.
2. The Bible is consistently, astonishingly clear on God’s will for our sexuality. It wastes no time in telling us that God divided the human race into two genders, “male and female”, (Genesis 1:27), and that the only way male and female are to express their sexual nature without sin and shame is in marriage as husband and wife (Genesis 2:24-25).
In answering a question about divorce, Jesus pointed to these two passages as authoritative, and sufficient for deriving our full understanding of proper sexual behavior (Matthew 19:2-6). Thankfully, the Bible expands well beyond these two verses in speaking of our sexuality. Now that we have taught the process for “thinking theologically”, I commend to you to work of discerning the Bible’s “theology of sexuality”. You’ll discover that from Genesis to Revelation, it is abundant and consistent in what it teaches.
3. God’s laws are given us for our well-being and good. The Bible speaks the most about those areas which have the greatest power to bless – or curse – our lives. It’s God’s way of protecting us, and giving us the greatest chance at experiencing a good life (Deuteronomy 4:40; 6:24;10:13.) Sin is not a behavior God randomly decides to outlaw. It’s his way of warning us to stay clear of a path that will not lead to life. It may seem just fine for a season, but sooner or later, it will betray us and lead to emptiness, and worse.
4. For this reason, it is the very height of compassion and love to speak clearly to our generation about God’s will for our sexuality. Jesus beautifully modeled how to do this in John 8 when he deals with a women caught in adultery (John 8:3-11). Simultaneously, he affirms both the truthfulness of God’s will and word (“Go and sin no more”), along with the value and worth of her own life, broken as it is (“Neither do I condemn you”.)
5. Sadly, the Church at large is in part responsible for the sexual chaos of our time, by treating sexuality as either a taboo subject (which we won’t talk about), or a shameful subject (which when we talk about it, will be in the most negative and judgmental of tones.) And all this about one of the greatest gifts that God has given humanity.
6. Our culture has turned swiftly and radically away from biblical sexual ethics. Though it seems all of a sudden (gay marriage was legalized in just 2015), it is the outcome of a slow and steady cultural rejection of classical Christian beliefs.
7. Something more sinister is happening that should concern any Christian, parent or citizen who still believes that the classical understanding of sexuality is best for the healthy ordering of society. Empowered by the 2015 ruling, political proponents of this radical (largely pagan) view of human sexuality, have embarked on an organized, determined assault on the classical values in all levels of society – government, workplace, schools, churches. People are losing their jobs and livelihoods, churches and businesses are being sued out of existence, legislation is being advocated to erase all dissent, simply because people will not fall in line with the tenets of this new and reckless ideology.
8. The more people remain silent and fail to defend classical, biblical sexual ethics in the public square, the larger the moral vacuum becomes, and the more people (especially the young) experiment with, then get caught in, sexual ideas and practices that will lead to great harm.
9. As Christians we must distinguish between these two sets of people: the militant, political advocates for this ideology, and the countless many who find their way lost in it – those whom Jonah observed, don’t know their right hand from their left, morally speaking, and need pity (Jonah 4:11); those whom Jesus observed were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and need compassion (Matthew 9:36).
10. If we can agree on these points, then we as a congregation will be better able to discern a missional strategy, that can help us with our doctrinal statements, messaging and outreach to our community.
I hope you can see then that the question is not: Do we need a formal “Statement of Human Sexuality”? This is the cultural issue of our time. And it’s focused like a laser on one of the Bible’s most essential teachings.
Some have argued that this area of doctrine pertains to a non-essential area. But we’re discussing something that strikes at the very heart of the Christian doctrine of humanity (male and female, it doesn’t get more bottom-line than this), and which attempts to sever the very nerve of our understanding of the authority of Christ and Scripture at the same time.
The question is rather, What sort of statement do we need? And where do we place it?
We continue to welcome your feedback on these questions, and your prayers as we move forward.
And if you think I’m off in any of these observations I’ve shared, I welcome a continued dialogue.
Peace in Christ,
Pastor Bear