1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Whenever I’m asked what I think poses the biggest threat to the church in America today, I barely have to pause. It’s sexual sin, hands down. In fact, I think that’s probably been the case ever since Adam and Eve were run out of Eden. The evidence is clear. In the Old Testament Book of Leviticus, the first 23 verses of chapter 18 consist of the LORD warning His people to avoid every manner of sexual sin you could possibly come up with from incest to bestiality to infidelity to – yes – homosexuality.
The fact that the LORD is compelled to call out these sins indicates that they’ve already become problematic. Think about that for a minute. When God bestowed the gift of sexual intimacy to Adam and Eve, a couple of things were made pretty clear. One, that sex was meant to be enjoyed by one man married to one woman. God didn’t give Adam and Eve a smorgasbord of different partners to experiment with. When He presents Eve to Adam, Adam’s response is, “At last!” In the moment he set eyes on Eve, Adam perceived what God’s plan was and he celebrated it.
How central was sexual intimacy to God’s creation? The first thing He tells Adam and Eve to do is “Be fruitful and multiply!”
Sadly, before that could happen Adam and Eve ushered sin into the world and with the advent of sin came Satan’s opportunity to exploit God’s most wonderful gift and pervert it into something it was never meant to be.
And the more the world was able to twist sexual intimacy into things it was never meant to be, the more people surrendered to it and celebrated it. Sexual immorality became a thing, and to this day it seems to have no limits. Churches are dividing over it; lives are being destroyed by it. Ministries have been demolished by it. What does that tell us?
It tells us that Satan has truly found our greatest weakness and with it, he has created the most insidious ways for exploiting it.
Internet pornography is a multi-billion-dollar business and it’s celebrated by many as an art form, an expression of free speech and a victimless stress reducer. Feminists celebrate the women who perform in porn as being strong and independent. Men rationalize their use of porn as being “better” than cheating on a spouse or engaging in high-risk sex with a prostitute.
The truth is that studies show that long term exposure to pornography alters the brain to the point where genuine intimacy becomes difficult if not impossible. As for those who star in the films, many – especially women – are being coerced into the business. They are subject to trafficking, violence, and addiction struggles.
Many of these women come from backgrounds of extreme abuse. But Satan has managed to bring pornography into the mainstream in such a way that not only are we desensitized to its harmful aspects, but we also feed our time and money into it.
Paul offers this possible diversion for us to consider when it comes to submitting to pornography or infidelity or promiscuity. He writes this in 1 Corinthians 6:15-17…
“Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.”
I wonder…does our perspective on sexual sin change when we think about how we’re exposing Jesus to it? What makes sexual sin unique is that it’s a sin against our own body which, if we claim to be saved, is a direct attack on the house of the Holy Spirit. Paul continues in verses 18-20.
“Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So, you must honor God with your body.”
As with any sin, we go to great lengths to rationalize and justify our disobedience. As an example, we see how the LGBTQ movement has become a powerhouse politically and spiritually. Major Christian denominations are dividing and setting aside God’s Word to accommodate, celebrate and place in church leadership those who are openly sinning against God though openly living the homosexual lifestyle. Churches that try to counter this movement through a loving use of God’s Word are turned away and tuned out for being hateful and judgmental.
The problem with that accusation is that God’s Word couldn’t be any clearer and we fall short in our calling anytime we allow any sinner to continue unabated without at least sharing gospel truth with them.
Listen. This isn’t about screeching at people who are mired in sexual immorality. Again, God’s Word isn’t a blunt force instrument. But the time has most certainly come for the Christian church and Christians everywhere to be bold in sharing the consequences that attach not just to sexual sin, but to any sin that creates a divide between us and Jesus.
What’s needed in these times are compassion, love, and empathy, all of enforced by the perfect, redemptive and restorative power of Jesus’ Gospel.