Prepared by the Issues Committee of the Renewal Fellowship
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Sex is one topic that is guaranteed to catch our attention. Our society never seems to lose interest in it. Our popular magazines always carry articles on some aspect of sexuality; our television programmes and movies continually deal with sexual themes; our advertising exploits sex to sell everything from cars to deodorants. Our society is in no danger of downplaying the place of human sexuality.
Our society is confused, however, when it comes to the meaning and morality of sex. Mixed messages are given. For example, the flood of pornography encourages people to abandon self-control, yet we know that with AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases so prevalent we must not simply do as we please. We are warned about some of the dangers associated with sex, but given little encouragement to see morality as a viable answer.
For a generation or so our culture has been in the process of throwing off the restraints of the Christian moral code. Things once considered definitely wrong are now increasingly accepted. Thus, many teenagers have sexual relations, many couples live together before marriage, major church bodies debate the ordination of practising homosexuals, and the trend continues for many marriages and families to break up.
Christians are called to march to the beat of a different drummer. We are not to take our signals from the secular world. We are not to take our cues from newspaper advice columns or the latest movie. The written Word of God is to inform our decisions and guide our behaviour. Scripture clearly tells us to resist popular trends (Rom. 12:2) and be holy like God (I Pet 1:15,16). This certainly applies to the important area of sex. God has revealed his will for men and women in the Bible and that will is good, wise and relevant for our lives.
It is necessary to stress that the Christian view of sexuality is wonderfully positive. It is true that the church has not always emphasized the goodness and worth of sex. Some of the leaders of the church in the early centuries adopted a very negative attitude toward the body and towards sex and marriage. It has been a hard tradition to shake. But the Bible itself is positive when it teaches that God the Creator made us male and female and pronounced his creation of sexuality “very good” (Gen. 1:27,31).
Scripture teaches that God intended man and woman to unite in marriage and become “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). Genesis emphasizes the relationship between husband and wife as well as the importance of procreation (Gen. 2:18-25). The Lord Jesus Christ endorsed the teaching of the Old Testament (Mark 10:2-9) and (as the wedding service says) “hallowed” it by his “gracious presence at the marriage in Cana of Galilee.”
This fact of marriage being a “creation ordinance” is not always appreciated in our time. We need to declare that our sexuality is not some chance development that may well take a new focus in the future. It is the gracious design of our Creator. It is a precious gift to be received with thankfulness and used in accordance with the Creator’s instructions. Life-long faithfulness between one man and one woman in marriage is not some bourgeois strait-jacket: it is the liberating way to true fulfilment planned by our loving Father. Happy marriage is possible through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit who gives sufficient grace to those who desire to do the Father’s will.
In this context we can go on to say that anything less than this design of God falls short of his will for mankind. To disregard God’s revealed will in Scripture is to be guilty of sin. Sexual sins are not the only sins by any means; but they are sins none the less. And not only does sexual sin have spiritual consequences, but there are often serious emotional and physical consequences as well (1 Cor. 6:18).
In much contemporary discussion of sex there is little or no reference to the Fall of Man and the resulting corruption of human nature. It needs to be recognized that sin infects us all and twists and distorts our thinking and conduct. Whether we are Christians or non-Christians, married or single, sin has affected our lives, including our sexuality. We therefore find God’s will difficult to obey perfectly, and often the non-Christian finds God’s will repugnant.
Pre-marital sexual relations obviously violate God’s standards. Some of the privileges of marriage are enjoyed without accepting the responsibilities of deep commitment. The Bible calls this fornication and urges us to avoid it.
Extra-marital “affairs” also clearly go against God’s intention. There is a betraying of the trust the marriage involves. Not to mention the potential it has to destroy the relationship, adultery means missing the truest joy to be found in the intimacy of the faithful couple.
Homosexuality, of course, is a further instance of the effects of the Fall on human sexuality. Scripture clearly states that it is “unnatural” (Rom. 1:26,27). It runs contrary to the design of creation. It may be true that many do not choose to have this orientation, but it is undoubtedly true that all people are responsible for choosing or not choosing to obey God’s directives. A person with homosexual tendencies is called to refuse to indulge those tendencies by homosexual practice, just as a single heterosexual is called to the celibate, chaste life.
The church is to be faithful to the Word of God and that sometimes means bearing witness against things that are morally wrong. But it is always to put at the centre of its teaching the positive emphasis of Holy Scripture so we will not be known primarily for denouncing sexual sin. Rather we will be known for upholding the beautiful ideals of the Word of God regarding the love of man and women in marriage. Our desire will be to model truly Christian marriage and family life in the midst of a cynical, secular society.
Our concern will also be a pastoral one. As Christian people we will want to be compassionate and approachable so that those struggling with temptation or enmeshed in sinful lifestyles can feel that they can turn to us and that we will listen, pray and counsel wisely.
We will want to say to our culture, as well as to our church communities, that there is a better way — God’s way, that his service is perfect freedom; his commandments are not burdensome. He gives the ability to keep his commandments. And if we fail (as we all do in one way or another) there is forgiveness for all who trust the grace of Jesus Christ, and there is the possibility of beginning again to walk in his way.