Biblical Theology Of Sex And Sexuality Series

Sex and the City of God April 23, 2006

Biblical Theology of Sex and Sexuality

Show Nooma Flame video – 11 minutes

I just love Rob’s interpretation of the verse from Song of Songs: “You know whatever this is, It’s so good, it’s so beautiful that we can’t do anything to mess this up.”

I feel a little like that as I approach the topic of sex and sexuality in this sermon. The way that the Bible talks about it is so good, so beautiful, that I don’t want to say anything that will mess it up!

But as Rod said “maybe our culture has no clue what true sexuality really looks like. Maybe the world around us, when it comes to sex, just doesn’t get it.”

The problem is that the world around us doesn’t have a problem with spreading its ignorance everywhere. When it comes to sexuality, the media and the culture are downright evangelistic about promoting their lack of understanding.

So, at the risk of messing it up, I am going to try to give a whirlwind Biblical theology of Sex and Sexuality this morning.

Genesis 1:27-31

So God created human beings in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

In the second telling of the creation of humanity in Genesis 2:20-25, it says this;

“the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. …

… The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." …

… But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ’woman, ’

for she was taken out of man."

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

There is so much to say about these two passages, but one of the most important thing to know is that God created this physical world and he created us as physical beings and he declared it GOOD. Because we live in both the physical world, and the spiritual (or unseen) world, we can get confused that the physical world is not so good. I’ve even heard people say, “You know the spiritual world is even more real than the physical world!” as if there was a competition. They are both real, and the physical world is not the “b-side” to the spiritual world “a-side.” When Christ comes again, we will all be raised up in physical bodies and the Earth will be renews, and God will make his dwelling among us. We do not look forward to a spiritual eternal life, we look forward to a redeemed, physical, resurrected eternal life!

God creates us as physical beings, and it is good.

God creates us as gendered beings and it is good.

God creates us as sexual beings and it is good.

There is almost this thought that there was no sex in the Garden of Eden before the fall, but the command to “be fruitful and multiply” is a command that comes before Adam and Eve sin. It is difficult to obey that command without sexual relations.

God created us as sexual beings. As Nicky Gumbel says, he’s not looking down from heaven and saying “my, my, what will they think of next!”