Restoring Foundational Truths Of Our Sexuality Series

Restoring Foundational Truths of Our Sexuality

Series: Restoring the Gift of Our Sexuality

Brad Bailey – March 22, 2009

Intro – This past week my wife was facilitating a group of mothers who have been discussing sexuality… and in this particular week… imparting healthy sexuality to children through developmental stages… very basic and foundational truths. Such things include affirming that our bodies are good… created by God. Our bodies are to be respected and some parts are more private. What was so striking is that so many healthy principles… foundational truths that we would never question as healthy… have become so distorted in our journey through life and into adulthood.

The truth of the matter is that we were created in the image of God… but now like a person with amnesia… and being shaped by world that is trying to write it’s own story apart from the true author. I believe we are a part of a very real story... a divine storyline. Life involves understanding that story. But human culture has been trying to write many other stories…scripts… that often prove tragic… or at least a confused mix of truth and lies.

Jesus invites us back into the very real storyline of the author. He confronts the false stories of culture… including religious culture… to proclaim the rule of the eternal story. The apostle Paul… when writing to those in Rome… one of the defining cultures of history… wrote of our need be renewed in the truth of the story.

Romans 12:2 (NLT) “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Romans 12:2 (MSG) “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

To reach what is good, perfect, and pleasing…including what is good, perfect, and pleasing (fulfilling) as sexual beings… involves transforming our perceptions. In this case it may mean deciding that the movies and magazines really can’t tell us who we really are.

So we are going to conclude considering some of the myths that God wants us to transform into truth…some foundational truths.

This first myth is really one that comes out of religious culture…

Myth 1 – Followers of Jesus should focus on calling culture to line up with God’s design.

We’ve addressed many issues regarding the confusion that dominates sexuality within our culture. But I want to be clear that the primary purpose of this series isn’t to add another voice that is directed at the larger culture… wagging it’s finger. The tragedy is that organized religion… it often colluded in a false sense of power and control and takes on a role as the police… or

watchdog… of culture. The result is that while many do offer some inspiring distinction… we have so underestimated our own challenges. Often we really haven’t embodied God’s story… and so we become actors. That is what the root meaning of the word ‘hypocrite’ most literally means… an actor… and voice of hypocrites… offers little hope for any.

Jesus spoke very pointedly to the religious leaders that it’s vain to just wash the outside of the cup… we need to change the inside. All change is rooted in discovering and developing something new within. His could describe the what was wrong and said ‘but you be different…’ ‘let them see your good works.’ As some would phrase today… we need to become the change that we seek. We need to be those who are open to being real about our desires… our needs… and God’s design and desire…

Truth - Our primary witness lies in personally discovering and developing a healthy God-centered relationship with our own sexuality.

There is certainly a vital role to play in interpreting others people’s experiences and longings and choices… but it we can’t bypass our own integrity… our own process. Integrity shares the same root meaning as the word integration. It means mining the gap between what we believe and what we do. As Eric Sandras describes, ‘Our most important goal is to live a life consistent with what we profess to believe." The tension for any of us as humans occurs when we are professing one thing and living another.

Myth 2– Our bodies are enemies to our spiritual lives.

This may be experienced and embraced in varying degrees… for some… simply a battle between some desires… for some it leads to a very deep sense of shame…that our bodies themselves are dirty and to be disdained. We must stop and hear the Psalmist…