Straight Talk About Sex Series

Straight Talk About Real Life

Straight Talk About Sex

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. ~ I Thess. 4:3&7

We’ve been engaged in a series of discussions that we’ve entitled, “Straight Talk About Real Life.” As you can see from the graphic on the screen, we’ve had “Straight Talks” about problems, changes, relationships, forgiveness, stress and finances. We’ve had some good talks, haven’t we? Well, today, we’re going to have a discussion that everyone’s going to want to join in on – we’re going to talk about sex! And everyone feels comfortable talking about sex, right?!

It’s really ironic that our society is completely surrounded by sexual images, sexual talk, sexual humor and sexual education, but no one wants to talk about it. And when the church doesn’t talk about it, it’s more than irony; it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous for the church to keep mute about sex because if the church is silent, if God’s input about sexuality is not heard, then we are all left to fumble around on our own. If the church does not talk about sex then all our children are going to hear about it is what they pick up from Hollywood, their schools, and their equally misinformed and screwed up friends.

Sexuality is a critical issue in every life. Last week we talked about money being the number one cause of divorce in marriage – well, sex, with the bad information and twisted thinking that surrounds it in most of our minds, is the number two cause of failure in marriages. And it’s possible that the only thing more misunderstood than sex in our culture is what people think God thinks about sex. We have this idea that to God, sex is sin. It is bad. It is dirty. People think of the church as anti-sex.

Well, today we’re going look at some SURPRISING SCRIPTURAL SEXUAL STATEMENTS.

Surprise #1 – Sex is Good!

Listen to these poetic words:

6 The sweet, fragrant curves of your body, the soft, spiced contours of your flesh Invite me, and I come. I stay until dawn breathes its light and night slips away. 7 You’re beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless. 9 You’ve captured my heart, dear friend. You looked at me, and I fell in love. One look my way and I was hopelessly in love! 10 How beautiful your love, dear, dear friend - far more pleasing than a fine, rare wine, your fragrance more exotic than select spices. 11 The kisses of your lips are honey, my love, every syllable you speak a delicacy to savor. Your clothes smell like the wild outdoors, the ozone scent of high mountains. 12 Dear lover and friend, you’re a secret garden, a private and pure fountain. 13 Body and soul, you are paradise, a whole orchard of succulent fruits. (Song of Solomon chapter 4)

Wow! Who wrote such poetry? Keats? Byran? Shakespeare? No – those words of passionate sexuality were written by God! They were inspired by God Himself to be included in His book –the Bible! God does not look on sex as a sin, He looks on is as something good – in fact, God created sex, and proclaimed it good.

Back in Genesis, chapter 1, we read,

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Let’s just stop there for a moment. Those words “male and female” are sexual in nature. Some people have claimed that sex did not enter the picture until after sin entered the picture – some have even said that sex was the “forbidden fruit” that Adam and Eve partook in that caused brought sin on – but these two words show that sexuality was part of the original creative work of God. In fact, that is backed up by God’s first words to his human creation. Read on:

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it…”

Last week, I said that the first command God gave human beings was to work – to subdue the earth. But in reality, the first part of that the first command of God was to be fruitful and increase in number. Sexual intimacy was part of the creation from the very beginning. God created sex! And when you drop down to verse 31 you will see something interesting. After each day of creative work in Genesis chapter 1, God saw what he did, and said, “It is good.” But after creating human beings, and after giving this command to be sexual beings, God saw all that He had done and He proclaimed it “very good.”