Guardrails:flee Don't Flirt

Title: Flee Don’t Flirt

Place: BLCC

Date: 11/5/17

Text: 1 Corinthians 6.18-20

CT: We are to honor God with our bodies.

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FAS: In Spanish, it's called el camino de la muerte, which translated into English means "road of death." In 1995, the Inter-American Development Bank called it the "world's most dangerous road."

Found in Bolivia, this dirt and rock route stretches 38 to 43 miles, depending on the source, and descends from La Paz (at 12,000 feet) down to the beautiful rain forest town of Coroico at the edge of the basin of the Amazon River.

Why so dangerous? An average of 26 vehicles fall off this road each year; and 200 to 300 people lose their lives on it annually. Steep hillsides, cliffs, and drop offs with no guardrails present hazards, and the road in places has room for only one vehicle. Rain and fog complicate the trip, along with muddy surfaces and loose rocks sliding down hillsides. On July 24, 1983, over 100 passengers were killed when a bus veered over the edge and crashed into a canyon.

But, despite the danger, the road has become an increasingly popular tourist attraction since the early 1990s.

Graham Gori, "Thrills on the Highway of Death," Associated Press (11-24-02)

Are we drawn to the dangerous in our lives? Do we walk as close to the edge as possible? Do we need guardrails to keep us in line with where we ought to go?

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We have been doing a study on guardrails in our Sunday school class. Guardrails are important. They keep us from going too far and being hurt. We are familiar with the guardrails on the roads but what about in our lives. We need guardrails to keep us from going too far in our morality, our finances and any other aspect of our life. A guardrail is a personal boundary that stops us from going too far.

Last time I preached I dealt with money. We cannot let our money or our stuff master us. We learned we are to give, save and live. We give 10 % to church, save 10 % and live on the last 80 %. If you are a Christian we are to do this out of obedience to God.

The thing is culture baits us to go as far as we want to and then chastises and punishes us when we go too far. Most of our regrets come from sex or money. When people come to me for help it is usually about sex or money. Today I am going to deal with sexual immorality.

In life we are baited to live as close as we can to the edge. We need guardrails that trigger red flags and whistles to keep us from going too far in the wrong direction that would lead to our demise. Especially in our moral life.

What we are going to look at today is important. If we as a culture would deal with this issue properly it would affect every issue in life. Little boys and girls would be put to bed by mommy and daddy every night and not be split up and shared every other weekend. Every area of our life that there is a desire we need guardrails but in our sexual and intimate relations we need steel clad guardrails. You can recover from just about any other disaster in your life. You can recover from bankruptcy. You can recover from failing out of school or being fired. But, in our sexual tendencies there is a difference.

There is something we all know even if we don’t know how to talk about it. Sex is not just physical. When you step across the line for sexual relations we carry the consequences on us for the rest of our lives. We know better but we don’t always do better. In this area we need strong guardrails. You may think I am being too conservative but hold on. Lets go to scripture and see what God has to say about this. Our culture would be better off. I would be better off. We all would be better off if we paid close attention to this scripture and followed what it said. [Screen 3]

1 Corinthians 6.18, Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

It says flee. It doesn’t say just hang on the edge. It says to stay away from sexual immorality at all cost. You may say oh my gosh, this is just what I would expect you to say. But hold on. If you were married wouldn’t you want your spouse to do this? Wouldn’t you want your kids to do this? This is what you want your little sister to do. This is what you want your best friends to do. This is what you want all the people you care about to do. You are just not so sure about yourself. When we look at others we know the trouble they could be headed for. But what about yourself, do you flee or do you flirt.