"Sex"
By the Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
March 5, 2000
Sunrise Presbyterian Church
Miami Florida
Pittendreigh@aol.com
Exod 20:1-17
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
6 but showing love to a thousand of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
13 "You shall not murder.
14 "You shall not commit adultery.
15 "You shall not steal.
16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
(NIV)
I see by looking at the newsstands that it is time for Sports Illustrated’s annual swim suit issue.
I’ve never been quite clear about what ladies in swim suits have to do with football or baseball or hockey, but I’m not surprised that the editors of Sports Illustrated are aware that a simple swim suit issue can boost the sales of their magazine.
After all, sex fascinates us, obsesses us, and drives us. We are bombarded all the time by sexuality. And Wall Street learned a long time ago that sex is a good tool with which to sell.
If you can’t sell a car, put a sexy woman behind the wheel and make a commercial.
If you can’t sell a movie, put in a few nude scenes.
If you can’t sell a magazine, put out an annual swimsuit issue.
It is not unexpected for us to think so frequently and so much about sex. After all, we were created by God to be male or female -- one sex or the other.
Since our thoughts, our actions and our lives are so affected by sex, it is not surprising that God deals with sexual ethics in the Ten Commandments.
We have been studying the Ten Commandments since the new year began. We read in the Old Testament Book of Isaiah (40:8) "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
But not everyone agrees. Ted Turner, who founded CNN, told a group of newscasters several years ago, "The Ten Commandments are no longer relevant." He specifically pointed out his opinion that the commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery" was definitely archaic.
We do live in a very sexually confused society.
Almost everything in television, movies and music sends our teenagers a message that they need to become sexually active, and that if they are not, something is wrong with them. But then when they do become sexually active, families are distressed.
Family values have been central themes in political elections in recent years. It wasn’t too many years ago that Gary Hart’s presidential campaign came crashing down when the Miami Herald exposed his affair with Donna Rice. But now we have a President who openly admits that he has had a long history of adulterous affairs. One of these affairs was with a White House Intern. But on the other hand, let any CEO of any major corporation in this country have an affair with an office intern, and its a guarantee that the next issue of the newspaper will have articles about a major sexual harassment lawsuit.
Our society is constantly changing its mind on what is right and wrong. And nowhere is this more evident than in sexual ethics. But Isaiah says that "The word of our God stands forever."
God has never changed His mind on what he considers to be right and wrong in regard to our sexuality.
Now before we go any further, I need to stop here and to make a clarification. Any time the church takes a stand on sexual ethics, the world rises up and accuses us of being embarrassed by sex, offended by sex, naive about sex, and disgusted by sex.
But that is not the case.
The foundation for all Christian Ethics in regard to sexuality is the understanding that God created sex and that it, like all of God’s creations, is good and wonderful.
In the Book of Genesis, God creates the universe. And every time He creates something, He stands back and observes, "It is good."
God created the earth, and it was good.
God created light, and it was good.
God created plants and animals and all sorts of living creatures, and it was good.
God created us male and female, as one sex or the other, and like all of God’s creative activity, the creation of sexuality was good.
In the Book of Genesis, the very first command that God gives to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply. There may be artificial ways of insemination today, but back then everything was pretty basic and natural.
Biblically speaking, sex has always been considered a good creation of God’s plan. In the beginning, God designed human sexuality. When God created human life, he made us male and female and therefore created this thing we call sex. Sex was God’s idea.
Sex was not the idea of Hugh Hefner or Playboy magazine. Hollywood didn’t invent sex, they just exploit it. Sex was God’s idea. In the eyes of God, sex, like all of his creations, was a good idea.
In the Old Testament book of Song of Solomon, sexual love is the main theme of that book. In chapter 2, the speaker says, "Refresh me...for I am sick with love. O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!"
Throughout that book, the two main characters of the story (a man and woman), speak openly about their intimate love. At one point in the Song of Solomon, the Scripture speaks openly about the physical beauty of the human body (chapter 7):
"How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince’s daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman’s hands. Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies. Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle ... Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus ... Your hair is like royal tapestry; the king is held captive by its tresses. How beautiful you are and how pleasing, O love, with your delights! Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breasts like clusters of fruit. I said, "I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit."
Now that language is not the kind of language we would use today. Nobody in our culture would dare tell a woman that her waist is a mound of wheat or that her nose is like a tower. But if you look beyond the cultural differences, it becomes obvious that this is very complementary language for that time and in that culture. It is also very graphic and too the point, with a man talking about a woman’s breasts as fruit that he’d like to take hold of.
There are many instances in which the Bible speaks of the joys of sexual pleasure.
In Proverbs 5:18-19, the author writes, "Rejoice with the wife of your youth, as a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be exhilarated always with her love."
Sex was created by God and is therefore, like all other creations of his, good. The Bible affirms this.
Unfortunately, we do not always treat this gift of God as he intended. We have always been able to take every gift that God has ever given us and misuse it. Plants and chemicals can be used and combined in ways that make medicine. It is a good gift. Then again, we can misuse that gift by taking other plants and chemicals and making unhealthy drugs.
Throughout the Bible, Scripture refers to wine as something that is good. It is a blessing. Take that blessing and drink too much and the gift becomes a curse.
The gifts of knowledge and learning can enrich our lives for the better. But technology can also dehumanize our lives and pollute our world.
Any gift of God can be misused. Sex is a gift of God. It was created and designed by God. Like any other gift, it can also be misused.
In the New Testament book of Ephesians (4:19) there is a verse that perfectly describes our society in the year 2000 -- "Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more."
We’ve lost our sensitivity.
Nothing shocks us anymore.
We don’t stand up for old values.
And with the loss of that sensitivity, our society indulges in "every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more."
Paul, in his letter to the Thessalonians, says (1Thes 4:1-7) "It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God ... For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life."
We read in the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." In our society today, there is not much respect for that commandment.
In the plan of God, sexuality is good, and marriage is good, and the two belong together.
That is a radical statement to make, because it goes against everything that society teaches and practices. To prove that, just watch TV.
Television portrays most sexual activity as being outside of marriage. Married couples on TV have sexual relations, but rarely with each other. Soup operas and evening dramas all depict extramarital affairs. Whether we want to admit this or not, TV does portray at least part of the truth.
Think about our youth. In the United States, 8 out of 10 teenage boys and 7 out of 10 girls are sexually active. Society practices at a very young age, sex without marriage.
To say that sex and marriage go together is to suggest something that society does not teach or practice. But to say that sex and marriage go together is to suggest a biblically valid truth. In Hebrews 13, the author writes, "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."
God places importance on sexuality, just as we do. He also places importance on the ethical conduct of sexuality, which is something many of us fail to do. In the Ten Commandments, He calls for sexual purity within a marriage. Throughout Scripture, He calls for us to observe an ethical code of sexuality. He offers us a gift to enjoy, but He also is firm in His call for us to enjoy that gift within the context of marriage.
