We’ve been doing a series called ‘The Jesus Way,’ looking at Jesus’ teachings in the sermon the mount in the Gospel of Matthew. I’m going to have my lovely wife come up to help describe Jesus’ new way of living with a drawing.
This is a timeline. It starts with Adam, the first human, and continues on. Adam – and all of his children – rebel against God. So this line is characterized by rebellion, not worshiping God, sin, the control of the devil. The Bible calls this realm the domain of darkness, the world, the flesh, or ‘this age.’
But 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to earth. He died as a substitute for everyone who would believe in him, came back to life, and now rules the world. He started what the Bible calls ‘the Kingdom of God.’ (new line above the old one) We enter into the Kingdom of God by trusting Jesus – and all those in Jesus’ Kingdom are forgiven for their sins and God has adopted them into his family. This timeline is the Kingdom of God. It’s characterized by forgiveness, living in obedience to Christ, eternal life, and the power of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of the age to come.
It’s in this timeline that Jesus introduced a new way to live – a new ethic. Theologians call it ‘the ethics of the Kingdom’ - or – what does it look like to live in the Kingdom of God? The answer to that question is the passage that we’ve been looking at – Jesus teaching us how to live.
You can see here that if you are in God’s Kingdom, you live in two worlds. We live in an in-between time. But one day, when Jesus returns to earth, he will do away with this world – and all that will remain is his Kingdom and those in it, in a new heavens and new earth. (only the top line remains)
What we’re looking at tonight is Jesus and sex. How Jesus’ reign affects sexual ethics.
There are probably several different reactions in this room right now. Some of you are thinking, great, this is a boy talk, I can tune out. In some ways it will be; but, there are unique ways that women typically lust that are different, and we’ll be looking at those. Some of you might be thinking ‘awkward!’ - and maybe it will be, but God talked about it, so we will too. Some of you might be hoping for a magic bullet to defeat sexual sin in your life. That’s not going to happen – but I do think this passage will give you some hope in fighting sin. And some of you might be thinking – oh great, another talk about lust. I’m hoping that you’ll see something new from the Scriptures – and worship Jesus as a result.
But this is indeed a pertinent topic! I want to give you a few stats as we begin to show that from multiple surveys done on these topics: 38% of all adults believe it’s morally acceptable to view porn. 59% of all adults believe it’s morally acceptable to have sexual fantasies. 70% of Christians struggle with porn use. 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women admitted to porn addiction. A vast majority of those surveyed – both men and women – married and unmarried – regularly masturbate. About 6% of men and 4% of women are attracted to people of the same gender.
As you can see – sex is a pertinent topic, and that’s why Jesus talked about it. Here’s where we’re going: first, we’re going to look at the sin of lust itself. Second, we’re going to look at the penalty for lust. And third, we’re going to look at Jesus’ power over lust. Open your bible if you have one to Matthew 5:27-30. I’m going to read that, and then we’re going to ask for God’s help.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me.
Father, this is such a sobering topic – and something that I think most of us in this room wrestle with, feel guilt about, sometimes feel defeated by. Make your word clear to us today. Glorify Christ in this room so that we can glorify him in our lives. It’s because of his bloody death that we can ask you for these things – Amen.
First, let’s look at the sin of lust. Jesus said in vv 27-28, “You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Where did they hear that adultery was wrong? God had given a moral law into the old world, to the Jews. When Jesus said, ‘but I say to you,’ he was asserting his authority – saying ‘I am King and am introducing the lifestyle appropriate to my Kingdom.’
Jesus pointed out that this sin has two parts – intent and enjoyment. He said, ‘everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent.’ We could also call these two parts seeking and longing, or looking and pleasure.
We’re going to think about the second first – the enjoyment part of this – the ‘with lustful intent’ part. Jesus’ calling this sin adultery means this: that this is enjoying someone in your thoughts in a way only suitable for their spouse. That could be longing for a relationship with that person that you don’t have. That could be sexual fantasy. It could be relational fantasy.
Why would enjoying someone that way be so bad? Two reasons.
First, he or she is not your spouse, and so in your heart, you’re breaking God’s commandment not to commit adultery. You’re wishing that you could have something God hasn’t given you – and therefore making yourself wiser than God. You know better.
Second, it’s wrong because that person typically becomes your god. God himself deserves to be the object of our desires – where we seek joy. He commands us, ‘delight yourself in the Lord,’ and ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and strength.’ And what often happens is you take a good thing – a relationship or sex – and you replace God with it. You REPLACE God.
That’s one part of this sin – the enjoyment phase. The other part is the intent, or the seeking of that enjoyment. Jesus said ‘everyone who looks.’ This is the seeking of the enjoyment that you can have.
This might include seeking porn, thinking about sex, not turning off the football game if you know you struggle with lust after the cheerleaders, watching other things on tv or movies that you know will give you sexual pleasure, tolerating conversations that result in lust, engaging in obsessive conversations about potential relationships, taking in tv or movies or magazines that result in longing for relationships you don’t have, several women I know have called bridal magazines emotional porn, looking for pictures on facebook to lust after, not averting your eyes from people you might lust after, obsessing about relationships which probably ends in talking incessantly about said relationships, falling asleep thinking about someone, waking up thinking about someone, doing things with a person you shouldn’t be doing, dating a person you shouldn’t be dating, going too far physically with someone, going as far as you can with someone without feeling bad as opposed to seeking to live according to what God wants, hanging out with someone that you know you shouldn’t date even though you’re essentially dating because it strokes your ego and gets you aroused…
And the seeking to lust can include many other things, some or many of which you do.
So we see that lust is two things – it’s intent and enjoyment, seeking and pleasure.
Second, let’s look at the penalty for lust. Jesus said in vv 28-29, “. And if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
The penalty for lust is hell. Does your eye cause you to sin? Your hand? No. What does? V. 28 says the lust is in your heart – which to an ancient Jew or Roman would’ve meant the core of your being – your soul. So what Jesus is saying is that if you lust, you earn hell. Seeking to enjoy someone you’re not married to in your head is worth being punished forever by God.
You have to take this seriously. I remember some guys joking about their sexual sin in an accountability group – a groupo where they were supposed to meet, confess, sin, and pray for each other –– ha ha, I screwed up again this week.
It’s NOT FUNNY. It is a heaven or hell issue.
Some of you take this subject lightly. You joke about it, think ‘well everyone else does it so it’s normal,’ your sin doesn’t bother you anymore, you think ‘well at least I’m not lusting after people of the same gender or at least I’m not addicted to porn or at least I’m not having sex in real life or whatever lie you tell yourself to make yourself sleep better at night.
Your fantasies and longings aren’t an insignificant matter of preference. This is a heaven and hell issue. The moment you start pining for someone or something with someone you earn damnation. The moment you choose to seek someone or something to long for that’s not within your marriage (which you don’t have) you earn hell forever.
But here’s the good news – that if you have decided to live your life for Jesus Christ as your Lord and King and God and Master – if you have decided to trust him for forgiveness rather than trying to convince yourself that you’re a good person, God the Father poured out all of his wrath against you on Jesus, God the Son in your place, for your sins – for your lust. And you stand forgiven forever before God.
And that’s our third point – how Jesus has power over lust. There are two ways.
First, he gets rid of the punishment we deserve. If we repent from our sins and trust in Jesus then God damned Jesus instead of you for your lust. Where do I get that? Because this text has a context – Jesus will soon tell his disciples that he will give his life as a ransom – or exchange – for many. He’ll give them a cup of wine and tell them that his blood will forgive many of their sins. And on the day when Jesus was crucified, he drank the cup of God’s wrath, and as all of God’s wrath fell on Jesus the sky went dark and the earth quaked and rocks shattered at the almighty and holy anger of God against sin – against your sin, as Jesus died in your place.
And this is so vitally important because some of you feel so much guilt over this issue. Don’t get me wrong – for those of you who aren’t taking this sin seriously, you need to feel the weight of the approaching fury of God over lust.
But some of you are genuinely seeking to follow Jesus – and you screw up. And you’re afraid God will punish you for it. You’re afraid you’re out of God’s favor. You’re afraid maybe you’re not a real Christian. You’re afraid God’s angry at you – that he won’t love you anymore. And you’re way too afraid to admit your sin to other people – there’s way too much shame.
Those of you who are feeling the weight of guilt and shame but who are truly following Jesus – this is true of you: Romans 5:8-9 – “God demonstrates his own love towards us in this – while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have been declared righteous through his blood.” Get this: God loved you while you were a sinner. God killed Jesus for you. And you have already been judged. The final judgment of the world has already happened in your case – when Jesus died in your place. There is no guilt you have before God, not now, not ever, because of his love, because of the death of Jesus.
So the first way Jesus has power over our lust problem is that he gets rid of our guilt. The second way Jesus has power over lust is this – he has cut out our hearts – the old part of us that was characterized by lusting, Jesus has killed in his death.
Romans 6:11 says this: “you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” In other words, when Christ died, if you’re in Christ through faith, you died. The part of you that belongs to this world died. It no longer has power over you. Your lustful heart is dead. And when Jesus rose from the dead, you were made alive. You now belong to the Kingdom. To the King. You love him, follow him, and respond to him – and he has given you the power to obey him. And the Bible calls that putting to death that which belongs to the old world.
In other words, the lustful part of you died in Jesus, you are given new life in Jesus, so kill the part of you that is acting like it belongs to the old world.
Here’s my point – some of you have struggled with lust and sexual sin, and you feel powerless. You feel like giving up. You need to hear this – the old you is dead, you are spiritually alive in Christ, and you can fight this sin, you can kill this sin.
And here’s a final charge to you –
-some of you may not have made a decision yet to follow Jesus, to learn to obey him. You are under God’s wrath. To you I would say, repent and believe in Jesus and you will receive forgiveness for all your sins – past, present, and future.
-all of us here struggle with sexual sin in different ways. We need to start admitting them to each other. Not to everyone. Find a few people. Your small group. Whatever. Begin to admit your struggles with each other.
-and our response has to be to help – to point people to Jesus – that he has done away with guilt and the power of sin over us – and that he is better than the pleasure gotten from disobeying him. We can give practical help, too – but any non-Christian can be disciplined to not look at porn or whatever. We need to help point each other to Jesus as the one who has defeated sin and death.
No comments:
Post a Comment