Garry spoke from Ps 119:129-136 this morning on the pre-eminence of God’s Word. Every word from God is a miracle word, something to marvel and wonder at; we stand in awe at all God says. Luke 4:22 shows us that people were constantly amazed by the things Jesus said – to the extent that when the temple guards were sent to arrest Him (John 7:46-47), they came back empty-handed, as it were, because ‘no man ever spoke the way this man does.’ God’s words are truly astounding.

God’s words are powerful words. He spoke and creation came into being (Gen 1), light overwhelming darkness. Moreover, the whole universe is sustained by His powerful word (Heb 1:3). God’s word is living and active (Heb 4:12). When Jesus spoke words of healing, people were healed; when He called forth the dead, they were raised to life. God’s word is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16), carrying with it revelation and bringing wisdom to all who live by it.

God’s word needs to enter our lives and become part of the very fabric of the way we live. (Ps 40:7-8) We should not let it go in one ear and out the other, but should allow it to dwell within us, taking up residence, having the run of the house (see Col 3:15-16). It has authority over us.

When Jesus told Peter to let down the nets in a certain place, that made no sense to Peter all, but he responded in faith and obedience (Luke 5:4-5). We need to remember that God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s wisdom, and therefore we have to obey God’s word whether it makes sense to us or not!

Ps 119:136 reminds us that people have always ignored God’s word, a fact which causes us distress. Ps 51:9-13 reflects how David learned from his sin and wanted to teach others God’s word after he was restored. We all need to share what we have received from God’s word, allowing the streams of life to flow out from us. We do this by living according to the word (2 Cor 3:2) and speaking God’s word to all who ask us to give a reason for the hope we have (1 Pet 3:15). This should be done with gentleness and respect, with the utmost courtesy and meekness (we’re not to be pushy salesmen for God!) There is both a great ignorance of and animosity towards God’s word in today’s society, but as we prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to help us to sow the seed of God’s word in people’s lives, we can be confident that God will water that seed and make it grow, bringing forth a harvest in due time.

Words and names are incredibly important. They define objects for us; they help us to distinguish one thing from another. As someone who has spent many years learning other languages, I have a deep respect for and love of words. I simply cannot imagine a world without words. I adore learning new words; I love discovering the etymology of words; I relish using my knowledge of language and languages to infer meaning, to work out from context and gist what is being meant. One of my greatest joys involves games and puzzles that use words: Scrabble, Boggle, Upwords are all games I love. It thrills me to the core that God actually spoke creation into being and that Jesus is described as ‘the Word’ (John 1:1).

One of the ways that we are lured into sin by the enemy is by a redefinition of words, however. This happens gradually, so slowly that we do not notice what is happening. C. S. Lewis wrote about how a negative term replaces a positive one in people’s views (‘unselfishness’ being named as the highest of virtues rather than ‘love’, for example, which seems initially innocuous); he also wrote about how jargon can be very effective in deceiving us from the true meaning of what we are told (see ‘The Screwtape Letters’).

When it comes to sexual immorality, by and large the English language no longer uses words which for centuries have described sexual sin: fornication, adultery, homosexual practice, for example. Think of how these things are described nowadays: ‘sex outside of marriage’, ‘extramarital sex,’ ‘gay sex’. For many, this shift in language is simply a sign that language evolves; words change meaning regularly and that’s all there is to it. The new words still describe the same thing, so what’s the problem?

I think sometimes we change the words we use because we don’t like other words and want to distance ourselves from the stigma those words carry. Eugene Peterson says “We cannot be too careful about the words we use; we start out using them and they end up using us.” (Eugene Peterson, ‘Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places’) Certainly, there is a sense in which we always have to be careful with our definition of words: what you understand by ‘love’ may well not be what I understand by it, let alone what God means by the word! But I think that when we change the words we use to sound less severe, sometimes that is the first step on a slippery slope to acceptance not only of the word but of the practice. If something sounds less offensive, maybe we find it easier to justify behaviour that we would otherwise repudiate? If we want to shock and offend people, we choose more pejorative language to describe the same thing. Words have an emotive power we often do not acknowledge.

One thing is clear. Actions are the end product, not the start. Jesus said ‘out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander’ (Matt 18:15) – the thoughts coming before the actions. We need to be careful what we watch, listen to, think and say, for all these things will have a powerful effect on what we do. Paul urges us to ‘flee from sexual immorality.’ (1 Cor 6:18) That means being ruthless with ourselves and never underestimating our capacity to deceive ourselves (Jer 17:9-10), recognising that if we think we’re standing firm, we need to be careful that we don’t fall! (1 Cor 10:12) That ‘harmless attraction’, that ‘casual flirting’, may not be as harmless or casual as we like to pretend. As Casting Crowns sing in their haunting song ‘Slow Fade,’ ‘The journey from your mind to your hands is shorter than you’re thinking.’ Because of this we need to be careful, for thoughts invade, choices are made, but a price will always have to be paid when we give ourselves away…

Quite where the view came from that Christians don’t know anything about sex is a mystery, given that the Bible is not at all reticent in talking about this subject! The Song of Songs is an erotic love poem; there are numerous narratives about love, betrothal, marriage, adultery, rape and prostitution in the Old Testament and both Jesus and other New Testament writers address the subject (see Matthew 19:1-12, Hebrews 13:4, Eph 5:21-31, 1 Cor 5-7, 1 Pet 3:1-7, to name just a few passages).

It is fashionable nowadays to redefine our understanding of sex as though we have the last word on the subject and all who have gone before us knew nothing of jealousy, passion, lust, sacrificial love or undying commitment. Such an arrogant and short-term view is detrimental to us, for we can learn much from those who have gone before us, in this area as in so many others.

“Have you not read,” says Jesus, “that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?'” (Matthew 19:4-5; quoting from Genesis 1:27, 2:24). In this passage Scripture clearly states that sex is for marriage and marriage is for sex. Sex is not just a pleasurable way of expressing mutual love. It’s a question of two people becoming one flesh.

The Biblical view of sex is that it is God’s gift to us, His idea, and this gift is exclusively for marriage. It is:

• created by God
• intended to be part of a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, a commitment publicly recognised through marriage
• a union dissolved only through death
• a picture of God’s relationship with humanity

‘Chastity before marriage, faithfulness within marriage’ is the Biblical way of living. This ideal may well not always occur and Jesus demonstrates to us the power of forgiveness (see John 8:1-11). His acceptance of those who had not lived sexually pure lives (as we read in Luke 7:36-50) shows us that there is no room for rejection of anyone; He is able to forgive, cleanse and restore, even when we stumble and fall; we must not fall under the devil’s lie that we are condemned because of our sin, for repentance will always bring us back to the mercy and grace of God. Nonetheless, Christians are called to ‘walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’ (Eph 5:2), which involves a life of holiness (1 Pet 1:15-16), recognising that our whole lives belong to God who has redeemed us at the price of Christ’s blood (1 Cor 6:19-20). Paul is adamant that we must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. (Eph 4:17) He goes on to say ‘You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.’ (Eph 4:22-24) We are called to ‘walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh’ (Gal 5:16), called to a completely different standard of living than that practised by the rest of the world.

Difficult? Definitely. Impossible? Not if the Spirit of God lives in us.

Modern society laughs at the Biblical attitude to sex. Marilyn Monroe said, ‘Sex is part of nature. I go along with nature’, and Western culture in particular endorses the view that there are no longer any moral absolutes to follow regarding sexual behaviour. Robert Heinlein’s view that ‘sex without love is merely healthy exercise’ might not be everyone’s opinion, but the prevailing attitude is that we are free to do as we please and that sex is an appetite, just like eating or drinking. Cohabitation (living together without marriage) is the new family norm in the UK (‘the fastest growing family type’, according to the Office for National Statistics[1], with 2,893,000 heterosexual couples recorded as living together in the UK in the 2012 census compared to 1,459,000 in 1996[2].) How, then, can Christians swim against this tide? Why do we even try?

Paul’s teaching in 1 Cor 6:12-20 is fundamental to the traditional Christian view of sex. Sex is a gift from God, but as the giver of all gifts, He also has the right to set the boundaries for it. When God created the first man, Adam, and brought to him the first woman, Eve, He joined them together in marriage and pronounced it very good (see Gen 1:31, Gen 2:18, Gen 2:24). Sex in the Bible always comes back to this creation account (see also Matt 19:6, Mark 10:8). Paul, in warning the Corinthians against sexual immorality, does not cite sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, or unwanted pregnancies as reasons to refrain from sex outside of marriage (valid though these reasons may be). Instead, he refers to the sacredness of sex within marriage (as the Message version puts it, ‘There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact’) and reminds the Corinthians that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, indwelt by God Himself, and therefore we have a duty, a responsibility and an obligation to live in such a way as honours and pleases God. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

Sex outside of marriage is not part of God’s best for us. The intimacy of sex reflects the intimacy of our relationship with God (see Eph 5:21-31) and those who wish to live holy lives, set apart for God, will not be swayed by today’s casual attitude to sex or indeed by today’s indifference to God’s rules. They will want, ultimately, to live in a way that pleases the Lord (see Eph 5:10). In many respects, things have not really changed at all, for Corinth was, in the words of Warren Wiersbe, ‘a permissive society with a philosophy similar to that which the world has today.’ (‘Be Wise’, P 78) The French proverb ‘Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’ is true; things may well change in all kinds of ways, but actually, there’s very little change at all. Sinful people always want to do things their own way; the way of abstinence, self-denial and self-sacrifice is anathema to the natural mind (see 1 Cor 2:13-16). Only as we allow Christ to dwell in us and the fruit of the Spirit to grow within us can we receive the power to live holy lives, lives of sexual purity and not sexual immorality.

[1] http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-demography/families-and-households/2012/cohabitation-rpt.html

[2] http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-demography/families-and-households/2012/cohabitation-rpt.html#tab-Opposite-and-same-sex-cohabitation

Khloe Kardashian is reputed to have said ‘I went to Catholic school and they basically just said don’t have sex, but would never explain anything.’  The Bible is explicit in urging us to flee from sexual immorality (1 Cor 6:13, 18, Acts 15:20, 1 Cor 10:8, Eph 5:3, Col 3:5, 1 Thess 4:3), but it also explains the reasons behind this and is not shy in talking about sex.

Today’s society may well seem obsessed about sex, but this is no recent phenomenon; Corinth was in a similar position, declaring freedom from rules and a hedonistic lifestyle (‘I have the right to do anything’ (1 Cor 6:12)) and the fact that sex was merely a physical pleasure like eating (1 Cor 6:13). Paul refutes both arguments in 1 Cor 6:12-20, going back to God’s original purpose in creating male and female and arguing that as the One who created sex, He has the right to establish the rules for sex as well. Gen 2:24 is the key passage in showing us that sex is about more than physical union; it involves a ‘joining together’ (the word means ‘to glue’ or ‘cement’) which is both spiritual and physical, mirroring the relationship between God and people (see Ezek 23 & Rev 21 for the way God describes His union with people as marriage and spiritual idolatry as adultery; see also Eph 5:23-31 for Paul’s connection between earthly marriage and the church’s relationship as bride with Christ as bridegroom.)

Sexual union is not just about fulfilling a physical appetite. ‘There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact.’ (1 Cor 6:18, The Message) No matter how determined people are today to treat sex as a physical function or bodily appetite (the Marquis de Sade, whose contribution to the English language through the word sadism is hardly a recommendation for his views, said ‘Sex is as important as eating or drinking and we ought to allow the one appetite to be satisfied with as little restraint or false modesty as the other’), Paul teaches that sexual immorality cannot be equated with these things, but involves a spiritual oneness and goes on to declare that for the believer, our bodies are vitally important. Leon Morris says ‘The body cannot be disregarded as unimportant. The body is for the Lord. It is the instrument wherein a man serves God. It is the means by which man glorifies God.’ (Commentary on 1 Corinthians, P 100) Since God raised Christ’s body from the dead (a fact Paul will elaborate on in 1 Corinthians 15), we cannot treat our bodies as unimportant but as holy temples in which God the Holy Spirit dwells (1 Cor 6:19-20). Our bodies and whole lives belong to God, and therefore we have an obligation to flee from sexual immorality.

There’s also a wealth of online material suitable for use with children. Bible Society’s ‘Bible Bedtime’ encourages parents to read Bible stories to their children; the Bible apps tell fun, colourful cartoon Bible stories, complete with downloadable, printable images from the narratives.

‘The Bible For Kids’ is a selection of animated Bible stories, with games and activities to help children remember the story. Children can read along with the stories, thus fostering the skill of reading aloud.

‘David vs Goliath – A Righteous Tale’ won last year’s Premier Digital award and offers a modern, child-friendly retelling of the story of David and Goliath (aimed at 7-11 year olds), including activities and online games.

‘Guardians of Ancora’ is a tablet game from Scripture Union aimed at 8-11 year olds which offers an interactive experience of the Bible. New stories are regularly added; this app is entirely free to download.

If teaching children God’s word is the aim, there are a number of useful websites which have games, activities and printable resources. ‘Incredible Islands’ has lessons suitable for use in church services or at home, with each lesson linking to more than 100 online games and activities (charges apply.) ‘Bible Buddies’ is a useful tool providing cut-out figures and backdrops to bring Bible stories to life. And for those of you who love Lego, ‘The Brick Testament’ brings Bible stories to life using Lego characters!

With such a plethora of resources available to us, we have no excuse for not engaging with the Bible. The youngest to the oldest can find something to engage us in such a variety of media that we can all find ways of reading the Bible. God’s Word is not chained; in our country, we have so many resources freely available to us that we should indeed be able to read, learn and inwardly digest this precious book. All that is required is our willingness to immerse ourselves in the world of the Bible.