In the wake of the sexual revolution in the United States, the attack on the Christian worldview has never been more pressing than in our cultural moment. What was once considered to be moral has now become taboo. In fact, Christians know all too well that our culture looks condescendingly upon what the Scriptures have to say about sex. What the Bible says is beautiful, good, holy, and pure; culture says is legalistic, repressive, and condemning. Sadly, far too many individuals who claim the name of Jesus have succumbed to the secular worldview on sex and sexuality; in fact, mainline protestant denominations have given themselves over to the lies of the world, sacrificing the authority and power of the word of God to worship that which has been created. Now, more than ever, we as Christ followers must not only cling to the Scriptures as the source of all morality, goodness, and ultimate authority, but we must live out God’s good plan for sex and sexuality as a testimony to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, among the widespread sexual sin in our culture, clarity and truth need to be brought to the sins of sex outside of marriage, pornography, and homosexuality.
The lies surrounding sex in our culture are the same lies Satan told Eve in the garden: namely, that God is withholding good from us. To step outside of God’s design for sex is to believe that the Holy God of the universe does not know what is best, is keeping us from the best, and therefore, we must find what is best for ourselves. Let us be clear: God is the designer of sex. Sex is a good, wonderful, and divine gift in the confines of marriage between one man and one woman. Any sexual activity outside of this is sinful, as it was not and is not the perfect plan God has for us. Meaning, any form of pre-marital sex or extra-marital sex of any kind is wrong and sinful according to Scripture. This is a bold claim today, but this is the same understanding of sex to which Christians have held for thousands of years. Western culture champions sexual liberation from the chains of our Christian heritage, but in reality, this only leads to pain, brokenness, and deeper sin in our lives. There is a reason why premarital and extramarital sex leaves a void in the heart and soul of man: while it can gratify the flesh for a brief period of time, the soul is damaged because sexual acts unify the man and the woman involved. When sex happens outside of marriage, it leaves the heart, soul, and mind hurt, delicate, and damaged. God has designed sex to unify a man and woman in their marriage, growing them closer to each other, and glorifying Him in the process. Sex is more divine than most realize; let us, as followers of Jesus, reclaim the glory and divine purposes of sex.
In order to reclaim the glory of sex as God has ordained, we must recapture the minds of men. Poll after poll indicates that upwards of 90% of men have watched pornography, and 30-60% of women have watched pornography. We live in a culture where watching pornography is normal; we assume in Christian circles that, specifically, young men struggle with pornography, and rightly so. Our culture has normalized the viewing of pornographic material; sitcom after sitcom refers to the viewing of pornography. Let us not be deceived; we are in a fight for our very lives. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your souls.” Often, these pornographic images are seared into our minds. For teenagers, watching pornography only exposes young minds to things they were only meant to know in the context of marriage. It is no wonder that we see a higher number of teenagers losing their virginity sooner, not to mention teen pregnancies, body-image insecurities, fatherless homes, social anxiety, depression, and more.
As Christians, we are not of this world. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. We have an ethic that is completely contrary to this world. Specifically, speaking to every man, it is time to put away the pornographic material that is murdering both your soul, your mind, your marriage, your wife, and your children. We must be the ones who model the mortification of sin in our lives. It is not a question as to whether pornography is a sin; if you are looking at or watching any pornographic material, you are killing your own body and soul. But like every other sin in our lives, we were never meant to fight it alone. One way you can kill this sin in your life is to confess your sin and live within a Christian community- at our church, you need to be engaged in a group. In addition, Romans 8:13 says, “…if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” We kill sin in our lives through the Spirit using the Word of God. Replace sin in your life with meditation, contemplation, and memorization of God’s Word, abiding and resting in the power of the Holy Spirit for your victory.
Lastly, Christians are pressed on all sides by the culture over the issue of homosexuality; while the Obergefell decision in 2015 legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the Christian worldview has not changed. According to the Bible, engaging in homosexual acts is sin (Lev. 18:22, Rom. 1: 27, 1 Cor. 6:9, 1 Tim. 1:10). Therefore, there is no such thing as a homosexual marriage, according to the Bible. Whereas the liberal theologian will manipulate the Scriptures in any which way, we must stand firmly on what the Word of God makes clear. This is not unloving to say, just as it would not be unloving to say stealing is sinful. The issue we face as a culture is that we have equated sexuality with identity. We say “he is gay” or “she is gay.” The issue with this is that we submit to the secular view that sexual orientation, even sexual desire, constitutes not only individual identity, but also individual autonomy. We would, therefore, be saying this person is their sin. But this is not what the Bible makes clear, since the Bible does not claim that an individual who is inclined to watch pornography is pornography. Same-sex desire is not in a sin category all on its own; sin is sin. Someone who wrestles against same-sex desires is called to kill the sin in their life, just as someone who is tempted to lust after someone of the opposite sex. A born-again follower of Jesus has been given a new identity of redeemed, chosen, adopted; therefore, a child of God who has same-sex desires should not submit themselves to an identity of the world, and we as a Church should never push an ungodly identity on them.
Furthermore, in a world that is only growing further from the Christian view of sex and marriage, we must not move in the slightest in our sympathy for sin. Let us be a people full of both grace and truth, standing on the truth of God’s word, but loving, discipling, and praying for our brothers and sisters wrestling in the fight to kill sin. Finally, the Scriptures never promise that in coming to Christ, an individual will lose same-sex desire or attraction; on the contrary, it promises life in abundance and everything required to kill sin in your life and in the pursuit of holiness. Instead of trying to help people experience heterosexual attraction, which some in the Church have done, let us cling to the only thing that guarantees hope, healing, and redemption, and that is the life-changing message of the gospel.
Our calling as Christians is still the same: “Be holy as I am holy.” Though our culture has given itself over to sexual perversion and heralds it as “liberation,” we know that sin only leads to death. God’s ways are higher, better, more full of life than we could ever fathom- the question is, will you trust Him? Furthermore, we are tempted to be silent on the truth of God’s word, but as Paul says to the church in Rome, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…” And again, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” We stand, then, on God’s truth, or we will not stand at all. 