Feb 18 - Genesis 1:27-28

So God created humankind in his image

… male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them,

“Be fruitful and multiply …”

Genesis 1:27-28

NRSV

 

Scripture is not prudish. The Song of Solomon is at least PG-13.

 

Your breasts are like twin fawns of a gazelle.

Your neck is as stately as an ivory tower.

Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a skilled craftsman.

Your navel is as delicious as a goblet filled with wine.

Your belly is lovely, like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.

Your neck is as stately as an ivory tower.

Your eyes are like the sparkling pools

You are tall and slim like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters of dates.

Oh, how delightful you are, my beloved; how pleasant for utter delight!

                        Song of Solomon 7:1-7

 

Whew! Is it getting hot in here?

 

As we said yesterday, sex is supposed to be fun. Our spouse is designed to be our playground. “How pleasant for utter delight!”

 

I’ve heard it said that “God’s purpose for sex is pleasure.” But … no! That’s a lie.  Indeed, it’s a lie that’s had horrible consequences for marriage and our culture.

 

Read today’s verse. The first glimpse of sex and marriage in the Bible is on page one of the Scriptures. In Genesis 1 God immediately defines the primary purpose of sex: Procreation.

 

Yes, sex is fun. Yes, sex binds us powerfully to our spouse in a one flesh union. But if we misunderstand the procreative aspect of sexuality, we destroy what God has intended for good.

 

Cultural commentators point to the invention of “the pill” as a transformative moment in our nation’s history. If you listen to some, they will say that at that moment, women were liberated. Between the pill and abortion, sex no longer had to carry the “risk” of procreation. 

 

Are women freer? In one sense, yes. They can fool around as ubiquitously as men. In a deeper sense, no. Not by a million miles! Since the sexual revolution, more women are alone than ever before. Marriage rates are down. Single rates are up. Divorce has skyrocketed. Most children (including most girls nowadays) grow up without two parents. Rather than uniting deeply with a person, we have serial relationships that ultimately rob us of a deeper intimacy. In the wake of these “freedoms,” dysfunctions like sexual abuse have climbed. Pornography too. Indeed, our pornographic voyeurism has further objectified women (and increasingly men) … and simultaneously lessened the relational ability of men (and increasingly women). The touted inch of freedom in one direction has been otherwise a sociological disaster for women, men, children, and our entire culture.

 

If God had wanted pleasure to be the primary purpose of sex, he wouldn’t have linked it physiologically with procreation. But he did. And therefore, he defined the proper context for sex: Marriage. Marriage, indeed, is only context that provides women and children (and fathers and men too) with a safe environment for consequences (No! the blessings) of sex – children.

 

As I said yesterday, I’m not naïve. I know the pull of sexual attraction. I know most of you aren’t virgins as you approach (or approached) the altar. My point is that it doesn’t make you a hypocrite to reclaim God’s biblical order. He designed you to love sex. But he also invites you to celebrate it most fully in the proper order. When we wait and urge our friends and children to wait, we’re providing a God’s gift of greater intimacy within the one flesh union and greater blessing for the fruits of this union – any potential children.

 

Question of the Day: See Below

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who waited …

and hasn’t been short-changed

in terms of fun or family

 

Question of the Day

·         Getting Married: Can you trust that God has a better plan for you in waiting than in not waiting?

·         Newlyweds: No matter whether you waited or not, how are you working now to focus totally on your spouse and secure the blessing of this one flesh union?

·         Married: No matter whether you waited or not, how are you testifying to the world – including to your children – about the wonderful blessing of God’s plan to bless those who wait?

·         Not Married: You are single. Therefore, you are in the perfect place to testify to the ability to be celibate and still be joyful and complete in Christ. Are you exercising this calling?