Severed Limbs & Divided Hearts
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Big Idea: Sexual desire gone wrong is like a fire out of containment. It can burn your house down and everything with it. Jesus is deadly serious about this
Good morning and thank you to the Options Ladies.
Surgeon generals warning...Dismiss anyone who is younger that doesn’t want to hear the topics.
I have dreaded because of the way I was raised…I want to set a new culture here though. So we just need to name it for what it is, embrace the awkward and lean into the conversation.
Do the four different types of people and putting this thing second. “We are talking about… is this a big deal in our culture?”
All ins - Deconstructionist - Interested Observers - Dones and Nones
We just want you to experience why Jesus is worth following with everything that you have first.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;
Before we can fully understand what would prompt Jesus to bring this up in His most famous sermon, we first have to understand Jesus’ views on sexual desire and marriage.
Do Matthew 19 & First two pages of your bible bit...
Are you ready to learn some Hebrew?
Do the Dode = Sexual love, Raya = Companionship, Ahava = Commitment
Rayah = Companionship Love
Ahava = Commitment Love
Dode = Sexual Desire Love
The most clear picture of all three of these things working together is in the book Song of Solomon - Explain how they are woven together like a three stranded cord and how Dode comes in to complete the cord.
Here is why the Bible has such a higher view of sex than our culture does...Explain how Rayah and Ahava sustain over time but will actually fuel Dode when it has grown cold isn’t there and yet all the world has to offer is flesh...
This is what Song of Solomon describes when all three of these things are working together as they should. This is the final chapter of the book after the lovers have been married for a long time and had time to reflect on these three aspects of intimacy.
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
Let me ask you a question.
Is fire good or bad…
Now typically I would say yes and we would all laugh at that right…but..
That’s actually probably not the right question though is it.
The greatest goods in the human experience are complex goods and they cannot be reduced to whether they are bad or good.
It can become a great good when its in an environment where its power can be channeled toward positive and life giving purposes.
Do fire in the Fire vs. Fire-ring equals an nice night camping under the stars.
That same power, however can wreak incredible destruction if it operates outside of the intended environment.
One cigarette butt vs. a dry forest equals millions of acres burned, wildlife and people dead, and homes destroyed.
The question isn’t whether it is good or not. It is a power. It is a great and complex good.
When the purpose of love is lived out within the covenant biblical vision of marriage. Sexual desire and passion has the ability to become an expression of that covenant commitment that is unparalleled. It becomes a unifying and binding of heart, mind and body and out of that passion and power, we have the ability to generate new life.
This is the picture of marriage and intimacy in pages one and two of your bible.
And so Jesus is reminding his followers in this verse that if you reach to fulfill sexual desire outside of the confines of a covenant marital relationship between a man and a woman, you will burn your house and every relationship you have to the ground. Jesus’ view of sexual desire, and adultery went far beyond just a married man or woman sleeping with another man or woman.
Jesus’ statement here and the true essence of the Old Testament command to not commit adultery wasn’t just about not sleeping with another person who isn’t your husband or wife…its about not handling sexual desire outside of a convent committed marriage built on a foundation of companionship and commitment.
And there are some of you that are juggling lit torches over napalm and justifying it as not actually cheating on your spouse but Jesus is actually about to address our tendency to justify because you see:
Jesus had several Pharisees in the crowd bit
but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Look at a magazine verses look at a word-search puzzle
The difference between these two looks is in their duration, intensity, and purpose.
The Devin Wood paraphrase of this verse is:
To stare intently at another human being with the purpose of fueling sexual desire.
Do movie in your head bit...
And so we see that Jesus is showing us that:
Purity is more than a line it is a direction.
The moment that look becomes a stare for the purpose of fueling sexual desire you have headed down a direction so certain that even the look itself is classified as adultery.
Jesus knows this because he not only sees the intents of our heart but knows the outworking of those intentions if left unchecked and the damage they cause. You see, the Pharisees were able to justify their adultery because they actually had a theology that said that God couldn’t actually see or know our thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Let me ask you a question:
Do Jeff Bezzos bit
Would he even notice?
Would he be adversely effected?
Are you still a thief?
When we lust after someone, we are stealing their humanity and dignity. We have effectively taken the fire out of the fireplace and are juggling the embers over our shag carpet. We have objectified a human being created in the image of God for the sake of fueling our sexual desire and the end results are horrendous. In fact, there may be some of you hear this morning that bear the 3rd degree burn scars mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Do the gender of Jesus’ statement bit...
Jesus’ kingdom is one where women are safe, elevated, and valued as Gods image bearers.
And so what’s the solution to all of this?
“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
“If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.
Is Jesus advocating for self mutilation here? If so…he has forgotten something off this list…and I promise you I’m not just being crass.
Do eye, hand, foot bit from Proverbs.
Do some of ya’ll need stupid phones.
Do the public library for internet usage.
Do wedding ring tattoo bit…on your forehead.
Do driving out of the way for work to avoid certain things.
Jesus is advocating for accountability.
Do the what we need to do to make this a safe thing. Husbands and wives don’t immediately jump to the conclusion that your spouse, fiance, significant other has a porn problem if they seek help, want a stupid phone, go out of their way to avoid certain things. We are all two seconds away from stupid at any moment and it doesn’t often look like adultery (do nobody wakes up one day and decides to commit adultery bit if you haven’t already)…it often starts with a stare.
The main point of Jesus’ solution is this:
As part of Jesus’ kingdom people (a kingdom that doesn’t terminate in hell) are you willing to go to any means necessary to protect your purity?
Ultimately, our eyes are changed as we see Jesus as good news. It then changes the way we interact with the world and the path we are on.