PG-13: Three Mature Subjects

As Tag and I continue through our sermons on Paul’s magnificent letter to the Corinthians, I want to alert you to some mature subject matter coming up in our sermons.  The texts for those sermons are

October 13    1 Corinthians 5:1-13
October 20    1 Corinthians 6:9-11
October 27    1 Corinthians 6:12-20

I think a gospel centered approach to these topics make them particularly useful in our generation.  There is such applicable wisdom to our sexually broken age.  The church herself today has plenty of need for the messages Paul brought to the Corinthians back then.  I pray that God may bring healing, repentance, and joy to the church of the Lord Jesus through these hard hitting and mature topics.  Jesus wants to purify His church, and let us drink deeply of the life of the Spirit, and of the joys of the age to come. 

This is not a problem for everyone over a certain age.  I alert you to these topics because we have children in the messages.  Our current children’s church goes through Kindergarten.  Considering these young children present in the room, what will we do in those sermons?

Tag and I plan to hit the topics head on, but tastefully and carefully.  Some of it will be frankly over the heads of young children.  We will use careful wording and thoughtful language (pray for us!) Our explanations of some of the biblical norms will be plain and understandable for all.  We will do our best to avoid awkward situations, but we want you to know what is coming so you can think about the best approach to talking about these scripture texts with your children.

How are you talking with your children about sex?

I could see some parents may want to shield their children from these scriptures.  I hope that you will take another approach, and will use these texts and these sermons as a springboard to healthy and regular conversations with your children about the temptations of a fallen world, and the beautiful potential of a life of holiness and union with Christ.  My pastoral advice is not to think, “My children are too young to talk about sex”, but to think, “How should I be talking about sex to children at their current age?”  Your pastors and your children’s ministry team can point you to good resources in this regard.  I suggest a quick browse around Focus on the Family’s website for some of their resources.  I hope that you will be thoughtfully talking to your children and encouraging them in the beauty of God’s amazing creation of us male and female, and warning them of the dangers of the misuse of such beautiful gifts to the human family.

Under a Doctor’s Care

Churches don’t have a great history of being out in front of the key topics facing our young people.  I grew up in a church where the topic of sex was handled very delicately.  Once a year, a Christian Doctor would come do a “birds and the bees” talk.  I honor his willingness to be the sacrificial lamb, but doubt that that sent the message needed.  Frankly, it was already way too late for some of the teens in our church to hear this talk.  Only once a year? No, it was way too little and way too late!  My friends, that was many years before the age we are in now, where even “family” comedies and shows frequently honor illicit sexual relationships.  We also didn’t have unfiltered internet connections with a whole Las Vegas full of dark places to go.

Children are being exposed to a number of topics which would have been unfamiliar in past generations.  Through television and open internet connections on home computers, phones, and tablets, some are being exposed to explicit material and immoral material.  Some of our families have taken a more conservative approach to these things, including reducing TV in the home and having restricted internet access.  Nevertheless, the likelihood is that even younger children may have been seeing and hearing more than their parents know.  If your children are around friends, they are likely having some mature conversations without your guidance.  My encouragement is that parents think carefully about the question above: How should I be talking about sexuality to my children at their current age? 

If you are the person to teach and train them about these topics, you will be the one to protect and inform them before others get the chance.

The Bible Speaks

The Bible talks about our sexuality without shame.  It begins with the awesome creation of human beings as male and female (Genesis 2:18-25).  The female was created as a perfectly, joyously formed companion to man.  Both human, both in community with God in the garden, but made for a deep, intimate, physical and spiritual communion with one another.  Every sort of trouble we see today is present in the Bible.  The Ten Commandments include something about the sanctity of sex inside of marriage between a man and a woman.  That brings us to Paul’s instruction to the church in Corinth.  The church in Corinth was advancing in a world of pagan spirituality- not unlike where America is heading very rapidly.

Corinth was an odd mix of religion and sex.  The temples in Corinth offered, as a religious experience, partners of all kinds, including children.  While such treatment of children is illegal in America, it is all too common and legal in other parts of the world.  Child pornography is legal in Japan, and in countries like Thailand, is a source of a sick kind of tourist trade.  Paul addresses these mature topics in a straightforward fashion, calling believers to a life of fidelity to spouses, and celibacy outside of marriage.  The reward for this is the experience of God’s Holy Spirit in our persons- we are the temple of God today!

The good news of the gospel is our texts.  One of the most beautiful lines in the book is the phrase “such were some of you.”  There were “real” Corinthians in the church in Corinth.  They came from all backgrounds and experiences, including those who frequented the temples of Corinth.  “Such were some of you…”.  There is nothing new under the sun!

We are exploring hosting a seminar on these issues next year, in part to help you both protect your children, and reverse the damage done to you by this present age.  We will keep you posted.  We will do our best to communicate well to our whole church in these three great, if hard hitting texts!

In Him,

Don