For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
One thing that God takes very seriously is the sexuality of a person. When Jesus came to restore the world, He was not only looking to restore people's spirits back to God, but also their bodies and more specifically their sexuality.
One of the biggest stigmas in the Christian church today is the idea of sex being a bad thing. We don't want to talk about it in the pews, we barely address it in Godly discipleship and we often fail to educate the next generation about Godly sexuality and a Godly perspective of sex. But one thing we must understand is that there is nothing wrong with sex. In fact, sex and our sexuality are good things.
God is the author of sex and sexuality. He created sex and sexuality the day that He created them Adam and Eve and declared their identities as man and woman then He declared all that He had created - including Adam and Eve's sexuality - to be good. How can something that was declared to be good be made bad?
There is nothing wrong with sex and sexuality, but in our fallen state, we as human beings corrupt the good and perfect creation that God made for us to enjoy. We started declaring that we would enjoy God's gifts outside of the boundaries that He has set which has always been inside the context of marriage. That's why sexual immorality is so tricky- because it was made good by God, but was corrupted by our selfishness and impatience.
But God is out on a mission to restore sex and sexuality. Jesus had to come down here on earth and die the death we should have died for our immorality, and He took to the cross our sinfulness and selfishness so that we would now be free once more to pursue sex and sexuality in the context that God has defined. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit through the name of Jesus Christ, we are given authority over our sexuality and authority over our will - this is why the Bible also emphasises self-control.
And to understand this authority properly and what a Godly will towards sex looks like, we need to be paying careful attention to what the Bible says about our sexuality and our bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." God has purchased the whole of us with the blood of Christ and now asks us to live once more in the glory of His righteousness.
Hebrews 13:4 also reminds us, "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."
God created, ordained and blessed sex to be in the confines of marriage, not because He wants to limit us, but because He wants us to enjoy it within the safe and wonderful boundaries that He has given us. God does not want to remove pleasure from us, but promises that pleasure increases as we do things according to how He defines things.
People are not the authors of sex and sexuality, and therefore have no right to define what they are and how they are perceived. God is the source of everything and we always need a healthy view of how God views the things of this world. Sex is something that God wants us to enjoy in the right context, and He empowers us through the power of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to protect and preserve our sexuality in a way that honours and glorifies His name.
