Helping Your Teens Stay Pure
- Jul 17, 2009 -
Sermon Outline
Helping Your Teens Stay Pure
So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female Genesis 1:27
Context
The Book of Genesis teaches that God is the source of all creation. It reveals a purposeful, logical progression of acts that lead ultimately to the creation of human beings (Gen. 1:27). Part of this purposeful activity was the creation of the sexes. From the beginning, a complete humanity required both male and female (Gen. 2:18). Much of the rest of human history, and its record in the Bible, revolves around the relationship between men and women.
SERMON AND BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Introduction
Sexuality isn’t about superiority. Genesis 1:27 teaches clearly that men and women share equally in the two fundamental aspects of being human. They are both called mankind, and both of them are made in the image of God.
Sexuality isn’t about procreation. Genesis 2:28 makes clear that God intended for humans to procreate and to oversee His creation, but it doesn’t explain why He chose to create humans as two sexes to accomplish this. While both sexes are required for procreation, the perpetuation of our species cannot be the principal reason for our sexuality. After all, God could have made humans asexual, able to reproduce without sexual union.
Sexuality isn’t even really about sex. While the Song of Songs teaches that sexual intimacy in the bonds of the marriage commitment is good and desirable, it is evident from the complexity of the relationship between the man and woman in the Song that the physical part of their relationship is only a part of a much deeper relationship.
A good starting point for understanding sexuality is found in Genesis 2:18. After God created Adam, He considered the needs of this first man and knew that it was “not good for the man to be alone.” So God created “a helper suitable for him.” This word “helper” does not mean someone who cooks and cleans for him. K. Mathews (Genesis 1-11:26, New American Commentary, p. 214) states that the word refers to the “integral part” the woman plays in human survival and success: “What the man lacks, the woman accomplishes.”
When one reads Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:18 in light of the other, it is clear that God intended men and women to comprise a partnership of equals who would work together to fulfill His purpose for humanity. Considered from this perspective, three reasons for making humans sexual beings are immediately evident.
I. God made humans sexual beings so they could enjoy intimate relationships.
The description of the first marriage in Genesis 2:22-24 elucidates this purpose. The man and the woman join together in a bond that affects the very fiber of their beings. Adam says of the woman God made, “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” Their union created a bond in which the two became “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).
By creating humans as sexual beings, God enabled man and woman to express physically what has taken place spiritually in their union. But this physical union cannot be considered as something separate from the spiritual union. It is the spiritual union that the physical union represents. To engage in the physical union without the prior spiritual union misses the point of sexuality.
The necessity for this prior spiritual union is emphasized in the Song of Songs. The man and woman in the Song engage in a long series of relational activities, entwining on an emotional and spiritual level before they ever engage in sexual intimacy. Their sexual intimacy following their wedding is the result and physical expression of a strong and healthy relationship of mutual love and sharing.
The relational aspect of sexuality has been lost to many in our culture and replaced by self-indulgence. For sexuality to be what God intended, we must return to the importance of relational sex rather than recreational sex.
II. God made humans sexual beings so they could express His character
Anyone who has spent time observing boys and girls has noticed that they are different in many ways. The differences are not merely physical. Accompanying the physical differences is a host of other differences that enable men and women to perform their specific God-ordained functions.
Probably the most notable difference in the sexes is the tendency among males to gravitate to tasks and for females to gravitate to relationships. While sin has no doubt interfered with God’s intention for these different interests, it is certain that these differences are God-given. The curse in the Garden reveals that God was aware of these different interests from the outset. When He pronounced some of the effects of Adam and Eve’s sin, he told Eve that she would have pain in childbearing (Gen. 3:16), and He told Adam that he would toil in the fields with great difficulty (Gen. 3:17-19). God related to the effects of sin on Eve from a family perspective and on Adam from a provider/protector perspective.
While these differences provide both sexes with different key ways that they can contribute to their relationship, it should not be overlooked that these are two primary characteristics of God. God desires relationships, and He is also a provider/protector. The fact that He sent His Son to die for humanity’s sins reveals the extent to which God desires relationships with humans. The fact that He sends the rain on the just and the unjust reveals the extent to which He fulfills His obligation to provide for and protect humanity.
When one considers that so much of who God is can be described within the context of these two characteristics, it is probably not an accident that they find different emphasis in men and women. Because men are designed primarily as provider/protectors and women as relational beings, these two very important characteristics of God—God as a relational being and God as a provider/protector—enjoy equal expression simultaneously, by being lived out through the sexes. Consequently, more of who God is and what God is like can be revealed through humanity.
It is this representative aspect of sexuality that God probably intended when He made humanity in His “image.” The word “image” does not refer to actual physical representation. It probably refers to functional representation. G. Wenham (Genesis 1-15, Word Biblical Commentary, pp. 31-32) comments, “The divine image makes man God’s vice-regent on earth.” In other words, humanity represents God on earth. This representative function extends beyond humanity’s responsibilities to care for creation and includes similarities in characteristics.
III. God made humans sexual beings so they could experience true love
While affection should be present in a proper love relationship, it is only part of biblical love. Jesus described the highest form of love as a self-sacrificing love when He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Of course the New Testament uses the word agape when it talks about this kind of love.
Agape love is noted for its sacrificial nature. Because of His agape love for humanity, Jesus sacrificed Himself for humanity’s sin so that all who trust in His sacrifice on their behalf can be forgiven and escape the judgment of God. This same agape love is enjoined on humans in their relationships with each other. Jesus said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Human sexuality emphasizes the need for this kind of love because neither sex is capable of doing everything that life in this world requires. Life is too demanding. By design, the sexes possess different strengths and abilities. The only way that people can reach the full expression of what God desires for humans to do is by cooperating with each other. This cooperation finds its greatest expression in the marriage relationship. In order for the man and woman to enjoy the many wonders of their marriage each must think of the other as more important and give all that they have to meeting the needs of the other. And in this giving of themselves to each other, this couple experiences true, biblical love.
Conclusion
In today’s self-indulgent culture, where physical pleasure has become the ultimate experience, the biblical perspective on human sexuality should cause people to refocus and see sexuality as God intended it. While the physical act of sex is obviously part of God’s design for us as sexual beings, a proper focus on all that it means to be sexual beings will enhance the physical expression and give it much deeper meaning.
WHAT CAN ONE PERSON DO?
• Teach a Sunday School class for teenagers about sexual purity
• Ask your pastor to preach a message about sexual purity
• Contact your elected officials and tell them you want abstinence-only sex education presented in your public schools.
• Run for public office or recruit candidates for public office who support abstinence-only sex education programs.
• Talk with your children about God’s gift of sexuality and its deeper meaning.
• Help your children to develop a healthy understanding of sexuality by talking to them about the important roles of men and women and how they complement each other.
• Ask God to protect the minds of your children from the deceptive messages of popular culture about sexuality.
HELPFUL SCRIPTURE
Bible Passages that Give Guidance about Human Sexuality
Genesis 1:27-28; 2:18-25; Proverbs 31:10-31; The Song of Songs; John 8:1-11; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20; 7:1-9; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:1-5, 22-33; Colossians 3:18-19; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; Titus 2:3-8; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7; 2 Peter 1:5-9
Further Learning
Learn more about: Family, Children, Parenting, Fathers, Mothers, Sexual Purity, Abstinence, Dating, Modesty, Pornography