A couple of days ago I had the following text conversation with Pastor Ariel Marquez:
ARIEL: “Can you preach at Victory Alabang this weekend?”
ME: “You trying to avoid the topic?”
ARIEL: “No, I want somebody with more authority on the subject to preach.”
This weekend concludes Victory’s 3-week LOVE LIFE series: week 1-Love; week 2-Marriage; week 3-Sex. Ariel wanted me to do week 3, and since I couldn’t think of an excuse, I said ok. Here are some of my notes. . .
Everywhere we turn somebody is talking about sex—locker rooms, movies, prime time TV, pop music, hip hop music, country music. . . We hear about sex everywhere EXCEPT the church and the home—the two places where sex needs to be discussed. This weekend in 80 worship services in fifteen Metro Manila venues, Victory pastors will be talking about sex from 1 Thessalonians 4:1–8.
My sermon will start with a 45-second edited version of the trailer for a movie called No Strings Attached. NOTE: I did not see the movie, will not see the movie, do not endorse the movie, do not encourage anyone to see the movie—but I did see the trailer, and it succinctly captured the exact opposite of everything the Bible teaches about Love, Marriage, and Sex. According to the trailer, the No Strings Attached movie is about two people who want sex without commitment and without marriage. At the end of the trailer, the Natalie Portman character shouts to the Ashton Kutcher character, “WHY CAN’T WE JUST HAVE SEX?” Apparently, he wants a relationship that goes beyond sex, but she does not.
Eighty sermons all around Metro Manila will attempt to answer Natalie’s important question: WHY CAN’T WE JUST HAVE SEX? In providing a biblical answer to Natalie’s question, we will bust some commonly accepted myths. . .
the sex leads to marriage myth
the sex will make him/her love me myth
the sex produces intimacy myth
the safe sex exists outside of marriage myth
the I need to try before I buy myth
the everybody is doing it myth
Our text, 1 Thessalonians 4:1–8 will answer the question WHY CAN’T WE JUST HAVE SEX? Eight verses, eight words, eight reasons we can’t JUST have sex.
Verse 1 – Because we want to PLEASE God – “we instructed you how to live in order to please God”
Verse 2 – Because God’s word is our final AUTHORITY – “instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus” – in verse 1 Paul uses relational words “asks and urges” but in verse 2 he uses authoritative military words indicating that God does not give suggestions – he commands.
Verse 3. Because God’s will demands that we AVOID sexual immorality – “It is God’s will that you be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality” – The Bible does not teach us to avoid sex but to avoid sexual immorality.
VERSE 4 – Because we are supposed to LEARN self-control – “each of you should learn to control his own body”
Verse 5 – Because LUST is always wrong – “not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God” – When it comes to moral standards, we are supposed to be different, not the same as the culture.
Verse 6 – Because sexual immorality always WRONGS someone – “in this matter, no one should wrong his brother” – Sexual immorality is not merely a victimless sin between two consenting adults, on the contrary, someone is always “wronged”—a spouse, a future spouse, a parent, a child. . .
Verse 7 – Because we are called to live HOLY lives – “God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life”
Verse 8 – Because if we reject biblical moral boundaries we REJECT God – “he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God”
SUMMARY: Verse 1 gives instruction on how to PLEASE GOD. Verse 8 gives instruction on how to REJECT GOD. Pleasing God or rejecting God is based on how we deal with sexual immorality.
MINISTRY TIME:
1. Some of you have been wronged – FORGIVE
2. Some of you carry the weight of past sins – RECEIVE FORGIVENESS
3. Some intentionally live in sin – REPENT (TURN TO JESUS)
4. Some are trapped in sin – addicted – GET HELP TODAY
