Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 25, 2002

Sermon: What is Immorality?

Recently WNEW radio in New York was fined and may lose its FCC license because of a disgusting display of indecency. Two of their “shock jocks” hired a man and a woman to go into St. Patrick’s Cathedral and have sex in the church while the whole event was being described in graphic detail, and broadcast live on the air.

Wednesday morning I was watching Good Morning America when they reported this story and talked with each other about the report. I kept waiting for someone on the news desk to express some disgust, or even mild disapproval. Instead I saw grins. This revolting act of immorality and defiling a place of worship was treated like nothing more than a childhood prank.

Here’s the problem. We have been trained not to react. We all have. Our moral sensitivity has been numbed. When we see incident after incident of gross immorality on TV, we eventually stop reacting. When friends, or neighbors, or relativeas are living in sin, we don’t react. When someone tells a filthy joke that demeans the sexual act, degrades women (because women are usually the ones demeaned by sexual immorality) , or a joke that treats immorality as normal and funny, we don’t react, we even laugh along with it. And what kind of message does that send. When the guy at the office is telling about his most recent weekend exploits, and how many women he slept with, how do you react? Do you just grin and say, “Man, that guy is something.” Or do you take him aside and say, “Hey man, I’m worried about you. What you’re doing is not good. You need to get your life straightened out.”

By not reacting against immorality, we are giving it approval. And when you keep giving it that kind of approval long enough, you will become more likely to do it yourself.

Apparently I touched on a nerve last week. In fact, I think I touched on a lot of nerves. Nerves of sexual conduct, nerves of abuse of alcohol, nerves of gossip, nerves of unforgiveness and harboring anger toward other people. I have had a lot of conversations about last week’s sermon. It tells me that we need some teaching on this subject. And the comment that troubled me the most was, “I don’t think you’ve ever done a teaching on that subject.” True. I may have made many references to the dangers of immorality, but I have never taken the time to define in detail what we mean by immorality. If I have neglected this in preaching, I apologize. Let me correct that problem.

Over the course of the next several weeks we are going to take a very close look at what God expects from His people. I am beginning today a series of sermons entitled, “What Things Are Forbidden.” Week by week I will explain in clear, specific detail what kinds of behavior God does not allow His people to engage in.

Let’s get started.

Get out your Bibles and turn to Galatians 5:19-21 Let’s read it together:

¹⁹ The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

In this passage and the verses that follow, St. Paul draws a sharp contrast between what he calls the “works of the sinful nature” - the flesh- and the “fruit of the Spirit”, - the Holy Spirit.

In the words of John Stott, “We may say that the flesh stands for what we are by natural birth, and the Spirit what we become by the second birth, the birth of the Spirit. And these two, the flesh and the Spirit, are in sharp opposition to each other.

“Some Christian teachers maintain that the true Christian has no inner conflict because the flesh has been eradicated. The passage before us contradicts this view. Christian people, as Martin Luther said, “are not stocks and stones, never moved with anything, never feeling any lust or desire of the flesh.” Certainly as we learn to walk in the Spirit, the flesh becomes more and more subdued. But the flesh and the Spirit remain as long as we live this life, and the conflict between them is fierce and unremitting.

“Indeed, one might say that this conflict, this war between the flesh and the Spirit is a uniquely Christian conflict. We do not deny that there is such a thing as moral conlfict in non-Christian persons, but we do assert that it is fiercer in Christians because they possess two natures- the flesh and the Spirit- in irreconcilable antagonism.”

I totally agree with John Stott’s analysis of our situation. And since we are in this conflict, we had better be sure we know what it is about. Let’s take a close look at this passage from Galatians, and understand clearly what St. Paul is warning us about here.

Why did St. Paul list sexual immoraliy first? Easy. Because the first century Roman culture they were living in, much like America today, was a world filled with every kind of sexual practice you could imagine, and some you would never dream of.

St. Paul knew that the tiny band of Christians he had called together was facing an almost insurmountable task. They were trying to practice a model of sexual purity based on God’s Word in the midst of a culture that not only thought that such an ideal was impossible to live out, they actually thought it was irrational to even try! If you presented the biblical standards of sexual morality to the average Roman citizen on the streets, they would think you were insane!

As William Barclay put it, “The one completely new virtue Christianity broght into the world was chastity. Christianity came into a world where sexual immorality was not only condoned, it was regarded as essential to the ordinary working of life.”

I dare say that many Americans today feel the same way.

Every night on our TV shows, chastity, purity, virginity, celibacy, even faithful monogamy within marriage, is ridiculed, scoffed at, discarded as a failed religious experiment that cannot be taken seriously. The media presents us with this message: Married people will occasionally want to have sex with someone other than their spouse, and having an “affair” is no big deal, AND, single people are going to be sexually active with as many people as they choose, and there’s nothing wrong with it.

Question: Do you believe that this relentless barrage of media messages has not affected the way you think?

Question: Do you understand the difference between what our culture is saying and what the Bible says?

The Bible teaches us that God created sex for a very good purpose when He gave Adam and Eve to each other. In describing the biblical view of sex, the image of a river is often used. A river is a good and wonderful blessing when kept within its channel. The Bible tells us that God created the channel for sex in the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman.

A river that overflows its banks is a dangerous thing.

Let’s look at the words St. Paul was using, and see where he saw the river flooding over its banks. Exactly what was it that Paul was presenting to the Church as a standard of Christian behavior.

The first word that St. Paul uses in this passage from Galatian is “sexual immorality” in the NIV, or “adultery” in the KJV. The Greek word is moicheia {moy-khi’-ah} and it means adultery, any sexual act by a married person with someone other than their spouse.

The second term we come to is “impurity” in the NIV, or “fornication” in the KJV. The Greek word here is porneia {por-ni’-ah} - fornication This word means illicit sexual intercourse of any kind: Fornication includes consensual sex between any non married persons. It includes adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals, incest, prostitution, as well as what we have so arrogantly called “recreational sex.” It is a very broad term which St.Paul chose to indicate where the channel of this river could be found. Only within marriage.

What St. Paul has done is to clearly identify both groups of people, married and unmarried, and to address this subject in the broadest possible terms. Let’s look at the specifics.

Consensual sex:

Exodus 22 and Leviticus 18 spell out in detail the sexual standards God required for His people. What does this include?

- Adultery is strictly forbidden, punishable by death.

- If a man seduces a woman who is not married or engaged, he must marry her.

- Incest is forbidden. You are not to have sex with any close relative.

By the way, you may have noticed that most of what the Bible says about sexuality is directed toward men. Why? Because the man is always in control of the sexual act. Please note, I did not say that only the man is responsible, but he is in control.

Let’s look at some other verses of scripture that expand on this idea:

Romans 13:13-14 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (get control of your thoughts- where your mind goes your body will follow)

2 Corinthians 12:21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.

Ephesians 5:1-5 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

Colossians 3:5-10 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

1 Peter 4:1-5 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do (give it a rest!)—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Homosexuality:   I also realized after last week’s sermon that there is still some confusion on this subject.

Leviticus 18:22 Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

Romans 1:25-27 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Now let’s be careful. You may hear from people who try to justify homosexuality by saying that the Bible only condemns homosexuality when it is done violently, unwillingly, or involving children. They will tell you that the Bible does not intend to condemn consensual sex between adult homosexuals. But look closely at these verses. In both the Old and New Testament, the practice that is condemned is assumed to be between consenting adults. All homosexual sex is prohibited by God. Is that clear?

Episcopal Church policy: The policy of the Episcopal Church, enacted by General Convention in 1976 is that sexual expression for Christians is confined to marriage between a husband and wife, or chaste celibacy.

Our church has placed the same boundaries on this river that the Bible does.

I hope this helps to clarify some of what we started talking about last week.

Chuck Swindoll recently made an excellent point about how we as a society can counteract moral problems such as pornography. He was citing a recent report from the government that listed several ways of dealing with the problem of pornography. They have wrestled with the limits of what can be done to censor the internet, to screen pornography off of computers in public libraries, to offer better software so families can have security about their children using the computer. All of these ideas they came up with were complex and expensive and have severe limitations.

Chuck Swindoll's comment was, "There's one very effective method of counteracting pornography that I don't see on their list. That is to make it socially unacceptable for people to use pornography." He went on to say that we have used this approach very successfully in the case of smoking. When the anti-smoking ad campaign focused on not only showing the health risks of smoking, but making smoking look dirty and disgusting, and taking it out of our movies and TV shows, the rate of smoking went down. And more recently, when TV and movie producers brought smoking back into their pictures and glamorized it, the rate of smoking went back up again, especially among youth.

If more Americans treated sexual immorality as the destructive thing that it is, we wouldn't even have to ask the courts to debate whether it constitutes free speech. The quickest way to get it out of our lives is by treating it with the utter contempt that it deserves, and letting our friends and coworkers know that we have no respect for anyone who shows such disrespect for God's creation! Thank you, Chuck Swindoll, for that wakeup call!

You see, it isn't just a matter of education or ignorance. It's a matter of public acceptance that drives our choices.

Likewise with sexual immorality. If we really want to clean up our society, we must start with ourselves and examining our attitudes. All of these verses that we have looked at are pointing us toward one thing: change of heart.

Throughout this series of teachings this is the thing we are focusing on. What change has God worked in us that makes us visibly different from the culture we live in?

Condemnation is not the point. Experiencing the transforming power of God’s Holy Spirit is the point. But before we can experience that change, we have to be willing to ask for it. And before we will be willing to ask for it, we have to know that there is in fact a radically different life to which we are called.

All week long I keep coming back to the prayer we prayed last Sunday, the collect for the day. It wouldn’t hurt to pray it again.

“Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life....”

Let’s pray on this. Meditate on this. Are you serious about this? What would it mean if you made it your quest in life to “follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life.” Is that even something you want, because don’t pray this prayer if you don’t mean it.