What does Jesus say about sex and why is he so serious about it?
Jeremiah 2:13-19
Matthew 5:27-30
Jesus builds this passage on Old Testament sexual ethics. It all boils down to one simple idea: no sex outside of covenant.
Consumer relationships are defined by the meeting of needs & desire.
Consumer-relationships are relationships built on utility: if the relationship doesn’t meet your needs you simply upgrade.
Covenant-relationships are built on a different premise. They are built on faithfulness and loyalty.
Covenant-relationships bring safety for individuality.
God designed sex, not as a consumer good, but as a covenant good.
When sex takes place in a covenant environment it becomes sacramental.
A sacrament is an outward sign of an inward grace.
Sex outside of covenant is doing something with your body that you are not doing with the entirety of your life.
God designed sex to create a covenant bond, along the with life.
The word that Jesus uses for “lustfully” in the passage is morally neutral word. This passage requires context to find the meaning behind Jesus’ words.
This passage could be read as, “He who covets a women…” or, “He who looks at a someone else greedily.”
Our desire for sex, or a sexual partner, can easily become an idol.
Two Ways Lust Destroys
Pornography
Sexual sin is different in the effect is has on ourselves. We are sinning against our own body.
Pornography instills crushingly unrealistic expectations.
The belief that you need a sexual partner to be happy
Anytime you say, “I need that thing to be happy,” and that thing is not God, you have encountered an idol.