If we know what God intended sexuality to be we can spot the counterfeit right away. In these first two podcasts in the “Perversion” series I’m giving my explanation of the Sexuality of Life. In future podcasts I’ll unpack the Sexuality of Death.
In this podcast I review what I covered in the first podcast that marriage is designed by God as the building block of society. The verse from the Bible (repeated in Genesis, by Jesus in the Gospels and by Paul) gives us the foundation of marriage:
For this cause a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two will become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
This verse lays out for us Three Boundaries that must be respected for marriage (and therefore, sexuality) to thrive:
1. LEAVING: A Boundary of Protection
2. CLEAVING: A Boundary of Exclusivity
3. BECOMING: A Boundary of Life
Marriage provides the context for sexuality to be all it was meant to be. Marriage is like a precious vessel and sexuality a priceless ointment that must be stored in the precious vessel. There is only one vessel that can hold this priceless ointment. To break the vessel (divorce), to say the vessel is unnecessary (cohabitation), to say any vessel will do and the precious vessel is discriminatory (same-sex), to say we should mix in other ingredients into the priceless ointment (S & M, bondage, porn, fantasy, role-play, etc.) or we can have other ointments in the precious vessel (open marriage) all pervert the blessing God intended sexuality to be (the Sexuality of Life). If we do any of these sexuality doesn’t just become a different flavor. It becomes the Sexuality of Death and will destroy not only your life but your marriage, your family and society as we know it.
I go on in the introduction to suggest that The Sexuality of Life has FOUR PURPOSES:
1. Birthing and nurturing the next generation with children’s original birth parents.
2. Providing spiritual oneness between a husband and a wife
It might be tempting to stop there, but God gives us way more sexual energy then you can possibly spend on making babies and becoming one with your husband or wife! This leads to the two other purposes of The Sexuality of Life:
3. Channeling your sexual energy into creativity and work to be a blessing to your family, your community and the world at large and
4. Moving our spirits toward God in worship.
What do we do instead? Our society shouts from the mountaintops that if you have a sexual desire of whatever stripe or flavor that this is who you are and it is fine to act out on these desires, that these desires entitle you to certain rights and should be blessed by governmental law, that no boundaries are necessary or the boundaries can be redefined until they are absolutely unrecognizable or they can be ignored or scoffed or stretched or thrown away or stomped on in the sewer and to go for all the gusto and do whatever you want and there will be NO BILL TO PAY…EVER. It’s just you, baby! Pleasure here we come. But this takes us directly through the doorway to the Sexuality of Death.
I then introduce in this podcast the nature of marital sexuality, what the Sexuality of Life actually should look and feel like. I suggest it has FOUR ASPECTS. You should ask yourself, if you are married, if the sexuality between you and your spouse looks like these things. If not, something is amiss:
1. Is it MUTUAL? I take this from the word for sexuality in the Bible: “know.” The word “sexuality” doesn’t occur in the Bible (thankfully!) and is in fact a modern term coined in the last hundred years or so. I refer to the writings and recordings of Christopher West who discusses the origins of “sexuality” as a concept. The Bible says “Adam KNEW his wife” and I suggest that sexuality is not just about knowing the other person, but also being KNOWN. For the brief moments of sexuality there is a nakedness and not being ashamed, a reaching back to the Garden of Eden, reminding us what we COULD have been and foreshadowing the unfathomable joys of heaven.
NOTE: There is nothing here in the Sexuality of Life that is about “getting some” or “giving it up” or “it is my duty.”
2. Is it MEANINGFUL? Here I refer to Proverbs 5:18-19 (I forget to mention the right chapter in the recording! Sorry.) where Solomon writes we are to let our spouse be the focus of our sexuality and our spouse ONLY. We are both to be captivated by our spouse and captivating! I also refer to the Song of Songs 4:12 and 4:16 where the husband says his wife is a garden locked up and she then invites him into his garden to “to taste it’s choice fruits.” It is clear from her statement she enjoys that he enjoys exploring her garden. They explore the garden together.
3. Is it SACRIFICIAL? Marital sexuality is a great way to learn patience and the nature of sacrificial love! It will keep you humble and help you grow up! If you let it! usually there is a disparity in sexual lovemaking between a husband and wife: one wants it less; one wants it more. Both parties need to sacrifice for sexuality to be all it is intended to be. I base this argument on Jesus’ statements about it is more blessed to give than to receive and if you save your life for your own sake you will lose it. Marital sexuality as it was intended to be makes servants of both of us: we BOTH need to sacrifice. One of the verses I refer to is 1 Corinthians 7:3-4 where Paul says your body is not your own. The husband’s body is for the wife and the wife’s body is for the husband. Sexuality is not about one person giving and the other person taking. It is about both sacrificing for the other.
4. Is it life-giving? The Sexuality of Life enhances love and oneness between a husband and a wife. I believe there is a spiritual battle going on outside of our immediate tactile awareness. Couples tell me repeatedly that if they are sexual in the types of ways I’m suggesting here (mutual, meaningful, sacrificial and life-giving) they notice they each other more, there’s a lighter spirit, more joy, more laughter, more flirting, more forgiveness, less anger, and less withdrawal for BOTH OF THEM. I believe that when a husband and wife are sexual with each other in the ways I’m describing here that God literally infuses their relationship with spiritual energy. This spiritual energy literally brings in the next generation, it protects each of the marital partners from temptation (1 Corinthians 7:2 and 5), it enhances trust and security (Song of Songs 7:10), it promotes interest, confidence and contentment between them (Song of Songs 8:10).
If, however, the nature of the sexuality between them is selfish, sexuality will spread other messages between them, and rather than being a blessing and source of joy, it can be a source of doubt, insecurity and chaos. These Four Aspects of Sexuality are fundamental to the Sexuality of Life and if you don’t have them you can turn the Sexuality of Life into the Sexuality of Death without even trying!
One time I sat down and thought through my entire current client load, and went through each client in my mind and looking over my notes and asked myself what percentage of my clients have difficulty with sexuality? Fully 70 percent of them had struggles in this area! I believe it could well be higher than that. What is the deal with that? We live in the most sexualized society in the history of humanity and yet people are fraught with worry, pain and heartache about it? What has happened?
I believe we’ve lost the precious nature of marital sexuality (what I am calling The Sexuality of Life) and we’ve exchanged it for a counterfeit. That counterfeit, I will argue going forward in future podcasts, is the Sexuality of Death and it leads to chaos in human relationships, WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE MARRIED! I will argue you must avoid it and if you don’t you do so at the expense of your own dignity and the sanctity of your marriage or future marriage and the safety of your own family. Furthermore, your poison spreads to the rest of us and causes the disintegration of society at large! YIKES! A lot is at stake here! More than you can ever know. Do yourself, your spouse or future spouse, your children and/or future children and the rest of us a favor and learn to harness the God-give sexual desire you do have for His Glory and His intended purposes. Ignore it and we all suffer, but most of all you.
In the next podcast I will introduce Uncle Bob, my metaphor for the voice of the Sexuality of Death in our society. You listen to Uncle Bob to your own peril. Stay Tuned!
