March 4 - Sex is for intimacy

You’re listening to OKY. The place where we discuss what we believe and why we believe it to be true! If you didn’t hear yesterday’s podcast, we started a series on sexuality. As I stated yesterday, my desire is to present this in a way that is respectful and honoring to all people while also sharing the truth of the scriptures. So as I unfold this, if you have any questions, comments, or pushback, please feel free to reach out me at michaelgrove1@icloud.com or by messaging me on instagram and Facebook, or by calling or texting 630-995-1253…

 

Yesterday I talked about the first important piece of sexuality, and that is unity. I would love you to start there if you missed it yesterday. But the big point is this - God called us into unity. He uses our sexual beings to create unity between two differing things. In fact, we said that you only get unity out of diversity. You can’t have unity when things are the same. You only have sameness. 

 

Today, I want to look at a secondary piece to this - intimacy. 

 

Let’s start by reading a scenario that Jesus as confronted with in Matthew 22:23-33.

 

That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to this brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

 

Jesus replied, “you are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead-have you no read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 

 

So this is an interesting conversation. Let me break it down for you for a moment. 

 

First off, the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife. So their question to begin with is more of a sarcastic nature than anything. They are trying to play out a ridiculous scenario in order to give Jesus a hard time trying to answer it. But his response is brilliant - as usual. 

 

He says they can’t answer this because they do not know the scriptures or the power of God. Which, to a group of people who believed they studied the law and all of it’s intent to the letter, this was and offensive suggestion. But he then goes on to say that at the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; 

 

Why? 

 

They will be like the angels in heaven. 

 

Now don’t stop and say that this verse means there isn’t marriage in heaven. That’s not necessarily what is meant here. Don’t focus on the component of marriage that Jesus responds with, focus on the location he focuses us into with his answer. Vs. 29-30, You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection. . . . . .

 

What is Jesus telling us here? 

 

There is something with marriage here on this earth, that is not necessary in the resurrection. What is the resurrection? This is reference to our souls and bodies being reunited in the afterlife. 

 

Jesus is saying that we won’t need marriage for the same security we have here on earth, because we will be reunited in heaven. And the key to this - we will be like the angels in heaven. What does that mean? 

 

Now don’t get excited that you will have cute wings growing out of your back and will fly around on clouds with God all day. . That’s not heaven. I should do a podcast about heaven some day. But for now, understand that heaven is the reuniting of body and soul for the purpose of dwelling in God’s presence once again. We will be like the angels in the fact that we will understand full intimacy with God as we dwell with him. Jesus is focusing on a world that does not function like this one, with the primary difference being that the presence of God rules the future life we live in. 

 

So then one must ask, what is sexuality for then on this earth? 

 

Consider a couple of verses here. . . 

 

Exodus 20:14 - one of the ten commandments - You shall not commit adultery.

 

Jeremiah - in talking of Israel’s unfaithfulness - says in 3:8

I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 

 

Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:27-28

You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” 

 

Proverbs 5:3-6

For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, 

And her speech is smoother than oil;

But in the end she is bitter as gall, 

Shape as a double-edged sword. 

Her feet go down to earth; 

Her steps lead straight to the grave. 

She gives no thought to the wya of life;

Her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.  

 

What is all this talk of adultery? Why is it warned so drastically in the scriptures? 

 

Adultery is the breaking of intimacy with someone else. It is loosing sight of your true love and chasing after fleshly desires. It’s why in the book of Revelation there is talk of Babylon being a woman who seduces the kings of the earth and causes them to commit adultery with her. 

 

See, adultery is symbolic for turning from Jesus and pursuing one’s own interest and desires. 

 

In fact, all throughout the scriptures, we see the church, Israel, or God’s people described as a bride. There are several old testament as well as new testament references to a bride waiting for their groom. As well, there are several scriptures that refer to people who turn their hearts from God as adulterous. 

 

Why? 

 

Because the next purpose for sexuality is that it creates a model of intimacy between us and God. Someone who gives of themselves this way, should be committed to that person in a lifelong covenant that symbolizes devotion and  - again - unity with that one person. 

 

Being intimate with someone is the closest you can get to that person. It’s the most vulnerable and private expression of connection between two people. And it represents the closeness that God longs to be with his people. So when we turn our hearts away from him, it is adulterous. It causes us to replace that intimacy with him, for intimacy with someone or something else. 

 

God gave us sex, as a way of first being united as two different pieces of creation. But second, he gave it to us for us to experience intimacy. To Jesus’s answer, once we get to heaven, we will no longer need sex to portray intimacy. We will be like the angels in that we will have immediate access to the full presence of God. We will know what full devotion to him feels and looks like. 

 

But for now, we have intimacy with our spouse, as an example of what full intimacy looks like with God. 

 

Now, let me stop and give a redemptive disclaimer here. 

 

God also understands that we are adulterous people - meaning that our hearts wander and we chase after other desires at times. . . We all allow our intimacy with God to be corrupted by money, food, power, prestige, popularity, self gratification, and so many more things. So if you have given of yourself in sexual expression to more than one person, you are not broken any more than the rest of us! In fact, the beauty of God is that he is the most forgiving and jealously protective person of your love. He makes all things new! So it’s not about having one chance to get it right or else you fail. It is about understanding what intimacy and unity look like, so you can find intimacy and unity with God. 

 

There are plenty of people who have done this their own way and regret it.  

 

But let me suggest, the best way to understand unity and intimacy is in the confines of marriage with just one person for as long as you both are alive together. This is the demonstration of the commitment and love God has for you. 

 

Ok. So recap

 

1. Sex is a way for us to understand unity 
2. Sex is a way for us to experience intimacy as God desires with us. 
3. Sex is a way for. . . . . . oh. Wait. That’s tomorrow’s episode. 

 

But for now, that’s all the time we have left for today. 

 

I love you 

 

And God bless.