A Cross around Our Neck and a Condom in Our Pocket

By: Nicole M. Ross

Hypocrites…I have often heard this word used to represent Christians today. In many ways, I whole heartedly agree. The church today is packed full of wishy-washy “believers” who would rather write a check to further the work of Christ, than to commit to him themselves. There are also those who come to church to punch their Jesus time clock and could care less about the Word being preached.  But when it comes to the area of the church’s double standards, I have seen none worse than in the area of sexual immorality. In the past, Christians have always been known to hold high moral standards in this area, but even the church has been deluded with the flood of compromise. The propaganda of this world tells everyone that sex outside of marriage is normal and acceptable. In fact, often times it is promoted as a means of “discovery”, but it’s obvious that it’s not just the world that believes this, because the rate of sexual immorality in the church is just as high as and sometimes higher than those outside of it. Something is not connecting in the minds of God’s people in the area of sexual purity. We are compromising our beliefs in God’s Word to accept the propaganda of the world. What has caused God’s people to turn their backs on the principles of His Word and pursue what they once considered a corrupt lifestyle?

I think Christians have a tendency to make God out as the bad guy. We think, “Why would a loving God make something as enjoyable as sex and then put such strict boundaries on it? That just isn’t fair!” This way of thinking is simply a product of the Christian’s lack of knowledge regarding God and His Word. God’s Word is no longer reverenced or implemented in our lives today. When it comes to God and His nature, we have no understanding of Who He is or why He does certain things. He does not want us to go through life with questions or misunderstandings regarding important life issues, He wants to offer us guidance. His design for sex is clearly laid out in scripture if we will simply take the time to look.

God is the superior Designer. He created the man’s body and the woman’s body to fit perfectly together to become one. God’s love for mankind was so deep, He desired for us to understand its depth. He wanted to give us a gift that we would not only enjoy, but it would also revel to us part of Who God is. God desired sex to represent the love that is shared between Him and the Church. God loved mankind so much that He willingly sacrificed the one thing that meant the most to Him, His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus chose to lay down His life to win back the hearts of His Father’s creation. That is an intense love! Our minds cannot wrap around the kind of love that would cause someone to lay down their life for a people, especially one that so often rejects you. Sexual intercourse is a representation of this kind of love. 1 Corinthians 7:1-4 says “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife the husband. The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.” This clearly states that even in sex, we should be looking to fulfill the desires of the other person. God did not intend sex to be selfish or self-gratifying. It is meant to cause two individuals to become one. It also shows how God specifically intended sex for a husband and wife. Ephesians 5:31 says, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.” God holds very high value on the marriage covenant.

God intended sex to be enjoyed in the sanctity of marriage, because it was created to represent the longing that Christ has to share an intimate relationship with His church. 1 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” God describes how the relationship between Christians and Jesus should be as deep and intimate as a marriage relationship. Just as Christ wants to share an intimate fellowship with us, contrariwise, Jesus cannot share an intimate relationship with those who have not trusted in Him for salvation. He loves them, but there is no communion there, because they are rejecting His sacrifice. Just like Christ cannot share an intimacy with the unsaved, we are not to be intimate outside of marriage. There may be momentary enjoyment in it, but there is no lasting fulfillment because the deeper meaning to sex is not being gratified. Every time that we are sexually immoral, we are demeaning Jesus’ love for us.

Sex is a gift with a deeper meaning than we give it credit for. God wants us to enjoy sex, but He wants us to enjoy it within the boundaries He set for it, so that He is glorified and we are completely fulfilled. We have taken a sacred gift and twisted it into something to fulfill our own desires. We have perverted it, publicized it and turned it into something vile. We have preached morality from our lips, but lust has festered in our hearts. I pray the eyes of God’s people are opened to see how they have grieved Him and cause them to have a renewed passion for purity.