Christianity is not primarily a moral code but a grace-laden mystery; it is not essentially a philosophy of love but a love affair; it is not keeping rules with clenched fists but receiving a gift with open hands[i]. – Brennan Manning, Raggamuffin Gospel

Purpose Statement: Sex and sexuality are mysterious starting points for understanding the Trinitarian way. Healthy views of sex and sexuality lay spiritual foundations for following God’s heart to connected relationships that value and honor one another in the way of the Trinity.

“How about if you and I see how long we can go together before anyone figures us out?” I asked Belle after we’d run an errand for my folks.

“Okay!” She jumped out of the truck and sprinted to the house. I thought I’d said the wrong thing! But that’s just the way it was back in those days. Boys and girls spending too much time together weren’t looked upon too highly by our community.

My family was farmers, so we lived outside of town. Belle’s folks lived in town. We never would’ve met ‘cept we went to the same church, and Belle was my sister’s friend. Our church was big, with lots of rules. But the rules came from the Good Book, so they had to be right! I loved that church for my whole life. At 95 years of age, I died following the church’s rules and did my best to see our children do the same. No drinking, dancing, sex before marriage, pork meat, or doctors! I believed this was the way to live: what righteousness living was about. Anyway, it all seemed right to me!

Belle and I married in 1928. We weren’t wealthy, but we had a good life. “Blessed!” I used to say. “God is good!” Our kids never doubted Bell and my love. They all followed God. But somewhere, something began to break. Our children didn’t follow all the rules like we did. Sometimes, relationships were strained. I’d tell them my thoughts about their choices. Then we didn’t mention it again, not usually. Sometimes, we agreed to disagree, and everything seemed okay. Conflict was kept on the inside so we could have fun on the outside. And have fun we did! Christmas, New Year’s, Fourth of July, any excuse to get together was a good one! No one claimed perfection in our family, but we looked pretty near close. That felt good, but it isn’t helpful when the problems can’t be hidden anymore.

I never realized how broken our communication patterns were. Strong opinions and not talking about our conflicts degenerated into denial that problems existed. I didn’t realize my strong views created guilt and shame that would be passed on to others. Broken relationships, sin, eroded into a sense of never enough that plagues our young ‘uns even now.

My grandkids and their kids are living the consequences of the spirit of judgment that was strong in our home. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it is because of generations of sin and broken relationships of which I’m a part. Broken relationships are what sin is all about, and so much more obvious in hindsight! We did our best with what we had and trusted God to reveal the rest. Our conclusions were short-sighted and judgmental since God doesn’t show us things in our time but His. God’s ways are a mystery, so much higher than I could ever comprehend. How vast is the sum of God’s thoughts about us?! (Isaiah 55:9, Ps 139:17)

Mandla was ten years older than Nellie an’ me; I was just a child when we first met! Almost grown, he’d already stopped schooling to run the farm. Hardworking and skinny as a rail, Mandla was a gentle soul. I was amazed but delighted when he took an interest in me!

Yes, our life was rich! It was also tough. We lived by faith that God would provide and didn’t always know where our next meal would come from. I gardened, cooked, canned, washed, and clothed our eight children. We have many stories of God’s provision and protection. The church was always there to guide and point us to God’s righteous ways.

I should never have doubted God. Many times, I told people about how He took care of us. But close to the end of my life, with Mandla gone almost ten years, I wondered. Had God really saved me? Was I good enough? My daughter reminded me of something the church always said but struggled to live. God’s righteousness isn’t about me and what I can or can’t do. Righteousness is about Jesus and what He’s already done: the mystery of the Gospel.

We didn’t get those mysteries quite right; I guess that’s why God calls them mysteries. Take the mystery of Christ and the church (Eph 5:31-32). The church preached that sex is sacred. And Mandla waited years while I was busy growing up. He even did his bit of waiting after we married! But focusing on the rules, our family missed some of God’s heart of connection and understanding! Relationships not connecting are what sin is about, and broken relationships become more apparent with each generation. What we do and don’t do “just because it’s right” makes no sense to the next generation when hearts fail to connect.

Pressuring our children to conform to our standards and the laws of the Bible created forms of righteousness that missed God’s heart! Not comprehending the heart-connected love of God, generations of our grands and great-grands experience the mystery of lawlessness beyond what we could have imagined (2 Thess. 2:7). How glad I am for the mystery of the Gospel! Righteousness doesn’t depend on rooting out lawless behavior like we tried but could never accomplish. It’s about trusting what God has already done! Despite any circumstance of my past or present, Christ in me is our hope of glory! (Colossians 1:26-27)

Though God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9), God’s enemy suggests humankind may gain knowledge and understanding apart from our Creator and what He says. Beginning in the garden (Genesis 3:4-5), God’s Highness and His plans for unity with humanity have been shrouded in mystery instead of the welcoming and intimate relationships of God’s design.

God’s meaningful presence and breath of life were removed when Adam and Eve embraced His enemy’s perspective. Not believing God and waiting in trust for Him and His timing, we live apart from God at the enemy’s invitation. All relationships broke down in the mystery of misunderstanding, deception, and isolated perceptions that miss God’s heart of united love. The enemy distracted human relationships from unity with God and one another by usurping God’s authority with independent choice. Clothed by self-preservation, living in shame and fear, and hiding emotionally and physically, independent thinking makes honest relationships feel vulnerable. Sexuality and spirituality took their first blow when the enemy hijacked human choice by pointing out the only thing God had withheld, the intimate understanding and comparison of evil to all they had experienced up to that day. Pointing Adam and Eve to self put God’s goodness into question. What is good became shrouded by the mysterious, and self-preservation set the tone for life in the flesh. “What’s good, according to me,” moved relationships into the downward spiral of isolated perception. At the enemy’s invitation, mysteries abound on God’s good earth, in both our physical and spiritual experiences, and only by God’s Spirit the twain shall meet! Until today, death and darkness overshadow sexuality and spirituality with mystery and longing that one day God will reveal (Matthew 7:7-8, 1 Corinthians 13:12).

Mysterious Love

Read 1 Corinthians 13.

• From verses 1-8 and 13, what core concept shrouded in mystery will we someday fully know?

From the beginning, humanity experienced love, walking with God, and in the wholeness of flesh and bone united by His Spirit. Such was the life in Eden; from the day of their creation, God invited humanity to join Him in the experience of relationships, intimately united and creatively expressed! Only one mystery existed in the Garden of Eden: a taste from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In that one mystery, God instructed humanity to trust Him and the loving relationships they shared by waiting. In love, He warned that the choice to experience that mystery would result in death to everything good and the life they had known.

Even as relationships died and the life humanity had known began to decay, God’s love remains through time. In love, He initiated His plan to restore relationships by sending humankind away from the eternal damnation of broken relationships (Genesis 3:21-24). He instituted the act of sacrifice. Then, identifying with humanity and the terror of vulnerability, He used the skins to clothe them physically. This act of love kept the human experience of physical love and unity sacred. (Genesis 3:21). From that time, the aroma of animal sacrifice would remind God and man of the right relationship and intimacy they once shared (Genesis 4:2-4, 8:20-21, and Leviticus Ch 1). And by sacrifice, God reminds humanity that we must trust Him to provide the way rather than rely on our own plans and understanding (Again, Genesis Chs. 4 & 8, 15:8-17, and Ch 22).

In love, God initiated the act of sacrifice to physically and spiritually clothe mankind, keeping the human experience of physical love and unity sacred.

Again, from 1 Corinthians 13

• When will our partial understanding become complete? (vs. 9-12)
• What qualities point us to perfect? (vs.13)

Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

• How does God reveal His mysteries described in this passage?

God invited man to participate in sacrifice, our first knowledge of this is demonstrated by His response to Able’s sacrifice being acceptable over Cain’s. However, later, through circumcision (Genesis 17), God required a more personal sacrifice of self to demonstrate Abraham’s submission and right relationship with God. In The Temple, animal sacrifice, as well as feasts and celebrations that set aside self to look to the good of others (The Book of Leviticus), were the means of maintaining a relationship with God and others. Finally, Jesus’ was the ultimate sacrifice to be the Son of Man, a human being capable of God’s requirements. Misunderstood by those He came to love, yet committed to God’s way of relating, Jesus’ death remains the one sacrifice that is redeeming and eternal. Always pointing to the right relationships of unity and God’s design, sacrifice was and is a means to be spiritually clothed and restored to the original experience of united love. Right relationships are what righteousness is about. Righteousness trusts God and others to be united as God designed; it attests to the other’s perspective, even when there is doubt. By Jesus’ example, we can observe how living by God’s Spirit in relationships looks. Inviting unity in relationships and sacrificing His personal perspective to the point of death, Jesus pointed us to an-‘other’ perspective. Living rightly on behalf of others, Jesus became the final offering and means for humanity to don the righteousness of God. What righteousness God requires, He’s offered us in Christ.

Misunderstood, yet committed to God’s way of relating, Jesus’ death remains the one sacrifice that is redeeming and eternal.

This kind of love is a mystery; it is the good news you and I are invited to enjoy. To love is to be united by the choice to serve and be served by one another. The goal of love is intimate understanding. Godly love is a gift and a privilege offered by God’s invitation through the work of His Spirit.

The Mystery of the Gospel

Read Ephesians Chapter 3

• Who is the mystery of the Gospel about? (vs.4)
• What is the mystery of the Gospel? (vs. 6)
• What was Paul’s calling regarding this mystery? (vs. 7-8)
• Is this mystery inclusive or exclusive? (vs. 9)

Read Colossians 1:25-27

• How is the mystery of the Gospel further defined? (vs.27) Christ in me hope of glory
• How is the word “glory” used regarding this mystery in Ephesians 3 (vs.13)

Do you see a common denominator for how “glory” is used in Colossians 1 and Ephesians 3? Or does this use of the word “glory” create confusion? Somehow, one benefit of Christ in me is the “hope of glory;” Paul’s suffering on behalf of the Ephesians is “[their] glory.” Together, these passages create more questions than answers. But consider Jesus’ use of the word “glory” as He recounted His work the night before His crucifixion.

Read John 17 and note the places Jesus speaks of God’s glory, our glory, and His glory

• What about Jesus’ life revealed God’s glory on earth? (vs. 4)
• How did Jesus request God “glorify” Him? What does this suggest “glory” look like according to Jesus? (vs 5)
• What is the human element of Jesus’ glory and the work He completed? (vs. 10-11)
• From the beginning until the day that God makes everything clear, what does it look like to “glory” or “glorify” something? (vs. 5&22)

In this prayer, “glory” and “glorify” are from the same root, doxa, and have to do with praising and honoring God in a way that holds a certain brightness, splendor, magnificence, and even majesty.[ii] According to Jesus, to glory in something, God’s glory, brings multiples together and enjoys them as one. The Mystery of the Gospel is that Jesus brought splendor and brightness to the human experience by joining us in our flesh and relating to people in a profoundly meaningful and fulfilling way. God is glorified in unity and community; this is His Kingdom.

According to Jesus, God’s glory brings people together in the enjoyment of relationships connected as one!

From Ephesians 3:14-21

• What does his glory grant us the ability to comprehend? (vs. 17-18)
• Is comprehending this part of the mystery an isolated experience, or is this glorious mystery comprehended in community with others? (vs. 18)
• What two statements in verse 21 further point to glory as an ongoing experience in community?

Fundamentally, Jesus understood the sacrifice of perspective required to love unconditionally. He ushered in God’s Kingdom, leading us to experience love by following Him in relating to others. The Mystery of the Gospel is that because of Jesus, we can also be united, loving as He loved. He invites all to join the Trinity in a united existence. We’re invited into God’s glory, the united love, which exists in the Trinity: an-‘other’ perspective. In an-‘other’ perspective, Jesus showed us what it means to join Him by sacrificing our own perspective. This mysterious Gospel is that we’re not bound to the ‘self’-ish perspective that divides us. In His John 17 prayer, Jesus Himself draws us to God and one another to experience the glory of splendid, even magnificent relationships, as we were created to enjoy.

The Mystery of Christ and The Church

From Ephesians 5:25-32

• What does the Apostle Paul describe as a “profound mystery?”
• What two circumstances of unity does the profound mystery create a link between?

From Ephesians 5:32, the Mystery of Christ and The Church links our spirituality (our relationship with Christ as His Church) and our sexuality (the physical celebration of united love). In this passage, both are traced to Eden. God created us to be spiritual and sexual: two sides of one coin. He breathed life, and we existed unashamed and naked physically while vulnerable and intimately alive by His Spirit!

The Mystery of Christ and The Church links our spirituality and our sexuality

We remained spiritually alive until the mysterious presented himself. When God’s enemy suggested God may not be trustworthy, he ushered in these mysteries that can only be comprehended through Christ. Sex is important to God’s adversary. It is his battleground. Sexuality pictures the Gospel of God by pointing to Christ and the Church and unity within diversity. Sex is God’s picture, a celebration and an experience that, to be fulfilling, requires sacrifice of the ‘self’-ish perspective.

Sex is important to God’s adversary. It is his battleground.

Podcaster Julie Slattery says, “Sexuality is a holy metaphor of a God who invites us into covenant with Himself. God created you as a sexual person in order to unlock the mystery of knowing an invisible God.”[iii] God is love. Because of this, everything that opposes God aims to distort our understanding of covenant love and the significance of intimacy. Covenant draws us together in perpetual and creative union and cannot be terminated.

Jesus loved and connected unreservedly with all who would come to Him. His life was, and remains, an enigma because our experience is shrouded in mystery without His revelation. He is a man of holy sexuality. A man, He is wholly sexual and awaits the response of His bride, The Church.

A man, Jesus, is wholly sexual and awaits the response of His bride.

In Jesus, God renews His invitation to walk in the vitality of relationships that are alive and connected by God’s Spirit. Accepting His invitation to walk by His Spirit, Jesus’ life brings the mysterious into the vulnerable light of life-altering Truth (John 14:6). Only the truth demonstrated in Jesus’ life has the potential to reveal Jesus’ bride and the purity of connected relationships that are moving away from broken patterns. Following Jesus’ revelation, the bride is becoming different from what the enemy has offered by hiding human potential in mystery. (John 17:17-20).

Sexuality… Another Mystery?

Jesus invited people to deeper levels of friendship and understanding. Though not physically expressed in intercourse, the closeness Jesus enjoyed on earth was sexually diverse. Debra Hirsch (2015) says, “Looking to Jesus as our sexual model forces us to move beyond our fixation with genital sexuality to a much broader view of human sexuality, one that includes nongenital intimacy” (p. 51). Jesus’ sexuality didn’t require genital expression. However, His self-expression involved a generous invitation of righteousness –expressing God’s feminine nature. He also moved meaningfully toward wholehearted connection and understanding –expressing His masculine nature.[iv]

In a discussion on sexual redemption, Christopher West points out that gender, generosity, and genitals share the same root. The word gender, says West, “means the manner in which you generate, -the manner in which you image God’s life-giving love!…’generosity’ contains ‘eros,’ the word for erotic love!”[v] He states furthermore that “the call to union inscribed in sexuality is a ‘Great Mystery’ that proclaims the union of Christ and The Church.”[vi]

Jesus’ sexuality was invitational and meaningfully expressed as He identified with individuals. He embodied life-giving love (John 6:68). Married and single, sex reflects vital spiritual truths. Sexual intercourse represents the interaction between Christ and His Bride: a mysterious symbol for an eternal relationship. God positioned sex in a commitment of marriage to reflect an everlasting covenant. When you and I honor God’s design by saving sex for marriage, it celebrates the Gospel, His gift of righteousness, and the intimate love Christ has for every one of us. This is eros in the holiest sense of the word! Honoring God’s celebration of intimacy, keeping it only in marriage, both married and single people, lay foundations for a healthy vulnerability that comprehends God’s generous, reproductive, infinite love.

Sexual intercourse represents the interaction between Christ and His Bride: a mysterious symbol for an eternal relationship.

In the Gospels, Jesus’ marriage wasn’t consummated with individuals because it was consummated at the cross. Consummation of the Ultimate Marriage is spiritually received when personal surrender is mutual with Christ’s surrender to God’s plan. People experience the wonder of Christ and The Church when men and women embrace their sexuality in God-ordained unity. Embracing human sexuality is a good thing.  Honoring the sexual relationship through marriage is the starting point for understanding the Trinitarian unity for which we long. No matter one’s marital status, respecting the Biblical Picture establishes foundations for God-glorifying love. God’s love is honorable and honors God by honoring an-‘other.’

Honoring the sexual relationship and keeping it sacred is the starting point for understanding the Trinitarian unity we long for.

Jesus lived the ultimate sacrifice for His Bride. Then He died, offering His righteousness that she [we] might live. Making the Biblical Picture personal, husbands and wives are privileged to model the same kind of mutual surrender! Just as Abraham was called to personal sacrifice in the act of circumcision, we’re called to personal, even sexual sacrifice to keep sexuality sacred. Marriage is an opportunity to flesh out in one relationship the honor Jesus extended to all. The kind of unity Jesus extended to all humankind is essential for a healthy sex life; it’s the kind of unity that regards an-‘other’s’ needs before my own (Philippians 2:1-8).

John Piper (2005) says, “We were given the power to know each other sexually so that we might have some hint of what it will be like to know Christ supremely (p. 30).” Those who respond to Jesus’ call to unite will participate in His wedding celebration. On that day, the significance of physical intimacy in our flesh will be fully revealed. For now, “marriage and sex …are beautiful and sacred mysteries that point beyond themselves to the mystery of our three-person God and His redemptive self-giving in the incarnation.”[vii]

The Mystery of Lawlessness

There is method to the madness of God’s enemy. Not only has he shrouded God’s truths in mystery, but he’s kept his own strategies a secret.

Read 2 Thessalonians 2:7-17

• What is God’s enemy called in this passage? (vs.3)
• What is the future of God’s enemy? (vs. 3, 7&8)
• What is the goal of the lawless one? (vs.4)
• Why are we not presently experiencing total chaos and destruction of one another? (vs. 7)
• What is the bottom line that reveals his lawless strategy? (vs. 10, 13)

Creating an environment where only my perspective makes sense to me denies the truth of what others experience. This lone perspective results in lawless communities that are increasingly deteriorating and ultimately isolating. The strategy of the satan is to maintain the division of our spirits and keep our physical experience in the fore. Blinding us to our potential to unite spiritually and to the vitality of sacrificing our ‘self’-ish perspective to serve and love as Jesus loved, he’s set individuals on a downward spiral toward isolation. As we know and experience, with increasing regularity, the perspective he’s offered leads us toward hellish, broken, and lonely relationships. Separated from one another and our Creator, we long for united understanding and grace.

Creating an environment where only my perspective makes sense, denies the truth of what others experience.

From 2 Thessalonians 2

• Who is at work to set us apart from the destructive work of the lawless one? (vs. 13)
• What are we called to rather than the hellish offering of lawlessness? (vs. 14-17)

God’s enemy set out to destroy what God intended for good: our relationships, our diversity, and our sexuality. Created to share in Jesus’ glory, the unity of the Trinity, he’s determined to destroy our comprehension of God’s Image by godless isolation! Separated from the source of life and Trinitarian Love, sex became a source of conflict, pain, and even abuse. The picture of Christ and the Church in physical love is incomprehensible without God’s intervention to reveal the fullness of Jesus’ sacrifice. Sexually exposed, Jesus died so that we can live.

God’s enemy is determined to hide God’s Image in us by godless isolation.

The Mystery of Lawlessness, from 2 Thessalonians chapter two, is the premise by which the satan has reigned on earth. Lawlessness is the infrastructure he set in place. Creating questions about God, about ourselves, about who we are as Image bearers, and about the unity we’re capable of, the adversary has distracted us from united relationships by our isolated focus on self and the experience of my flesh alone. And in vulnerability, without the confidence of unity and acceptance we can only enjoy by God’s Spirit, we’re afraid (Genesis 3:1-7). God will answer our questions in the natural course of walking vulnerably and intimately with Him and others. He then invites us to ask hard questions and reveals the answers, in truth, by His Spirit (Matthew 7:7&8, John 16:12-15).

In lawless isolation, the adversary distracts us from united relationships by our isolated focus on self and the experience of my flesh alone.

Misunderstanding what is true—that we’re created to connect in His Image—lawlessness persists in the absence of connection. Lawlessness dishonors His Image by moving us toward isolation, confusion, and pain. Focusing on self and behaviors that fail to connect people in meaningful understanding, violation colors our view of one another. Connecting hearts with God and others facilitates answers to our questions and the uncertainty of our identity.

Proverbs 14:12 summarizes the state of lawlessness Satan set in motion.

• What is the beginning and the end of lawlessness

Proverbs 21:2 informs us of how God evaluates our actions.

• What is the bottom line that God is concerned about?

In his own eyes, results in lawless behavior and is the enemy’s vehicle of destruction. ‘Self’-ish lenses, while not beneficial, are understandable. Though lawlessness is not isolated to sexuality, much damage happens via misconceptions surrounding questions of gender and sex. But God looks at the heart. What heart-longing motivates behavior? Is it self-preservation? Loneliness that yearns to connect? Or maybe a bit of both?

‘Self’-ish lenses, while not beneficial, are understandable.

Considering Sin & Righteousness

Read 1 John Chapter 3

• What did Jesus do right that attracted people to him? (vs.7)
• Why did Jesus come and live among us? (vs.8)
• What is sin? (vs. 4)
• What kind of “seeds” did Jesus initiate that continue attracting followers today? (vs.9)
• What one word characterizes the healthy relationships described in this passage? (16)
• What benefit is obeying God’s command to love in the way? (vs.23-24)

Sin is the rightness of my own eyes and causes broken relationships. Sin is anything that causes broken relationships because it fails to regard the perspective of an-‘other.’ Its counterpart, righteousness, refuses to act defensively with the goal of maintaining healthy relationships. Sacrificing our isolated perspective joins Jesus in righteousness and the act of Godly sacrifice. Jesus attracted multitudes because of His ability to connect with an-‘other’s’ experience. He was without sin; He was righteous. Just as Jesus lived in right relationships. When we pattern our ability to relate to others after His, it destroys the adversary’s work in our lives. Life is restored by God’s Spirit when, as Christ, we begin to grasp an-‘other’s’ perspective and the health it facilitates for the relationship.

Sin is anything that causes broken relationships.

Jesus’ way of regarding another is the restraining influence on the strategy of the lawless one. Jesus came to bring an end to the satan’s authority. Godly restraint values heart connection and genuinely identifies with the experience of others. Regardless of whether a person trusts Jesus for salvation, the kind of intimacy Jesus values creates natural boundaries, even – especially, sexual boundaries are established in the kind of respect that heart connection requires. With hearts connected to benefit relationships, individuals are compelled to honor one another in ways that limit violation and offense.

Righteousness refuses to act defensively to maintain health in relationships.

God’s enemy established his lawless system by deception. Falsehood and twisted truths create doubt. Vulnerability feels scary. Since the beginning, questioning God and making decisions disconnected from Him moves us away from Him and one another. Feeling vulnerable and without access to the source of life, relationships are broken. Desperate for connection and striving for a purposeful existence, human behavior is increasingly out of control and in a downward spiral toward total isolation. This is the hellish reality we witness today.

Sacrificing our isolated perspective joins Jesus in righteousness and the act of Godly sacrifice.

Again, from 2 Thessalonians 2:7-17,

• What event will “take out” the “lawless one” and end lawlessness? (vs.8)
• To whom does God send a “deluding influence”? (vs.10)
• What does this passage suggest we must be “saved” from?
• What is God’s purpose for allowing personal delusion? (vs.12)
• What choice does the deluded person have? (vs. 12)

When the Lord returns, the satan and all his tools will be destroyed. Broken relationships, even sexual offenses, will be destroyed by the truth of God’s covenant love. Believing God and embracing what is true about us and true about Him will connect hearts in understanding. God promises to reveal Truth (John 16:13, 1 Corinthians 13:12).

Sex is a celebration, to the glory of God, in one context only; when it celebrates Christ and the Church and joins Him in Tri-unity with God and one another. Those who choose not to believe what God says about their godly potential for connected relationships with God and others have accepted the satan’s “deluding influence.”

In this system of lawlessness, either humankind will live believing God as they see hearts connect despite the enemy’s efforts, or they’ll be destroyed according to their ‘self’-ish course of action that seems right at the time. In ‘self’-ishness, those who choose to function under the satan’s authority experience God’s judgment via personal choice.

• How can we escape the judgment of this system of lawlessness? (vs.13)
• Who is at work when two people can connect as one to the glory of God? (vs. 13-14)
• Can you describe ways the mystery of lawlessness keeps hidden the mystery of the Gospel and the mystery of Christ & the Church?

Conclusion

The mysterious unknown, introduced and enhanced by the enemy’s system of lawlessness, has made our journey of discovery complicated, even painful. With relationships broken, we’re spiritually divided and sexually ashamed. The satan waged his war in our hearts. Jesus came to live a life that was integrated spiritually and sexually to reveal God’s love in the truth of meaningful relationships. He lived to reveal the Mystery of the Gospel: God’s relationship that connects with the heart of His people. He created us to be His family, connect and one with Him and one another. Now, calling us His Bride, He invites us to respond to His invitation and join the Trinitarian way in the flesh. God never intended to hide Himself. Instead, He chooses to reveal Himself in a journey of spiritual and sexual discovery: unity, like the Trinity, in the service of sacrificial love: Christ and His Church.

Jesus came to live a life that was integrated spiritually and sexually to reveal God’s love in the truth of meaningful relationships.

We are broken but no less capable. We can still discover God and His ways (Matthew 7:7&8). In his book Delighting in the Trinity, Michael Reeves (2012) suggests the ability to function with others in unity is part of our God-image that remains. He proposes the depth of commitment and unity God intends for us can be seen in the relationships of the Godhead (p. 26-38).

It shouldn’t surprise us that the satan relentlessly attacks our ability to act in unity. Jesus revealed in flesh the potential for harmony and connection that human friendships possess. Insatiable longings emerge from within, verify that His Image remains, and crave to reconnect. Through Jesus’ life and by His Spirit, God guides our hearts to unite. He has given us everything we need to come together in life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Through Jesus’ life and by His Spirit, God guides our hearts to unite.

Married and single, how we view sexuality and sexual relationships is vital. The Mystery of Christ and the Church is a starting point for understanding sacrificial love, which is both physical and spiritual. Understanding this mystery, we begin to understand God’s plan and the spiritual battle that rages against Him, against human sexuality, and against fulfilling relationships. The adversary targeted human sexuality to hide our identity, founded in His Image. This satan aims to keep us divided and ignorant of spiritual truths that reveal who we are and how to relate as God designed. Yet, there is good news! The Gospel truth is we yearn for the infinite because our potential for wholehearted relationships remains and is infinitely possible! Addicted to substitutions, we fail to grasp the spiritual significance of sexual truths that lead to meaningful connection. Honoring what is sexual, the unity of Christ and His Church, to honor God, places us on the narrow road to spiritual and sexual wholeness. And this is “Christ in me, the hope of Glory!”

Time for Reflection:

• What are the mysteries, the questions, about God that you would like to know?
• What holds you back from following Jesus’ example and learning God’s way of relating to others?
• How do healthy boundaries in relationships look?
• Intimacy is a matter of connecting hearts. It’s uncomfortable and vulnerable. How do you feel about this? Are you ready to go there?
• What are the laws you hold onto for your own safety? Can you give these to God and believe you are still safe?
• Jesus lived in Godly restraint to value the experience of others. What would this look like for you?
• Take time to pray and tell Him about it.

Foot Notes

[i] Manning, B. (2005). The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out. The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (p. 211).

[ii] G1391 – doxa – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (kjv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1391/kjv/tr/0-1/

G1392 – doxazō – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (kjv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1392/kjv/tr/0-1/

[iii] Slattery, Dr. J. (2018). Rethinking Sexuality [Kindle iOS version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com. Location 791

[iv] Crabb, L. (2013). Fully Alive, A Biblical Vision of Gender That Frees Men and Women to Live Beyond Stereotypes. Grand Rapids, MI: BakerBooks. (pp. 23-78).

[v] West, C. [Anne P]. (2015, November 13). Theology of the Body, Sexual Redemption and the New Evangelization. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0mX8cyrCQY. (video cue 50:00-53:00)

[vi] West, C. (2004). Theology of the Body for Beginners, A Basic Introduction to Pope John Paul II’s Sexual Revolution. West Chester. Ascension Press. (Pg. 81).

[vii] Clark, J; Johnson, M.P. (2015). The Incarnation of God: The Mystery of the Gospel as the Foundation of Evangelical Theology.Wheaton. Crossway. Kindle Edition. (p. 211).

Cited In Text

Hirsch, D. (2015). Redeeming Sex, Naked Conversations About Sexuality and Spirituality. Downers Grove. InterVarsity Press. (pg 51).

Piper, J.; Taylor, J. (2005). Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. Wheaton. Crossway. Kindle Edition. (p. 30).

Reeves, M. (2012). Delighting in the Trinity, An Introduction to the Christian Faith. Downers Grove. InterVarsity Press. (p. 26-38).

 

Unpublished work, copyright 2024 Greg and Carlene Seghers