Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Romance
As Americans we are convinced that the point of life is happiness. Through movies, advertising, and music our culture has told us that the primary avenue to happiness is romance. But what if happiness is too small of a goal? What do we do when both happiness and romance fail us?
Transcript
Well, good morning. We're about to have some fun for the next several weeks. So, we are going to be starting this the first week in our Theology of Sex series, and we're just going to take some time to look at gender and sexuality because, really, it's a big issue for us. It's a big issue for every culture, questions that you have to answer, and we're just kind of all over the map right now as a culture. So, let me give you just a quick kind of, here's where we're headed. Next week, we're actually going to spend some time just talking about gender.
Is it a social construct? Is there more depth and meaning to it than that? Or is it fluid? Like, we're just going to spend some time looking at what the Bible has to say about it. Next, the following week, we're going to talk about masculinity. So, what is it that makes you a man?
What is it that makes a man a man? Is it the ability to fix a truck and grow a beard? Or is it, should we throw off all of those kind of stereotypes about being able to do push-ups? And is it something completely different? Or is that just socially engineered as well? Is there actually something deep and real in masculinity given to us in Scripture?
So, we're going to look at that. Then, the following week, we'll be in femininity, looking at what it means to be a woman. And so, we'll have a man up here opening the Bible, teaching about what it means to be a woman. So, that should go really well. The purpose and God-given design for womanhood and femininity, especially with how much pressure is placed on women in our culture. We're just going to see what the Bible says that's supposed to look like.
Then, we'll go into the purpose of sex. Is it whatever you want it to be? Is it just for fun? Is it just for the propagation of humanity? Is that the only reason it exists? Or is there something deeper, more real to it?
And then, we'll talk about marriage, specifically American understanding of a marriage versus God's understanding of marriage. Is marriage primarily for fulfillment, for you being happy? Is it primarily to keep society going? We'll spend some time there. Then, we're going to talk about intolerance, bigotry, and hospitality when it comes to the church. And so, we should have a very good time, I think, as we walk through this.
We will definitely say some offensive things. The Bible is offensive to all of us. But before we get into all the really offensive things, all the stuff that we all have a lot of questions about, a lot of tension over, we're going to have to lay a foundation. We're going to have to lay a framework for us to even understand how we're supposed to view sexuality, how we're supposed to view gender, how we can even begin to approach this topic. We've got to lay the groundwork for our ability to even walk onto that playing field. Because we're going to come from very different places.
And so, we have to say, here's how we're approaching it from a biblical standpoint. And so, our culture and us, we like love stories. We like romance. We place a lot of value there. It's the stories we tell. That's what Disney has made tons and tons of money off of telling us love stories.
And even in the movies we watch, like if people start off not married, the movie ends with a wedding. And that's it. It's like, they say they're, like, sometimes you don't even have to hear what they say. They just run out and someone throws rice at their face and then credits. And you're like, oh, magic. Like, they ride away in a little carriage.
Like, I was watching Cinderella recently. And, and... Was that weird? Was that a weird thing to say? Anna, my wife, likes those movies. So, I watched them periodically with her.
And it was, like, destroying my soul as I watched that. Look, I can watch Cinderella. We're going to talk about masculinity in a couple of weeks. Don't throw your... No, I'm just kidding. All right.
Stereotypes on me. All right. They, they, I think, if I'm correct with Cinderella, though, they meet at the ball. They dance a couple of times. He chases her down. Her shoe, her foot fits in the shoe.
Obviously the same woman, because that's how feet work. He didn't recognize her face. It was just based off of the foot. Then it says they get, they get married. They're riding off in a carriage. And it's, like, happily ever after.
And I'm like, this is, like, their first conversation. That carriage ride is super awkward. Like, this is... And who knows, really? Like, they don't know each other at all. There's just, we tell these stories.
But, like, I'm going to share a few, just, these kind of stories. Because we, we find them compelling. We, we enjoy sharing them. I got a few from just my family. So I'm going to tell you how my grandparents on both sides and my parents met.
My grandparents on my dad's side met as a part of the same church. And began to date. It was right before World War II or during World War II. And my granddad was, had been through, I believe boot camp was about to be shipping out. But they started dating.
When they started dating, my grandmother told him, she said she didn't want to kiss anybody until she got married. Like, that, her wedding day would be her first kiss. And my granddad was like, yeah. That sounds great. I'm totally for that. That sounds wonderful.
And then he was like, but what if we just tried to see how close we could get our faces together without kissing? And apparently, like, talked my grandmother into it. She was like, okay, I don't think why that would be bad. Then he was like, like, they accidentally kissed. And he was like, oops. Since that happened, do you want to do that some more?
And that's like the only story I know about them dating that my grandmother just told me one time randomly. And I was like, I don't know how I feel about that story. Weirded out. Kind of proud of my granddad. Like, I don't know how to have an emotional reaction to this. But then he, they got married like a week before he shipped out to go overseas to World War II.
My other grandparents, my mom's side, my granddad was in medical school. My grandmother was, had just finished nursing school. They were doing, like, rotation or training at the same hospital. My granddad wasn't dating anybody because he felt called to go be a missionary, a foreign missionary. And so he was going to go be a medical missionary. And he just wasn't dating anybody because he didn't want to, that, to get weird.
He felt like this is what he was supposed to do. And my grandmother really wanted a family, children. Like, she really felt like that was something that was supposed to be. Like, she just desired it. But she also felt called, even from a young age, to be a foreign missionary.
And so she just one day was really wrestling with this. And she was praying. And she said, okay, God, I'll go. I'll go be a single missionary forever. I'll never have a husband and children and all that if that's not for me. If that's not what you want me to do, I submit.
I surrender. I'll do this. At the same time, my granddad was eating dinner. While she's praying through this in her, like, dorm room or how she lived with a couple other ladies, she, my granddad was eating dinner and having a conversation. And it came up. They never really dated anybody.
And he just said, I want to be a foreign missionary, so I'm not going to get into any relationships. And somebody was like, oh, there's a nurse around here that she's going to be a foreign missionary. And he was like, phone number. She comes out of the room from praying. And they're like, you got a phone call. It was my granddad.
He was like, you want to go on a date? Because you want to go to another country. And so do I. And that's why don't we just maybe go to the country together. And so that was how they met, started talking, started dating, and ended up being missionaries to Nigeria. My parents, last one.
My parents, my dad's, my granddad on my dad's side was a pastor. So my mom was hanging out at that church because she went to school near that area where he was a pastor. And my dad saw my mom, thought she was cute. So he walked over to his mom, kind of in the vicinity of, I think maybe his mom and my mom were talking. Walked over to his mom, put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek and said, I just want to tell you how much I love you. And then just walked away.
And my mom's first thought about my dad was, if he's that nice to his mom, I wonder how nice he'll be to his wife. And it was all a trick. But there's just something compelling to us about romance, about relationships, about, there's something, they hold promise for us. Whenever anybody enters into a new relationship, there's just this, I don't know, I don't know how this is going to work out. There's just all these, like, it could just be so, and we have so many beliefs that our culture gives us about relationships and about sexuality and about love and about romance that are just pumped into our brains all the time.
Even without us really paying attention to it. I was riding the other day, I was been working on this and I had like a five minute car ride. And the first song I heard when I got in the car, listen to it, Steve FM or whatever, like random radio. The first song I heard was, don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself. If you're familiar with that song, it's a guy trying to get a girl to have sex with him and she doesn't want to until they're married. And that's the whole point of the song.
So high quality music there. And then the next one was the I'm at a payphone waiting for you. I've spent all my money trying to call you that song. Do you know what I'm talking about? I'm at a payphone waiting for you. That one, okay.
So I listened to that and he's, yeah, you're right. I should sing up here more often. And then the third one was Funky Comodina, which I'm not going to describe to you. But if you know it, all three of these songs, and this is what I'm riding around. I don't know all of them. I'm singing, you know, like Funky Comodina, like I'm riding around.
And this is what we're pumping into our brains all the time. I mean, there's just so much, we're being told so many stories, so many things to believe. There's just so much given to us. And honestly, it begins to just seep into us. And we really need to take a second and pull back and look at the big picture and ask this question. This is what we're looking at today.
We're going to see why this is so compelling to us. Why love stories, why this idea of people coming together, why romance, why it's such a big deal, why it really foundationally, fundamentally, even in scriptures, so compelling, and why it can be absolutely harmful and devastating. And just, if it gets in the wrong place, destructive. And so that's what we're going to spend some time doing. Now, we're going to get to talking about sex, but we've got to lay the groundwork first. So go to Genesis chapter 1.
All the way left in your Bible. It's on page 1. If your Bible looks like this, it's absolutely page 1, because it doesn't even say page 1 on it. You're going to have to find page 2 and go back a page. I'm going to pray, and then we're going to start at the very beginning of everything in the Bible and see kind of how we can lay a framework for how we ought to view this, why romance weighs so heavily on us, and why it can be so destructive. God, we thank you that you don't leave us on our own to figure this out, that really heavy, difficult, life-changing, heartfelt issues, like gender, like sexuality, like marriage, aren't left up to us, aren't left up to popular opinion.
God, I know that what you say and what we're going to see as we study through this over the next couple months is the opposite in a lot of ways of what we believe as a culture and honestly is in some ways offensive, I think, to everybody. I think we'll be surprised to see who and how we get offended as we walk through this, God. But I just pray that your Holy Spirit would work, that you would make us receptive to your Word, and that this morning you'd help us lay a framework and a foundation for how we're going to approach the rest of this. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
All right, Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. This is the very beginning of the Bible. In the beginning. Seems like a good place to start. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Okay, stop.
At the very onset of Scripture, we are met with a very powerful God. Francis Schaeffer, who's a theologian, says that this may be the most pregnant sentence in all of humanity. It's just absolutely so full of depth, bursting forth with life, that we can just miss it. So it says, In the beginning, God. God exists prior to existence. He exists prior to the beginning of everything.
Like, everything we do is time-based, time-bound. I saw, I see, I went, I run, Johnny runs, Johnny ran, Johnny goes, Johnny went, go, Johnny, go, go, go. Like, we, we, everything is, and God is prior to that. There's no way to even, just to describe it. He's prior to the word prior. Like, before our ability to say before.
He exists outside of time. In the beginning, God exists, and then he creates the heavens and the earth. God, out of nothing, out of himself, really, creates everything. So everything we have, created by God. So prior to existence, there was God.
This is what we're told in the Bible. And then, God, out of nothing, creates everything. And so, when Anna and I first moved here, we got, we bought a house, well, we rent it from the bank. And, we, it was like, oh, cool, it's finally our own spot. Like, we're out of apartments, this is going to be nice. And then, I didn't realize what this was going to do to my wife.
So as soon as we get a house, she's like, wouldn't it be nice if, like, she starts so many sentences that way now. And it's like, wouldn't it be, oh, shit, what if we got some carpet? What if we build a fence? What if we, like, it's all these things. And it's like, yeah, that sounds great. And then, every time though, we ask the follow-up question, how much is that going to cost?
We have a discussion where we look at our budget, and then we say things like, maybe next year. Like, unless it's like, wouldn't it be nice if we had another trash, can? Most of the time, it's like, maybe next year. Like, we have to, God doesn't have to do that. He, infinite power and wealth, like, he, out of his own riches, out of his own glory, he creates everything. And it says, he creates the heavens and the earth.
So heavens there has an S. This is written through a biblical author who is empowered by the Holy Spirit. So he's writing about something he has no idea about. At this point, all he really could do is like, look up, and then if he wanted to see a little better, he could squint. Like, that's all he had. And he's saying heavens, which is the explanation of what we now know is infinite space.
Like, we can't, we don't know if it's infinite, because we can't see the end of it. We're just like, it just seems to keep going. It seems like everything gets bigger. Every time we shine a telescope to the darkest spot of the sky, and then we just wait some years for it to catch light, we're like, oh wow, there's a whole bunch of other stuff. All we know is that there's galaxies and galaxies, and solar system and solar system, and in the middle of this, not very impressive galaxy, in the middle of this not very impressive solar system, there's this tiny little oddly shaped earth that God creates.
And when we originally started space exploration, we had like four criteria for what it would take to have a habitable planet. And we were like, oh, we're going to find tons. Let's go. And so we started looking, and then it started, it slowly grew from four criteria to over 200 now, and we're starting to look at the statistics and going, I don't know if we're going to find another one. And then people respond with, well, yeah, but there's so many planets, there's got to be some. But what we see is that statistically, earth gets off a degree or two, it gets a little too far away from sun, a little too close to the sun, like there's not much that's in between us, and melting, or imploding, or exploding, or freezing, like we're right in the little, the sweet spot for humans to exist on a tilt, that we didn't realize that was important, and then we found out, oh no, actually if it was like a degree one, two the other way, we'd be in trouble.
We're the only planet we know of that sits on an awkward axis like that. And, and so we started saying, well, it seems like this is true. It's, it's logical to say, all right, I see in scripture that it says there's a God who made the heavens, and then he made an earth, and he's playing out this story on this earth, and it seems like it's, it's at least logical. Now, you can say, well, okay, but, but in infinite space, in infinite time, with infinite multiverses, and all of the galaxies, like at some point, yeah, I see, you got to hit it, like, there's going to be a planet, and people say that, but we don't use that argument for other things.
So, if you were in the old west, and you, you were dealing poker, and you dealt yourself four aces, it's a nice hand, and then the next hand, you deal yourself four aces, and then the next hand, you deal yourself four aces, and then the next hand, you deal yourself four aces, the other guys at the table, are going to have a problem with you. They're going to stand up, they're going to pull out their guns, because everybody has a gun, and they're going to shoot you, because this is America, and, so they stand up, they pull out guns, and you respond, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, in the infinite number of universes, in time and space, in the infinite number of saloons, where people play poker, isn't it possible, that we just happen to be in the one, where I get dealt four aces, seven times in a row, you know what they're going to say, dang Clem, I never thought about that, you know Jessup, he's got a point, no you're going to get shot, because, while possible, it's actually more probable, at that point, that something else is at play, and that's kind of what we have with earth, while possible, that Yahtzee, we hit the lottery, it's actually, actually at some point, more probable, that there was some intention, there was some design, and that's what the Bible says, that we have a creator, who creates the heavens, and he creates the earth, and on the earth, he begins to play out this story, so, jump down, to verse 26, and we're going to read the last part, of this chapter, and what's happened so far, is God has, he speaks, so it says, God said, and then God saw, and then it was good, and that's what plays out, this whole time, as he creates everything else, and then verse 26, then God said, let us make man, in our image, after our likeness, and let them, so mankind there, let them, have dominion, over the fish of the sea, and over the birds, and over the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing, that creeps on the earth, so God created man, in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them, so it's not just man, the way we use that word, it's man as in, human, humankind, so God created man, in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them, and God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion, over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing, that moves on the earth, and God said, behold I have given you, every plant yielding seed, that is on the face of the earth, and every tree with seed, and its fruit, you shall have them for food, and to every beast of the earth, and every bird of the heavens, and everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has breath of life, I have given them, every green plant for food, and it was so, and God saw everything, that he had made, and behold it was very good, and there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day, so God playing out this story, he creates an earth, and then he begins to create, all the things on the earth, and there's suddenly this break, in the way that this is playing out, so it was God said, and then God saw, and it was good, so God said let there be light, and God saw the light, and the light was good, and that's how it plays out, the rest of the time, until we get to verse 26, and then the story kind of breaks up, because it says God said, let us make man in our image, that's the Godhead talking to himself, that's God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, having a discussion about, we're going to make a relational, personal being, and as the pinnacle of creation, God makes humans, and he creates us in his image, so when an artist paints a portrait, the goal of the portrait, is to show what that person was like, what they looked like, and when God made humanity, the purpose, was to show what he's like, so from the very beginning, we see that we were made, by God, with purpose, that we have, we were made by God, and for God, in his image, so that in and of ourselves, we have dignity, and value, and worth, now for Americans, us as Americans, this is massively important, because we believe some things, are just undeniably true, they're true, whether you believe they're true, they're true, whether you think they're true, there are some things, that are just true, we hold certain truths, to be self-evident, I'm going to read this to you, we hold these truths, to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed, by their creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, okay, that's a nice sentence, all men are created equal, and are endowed, with unalienable rights, but here's the question, why? Why? Why are men created equal, why are they endowed with rights, you can't take away from them?
You can't take away from them? Because, for the majority, of human history, and the majority, of humans, that have walked on the earth, that has not been self-evident, that statement right there, has not been believed, what has been believed, is we're more powerful, so we get to do what we want, what has been believed, is people on the other side, of that border, are less than human, what has been believed, is if your skin, looks this color, or that color, mostly just not my color, you're less than human, what has happened,
Is holocaust, and forced slavery, and sex trafficking, throughout the majority, of human history, if you're old, if you're weak, if you're young, if you're small, if you're mentally deformed, if you're a woman, throughout the history, of humanity, we haven't believed that, this is massively important, there's a French philosopher, his name is Jacques Derrida, he's not a Christian, not a God fear, not religious at all, but what it says, it says he looks at human rights, here's what he comes up with, the concept of crime,
Against humanity, is a Christian concept, and I think there would be, no such thing, in the law today, without the Christian heritage, the Abrahamic heritage, the biblical heritage, so do you hear what he's saying, he's saying he's, he's a philosopher, and he's looking at law, and he's saying, there would not be, crimes against humanity, this idea, comes out of Christianity, because we don't see it, showing up other places, and it comes out of, Genesis 1, we were made in the image of God, with worth, with value,
Because we were created, by him, for him, for his purposes, and he's right, you wouldn't see that, you don't see that, showing up other places, outside of this heritage, and we don't believe this, for other things, so in Africa, every day, there's a wild pack of lions, that roams around, and prays on the small, and the weak, and the old, and the sick, eating cute little gazelle, zebras, elephants, not the big elephants, but the small,
Cute ones, just mows them down, doesn't even feel bad, and nobody riots, and nobody protests, and we don't have a hashtag, zebra lives matter, because they're animals, and they're different, than humans, there's a reason, why an animal, can kill an animal, and we're like, that's what animals do, but you can't get mad, at someone, and walk into a Walmart, and hit them in the head, with a shovel, like it's, there's a reason, because humans, have dignity,
And value, and worth, given to us, by our creator, and historically, anytime we get this wrong, historically, anytime we begin to, not believe this, we begin to elevate, animals, or we begin to, lower other types of humans, or all humans, this goes horrendously, wrong, it becomes horrific, we have forced slavery, we have racism, we have genocide, we have holocaust, every time we get this wrong, that we were created, by God,
For his purposes, in his image, so don't, don't lose me there, stick with me there, because you miss, you lose too much, if you miss this, let me, let me show you a few things, that this gives us, automatically, if God is God, and created everything, and made us in his image, here's what this gives us, it gives you the right, to be outraged, over things you should be outraged over, I read an article yesterday, about a tribe in Africa, that when girls turn 10, they take them, away from their families,
They take them, to a remote part of the village, and the older women, in their tribe, teach them, how to please men, and then they are told, when you get done with this, it's called initiation, when you get done with this, go find an older man, and begin having sex, 10 year olds, and that's how you become a woman, and that's what womanhood is, in that culture, and they try to stay away, from western people, because western people, try to come in and say, no no no no no no, this isn't okay, this isn't good for you, this isn't how this should work,
And without, this, we don't have a leg to stand on, without that we were made, in God's image, you actually don't have, any argument, other than a cultural argument, which is this is the way I feel, but when you have this, you have the right to be outraged, you have the right to step in, and say no you can't, you can't just kill people, because they're Jewish, no no you can't, you can't treat girls like that, just because they have no power, in your society, sex trafficking is not okay, we lose this, we lose crime against humanity, if we lose that we were created, in the image of God,
And designed for his good purposes, it also gives you automatically, you have value and worth, just by the nature, of being made in the image of God, you have dignity, value and worth, given to you, granted to you, placed in you, by God, it also gives you purpose, your purpose is going to be, ultimately found in God, satisfied in God, you will find ultimate fulfillment, in God, because you were designed by him, for his purposes, so let me give you, some helpful advice here, it's not work, you're not going to find your purpose, and value in work,
And every time we get that wrong, every time we begin to believe, that if I have this job, or if I'm just this type of person, if I make this amount of money, I'll be fulfilled, I'll be satisfied, doesn't happen, it's not going to be found, in other people's opinions of you, if I could just get people to like me, if everybody around me, knew how wonderful I was, if I could just have other people, like it goes terribly wrong, every time we seek our fulfillment, our value, our purpose in that, it's not going to be found in yourself, you don't exist for your own glory, and joy, and fulfillment, like you're not going to find fulfillment, if you just seek satisfaction,
It's not going to happen, it's a little bit like, let's say, hypothetically, but it doesn't have to be hypothetical, let's say, hypothetically, you invite me over to your house, to eat delicious food, because you found out, I like delicious food, and so you say, something along the lines of, Chet, do you like delicious food, and do you want to come to my house, and eat it, and I say something along the lines of, heck yes I do, and then we high five, let's say you invite me over to your house, you're preparing food, I'm hanging out, and then I look and I go,
No, you painted your walls the wrong color, you're going to think, well that was rude, but maybe, because I preach, I'm kind of a pastor, you'll let me slide on that one, you'll just think, well I didn't know he was a jerk, surprise, and then I say, ah, your coffee table's in the wrong spot, and then I'm like, I'll just, I'll move it, so I just like, start messing with your stuff, I'm like, dude you don't have a DVR, seriously, like eventually, you'd be like,
Hey bro, it's in your house, not your zone, not designed for you, and you would be very correct, and the truth is, every time we walk around on earth, like this was supposed to fill us up, we're just a whiny house guest in God's house, it wasn't designed for our ultimate satisfaction, it wasn't built around us, we are the pinnacle of creation, he pauses and makes us in his image, which gives us dignity and value and worth, we're not the point of creation, and we're ultimately going to find our satisfaction, and our joy in him, and that's actually, what makes romance so compelling, and so harmful, turn with me to Romans chapter 1, that's going to be on page 610, Romans chapter 1, it's going to mirror some of what we just read,
And it's going to help us diagnose, some of the issues that we have, when we begin to approach, gender, sexuality, why us being made in the image of God, created by a creator, who has creator rights over us, and us being made in the image of God, is actually what makes romance and love, so compelling and so harmful, we're going to start in verse 21, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God, for images, resembling mortal man, and birds, and animals,
And creeping things, therefore God gave them up, in the lusts of their hearts, to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies, among themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God, for a lie, and worshipped, and served the creature, rather than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen, for this reason, God gave them up, to dishonorable passions, and so we'll stop there, it's the end of a sentence, seems good to me, what that just said was, God was designed to be God, and then it says, but we, they,
Swapped out, the creator, for creation, for images, that look like man, that look like birds, that just any kind of created thing, gets put there, and here, here's what happens, basically what it's saying, is that, the translation where it says, they exchanged the truth about God, for a lie, some commentators will say, that actually should be the lie, they exchanged the truth about God, for the lie, which is that, something other than God, can fill us up, something other than God, can be our purpose,
Something other than God, can make us happy, something other than God, can fit in this spot, and that's the lie, ever since Adam and Eve, rebelled in the garden, and messed all of this up, and we followed in their tracks, doing the exact same thing, that's the lie, that something other than God, can take his spot, and here's what happens, when that happens, we begin to worship, and serve created things, so you don't just have, a lazy husband, you have a husband, who's rejected, his God-given design, you don't just have an, and he's begun to believe,
That his comfort, is above all, above all, and that's where ultimate satisfaction, and hope comes from, you don't just have an anxious wife, you have a wife, who's begun to believe, that security, is what will fill her up, that the ability, to control situations, is where ultimate, satisfaction will come, you don't just have, an angry tyrant dad, you have a dad, who's begun to believe, that he deserves, to be worshipped, that he deserves, to be submitted to, that he deserves, to be exalted,
I have a 10 month old son, I don't just have a son, who's learning, how to throw fits, I have a son, who believes, fundamentally, that the world, exists for him, and he can't say those words, but that's what he believes, and he started doing this, like you take something from him, and he does this, and he's like 10 months old, he can't even hold his head up, he's going to fall over, you have to like hold him, but what this is, is dad, I'm so sick of your garbage, right now, like how dare you, like he likes to dance,
So he's holding my phone, and dancing, because he was playing music, and I took it from him, and he just goes, and puts his head down, because that is his, now he touched it, and stuck it in his mouth, so he owns it, and you can't take it from him, because the world exists, to revolve around him, his little heart, believes that, that's how kids learn mine, is one of their first words, we were hanging over, hanging out with our community group, and there was two little kids, Archer had already picked up two coasters, and was walking around, we're pretty sure he hit them, before we left,
So we were like, I hope y'all didn't want all your coasters, to the person who's hosting us, and another like two-year-old girl, comes over, and she takes that from him, and she goes, this is mine, and my wife was like, it's not either of y'all's, you can't just walk into someone's house, and claim things, so my wife pushed her to the ground, I'm just kidding, my wife's in Kid City, so if you have children up there, I'm just kidding, she didn't push me, but I can say whatever I want, because she can't hear me, but that's what happens, we begin to believe, other things will fill us up, and here's,
See what it says in the text, don't, we can't gloss past this, twice, therefore, it's in verse 24, therefore, therefore, God gave them up, in their lusts of their hearts, to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature, rather than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen, for this reason, God gave them up, to dishonorable passions, twice, it says, the outcome of this, the outcome of God being moved from his rightful place,
Is, sexual, that one of the major outcomes, is that romance, and passion, and lust, get elevated, and here's why, we were made in the image of God, and are therefore, the easiest thing to believe, will fill us up, and give us purpose, and give us a reason to live, the easiest thing for you to put in the place of God, is another human, because humans were made in the image of God, they are the second best, so a lot of people, like we place a high value on money, we believe that money will, like money and success, America loves that, but I'll tell you something,
That we also believe, every time someone's house burns down, but their whole family is okay, what do they say, it's helped me realize, what was really important, and we all go, yeah, you're right, people, yes, how could we forget, when we watch movies, sure, we like money, we like success, and if that could be thrown in, that sounds great, but what happens in the movies, the person gives up money, they give up success, to chase after their love, they're willing to go, go for broke,
They're willing to be poor, if they can just have this person, they're willing to quit their job, if it means they can spend time, with their children, because, humans, made in the image of God, are the easiest thing, to replace God with, because they come, so close, to giving us purpose, and filling us up, and giving us value, you're going to be able, to find that more, in your children, than you will be in a job, you're going to be able, to find that more, in chasing after romance, than you'll find it, in other things,
Because humans, are made in the image of God, and therefore, the easiest thing, to swap it out for him, but it becomes very, harmful and destructive, when we do that, and so what it says is, they elevated romance, they elevate passion, they elevate lust, they elevate sexuality, to a place that it shouldn't be in, and here's what happens, let's just take a second, to look at our culture, if we're doing that, if we've replaced God, with romance, with sexuality, with gender, I would expect, that you have a culture,
That looked like ours, we have a three billion, a dollar a year, industry in online dating, three billion a year, that's pretty big, we have a 51 billion dollar, industry, in the marriage industry, the wedding industry, 51 billion dollars, to give you a place for that, I think last year, the NFL had, was a 10 billion dollar, so 51 billion, in the wedding industry, the porn industry, which is really hard, to track Numbers on, because a lot of it's online, a lot of it's under reported, or unreported, but estimates put it,
Somewhere competing with, the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, ABC, NBC, CBS, and some of them, are going to say, it's actually more, than the NFL, the NBA, and the MLB combined, or it's more than, ABC, CBS, NBC combined, but it depends, on who's doing the study, and really what we just see, is that that's a major, industry for us, I think, you begin to see,
In our culture, where we just start assuming, yeah you're supposed, to get married, yeah part of your story, is a romance story, absolutely, and if you're not married, there's got to be, something wrong with you, like we begin, to believe that, we begin to say things like, I just want to get married, because I don't want to be alone, like our options, are marriage, or loneliness, because we've begun, to spread this information, you have, your great, your grandmother, every time you see her,
Your great aunt, every time you see her, says, met anybody yet, because we've begun, to believe that value, and worth, come from, another human, come from, a relationship, come from, romance, we've begun to place, value here, we, we would have movies, that say things like, you realize that trying, to keep your distance from me, will not lessen my affection, for you, all efforts to save me, from you will fail,
That's from the fault, in her stars, or I love you, you're my only reason, to stay alive, that's from Twilight, a lot of y'all recognized it, but we have, we have stories, that reinforce this, and we just hear it, and we go, yes, like you, you can't watch Braveheart, without his, his wife dying, that he married in secret, and then she dies, and you're like, absolutely, you want to kill all of England, makes sense, I'm with you,
Let's do it, because these are the stories, we tell, this is what we believe, this is where, so you have a book, movie combo, about an abusive relationship, involving bondage, and dominance, and submission, and masochism, that grosses, 500 million dollars, worldwide, it's one of the most profitable, movies of 2015, in Fifty Shades of Grey, that the song, that comes from that, with Ellie Golding's hit song, that says this, on the edge of paradise, every inch of your skin,
Is a holy grail, I've got to find, only you can set my heart on fire, or Tove Love's song, oh, that's the, touch me like you do, touch, touch me like you do song, the Ellie Golding song, Tove Love's song, that says this, you're gone, you're gone, and I've got to stay high, all the time, to keep you off my mind, which is basically, my sex romance, romance God failed, so I need to turn, to my drug God, to keep my brain, like we,
From One Direction, from every song, the song, I Believe in Miracles, that we sing all the time, one of the lyrics in that song was, I met you yesterday, and now you're in my bed, I believe in miracles, and, it's catchy, but, our culture, has begun to play, so much weight, here, and then I would think, if you see a culture, that's doing this, that's elevated romance, that's elevated sexuality, then you would start having, what we have, with just some serious,
Backlash to it, you'd have really high, divorce rates, you'd hear us saying, things like, she just doesn't meet my needs, he doesn't just, he just doesn't make me, happy anymore, well you need to find, someone who makes you happy, you need to find someone, who completes you, you need to find your soulmate, and we'd all just nod along, yes, correct, a person who can complete me, the one special someone, out there, and if this person, isn't working, if we're having some friction, obviously not the one special someone,
You'd have really high, sexual expectations, all the time, across the board, all you have to do, is look at a magazine rack, to understand that this is, rampant in our culture, have a lot of cynicism, when it comes to romance, and I believe, that you begin to see, what we're seeing, which is the ultimate sin, the unforgivable sin, in our culture, is, not letting someone, be with the person, they want to be with, that's unforgivable, you can't deny someone, the ability to be with someone, they want to be with,
Why, because we've swapped out God, and we've elevated each other, we've elevated romance, we've elevated people, who were made in his image, because we're the easiest thing, to elevate to that spot, and that's what we have, that's what's happening, we have, it's all over the place, and so, what do we do, how does this work, there's a, Danny Akins, a guy who wrote a book, and there's a story, about an anthropologist, that was hanging out, with the Hopi people, and he asked them, he said,
Why are all your songs, about rain, so he'd gotten to know them, they'd gotten to know him, they'd shared culture, back and forth, and so he asked, why all of your songs, are about rain, and the Hopi guy said, because that's life, for us, that's salvation, for us, without rain, we're dead, and then the Hopi guy said, why are all your songs, about romance, that's life, for us, that's salvation, for us, and without romance,
We're dead, would be the answer, so the question left, if we were made, by a creator, in his image, to image him, and to find our ultimate, fulfillment and purpose, in him, and then because of that, because of that, very beautiful truth, we're the easiest thing, to put in his place, so that we've swapped him out, for smaller, broken images, the question is, how does he respond, God, the answer, is that God, came to earth,
In the person of Jesus, to live out perfectly, what we should have done, that actually, Colossians is going to say, he is the image, of the invisible God, so we were made, in the image of God, but he is the image of God, so Jesus comes, and lives perfectly, what it means to be human, and what it means, for us to relate to God, that's what Christ was doing, and you know, what he didn't do, he didn't get married, he didn't have a relationship, he didn't have sex, he didn't chase romance, and this baffles us, to the point,
That we have things, like the Da Vinci Code, and movies, like the last temptation, of Christ, because obviously, he had to have, a secret romance, because otherwise, how would he be fulfilled, how would he be a person, it's got to be fake, if he doesn't, but no, he comes and lives, and he shows, that there's value, in being celibate, there's value, that romance isn't God, and then he lives, perfectly on our behalf, and swaps himself, out for us,
This is God's response, to us, swapping him out, we're going to read, 2nd Corinthians 521, we'll show it on the screen, for our sake, he made him, that's God made Jesus, we read this a lot, but God made Jesus, to be sin for us, to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him, we might, become the righteousness, of God, God made Jesus, to be sin, so that in him, we could become, the righteousness of God, that's God's response,
That the perfect image, of God, when we swapped God out, for broken smaller images, that the perfect image, of God, would swap himself, out for us, and what we tried, to receive, what we ultimately, chased after, when we swapped him out, was brokenness, harm, sin, death, destruction, and you know, when Jesus, swapped himself out for us, you know what he took, brokenness, harm,
Sin, death, and destruction, that's what he took, on himself, when he went to the cross, was our brokenness, our pain, our sin, our death, our destruction, so that, he could give us back, what we had exchanged, the first time, so that he could give us back, God, a real relationship, with God, and the ability, to enter into a relationship, through faith, and have our purposes, re-fulfilled,
That's what Jesus, did for us, we were made, in the image of God, and therefore, we're the easiest thing, to swap out for him, and then Jesus, as the image of God, swapped himself, back out for us, to reverse what we had done, so that we could be, welcomed back in, now, next week, we start saying, some offensive things, next week, God gets aggressive, when it comes to, how we view sexuality, romance, hopefully he's already started,
To help us see, where we're off, but if we miss this, if we miss, that we were made, in the image of God, if we miss, that God loves us, so much, that he invites us, into a bigger, more true love story, one of the reasons, that romance, love, finds resonance, in our soul, is that, the true story, of history, of humanity, is a beautiful love story, where Jesus, overcomes the odds,
To rescue his people, that's one of the reasons, we love that story, because that's what, Jesus did for us, in the cross, overcame all the odds, to bring us back, even when we were separated, separated, by massive separation, if we miss this, that you have a God, who created you, and therefore has creator rights, over you, therefore has a design, and you miss, that he loves you so much, that in the midst, of our rebellion, and brokenness, he was unwilling, to let us go,
But came to rescue us, if you miss both, of those things, the rest of it, will only seem, restrictive, will only seem, like it traps us, will only seem, oppressive, the rest of his design, for human sexuality, can only be seen, but when we know, that he has a design for us, and that he loves us, it sets us free, to follow him, so we're not afraid, to say the offensive things, we're going to say, but it mostly, we want to be helpful, and if you don't get,
That you were made, in the image of God, and have worth, and value, and dignity, and that Jesus loved you, so much to rescue you, you're going to miss, everything else, the band's going, to come back up, God I pray, that you would work, in us, to give us the grace, to follow you, give us the faith, to trust you, when you say things, to us, that we disagree with, help us to see, that you're the creator, and therefore have a,
Vantage point we don't have, and help us to see, that you love us, so much in the cross, that you're willing, to die to rescue us, that you are ultimately, trustworthy, with our lives, and with everything, God I pray, that you'd help all of us, to submit, our masculinity, our femininity, and our sexuality, to you, for your glory, as we follow after you, in Jesus name, amen, amen, amen, amen,
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,
