Vows
Priority
“I promise that God will be my one and my spouse will be my two.”
Pursuit
“I promise to always pursue my two.”
Preparation
“I promise to prepare for “we” by dealing with “me”.
Purity
“I promise to communicate and not isolate.”
Partnership
“I promise that our marriage will be about we and not me.”
Patience
“I promise to be patient with the process.”
Passion
“I promise to please your God honoring passions.”
1 Corinthians 7:1-8
Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
Three Common Viewpoints:
1. Sex as Gross
2. Sex as God
Romans 1:18-27
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
3. Sex as a Gift
Genesis 2:22-25
22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’for she was taken out of man.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 1:28
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
1 Corinthians 7:1
“Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
Paul’s answers to the church’s questions:
Boundaries have blessings
1 Corinthians 7:2
2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.
When you go against God’s standards, you don’t break the standard, the standard breaks you.
Sex is duty, but duty can be sexy
“3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
Fulfill - “to deliver”
Duty - “that which is owed or due”
Deprive - “rob or defraud”
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
Conclusions:
1. It is God’s plan for a husband and wife to be sexually active on a regular basis.
2. Sexual intimacy is a way of honoring your spouse.
It creates oneness
It is for pleasure
It provides comfort
It is for knowledge
It is for protection
3. Sexual intimacy is undermined when sexual boundaries are crossed.