Flesh-And-Bone

Design & Desires
July 16, 2023
Chris Seidman, Lead Minister, The Branch

In Matthew 18, We Find Jesus Doing a Series of Teachings:

• Vs. 6-9: He warns His disciples against causing children to stumble.

• Vs. 10-14: He talks about a shepherd who has a sheep that wanders off, and the shepherd goes after the sheep.

• Vs. 15-20: He teaches about how to help a spiritual brother or sister who has fallen into sin.

• Vs.21-35: He tells a parable about an unmerciful servant which warns us against being unmerciful toward others, and to remember the mercy God has had on us.

Matthew 19:2 (NIV)
Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

Matthew 19:4-6 (NIV)
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Important Affirmations Regarding Our Bodies

• Sexual intimacy between a man and a woman is from God.

Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
“Let us make mankind in our image … .”

• Sexual intimacy between a man and a woman is for marriage.

• Marriage is for life.

Matthew 19:9 (NIV)
“I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Matthew 19:10 (NIV)
The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

Matthew 13:24-28 (NIV)
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, did you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.”

Sam Allberry, Author and Pastor
As someone in this situation, what Jesus calls me to do is exactly what he calls anyone to do. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

It is the same for us all – “whoever.” Every Christian is called to costly sacrifice. It is laying down your life for the very reasons that your life, as it turns out, is not yours at all. It belongs to Jesus. He made it. And through his death he has bought it.

Ever since I have been open about my own experiences of homosexuality, a number of Christians have said something like this: “The gospel must be harder for you than it is for me,” as though I have more to give up than they do. If someone thinks the gospel has somehow slotted into their life quite easily, without causing any major adjustments to their lifestyle or aspirations, it is likely they have not really started following Jesus at all.

Philippians 2:13 (NIV)
… for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.