“Respecting Commitment” The Seventh Commandment 8/7/11       Deuteronomy 5:18; Matthew 5:27-28; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

            The seventh commandment is a dreaded one to hear: ( “Do not commit adultery”).  The seventh command is the least popular and the one broken with the most glee.  The old joke is Moses came down from the mountain and said, “I have good news and bad news.  The good news is the commandments are now down to ten.  The bad news is that the one about adultery is still in there. “
            I really feel uncomfortable preaching about this for many reasons, but let me give two.  1) What the scriptures say and what our culture is doing have moved far away from each other.  A large section of our population has decided to ignore this command and many have been hurt by this themselves.  Many of us know a niece, nephew, child, parent, friend who have cohabited without being married.  For the first time in the history of the West since Roman times- more young people move in together (cohabit) than get married.  That is a huge change.  Many of us know someone who has had an affair and broken the marriage and the family.   Some will be offended that I would even read this command without redefining it or watering it down.  I truly believe, however, that this command gives us a way forward in the heartache of broken relationships.  2) A second reason this command is hard to speak about is the kids.  It is the x rated (or at least r rated command).  But human sexuality is shielded from kids because deep within us we know it is something sacred and special.  Yet today sexuality is everywhere.  20% of our nation’s children have lost their virginity by 13 years old (one out of every five).  A million American teenage girls get pregnant each year, and 400,000 of these have an abortion.  Each year for the past five years 8- 10 million American teens contract a sexually transmitted disease, and in a survey of sexually active teen girls 90% say they either had some regret or wish they had waited, and they also said they wished churches would have said something to encourage them to wait.  It is really hard to hide our heads in the sand about this.  I wish it was not an issue, but it is.  Ministers are called to preach the whole Word of God.
     JESUS SEEMED TO APPLY IN TWO DIFFERENT PASSAGES THAT WE ALL COMMIT THIS SIN-  One was the passage in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) where He points out that the root of the sin- lust.  He said if you have lust in your heart you have committed this sin.  So if you have not done the act, but have a sewer in your heart you have not escaped.  In saying this, Jesus broadened the seventh command in its scope.  If you are enthralled by pornographic sites on TV or the internet, this command applies to you, Jesus says.   The second passage in which Jesus implies our guilt is when the religious leaders bring a woman caught in the act of adultery to stone in front of Jesus.  Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”  They all limped away.  See, in our culture, we are all affected by the sin of adultery.  All of us need to be quick to repent, and slow to condemn here.  Yet we should also heed Jesus’ warnings to this woman- “Go and leave your life of sin.”  Not an easy thing to do, but in the face of people about to kill you, it is an important thing to do.  We live in a culture where it is hard to leave this life of sin.  In the 1950s a married couple couldn’t be seen on TV in the same bed.  In the 1960’s Barbara Eden couldn’t show her bellybutton in “I Dream of Jeanie.”  But now, 94% of all sexual relationships on TV are extra-marital.  We appear to be in a debt free fall, but also a moral free fall. 
    The idea of monogamy and keeping a relationship adultery-free is tied to our concept of God.  Monotheism and Monogamy seem to go together.  I believe part of our great falling away from God in the last ten years is not a theological problem, but a moral and faith problem.  Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and especially Hosea speak of faithlessness to our spouse as a sign of faithlessness to God.  They speak of how one of the signs that the people left God is they were leaving their spouse.  In the New Testament (especially Eph. 5 and Revelation) it speaks of the church as the “bride” of Christ that is spotless.  The word “adultery” comes from the term “adulterate” which means to make impure or pollute.  God’s vision is that we will be pure for our spouse (present or future), pure for ourselves, and  pure for our God.  We have a covenant relationship with God- He is our God and we are His people- that is our covenant.  And when we marry we have a covenant relationship with our spouse.  Vow keeping is important to God and it should be important to our integrity.  Vow keeping gives us an identity in the midst of changing circumstances and an uncertain future.  We say- for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health.  Our culture (and adultery) asks us to define life in terms of present needs not past commitments.  Many theologians point out that when we do not have a spouse our covenant about sexual purity is with God.  In the end, for me, it is not a matter of reason or biology or anthropology that tells me what direction I should take sexually, but what does God say in the scriptures.  For many, the scriptures have become a less and less important source of guidance for their lives, and they are relying on experts whose opinions change.  Be careful of putting your trust solely on the “experts” or on the numbers of those who give into sin.  Calvin says that we deceive ourselves about sin, seeking to justify it all of the time.  He said this is especially true of sexual sins.
     THE ELEVATION OF HUMAN LIFE- God wishes to raise us up from the pig pen of the animals.  He asks us to walk out of the animal house- not dwell in it.  He calls us to something better, something more.  God calls us to a place where vows are kept, where people can be trusted, where love is more than a day- a week- or a few months, but “til death do us part.”  The world will tell us to give into the gravity of our animal instincts.  One Psychologist, Carl Rogers, who is brilliant in other areas, said that “The more you love, the more love you have to give away.”  This may apply to love for children, but I don’t believe it applies to sexuality.  A prostitute does the sexual act frequently, but does not appear to grow in intimacy- but rather grows in coldness.  One of the great problems of our culture is we have confused love with sex.   Sexuality can be an expression of love, but sexuality in adultery can pollute or ruin love.  Because we have confused love with sex, then we cheapen love.  “Scoring”; “hitting” or “Hooking up” is not the same as love.  God does not want us to use women or children or men as things to fulfill our sexual desires.  Rather, He wants us to rise above the use and abuse and into the abundant life.  A study by the University of Chicago found that it is not those who have multiple partners and were the swinging singles who were the most happy in their love life and had the most human intimacy- rather it was consistently those who were married.  C.S. Lewis said “Pleasure after all, is God’s invention, not Satan’s.”  God created us to be sexual creatures, but He also created boundaries- and has let us know those boundaries in order that we might not be slaves to our pleasures but also fully enjoy the life we were given.           

      OUR BODIES ARE GOD’S- Many times the scriptures speak of belonging to God body and soul.  “We are not our own, for we have been bought with a price.”  “The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord.”  “All things are desirable, but not all things are beneficial.”  “Do you not know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you? Therefore honor the Lord with your body.”  It is not just that our souls can be made pure, or that God only cares about our souls – and the one hour a week we spend in church.  When Jesus came he healed the bodies of the sick as well as spoke of eternal life of the soul.  Jesus said that the two become “one flesh” and what God has joined together as “one flesh” let no man separate.  Adultery is an effort at separating what God in His providence has joined together.  This deep, one flesh intimacy- with its memories and trust- is to be guarded deeply.  Guard your heart.  Guard your eyes.  Guard your body with modesty.  Guard your soul.  The best way to free ourselves from guilt about this is not to pretend adultery doesn’t deceive or betray or hurt.  The best way to free ourselves from guilt is not to do it- to listen to this hard but important command.  But the next thing we need to hear is a word of God’s grace that frees us from pas t mistakes.   
     THERE IS GRACE THAT WE NEED TO HEAR.  In a world that has gone mad sexually, God calls us back to sanity.  He does so not without help.  Some of you are wondering how you can possibly have the strength to resist the temptation of lust and adultery.  You cannot resist: at least not on your own strength.  The good news is that God does not leave us on our own, and provides a way of escape from temptation and strength for the weak.  We can do all things through Him who gives us strength.  It is that way before marriage, during marriage, and if God has called you to be single.         There are many lessons in grace here.  Read the book of Hosea.  Hosea is told to marry a prostitute who will likely be unfaithful to him.  He does, and she is- unfaithful.  Yet Hosea, imitating God, goes out and seeks out his prostitute wife and brings her back, rescuing her from slavery and abuse.  The Bible says, “While we were yet sinners, Christ came for us.”  You are not here by accident today.  You are here to listen to this command and hear God’s calling you back from the brink of temptation, back from the things you will face this week, back to faithfulness to Him and to those you love.  Perhaps you remember the lived-out-story of the Woman at the Well.  Jesus approached this Samaritan woman, and told her to “go and call her husband.”  She said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said, “You are right in saying you have no husband, for you have had five and the man you are living with now is not your husband.”  Jesus knew and cared.    Jesus, in His providence, gave her time to turn around.  Jesus gave her a true second chance to turn around.  God gives us a second chance, and He invites you to take it.   Communion is our renewing our covenant with God, and you are invited to come and renew that covenant today.