Tag Archives: Sex

Sermon – Christian Family Matters: Concerning Singleness (1 Cor 7:17-40)

Read the text – 1 Corinthians 7:17-40

What should hold a church together – Our relationships? Our feeling of belonging? Our gospel convictions? Jesus? The Apostle Paul wrote this extraordinary letter to a church he knew well, yet a church which had got itself into a bit of a muddle. It turns out that the Christian Family does matter – and it is important to ensure that Jesus sits at the heart and soul of this church and in fact any church. We look at 1 Corinthians 1-7 because it holds a mirror up to us and it would be wise for us to consider carefully what it might say to us in 2022.

In this talk, Dave Swan looks at how being in a relationship with a person of the opposite sex should not come before being in a relationship with the Lord – put the horse before the cart when thinking about singleness and relationships. This talk upholds singleness. There is great value for us all (single or married) to recognise the value of singleness and to be given reasons to see that our status before the Lord is first about our relationship with him than it is about our relationship with another. Yet, we also acknowledge the burden/longing that those who are single may feel.

Sermon – Concerning Marriage (1 Corinthians 7:1-24)

Read the text – 1 Corinthians 7:1-24

What should hold a church together – Our relationships? Our feeling of belonging? Our gospel convictions? Jesus? The Apostle Paul wrote this extraordinary letter to a church he knew well, yet a church which had got itself into a bit of a muddle. It turns out that the Christian Family does matter – and it is important to ensure that Jesus sits at the heart and soul of this church and in fact any church. We look at 1 Corinthians 1-7 because it holds a mirror up to us and it would be wise for us to consider carefully what it might say to us today.

In this Bible Talk, Ken Noakes carefully looks at what 1 Corinthians says about the place of sex in marriage and how it might help us to recognise the gospel importance of the marriage covenant. There are specific matters addressed here and there are specific relationships in view (i.e. – those married, those unmarried and widowed, to Christian married couples, and Christians married to unbelievers). The gospel speaks to each circumstance.

Sermon – Sexual Immorality (1 Corinthians 6:12-20) [15+ Mature Audiences Warning]

Read the text – 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

What should hold a church together – Our relationships? Our feeling of belonging? Our gospel convictions? Jesus? The Apostle Paul wrote this extraordinary letter to a church he knew well, yet a church which had got itself into a bit of a muddle. It turns out that the Christian Family does matter – and it is important to ensure that Jesus sits at the heart and soul of this church and in fact any church. We look at 1 Corinthians 1-7 because it holds a mirror up to us and it would be wise for us to consider carefully what it might say to us today.

In this Bible Talk, Dave Swan speaks about the touchy subject of sexual purity and the important place it holds in the Christian family. Since “your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God” (1 Cor 6:19) – how should the Christian person handle their sex drive in a highly sexualised world and yet still honour God?

Sermon – A Festal Garment (Song of Songs)

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Do you love a good party? Go back a millennium and you may have found yourself at an Israelite party – or ‘festival’ to be more accurate. Israel as the people for God conducted festivals which celebrated or reminded them of what God had done for his people. At these festivals they would read out one of their (Old Testament) scrolls – Ruth at Pentecost, Song of Songs and Passover, Ecclesiastes at the Feast of Tabernacles, Esther at Purim and Lamentations at the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem. This custom was not continued by the Christian church.

Yet these little books exist in our Bible and it is not often that you hear them preached. So, in our Five Festal Garments series we are going to look at these little biblical treasure troves and see what Christians can learn today as we get dressed to live godly lives.

Let’s look at the Book of Song of Songs

Read the Bible text – Song of Songs

– Ben Smith

 

 

Sermon – Good Sex (Song of Songs#2)

In this, second of five sermons, Des Smith shows how Song of Songs vividly endorses God’s positive view of sex within the context of faithful heterosexual marriage. He also explains how God is “pro-creation” – that everything God created is good if it is received with thankfulness.

Watch the Sermon

Listen to the Sermon

Read the Bible text: Song of Songs 4:1 – 5:12 , 1 Timothy 4:1-5

Sermon Script

English Support Handout

Book Review: We Cannot be Silent

We Cannot be Silent – Speaking truth to a culture redefining sex, marriage, & the very meaning of right & wrong by R. Albert Mohler Jr (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2015)

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This is a helpful book which speaks into our culture in the face of many challenges to the biblical presentation of marriage and sex. Al Mohler is a Southern Baptist Pastor, an evangelical, a clear theological thinker, and is heard daily on The Briefing podcasts where he analyzes news and current events (in the US) from a Christian Worldview.

This places him well as a voice into the current western culture which is redefining marriage and sex often leaving Christians with questions and doubts about where they stand morally as they are often accused of being homophobic for standing against this cultural change.

We Cannot Be Silent is an easy and thought provoking read.

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The Purpose of Marriage (Part 4) – To Relate Sexually

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The purpose of marriage is more than God bringing a man and a woman together to rule – the purpose of marriage is to bring a man and a woman together to relate sexually.

Back to Genesis. Let’s look at the flesh! The women is taken from the flesh of the man (2:21), to become flesh of his flesh (2:23) and to then join together as one flesh (2:24), naked and not ashamed (2:25) – this is sexual and deeply relational.

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‘Why do we seem more concerned by the same sex marriage debate, then the treatment of asylum seekers?’

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Good question. And here is a brief answer that by no means considers all the ‘issues’.

Australia’s polices and treatment of asylum seekers is not good (although I can recognise it is not a simple issue). The way that we are handling this humanitarian crisis  (in my view) is driven more by protecting our sovereign rights (mostly our level of wealth) than it is driven by compassion for those who are vulnerable – for the myriad of reasons that they are more vulnerable.

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