Thursday, September 30, 2010

Jesus: On Your Most Powerful Sexual Organ

You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28

On Sunday we move past Jesus’ introduction to the only sermon he ever preached and begin to explore what will distinctively mark men and women who are following Jesus in the Kingdom of God. The more I study this sermon the more I am drawn to Jesus and aware of my depravity. How I thank God that Jesus promises to give us the power and the grace to become the men and women he had in mind when he created us is the first place!

One word should mark Jesus’ followers and that word is different. Jesus’ sermon called his followers to be markedly different not only from the predominant Roman culture of the first century but also from the prevailing religious culture of his day. Our call is no different. This is most vividly displayed in the six statements contained in the back end of Matthew 5: “You have heard it said…but I say...” I really like one commentary that broke down the chapter and the arenas I am to live differently. I am to be a:
  • Peacemaker (5:21-26; 38-42)
  • Pure Thinker (5:27-30)
  • Promise Keeper (5:31-32)
  • Plain Speaker (5:33-37)
  • People Lover (5:43-47)

Through Gmails and Sunday sermons we will be walking through these five areas. Focus with me for a few minutes on being a Pure Thinker.

We live in a culture where lust sells and is accepted everywhere from media to sports to advertising and now has even come mainstream with a dating website only for married people! (That is married people looking to date outside their marriage!) The site is so popular and prosperous, they tried to buy the naming rights to the new NY Jets/Giants stadium offering 25 million dollars! Their buy line is this: Life is short…have an affair!

Jesus offers a different option: Marital fidelity in thoughts and actions! In heaven’s eyes, adultery is not only defined by an act but first occurs in the mind! In Matthew 5:27, the word translated looks in the original Greek language is in the present tense and means a continual and deliberate look. The kind of look that is had with the mind’s eye and lingers and fantasizes! That kind of look lowers your defenses, hardens your heart and passion for Jesus, dehumanizes the object of your fantasy and desensitizes you.

God’s solution: Create a security screening station outside your mind and only allow the following thoughts in: Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Bottom line is this: do we trust our Creator’s advice about how to do sexuality? Do we really believe that our most powerful sexual organ is our mind? If that is the case, the old saying is true: Sow a thought, reap a action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a lifestyle; sow a lifestyle, reap a destiny. Your thoughts are the genesis of your future. If your mind is a garden, (and it is!) and your thoughts are the seeds, (and they are!) what kind of harvest are you producing through the seeds that you are planting in your mind? Think about it…