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To Know (Understanding our God)
Posted : 8 Jul, 2008 07:39 AM
To Know!
(Understanding our God)
Read Ephesians 5:21-33
Why do so many people, especially young people come to Church Sunday after Sunday, �sing some songs, hear a sermon� then go home unchanged, unchallenged, and unconvinced that God has called us to something more? That is about to change. As members of the Body of Christ, we have an obligation to preach, teach, and model the Word of God. We are responsible for edifying one another and we must confront and deal with what is so controversial for many. If we, �The Church� see the sheep going astray, in the wrong direction �Woe be it unto us� to keep quiet and sit back and watch them fall into a pit. I'm determined to help men and women in the kingdom of God to know who they are. Many of us just don't know who we are; we are all mixed up, messed up, or trying to get hooked up. Why? Is it because the world tells us that ultimate security is sexual gratification? Many of us are unwilling to seek out more spiritually mature people in the kingdom of God to help us break out of our bondages. Tap into the wisdom of God, submit yourself to Him, and to those in authority over you. Seek godly counsel. Now, nothing is more in need of God's intervention and guidance today, than the confusion and controversy around proper sexual union. It is perhaps the single most topic that you will probably never hear preached and discussed in great detail from a church pulpit. It seems like, as if it is forbidden or taboo. Fortunately, God has a lot to say about this subject for His Kingdom. In fact, he put it right up front where all the action began. Don't miss this revelation from God today. �The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.� Proverb 9:10
It is safe to say that we are in a world that is suffering greatly from sexual confusion or, if you will, sexual immorality. There is no need to provide a full set of statistics to demonstrate the consequences of our careless misuse of the sex act. The world leaves us little for the imagination. Who is not familiar with the epidemic in teenage pregnancies, venereal diseases, divorces, and AIDS, to say the least? Today, one out of two marriages end in divorce and six out of ten teenagers are sexually active. Premature and promiscuous sexual union prevent many from establishing good marriages and family life. While some single parents do a worthy and valiant job of raising their children, it remains sadly true that many have, well, this kind of attitude: �The kids are going to do it anyway, so why not condone it.� In terms of sexual behavior, few would argue that the world and the church has a serious problem with sexual immorality. However, statistics do not really capture the pervasive ills attendant upon sexual immorality but these realities touch every realm of life. In fact, they affect the whole society by not only damaging the current generation, they are threatening to ruin the chances of future generations to live happy and fulfilled lives. I'm not condemning the world or church; The fact of the matter is, it is all true. Instead of freighting statistics and condemning with our favorite scriptures �do not touch the unclean thing, flee sexual immorality,� let us all learn to accept the true purposes of sexual union, and then you can decide.
I know this kind of talk goes against some �Church People�, and I praise God for that? But, contrary to those views, please understand, yes, God wants his children to enjoy a lifelong relationship of refreshing friendship, loyalty, love, and sexual satisfaction. He wants his children to develop and enjoy a relationship in which we are giving, yielding, and submitting to each other out of mutual respect. Now, the problem is we are not convinced on His way! This isn't something that triggers �hallelujahs� or �thank you Jesus,� but it has to be said. Why is God so strict on sexual union? Why does He create such fine looking women and good looking men and then say �No, don't you touch that?� After all, we are human and God did create us complete with hormones, and the ability to function at the junction. There is one great purpose here that many have failed to understand and a look at history will reveal that we're no further along in understanding this aspect of God's design than were any other past cultures.
Our �Sexual Union� will teach us a lot about God when used His way within His boundaries. There is no middle ground on this, either we will be a part of glorifying God through our sexual union, or we will mock God through the sin of idolatry. Understanding the theology or the spirituality of sexual union should motivate us to keep this area of our lives pure. The key to clearing up the confusion and controversy, is to see sexual union through God's eyes. Maybe, when we see sexual union through God's eyes, it'll cause us to treasure it and celebrate what God celebrates, rather than to trash it and be offended by what offends God. Make no mistake about it, �Sexual Union� is the highest and deepest level of intimacy you will ever or never experience on earth. In fact, sexual union is so intimate that it creates powerful ties, links, or yokes on the human soul's mind, will, emotions, body, and spirit.
So, why is God so strict on sexual union? It is simple, look at it in this way. No one puts plain or ordinary items in a safety deposit box. Ordinary items are available everywhere, but �valuables� are hidden away and secured in a vault. For some reason, God chose the marriage covenant as HIS way of illustrating HIS relationship to the church. Hopefully, we �know� what a covenant means? Now, the marriage covenant is God's valuable jewel on earth. He didn't leave it out in the open where anyone could just take it. In fact, He set it apart and encircled it with the fear of the Lord. Okay now, lets tap into the wisdom of God. You don't have to be a Bible Scholar to realize that God's term for legal sexual union meant more than what the world and church calls it today. Lets see, oh, yes, �Making Love� or �Indiscriminate Copulation�.
There is a more proper and deeper term for sexual union. Many bible versions translated the original Hebrew word �yada� as �to know or knew�. Most translations have replaced the term "to know" with "had relations with", the Hebrew word �shakab� �to lie with� or some such phrase. While using these phrases clarifies the meaning of the verse, it's important that the concept of knowing is not lost in the process. It's no accident that "to know" is closer to the truth. The word translated "to know," is often used of sexual relations and God knowing His people in the Old Testament. As we see in Genesis 4:1 "And Adam knew Eve, his wife; and she conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.� and in 1 Samuel 1:19-20, "And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. And it came about in due time after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son� This even holds true in the New Testament. For example, in Matthew 1:25, the text literally reads, "But he did not know her." Referring to Joseph not having relations with Mary until after Jesus was born. The Greek term �ginosko� or "knowing" is also used for God knowing us in the New Testament. This is further seen in the discussion in Ephesians 5:22-33. The husband and wife are referred to as "lovers," thus illustrating how Christ loves His people the Church. The husband is a picture of Jesus and the wife is a picture of the Church. Notice Ephesians 5:30-33 where Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 in reference to the two becoming one flesh. Paul specifically identifies this sexual union in the marriage, then follows it with this statement in verse 32. "This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church." You see, Paul carefully ties together this concept of sexual union as illustrating the intimacy of Christ and His Church.
God has given us some powerful illustrations of Himself by using the most intimate relationship available to us to illustrate how intimate He desires to be with us. Pictures of God and His people are in the Old and the New Testaments are often compared to the relationship between a husband and a wife. Even a description of spiritual adultery is illustrated by picturing God as the faithful lover who has been jolted by an unfaithful partner. The entire book of Hosea uses the imagery of an unfaithful wife representing unfaithful Israel, and a faithful, loving, forgiving husband representing their faithful, loving and forgiving God. Just through these illustrations we can see when our sexual union is used according to God's design, we can experience fulfillment and in the process understand God just a little bit better. But when misused, it not only destroys God's picture of Himself, it causes deep pain and scarring within, as we will see. What can we learn? First, sexual union in marriage pictures God and His people, and sexual union reminds us how intimate God wants to be with us. In the process of following God's design and in the context of marriage, sexual union is illustrated as beautiful and a God-honoring experience. Sex belongs in a lifelong union designed by God to be a reflection of His image in Us. A lifelong united relationship is what makes marriage an intensely intimate relationship. In the process we experience and also illustrate God as a �Trinity.� (we'll understand a little bit better how three can be one and how two can become one later). We picture how intimately God wants to know His people when we experience intimacy with our one flesh partner. Why is God so strict on sexual immorality? God doesn't just want us to be acquainted with Him, He wants to know us intimately. Now, when sexual union is outside of God's boundaries (marriage), it completely destroys the picture and misrepresents God. Any sexual union outside of God's boundaries (marriage) also misrepresents His relationship to His people. It mocks and trashes His image. Why is representing God and His love for His people serious business? How must God feel when He is misrepresented through sexual immorality, especially when it's by His own people. Sexual Immorality presents a picture of God that simply isn't true. It takes what is supposed to be set apart from the animals as God's special gift to us, and it drags it through the mud. We reject the image and choose to act like ordinary barnyard animals. We settle for food fit for animals, when God promised a feast fit for a king. When we discard the image, we worship the creature rather than the Creator. We become guilty of the sin of idolatry. Sex becomes our god. Rather than celebrating the image of God, we trash it.
Secondly, It's a concept the Bible clearly teaches, Our God is a trinity; One God, three Persons. You will be surprised to learn that there's an important relationship between sexual union and understanding God as a �Trinity�. No one can fully understand how three can be one, but our sexual union does help us understand the Trinity a little better. I believe it's the best illustration we have available to us. Right from the beginning of Genesis, we are introduced to God as a plurality. The name used for God in Genesis, chapter 1, is the Hebrew "Elohim" which is a plural name. It does not mean three, but it does mean more than one. The name "Elohim" is used over 2,300 times in the Old Testament. We balance this concept of plurality with the clear teaching in the Old and the New Testament that God is also one God. Deuteronomy 6:4 states "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" So, the Bible clearly teaches that God is one God, but that the one God is also a plurality. The New Testament identifies God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That can be found in passages such as Luke 3:21-22 or Matthew 28:19. Therefore, we know that the plurality of God is a trinity; meaning three persons, yet one God. Now, the key to understanding the Trinity, is in experiencing how plurality can be singular. In other words, if I could show you, or better yet, if you could experience, how four can be one, or five or two can be one, then believing that three could be one would not be quite so difficult. Whew! That's enough to give us a brain cramp, isn't it?
But, we have just such an illustration. In Genesis 2:24, we read �and the two shall become one flesh.� That's it. Two shall become one. Two people, a man and a woman coming together sexually to become one flesh. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:16 clearly identifies the phrase, "two shall become one flesh" from Genesis 2, as a sexual union. It's somehow, through the sexual union, that two people experience a "one flesh relationship." Genesis 2:24 states that the man will be united to his wife. It means to be "glued" together. Sexual Union ( intimacy) unites or glues a man and a woman together that is unique to any other relationship. For example, take two pieces of plywood. Glue them together and they're united. Once the glue has dried, they are now one piece of wood. They will never again be separate pieces as they were before. Oh, sure, you can take a crowbar and separate them, but let me guarantee you, it won't be a clean break. Now, try pulling them back apart. The pieces will tear apart and reveal the scars of the break. The reason? Once glued together, they were meant to stay together. That's the meaning of the word "united." This is why divorce is so painful. It's a tearing apart of something God never intended to come apart. It's not just the breaking of a legal covenant. It's the tearing apart of a one flesh relationship. Divorce brings great pain and scarring because the two had become one. Now, it's obvious that sexual union goes far beyond just the physical. There is something happening in the sexual experience that is very intense. It is the gluing process. When sex is experienced outside of God's boundaries, there is a gluing and tearing process that was never intended by God. The uniting is what makes marriage so special. It's what you are willing to share with no one else except your one flesh partner. We really have just two choices.
The one choice is to experience sexual union according to God's design and purpose that will result in sexual fulfillment. It's to celebrate sexuality as an expression of the image of God within God's boundaries. The other choice is to use sexuality outside of God's intended boundaries. The reason people cannot have sex and walk away without paying is because God never intended it to be that way. Sex was never intended to be a hit and run experience. People today, who say that sex between two consenting adults is okay, simply do not understand what is happening in the sexual relationship. They are giving advice that is guaranteed to give heartache and pain. No one can subject themselves to the uniting and tearing pain for an extended period of time. As a matter of fact, those who choose to continue to involve themselves in sexual activity outside of God's boundaries will have to insulate themselves from the pain of the gluing and the tearing. To do this, they must close off their emotions and their heart from the sexual act. Sex becomes nothing more than a physical act, where the heart of the person is buried deep within a protective shell. Sad to say, but our behavior is never more like animal behavior than when we reach the level of sexual interaction where our emotions are uninvolved. When this happens, there is no chance for fulfillment of satisfaction. The real person has become buried in a protective shell for survival. Sadly, many people live like this today, and they become cold and hard and unaware of what's happening to them. They try new ways to make the physical more exciting and fulfilling, which leads to all kinds of perversions. If these people could only understand that what is missing is their heart. It has become insulated from the sexual experience to survive the pain of the gluing and the tearing.
Wow! Isn't God Awesome? So what did we �the church� learn from all this? Sexual Union is the celebration of the King's feast. It is the celebration of the image of God in Us. It's expressing the love and significance we have in God, to our one flesh partner. It is not a pursuit of love, but an expression of love. It's not a pursuit of significance, but an expression of significance. And we find that significance in God. When we involve ourselves in sexual immorality, we misrepresent God. God is not a selfish lover seeking to use people for His own pleasures. God is not a "love them and leave them" God. He is a faithful lover who will always be faithful to His people. And He desires us to represent Him as such. Are you a man or a woman who longs to walk in sexual purity? This is your opportunity to get right with God and make things right with your own flesh and blood. God wants to give us a fresh start and a new beginning, starting today. Start by offering him your body as a living sacrifice. We don't follow Christ with our hormones, we love and serve him with everything we got!
To put it bluntly! Sexual union is not okay, because we say �But I Love Him or I Love Her� or �We are getting married someday� It is not okay just because we say �He's handsome or She's Fine� Adam knew Eve! What happens when a man and a woman have sex and then separate and continue to live their lives with other people?. Every time we have sexual relations with another person, we are having relations with every person that person has been with and with every partner those people have had, and with all of their partners, and on and on and on and on & ........You see where I'm going? When you have sex with someone, you are taking on an element of their spirit that never leaves you under normal conditions; because you married that person the moment you had sex with them. We may disconnect physically, but spiritually we are still one. Now, you decide!
�To Know� is understanding to fear the LORD, �To Know� is the price to pay for the beginning of wisdom. We need to know the heart and will of God, we need to know who we are, we need to know our inward person, we need to know one another well enough to cover one another in love and mutual care, we need to know the state of the flock God has given to each of us, we need to know not to play house before we cut a covenant and bloodied the sheets, we need to know there are spiritual and moral consequences to sexual immorality. Let us feel the Father's love, Touch us God, with the fullness of Your Spirit, Heal our minds and hearts, Remove the loneliness, in the name of Jesus, Amen
dy: yada Strong's #3045: �to know� learn to know, to perceive, find out and discern, to know by experience, recognize, admit, acknowledge, confess, to consider, be acquainted with, to know how, be skillful in, to have knowledge, be wise, to make oneself known, to be instructed, to cause to know, to reveal oneself, declare:peace:
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