And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. 1 Cor. 6:14-18
Holy and loving Jesus, so many thoughts are swirling through my head this morning. I’ve never been more aware of the pervasiveness of sexual brokenness. Everywhere I go, everywhere I look, including in the mirror, I see the evidence of violations, corruptions and distortions of sexuality. Ancient Corinth has nothing on us.
So many of us bear the wounds, feel the shame, know the disconnect of our sexual brokenness and sin. And yet the gospel dares us to hope; and as both victims and agents of sexual sin, we need what the gospel alone can give.
Indeed, hope—that’s the greater impulse and preoccupation of my heart this morning. In fact, as I ponder what Paul was really saying to the Corinthians in this text, I’m left speechless with joy. Jesus, through the gospel, we already belong to you as a wooed, wanted and awaiting Bride. Your desire is for us and you long to be intimate with us in the most beautiful and consuming way imaginable. We haven’t been created and redeemed to give ourselves to prostitutes (or substitutes) for intimacy, but to you—to you alone in a most profound and deeply satisfying way.
Dare I say it, Lord Jesus? Whatever the “best sex” is between a husband and wife, it’s only a hint and a whisper of the intimacy you intend for yourself and your bride. Jesus, please grant us a greater capacity to understand, believe, and enjoy the wonders of the relationship you’ve established with us. We don’t want to settle for mere metaphors or clichés; it is you we want.
Why should we flee all forms of sexual immorality? Simply because it’s what we’re supposed to do as Christians? Only because it’s “the rules”? That would never be enough to keep us from acting out in selfish and destructive ways. We flee sexual immorality as we see you fleeing to us in the gospel.
You’ve died for us; you’ve been raised for us; you’ve married yourself to us; you’ve united everything that we are to yourself (all the good, bad and ugly). We’re already one with you “in spirit,” and we await your return and our resurrection. Whatever the future and fulfillment of our sexuality is, it belongs to you and it will be beyond all our askings and imaginings.
Until then, Lord Jesus, help us flee all forms of sexual immorality by fleeing to you, our great and gracious bridegroom. In our marriages, in our singleness, in our brokenness, in our need for repentance and healing, be glorified. So very Amen we pray, in your tender and loving name.
