Today’s Reading

Mark 10:1-9

Introduction

• Bible speaks into whole of human experience – it does have things to say about sex & its place in life

‘One flesh’

• The Bible doesn’t talk about ‘sex before marriage’ – it talks about ‘sexual immorality’ a fair bit, and often we’re left to assume what that means

• What the Bible does talk about and indeed Jesus implies too, is that marriage and sex go closely together

Read Mark 10:6-9

• What Jesus does make clear, is that when a man and woman come together in sexual expression there is a deep bond that is formed

• They become one flesh (v.7) – sex is more than a physical act, it is emotional and spiritual as well

Ok, so what’s to stop me from doing that with lots of people?

• V.7 – ‘hold fast to his wife’, v.9 – what God has joined, let no-one separate

• Clear that God’s intention then is for this one-flesh-ness to be permanent and lifelong

• God’s best intentions for us are one sexual partner for life (v.6)

• Safest way to ensure we don’t fall foul of God’s principles is to keep sex for within a marriage relationship

Won’t people think I’m strange?

• Yes – world tells us we are not fully human unless we’re sexually active/the only way to be a fulfilled human being is to have lots of amazing sex

• That is a lie – fullness of life is found in living in step with Jesus Christ

• Prior to this passage, Jesus is setting out demands for discipleship and so we may well end up looking different and distinctive in this area

Pastoral implications

• We may have slept with people without settling down for life with them – there is no condemnation here– place of forgiveness, renewal and new beginnings

• we know divorce is a reality – Jesus knows it’s a reality – it’s in response to a trick question that he is making these statements

• God knows that things don’t work out as we would have hoped – that life is complicated and complex

Summary

• Sex= marriage – it should be saved for life-long relationship – best way to safeguard that is to save sex for marriage

• God’s best intentions for us are for a life-long relationship with one person

• Things don’t always work out as we hoped – there is grace to begin again and be made brand new