Father, help us to not live in column a: sexual immorality and coarseness, which leads to exclusion from your kingdom. Help us to move into the beauty of column b: sex as a subject of thanksgiving, sex as something that draws us closer to you. Thank you for all your good gifts including sex. Thank you for Jesus who has paid the price for all of our sins. Thank you for the Spirit who is making us new.

We’re almost at the end of our series on sexuality and gender. Joshua is going to wrap up next week with one final sermon. Today we’re going to devote most of our time to questions and responses. You can go ahead and ask anything. I may not have a good answer, but we’ll see what happens!

But before we’re done, one final word.

In his excellent book This Is Our Time, Trevin Wax writes:

Christians who shine the light of the gospel on the myths of our world do not simply say, “This is right and this is wrong,” but “This is better.” The gospel tells a better story. Yes, the gospel exposes the lies we believe and promote in society, but once our eyes adjust to its brightness, we discover how the gospel also answers our deeper longings in ways that surprise us. Evangelism is not just convincing people the gospel is true but also that it is better.

In other words, it’s not enough to explain what God says is right and wrong. We must also show how God’s vision for life — including sexuality — tells a better story and answers our deepest longings. The biblical view of sexuality is not just true. It’s also better.

So what is the better story that the Bible tells us about our sexuality?

The story the world tells us is that sexual self-expression is good.

It’s the good for which everything, including wife and children, must be sacrificed. It seemed incomprehensible that a family’s stability should come before sexual fulfillment. Do whatever it takes to be happy! Don’t let anything get in your way, even your marriage vows! What goes unreported are the consequences: people who try to treat their pain by having sex usually leave more pain behind them for others to deal with… (Trevin Wax)

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