Today’s topic is important. We’re going to talk about sexual brokenness. I need to warn you: today’s sermon may seem a little negative at first, but I want to invite you to hang in there, because I think it’s actually good news for all of us. My goal is to elevate awareness of how sexually broken we are, so that we can find forgiveness and healing through Jesus Christ. We want to level the playing field so that nobody feels superior and nobody feels left out. 

Big Idea: The culture’s vision for sexual flourishing is bankrupt, and we are all sexually broken, and yet we serve a God who’s eager to forgive and repair our broken sexuality.

Welcome to our second ever series on sex. Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at marriage, singleness, same-sex sexuality, transgender, non-binary, and intersex identities, sexual assault, gender roles, and a Christian vision for sexuality. No matter who you are, no matter what your perspective on these issues, we are so glad you’re here. We can’t wait to explore these issues together.

Today’s topic is important. We’re going to talk about sexual brokenness. I need to warn you: today’s sermon may seem a little negative at first, but I want to invite you to hang in there, because I think it’s actually good news for all of us. My goal is to elevate awareness of how sexually broken we are, so that we can find forgiveness and healing through Jesus Christ. We want to level the playing field so that nobody feels superior and nobody feels left out. So regardless of who you are and where you’re coming from on this issue, we actually have a lot more in common than you think.

We’re All Sexually Broken

What do I mean when I talk about sexual brokenness? I mean two things.

First: We are all sexually broken in one way or another. Take the story we just read. There’s a problem with this passage. There are a few — only a few — disputed passages in the Bible, and this is one of them. In most translations it will say, “The earliest manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11.” It’s possible that this passage was mistakenly added in. But we know this: It reads like the real Jesus. It embodies the gospel. Leon Morris, in his excellent commentary on John, writes, “Throughout the history of the church it has been held that, whoever wrote [this passage], this little story is authentic.”

And here’s what it says. A woman was caught in adultery. The religious leaders hauled her before Jesus as a trap. In verse 7, Jesus says to the religious leaders — the best of the best — “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” One by one they walk away because they know Jesus is right. She was a sexual sinner, and so were they, and so are all of us.

In the 1700s, one of the most brilliant theologians who’s ever lived said this: “The humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He is apt to esteem others better than himself” (Jonathan Edwards). There is so much evil in our own hearts that we really shouldn’t have much time to be busy with condemning others. More recently, one of the preachers I respect most said this:

That is the attitude we all need. We’re all sexually broken. If you’re alive, that includes you.

But I also mean something else. The culture’s message of sexual freedom has been damaging and has not fostered sexual flourishing. Mary Eberstadt in her book Adam and Eve After the Pill says that the sexual revolution was the destigmatization and demystification of non-marital sex and the reduction of sexual relations in general to a kind of recreation in which anything goes as long as those involved are consenting adults. Despite promising so much, the sexual revolution has been devastating, leading to prolonged adolescence, widespread pornography on a scale we’ve never seen before, an increase in predatory behavior on the part of men, and more. It’s damaging for everyone: for men, for women, for young people, for families, for society. Pornography has become widespread for both men and women. Time Magazine reports:

A growing number of young men are convinced that their sexual responses have been sabotaged because their brains were virtually marinated in porn when they were adolescents … Of course there are much broader concerns about porn’s effect on society that go beyond the potential for sexual dysfunction, including the fact that it often celebrates the degradation of women and normalizes sexual aggression.

One author writes:

We have sexualized childhood. We titillate each other online. We’re catching more pernicious bugs in bed than ever. Online porn is now standard operating procedure for a near-majority of men … We can’t seem to get enough of sex—so we focus on technique—but what we get is leaving us hungering for still more or longing for some emotion or transcendent satisfaction that cheap sex seems to promise but seldom delivers.

I don’t mean to imply that everything was great before the sexual revolution. There was a lot of misogyny, sexual abuse that was covered up, and many other problems during the “good old days” of the ‘40s and ‘50s. But the culture’s message of sexual freedom has been damaging and has not fostered sexual flourishing. “Do whatever feels good” leads to us feeling “very bad.” It’s an empty message that cannot deliver what it promises.

We’re all sexually broken, and our culture is no help.

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