Marriage, Sex, and this Sunday’s Sermon
This Sunday at Mountain Creek we’ll be considering the Wisdom of Marriage as we continue our study in the book of Proverbs. Regardless of whether you’re married or single, whether you’ve been married fifty years or five months, or whether you’re planning to soon get married or you have no plans of getting married ever, I can promise you that there is something from God’s Word that you need to hear this coming Sunday. But before we get to Sunday, I wanted to take the space in this week’s blog to preview a few things.
First, let me encourage you to prepare for this Sunday’s sermon by reading Proverbs chapters 5, 6, and 7 this week. I won’t be able to read all of this on Sunday, nor do I think I could read all of it without turning red in the face! (You’ll see what I mean when you read it!) I want you to ask you to read these chapters and notice two things: notice the commands of prohibition (the strong warnings or negative commands), but also be sure to notice the commands of provision (the strong encouragements or positive commands). I believe we too often shortchange the Bible in this area. We focus almost exclusively on the negative commands, while glossing over the positive statements the Bible makes about sex in marriage. At the same time, many are increasingly choosing to outright ignore the negative commands or warnings about sex, not only in our culture but also in the church at large. It is my belief that these two realities are not disconnected, and that is why not only the warnings but also the promises need to be given attention.
Second, as you read these chapters, you’ll become very aware of why we’re having a special Kids Worship this coming Sunday. This week, we’ll allow parents of kids from Kindergarten through 5th Grade to send their kids to Kids Worship during the sermon. As a side note, Kids Worship is always optional for kids from Kindergarten through 2nd Grade and preschoolers are always welcome to attend classes for their age during the Worship Service. While all children of all ages are always welcome in our sanctuary throughout our entire worship gathering, we do want to make this time available this week for all our elementary kids. In Kids Worship this week, they will be learning the basics of biblical marriage at a very age-appropriate level.
I want to encourage middle and high school parents to have their kids join us in the sanctuary on Sunday. I’ll be sure to talk in way that will be PG-rated and worship-service-appropriate (after all, my 6th and 8th Grade daughters will be in the room as well!). Middle and high school students are hearing about these things from their peers (and even though the youngest of these students may not be hearing them yet, they very soon will be), therefore they need to hear about them from God’s Word. I also want to encourage you to plan on having follow-up conversations with your middle and high school students after the sermon. These topics need to be topics of conversation where your kids know that you have an open-door policy, and this week will be a great time to remind them of that—that they’re always able to talk with you about any topic, including dating, marriage, and sex, especially in light of what they probably are hearing from others around them.
Third, I want to remind you to keep the big picture in mind. Marriage isn’t primarily about sex, and sex won’t be the primary focus of the sermon. We’ll hear what God’s Word says about sex in a very appropriate manner, but the focus of the sermon will be on marriage, and marriage is primarily about Jesus, which means the focus of the sermon will be primarily, as always, about Jesus. That’s why, whether or not you’re married or whether or not you’re planning on getting married, there will be something you need to hear. Marriage is about a lot more than one man and one woman joining together for life. Marriage is about Jesus, which means biblical marriage points all of us to something supremely worthy of our attention; biblical marriage points us to the gospel.
I hope to see you on Sunday!
– Pastor Bert
Bert Watts has served since December 2016 as the Senior Pastor at Mountain Creek Baptist Church, where he has been on staff since 2012.
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