God and Sex

We're just about to start a 4-sermon mini-series on Sunday Mornings entitled 'Culture Shock' - tackling 4 issues where biblical Christianity and secular culture collide. 

This Sunday I'm going to asking the question: 'Is God Anti-Sex?' You'll be able to listen to the sermon when it's uploaded on our Church website HERE later in the week.

Sex is a subject you don't hear much about in church generally. Considering how obsessed our culture is with sex and how we are bombarded every day with 'teaching' about it - from advertisers, Hollywood producers, pop stars and novelists, that's nothing short of an abdication of responsibility. God invented sex, so it's scandalous that Christians have let the sex-agenda be hijacked by others. As the one who created sex and gave it to us as a gift, God has a lot to say about it - and his only concern is for our good.

Philip Yancey wrote this in an article in the magazine Christianity Today:

‘I know of no greater failure among Christians than in presenting a persuasive approach to sexuality. Outside the church, people think of God as the great spoilsport of human sexuality, not its inventor… few people look to the church for perspective on the true meaning of human sexuality, since they view the church as an implacable enemy of sex.'

However, nothing could be further from the truth, as we're going to see.

Have you ever read a Christian book or article on sex? Have you ever heard a sermon on sex? If you were at Woodgreen 6 years ago I did a sermon series on the Song of Songs, which is an erotic love poem. Christians may be uncomfortable when sex is discussed in church, but God has no qualms: he included a whole book on the subject!

As part of my preparation for speaking on the Christian 'take' on sex I've come across some really helpful books. I won't have time to go into any great detail about them on Sunday morning, so here are the best I've come across. I'm sure there are other ones, but these are the ones I've read (or dipped into enough to know they're good). 

If you're married, can I encourage you to read one of these - ideally with your spouse? God isn't coy about sex - so there's no reason for you to be! He gave sex as a marriage gift to be enjoyed - but like everything else in life - a good sex life needs a bit of investment!

Sex, Romance and the Glory of God
What every Christian husband needs to know
C.J.Mahaney

Practical, direct, down to earth wisdom. Hugely challenging and profoundly helpful. Rooted in the Songs of Songs, it's a book every Christian should read. Mahaney's big idea: 'You must touch the heart and mind of your wife before you touch her body.' With a concluding chapter for wives as well.

Available as a book HERE and an e-book HERE

Captured by a Better Vision
Living Porn Free
Tim Chester

In a recent church survey in the UK 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women admitted to being addicted to porn. Pornography has reached epidemic proportions, not just in secular culture but also in the church as well. In this liberating book Tim Chester exposes the lies and deceptions of porn, inviting us to be fully free, and showing positively and practically how this can be possible in daily life.

Available as a book HERE and an e-book HERE

Sexual Detox
A Guide for the Single Guy
Tim Challies

The subtitle is misleading - this FREE pdf e-book is suitable for all Christians: male, female, single or married. Originally a series of posts on Tim's blog, the chapters in this mini-book are a helpful corrective to the contemporary 'teaching' on sex we're bombarded with every day from secular culture. The chapter on the 'theology of sex' is worth the download alone.

Download HERE

One Flesh
A practical guide to honeymoon sex and beyond
Amelia and Greg Clarke

When Carolyn and I do marriage preparation with soon-to-be marrieds, this is what we give them to read on the 's' subject. Very practical, incredibly honest and above all Christian in outlook, this is great. It's also a great refresher for long-marrieds as well!

Available as a book HERE



Maybe what you need isn't here. 10ofthose have a stack of other excellent looking titles on this subject that I haven't read yet, including short books on specific issues to do with sex such as abuse, rejection and talking to children about sex.

Go HERE for the full list.

How to fit mission into your schedule

I'm often asked by busy Christians (aka almost every Christian): 'How am I supposed to witness for Christ when life is SO busy?'

Often what's behind this is frustration at how busy church life is. (In my experience most of us find it a lot easier to blame church for being over-busy than examine the priorities behind the choices we have made in our own lives that contribute to how busy we feel.)

'Pastor, you say I need to spend more time with my unchurched friends, but how can I do that when the church diary is so full?'

Among many evangelical churches in the UK there is a helpful change of mindset happening at the moment which realises that in an increasingly secular society so many won't come cold to a church-based meeting or event. Many churches like Woodgreen are therefore realising the importance of focusing the mid-week church programme more intentionally and running more bridge-building church-organised social occasions in 'neutral' venues as a good 'first base'.

However my observation is that this change of mind-set hasn't necessarily filtered through to individual Christians and how we each view our everyday lives. Seeing ourselves as 'the scattered church' on Mon-Sat - that we are called to be missionaries to our families, friends, workplaces and local communities - needs to become as important to the way we think as coming together as 'the gathered church' on Sunday is. Unless we realise that we are all involved in 'mission' 24/7 we will never reach the current secular 'would-never-darken-the-doors-of-a-church' generation for Christ.

This is the major problem with the complaint, 'I am too busy to witness'.

It implies that 'mission' is something I have to make time for, rather than something I do as part of my everyday life. We need a radical change of mindset. We must resist the temptation to compartmentalize mission or see it as something that happens at evangelistic events as professional Christian workers give a gospel talk. These occasions can be good opportunities for reaping, but the ground needs to be prepared and the seed sown much earlier in hearts and lives. And that's the job of every single believer. As we know, sow and show Jesus in our families, workplaces and neighbourhoods, we are 'on mission'.

As David Paul Tripp so helpfully explains in the 2 minute video below - the change of mindset we need to adopt is moving from worrying about how we can fit mission into our schedule - to seeing mission AS our schedule.

Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHo4RJ9EUws

Praying for the Parmenters

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of being part of the panel interviewing two of our Church Members at Woodgreen as they applied to be missionaries in South Africa with 'Serving in Mission'. 

The application process Neil and Bethan Parmenter have been through over the last few months has been rigorous and thorough. They have undergone medical examinations, psychological profiling and a number of interview stages. Their marriage and family life has been put under the spotlight. And they have also wrestled with their own consciences and convictions about how God has gifted them and what he is calling them to do. However at the final interview stage the panel unanimously agreed that Neil and Bethan should be accepted as SIM missionaries to South Africa.

God-willing, they and their daughters, Zoe and Isabel, will fly to Cape Town in mid-November so that Neil can take up the role of Project Co-ordinator based in SIM's South Africa Office. His role will involve overseeing a number of the existing SIM projects in SA. These include Bible training, church leadership training, AIDS projects and a children’s home. The role is to oversee these works and to provide support, encouragement and help to the project managers running the individual projects. Neil will also co-ordinate prayer across the SA field, so that the missionaries have a better sense of being part of a team, knowing what each are doing and supporting one another.

This is a significant and exciting thing for us as a church. As far as I am aware it is the first time the church has ever sent a family onto the mission field in our 130 year history. We want to send them with our full support, knowing that we are prayerfully and practically partnering with them.

Before the Parmenters can leave the UK there is a lot to be done, the route to SA is far from simple! The biggest thing in human terms is the raising of significant financial support. The cost of living in SA is comparative to the UK but with the addition of school fees (even State schools charge) and medical insurance (no NHS) the costs mount up. Then there is also the emotional side of settling into a new culture. And then, there is the reality of the spiritual battle that all Christian workers often feel more keenly.

If you're a Woodgreener can I encourage you to speak with and encourage Neil and Bethan and Zoe and Izzy as they step out in faith in this way. You can do this best by subscribing to their prayer letter. The first one is available to download HERE and it contains details of how you can get on their mailing list.

They have also started a blog, to chronicle their journey. This is a must read, especially to stay up to date with the latest news and hear how God is leading them day by day. The first two blog posts are already online and if they are anything to go by this will be a fun way of keeping in touch with them. You can get to it HERE.

And if you're one of those who reads this outside of Worcester, why not consider asking the Parmenter family to visit your church before they go in November, to share how God has led them to this point and what they're planning to do. Could you or your church partner with them in prayer? Could you partner with them financially? The opportunity to be involved in the journey of a missionary family from scratch doesn't come along very often. Maybe after hearing their story,  some in your church will be inspired to see that God calls Christians just like them to serve him overseas.

Direct Links:
Serving in Mission website: http://www.sim.co.uk/
Prayer Letter: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kl1tal25num0lji/Parmenters_June%202014.pdf
Blog: http://africancrossroad.wordpress.com/