“For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God”
— Acts 20:27
When the apostle Paul made that statement to the Ephesian elders, do you think sex talk may have been included in the package? That is, instruction concerning God’s design for intimacy between a man and a woman? Well, If the word whole means whole, then the answer must be yes.
It may be hard to believe, but sex did not originate with Hugh Hefner. He may have played an influential role in the sexual revolution of the ‘60s, but believe it or not, God is the mastermind behind what goes on in the bedroom when the lights go out, and if I read my Bible right, Genesis 1:27–28 tells me he created us humans, both male and female, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply.”
That sounds like sex to me.
Then in verse 31, he said, “… behold, it was very good.”
I agree.
Coupling that along with the sensual imagery in the Song of Solomon, I cannot help but wonder why the Church is so hush-hush when it comes to talking about sex. God invented it, and there is nothing shameful or sinful about it when kept within the framework of his word. Not only should it be okay to talk about it in the church, we might see a noticeable decline in the divorce rate if it were. (Sadly, there is no difference in the divorce rate between those who go to church and those who do not.) A drop in the number of teenage and out of wedlock pregnancies may well be seen. Fewer broken hearts, fewer wrecked lives, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if more babies would get a chance to take a shot at life?
Being a guy who shamefully must admit a promiscuous past, I never knew the sweetness, the pleasure, or the joy of sexual intimacy until sharing life with my wife in a covenant relationship as God intended. Within the structure of a God-ordained marriage, I found sex taking on a whole new dimension, a depth of meaning, and tenderness God had designed and reserved for a man and a woman devoted to one another and to him. I wish there had not been what seemed a gag order on my Sunday School teachers and pastors when I was young, that they would have shared Solomon’s wisdom and God’s word uncensored, the undiluted whole counsel of God. Perhaps I would not have ventured off on my own, wasting a large part of my life in reckless living, as did the prodigal son.
So today, I am thankful for churches like c|Life that will lift the self-imposed ban on discussing sex, that God might be honored in every area of the Christian life, including the bedroom.