Series: Love Glue
Message: Stuck
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Reflection: Mike Speegle
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: Brandon Kharns
Live Purpose: Vanessa Rivera
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 in the New Living Translation (NLT). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: Paul, in this section on judging other Christians (and ourselves), again quotes a contemporary saying, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food” (Verse 13).
Then he takes a sharp turn into something very personal, sex. “You can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies” (Verse 14). He gets more direct in the next verse (15): “Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ?” Gulp. Then he asks another question that doesn’t seem as if it should have been necessary (though it was): “Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute?” We don’t really need him to answer that question for us, but he does with one word: “Never!”
It’s a scary thought, not because we disagree per se, but because it hits so close to home in so many ways for many of us. It speaks to how we view the opposite sex, how we relate and date, how we wrestle with our sexual urges, needs and desires, how we relate and mate with our partner.
It makes us uncomfortable. It seems so strict. So rigid. So black and white (and we so often find ourselves in a grey world).
During our teens and twenties, and even thirties, when it seems like we think about sex, or at least about the other sex, all the time, we’re to remember that we have a higher purpose than sex.
Our culture convinces us—and we sometimes do our own convincing—that sex is only physical. But if that were true, why is the pain of sex so deep? Why are people who were molested so affected if it’s just physical? Some of us were in fights when we were younger and we don’t need counseling to deal with the trauma. (I am not saying fighting is a good way of dealing with disagreements nor am I saying that being molested isn’t a big deal. Quite the opposite: It is a big deal.)
The reason sexual abuse has such a major impact is that sex is not just physical. It’s about so much more, especially when it’s taken from us or we find ourselves used sexually and without love.
Recalibrate: If you feel sex is just a physical act, or is OK as long as it’s consensual, why might you be resistive to Paul’s understanding?
Respond: Father, help me to see beyond my feelings or understanding to the way Paul, under Your inspiration, saw things.
Research: Take one of the other two sheets that you glued together yesterday and didn’t tear apart. Pull that pair apart and notice how much sticks after another day of drying. Now glue those pieces to the pieces you tore apart yesterday, we’ll use them again tomorrow. Take a few moments to read eight habits of couples in sexually satisfying relationships.
Remember: “Not everything is good for you” (1 Corinthians 6:12).
Mike Speegle is the lead pastor for New Hope, an exciting, young, multi-ethnic Adventist Church in Fulton, Maryland. Mike became a follower of Jesus and an Adventist in his early 20s. Pacific Union College was the first Adventist school he ever attended; he met his wife Lorie there. Mike has pastored for 30+ years, served in the Ministerial Association of the General Conference, and has written a book, Big Questions, as well as a number of articles.
Make an outline of your child on the pavement with some chalk or on a large piece of paper with a marker. Trace from the tip of their head all the way around until your drawing is complete. With your little one, add in their face talking about what they see and hear and eat and smell. Draw a big circle for their tummy and talk about their favorite food. See if they can draw their fingers and talk about their favorite things to hold on to. If your child is able, let them trace your body outline beside theirs. Know that God gave us this body to do good things with it, good things that build ourselves and others up in Jesus’ name.
Trace the outline of your hand on a piece of paper. Make a list of all the things that you can do with this hand. God gave you this hand to do good things. You get to choose if this hand helps or hurts. I so hope that you always choose to help.
Yesterday, I mentioned that we are going to be talking about “putting childish things aside” as the Bible puts it. You are experiencing an exciting time in your life where you are starting to cross over from childhood to adulthood. I hope this will help with that journey. And maybe this will help you from becoming a 30-year-old man- or woman-baby someday.
As a pastor I hear “But is that a salvation issue?” and “Will that keep me out of Heaven or not?” more often than I wish. Everyone wants to do as little as possible and still have eternal life. The problem with that attitude is that it’s very childish. Think about it: when you were a little kid and your parents told you not to do something, you came as close to doing it as you could, didn’t you? Of course you did, we all did. Then there’s Santa. Don’t be on the bad list or you won’t get that great reward (said in the overly sweet yet threatening way that only moms and teachers can). But what if— I know this may be a little extreme—but what if living life with Christ was actually better? What if you thought of God more as a vacation than a reward? On a vacation you want everything. I don’t usually hear people say, “How little do I have to do and still be in Hawaii?” No way! Instead you ask, “How much can we do when we get to Hawaii?” I bet if I gave you the option, you would say, “I want to do everything!” Because going to Hawaii and jet skiing, surfing, scuba diving, cliff jumping, off-roading, riding in planes, going to luaus, and parasailing is way better than going and doing nothing. Same way with God, the better you know Him the more intense your life will be.
That’s the first big shift in thinking when you grow up from being an immature child Christian, to a mature adult Christian. I know that’s a lot to process, but take some time to think about it. If you can, you are well on your way to an amazing journey with God.
Yesterday we talked about peer pressure and today we are talking about sex. If not peer pressure, the topic of sex is introduced and spoken about multiple times during puberty. You may have taken a “sex ed” class in school or had “the talk” with a trusted adult. And if these talks about sex have sounded anything like the ones I had 15 years ago, then you may have heard about how sex is an adult activity with adult consequences and should be for when you’re married. I highly encourage you to process this text with a trusted adult today. Read through and put question marks on anything you don’t understand. We are called to honor God with our bodies.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development groups. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Brandon Kharns is the family life pastor at Placerville Seventh-day Adventist church in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California near Lake Tahoe.
Vanessa Rivera is a therapist in a community mental health center in Denver, CO, and serves as the lead elder for Live Purpose at Boulder Church.