The Not-So-Obvious Blog
Do you take advantage of this church website? I hope so. I know many others do. Recently, I was doing a few searches online only to find that our website was among the top 20 on Google for many of the topics I was researching! In fact, when I typed in "Swiss Cheese Christianity" (a sermon I preached earlier in the year), we were number three. Awesome! This means that our website is generating a lot of traffic. Some of our sermon outlines have been downloaded over 300 times! One particular lesson over 500 times! Many bulletins have been downloaded over 100 times!
Like most preachers, I like to do a lot of my research online. I regularly search some of my friends and acquaintances. A new favorite database of mine is the Mt. Juliet church of Christ (www.mtjuliet.org) where you can find some wonderful articles by David Shannon and the ministry team at MJCOC. As I browsed David's articles last week I noticed how many articles he has on sexuality and virginity. What a shock! Those are two words I don't put into many articles. However, it got me to wondering why not? I usually avoid those subjects on the printed page, but David's timely articles on "We Probably Don't Talk about Virginity Enough!" and "Virgins Until the Wedding Day" are wonderful and introduce some essential teachings. I would like to summarize some of his thoughts, but I encourage you to visit his site to read more.
David asked, "Can you imagine going to a wedding with the bride and groom greeting everyone at a reception only to be notably excused to enter into a side room for a long while to consummate their marriage?" After the consummation the couple would return to the feast for several days to celebrate the virginity of the bride, as she entered into marriage. Read Deuteronomy 22:13-21 noticing the actions of the parents as they would actually display the bed coverings to prove the purity of their daughter or daughter-in-law.
As foreign as this tradition is to our culture with worldly parents actually buying contraceptives and hotel rooms for their teens, it should make Christians ask themselves why aren't we talking more? If the world tells their children lies about sexuality, why don't we talk more about the truth?
The book of Song of Solomon speaks openly of two falling in love, but not "arousing or awakening love until it pleases" 3:5. The two are greatly attracted to each other, spend time with each other, and eventually commit to marriage. In chapter 4 the inspired pen doesn't skip over the honeymoon as if it was "dirty" but describes the beauty and purity of this "awakened" (4:16) love!
Parents, how much concern do you have as to whether or not your children are virgins when entering into marriage? God is very concerned! How much have you related to them in conversation and study of the scriptures? God has said much! Have your children committed to purity? This is a part of genuine commitment to God!
If your children's virginity was to be announced or denied by their "in-laws" as a part of the public wedding events, would you give better instructions to your children? Do you allow and even aid your children in making "provision for the flesh?" See Romans 13:13-14. Are your children vessels of honor or dishonor? Consider these things: 1. Remind our youth who owns them (I Corinthians 6:18-20). 2. Make sure they know how far is too far. 3. Don't allow children to date too soon. 4. Teach your children how to say no. 5. Teach them God's word.
In this coming year, I will do my best to preach and teach new things that are applicable and informative, in season and out of season, that may not have been touched on before. This will be done in an effort to deliver the whole counsel of God! My prayer is that you are receptive to these things. Let's all draw closer to God in 2012!