Covenant Faithfulness in a Corrupt World - Sexual Idolatry
We have walked quite a way into the Sermon on the Mount. If it feels convicting, that is good! I think that is the very reason for the sermon. Jesus is basically verbalizing what the law was meant to expose. The legalism that surrounded the law often hid the meaning behind it. People and especially the religious elite were so caught up in the ritual, they lost the meaning. The Torah, the Law, became a book of rules to follow. The WHY behind the rules was lost in translation.
Addressing Matthew 5:27–32 is particularly poignant because what Jesus is teaching here crosses all cultures, and all people and all boundaries. Straight up, confronting this head on, adultery covers all sexual sin outside the covenant relationship between a man and a woman. It's not comfortable talking about it. But when you go down the rabbit hole you discover a lot. For many, it is the path that leads to addiction. For others, sexual sin can manifest as a result of early trauma and abuse. So, no, it's never pleasant to talk about. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't.
You risk being the "prude" if you discuss this in the open forums of our culture. It's become "normal". Our children now have access to books in their school libraries that make even the worldliest cringe (in the name of education and progressive culture.... really?). And if they don't have the books, they certainly have the internet. Just about every school aged kid is walking the halls with a smart phone that does not discriminate by age.
Sexual sin is foundational. I think it is a favorite of the enemy. It corrupts the image of God; it destroys covenant at the root, it enslaves, it breeds idolatry and addiction. Look around you. What used to be pictured in the deep pages on the top of the magazine rack are now plastered on the front pages of the magazines on the bottom rack. You can't walk 10 feet through the bookstore without being confronted by sexual idolatry. What used to make one blush is now part of everyday culture. We've stopped blushing.
Jeremiah 6:15:
“Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush.”
Notes for Covenant Faithfulness in a Corrupt World - Sexual Idolatry
https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/covenant-faithfulness-in-a-corrupt-world-sexual-idolatry/
