This Sunday, we looked at the Sabbath, studying the main purposes God stated for giving it. I started the sermon by listing the major debates that surround the Sabbath:
1. what day of the week?
2. what does honoring the Sabbath entail?
3. is this law still bearing on us?
I never answered any of these questions. Part of the reason for this is that I will be preaching a second sermon on the topic and wanted to save something, but I also wanted to make sure that we start with PURPOSE. Too often, we want to jump ahead to the details before we do a good job knowing they why behind what we are doing.
In one sense, we should ‘Start with Why’ because it inspires people and gives a proper motivation (Simon Sinek’ TED talk outlines this concept). We should also do this because this is how God gave us His truth. Too often, we want the answers and details before we do the work of understanding why God’s laws exist in the first place. We want a Cliffsnotes version, or a set of actions we can do that will assure us of the outcomes we desire.
I was reminded of this when ‘purity culture’ began trending last week.* It occurred after the shooting in Atlanta and the report that the killer had been raised in a Southern Baptist home and been sent to counseling for sex addiction. This quickly erupted into an intense debate as to whether racism, sexism, pornography, or church dogma was to blame for his actions (here is a great article about why we want a reason so badly). In the end, people often put the blame on the other group (those farthest from their own belief system) and work to protect their own tribe (or ideology).
When the mob came for ‘purity culture,’ many in the church went on the defensive, feeling like the critique hit too close to home, but I don’t believe that this is a helpful response (here is an article that does a good job outlining why). Instead, as Christians, we should be pointing people back to the ideal, the purity of purpose behind God’s design of sex. Rather than pointing out all of the potential problems of sin (or the guardrails we should build), we should start by casting a vision for what is lovely; as Paul encouraged the church in Phillipi:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. | Philippians 4:8
The issue with defending ‘purity culture’ is that Biblical sexual ethic gets united with a set of rules and actions that were designed to produce a better life (for a clear distinction between purity culture and the Biblical sexual ethic, read this). This is not to rail on ‘purity culture’ but rather to issue a warning: the culture we build around issues like sex are going to produce consequences. If our main goal is abstinence, then we may end up achieving it, but creating other sins in the process. Like the Pharisees, when we add rules to God’s truth, we have to be very careful that our additions don’t drown out God’s message. Simply put, how we apply God’s truth has the potential to lose the purpose behind God’s loving direction.
How do we guard ourselves from this? First, we should remember Jesus concern with the heart. This doesn’t take away the need for us to control our actions, but it does help us to get them in the right order. God isn’t interested in disgruntled obedience, but in worship. Purity isn’t for the sake of purity, it is part of a robust celebration of God’s goodness.
Second, this helps us to focus on training our children up in the love and grace of God so that they WANT to serve Him with their bodies (rather than making their bodies the focal point). We teach our kids to set their minds on what is excellent and worthy of praise, not just on what to avoid. Our reasons, our why, must rest on Christ rather than results; because our schemes will fail us, but Jesus never will.
When we read our Bibles, we should do it to know God and His way, not to discover the cheat code for the universe. We should obey God’s commands because He is worthy of being honored. An interesting thing happens when we do: rather than achieving the outcomes that we attempt to manufacture; we end up getting what we need. Or as Jesus put it:
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. | Matthew 6:32–33
When we focus on the PURPOSES behind our actions, God uses it to change our desires. We end up content with the outcomes because we trust that He is in them. This allows us to respond with grace, even when the results are different than what we would have orchestrated (especially when things seem to be going off the rails). God doesn’t promise us an easy life or the avoidance of sin and pain. He gives us something much greater: He promises to be with us in the midst of them. This is where we find our rest.
*to be clear, I do not blame ‘purity culture’ for the action of the Atlanta shooter; there were a lot of complex issues at play.