Message: Adultery
Time: This book chronicles farewell messages by Moses, the 120 year old leader of the Israelite, primarily intended for the lay person. It covers about one month, at the end of the forty-year period in the wilderness - 1405 BC. It is a renewal of the old covenant given at Mount Sinai to the plains of Moab.
What the Lord is Saying:
The Commandments are often distinguished by those that deal with our relationship with God and then those that deal with our relationship with others. Just looking at quantity it is interesting that there are 4 toward God and then 6 toward other people. It seems fair to say that God cares greatly about how we engage in life with others. And yet it often seems like we approach God in the manner that we only need to be right with Him and then we can conduct ourselves however we want in regards to one another. And yet how we conduct our lives with one another seems to have a great significance on our way toward God.
Thus far, there has already been a commandment about the child-parent relationship, but this one is more directly about the relationship between husband and wife.
I find it very interesting that God is wanting it to be clear that the secret to a fulfilling marriage is being true to each other and not breaking the covenant that he has set up. Last weekend, my wife and I went to a concert in Las Vegas. If there is one thing that Las Vegas focuses on is sexuality and giving the idea that in the realm of entertainment it is perfectly fine to be entertained by nudity and sensuality. When I was a kid, Las Vegas was synonymous with marriage and a place to get married easily and quickly. And yet now there is no mention of marriage at all in Las Vegas. Instead there are many billboards about gentleman clubs where nudity is prevalent, there are billboards about going to shows that celebrate sensuality and walking around the city are flamingo dancers wearing very little. It is almost like everything is being told to us in these messages that pleasing our senses is permitted and okay. Basically, the adage of "If it feels good, do it." I stared down from our hotel room and saw shops in this strip mall - tattoo's, love boutique, and computers. Just seemed interesting and their was a bar at the end of that strip.
Clearly God knew that there would be a great temptation among married couples to break that covenant of marriage. And in my lifetime I have seen this sin become easier and easier to commit. It has gone from actually committing the act through engaging in sexual activity with someone not your mate to being able to pull up images on a phone and engage in one-sided activity with someone not your mate. This is the hallmark of sin, that it becomes easier and easier to commit and in the process it becomes less and less offensive in our thinking.
And as a guy, I feel the temptation all of the time. We are visual creatures and there is so much on that crazy phone of mine that can lure me away from being fully focused on my wife.
Psalm 84:11 says -- For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Here God is making mention that walking in an upright manner or righteous manner actually yields good. In other words, if we simply trust God to live by His way we will be more fulfilled in our lives than seeking out our own unrighteous ways.
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Here God is making mention that walking in an upright manner or righteous manner actually yields good. In other words, if we simply trust God to live by His way we will be more fulfilled in our lives than seeking out our own unrighteous ways.
God created marriage so that we would be vulnerable to only one person. Thankfully, I recognized in my teen and college years that if I gave in to sex in a relationship it changed the dynamic of the relationship. And instead I needed to focus on the non-sexual parts of the relationship and building those up first before letting the sexual part into the relationship. My wife and I both came to our relationship realizing this was most important. We even set a goal to not kiss the first time till our wedding day. We didn't live up to this, but we didn't kiss until weeks after we had gotten engaged. So the first 4 months of our courtship were just that and no kissing. And yet once we started kissing it became very difficult to only kiss. Once we opened up that possibility it was hard to turn it off.
I Corinthians 7:2 says, "But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband." We are meant to be exclusive creatures: one God, one wife or husband. It speaks to vulnerability. There is definitely pleasure in the sexual union but it also moves us beyond that to a closeness that transcends the relationship. It is also in this relationship that we are shown that we mirror Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32 -- "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church." It is a mystery. It is like we don't even completely recognize the extent of what it means for two to be one.
It is not rocket science. When I replace my wife with someone else or some other image or am lured away by someone else, our relationship becomes less fulfilling. Sin affects everything and my marriage is affected. Adultery is one of the few grounds given in Scripture for divorce (Matthew 19:9 - "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.") God is wanting to protect me. I must admit. I go back and forth with trusting Him on this. I think of James 4:4 which compares adultery to idolatry or being friends with the world or aligned with the world instead of with God. Again, unity is the issue. "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." He calls people that are joined to the world as an adulteress. So don't be joined to another.
Summary: Adultery is sin. It is breaking God's commands. It is replacing that which is holy with unholy.
Promise: I must always be on the guard. The world is trying to pull me away from exclusivity and God's central commands. It is most fulfilling in life when I stay exclusive. We love God's faithfulness and He wants us to be faithful in our relationships as well, most notably with our mates.
Prayer: O God, you are Holy and your ways are perfect and good for me. Thank you for continually bringing me back to your truth and your ways and showing me how I need you to guide my life. You have set this life up in such a way as to protect me. Thank you for this past weekend and helping me understand disappointment and how it wrecks my life. And you show me the importance of simply believing in You and only You. Lord, strengthen me and keep making me strong. Even at 54 right now, I need that strength and I still struggle with temptation. But there is completeness with my wife.
Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of July is about the right use of God's Law; June was justification by faith alone; May about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.
Bringing me to Christ
The Restraint of the Law - the law is given for lawless, unholy, disobedient people, to restrain us from acting on our sinful thoughts. Restraint and Guilt - the law is meant to restrain Christians and non-Christians alike; so that others may see Christ. The Law's Revelation of Sin - The Law reveals sin, at times making it more desirable, and show the sin which people commit and the complete standard it expects. The Law and Our Powerlessness - We are powerless over the Law and Sin revealed. It is in Christ that we receive forgiveness and the power to resist sin. The Law our Guardian - The law is not a tool of justifying me, but rather it is an instrument to bring me to Christ and show me my need for Him.
Guiding our Lives
The Guidance of the Law - The Law is a guide in our lives for what pleases God and what it looks like to walk in holiness. The Antinomian Error - We were slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to obedience and righteousness. Judaizing Legalism - The error of Judaizing Legalism is the idea that obedience brings about God's acceptance of us for salvation. The Deadliest Form of Legalism - This legalism is that one would get too focused on external practices instead of focusing on the heart.
The Law is our Guide
The Centrality of Love - Love and the law go hand in hand. We do not belong to God unless we love our neighbor, and we cannot love our neighbor without knowing and doing God‘s law and loving him. Finding Guidance in the Law - God's Word, all if it, is a guide to my life and I am to meditate on it continually.
Caring and Protecting Us
The One and Only God - I seek to trust and love God above all else today. Images and Idols - Pictures, statues, symbols, art, people are not bad; but be careful about placing too much emphasis on these things I see. Using God's Name Frivolously - Blasphemy or using God's name frivolously are examples of taking God's name in vain. Keeping the Lord's Day - It is vital that we are setting apart a day to gather for worship and fellowship, resting from our ordinary vocations. Honoring Father and Mother - Parents are to rear their children in faith, teaching them to respect authority and children are to follow. Murder, Self-Defense and Hatred - Murder is not unforgivable and yet like any other sin, even hatred, we need to avoid it. It has consequences in this life.
