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Dr. Lewis Drummond was one of the lecturers at Spurgeons College, London, when he was head hunted by an American university and departed, leaving his classes deprived of a tutor. The principal asked two of us local ministers to step into the breach until they found a suitable replacement for Dr. Drummond. Thus I found myself teaching a class in Pastoral Theology (amongst other things), and happened to say that when they got out into the pastorate much of their counselling would be on the subject of sex. This caused derision, I discovered later. The students all believed that their personal counselling would be about prayer, about discovering spiritual gifts, and problems about the Bible, or worship, or ... anything but sex. After all, that was for the psychiatrists and marriage guidance people, not for Christian ministers.
After their first eighteen months in charge of churches, they returned for a week's refresher course, and the most vociferous deriders of my words about sexual needs in counselling being prominent, did have the grace to apologise. One said 'I thought you were crazy teaching us that, but since then I've had to try and counsel just about every sort of sexual problem'.
We Christians tend to overlook the 10 'sexual' commandments of the Bible:
1. Sex is God's gift not Satan's curse
2. Like all God's gifts, sex can be used or abused.
3. It's wonderful when it's used according to the maker's instructions.
4. Physical ;things are not one scrap less spiritual and that includes sex.
5. True sexuality can become a sacrament
6. True sexuality is an essential part of married love.
7. True sexuality expresses and bonds true married relationships - it is not a substitute for their absence.
8. True loving involves both total self-giving and powerful self-restraint.
9. All true love involves personal commitment (the Bible word is 'covenant')
10. True love makes humans more human, even a bit more God-like.
More on this tomorrow.
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its ardour unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Song of Songs 8:6
A Prayer:
(Say it over and over) - "Thank you God that you are not ashamed of the way you have made me".
Now read Song of Songs Chapter 4.
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