Saturday March 2

Read: Ephesians 5:1-15,

Matthew 5:27-30

How much does something have to be worth before taking it would be considered theft? If I took your $100 watch, would that be considered stealing? If I took your $10 iTunes voucher, would that be considered stealing? What if I went into your wallet and took a 10 cent coin? Of course all of those things would be considered stealing. What makes something stealing is not the dollar value of the item but the intention of taking something which belongs to someone else.

 

At this point you might be quite confused. Of course those taking those things is stealing but why bring up stealing when we are talking about sexual purity? Unintentionally teenagers (and adults) often ask a very similar question with regards to boundaries in relationships with the opposite sex. That question is generally “How far can we go?”, or “How far is too far?”.

 

Let me explain. Our question about stealing revealed a simple but powerful truth: that what makes something stealing is not the value of the item but the intention or thoughts of the person doing the stealing. That is what Jesus is telling us here in Matthew 5 about our sexuality. Adultery and sexual sin is not just about our physical actions, it is about our intentions and about our hearts. To look at another woman with lust is to commit sexual sin according to God’s standard. Paul shows us this even more clearly in Ephesians 5: there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality amongst God’s people (see v3) and God’s people are to have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness (see v11).

 

How does this look in a relationship? Rather than ask the question, “How far can I go?”, the question has to be, “How do I keep my heart pure?” This is a much, much greater standard. Think about how you might put this into a boundary in your relationship. Rather than “we won’t do XYZ”, a boundary based on this principal would have to be “we won’t do anything that would cause us to lust or would result in even a hint of sexual immorality.”

 

Now that is a boundary worth keeping! Think today about what things you might need to do to keep such a boundary.

 

Prayer:

Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

 

Adoration:

 

Confession:

 

Thanks:

 

Supplication:

¥ Pray for the church as we gather together tomorrow morning and tomorrow evening to celebrate the Lord’s Day. Pray that God would stir a spirit of joy and celebration amongst his people as they gather together and that they would desire to grow in holiness together as they are taught His word.

¥ Pray for those in our community and around the world who don’t know the joy and freedom of having a relationship with Jesus. Pray that tomorrow God’s people would be stirred up to reach the lost and to share the good news and that unbelievers would be drawn to come to church.

 

My Additional Prayer Points.

 

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2/.

 

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What are some boundaries that you could put in place in your life to help you to maintain a standard of “not a hint” of sexual immorality?

2. What are some practical boundaries that unmarried couples could put into place to maintain that standard and protect their hearts?