Weird: Sexuality – Day 5 of 5
A Community Group of friends gets together to discuss this week’s message on sexuality, when the following conversation takes place:
Jonathan: “OK, everybody let’s go ahead and get started. I know Sunday’s message about sexuality may have caught some of you off guard, but I think we can still have a pretty good discussion about it.”
Natasha: “I don’t think we need to talk about it at all. I mean, I think sex is a very private subject. What somebody does behind closed doors isn’t really anybody else’s business, right?”
Kira: “Nobody is asking us to talk about personal details of our sex lives. We’re just talking about God’s purpose for sexuality as well what constitutes as sexual sin.
Natasha: “If you say so.”
Jodie: “I kind of agree with Natasha. I mean, do we really need to talk about this? I know the pastor said that it’s not a ‘private’ subject, but it is ‘personal’, and I can kind of buy into that. But it IS personal. And I don’t know that we really need to get into this too much.”
Mark: “Well, I listened to the same message, and I agree with Kira’s assessment. Not only that, but the pastor also talked about confession a great deal, too. I mean, we’ve been together as a group for a while now. Perhaps we can openly discuss some of the struggles we have. If not now, perhaps when we break into separate men/women groups later?”
The room remains silent for at least 30 seconds.
Landon: “I’ll break the silence I suppose. And I’m with my wife (Jodie). It seems like our group here is about 50/50 in our desires to talk through this one. Maybe we should just get into another subject for this week.”
Jonathan: “I see that we all have some strong feelings on this subject, and many may have some questions. Let’s go ahead and check out what the scriptures say, and then we can discuss some of our questions, and maybe even some things we wrestle with. If not in an entire group context, we can do so in separate groups later on. Sound good?”
Everybody nods in agreement.
Jonathan: “Ok, great. The passage for this week is…”
As the group continues their discussion, they discuss subjects such as the cultural celebration of sex, whether or not there’s a difference between fulfillment and satisfaction, and even some specifics regarding sexual sin and the importance of confession. Afterwards, as the men and women meet separately for prayer time, each group member confesses some kind of struggle they have in this area. For some it was clicking on websites. For others, it was romance novels, or flirting with other men or women in the workplace. Jonathan and Rebekah, the group leaders were well prepared and were able to help each individual think through the ramifications of the decisions they had been making. And after an opportunity to pray for one another, each group member agreed to help keep one another accountable.
. . . . .
Many do not like to talk about sexual sin. We don’t want to point out others sins, and we certainly don’t want to discuss our own. But many are struggling in the area of sexual sin. Recent studies indicate that 77% of men who attend church regularly look at pornography at least once a month. The same statistic for women is over 50%, and climbing rapidly.
Questions to Consider:
- What do think about the Community Group discussion written above? Which character do you most resonate with and why?
- Have you ever had a group of friends where you felt free to share anything you were struggling with? What was it like?
- Do you agree that discussing sexuality is personal, but should not be private? Explain.
- Read 1 John 1:9 and James 5:16. Why do you think it’s harder for people to confess sexual sin than for them to confess other struggles they may have?
- Read Psalm 51 (a Psalm written by David after his sin of adultery with Bathsheba). David, king of Israel, wrote a confession that would have been read by everybody in Israel. The punishment in Israel for such sin was usually death.
- Why do you think David wrote this Psalm?
- What is one thing you will do this week as a result of this message?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that You have created sex solely for the marriage relationship, and that within a marriage it is to bring relational fulfillment to both the husband and the wife. I again confess that it’s a challenging subject for me to speak about with others, but I pray that You will provide me opportunities to openly discuss what Your Word says about this subject with my friends and family. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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