May 2020 — pg. 37
“Safe!” You can hear the umpire yell as
the runner’s foot touches first base just
milliseconds before the baseball enters the glove of
the first baseman with a “whap!” The runner is only
safe because of his position in one precise location.
Had his foot wandered from the base, he would not
be safe.
There’s a lot of talk
about safety today. When
I was a kid, we dropped
fully removable pop tabs
into our cans as we drank
soda. We rode in the back
of open pickup trucks and
played outside in the woods
all day unsupervised. Today,
especially at this coronavirus-defined
moment, talk of
safety is at an all-time high.
Now I wear a mask to the
grocery store to stay safe.
Why a mask? Seriously?
Yes, seriously, because my
actions have a role in the
greater welfare of humanity.
Your actions have a role
in the greater welfare of humanity as a whole. We’re
learning this all over again. The days of “do whatever
you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody” (though
never true) have proved to be untrue at a whole new
level. It’s taken a virus to reset our thinking and see
how we, as members of the human community,
are at our best when others are considered above
ourselves. But what are the limits and boundaries?
Since this issue of LIGHT + LIFE MAGAZINE is
titled Sanctified Sexuality, and sanctification is to “set
apart,” it is right to frame our sexuality in submission
to Christ Jesus.
The very idea of following Jesus means that we
are cross-carrying, serving, giving, imitators of
Christ. What does that mean for us? It means that
everything about us comes into subjection to the
will of God. I’ve not discovered one area of my
own life that Jesus sees as outside or omitted from
subjection to His Lordship. Oh, I struggle to be sure,
but will never self-absolve from any sin that must be
surrendered.
Our sexuality is not exempt. The great trifecta of
sinful modernity is money, sex and power. While it’s
acceptable to speak of the evils of loving money, and
conversations about who holds power, abuses power
and wields power are part of every governmental
and racial conversation, it’s somehow become taboo
to say that our sexuality matters to God and must be
subjected to His will like our money and power.
We are all aware of the seemingly countless
ways sexuality is perverted. Safe sex is surrendered
sex. God has clearly revealed that sexual expression
is reserved for the covenant marital union of one
man and one woman. Every expression outside that
boundary is not only unsafe, it’s sin. Sin continues
to harm this world and others within the world. Sin
is what brought Jesus to die and death into Jesus is
what brings us into life. Death to self — sanctification
— by necessity demands inclusion of all our being,
including sex. We know how abuses of power hurt
people, and we know how abuses of money hurt
people, but we’ve become deceived into believing
that abuses of sex (at least selectively) no longer hurt
people. All sex outside of God’s covenant marital
design is harmful to the greater human family.
Bishop Emeritus David Kendall, with
endorsement of the Board of Bishops, penned the
FMCUSA position paper published in this magazine.
He points not only to problems of sexual activity, but
also that of societal shaming over sexual inactivity. I
would encourage you to go back and read the bullet
points in context found on Page 4 of the paper.
Surrender. “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I
freely give. Worldly pleasures all forsaken, in His
presence daily live.” Every person who would find life
in Christ must pass through the gate of surrender.
All have sinned, all have a sin that so easily besets
them, and all must kneel before the Lord of lords
with open hands.
From Jeremiah 7:8-10 to Revelation’s letters to
the churches, warnings are issued to the people of
God who find themselves unsafe.
God’s viewpoint on sexuality is not what the world
calls “safe sex,” but rather it is safety in surrender.+
“Your actions
have a role in
the greater
welfare of
humanity as a
whole.”
Brett Heintzman is the publisher of
LIGHT + LIFE through his role as the
communications director of the Free
Methodist Church – USA, which he also
serves as the co-director of the National
Prayer Ministry. Visit freemethodistbooks.
com to order his books “Becoming a Person
of Prayer,” “Holy People”(Volume 1 of
the “Vital” series), “Jericho: Your Journey
to Deliverance and Freedom” and “The
Crossroads: Asking for the Ancient Paths.”