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This morning we're in the fourth week of our look at the Song of Solomon, a unique book of the Bible that is a collection of love songs between a man and a woman dealing with the themes of love, romance, marriage, and sex.  Today I want to deal with the sexuality that is raised in this book, and talk about the Biblical view of sex and purity.  Sex is certainly a subject that isn't easy to discuss well in church, and for that reason is often overlooked, except to say don't have sex outside of marriage.  But the Bible, and especially Song of Solomon, has a lot of insight for an area of life that is very important and needs to be addressed with Biblical wisdom.  There are so many bad messages out there regarding sex that given the option of saying nothing and hoping you can sift through it all or taking the risk to talk about it, I'm going to take the risk.  This is going to be challenging this morning, and hopefully encouraging as well for you, no matter if you are married or single.  And as I begin, let's all say together 2 Timothy 3:16:  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

I'm going to use two passages to frame the discussion in Song of Solomon today.  The first passage is the picture from the very first marriage of what was meant to be:

Genesis 2:22-25 - Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.  ²³ The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, 'for she was taken out of man."  ²⁴ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.  ²⁵ The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

If you've been to a wedding that I've officiated, you recognize that passage, because I often preach on it at weddings.  God's intention from the beginning is that a marriage would be a place where husband and wife could be naked and unashamed - free in all ways to be themselves, without fear of condemnation, guilt, or shame.  I believe this applies emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, but certainly it also applies sexually.  Marriage, and sex within marriage, is meant to be a place where you can be naked and unashamed.  Why?  Because it is a relationship bound by a covenantal love that says no matter what happens, I will never leave you, I will never reject you.  The foundation is grace - I am on your side, I love you, I am here to serve you & help you become the person God has created you to be.  And sex is a tangible, visual expression of that oneness and acceptance - I am yours and you are mine, we belong to each other and love and accept each other as we are, and we will drink deeply of each other's love.  So the first passage I'm using to frame our discussion of sex is from Genesis 2, which tells us that God's intention from the beginning is that marriage would place where we could be naked and unashamed.

The second passage comes from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 7:3-5 - The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.  ⁴ The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.  ⁵ Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

In addition to the goal of a husband and wife being naked and unashamed, the second foundational Biblical teaching about sex is that when you get married, you give yourselves completely to each other as the two become one.  And a significant part of that is giving your body to each other as a gift.  This means that if you are married, your body is no longer your own; it also belongs to your husband or your wife.  A big part of having a healthy marriage sexually is being able to reach the point where you can give your spouse your body as a gift, and deal with whatever issues, whether in your marriage or in your past, that prevent you from doing this.