Building Good Relationships

When Angelina Jolie, living with Brad Pitt and having given birth to his child, announced she didn’t plan to marry him, it hardly made the news. In 1970 Mick Jagger said he wouldn’t marry Marion Faithful— who was expecting his child. It was front-page news. How things have changed! Today, nearly 80 per cent of couples live together before marriage.1 Many live together and never marry.

What does the seventh commandment prohibit?

Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.”

How did Jesus show the broader meaning of this command?

Matthew 5:27, 28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Who will not inherit the kingdom of God?

1 Corinthians 6:9, 10 “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders …will inherit the kingdom of God.”

What does Paul suggest?

1 Corinthians 6:18_ “Flee from sexual immorality.

All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.”

In the USA, there are an estimated 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections each year. Almost half are young people aged 15 to 25. Each year, teenagers are exposed to more than 15,000 sexual references on television, with less than 170 references mentioning the consequences.2 Ninety-nine per cent of sexual references are between unmarried persons. 3 Research shows that the earlier children are exposed to explicit sexual material in the media (music, TV, videos, movies, etc) the earlier they become sexually active. 4

What is Jesus’ ideal?

Matthew 19:4-6 “At the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?

So they are no longer two, but one.

Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

The seventh commandment is saying that all forms of sexual expression outside of marriage are destructive.

What quality constitutes the principle of the seventh commandment?

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Upon what things does Paul say we should allow our minds to dwell?

Philippians 4:8 “Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— think about such things.”

What hope is there for those who sin?

1 John 2:1_ “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”

What has Jesus done for us sinners?

Romans 5:8; 8:1 “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

More than 45 per cent of Australian marriages end in divorce. One million children live with just one of their natural parents and 500,000 children regularly migrate between parents, while 25 percent of families are sole parent families.5 Child abuse is increasing with one case occurring, on average, every 13 minutes.6 The sexual liberation experiment that began in the 1960s has failed. God’s way remains the best.

1 <Pobronson.com> June 23, 2006. Hugh Mackay. March 3, 2005.

2 <www.cdc.gov/> 3 Alvin Powell. “Omnipresent media hurts, helps children”. Harvard Gazette, Oct 11, 2001.

4 W Mueller, Understanding Today’s Youth Culture, 1994, p. 131.

5 Journal of Adolescent Health. March 2006 & May 2005. Pediatrics. April 2006.

6 Hugh Mackay. March 3, 2005.