Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Does God Have Access to All Areas of Your Life? | Torah | Deuteronomy 22:13-30

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

Have you given God the right to rule your life? Is there anything that you’re holding back from God? Are you still trying to take control over your life? In today’s episode, Jensen uses Deuteronomy 22:13-30 to share the importance of letting God in to all aspects of your life. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Deuteronomy 22:13-30

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. I'll be honest with you. When I first read our passage for today, I was not excited to talk about it. It's not an easy read, and it's a passage that many have had a hard time reading through and understanding. See, Deuteronomy 22, verses 13 through 30 lay out expanded laws on the sexual ethic of God's people. Moses tells of specific instances like a man taking advantage of a woman who is betrothed to be married or two adults having a consensual affair or a son sleeping with his father's wife. And he explains what God's people are supposed to do when these things happen in their communities. Many of the

instances are punishable by death. Others involve payments to be made to repay the damage that has been done. And honestly, from a 21st century perspective, as a first-century, as a I read it, it's hard not to think that the laws are archaic, outdated, and overreactions at best. Like I said, it's a tough read. But if you've been around for this series going through the Torah, then you know that we live in a completely different culture than the ancient Israelites that Moses is speaking to in this text. And so if we had the time to go through these examples and to dive deep into the cultural context,

we would see a God who is protecting his people, and especially the women of Israel from being taken advantage of in a culture that didn't always do so. Now, I'd encourage you to continue reading passages like this one and doing the hard work of understanding context to help you get a picture of who God is behind these laws that can sometimes seem so different than our own. But today, today I want to focus in on why, even when we're not. with the cultural context going on here, why this passage is still always going to be incredibly offensive to modern ears. See, there is one underlying truth to these laws that we cannot ignore

or explain away. See, this passage of Deuteronomy is expanding on the Seventh Commandment. You shall not commit adultery. And in this expansion, we see that God is not a God who will allow his people to have free reign over their sexuality. He is drawing boundaries. He is putting in place protections and he is asking his people to trust that these things are in place for their flourishing. He is asking them to trust him with all of them, even who they have sex with. And before we chalk this up to being just an old school law for the ancient Israelites, we have to realize that this isn't just an Old Testament ask. Note Jesus himself speaks on this commandment and unveils the heart behind it. In Matthew, we read, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery,

but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away, it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. So not only should God's people not just refrain from committing the act of adultery, they must keep themselves from looking lustfully at another person. And like the ancient Israelites were to take this call seriously with punishments and laws, so too should modern-day Christians take it seriously. Jesus calls his followers to gouge out the parts of them that are tempted to fall into

sexual temptation. The language is harsh, but Jesus is asking for whole-bodied disciples who give up their entire lives to live a life guided by the values that are present in his kingdom. And so, when we read this passage in Deuteronomy, we're supposed to learn one thing very clearly. We follow a God who seriously asks his people to give their whole lives over to him. And to our modern context, that is incredibly offensive on its own. See, we live in a world where the individual is championed. I am called upon to create my own identity, to make my own choices, to forge my own path. No one has a right to stand in my way or tell me how to live my own life. Films and television shows portray those who stand in the way of our choices as the enemy,

the bad guy. Like, when I'm a lot of our own life, like, when I'm a lot of our show, I'm not going. it comes to the choices we make with our own bodies, who we sleep with and when and how often. Nothing is universally wrong or right. There are no rules except do what makes you feel good as long as it doesn't hurt someone else. Women are constantly being told to take control of their sexuality from a young age, to not let the world tell them what they can and can't do with their bodies, how they dress who they sleep with. A New York politician running for office just released his own pornography video to prove that he is serious about sex positivity and legalizing sex work. In fact, Covenant Eyes reported that pornography is so commonplace that one in five mobile searches are for it.

One in seven senior pastors use pornography on a regular basis, and 64% of Christian men say they watch pornography at least once a month. See, sex scandals are destroying churches and ministries across the world as hidden sexual behaviors are brought to light. Even the idea of waiting to have sex until you're married is becoming more and more archaic among Christians. Only 32% of Christians say it is never acceptable for sex to happen outside of marriage. Inside and outside of the church, we are clear when it comes to sex. we don't want anyone telling us what we can and cannot do. Which presents a serious problem for the modern church. If we aren't willing to let God have a say in every area of our life,

then we either have to ignore or get really angry at core teachings of Scripture. At its root, our complacency with a sexual ethic of Jesus' kingdom comes down to whether or not we think God has a right to every area of our lives. Deep down, we want to call the shots. We want to satisfy our desires. We want to be in control of our bodies. But our desires, our instincts, guys, they aren't good. We're told to trust ourselves, to follow our dreams, to create our own rules.

But we're not very wise. We're easily swayed, easily tempted. We're easily controlled by our base desires. We do not make good kings of our lives, and yet we cling tightly to the illusion that we're the best person for the job, even to our own destruction. But 1 Corinthians 618 causes out of this illusion. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside of the body, but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. You were bought at a price.

Therefore, honor God with your bodies. Those who call themselves Christians have been bought with a price. The God of the universe became a man and died so that you and I could stand before him holy and blameless. He resurrected so that when we join ourselves to Christ, our bodies are not our own. Our lives are not our own. We live for something greater than to just satisfy our desires, to make our own dreams come true, to build a life for ourselves. We live to bring about Jesus' kingdom here on earth. The people of God cannot look like the rest of the world when it comes to our sexual ethic.

We have a different king. We do not look within ourselves for truth, but to the true king who paid a price so that we could live in his good kingdom with him for all of eternity. The creator of the universe has every right to tell me how to live my life. Now that might seem odd to the world, but I want him to have a say. I want to live in light of his commandments. I want my whole life to reflect him. I want to get him. I want to get him. I want to get him. I want to give everything that I have to point the watching world to a better kingdom. One where I don't have to figure everything out. I don't have to make my own morality. I don't have to fend for myself and protect myself and create myself. I can rest. I can rest knowing that God created me to partner with him.

God created a world that is good and full of order and peace. He is restoring this world to become a kingdom where his justice reigns. He is in control and he is watching over his people. We give our whole lives over to God, even the parts we so desperately want to control because he is offering us so much more than a life chasing and being controlled by our desires. He offers freedom and he is asking for all of us in return. We can trust him. Life inside of his kingdom is what we were created for.

Do you believe that? I know that it can be easy to section off parts of ourselves, to let God have a say in some areas, but not others. But Scripture is clear. When we withhold and indulge in sexual immorality, we unite ourselves to things other than Christ. We reject the good gift that God is offering. See, we follow a God who,

calls his people to give all of themselves. Who is sitting on the throne of your life? Who is calling the shots? Who determines what is right and wrong? There's only room for one king. My prayer for all of us today is that we would be willing to lay down our desires, lay down our cultural mantras of self-expression, and invite Jesus to be king over every piece of our lives.

Now will you spend time today praying that with me? Lord, so often we look to the world around us to tell us what to believe and how to think rather than to your word. We're tempted to believe that we are the king of our lives, that we are in control. Lord, break down our pride, break down the walls and our hearts that want to keep you out of certain areas of our lives. We ask that you would be king. over our entire lives. We want to be united with you and you alone. We thank you for making a way

for us to be with you in your good kingdom. Help us to remember that you are a good king, that you are our creator who calls us to obedience because it is what will produce life in us. We love you. Amen. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in a show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.