“Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which belongs to Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you know that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” But the person who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:15)

SEX IS GREAT!

Now that I have your attention let me quickly explain where I’m going with this before you start judging me or thinking I’m crazy. Well, okay…I’m already crazy I know.

I just returned from New Life Bible Camp for their annual Fall Teen Retreat in which I preached on the topic of sex. Today our teens and even adults are absolutely confused about sex. I’m not talking about how to have sex, that’s ingrained into our DNA. We’ve all been designed for it. I’m talking about knowing when and why or why not? Just about every form of media is telling us, no screaming at us, to have sex. TV commercials, magazine ads, music and the internet are teaching our teens its okay to have sex anytime and with anyone…as long as they use protection and play it safe. There are many schools across our nation that make condemns easily available to students by handing them out. When I lived in NJ several years ago I remember walking into one of the local high schools to meet a student from our youth ministry for lunch. When I went into the office to sign in low and behold on the counter was a bowl filled with condemns free for the taking. It used to be when you walked into the office of a school the bowl was filled with mints. And yes I’m sorry to say it, but the truth is, many churches are making the topic of sex confusing. It’s not being talked about enough within the church because the mere mention of the word sex is taboo, private and/or embarrassing. Think about it, what reaction would you get if you announced from the pulpit, bulletin, or youth website that your next teaching series is sex? How many of you would have parents approaching you after the morning service because they need to…”have a word with you.” And how many parents would keep their son/ daughter home during that series because, as one parent expressed to me, “sex is to be taught at home by the parents.” In which I reply; “I agree, but teaching them by simply saying ‘Don’t have sex until you’re married because God says so’ is not complete biblical sex education.

The fact is our teens are confused about the truth of sex and it’s time the “church” teaches them, not the media, society or culture. And shouldn’t the church be teaching it, God created sex as a gift to us to enjoy in the confines of marriage. Each year as part of the Christmas season many of us exchange gifts that are meant to be opened on Christmas day and not before. I remember reading tags on the gifts under the tree that read; “do not open til Christmas.” And no matter how curious I was, and how tempting it was to open the gifts my parents told me no, not until Christmas. God has an awesome tremendous gift for us called sex, but it’s got a label that reads, “do not open until married.”

He also wants us to enjoy the gift with ONE person. Someone he has set aside just for us. He [Adam] gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him…This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one (Genesis 2:20; 24).

My friend, who will be getting married in several days, once told me she wished she had someone in her life, but deep down she knew she had to wait until God brought him to her. Now she’s preparing for her wedding and the day that her and her husband-to-be will open an awesome gift that God set aside for the both of them long before they were even born. She also knows that her husband-to-be is wonderfully complex and marvelously made by the Creator and he’s been chosen to be her husband. What an awesome gift!

We’re long over due in our youth ministries and churches when it comes to teaching our teens the truth about sex. And teaching them the truth about sex according to God is NOT about feeding them stats as a scare tactic. One last thought, we can spend four to five weeks in a series about sex, but if our teens have not put their faith in trust in Christ alone the entire series will mean nothing. This is why I suggest that the gospel be presented in every lesson you teach about sex. As a matter of fact, why not give the gospel in EVERY lesson period.

They think the youth leadership team will do it for them – If all we do is preach Matthew 28:19-20, but don’t push them to take action they will always expect us to do it for them. And when they only invite and bring their friends to youth group, but never actually talk about Jesus and their faith in him alone, they will always expect us to do the evangelism for them. As leaders we need to do more than just start the fire in our teens, we need to keep the fire going and bring it to a full inferno blaze. Think about, what happens when a wildfire is set in a forest. It spreads quickly and it’s hard to stop. We need to do more then preach, we need to disciple our teens to evangelize. We need to pray they are set on fire with the Holy Spirit.

They are afraid of rejection – It’s that point when you begin to share your faith in Christ and the person cuts you off before you even have a chance to get into the meat of the gospel story. The mere mention of Jesus’ name sends them throwing up the preverbal “talk to the hand” and running in any direction away from you, leaving you with that uncomfortable knot in the pit of your stomach called rejection. The truth is, not everyone is going to accept the message of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18), but we should never give up. Jesus faced rejection in his hometown (Mark 6:1-6) yet he continued his ministry. Did Jesus feel the pain of rejection like you and I? Absolutely! He was human in every way and felt pain just like you and I. Jesus knew he’d face rejection all the way to the cross. You and I need to KNOW that we’ll continue to face rejection when sharing our faith. But Jesus said, “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.”  (John 6:37)  The one who experienced the ultimate rejection of death on a cross will welcome ANYONE.

They lack the confidence – All of us at some point has and will experience moments where our confidence level is low. Just the other day I didn’t feel confident enough that I was able to complete something I had never done before in my life, but a close friend took a moment and offered some encouraging words and advise. His encouragement gently pushed me to do what I felt I was not confident to complete. Think of your students as a team and you’re their coach. As youth leaders sometimes we need to be a Barnabas to our students, encouraging them as they continue to learn how to share their faith with their friends.

They don’t know how to bring it up – I’ve been in this spot before and I know you have as well. How do you make the transition in conversation from talking about the weather to Jesus? This takes intentional thinking and listening on our parts. In Acts 8; Philip took time to listen to the Ethiopian and find out what he was interested in, this gave Phillip an opening to bring up a conversation about Jesus. Our teens need to learn how to listen and discover what interests their friends. They need to become relational when sharing their faith. But they also need to be relentless by driving the conversation towards Jesus.

They are afraid they don’t know enough – This goes back to our part as leader’s, discipling and training our teens to share their faith. If they are growing deep in their faith then sharing it will get easier every time. They don’t need to be biblical scholars and/or attend seminary. They just need to be growing in their relationship with Christ. The more you know about someone, the more your able to share who they are to others.

They are afraid they will be labeled as…religious – When I first started sharing my faith with my atheist neighbor he immediately labeled me a religious nut, but as he got to know me better he’s come to realize I’m not a religious nut, but rather a Jesus freak. He’s still a professed atheist and I pray for him all the time, but his view of me changed because he got to know me, a guy who love’s Jesus and lives to have a relationship instead of following a set of man made rules labeled religion. When our teens share the love of Christ instead religion, not everyone will label them as a religious nut. When sharing our faith we need to show people our hearts and true intentions.

It’s not lived out in their homes & churches – This is simple and doesn’t require a long explanation. Bottom-line if Mom and Dad aren’t modeling it and the church isn’t modeling it, our teens won’t be doing it.