1. We Were Made For This Sermon series graphic here
Good morning, church family
For the guests – I’m pastor shawn, the lead pastor
I’m so thankful for the powerful teaching and reminding
God has been giving us in the book of Ephesians
To remind us who we are and what we were made for

2. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them.”
(Eph 2:10)
Ephesians we are told that God created us for a great purpose.
There’s a great life to keep growing into.
But we live in a world that has great confusion and great opposition
We were made for joy – but we tend to chooses sin and live in pain
We were made for forever love – often we choose temporary lust
We were made for family – but usually chooses selfishness
We were made to have great meaning – but we end up in emptiness
Even though we were made for great gifts – we often choose this . . .

3. imitate life & freedom but produce death and slavery
Counterfeits
imitate life & freedom but
produce death and slavery
Ever buy a counterfeit? Get fooled by one?
Or save money on a knock off that falls apart in one week
Most of the time counterfeits make for funny stories
(my friend in NY City bought an alarm clock at a guy at a stop light – got it home and the only thing inside was a brick)
Seem funny - But the Bible says that counterfeits are tragic!
They are not what we were made for
there is one tragic result of a counterfeit

4. They keep us from being open to the real thing
Saw this as I was studying today’s passage and thought
Isn’t this exactly what satan does to relationships
Especially about sex and sexuality
Satan has created so many counterfeits to the god-given power and joy to sex and sexuality
– that we have stopped being open to the real thing
Christians seem to treat sex like its bad or evil – when its beautiful and a gift
How many people (who believe in Jesus) have had so many counterfeit experiences
That they stop accepting what really could be wonderful in their lives
Our world is so confused about sexuality and has so many counterfeits
A lof a Christians no longer accept what is right
And in Ephesians Pual says – yes there are counterfeits, but there is also a great gift of sexuality ou were made for
By grace and through faith you can reject the counterfeits and begin to live in the new life of Jesus

5. “We Were Made For Sexual Purity”
Ephesians 5:3-8
“We Were Made For Sexual Purity”
(v3) The Counterfeits
(v4) The Remedy
(v5-6) The Motivation
(v7-8) The Daily Choice
First the counterfeits
Knowing them is important
They imitate life and freedom – but ultimately produce death and slavery

6. (v3) “Sexual immorality” (porneia) Counterfeit #1
Sex outside of marriage
1 Cor 7:2, Mt. 15:19
Sexual immorality seems like a broad term but it is actually used pretty specifically about sex outside of marriage
1 Cor 7:2
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

7. “For out of the [unclean] heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander”
(Jesus, Mt 15:19)
Next “adultery” (being unfaithful) in marriage
Sex outside of marriage
We live in a society that says living together before marriage
brings life and freedom
(long term stats actually say otherwise)
Paul says it’s a counterfeit – an old way to live
It imitates life and freedom
but produces death and slavery
Every tv show and movie
Treat sex as the beginning sign of true love
The Bible actually treats it as the sealing or final act of true love
The world says the power of sex outside of marriage brings true freedom
The Bible says the power of sex and the way God created it to bind two people together brings slavery outside of marriage because it binds you to someone who is actually unable or unwilling to be faithful to you and God – you will be trapped and kept from God’s blessing
But every movie, magazine and talk show says its life
Paul says it’s a counterfeit
It produces short term pleasure but long term pain
And here is why

8. A covenant is a God-empowered commitment to
SEX IS THE FINAL ACT OF MARRIAGE COVENANT (Gen 2:14)
A covenant is a God-empowered commitment to
be faithful for a lifetime.
Sex is the final act of covenant love
Covenant is a God empowered commitment to faithfully love forever
In a covenant you giving all of yourself to serve God’s plan for the other person forever
It involves God because only God can cause you to be faithful for a lifetime
God created sex as a gift to keep covenant bond strong
Well, so what I know I don’t want it for a lifetime
But sex binds for a lifetime
You can want to paint your room red with blue pain – not turning out red
You can’t use sex for temporary love
There the power of sex will bind two people to the true love that will last
But when we sexually bind ourselves to someone who may be selfish, self-centered, unfaithful
It creates enormous pain to separate and reestablish God’s blessings in your life (ony ones who don’t say that have medicated or numbed themselves)
There is forgiveness and grace – but you’ve created unnecessary pain and insecurity in your life
Counterfeit

9. (v3) “impurity” (akatharsia)
Counterfeit #2
Distorting God’s Plan
& Purpose For Human Sexuality
Romans 1:24
Half dozen times by paul –
Not just about overall sexual impurity –
Paul most often talks about this as distorting
We are told of Human sexuality in Genesis 1:26
God created them in his image – male and female
God’s image and God’s plan is not complete in just one of the genders
To see and experience his image – you need both
But in Romans 1:24 Paul speaks of how we can distort or change that
And choose a counterfeit instead

10. “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves”
(Romans 1:24)

11. “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
(Romans 1:25)

12. “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural [and God-given] relations for those that are contrary to nature; . . .
(Romans 1:26)

13. “In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.”
(Romans 1:27)
Paul is referring to same gender sexual relations
This is a counterfeit of sexuality
That we accept when we accept a counterfeit God of ourselves
if we worship ourselves than we worship sexuality that way too
When life and religion becomes about us for any reason
We end up only trusting and wanting more of what we are
We end up distorting sexuality into our image because we’ve rejected God’s image. We value only what is about us
And we lose the true life is being intimate with what is other than us
When we believe that same gender sex will bring life and freedom
When we only trust and give ourselves our own sexuality
We miss what we were made for
We were made to experience the mystery, the life and the joy of what is different from us.
That’s why Paul says in Ephesians that Biblical marriage is like a symbol of Jesus and the church
Jesus is other than us – he is god and holy. We are sinful and limited
But instead of trusting ourselves we chose to trust and give ourselves to what is other than us.
Paul says same gender sexual relationship is a couonterfiet that robs us of what we were made for (and just like other sexual sin we can take it off)
And that leads us to the final counterfeit – that all sexual brokenness and old is based on

14. (v3) “Covetousness” (pleonexia)
Counterfeit #3
Belief that God is withholding
what is best for us
Eph 4:19
Why is this a sexual sin
Because it is the belief that the sexual experience God is giving us is keep us from what is better

15. “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust (pleonexia) for more”
(Eph 4:19)
The writers use the Greek word for covetousness to describe lust
Why? Because lust says the best experience of sex is outside of what God is giving me. Here is why it is such a tragedy
Every blessing God gives us must be nurtured to flourish
God gives a man and a woman – neither who look like super models – the gift of sex
But if either partner becomes covetous (looking past what God gives them)
They will never nurture and invest in their own sexual experience the right way
They will reject the true and go after fantasys
The most wide spread example of this is pornography & sex industry
(culturally acceptable or not)
Satan and the world convince me that God is keeping me from sexual experiences I should have. That what God has given me isn’t good
So Satan creates a world of fantasy experiences that look like joy and pleasure (and require no nurture or effort) But really steal, kill and destroy
World says they are good and harmless. Paul says they are counterfeits that produce death in relationships and slavery
Death to marriages, death to children’s peace and stability when pornography erodes and eventually separated marriages
Death to thousands of women and men trapped in human trafficking
Death of your self worth through comparison to fantasy

16. (EPH 5:4) THE REMEDY
“Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”
All of these are counterfeits
And make us feel hopeless in a world that accepts all of these
Seems impossible to live in sexual purity
But Paul actually gives us a remedy – a new direction to walk in
In Ephesians 2:8 = grace through faith for forgiveness
His whole point in bringing them up is not to get depressed about the old
But to recognize them as counterfeits and choose the new
And here is the remedy -Two important steps you can take every day to free you from sexual impurity.
And they are not just never watch tv, go online or have joy in life

17. (v4a) Treat Sexuality As Sacred
“Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place . . .
Coarse joking about sexuality
Describes our world’s attitude about sexuality
95% of all tv, movies and music
We can talk about sexuality.
But we should do it with honor
The way Satan sets you up for sexual brokenness is through the way the world treats sex
Paul outlines this in 1 Cor 6:18-20

18. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man [or woman] commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. . .
Deep spiritual power and pain to sex
The key is remember that you are not your own – neither is your body

19. Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 body.
Last two sentences so important -sacred

20. “Sacred”
Created by or belonging to God and thus entitled to reverence and respect
“Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place . .
Your sexuality is sacred – it’s not something you get to determine – God determined it
How can a Christian fight for civil rights but opposed same sex marriage –discrimination/ hypocritical
They are both sacred – person’ ethnic heritage and sexuality are both sacred – both determined by God not man
(now I don’t think this gives permission to hate, disrespect and label people – each person is created by god)
But like Jesus we want to see all the beauty in each person, understand their story and seek serve into truth and grace

21. Be Thankful For Each Season
(v4b)
Be Thankful For Each Season
“Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place but instead let there be thanksgiving.”
Wouldn’t Paul the remedy is - Purity, holiness, religion?
If these are driven by covetousness
– there is sexual good outside of god
Be thankful  

22. Thankful
Trusting that God is good and is giving you the very best for your season and purpose
Thanksgiving
-recognizing that god is good and has given you good and has given you the right experience for the right season
It’s the opposite of covetousness – that isn’t thankful assumes God is withholding
Ecclesiates 3
Practical – look to be thankful for your spouse or singleness
Married – your spouse is as beautiful or handsome as you have nurtured him or her to be
Single – God is giving you the right season and God is planning to make your life His incredible definition of beautiful in his time
Don’t buy the counterfeit
Remember Ecclesiates 3

23. . . . He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1,5,11
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. . . a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing
. . . He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
God wants to give you what is more beautiful than you can imagine
Ephesians 3:20 – treat God’s plan sacred

24. THE MOTIVATION (Eph 5:5-6) “For you may be sure of this,
that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. . .
First God has a great inheritance – full of the new, life and freedom

25. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
(Eph 5:6)
Why doesn’t Paul quote the 10th commandment, or 6th (Thour shalts not commit adultery)
Paul, Why don’t you quote it?
Don’t you believe the oT?
It’s right there
Something deep is going on. Something so different and wonderful
– paul wants your heart to say yes, Paul wants you to own it
- Paul doesn’t want the law to be your motivation – he wants life to be your motivation!
He’s not telling you so God will love you – he loves you either way
He’s not tellying you so God will accept you – you’re already accepted
Why – “which are out of place”
Why? Doesn’t fit with life and joy!!!

26. It Doesn’t Fit Eternal Life & Joy! “proper among the saints”
“out of place” “no inheritance”
“let no one deceive you”
You have eternal life and you are wearing death
It doesn’t fit
These things don’t fit with life – these things kill life
These things don’t free you -they enslave you!
He wants you to live by the gospel not religion!!!
He’s telling you because he wants to live in the direction of greatness, of joy, make a difference
There’s no freedom in sexual impurity, no life, no greater days ahead
The world says we are were created “for sexual freedom” through freeing it from marriage
We were not made for sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, pornography – not really
That’s the sinful nature, a counterfeit
– not the spirit nature
So why threaten us with hell – wrath of God?
Because God has wrath against death – and all thse produce death

27. mention the wrath of God?
But why does Paul
mention the wrath of God?
because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
God has wrath for anything that produces death in people
Anything that hurts people – all people
He has wrath on death so people can live in life
He sent his son to die to destroy death
Pastor shawn – these things – only the religious and the guilt it produces is what causes death
Premarital sex and the millions of abortions it leads to – that’s not producing death
What about the spouse that each person trying to live in the counterfeit was supposed to have one day
What about the great purpose God has for your life but you can’t ever get stable enough –
That creates death and slavery to pain
Is there forgiveness – absolutely
But you can be forgiven and still live in pain and slavery
Be forgiven and find freedom
Pastor Shawn you really think homosexuality produces death
Same sex friendship is beautiful, biblical and filled with God’s grace and joy
But same gender sexual activity -
Well it certainly can’t produce life biologically
Because it kills the beauty of God's design
The beauty of needing someone unlike you
It trust and runs to self and self's image
It kills the plans for children
It is based on the death of God as god in your life (Romans 1_
It doesn’t mean you are any more sinful or better than anyone else – but it’s a counterfeit that doesn’t produce what you think it will
And what about covetousness and pornography
Killing the beauty of your spouse
The treasure she should be experiencing
The gift you are giving instead of looking at what you wish you had
Its killing the life and nurturing of family
Instead of nurturing the gift your giving your time, your money, your heart to a fantasy
And it leads to such tragic divorce – and a lot of us know what that feels like
There is wrath – not because of people
Because God hates people getting hurt
And so he disciplines us, confronts us, says no more
And then sends his son to give us a new beginning

28. THE DAILY CHOICE (EPH 5:7-8)
“Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”
Pick a new direction
Pick a new Jesus to follow

29. (Lead Me To Your Blessings)
YOUR DAILY CHOICE
“Help Me Jesus”
(Fix My Counterfeits)
“Holy Lord Jesus”
(Lead Me To Your Blessings)
Fix your counterfeits. Fix what you want.
Follow Jesus – you alone have life.
Go to a life that is holy
Separated from the counterfeits of this world
I can’t tell you how many people have been so broken by the counterfeits
And thought they would nevre love again – not God, not their spouse
Holy – other – new way
Holy so I can’t, no holy so you can

30. “Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they
“Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:10–11)
She was caught in a counterfeit
Caught in the pain and shame
Wrote – everyone has the old
Now leave your life of sin
Put off the old / put on the new