Sex is to be enjoyed between husband and wife and not committed outside that relationship.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   In the summer of 2002, Kristi and I had been married one year, and led a group of about 4 students on a mission trip to a church planter in Hawaii. It was an interesting trip. We helped with a revival that no one came to. But while we were there we learned that there is a type of pigeon language in Hawaii. One of the familiar pieces of literature in that pigeon language in Hawaii were the Ten Commandments, and one commandment in particular stood out. It was this—“No muy muy wit da brother’s wahini.” You don’t have to be fluent in Hawaiin Pigeon to understand exactly what is being forbidden.   I feel like I need to make clear what seems to be fuzzy for some people. I never thought I would have to, but from conversations I have had with some, there is not a doubt in mind that I need to bring some clarity to a situation. On the surface of this passage we are dealing with adultery. David is a married man, several times over actually, and we have discussed that in the past. But David is a married man who sleeps with someone who is not his wife. That is adultery. To complicate the matter further, the woman he sleeps with was also married. So let me be clear today—Adultery is sinful. It is not within the design of the relationship of husband and wife. You didn’t fall out of love with your spouse and fall in love with someone else, therefore justifying yourself and sin. To love someone biblically, whether they be your wife, husband, or brother in Christ, to love someone biblically is to make a conscious choice to serve them sacrificially. So falling out of love in a marriage is a choice you make to no longer care or serve or sacrifice on behalf of your spouse. Falling in love is a conscious choice you make to care, to serve, to sacrifice for, to the exclusion of others who might vie for or compete for that position in your heart. Let me go further, just so that we are clear. Adultery is sinful because the sexual relationship is the bringing together of a man and a woman, mind, heart, body and soul. Two become one. There is to be safety and security and peace within that sexual relationship, and that safety and security and peace is proclaimed to each other and everyone else through marriage. So when you step outside that covenant, you shatter the security of the other spouse. Let me go a bit further. The sexual relationship is for marriage. You do not test it out before marriage. You do not see if you’re sexually compatible with someone else. Sex is to be enjoyed, sustained and maintained within the covenant bonds of marriage. When you engage in sexual acts before marriage, and then you finally do come to the altar of marriage, you don’t come as a veteran in relationships, you come as an incomplete person, because part of you is still with the other people with whom you have slept with. Emotionally, mentally. You gave away something precious that was intended for your wife or husband. This is why Genesis tells us that a “man shall leave his father and mother, and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The man leaves one relationship, the relationship of the parents, which is a type of oneness, he leaves that relationship, NOT to sow his wild oats, NOT to test drive what is out there, BUT to attach himself to one other person, HIS WIFE. The marriage, the covenant of marriage, is the guarantee, it is the promise that just because the road may get rocky, I am not leaving your side. And the physical expression of that is the sexual relationship. You see, there is a right and beautiful order to God’s design. It’s not the other way around, no matter how much he or she tells you they love you. Why all of this? Because not only is the sexual relationship to be enjoyed in security, its other purpose is to produce children. And children are to be brought into this world within the one flesh, safety and security and peace of a mom and dad committed to one another, committed to displaying the leadership and submission of Christ and His church.