Dear friend, welcome back!
For the next two lessons, we will be studying the subject that we are saved for intimacy. This means that the work Jesus did on the cross in removing our sin was to bring us into a lovingly intimate relationship with Himself, and so that we can then experience the joy of intimacy with our spouse. Singles can enjoy beautiful and delightful intimacy with Jesus, Who is described as our “husband” (Isaiah 54:5), and then with a spouse if they should marry in the future.
Learning to enjoy real intimacy is a safeguard against returning to the false intimacy of pornography or sexual impurity. As with all things, the evil one (the devil) perverts and tarnishes what God has created for good. We who involved ourselves with impurity and sexual sin have been led into a false view of intimacy, which is lust and indulgence of the flesh, rather than transparency, vulnerability and true connectedness. We cannot connect with an image on the screen. We cannot join honestly in an illicit relationship as we are both sinning (which prevents true and honest connection).
And so, the pathway to genuine intimacy is to begin to experience real intimacy with Jesus Christ, which begins to correct our sin-distorted views of intimacy. As we experience the real love of Jesus, flowing from the cross into our hearts, He begins to change our understanding and experience of intimacy, and at the same time, He protects us from looking for false intimacy elsewhere.
Let’s look at Ephesians 5 together today:
Ephesians 5:1 tells us we are to "walk in love," and Ephesians 5:2 gives us an illustration: “as Christ loved us, and gave Himself up for us”. And so we are taught to contemplate the cross to discover how we are to live. We are to see Jesus giving Himself for us so we can know how we are to walk and relate to others. As we contemplate the cross, see Jesus pouring out His life for us, giving us His last drop of blood, it changes our hearts and fills us with such intense love.
Have you absorbed this truth? Have you seen Jesus giving Himself up for you, preferring you over His own life? Do you understand He endured beatings and a thorny crown, nails and a spear for you? Do you believe that He was disowned and disgraced, that He suffered in His flesh, that He shed His very life’s blood because He loves you? Are you seeing that He went to a cross and a dark tomb, and death and hell, entirely giving Himself up for you? Think about this for a moment.
Question 1. What thoughts do you have about Jesus suffering for you just now?
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