Pastor Chuck's Blog

Understanding that many of us are or have been promiscuous, that’s an important question.  Are the promiscuous hopeless?  Does sleeping around render you beyond the bounds of God’s forgiveness?  Are you destined to repeat the same behavior over and over and over?  Well, let me try to answer that with a brief story — a true story.

At age 15, he had his first sexual relationship.  At age 16, he was sleeping with many sexual partners… a typical teenager in the area of sexuality.  If the opportunity presents itself and she’s attractive, go for it.  At age 17, he took on a lover and fathered a child with her. Promiscuous?  Certainly.  Abnormal?  Unfortunately not.  What’s different about him is he was honest about his flings.

Born in a divided home – a Christian mother and a pagan father, this guy was divided from birth.  His mother wanted him to be a strong Christian and his father wanted him to be a wealthy, successful, well-educated man.  Both won.  Let me explain.  This young man was brilliant. He was ambitious.  He was driven, like all boys, to please his father.  His education began in his hometown in North Africa, then he moved to Carthage (notoriously corrupt) and received a superior liberal arts education.  He was a trained and had natural talents in rhetoric.  He became very successful and prominent as a speaker.  He argued legal cases and began to stand out in the crowd.  He taught others the art of rhetoric  Even when he lived in dominant cities like Rome and Milan, he was a shining star.  Daddy won.

Despite the sexual pleasure, money, and gratification of being brilliant and well-known, Mr. Promiscuous was still unsatisfied with life.  He went on a fierce quest for truth.  Sometime I’ll share that with you but this isn’t the post for that.  He drifted deep into skepticism and internally was in a horrible spot.  I guess his Mom was still praying.  Now teaching in Milan, he heard of a great speaker named Ambrose.  The kicker is that Ambrose was a preacher.  Our guy started attending church because Ambrose was so well known for his rhetorical skill and he wanted to learn more rhetoric from him.  God had different plans though.  He learned some rhetorical skills, but more importantly, he got exposed to the truth of Christ.  This set off a fierce inner struggle of interested resistance while God tenaciously called him to salvation.

Some time later, in turmoil, this successful, promiscuous man was in a garden praying, struggling, and full of doubt.  From over the fence he heard a child say, “Take up and read; Take up and read!”  He pondered how odd this was (what kid walks around shouting that?) and took it as God speaking to him.  He sat with a friend and looked down at an open Bible, reading the very first paragraph his eyes set on.  Here’s what it says, “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.  So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Rom 13:12-14). Clear enough.  He was saved that day.

Augustine went quickly to tell his mother.  Mom won.  Praise God for moms who faithfully pray for wayward kids.  Well, back to our question: Are the promiscuous hopeless?  Not hardly!!!  Augustine went on to arguably become the single most brilliant and influential Christian thinker since the Apostle Paul.  Except for Jesus and Paul, no one has impacted Christian thought more.  He wrote books, gave sermons, stood against persecution, taught, fought heresy, and led a congregation and town for some 40 years until his death.  He wrote what is probably the most influential Christian book outside the Bible itself.  It’s called Confessions.  All thinking Christians should read it. It has influenced more realms of western study than you can imagine. On the opening page of his great book he wrote, “Thou hast formed us for thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee.”  Augustine knew this from experience.  No sexual experience, no sum of money, no level of status, no amount of pleasing daddy can cause our hearts to be at peace.  Only Jesus can do that.

Simply put, Augustine left an indelible mark on the world for Christ.  This is the same guy who was sexual active at 15, sleeping around at 17,  and fathered an illegitimate child at 17. Are the promiscuous hopeless?  Nope!  Jesus saves.  Jesus forgives.  Jesus grants a fresh new start.  Jesus turns the restless heart into a place of peace.  And then he wants to use you to help others find rest in him.

Friends, I don’t care what’s in your past or even in your present.  Whatever you’ve done or are doing sexually, God can forgive you, help you, heal you, save you.  You aren’t without hope and real change is possible.  You’ve got to want to stop though.  You have to want Jesus Christ to cover you (Rom 13) instead of some other person who will leave you restless inside.  Turn to Him!

Thankful the Promiscuous can be Delivered by a Gracious God,

Chuck

PS – If you are wondering why in the world I would post about this, there are two main reasons.  First, it’s important.  Sexual temptation and failure surrounds us.  Why the church doesn’t talk about it more is something I’ll never understand.  Second, if you missed the service yesterday at COM, I spoke on how our sexuality relates to Jesus Christ being the most important thing in our lives.  Jump on the Church on Mill website and give it a listen if you missed it (churchonmill.com/sermons).

Signs of God’s grace are all around us.  I hope you see them in your life.  From the beautiful day outside today,  to laughter, to the gift of a strong friend, to answered prayer, to the assurance of God’s love for us…if we look with spiritual eyes there is grace abounding.  That’s certainly true at Church on Mill.  We are seeing God do some exciting, grace-giving things.  People are joining the church family.  Someone accepted Christ last Sunday.  Many needs are being met through LifeGroups.  Some who have been unemployed are now employed.  Skilled men and women are turning our kids building into something the kids will feel special in.  Roger preached an outstanding sermon last Sunday: really it was God speaking.  We have many internationals coming and conversing about Christ.  The women’s retreat is sure to be an awesome time starting tomorrow (it qualifies as a big women’s retreat – our largest ever!).  We are rooting ourselves deeply in the cross of Christ.  29 people showed up last Sunday night to the missions meeting because they want to communicate and demonstrate the Gospel.  Wow!  God is gracious.  This is all his kindness to us.  We don’t deserve any of it.

Next Sunday, we will begin a new sermon series called “Church: We Not Me!”  I’m getting very excited about it!

Why should you bother with church?  What’s the big deal anyway?  Is it worth all the hassle?  Should we love it despite all its imperfections?  What is Church on Mill about? Where are we headed?  What does it mean for you to be fully on-board?  We’ll explore these questions and more starting March 7.  I hope when we are finished we’ll all understand God’s view of his church better.

This Sunday we’ll finish the Cross at the Core series with one more tendency that pulls us away from the cross – the misuse of our bodies sexually.  Sex actually has something to do with the Gospel.  As strange as that might sound, we’ll talk frankly about it this Sunday.

Thankful for God’s grace,

Chuck

I’ve found myself especially burdened this week by the struggle many of you are facing – a lack of work.  When Jill and I moved here last June, a few families at Church on Mill were without work.  The number of families has at least doubled now!  When it comes to employment in the Valley, things seem to be getting more difficult, not less.  If you are without work my heart grieves for you.

You shouldn’t have to face this alone.  The church is intended to be a big family that cares for each other.  Would you consider doing something courageous, transparent, and humble?  Let’s come together this coming Sunday evening to pray (6pm in the worship center).  No singing.  No sermon.  Just praying together for God to do something miraculous among us — provide every person who’s part of Church on Mill with good jobs.  If you are without work, please come.  I will be there and would consider it an honor to pray for you.  Don’t let your pride or privateness keep you away.  If you pray and have a heart for those in need, please come.  Those without work would embrace your prayers.  We need each other.

The church is the living, acting, breathing body of Christ in the world today.  We must respond to the needs in and around us.  Many are facing sizable obstacles in their fields of employment.  No obstacle is too big for God though!  And there’s no time like this for us to be the church to one another.

Collective prayer could do what no slick resume, no amount of ‘inside-contacts’, no list of skills, and no amount of completed applications alone could accomplish.  Let’s not wonder what might have happened if we’d asked our gracious Father to be gracious.  Let’s ask!

I’ll see you there,

Chuck

PS – If you can’t make it and would like prayer for work, please just post whatever information  you are comfortable posting on this blog as a comment or send me an email.  I’ll pledge to pray for you regularly until I hear from you that God’s opened the door of work for you.

One of the most important decisions you will ever make is to commit yourself to a local church.  In fact, unless you truly belong to a group of believers, you’ll miss out on some of the most terrific blessings there are in life.  Trying to live the Christian life without the love, care, protection, and encouragement of a church is like walking out on a limb and sawing it off behind you.  I promise, you’ll crash and burn!

This Sunday we will be offering a one-hour class called Welcome to Church on Mill.  This class is for anyone who desires to know more about the church, why we do what we do, what making a commitment to the church looks like, and how everyone can get involved.  It’s designed for people who have not joined the church but anyone is welcome to attend.

We’ll begin at 9:30am in the worship center on the Church on Mill property.  There’s no need to sign up.  Just show up.  I hope to see you there and believe you won’t regret the time!

Expectantly,

Chuck