Protecting Purity - Part 1

Yesterday's sermon at McKinney was from Acts 19:23-41. If you remember the story, there was a silversmith in Ephesus who got crossways with Paul because new converts to Christ weren't buying his idols to Artemis anymore, and the silversmith was about to go out of business. Artemis, the many-breasted nature/fertility goddess, was a god who was worshipped in part by visiting temple prostitutes.

Prostitution has been in the news a lot over the past week or so after Client 9 was revealed to be the government of New York state. And Christian water coolers have been buzzing with condemnations of both Governor Spitzer and Ashley "Kristen" Dupre's behavior, and rightly so.

But as I looked at Acts 19 yesterday in light of the news, I couldn't help but see a challenge to the Church.

If you believe George Gallup, somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of Americans say they have trusted Christ. What would happen if 40 to 50 percent of Americans decided to follow Scripture in the area of sex? What would happen if they stopped their magazine subscriptions, stopped their Internet subscriptions, stopped visiting prostitutes, and stopped visiting strip clubs? I can't help but believe that the sex-business-silversmiths would be ready to start a riot because the Christians would put them out of business.

So, this week, I want to talk about some steps I'm taking to try to (a) protect myself, and (b) lead out in this area as a pastor. Even for those of us who don't find ourselves particularly tempted by sexual sin at this point in our lives, Paul reminds us to "be careful, so that we don't fall when we think we're standing" (1 Corinthians 10:12).

I hope it's not a downer series of posts - I don't think it will be. But I do think this area of sexual sin is huge in the church, and I think it starts with pastors. We already know of several prominent pastors who have been outed in this area, which makes me think there are hundreds of pastors at smaller churches who are flying under the radar.

It's not just pastors though. If all of us would be as proactive in this area as we are other areas in our life, the sex-business-silversmith business would shrivel up and die. I'd really love to see the church lead out in that during my lifetime.

Whether you're a pastor or not, I really hope you'll consider taking drastic action to keep yourself above reproach in this area. I'm hoping to give you 2 or 3 specific steps to take to protect your purity against even an accusation of impropriety. And feel free to comment - I'd love to hear about other steps you're taking to help put the sex-business-silversmiths out of business.