“Sex and football, that’s all there is to life.” Embarrassed, I sat silently waiting for my 10 year old son’s reaction to the above statement we heard while listening to the radio. First, I wondered if he caught the statement. Then, I thought “Maybe he doesn’t know what the words mean.” Finally, I just asked, “Did you hear what he just said?” “Yes”, he replied and proceeded to repeat exactly what was said very carefully. I was amazed that he admitted what he had heard. But, at the same time I was thankful that my child is comfortable enough to be honest with me even when the subject matter is awkward.

Christian parents cannot be afraid to talk about sex (or anything else for that matter) with their children. We live in an age where kids are being sexualized younger and younger and this sexualization of our children is accepted by everyone from the church to the club. Sex, the beautiful union between a man and his wife – the ultimate expression of oneness, needs to be taught from a Biblical perspective. The Bible teaches us to bring children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), therefore it is the steward of the children’s responsibility to ensure that God’s view of sex is actively instilled into the child.

Corinthians 6:18-20 says “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

First of all, “Sex is a Gospel issue, it is not merely a moral issue. Scripture is not saying to you, ‘Make sure you stay away from naughtiness.’ Instead, Scripture speaks of sex as something so mysterious and so powerful that there is no way that you can get it under control on your own. There is no way that you can grapple with sex to the point that you are able to remove it from before your mind and before your eyes [especially in this culture]. That is because Scripture says that sex has everything to do with spiritual warfare.” (Dean Russell D. Moore Theology School at Southern Seminary).

Therefore, we know that abstinence only education does not work if we are teaching abstinence only because it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that one can successfully abstain from sex. Which is why we need to teach our children how to build an authentic relationship with God and they can only do that if they see our faith at work in our lives. Parents are going to have to be honest with their pasts, explain what happens when your life is not fully surrendered to Christ, and the beauty of saving oneself for that one mate whether he was successful at it or not. We have to get our kids in the Word and allow the Word to get in them if we are going to help them be victorious is a world that is routing for them to fall.

So, what did I tell my son? I told him that he is going to hear a lot of empty, hopeless words people say in this world, concepts and ideas that do not fulfill people but leave them constantly searching and unsatisfied. I told him that sex is okay in marriage and football is fun to play in moderation, but he will never be happy unless he seeks the things of God first and live out God’s truth in his life. When I came back into the room 10 minutes later, he had the radio turned to the Christian station.