Love Song: Part 3 - "God-Honoring Sex" with Craig Groeschel - LifeChurch.tv

God-Honoring Sex

Scripture References

• Song of Solomon 4

Overview

Sex is God’s idea—good, beautiful, baby-making, and fun—but culture’s messages about it are destructive. Looking at Solomon’s wedding-night poem (Song of Solomon 4), the sermon laid out four principles that shape sex into a holy gift inside marriage: it starts long before the bedroom, burns with passion, rests on absolute trust, and is set apart as holy. Wherever we find ourselves—single, dating, married, wounded, or regretful—Christ can forgive, heal, and make us new so we can honor God with sexual purity.

Main Points

1. God-honoring sex starts long before the bedroom

• Emotional and spiritual connection prime physical intimacy.
• Solomon begins with eye contact and detailed compliments before any touch.
• Men are “microwaves,” women “crockpots”—learn to warm the relationship, not just the body.
• Practical helps: thoughtful texts, real conversation, praying together, serving each other, and “NST” (non-sexual touching) like a back rub or gentle caress.

• Story: In LifeGroup, wives named “bathing the kids,” “doing dishes,” and “cleaning my car” as the sexiest things their husbands do—because they feel seen and served.

2. God-honoring sex is passionate

• Solomon moves slowly down his bride’s body, savoring every detail (“your hair…your teeth…your temples…your neck…your breasts are like twin fawns”).
• Approach matters: tenderness, patience, creativity.
• Husbands: refine your approach; wives: make an approach—initiation communicates desire, not duty.

• Illustration: A card from Amy read “You & me tonight—boom-chicka-wow-wow,” demonstrating how simple initiation ignites desire.

• Busy lives may require planning: “Sunday Funday,” “Two-for-Tuesday,” “Freaky Friday”—whatever it takes to prioritize intimacy.
• Solomon’s line “until the day breaks” (v.6) shouts, “all night long.” Passion is biblical.

3. God-honoring sex is built on absolute trust

• “You are altogether beautiful…there is no flaw in you.”
• Never criticize your spouse’s body; honor and protect each other’s insecurities.
• In marriage, each spouse is the other’s only God-approved outlet for sexual needs; meeting those needs is a ministry.
• Serving one another (emotionally, spiritually, physically) creates a positive cycle of self-giving love.

4. God-honoring sex is holy

• Solomon calls his bride “a garden locked up…a spring enclosed”—she has guarded her purity for him.
• Marriage is a covenant, not a contract; covenants in Scripture are sealed with blood.
• In God’s design the wedding-night consummation is the physical sign of the covenant, renewing oneness each time a married couple makes love.
• Waiting isn’t outdated; it’s about setting something apart for something better.
• Where we’ve failed, Christ can forgive and make us “born-again virgins.” Holiness comes from His touch, not our past performance.

Key Truths

• Emotional, spiritual, and physical intimacy are linked; deepen one and the others grow.
• Passion is not worldly; it is God-given and meant to flourish in marriage.
• Mutual honor and body-affirming words build unshakeable trust.
• Marriage sex renews covenant vows—every time, it preaches “we are one.”
• No failure is final; Jesus makes the impure pure and the broken whole.

Response

• Cultivate non-sexual affection and meaningful conversation today.
• Initiate intimacy creatively—serve, compliment, plan, surprise.
• Refuse to belittle your spouse’s body; speak life-giving words only.
• Pray together regularly, asking God to deepen spiritual and emotional closeness.
• If you’re sexually active outside marriage, stop, seek forgiveness, and set new boundaries.
• Receive Christ’s cleansing wherever you feel shame; walk forward in purity.

Closing

The sermon ended with an invitation: choose to honor God in every sexual decision, regardless of your past. Hands raised across the room, couples and singles alike committed to purity, while others surrendered their whole lives to Jesus for the first time.

“No matter how dirty something may be, in the presence of Christ all things become new.”

Prayer

The pastor thanked God for convicting, forgiving, and renewing; asked for spiritual, emotional, and physical intimacy in marriages; and pleaded for strength to honor Jesus with pure lives.