The surest way to get rained on is to set up a tent.  It is one of the infallible tenets of the Camper’s Creed.  Not far behind it is “A Clean Camp is a Happy Camp.”  Keeping your campsite and your tent clean demands planning, constant reinforcement, and work.  But it is worth it.   Soggy, muddy, dusty life is a joyless life in camp.  Camping teaches you that, while cleanliness may not be next to godliness, it is very close.

But this is true for more than camping.   Clutter and crud negatively affect familial joy, household appliances, and health.   Two sure-fire ways to ruin a house and a home are through messy living or the neglect of cleanliness.   Both the house and the home need to be cared for.  While this does not mean spotlessness, it does require diligence.   It takes work, planning, and constant reinforcement.

Our physical, relational, and moral lives require this same concern for purity.  The Bible speaks of this many times.  The Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount exhort purity of life.  And the Letters of Paul are filled with encouragements to holiness.  We are told.

To put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24

[That] God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 1 Thessalonians 4:7

[And to] strive for peace with everyone, and for holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  Hebrews 12:14

Like the people of Israel at the foot of Sinai, we are commanded that “as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15-16

English has a special word for a clean, holy life.  The word is ‘chastity.’   While we often narrow the definition to emphasize only sexual purity, it extends to every dimension of our thoughts, words, and deeds.   Our culture hates the word ‘chastity.’   Like the word, ‘Puritanic,’ chastity has become a derogatory term for prudishness and repression.   And as the word is despised, so is its practice.   Chastity as sexual purity and has holiness of life has become virtually extinct in our culture.  And even worse, in the Church.

True chastity, however, has nothing to do with prudishness.   Prudishness despises God’s good gifts and the liberty to enjoy them.  The ascetic Gnostics of Ephesians and Colossians, and the Judaizers of Galatians were prudes.   They said, “do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.”  They are the ones Paul spoke against whose “consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”   God is not a prude.  He made life to be enjoyed.  But he also gave instructions about how to enjoy and not ruin the good gifts he gave.

To embrace life on your own terms is to fill it with clutter and crud.  God calls us to chastity, to holiness.  A life that imitates his holiness as we embrace the gifts he gives along with the instructions for their use.   And the core expression of this principle is found in the Seventh Commandment, “never commit adultery.”   Like the Sixth, this command contains only two words in Hebrew.  Yet they are emphatic words.  Like murder, adultery was considered by the ancient world as ‘the great sin.’  But only among God’s people was it an offense against both God and the community.   And more than that, like each of the Ten Commandments, the simplicity of this command is paradigmatic for a larger demand.    The Westminster Shorter Catechism expresses this well.

71. What is required in the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbor’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior. 

72. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.

Westminster Shorter Catechism, Questions 71-72

Chastity means more than adultery.  It encompasses the larger realm of holiness in our thought, word, and deed.   Adultery is merely the most heinous example of unchaste action.   It is the apex of unfaithfulness and wickedness.   While all other sexual sin is condemned throughout the scripture, violators of the Seventh Commandment are condemned to death.   Adultery is so utterly repugnant to God and to the community that it is equivalent to murder.  

Perhaps you find this a bit shocking.  That fact itself reveals how corrupt our society has become.  And how callous Christians have become to this sin.   But as one theologian noted, “Certainly an adulterer is worthy of death; a man who will betray his wife will betray anyone and anything.  Adultery is treason against the family and God hates it.” 

Adultery is the apex of sexual sin.   We have gotten so comfortable with it, that it no longer even ranks with the other sexual sins which grab today’s headlines.   But it is so serious that virtually all the Old Testament prophets use it as an illustration of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.  Adultery is the paradigmatic worst-case-scenario of impurity and unholiness.  Yet it is often simply the last step in a long march of impurity in our minds, our speech, and our actions.    Jesus pointed this out in the Sermon on the Mount when he remarked.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

He emphasizes the seriousness of adultery by following up with an extreme response.

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

How important is chastity to you?  Is holiness something you strive for?   Have you learned to guard your eyes, your heart, your words?   The adulterer is not the only one addressed by the Seventh Commandment. It addresses every thought, word, and deed which if unchecked is a step that leads to ruin, misery and death.  

Join us as we examine the Seventh Commandment in Exodus 20:14 and consider the importance of chastity. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.