We’re living in a time when our culture seeks to redefine human sexuality, particularly as it relates to the value of life, the purpose of sex, and the sanctity of marriage. The Bible affirms human sexuality as part of God’s original creation — something He considered to be beautiful and good, like everything else He made. But in our culture today, human sexuality is being twisted, perverted, and reduced to a marketing ploy.

I believe that, as the body of Christ, we are to defend key sacred values relating to human sexuality.

First of all, Christ’s followers recognize the immeasurable value of life. Scripture is very clear that God has a purpose for every unborn child. The Bible says that God planned our lives even before we were born.

“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:16, NLT). Another version says, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

I am convinced there is no such thing as an accidental baby. There may be accidental parents, but there is no such thing as an illegitimate child. People apply that label — often with very destructive results in a child’s life — but God is bigger than any human mistake, and He has a wonderful, life-shaping plan for every child who comes into this world.

Unfortunately, the concept of the value of life is approached from different perspectives. It gets approached from the political perspective; it gets approached from the women’s rights perspective. But I submit that the only true perspective is a biblical perspective.

Psalm 139:13-15 (NLT), leading up to the verse we just considered, gives deep insight into God’s view of, and ultimate involvement with, each of our lives: “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous — how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.”

I heard one pastor say, “If the unborn child is not a living person, then there’s no excuse necessary for abortion. But if the unborn child is a living person, then no excuse for abortion is acceptable.” We must teach our children at an early age the value of life — how God sees each of our lives and how God declares each of us to be precious in His sight.

A second area of human sexuality that the body of Christ must define and defend is the purpose of sex itself. Not only do I believe life is sacred and conception is sacred, I believe that sex is sacred. Why? Because God created sex. He designed sex to be enjoyed in the context of marriage, and the only positive portrayals of human sexuality in Scripture are within that context. As just one example, consider Hebrews 13:4: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure.”

Sex is viewed as anything but sacred in our God-denying culture. Repeatedly, our society reduces sex to a ploy for the entertainment industry, to an advertising gimmick for the media world, and to an amoral academic subject for the educational system. Call it what you want — casual, recreational, protected, consensual — the fact remains, our bodies were never designed or created or intended to have sexual relations outside of marriage.

Sex is viewed as anything but sacred in our God-denying culture.

We must teach our children, at an early age, a good, healthy, biblical view of human sexuality — God’s plan for it. I want God’s Word, not television or any other media outlet, to shape my grandchildren’s understanding of sex.

The sanctity of marriage is the third value we must define and defend regarding human sexuality. Again, the Bible is clear about God’s view of marriage — one man, one woman, for life. God’s intended original design has never changed. He even created our body parts to fit together with a clear purpose.

“Haven’t you read,” Jesus said in Matthew 19:4-6, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

When it comes to the sanctity of marriage, the Bible’s stance is non-negotiable. You either can accept it or you can reject it. It’s not a conservative or a liberal thing, it’s a scriptural thing. Now let’s be honest. The message of the Cross and the message of biblical morality have always been contrary to culture.

That was evidenced even in the church in Corinth. There was a tension between God’s plan for human sexuality as expressed through the message of the Cross and the libertine sexual practices in Corinth as promoted by various idolatrous creeds. Our American culture’s messages regarding sexuality are just as far removed from the gospel’s messages as Corinth’s were.

Sadly, even within the churches of America, human sexuality is being defined and lived out contrary to God’s plan. I’m convinced this refusal to live within His guidelines in this area has created more problems than any other sin.

So, how should the believer, and our Assemblies of God fellowship of believers, respond? How can we reassert the value of life, the purpose of sex, and the sanctity of marriage?

Number one, we must unconditionally accept God’s Word as our final authority. His Word is the only source that won’t lie to us.

Second, we must always keep our words and our actions seasoned with the spirit of Jesus. As I noted above, labeling a child as “illegitimate” will never encourage God’s work of grace in that life. In a similar manner, anytime Christ’s followers resort to name-calling or harassment or hatred, the spread of the gospel is compromised.

Third, it is absolutely essential that we stay in love with people — especially those people who are trapped within lifestyles and choices we know to be eternally destructive. And the biblical concept of love always goes beyond mere words to include concrete action. We must never forget that it is by grace that we are saved through faith, not of ourselves, but as a gift of God.

Yes, we live in a time of widespread sexual promiscuity and a growing social acceptance of adultery, homosexuality, the use of pornography, and a host of other ungodly sexual practices. Our world today looks a lot like the world of the Bible. Like our American culture, the Greek and Roman cultures embraced sexual excess.

May we approach these matters as the apostles did, by calling people to put aside the deeds of darkness (Romans 13:12-14), to avoid judging others (Romans 14:10), and to acknowledge our own sin, but in the context of God’s grace (Romans 7:15-25).

From Ordered Steps: A Life Prepared to Lead, by Doug Clay (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 2017).