"Sexual energy is the source of our greatest power, but also our greatest challenges. When we learn to transmute this energy, we unlock our potential for greatness." - Mastin Kipp
In this program, we recognize our sex drive as a powerful gift from God. It is a power, a force that drives us ... and it is good. To be sure, it can become a problem if it is not understood, valued, and controlled. A phrase we often use in this program is "sexual self-mastery," which is another way of stating one of the fruits of the spirit: self control. These "fruits of the Spirit" are listed in
Galatians 5:22-23.
How do we exercise self control in this realm of our lives today? By putting into practice a habit that wise and powerful men have been focusing on for generations: sexual transmutation.
Sexual transmutation is the practice of intentionally redirecting sexual energy towards some other interest or action -- such as work, our spiritual pursuit, or other activities.
The purpose of this teaching today is to give you some of the Scriptural background about transmutation.
Sexual Transmutation in the Bible
While the Bible does not use the term “sexual transmutation,” it certainly encourages this practice. There are a number of passages that talk about the importance of learning to control our sexual urges.
- "But I tell you
that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." - Matthew 5:28 (NIV)
- "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body." - 1 Corinthians 6:18 (NIV)
- "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the
passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God." - 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 (ESV)
- "But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." - 1 Corinthians 9:27 (ESV)
The Role of
Self-Control
Self-control is the ability to resist temptation and redirect your desires. It's a vital part of sexual transmutation, because if you don't have self-control, then you will continue to be the passive victim of intrusive sexual thoughts, and these thoughts will lead you into sin.
The Bible says that "the mind controlled
by the flesh is death" (Romans 8:6). And Proverbs 23:7 says, "As a man thinks within himself, so he is." So if we think impure thoughts and desires, then our actions will follow suit.
The Bible also challenges us: "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5). Some
people believe that "taking every thought captive" means that we kill it if it's bad … that we eliminate it. This gets us back to the notion that "godliness" means not having sexual thoughts. If we have sexual thoughts, we stop them. We shut them down.
That doesn't work. Just think about it for a minute. Does it ever work to
tell yourself to "stop thinking" about something? How do you do that? In practice, it is virtually impossible to simply STOP having thoughts about sex ... or anything else, for that matter. Think of the following as a good rule of thumb for life:
We can't shut up the mind
…
we can only change the subject.
We can't stop the mind when it has sexual thoughts … we can only take deliberate action to focus on something else. We can FILL our minds with
something else. Some other interest. Some other idea. Some other action. Something that is in line with what Paul encourages us to fill our minds with in Philippians 4:8:
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy—think about such things.
