The Sins of Summer

INTRODUCTION-- Summer came with a vengeance this year with many days of hot weather, and little rain.
  1. Generally, we welcome summer, but summer can have its down side, too.
    1. It is not as pleasant to work during the heat.
    2. Utility bills can go higher, trying to get relief.
  2. There are two types of sins are connected with summer.

LESSON--
  1. Summer is the time when vacations are taken, with corresponding sins.
    1. Concentration on pleasure-seeking may lead us to forget the Lord.
      1. Pleasure is an indulgence that can tempt us to be selfish.
      2. It can be a "sign of the times." 2 Timothy 3:1-4 "But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;"
      3. The locations for our pleasure-seeking can often be removed from a place of worship, giving us an excuse for "fosaking the assembling" of ourselves with the saints on the Lord's Day.
    2. We can only hope that Christians resist the temptation to have pleasure in unrighteousness. Those who do not love the truth, are in danger that "for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: 12 that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

  2. The heat of summer, and the fashion of modern society, leads to nudity.
    1. The shame of nakedness is no longer a deterrent to immodest dress.
      1. When Adam and Eve, husband and wife, were the only human beings in the world, the knowledge of their nakedness brought shame. Genesis 3:7 10 "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden.
        9 And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
      2. When alcohol caused Noah to be uninhibited and naked, it was a shame even for his sons to look at him. Genesis 9:20-23 "And Noah began to be a husbandman, and planted a vineyard: 21 and he drank of the wine, and was drunken. And he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness."
      3. When God gave the Law to Israel, he made sure that male nakedness was not a temptation. Exodus 20:25-26 "And if thou make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. 26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered thereon." (God also provided another precaution for the priests in Exodus 28:42. "And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:")
      4. The shame that should accompany nakedness is used by Jesus to admonish the church at Laodicea, in Revelation 3:17-18 "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see."
    2. Intimate sexual contact with near-of-kin was condemned in the law as an "uncovering of nakedness." (Leviticus 18)
      1. Even looking on the nakedness of those near-of-kin was sinful. Leviticus 10:17 "And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a shameful thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity."
      2. Jesus condemned such "looking" in Matthew 5:28 "I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
    3. This sort of "looking" tempted David to sin. 2 Samuel 11:1-4 "And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. 2 And it came to pass at eventide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. 3 And David send and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned unto her house."

  3. Therefore, when the Apostle Paul describes proper dress for women, he says it ought to reflect "shamefacedness." 1 Timothy 2:8-10 "I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. 9 In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; 10 but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works."
    (NOTE: The word "shamefastness" in this passage is translated from the Greek word aidov, aidos, meaning "downcast eyes," and suggesting a sense of shame or honour, modesty, bashfulness, reverence, regard for others, respect.)

CONCLUSION-- Temptations abound in the world, but Christians should not be included among those who do the tempting.
  1. Philippians 2:14-16a "Do all things without murmurings and questionings: 15 that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blem-ish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life...."
  2. Ephesians 5:15-17 "Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."