This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet, shop pay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer cards going abandoned and more sales going to Qing. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit Shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. Your life is one in which sin no longer determines the choices we make. Man. Amen. Amen.
You have a new master. And thank God it's no longer sin. What's up, fam? It's your boy, JJ. Happy Mini Manso Friday. I hope you guys are genuinely having the most wonderful, less day, stay positive out there. And today's episode, hey, I'm so passionate about this. I love this idea. I hate the fact that we have a generation of teaching that encounters the word pure. And it's so loaded. It's so negatively. It has
so much negative connotation. We can't use the word anymore. Oh, we can't use the word pure anymore because it reminds us so much of purity culture. No, no, no, no, no, listen. Pure as a wonderful word. It is an amazing, amazing descriptor. It's like next door neighbors with the word holiness. I've even seen it use negatively to describe someone who's a Christian who they just say like they and I especially hear from the deconstruction
crowd. And they just say, yeah, they're just they're so pure. And I've heard that multiple times from multiple different people people. I would definitely say their faith is like and just has a major question mark on it. Hey, that's okay. That's just where they're at. But they use it as a word to describe someone who's just really naive in their walk. They're just so, you know, kind of pure and naive about how the world really works. I'm
like man, the pride and the arrogance in that statement is so it's just so sad. So I would say when I have the title in the episode, Mary someone who is pure, I totally mean it. I totally mean it with all of my heart and with all of my soul. Mary someone who is pure, who desires to be pure, who is chasing purity, regardless of what their past might look like, which by the way, if you guys want to know some shocking numbers, I always do some
research for this episode and it blew my mind. If I made you guess right now, the the percent of Christians, young adults, 14 to 22 years old, who have had sexual intercourse outside of marriage, pretty marital sex. What would you guess? I read this crazy article to prep this and it's if studies and it's sex and the single evangelical and they just
did a survey for over thousands of you evangelical Protestant and Catholic Christians. And this was nuts about 65% of evangelicals 14 to 22 years old have a premarital sex and about 75% up to 22 years old have engaged in some form of sexual activity, oral sex, anal sex,
you know, whatever it is, 75% and then if you bump that number up to 30 years old, 80% of self identified Christians have had sex before marriage compared to the general population 88% 88% so if there's one thing I know, purity culture did not work and might have paraded it, it might have went hard, it might have like swung the pendulum way, way, way to the other way and guess what, it still didn't work. And it those numbers are shocking.
Now when you go underneath the hood and you start to kind of slice the data with church attendance and frequency of church attendance and to how important is your faith, very important or someone important, there's there's big differences but not as much as you think, for example, 55% of Christians up to 22 years old young adults who have a very important faith have still had sex and for those who have a someone important faith, it's about
82%. So it's still not a crazy bridge and I know I'm automatically talking about sexual purity off the bat. That's because the word purity and pure is so loaded and we everyone talks about purity culture now blah blah blah. If you don't know what it was, you're experiencing it. Here's what it was. 90s book based off like Kiss Dating
Goodbye by Josh Harris. Basically what it did is it went above and beyond with rules and guidelines arbitrary made up and to basically say, don't date unless you were sure you're going to marry them. Don't date someone unless you were sure you're going to marry them. I love what Dr. Cloud says here. He says to know whether or not you can marry someone before you've even gone on a date or gone on one date is a pretty insane thought if you
really think about it. And that has always changed my perspective and it really is and we've been talking a lot about hearing God's voice and the one and sovereignty of God's will lately. So this is a very timely episode. But what purity culture basically said is sexual thoughts, actions and physical kind of contact, kissing, handholding, grinding, making out. These sins were so grievous. They were basically unforgettable. And here's
the kicker. Sexual abstinence outside marriage does not even mean purity. What do you mean by that? Let me say that again, sexual abstinence outside marriage does not automatically equal purity. And that's a big deal. And before we jump in, I would just, if you don't understand thought and wisdom and theology and ideology like this and culture, this should help. It's
a pendulum. And I see a lot of pendulum thinking. The past 20 years, we swung the pendulum back culturally, religiously and theology, how we understand God, view God, how we pursue women, how men are supposed to act and behave. Basically, what happened was the past 20 years, man, purity culture was so, it was so repressive. It was so abusive. And where do we swing the pendulum back? Well, there's no such thing as unforgivable sin. My sexual
desires are not bad. In fact, not only are they good, but they need to be stewarded. This is a need that God gave me and all of a sudden masturbation instead of being taboo. Man, this is actually a really good desire with me that I can, I can use to grow my faith and explore and I should explore it. And if I'm going to explore that, I should explore sexually relating with some, I should, I should really test that. And after all, God,
God does forgive. He's the most forgiving. He forgives everything. And sure enough, what do we see over time in our churches and our culture and our young adult script? We see the abuse of grace everywhere. And we, we open up the hood underneath both. We open up the hood and we just see rotten character. And so what do we do? We swing, of course, the pendulum back, holiness, holiness. We have to go above and beyond, have to fiercely
pursue purity, purity, purity. And we just see the back, we just see the pendulum swing back and forth, back and forth. You see, whenever you encounter pendulum thinking, and this is in, this is in sports, this is in politics, this is especially in culture. My favorite part about pendulum thinking is that the truth, objective truth, godly truth and wisdom
can be applied to both sides and split it right down the middle. And both sides should be able to hear that the abuse of grace, the repressive legalistic pursuit of holiness, they should both hear biblical truth and be convicted. They should both say, wow, that is exactly what we missed. It should cut right down the middle. And for what I would say, and this is the big word, the P word, purity, it makes me so sad that we bring all of our
assumptions, all of our thoughts, all of our past experiences. And what I would do is just beg you, bring your whiteboard and wipe it clean. And think about biblical purity in this sense. Just let's make it so simple. Biblical purity is this. Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 and 2. Everything was pure. Everything creation, humans, but most importantly, this is what I want you to think of when you hear the word purity, communion and fellowship with
god. Purity equals relationship with God. And what happened in Genesis 3? Purity was broken. Purity was mart. And because of the holiness of God, he could not be in fellowship and relationship and communion with us. And we see this play out in the entire Old Testament. It was never the same. God could not commune with this people unless the price was paid.
And covered the the madness, the brokenness of sin and purity. And that's why purity is next door neighbors with holiness because purity is what allows us to pursue holiness. And purity is the covering. It's the washing. I'm one of my favorite hymns of all time. Such white as snow. The scarlet stain has been washed as white as snow. And purity is so much more. And when you hear it, when you think about it that way, we're talking
about communion and fellowship with God. And so that's why to reduce purity to just our sexual nature and past is such a miss. It's such a miss because purity is so much more than your sexual history. It's so much more than your sexual nature. It's one aspect of it for sure. And the Bible goes above and beyond. But I would say when you think about purity, think about purity as your whole being, all of it sexually for sure. But it's
your mind. Purity of the mind. I mean, Philippians 4, 8, listen to this. Finally, brothers and sisters, 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. Purity of the mind, all of those adjectives right there are synonymous, right, pure, or lovely, admirable. That is what, think about the mind of a believer. That
is what we want to just be focused on thinking about marinating it. And James 317, purity of the mind. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. And then it's peace loving and considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. And what a wonderful verse. Wisdom from heaven, pure in the mind. And what does that translate to? It translates to a soul, a spirit that loves peace that is considerate, that is submissive.
It's full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. What an incredible place to operate in the middle of 2024 with election coming up. I would love to see a generation of believers stand out because of the way that they're considerate and submissive and merciful and partial and sincere. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet, shop pay boost conversions up to 50%. Meaning
fewer cards going abandoned and more sales going to Qing. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit Shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. Storms of Bruin Crocs Echo Storm, that is. It's their most striking sneaker that is the perfect blend of form and function from a sink in soft field to a seamless slip on design. The storm will help you build your streetwear style while supporting you wherever the day
takes you. Plus there are brand new colorways you won't want to miss. Shop Crocs Echo Storm on Crocs.com today. There's also purity of the heart. How an artgy this one is the most important one, right? These are the actions and everything we do are words they flow from the heart. James 4.8 says like this, drawn near to God and he will draw near to you. Clean your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, your double-minded. Matthew 5.8, the sermon on the Mount,
blessed are the pure and heart for they shall see God. So I'm 51.10. What is one of my favorite verses? Begging God. Create a me a pure heart. Oh God. And renew a steadfast spirit and me. These are the spirit, your soul, your mind, your pure heart. And I just, that is the miracle of the gospel. It's the miracle of our faith. It's saying God, this is something that's impossible for me to have. Amen. It's impossible for me to create a manufacturer,
create it in me. Proverbs 22 11. One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace will have the king for a friend. Having a pure heart, pursuing a pure heart. This extends to your soul. Second, Corinthians 7.1. There's a purity of the soul that exists. Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God, purifying
process. You think about gold being heated up, water being boiled. That is the process of sanctification and its finest. And the unfortunate part that we don't like to agree with nor talk about is, does refining sound easy? Even the word, think about the word and what it brings up refining. Does that ever sound like a comfortable process? No. I love this. And maybe my favorite because conduct and what we see in these verses is purity and conduct
and all conduct. First Timothy 412, you guys probably hear this from younger leaders. You want to remain respect. My favorite part about first Timothy 412 is the verse 13, which is talking about respect your elders and basically know your place as well. But we won't talk about that in this episode. Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, but send example for believers in speech and conduct and love and faith and impurity.
What does that mean? It means relationally with others. It means how you talk. It just showed us how you talk purity and your speech. A lot of people wearing this like cool Christian, you know, post-purity culture like graces abundant like it's cool for me to draw f-bombs
of people know the status of my soul. No. Don't send example for the non-believers, even the believers, your brothers and sisters in Christ who know your Christian, send example for them in speech and conduct with believers and other believers in love, purity and love, like let your love for others be pure, pure motive, purity and faith. What does that mean? You don't have ulterior motives when you serve someone. Ephesians 6.7, serve whole
heartedly, a pure motivation as if you were serving the Lord himself and not people. So when you serve other people, it's for no one else. It's for an audience of one. You don't have an ulterior motive hoping that trust me. I feel the, listen, I feel this every day when I meet a really cool person at the gym. I mean another leader who runs an amazing podcast. I meet someone who's 5, 10 years ahead of me and leadership who has a lot to offer.
They would be great for the heart of dating podcasts if they came on and if I made a good impression. But I want to relate and be curious about their life with pure motive to just simply be curious, not so I can use them, manipulate them, but not so I can serve and love Kate and hoping that if I'm a good boy this week that she'll say yes to the things that I want this week, you know, purity, purity is freedom from anything that contaminates
it. It's quality of being faultless, uncompromised, unadulterated. Why is this a loaded term that we that we frown upon? A pure life is one in which sin no longer determines the choices we make. Man, amen, amen. You have a new master and thank God it's no longer sin. When I was sinful, I didn't even know I was sinning. That's how asleep I was to
the power of my master. But I'm sober. And I think God that I feel that guilt when I double click on that profile on Instagram when I shouldn't have when my eyes linger on Twitter longer than they should have. I think God that I don't just mindlessly follow whatever my flesh desires anymore. And that's not even to say I'm perfect. I think that's the hardest part about purity is it's now and not yet. I'm pursuing sanctification and
purity now. And I am I am purified and I am sanctified. And also I'm not yet. That's still a cancer that lives within my body that affects me on a daily basis. And so how do you know if the person before you is pursuing purity? I mean, hopefully their actions tell you, you know, more than your words, I think the Pharisees is what I think of when I think of purity because I'm like man, they legit might have even been virgins and
they could have not had been more far from here than anyone else in Jesus interacted with because of the mess internally, the impurity of their heart, the impurity of their motives, the impurity of their soul of their mind of their thoughts of their judgments. So sad. So sad. What does that tell us? Well, actions are not where we want to look. And some ways, right? Now, I mean, they were on the corners, right? The most pious of
all, it's really hard, I think in some ways. But I would say this, one of the most differentiating factors when I pursued Kate and how I knew that she was pursuing purity today was two things. Number one was they boasted in their testimony of what God has done and is doing in their life. They no longer look back with shame with what they did, but they say, look what I did and look how far I've come in God. Look at the mess I made and
look how God has restored me. Look at what I was not able to do. The battles I constantly lost and look now how God continues to strengthen me, to enable me and grace to live a life worthy of the calling He has given me. Look how I can rely humbly with counselors and wisdom and accountability with friends, the Holy Spirit to live a radically different life. I'm enslaved
to a new master and it's wonderful. I know that person is pursuing purity because they are totally aware that they weren't and they're totally aware that they are now and they know they could not do it by themselves and they can't do it by themselves. And they
show you what their actions. I don't know. I demonstrate on a daily basis the purity of motive, the purity of heart, the purity of mind, the purity of soul, the purity of kindness of speech, everything in their life points to the purity of their relationship and their desire with God. And that's what I would say. It comes back to purity, holiness which points to relationship and fellowship with God. How do you know someone's pursuing
purity? Well, guess what? They're fellowshiping with God. They have an evident relationship with God that changes them. And you can't tell me this. You cannot tell me a true genuine relationship with God doesn't affect you. And that life doesn't look different. Like that life and true relationship with God, that life is different. It's just different. And we can fool ourselves and talk about it. But I mean, I just think about the God these
people I know and I'm like, man, their life is different. And that's how I know that pursuit that person's pursuing purity. So Eleanor is crying in the background. I got to get going. I love you guys have a wonderful day. Blessings to you. Let's pursue purity together in every way in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's go.