To God be the glory!

Michael Buble sings the song

"Save The Last Dance For Me."

Whitney Houston sang

"I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

Lady Gaga sings

"Just Dance."

You know, it's amazing how many songs there are that have the word "dance"

in them.

On television these days,

dancing is the latest primetime rage.

FOX has its program "So You Think You Can Dance."

ABC has the program "Dancing With The Stars" which is

boasting an audience of 22,500,000 viewers on Monday nights.

And the point is that

dancing is extremely popular. And it's something that

young people have to deal with.

I'm standing here, right now, in a high school gymnasium.

But, pretty soon this could be the scene

of a high school dance.

And young people have to ask the question,

"Should I go?"

And there's the prom, "Should I attend the prom?"

These are very real issues. And for a teenager to stand up and say "No, I'm not

going to go to the prom," or, "No, I'm not going to go to the dance"

could make them seem kind of out of touch and

maybe old-fashioned and would likely bring ridicule from their peers.

And so, I think it's good that

we talk about this issue and see what the Bible has to say about the subject

of dancing. What does God think

about this issue.

And you know, questions like this

really come down to our attitude toward the Bible.

And so, as we begin,

I want us to ask ourselves,

"Am I a person

who seeks to avoid questionable decisions in my life?" Or,

"Am I a person who tries to get away with as much as possible and sacrifice

as little as possible

for the Lord?"

Alright, let's talk about dancing.

Dictionary.com defines dancing this way:

"To move rhythmically

usually to music,

using prescribed or improvised steps and gestures."

Now, the word "dance," including "danced,"

"dances," and "dancing"

is use 27 times in the Bible.

There are six Old Testament (or Hebrew) words translated as "dance;"

and two New Testament (or Greek) words.

When you go to the Bible,

and you read the 27 occurrences,

you will find that these words are used basically in two different ways.

Now, the first usage

means:

"To jump up and down with joy."

Like you might do when your team scores a touchdown.

This is a

celebratory type of thing.

You know, when the Ark of the Covenant was finally

returned to Jerusalem,

the Bible says David danced, in

2 Samuel 6, 14 through 16.

In Exodus 15,

Miriam led the women in dance and song, praising God for bringing them safely

through the Red Sea.

Now, when dance is used in this sense,

it is a synonym for

happiness

or celebration.

And most of the references to dance in the Bible fall into this category.

Now, the second sense in which dance is used

is in the sense of men and women interacting together

like they would at a party,

like a dance club, or the prom, or something like that.

In Exodus, chapter 32, while Moses was on the mountain receiving the

Ten Commandments,

you might remember that the children of Israel made an idol,

a golden calf.

And they engaged in immorality.

And the Bible says

they danced around it.

And you remember when Moses came down, he strongly condemn them for it.

In fact, every time that men and women danced together in the Bible, in the Old

Testament and the New Testament,

it was condemned.

And that's the type of dancing that we're talking about,

the type that would take place at a nightclub or a high school dance.

What does the Bible say about

this type of dancing?

Now, somebody might respond, "Nothing. The Bible doesn't say anything about that.

There's no passage that says 'Thou shalt not dance.'"

And that's true. There's no verse like that.

But, there are certainly passages that address dancing.

And there are certainly principles

that address dancing.

I want you to consider with me four reasons why this type of dancing is

wrong.

Number one comes from Galatians, chapter 5, and verse 19.

Galatians 5:19 begins listing the works of the flesh.

Now here's how it reads:

"Now the works for the flesh are manifest,

which are these;

Adultery,

fornication, uncleanness,

lasciviousness..." Now, I want you to notice this word "lasciviousness."

This is not a word that we use much anymore.

Probably when you leave to go on a date, your mother doesn't say, "Drive carefully

and don't be lascivious."

Now the New King James uses the word "lewdness."

Other versions use terms such as

"sensuality"

and "lustful pleasure."

The Greek word here, according to "Thayer's Greek Lexicon," means:

"Wanton manners as filthy words,

indecent bodily movements,

unchaste handling

of males and females." I want you to think about this definition and I want you to

try to envision something that would violate this.

What would it be?

What involves

indecent bodily movements?

What involves

unchaste handling of males and females?

Well it's dancing.

If it's not dancing, if dancing doesn't fit that description,

I don't know what does.

Typically you have

a dark room, low-cut dresses,

males and females holding each other closely rubbing their bodies together,

suggestive music.

Now, I hope you don't watch this show, but

if you've seen "Dancing with the Stars,"

or even if you've seen a commercial for it,

it's this word,

indecent bodily movements,

unchaste handling of males and females.

Now this particular word

is found nine times in the New Testament.

It is translated six times as "lasciviousness,"

twice as "wantonness,"

and once as

"filthy."

In modern language, we would define it this way:

"Conduct which excites lust." In verse 21, Paul writes:

"...they which do such things shall not inherit

the kingdom of God." Now to put it plainly,

those who engage in lascivious dancing

are not going to go to heaven.

I'll tell you what else fits this definition,

and really is a type of dancing,

is cheerleading.

Now, it's not sinful

to cheer for a team.

And cheerleading is not inherently sinful. But most of the time cheerleading

involves young

girls or ladies

in short skirts that

fly up during their routine.

And they're engaging in very provocative movements,

sometimes sexual in nature.

And these days they have boys handling them and holding their bodies.

And again, there's nothing wrong with having team spirit.

But when this type of thing is going on,

it fits the definition that the Lord said

will keep you out of heaven.

Now, somebody might say,

"Oh, you're being crazy. It's not like that."

But you know, there's a reason why cheerleaders wear those skimpy outfits

even in the dead of winter.

I'm telling you that it's more than just team spirit.

Now, reason number two, why this type of dancing is wrong, comes from

Matthew 5:28:

Jesus said,

"But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her

has already committed adultery with her

in his heart."

Jesus said that to lust for a woman, who's not your wife,

is sinful.

And dancing creates lust.

Dancing is sexual in nature.

No healthy man will deny that

it's sexually arousing to watch a girl swing her hips and breasts

suggestively to music.

Now, let me give you a Bible illustration of this.

You're probably familiar with the story of Herod and Herodias.

Mark, chapter 6 and verse 21, listen what it says:

"Then an opportune day came

when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers,

and the chief men of Galilee.

And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced,

and pleased Herod

and those who set with him,

the king said to the girl,

'Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.'"

Now, I want you to notice that the text says that she danced before them. That is

she engaged in suggestive bodily movements and they watched.

Now, what was Herod's reaction?

The text says

that it pleased him.

Now the Greek word here is a word that carries with it the idea of

exciting emotion.

We're being told that he was sexually pleased. He was

stimulated by this.

Now, what was the result?

The result was that Herod made a foolish vow. He did something that he

regretted.

Now somebody said that this type of dancing, this type of arousal,

causes men to do things that they might not normally do.

I want you to think about this. What if Herod had danced with her?

Would that have made it better?

If he had handled her like they do in

modern-day dances,

would it have been less evil?

Of course not. In fact, it would've been worse.

Paul Southern wrote that:

"(Dancing) is like building a fire under a tea kettle

and then daring the water

to boil."

Dancing arouses sexual passions and lust.

Somebody might say,

"Well I just don't buy all this about dancing being sexual. It's just fun,

there's nothing sexual to it."

Well if that's true,

why don't we have a father-son dance?

You know, I have heard of a father-son ball game,

and I've heard of a father-son campout.

But you don't have father-son dances. If there's truly nothing sexual to it,

then why don't we do that?

And if there's nothing sexual to it,

why don't schools have separate dances for boys and girls?

We could have all the girls meet in the cafeteria for a dance,

and have all of the boys meet in the gym.

How long do you think that would last?

We all know that would be the end of the party.

And why?

Because there's a sexual aspect

to dancing.

You know, the world understands the sexual nature of dancing.

Mick Jagger the lead singer for the Rolling Stones said:

"All dancing is a replacement

for sex."

Dr. Rita Hollingsworth said:

"Dancing is an exciting and pleasurable recreation as it affords

a partial satisfaction

of the sex impulse.

Dancing, in fact, is such an erotic stimuli that it even works for boys

and girls as young

as age eleven."

In one study,

44 boys were asked what their feelings were

toward young ladies with whom they were dancing.

41 out of the 44, 93 percent of them said

they thought about sex.

An audience of 1,500 men was asked