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Apr 22, 2012

How Now Shall We Love

Passage: Romans 1:24-32

Preacher: John Repsold

Category: Marriage

Keywords: homosexuality, love, gay marriage, same-sex attraction

Summary:

This message looks at what the Bible teaches about homosexuality. We also look at how God's people are called to live, love and relate to those with same-sex attraction as well as what our role in society is to be and not be on this matter.

Detail:

How Then Should We Love?

God’s Teaching & Our Responsibility Regarding Homosexuality

April 22, 2012

 

I want to start this morning with an honest confession:  I’m not looking forward to this message. That’s not exactly the way you want your pastor to begin very many sermons, is it?  It’s not because I didn’t put enough thought and time into this message.  I did.  In fact, I’ve put more thought, time and research into this message than about any other in a long time. 

Sometimes I hear people who may not be very familiar with the Bible or who have had a church experience that was rather boring and dry comment that the word of God doesn’t seem to speak to the issues and needs of the modern world.  But I’ve found that the problem isn’t that God’s word doesn’t address the issues of our day; it is that we’re don’t particularly like what it has to say about those issues when we do bother to take the time to ask Him what He things. 

God’s proclamations about so many things run 180 degrees in the opposite direction from where we would so often like Him to come down.  This morning’s topic is one such issue, at least for me. 

This past Monday night I sat through almost 6 hours of testimony and comment about this very issue.  My emotions ran that gamut—sadness, disappointment, compassion, frustration, laughter, gratitude.  It was quite a kaleidoscope of feelings.  

 

Now, before you get up, stomp out of here and never come back, you must know why I am even talking about the issue at hand today (which I still haven’t identified, right!). 

I am NOT talking about this because it is one of my favorite hobby horses. I would prefer never to have to speak about it again as long as I live!

I am not addressing this because I think I know everything there is to know about it or have the last word on the matter.

I am not preaching about this because I hate anyone.  Insofar as I am able and have allowed the love of Christ to fill me, I hate no one…and certainly not those who find themselves on the other side of this issue.

I AM addressing this today because…God’s Word and Spirit require that I teach the whole counsel of God,  truth with grace, and not sidestep the most important moral and spiritual issues of our day.

I’m talking about this because I must serve as a “watchman on the wall” as Ezekiel talks about in Ezekiel 33 and a faithful shepherd of God’s people who I am responsible to guard (I Peter 5:2 & I Timothy 4).  If I do not, the guilt and blood of innocent people will be on my hands as I face my Lord Jesus at the judgment seat of Christ some day (I Cor. 3:12-15).

I am addressing this because there has been and continues to be much false teaching and misrepresentation about what God has to say to this issue and when God’s truth is twisted, God’s people as well as the culture we live in get hurt. 

 

By addressing what I am going to teach on today, some will say that I am becoming “too political.”  My response is, “This is not ‘political’ IF by ‘political’ you mean a partisan, Republican/ Democrat/Independent issue.”  But IF by ‘political’ you mean it is something that has to do with laws and the legal arena of our lives, then, yes, it is political.  If by ‘political’ you mean it speaks to the public policy and governmental authority over our lives in this culture, then, yes, I’m being ‘political.’  And if by ‘political’ you mean that I am speaking about God’s standard of morality that is both etched in our consciences and written in the Word of God for us to follow, then, yes, I’m being political.  By that standard, so was Jesus and every prophet in God’s word.   

 

As I said earlier, this past Monday night I sat in our Spokane City Council chambers and listened for almost 6 hours to over 100 fellow Spokanites talk about this issue.  (There were over 300 people present, the largest turnout at a City Council meeting in years.)  They were not ashamed to talk about it.  They were not ashamed to disagree about it.  And I was proud to be able to sit next to people who totally disagreed with me and half the room there.

  • I was encouraged to see our imperfect, flawed, human democratic system work in a way that helped everyone’s voice be heard.
  • I was saddened to see how few pastors chose to lead by example and publically hold to the clear teaching of the Word of God.
  • I was educated about how massively we have lost the younger generation in terms of God’s truth and how few young adults are willing to go public about the controversy at hand.
  • I was frustrated with people on both sides of the issue who used and misused the Scriptures to say things God’s word does not say.
  • I was enlightened about where the battle lies in our culture and about what we as God’s servants need to do about it.

 

If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m talking about homosexuality and gay marriage.  (Don’t all run for the exits.) I’d like to treat our time together here this morning as if we were all seated next to people who are convinced that homosexuality is morally right, that God made them with same-sex attractions and feelings, and who believe that they can have and should be entitled to just as loving a relationship and home as any heterosexual couple has. 

 

And I don’t want this morning to be a one-way monologue.  I want us to address and talk about together the questions and issues that bother and perplex you in regard on this issue.

 

As I said to both my Moody NW classes this past week, the reality is, we are not talking about “those people” out there; we are talking about ourselves.  Same-sex attraction knows no geographic, racial, familial, religious or social boundaries.  There are people in this room, in our church, in your neighborhood, school and workplace who deal with same-sex attraction every day.  There are students in my Bible College classes who have and are wrestling with same-sex attractions. 

STORY:  That was never more clear to me than the day I hoped a flight from Spokane to Seattle and sat next to a man about my age.  As we took off, I struck up a conversation and asked him where he was headed.  He told me he was going to a nation-wide pastor’s conference in Arizona. When I asked what denomination or church he was from, he informed me he was the pastor of the Metropolitan Church in Spokane, an openly gay and lesbian church here in our community.  As I probed more deeply into his story, he informed me that he had graduated from the same Bible college where I now teach.  He had been married to a woman for over a decade and they had had several children together.  But somewhere along the line he and his wife divorced so that he could pursue a lifestyle he truly believed was more true to the way he believed God had made him.  (Interestingly enough, he never did ask what I do. J)

 

So here’s what I’d like us to do today. 

  • I want to show you first the scriptures that speak to this issue and clarify what they mean and don’t mean. 
  • I want us to get more of God’s heart both for homosexuals and about homosexuality.
  • I want you to ask the questions you have about it and I’ll try and give the best, most accurate answer I can.
  • I want us to come to some sort of personal conviction before God about what your role in our culture is to be about this matter.

Kind of a lot to do in 45 minutes, right?  J  Fasten your seatbelts. 

 

What does the Word of God really teach about homosexuality?

 

  1. Nowhere in the Bible is homosexuality specifically sanctioned, condoned or approved.  If you can find a passage where it is, I’d like to know it…and it would be news to me. 
  2. In several places in both the Old and New Testaments, homosexuality is addressed as a sin. 

What are those passages…and do they really teach that homosexuality is wrong?

In general it can be said that homosexual advocates have argued that the Bible, rightly interpreted, does not forbid homosexual relationships, only perverse expressions of such.  Here are the arguments they use and here is what I think God’s Word actually says in those passages.

 

1.)  Genesis 19—The account of Sodom, the 2 angels & Lot

In essence of time and since most of us are familiar with the story, let me simply present the arguments and the evidence.

Homosexual advocates claim…

  • The sin involved was not homosexuality but inhospitality to the strangers and gang rape of the daughters or visitors.  Lot, being a foreign resident in that city, had violated the hospitality rules requiring that the visitors produce proper credentials. Gen 19:5—“They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight?  Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with [lit. “know”] them.”  This “know” was simply their desire to “get acquainted with” them.  The fact that Lot offered his daughters to the crowd simply manifests how important the culture considered proper hospitality. 
  • Furthermore, the word here in vs. 4 “know” is used 943 times in the O.T. and only 12 times does it appear to mean “to have intercourse with.”  
  • They further claim that the reference in Ezekiel 16:49 confirms that the sin was not homosexuality but something else.  “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.”

 

Answers:

  • Ezekiel is not a list of all the sins of Sodom.  Arrogance manifests itself by thinking you know better than God which results in people doing “detestable things” by God’s standard which they have convinced themselves are their right. 
  • Use of the word “to know”, i.e. “to have sex with.”  This is what Bible students call “word count fallacy”—discounting what a word sometimes means because it is used more often in another way.  ILL:  When I say the word “discriminate,” what comes to your mind first?  (Def. #1— “the unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice.”  Def. #2—“the ability to judge whether or not something is good or suitable.”)  How do you know which one is right when you are reading an article?  The CONTEXT is KING!  If I read, “Skin-head, Neo-Nazis discriminate against all non-Arian races based upon their ethnicity,” you know it is the 1st definition the author is talking about.  But if I say, “That boy needs to learn how to discriminate between wisdom and foolishness,” I know the author is talking about the second usage of the word “discriminate.” 
  • The context of Gen. 19 makes it abundantly clear. 
    • 10 of the 12 times that word is used in Genesis it refers to having intercourse with someone. 
    • In verse 8 the same verb with the negative participle is used to describe Lot’s daughters as having “not known” [“never slept with”] a man.”  It cannot mean in vs. 8 to “simply be acquainted with.”  It is highly unlikely in narrative literature that authors use the same verb so close together to mean two different things.
    • It is grotesquely inconsequent that Lot should reply to a demand for hospitality credentials by offering his two daughters sexually to a crowd of violent men.
    • Jude 7, a N.T. passage that deals directly with this story, leaves no ambiguity.   “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” The latter term “perversion” literally means “strange flesh.”  This is either talking about unnatural acts between men or even of bestiality. 

 

2.)  Leviticus 18:22—“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”  Advocates of homosexuality dismiss this passage by saying it is simply a religious prohibition for the priests, not a moral prohibition for all the people. 

Answer:  This assumption that ritual priestly purity and personal or national moral purity are always distinct is flat out wrong.  If that is the case, then the prohibitions in the verses immediately surrounding vs. 22 are simply for the priests, not everyone.  By that distinction we would have to conclude that adultery was not morally wrong (18:20), nor child sacrifice wrong (18:21), nor bestiality wrong (18:23).  Ceremonial purity often coincides with moral purity. 

            Homosexual advocates (and the Spokesman Review) like to show what they think is the stupidity of Christians who believe homosexuality is still detestable to God by saying, “Well then, why don’t you still take seriously the rules against eating rabbit (Lev. 11:26), oysters, clams, shrimp, and lobster (Lev. 11:10ff)?  Why don’t you try and close down seafood restaurants or demand that Safeway remove pork from the meat section?  You don’t demand the death penalty for people who make false prophecies or kids who disobey their parents like the O.T. Law does.  You’re inconsistent!”

Answer:  The Law that was given to Moses for the nation of Israel was to set them apart as the national people of God.  It was to become a theocracy with theocratic laws.  But with the failure of Israel to fulfill God’s purposes, God instituted a New Covenant based upon Jesus Christ.  However, God also made it clear in the N.T. that there is a moral unity between the O.T. and N.T. that is based in the moral character of God who does not change.  Those moral laws God intends for us to still keep are repeated in the N.T.   Because proscriptions against homosexual behavior have been repeated in the N.T. as we shall see (Rm. 1:26-27; I Cor. 6:9-11; I Tim. 1:9-10), we are equally bound by God’s instructions on the matter. 

 

So let’s go to the New Testament teaching on homosexuality.  Here are 3 of the clearest passages.

3.)  Romans 1:26-27-- 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” 

            Homosexuals argue that this passage discusses only a particular kind of homosexual activity, not all homosexual practices.  The kind it supposedly prohibits is that of heterosexuals whose jaded sexual appetites turn them from their own sexuality toward what is for them the unnatural state of homosexuality.  BUT, they claim, for a homosexual that is exclusively homosexual, it is impossible for them to “leave” the natural use of the opposite sex because for them homosexuality is natural and heterosexuality is unnatural.  (This takes it one step further and makes homosexuals who “change their sexual orientation” at any time guilty of “unnatural sex” with their heterosexual spouse!)  They further claim that Paul just wasn’t educated about sexual sin enough to make this distinction. 

 

Answers: 

  • Romans 1:26—tells us that women who entered into lesbian relationships “exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones” or, in the case of the men (vs. 27), they “also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.”  You cannot “exchange” or “abandon” something you haven’t had at one point.  This passage runs completely counter to the notion that a person is born gay or is, by some biological determinism, destined to be “gay.” 
  • The contrast is not between acceptable, natural and good homosexual relations in this text and bad homosexual relations; it is between “natural relations” and “unnatural ones,” between “natural relations with women” and being “inflamed with lust” in homosexual relations.  In both cases homosexual relations are “unnatural” and “inflamed with lust.”  There is NO mention of good, proper or wholesome homosexual relations.  NOTE:  This is critical.  Nowhere is homosexual sex viewed as natural, proper, permissible, holy or righteous, nowhere in the Bible.  So if you want to find arguments in favor of homosexuality, it won’t be in the Bible.
  • Furthermore, Paul’s argument is tied inseparably to the Genesis account of divine judgment.  This destroys the argument that he is simply speaking against “the abuses” of homosexuality. 
  • The wording “God gave them up” that occurs throughout the passage is identical in form to Acts 7:42, where, in speaking of Israel’s apostasy in the days of Moses, Stephen describes this act of God as an act of judgment and punishment for ungodly behavior. 
  • Neither was Paul naïve or uneducated about homosexuality.  He came from Tarsus, the 3rd-ranking intellectual city in the world behind Athens and Alexandria.  He knew about the Greco-Roman world philosophies and deviant sexual practices.  Tarsus practiced homosexuality and pederasty (sexual relations with children). He traveled and debated with those in Athens who worshipped every form of god possible (Acts 17).  He lived in Corinth with its temple prostitution for a couple of years (Ac. 18).

 

The last two passages use the same Greek word (arsenokoites) which means simply “a male engaging in same-gender sexual activity, a sodomite” [Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words]. 

4.)  I Corinthians 6:9-11-- 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men  10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

 

5.)  I Timothy 1:9-10-- 8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

 

In both of these references homosexual actions are placed in lists of things that are ALL considered against the law of God.  Any attempt to define the words in ways that might be godly is simply arbitrary and does violence to the text.  To say that there is such a thing as “non-illicit homosexual sex” is the same as saying there is such a thing as “non-illicit adultery” or “non-illicit theft or murder.” 

 

The final thing I want us to consider biblically that homosexual advocates use over and over again is the whole notion that Jesus Christ never once spoke against homosexuality but instead called on us to just “love one another.”  They will say, “Why won’t you let me just have the same kind of loving relationship you heterosexuals enjoy in marriage?  All we want to do is love one another and isn’t that what Christ called us to do?”

 

First, the ONLY kind of committed, sexual relationship Jesus ever sanctioned was in Matthew 19:5 and Mark 10:7 when he said, “‘For this reason a man [masculine noun] will leave his father [masculine noun] and mother [feminine noun] and be united to his wife [feminine noun], and the two will become one flesh.’” 

Jesus didn’t speak specifically against many sexual practices that also run clearly counter to God’s nature and holiness, things such as bestiality or group sex or polygamy or incest or child molestation or rape.  I don’t see people advocating for those…yet!  

But by what he spoke FOR, he clearly defined the boundaries of legitimate sexual activity:  marriage between one man and one woman, period!  That standard is clear and consistent from Genesis to Revelation and everywhere in between. 

 

Let me conclude my discussion of this before we get to your questions with a handful of implications and applications for us as God’s people in a culture where homosexuality is just another option of sexual expression and, for now, one that is being considered equal to heterosexuality.  

 

1.  We are called to a different standard than our world and culture.  Christians always have been.  Our culture believes in relativism.  They believe truth changes.  They believe that what every individual chooses to do in any given moment is the right thing to do.  Whatever floats your boat! 

            Christians are called to live according to the absolute nature of God that never changes.  God’s truth doesn’t change because it is rooted in his absolute nature.  Holiness doesn’t change.  Immorality doesn’t change.  Sexual fidelity and morality is rooted in the nature of God…and it is clearly explained and delineated in the Word of God. 

 

2.  The “loving thing to do” towards everyone around us is not to let the culture or ourselves do whatever we want; it is to determine what God says is truly “loving” and “good” and LIVE to that standard as well as ADVOCATE for public policy that adheres or best approaches that standard. 

            It is not any more loving to encourage by the force of law or public policy a different definition of “marriage” than it is to encourage a different definition of murder, or theft, or adultery, or rape or incest.  Simply redefining a word does not change the morality or immorality of the actions associated with that word.  It simply confuses and loses the true meaning.

            To disagree with people’s redefinition of a term such as marriage is not to hate them or despise them or even fail to love them.  It is actually the loving thing to do.  Because failure to stop people from heading further down a road that leads to destruction is not a loving act.  Letting them get run over by sinful behavior, no matter how right or good it might feel, is not loving.  It is at best indifference and at worst malice.

            Our attitude and spirit in that disagreement is as critical as standing for what is right.  To advocate for righteousness with unrighteous hearts and attitudes does more damage than good.

 

3.  God has placed us in this world as both salt and light (Mt. 5:13).  Light is to show the way to God and the way to walk in life.  Salt was primarily a preservative in Jesus’ day.  It is used to keep food from spoiling so quickly.  If we as God’s salt in this world lose our saltiness…if we fail to speak into our culture and slow or stop the cancerous effects of sin, we will, as Jesus said, be “no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” 

4.  Living in a democratic republic which gives the authority to elect representatives and, in some cases, to make laws directly by vote of the people, WE the people are the government.  We, therefore, as individuals, have the God-given responsibility to choose our own leaders and determine our own laws.  To fail to do so is to be a very poor steward of God’s gifts to us.  And Jesus was very clear what he as master and giver of talents does with poor stewards:  he takes the talents/gifts away.   It isn’t being “political”; it’s being responsible and moral and righteous.  Political parties have nothing to do with this but laws have everything to do with defining what is “right and wrong” in a society.

            The passage we read earlier in I Timothy 1:8ff says, “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine….” 

Law IS about right and proper behavior…and we have just as much right and, in fact, more responsibility to speak into the making of laws in our land as those who do not recognize God or his absolute truth and morality. 

 

[Referendums & Initiatives on the table.]

 

5.  We must not forget that the marriage laws of our land have been made primarily for the welfare and best interests of children, not for the desires and pleasure of adults. 

This is not just a legal construct in America.  It is God’s heart when it comes to marriage.  Listen to what the prophet Malachi said in Malachi 2:13-16—“Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.  14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.  15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. 16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the LORD Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.

 

If we forget that or reverse that, every single one of the remaining “restrictions” or “qualifications” for marriage in our culture will eventually fall.  The existing 4 qualifications in most states for the past 250 years have been the following:

a.)  You may not marry a near-relative/family member.

b.)  You may not marry someone under the age of consent (16-18 in most states).

c.)  You may not marry someone already in a marriage (polygamy).

d.)  You may not marry someone of the same sex.  (Doing so knowingly and willfully creates homes in which children will, of necessity, be raised without a mother or father.  In most cases they will be willfully separated from either one or both biological parents.  To say that a boy or girl doesn’t need both a father and a mother is to deny reality and plan to handicap children socially, financially, educationally, relationally, psychologically, spiritually and a host of other ways.)

 

6.  We as Christians must pray for and enter into the lives of homosexuals with the spirit and love of Christ far more than we have to date.  This cultural battle may never be won by us.  We’re not called to fight to win cultural battles.  We’re called to fight for the souls of people by loving them individually into relationship with Christ. 

            That may involve calls to repentance at times.  It will involve acts of love and compassion all the time. 

 

7.  We must lead on the road to repentance.  We must model humility that says, “WE have failed you, our neighbors, by failing to keep God’s standards on marriage, on sexuality, in family relationships, in business ethics, in neighborly care. We have been promiscuous in the past when we should have been sexually abstinent.  We have been unfaithful to our spouses when we should have been faithful. And we have allowed ourselves to be silenced by our own past and present failures rather than repent and find real freedom that enables us to speak truth in love to every generation and every person.  We have wrongly been ashamed to speak God’s liberating truth to people because we have wrongly valued other things than their best.  We have failed to bring the true Gospel of Christ to people in our city, our state and our nation in such a way that they see Jesus as he truly is.   As such, we are guilty of the greater sin of silence and indifference to our neighbor’s relationship with God. 

 

 

QUESTIONS & OBSERVATIONS