 |
|
|
Dr. Rodney
Plunket |
|
"Gays,
Lesbians & the Bible"
a Topical Sermon
This morning I will be addressing the subject of homosexual behavior.
In June of 1982 the Gallup Organization did a survey which
included this question: “Do
you think that homosexuality should be considered an acceptable
alternative lifestyle or not?”
Gallup has used that same survey question in five surveys since
1982. The percentage of
respondents who say that homosexuality should be considered an
acceptable alternative lifestyle has increased from 34% in 1982 to 52%
in May of 2001. In April of 1996 Gallup did a survey which included this
question: “Would you
vote for or against a law that would allow homosexual couples to
legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of
married couples?” In
that initial survey only 28% of the respondents said they would vote
for such a law. Just four
and a half years later (in October of 2000), Gallup asked that same
question again. The
percentage of respondents who said they would vote for such a law had
increased to 42%––a 14% increase in a relatively short period of
time. In March of 1997
Gallup did a survey which included this question: “Do you think marriages between homosexuals should or
should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same
rights as traditional marriages?”
Gallup has asked that question on two surveys since 1997.
In 1997, 27% of respondents said that homosexual marriages
should have the same rights as traditional marriages.
In January of 2000 the percentage was 34%––a 7% increase.
The cover of the March 20, 2000 issue of Newsweek
magazine features a “Special Report” entitled “Gay Today:
How the battle for acceptance has moved to schools, churches,
marriage, & the workplace.” More examples could be given.
The
point: Our national
culture is changing the way it views homosexual behavior.
The question: How
should the people of God respond to those changes?
The answer that I propose:
We go to the Bible and prayerfully seek God’s guidance with
openness, love, and a firm belief that God’s will is best for
everyone.
So
our lesson this morning will seek to examine the teachings of
Scripture with regard to homosexual behavior.
But let me say, before I begin, that the amount of material
which I feel compelled to cover is so extensive that I will be unable
to give that material as thorough a treatment as I would like.
In addition, although I will be covering an extensive amount of
biblical material, there are still some relevant passages that I will
not have time to discuss.
Let’s
begin at the beginning. Let’s
go back to creation. I
think the story contained in Genesis (Gn) 1:1-2:3 can be characterized
as the story of the creation of the
world; I think the story which follows, i.e., the one in Gn 2:4-25
can be characterized as the story of the creation of human sexuality; and that second story is beautiful.
In it God does not lessen Adam’s desire for a suitable
companion. God does not
tell Adam that he should forget all such ideas.
He does not tell him that the desire for a companion like
himself with whom he can enjoy profound intimacy is an inferior desire
born of animal lust. Instead,
God actually increases that desire by having Adam look at and name
every single creature God made. Adam
analyzes every one of them looking for the creature that matches his
desire. None do, and Adam is left feeling even more alone.
After heightening Adam’s desire for a true companion, God
created woman. Human
sexuality then becomes fully present, and it is God who makes that
happen. God makes Adam
and Eve the way they are made so they can be “one flesh.”
Now
I know that the phrase “one flesh” refers to a profound unity
between a woman and a man, a unity that involves more than sexual
union; but I also know that the phrase “one flesh” does include
sexual union. And notice that there is nothing dirty about that fact.
The text does not apologize for introducing such a subject into
a holy book.
You see, sexuality itself is viewed as holy
because it is made by holy
God. It is not dirty or degenerate.
It is holy and to be prized, and it is made to be shared by a
wife and a husband.
The
point that is strong from this story is that God’s created purpose
for human sexuality is that it be an experience between a husband and
a wife. It could be
hardly clearer. God has a
purpose for sexual union. Anything
else departs from that purpose.
That
this passage serves as the biblical norm for sexual union is supported
in the New Testament (NT). In
Matthew (Matt) 19:3 and in Mark 10:2 Jesus goes back to this passage
about “one flesh” when He gives teaching concerning God’s will
for marital union. Jesus
makes clear that God’s will is that a husband and a wife be “one
flesh” and that this “one flesh” union be unbreakable.
Just
as Jesus went all the way back to Gn 2:24 to reveal God’s will for marital
union, the apostle Paul does the same thing with regard to sexual
union. In 1 Corinthians
(1 Cor) 6:9ff Paul addresses many sexual issues and in verses (vv)
15-16 says,
Do
you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them
members of a prostitute? Never!
Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes
one body with her? For it
is said, “The two shall be one
flesh.”
I
think these verses reveal that Paul viewed Gn 2:24 as the model for
godly sexual union. Jesus
and Paul together confirm that Gn 2 establishes God’s norm for
marriage and human sexuality.
Now
let’s turn to the first reference to homosexual behavior in the
Bible. It is found in Gn 19:1ff.
This story comes after Abraham’s nephew, Lot, has moved into
the city of Sodom. Two
angels, who appear as human males, are sent by the Lord
to Sodom apparently to assess that city’s evil.
Lot is the only resident of Sodom who opens his house to these
visitors. The text says that all the men of the city surround Lot’s
house and cry to Lot to bring the two men out so they can have sex
with them. Since the
ancient Near Eastern world had a view of hospitality which meant that
a host should sacrifice anything to preserve his houseguests, Lot
offers his virgin daughters to the mob.
The mob of men is not at all interested.
They want the two male visitors and no one else.
The frightening exchange ends when the angels strike the mob
with blindness.
Some
argue that this text is irrelevant to homosexual acts between consenting
adults, because this is an example of persons who are attempting
homosexual rape. However, I think
that the point of the story is to reveal how morally out of control
the people of Sodom were. It
should be noted that this story is in the book of Genesis, which, in
Gn 2:24 (just seventeen chapters earlier), makes clear that the divine
purpose for human sexuality is that “a man leaves his father and his
mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
Nothing could make clearer how far from that purpose a people
have gone than for them to be consumed totally with homosexual desire
even to the point of hungering to rape two men to whom they should
have offered shelter and hospitality.
However,
before we leave this passage we should note another which refers to
the evil deeds of Sodom. Please
take your Bible and turn to Ezekiel 16:49-50.
There we read,
This
was the guilt of your sister Sodom:
she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous
ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.
They were haughty, and did abominable things before me;
therefore I removed them when I saw it.
The
word translated as “abominable things” in the NRSV is the Hebrew
word t◊o®{eœb≈a® which is used in Leviticus (Lv) 18:22
and in Lv 20:13 to refer to homosexual acts.
So Ezekiel does refer, I believe, to Sodom’s homosexual
behavior in this passage. However,
it is important to hear a prophet of God place the accent upon things
associated with wealth and greed.
Those are the sins which Ezekiel explicitly lists.
For us to treat homosexual behavior more harshly than we treat
materialism is, in my judgment, unbiblical.
It appears that Ezekiel does the exact opposite.
A
few more biblical references to the Sodom story must be noted.
In Matt 10:12-15 and in Luke 10:10-12 Jesus makes reference to
Sodom within a discussion of inhospitality.
Those who believe that the Sodom story in Gn 19 has little
if anything to say about what Christians should believe concerning
homosexuality use the references in Ezekiel and in the Gospels to
argue that Sodom is not even remembered in the Bible as a place of
homosexual sin. The use
of the Hebrew word translated as “abominable things” weakens their
argument as does, I think, a story found in Judges (Jdg) 19:9ff.
That story appears to have been told the way it is told in
order to make sure that the reader sees the connection between these
events and the Sodom story, and that story in the book of Judges also
involves homosexual desire on the part of a wicked mob.
Let’s look at just a portion of that story together.
Please turn to Jdg 19:22ff.
While
they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot,
surrounded the house, and started pounding on the door.
They said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out
the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with
him.” And the man, the
master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my
brothers, do not act so wickedly.
Since this man is my guest, do not do this vile thing. Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring
them out now. Ravish them
and do whatever you want to them; but against this man do not do such
a vile thing.” But the
men would not listen to him. So
the man seized his concubine, and put her out to them.
They wantonly raped her, and abused her all through the night
until the morning. And as
the dawn began to break, they let her go.
It
is not difficult to see that the story here and the Sodom story have
many similarities. The
inclusion of all of the Sodom-like details in this story indicates, I
believe, that one of the actual points of this story is to reveal that
the men of the tribe of Benjamin have become like the men of Sodom
and, as a result, deserve to be punished with great severity. Therefore, the story in Jdg 19 adds support to the view that
the homosexual behavior of Sodom is
a part of what made Sodom a by-word for wickedness.
Now
turn to the book of Leviticus. In
Lv 18:22 we read, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it
is an abomination.” Leviticus
20:13 says, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them
have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood
is upon them.” It is
appropriate to say some more about the word “abomination” here.
As mentioned above, it is the Hebrew word, t◊o®{eœb≈a®. That word is used only four times in the Book of Leviticus.
Twice it is used in Lv 18 to refer to a variety of sins listed
altogether (Lv 18:26, 29); that list includes the sin of homosexual
behavior. The other two
occurrences of this term are in the two verses just read.
So every time this strongly negative term is used it is either
referring to a list of sins that includes the sin of homosexual
behavior or this term is used to refer explicitly and solely to the
sin of homosexual behavior (Cf., Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001],
113).
I
think it is not difficult to understand the prohibitions against
homosexual behavior in Lv 18:22 & 20:13, but we must admit that
there are many things commanded in the book of Leviticus that we do
not keep today. For example, Lv 19:19 says,
Keep
my decrees. Do not mate
different kinds of animals. Do
not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
We
do not enforce any of those decrees, so why should we abide by the
ones prohibiting homosexual behavior?
Let
me give you three reasons. The
first one comes from Acts (Ax) 15:19-20.
These verses come near the end of a discussion between several
leaders of the early Church. The
purpose of the discussion is to decide what elements from the Law of
Moses should the Church ask non-Jewish members to keep.
James, the brother of Jesus, gives the view which the group
adopts. Here is what he
says in Ax 15:19-20.
Therefore
I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles
who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only
from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever
has been strangled and from blood.
Many
scholars recognize that James here is referring back to Lv 17-18
because all of the items that he mentions are found in those two
chapters and those two chapters also specifically apply these commands
not just to the Israelites but also to those non-Israelites who live
among them. I hope you
can see what a sensible and biblical transition James makes here. He applies laws to non-Jewish Christians that the Old
Testament (OT) applied to non-Israelites who were living among the
Israelites. The point
most relevant to our purpose is that Lv 18 is full of references
to forms of sexual behavior from which the people are to abstain, and
in verse (v) 22 of that chapter (as previously noted) it says, “You
shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
The comments of James in Ax 15 give one good reason for
believing that the prohibition in Lv 18:22 is to be applied to
Christians.
The
second reason for believing that the passages in Leviticus which
prohibit homosexual acts do apply to Christians is that James, in Ax 15,
refers to the kind of sex acts which should be prohibited with the
Greek word porneía. It is a generic term which is best translated as “sexual
immorality.” That is, porneía
is a term that refers to any act of sexual intercourse that is either
unnatural or outside of marriage.
The use of that term by James in a discussion of what portion
of the law of Moses should be kept by non-Jewish Christians would
naturally have indicated that James intends for homosexual acts to be
included in those things from which non-Jewish Christians are to
abstain.
There
is a third reason for believing that the two prohibitions in Leviticus
against homosexuality do apply to all Christians.
It is what I learned as I read through the NT and noted all the
references to sex acts which are condemned there. I found that every one of those condemned sex acts is
punished in the OT with the death penalty.
Now I am not saying that the NT teaches us that acts which the
OT punishes by death should be treated in the same way in the Church
because such is not the case. Leviticus
20:11, for example, pronounces the death penalty on a man who has
sexual intercourse with his father’s wife.
When Paul confronts that same sin in 1 Cor 5:1ff, he tells the
Church to put the man out of their fellowship so that the man’s
“sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of
the Lord.” So sexual
sins are not punished in the same way in the Church that they were in
Israel, but those sexual sins which in the OT resulted in death in the
NT are treated as porneía
and are condemned. And
homosexual acts receive the death penalty in the OT and are condemned
in the NT.
There
is also a fourth reason which reinforces the view that the NT applies
these prohibitions against homosexual acts in Leviticus to Christians.
However, it is appropriate to save that fourth reason for just
a few moments.
Now
let’s look at the New
Testament passages which refer to homosexual acts.
Two are very similar and can be discussed together.
They are 1 Cor 6:9 and 1 Timothy (1 Tm) 1:10.
To understand these verses within their context, let’s read 1
Cor 6:9-11 and 1 Tm 1:8-11.
1Cor.
6:9-11: Do you not know
that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived! Fornicators,
idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the
greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers––none of these will inherit
the kingdom of God. And
this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
1Tim.
1:8-11: Now we know that
the law is good, if one uses it legitimately.
This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the
innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and
sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or
mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars,
perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that
conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted
to me.
As
is easily seen, in 1 Cor 6:9 Paul lists several types of sinful
persons who will not inherit the kingdom of God, and in so doing he
refers to two types of persons who were associated with male
homosexuality in the first century.
The relevant terms are translated differently in different
English translations. In
the New International Version
the two terms are rendered as “male prostitutes” and “homosexual
offenders.” In the New
Revised Standard Version the two terms are rendered as “male
prostitutes” and “sodomites.”
The word translated as “homosexual offenders” in the NIV
and as “sodomites” in the NRSV
is also found in 1 Tm 1:10. In
that verse the NRSV again renders the relevant term as “sodomites,” but the NIV
renders it as “perverts.” The
reason for the NIV rendering the term as “homosexual offenders” in 1 Cor 6 and
as “perverts” in 1 Tm 1 escapes me.
Especially when the term “pervert” is frequently used in
our culture to make one sin appear worse than another, and that
clearly is not Paul’s
purpose here because in both 1 Cor 6 and in 1 Tm 1 this
term occurs in a list containing several sins all of which Paul thinks
are a perversion of the will
of God. I think that the
phrase “homosexual offender” is a much better rendering.
Now
let’s look at the two terms which these lists from Paul employ.
The first relevant term found in 1 Cor 6:9 is not used in 1 Tm
1. That term is rendered
as “male prostitutes,” and it refers to the passive partner in a
homosexual act. As
Richard Oster says in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, this term
“generally means ‘soft’ and when applied to a sexual setting can
mean ‘effeminate’ or refer to the passive individual (of any age)
in a homoerotic activity (Richard Oster, 1
Corinthians, The College Press NIV Commentary [Joplin: College
Press, 1995), 145].” Contemporary English does not have a good synonym for this
term, so you will find some variety among the various English
versions. The important
point to make is that such a person is in Paul’s list of those who
“will not inherit the
kingdom of God.”
The
second term is highly significant, because it is a coined term. It is
coined from the Greek version of Lv 18:22 & 20:13. Now be reminded that those two verses in Leviticus are the
ones which prohibit homosexual acts.
The word best translated as “homosexual offenders” which
Paul uses in 1 Cor 6:9 and in 1 Tm 1:10 is constructed by putting
together two of the words from those verses in Leviticus (cf., The
Bible and Homosexual Practice, 111 n. 178.)––the Greek word
for “man” and the word for “bed” (by the way, the Greek word
for “bed” was used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse and is
the word from which we get the English word “coitus” which means
sexual intercourse). Earlier
I said that there was a fourth reason for arguing that NT Christians
saw the Leviticus prohibitions against homosexuality as binding; this
is that fourth reason. The
very word used by Paul to describe practicing homosexuals was based
upon those passages in Leviticus, a strong indication that Paul
believed that those prohibitions in Leviticus applied to all
Christians. The important
point to make is that in both 1 Cor 6:9 and in 1 Tm 1:10
Paul refers to those who commit homosexual acts as sinners.
Now
please take your Bible and turn to Romans (Rm) 1:16-32 and follow
along as I read.
For
I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation
to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith
for faith; as it is written, “The
one who is righteous will live by faith”.
For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God
has shown it to them. Ever
since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature,
invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the
things he has made. So
they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor
him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their
thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the
glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being
or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.
Therefore
God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the
degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
Amen.
For
this reason God gave them up to degrading passions.
Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in
the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women,
were consumed with passion for one another.
Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own
persons the due penalty for their error.
And
since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a
debased mind and to things that should not be done.
They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil,
covetousness, malice. Full
of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips,
slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of
evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless,
ruthless. They know
God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to
die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice
them.
Verses
26-27 are the ones that refer to homosexual behavior, but let’s
briefly place those two verses in their context.
Verses 16-17 extol the power of the Gospel.
Beginning with v 18 Paul reveals the kind of world which the
Gospel confronts, a world that has turned away from God and has
worshipped the creature rather than the Creator.
Verses 24-32 reveal the consequences resulting from the fact
that people have turned away from God.
Two of those results are reported in vv 26-27, the verses that
refer to female and male homosexual acts.
Some have read these verses to mean that homosexual acts are
especially heinous and have contended that they are the sins which
cause God to give a culture over to a depraved mind, but that is a
misreading of these verses. Paul’s
point is that you know when a people have been given over by God to a
depraved mind when behavior like this is approved of and encouraged.
In other words, these acts are not the cause but the effect.
Anyone who wants to argue that Paul views homosexual acts as
especially heinous must also note the list of sins that follows in vv 29-31.
That list includes gossips and those who are disobedient to
their parents.
In
response to Paul’s words here, many have argued that the apostle is
writing in a time when the main form of homosexual behavior was that
between an older man and a young boy, and that is the only kind of
homosexual behavior that he is condemning.
The first point to make is that there is nothing in these
verses or anywhere else in Paul’s writings to indicate that such a
practice is the sole target of Paul’s comments.
Second, even though this practice of an adult male having
sexual intercourse with a young boy was widespread in the Greco-Roman
world, it certainly was not
the only form of homosexual behavior taking place at that time.
Homosexual behavior was widespread in the Greco-Roman world,
and it was not confined to relationships between an older and a
younger male; if Paul had wanted to condemn only one form of
homosexual behavior he would have made that clear.
Instead of that his comments condemn homosexual behavior of all
types.
Another
response that is often heard is that Paul is condemning only those who
are of heterosexual orientation and who have “exchanged”
that orientation for a homosexual one.
Richard B. Hays of Duke University in an excellent discussion
responds to this argument as follows:
The
“exchange” is not a matter of individual life decisions; rather,
it is Paul’s characterization of the fallen condition of the pagan
world. In any case,
neither Paul nor anyone else in antiquity had a concept of “sexual
orientation.” To
introduce this concept into this passage (by suggesting that Paul
disapproves only those who act contrary to their individual sexual
orientations) is to lapse into anachronism.
The fact is that Paul treats all
homosexual activity as prima facie evidence of humanity’s tragic
confusion and alienation from God the Creator (Richard B. Hays, The
Moral Vision of the New Testament [New York: HarperCollins, 1996],
388-89).
Paul
is not condemning only those who are naturally heterosexual in
orientation and have rebelled, as it were, against that orientation
and have become practicing homosexuals. Paul simply believes that homosexual behavior is
sin––period!
This
orientation argument must be additionally addressed, because many have
come to believe that people are born as homosexuals in orientation and
they find it hard to believe that God would condemn an inclination
with which a person is born. I
am not an expert in the field of genetics, but what I do know is that
the same type of research which points to genetics as an indicator of
homosexual orientation also points to genetics as an indicator of
sexual violence, and I doubt that we want to argue that rape ought to
be accepted and the rapist treated as a non-sinner because of some
genetic predisposition. I
suspect that most sinful acts are connected to some sort of
predisposition not chosen willfully by the one who possesses it.
Remember that the Bible declares that sin’s power is present
in our world (e.g., Rm 3:9) and that evil forces in the world will not
be totally conquered until the return of Christ (e.g., 1 Cor
15:20-28). If one predisposition is allowed to excuse sin, then all such
predispositions can and should do so as well.
I
once had the opportunity to talk in some detail with two men who work
for the parole board in Texas. They
told me that sexual offenders almost never change in orientation.
They told me that parole officers have to treat sexual
offenders just like an alcoholic has to be treated, i.e., with the
awareness that the sexual offender will have to exercise discipline
and restraint the rest of his or her life to keep from re-offending.
They even told me of a man who committed a sexual offense in
his younger days and then re-offended at age eighty.
Sexual predispositions do not absolve the child molester or
the rapist, and they should not provide absolution for homosexual acts
either. I would even
argue that Rm 1:27 indicates that something has made the men referred
to have a genuine homosexual orientation, because Paul says they
“were consumed with passion for one another.”
When persons of the same sex are “consumed with passion for
one another” how do you decide which ones were born that way and
which ones decided to become that way?
Paul shows no interest in that question.
As Hays says, “If Paul were shown . . . poll results
[indicating that a significant percentage of the world’s population
were of homosexual orientation], he would reply sadly, ‘Indeed, the
power of sin is rampant in the world’” (Richard
B. Hays, “Awaiting the Redemption of Our Bodies:
The Witness of Scripture Concerning Homosexuality,” in Homosexuality in the Church: Both
Sides of the Debate, ed. Jeffrey S. Siker [Louisville: Westminster
John Knox Press, 1994], 12).
Underneath
most of the arguments which favor the Church’s acceptance of
homosexual behavior is the belief that without sexual fulfillment a
person has not really lived. But
that view is not biblical and is not Christian.
Matthew 19:10-12 and 1 Cor 7 both commend the celibate
lifestyle as highly commendable and fulfilling.
The Bible believes that fulfillment is found in God and not in
sexual union. The joy of
loving God is placed above the joy of human sexual love.
As Hays says, “Sexual fulfillment finds its place, at best,
as a subsidiary good within this larger picture” (Hays,
Moral Vision, 391).
Let
me elaborate upon this point. The
best studies that I have seen indicate that about 3% of the current
population has a psychosexual orientation that is homosexual in
nature. Many believe that
this 3% are being cruelly deprived because they cannot experience a
godly release from that drive as a married heterosexual can.
Let’s notice the weakness of that argument.
If the church changes the rules for them, what about the
heterosexual adult who never finds a suitable mate but who has the
same drives as the heterosexual who does marry?
What biblical principles are to be bent to keep from depriving
the unmarried single adult?
My
main purpose this morning has been to make clear that the Bible’s
view of homosexual behavior is that it is to be prohibited.
It is a sin. It
goes against the will of God. The
church and the church’s members cannot countenance it.
But
let me make equally clear that we cannot treat this sin as a
perversion different from all others. I am fully convinced that more people will be separated from
God for materialism than for homosexual behavior.
The current effectiveness of the campaign to promote homosexual
behavior is nothing in comparison to the time-honored and much longer
running campaign to promote American consumerism.
I will continue to cry out against homosexual behavior as a sin
against God, but I feel compelled to cry out much more against
American materialism because I sense that materialism is much more
likely to infect us without anyone even noticing.
Satan’s got us, and we are totally unaware.
Let’s
pray. Lord, cause us to
love all those persons who feel the pull of homosexual desire. Help those of us who do not feel that particular sinful
desire to be humbled by the awareness of the sinful desires which we
do feel and against which we must battle.
Cause us not to demonize homosexual sin while sanitizing our
own sins. And Lord,
please cause us to realize that the person who feels homosexual desire
needs your power to be transformed as
do we all. Help us know how to facilitate Your transformation so that
lives can shine to Your glory. In
Jesus’ Name, Amen.
I
believe that the power of the Holy Spirit can change the materialist
into a person who embraces the eternal life of God.
I believe that the power of the Holy Spirit can transform any
sinner into a person who shines to the glory of God.
So I do not just preach prohibition this morning; I do not just
preach that God opposes homosexual behavior.
I stand here and also preach that God wants to transform you
from the inside out. Whatever
sin has you ensnared, God wants you free.
The gospel says you can be free.
Come accept the freedom that God holds out to you!
Come now as we stand and sing.
Top | Sermons | Home
|