What About Homosexuality?” Series

1. Few, if any of us, would argue against calling STEALING A SIN.

a. The same for LYING, ADULTERY, FORNICATION, & OTHERS.

b. And if not sin, there is still a remnant in our society that would see these activities as wrong… definitely not right.

WHEN WE come to the Bible, there’s no question… these are sins.

• And isn’t this why Jesus came to die? To rescue, to deliver those caught up in these destructive behaviors? Surely He did!

• Look with me at 1 Corinthians 6.7-11

• What hope Jesus Christ brings that we too can have these in our past and delivered from them in our present! Such WERE…

BUT WHEN I mention the SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY, I’m sure to get all sorts of responses…

• It’s an alternative lifestyle… I was born that way

• the main one being it’s NOT A SIN.

• But according to God, it is… Living in the unrepentant lifestyle of homosexuality is just as spiritually deadly as living in the unrepentant sins of thievery, lying, adultery, and fornication.

WARNING: By the way, today is one of those adult Bible Study Times.

THE SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY is not new. Sexual sins are not new.

• Rampant in the ancient world. Roman Empire filled with it.

• What’s different about it today is that some Christians think it should be accepted as an ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE.

• Many don’t’ think it’s even a sin any more.

• Many in churches today just think it’s simply another way to express committed love.

• We live in a time where there are ‘blessing ceremonies’ on these relationships in MAINLINE CHURCHES by ordained pastors!

6.19.06 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly elected leader of the U.S. Episcopal Church Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said on Monday she believed homosexuality was no sin and homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same gender. "Some people come into this world with affections ordered toward other people of the same gender and some people come into this world with affections directed at people of the other gender."

• Unfortunately this is happening in more churches, from more leaders than ever before in the history of the church!

• But what does the Bible say? What are we taught?

All the way back in the Levitical Law, homosexual sin is prohibited:

Leviticus 18:22 (NKJV) 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13 (NKJV) 13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

And now in this section of Romans, Paul declares homosexuality to be the lowest point for a person in their downward spiral of perversion. It’s forbidden. Why?

• Like all sin, homosexuality is not bad because it’s forbidden.

• It’s forbidden because it’s bad. It cuts to the core of God’s creation and intention for one man, one woman, one lifetime.

NOW: It’s important I believe for us to pause here for a moment and answer a fundamental question, a common accusation that comes up from this section.

• Looking at the Law, prohibition against homosexuality is given alongside laws against eating pork and shrimp.

• So the question is raised, “Have the laws against homosexuality been abolished along with eating pork?”

• OR you’ll hear someone use other laws as a way to circumvent the prohibition against homosexuality.

Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13

Christians today do not follow the rules and rituals described in Leviticus. But some ignore its definitions of their own "uncleanness" while quoting Leviticus to condemn "homosexuals." Such abuse of Scripture distorts the Old Testament meaning and denies a New Testament message. "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." These words occur solely in the Holiness Code of Leviticus, a ritual manual for Israel’s priests. Their meaning can only be fully

appreciated in the historical and cultural context of the ancient Hebrew people. Israel, in a unique place as the chose people of one God, was to avoid the practices of other peoples and gods.

Rituals and rules found in the Old Testament

were given to preserve the distinctive characteristics of the religion and culture of Israel. But, as stated in Galatians 3:22-25, Christians are no longer bound by these Jewish laws. By faith we live in Jesus Christ, not in Leviticus. To be sure, ethical concerns apply to all cultures and peoples in every age. Such concerns were ultimately reflected by Jesus Christ, who said nothing about homosexuality, but a great deal about love, justice, mercy and faith.

http://www.mccchurch.org/notsin/sinofsodom.htm

• SO What’s the biblical answer?

FIRST, there is a distinct difference between CEREMONIAL LAWS and MORAL LAWS.