Gay, But Not Happy

Today, I will be using the term ‘gay’ in both its original form and its contemporary form, so let me define it both ways for you this morning.

Originally, GAY meant: to be characterized by colorful and lighthearted excitement: MERRY.

As in, “Have a GAY day!” In the old days, wishing your neighbor a gay day would have meant you were hoping their day was happy, lighthearted and merry.

Today, however, wishing someone a gay day might turn an eyebrow or two…

Today, the term GAY is almost never used to mean “happy” or “merry.” No way would anyone walk up to a crowd of people and say, “Don’t you look gay crowd today!” If you do, you might get you a beat down.

Today, the word GAY refers to the sexual orientation of a person or group of people.

The prevailing definition is: Having a sexual orientation to persons of the same sex.

In the dictionary, authors have stated that in order to keep a homosexual person from being offended, you should refer to him or her as a GAY person, and that the choice of the word GAY is to imply their state of attitude toward the lifestyle they are living. So the claim is that homosexuals are GAY (happy) because they are GAY (homosexual).

With that said, this sermon is as much for gays (homosexuals) as it is for gay (happy) people…

However, the two definitions of GAY: both the original and the contemporary are like oil and water. It is impossible to combine the two meanings into one lifestyle. Either a man is gay, or he is happy, but it is impossible for a man or woman to be both gay and happy at the same time.

Now, before I go any further, I want everyone listening to understand that Jesus loves you, and He loves you more than you can possibly imagine. This is true, regardless of your sexual orientation.

However, in our pursuit of GAITY (happiness), we find two groups of people today: those who are truly happy, and those who are pursuing happiness.

What’s the difference?

Illustration: Prodigal child story

In Luke 15:11-13, Jesus tells the story of a young man who was in the pursuit of happiness. One day, he said to his father, “’Father, give me my share of the estate.’ [It’s time for me to go find myself and pursue happiness my way.] So he divided his property between them [his two sons]. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.”

This is the story of the prodigal son. He left his father, his home and his country in pursuit of happiness and squandered his inheritance in the pursuit of happiness.

He’s not unlike any of us in that he went through a season of life exploring what the world had to offer, pursuing happiness on his own terms. Unfortunately, this HAPPINESS or GAITY he was in pursuit of was not the real thing. It was a counterfeit made to look like the real thing.

ILLUSTRATION: PORK RHINES. (The most vile thing to eat: a pigs’ skin, but made to appeal to those who can appreciate deep fried, fatty foods with hot, spicy flavor!)

The skin of pigs, in it’s raw form is something even FEAR FACTOR hasn’t shoveled in front of the faces of their victims, yet companies are able to sell it on the potato chip aisle of every store because they have distorted it and packaged it to look appealing. HOWEVER, a steady diet of pork rhines will not make you happy. It will end in DEATH!

In the same way, Satan has packaged the lusts of this world in such a way as to make it appealing to individuals with a taste for it. In the mean time, they may thing they have found something delightfully tasty, but the end of it is DEATH.

Prov 14:12-13, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.”

This was exactly the situation for the prodigal son…

Luke 15:14-16, “After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”

He found himself poor and alone, unable to return to his father, so he took up living and working with the pigs to avoid having to come home empty handed.