Too Hot to Handle - Homosexuality
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Series Intro
Today, we begin a new series entitled “Too Hot to Handle.” We will be dealing with and discussing topics that are hotly debated in our society and even the church. We will look at the biblical teaching or biblical principals that interact with these topics and see what the Bible has to say about them and what we as Christians should do in light of this teaching.
We are going to be talking about
Homosexuality, Alcohol, Abortion, Pornography, Entertainment Choices, to name a few.
I am sure over the course of this series, everyone in here will be challenged in their thoughts or actions regarding these teachings. That is why I would like to begin in prayer and ask
That the Lord to work inside of each of our hearts,
that He would, by the power of His Holy Spirit, speak through me, and
that the words that are spoken would be honoring and glorifying to Him.
Pray.
Sermon Intro
Today we start with the issue of Homosexuality.
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We are going to take a look at what Scripture teaches about homosexuality and then see how it is that the Lord would have us act and treat those who are homosexual.
This series is going to be a bit different than my normal preaching style in that not too many of the topics we will be discussing can be distilled from a single passage of Scripture, but we have to look at them from the teaching of Scripture as a whole in a more systematic, principled approach.
Therefore, we will be looking at Scriptures throughout the Bible, but I will do my best to keep them in the context that they were written.
Churches that “claim Christianity” teach differently
Now before, we get into these questions, I want to begin by recognizing that churches that claim Christianity, vary widely on their teaching about homosexuality.
I worded that specifically as “claim Christianity,” because sometimes their teachings seem so far away from what we find in the Bible, and we can find this at both ends of the spectrum.
Westboro Baptist Church
For instance, if we looked at the teaching of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS, we would hear teaching that
God hates Fags,
God hates America,
Fags burn in hell
(http://www.godhatesfags.com/main/aboutwbc.html accessed 9/11/2007).
You could also hear sermons this past year entitled,
Ruth Graham is in hell
(http://www.godhatesfags.com/sermons/sermons.html accessed 9/11/2007, sermon from June 17, 2007), Jerry Falwell is in hell
(http://www.godhatesfags.com/sermons/sermons.html accessed 9/11/2007, sermon from May 20, 2007).
As I looked through the sermons on their website, 95% of what I read was hate and hell. One sermon I found with the title “The God of all Comfort” (sermon from January 14, 2007).
I clicked to see the notes with some hope of a positive message of hope or of some “good news,” but only found more encouragement to move forward with their doctrine of hate and to take comfort that God will comfort them.
Even for myself, as I read their material, I was
appalled that they claim Christianity, and
embarrassed that others might associate me with them
I stand here today and tell you that I see no evidence of Christ’s work in that pastor’s life through any of his teaching that I have read.
United Church of Christ
On the other end of the spectrum though we find churches like the United Church of Christ that will teach that God loves everyone just the way they are and they will affirm you in your lifestyle choice to be homosexual or not.
No need to change or stop any actions, because if you are that way, God must have made you that way and despite what the Bible says, times have changed so we need to change even if that means we have to change what God says or means.
On there website, you can find that
“The UCC has no rigid formulation of doctrine or attachment to creeds or structures.”
http://www.ucc.org/about-us/what-we-believe.html Accessed 9-11-2007 United Church of Christ Website
When someone doesn’t stand for something, they will stand for anything.
Now while the Bible does teach that God loves the world, it is His love for us that has given us the power through His Spirit to overcome things that are sin.
So that is what a couple of different churches teach, but we don’t need to hear what individual pastors or churches claim. We need to know what God says.
So let’s start out by asking
What does the Bible Say about Homosexuality?
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Well, to begin with in the Old Testament, homosexuality doesn’t seem like something God thinks is ok.
Leviticus 18:22
22 "’Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Leviticus 20:13
13 "’If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.
And we read about Sodom and Gomorrah in
Genesis 18:20-21; 19:1-9
20 Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know." …
19:1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning."
"No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house. 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 them."
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, "No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."
9 "Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them."
“That is so Old Testament!”
Well, that is what the Old Testament says, but there are lots of things in the Old Testament that we don’t follow, like
the dietary laws, or
the planting of 2 kinds of seed or
the wearing of clothing made of 2 kinds of material (Leviticus 19:19)
Why should we follow this law?
Some who support homosexuality will say also that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not homosexuality, but being selfish and inhospitable.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
49 "’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.
(from New International Version)
Sodom had a lot of sin and selfishness and inhospitableness was among them, but they also did detestable things which we see homosexuality is described as and in the New Testament, Jude tells us that some of their sin was their sexual perversion.
Jude 7
7 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.
And elsewhere in the New Testament, we find the same teaching on homosexuality.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 1:21, 26-27
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. …
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
There is nowhere in Scripture that homosexuality is referred to in a positive or even a neutral way. It is always sin.
It is sin because
Homosexuality is Against God’s Design…
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God is the designer of all creation including humans and homosexuality is not how God has designed things to work.
First, It is against God’s design
…for the Family
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Turn with me to
Genesis 2:18, 21-24
18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ’woman,’ for she was taken out of man."
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
He has made women the perfect compliment for man.
A man and a woman united in marriage is God’s design for the family.
He has created men and women differently so as to fulfill their roles within the family.
Now I know there are single moms and dads that do a great job of raising their kids, but, God has designed the family to function best with a mom and a dad.
Boys need male role models in their life as well as examples of how to treat women.
Girls need female role models as well as a male role model that can provide that appropriate fatherly love for a daughter that will be of great value to her as she grows up.
So often girls that don’t have that end up seeking to fill a love that they did not experience from their father in ways that are not healthy emotionally or physically.
Kids need both a male dad and a female mom for the best chance of growing up emotionally healthy because that is the way god designed the family.
Homosexuality is also against God’s design…
…for Sex
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Romans 1:26-27
Even their women exchanged natural 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 indecent acts with other men
Sex between people of the same gender is unnatural.
God has designed sex so that it would not only be enjoyable, but also for procreation.
The design of the bodies of men and women, show naturally that they are the perfect, God created compliment to one another because it is only with a male and female that procreation can occur.
Dr. Armand M. Nicholi of the Harvard Medical School department of psychiatry said
“No society, past or present, has ever tolerated the institutionalization of homosexuality, for to do so would be to sow the seeds for its own extinction because homosexuality undermines the basic unit of society – the family – and of course precludes procreation, which means extinction of the human race.”
Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Harvard Medical School department of psychiatry, as quoted in Evangelical ethics, by John Jefferson Davis, p. 119.
Homosexuality is sin because it goes against how God has designed life and humans.
Ok, we see through Scripture that Homosexuality is sin and it is against what God wants.
So then,
How should we treat Homosexuals?
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Should we treat them like Westboro Baptist Church by preaching a message of hate?
Absolutely not!
What they preach is not good news. It is condemnation.
Gospel means good news.
Should we treat them like the churches who will affirm their lifestyle choice?
Again, Absolutely not!
We cannot affirm lifestyle choices that God calls sin. To do that would mean we sin.
And the reality is, no matter how pleasantly they say things, they are not offering good news to those caught up in the sin of homosexuality.
They are only helping them stay in bondage to their sin.
So How should we treat homosexuals?
We need to treat homosexuals with Love
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When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he said it is to
Mark 12:30-31
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these."
We need to treat homosexuals as people with the love of Jesus.
Yes, homosexuals who are acting on those feelings are sinning just as you and I do when we act on inappropriate feelings.
We get mad at someone and lash out, we sin.
We lust after someone, Jesus tells us that we have sinned.
We too have a sin nature, like a homosexual, but even in spite of our sin nature, we have all been created in the image of God, even if that image has been distorted by sin.
Now we do not love them or anyone else, by affirming there sinful choices which will only keep them in bondage and prevent them from a life of fulfillment.
We love them by speaking the truth, but in a way that
shows love and
respects them as a person created in the image of God.
As an example of how Jesus loved and respected someone in sin we can look at how he treated the woman caught in adultery in John 8.
He did not condemn her nor did he affirm her choices.
Instead he spoke the truth in love saying,
John 8:11
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
He recognized her sin and called it such and told her to leave her sin.
That is love.
Jesus doesn’t want us living in sin and suffering the consequences of that sin.
He wants us to turn from sin.
And In Christ, we have the hope of leaving our lives of sin
Homosexuals can, by the strength of Jesus Christ, leave their lives of sin.
We can love those who are in bondage to this sin by sharing with them the love of Jesus and getting them some help to overcome this sin.
Now overcoming starts with establishing a relationship with Jesus Christ by receiving Him as Savior.
But there is also a lot of help that is needed for that person to overcome the sin of homosexuality, like any sin of an addictive nature.
There are a number of ministries that are specifically designed to help those caught up in this sin to overcome.
I have listed websites of a couple on your outline if you or someone you know and love is in need of help.
We not only need to treat them with love, but
We need to treat homosexuals with Humility
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Titus 3:1-7
3:1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.
3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 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.
We can never think that we are better than someone who is suffering in the midst of some sin, because that reality is that we needed God’s mercy just like them.
We need to be humble and recognize that it is only by God’s mercy that we are able to overcome our sin and we need to be an example of God’s mercy in helping others to overcome their sin.
And the fact is that we all still have sin to overcome.
But understand that even though each of us may still have sin to overcome, does not mean we cannot call sin what it is.
We hear people say
“who are you to judge” or
“he who has no sin, let him cast the first stone.”
Calling something that the Bible calls sin is not judging.
It is speaking the truth.
But if we speak the truth in a angry or hostile way, nobody will listen.
This is why it is important to treat people with humility.
Listen
There is hope and Freedom in Jesus Christ
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So we need to be sharing that with people, homosexuals included, so they might be able to experience the fullness of a life in Christ.
We need to recognize that Satan is active in this world in deceiving people about how they can find fulfillment.
Satan deceives us into thinking that the boundaries that God has set, especially in the area of sex, are there to rob us of joy, but the simple fact is, is that they are there to help us experience life, and sex, to the fullest.
Listen, outside of the boundaries that God has given us is pain and death and heartache.
Yet Satan covers up the ugliness of sin with fresh paint job, does his best used car salesman impression, and seeks to convince us that this is really what we want and what will be good for us and yet underneath that pretty paint job is something that is dangerous for us.
It has no brakes, no seat belts, no steering wheel, so when we find out that this really isn’t good for us, we are on our way to crashing with little hope of stopping.
It is the same ploy he used with Eve.
He tries to get us to doubt God’s love and believe the lie about what could be better.
We choose to believe the lie and we exit those boundaries and we suffer consequences of those actions.
But thankfully, God’s love is abundant and His love for us did not end when we bought Satan’s lies and sinned.
Romans 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He gave us a way out so we would not have to suffer for our poor choices eternally.
Because our sin, our choice against God, has brought death, but God’s gift to us is life.
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And not only did Jesus die for those sins so we might experience eternal life,
but also so we could experience the full life, free from enslavement to sin.
Listen to the verses right before Romans 6:23
Romans 6:19-23
Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We can live holy lives that bring real fulfillment when we are living in Christ.
Not lives of condemnation, but lives that are free to live a holy, fulfilling life.
Romans 8:1-2
8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Galatians 5:1
5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Conclusion
Maybe you are here today and you have struggled or are struggling with the sin of homosexuality.
There is hope to overcome.
Maybe you know someone who is struggling with the sin of homosexuality. There is hope for them in Jesus Christ.
We can extend God’s grace in love and humility and speak truthfully so they too might receive the mercy that God offers through His Son Jesus Christ.
Whether you are struggling or know someone who is, the hope of overcoming this sin begins with Receiving Jesus Christ as Savior.
In fact, no matter what sin you may be struggling with, it begins with Receiving Jesus Christ as Savior.
He loves you.
He died to pay the price for your sins.
He wants to be in relationship with you and help you.
Won’t you receive that help by receiving Him today?
Recognize your sin.
Recognize that Jesus is the Savior, the Christ, the Son of God, God in the flesh.
Believe that He died for your sins and rose from the dead 3 days later, showing He has the power to save you from death.
If you believe that, then pray with me now and receive Jesus as we close.
Pray.
