Romans 12:1,2
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Introduction
A. This week, CNN’s Anderson Cooper announced that he is proud to be gay.
B. How does The Church respond? What would God have us do?
We tend to take two responses, and both are unacceptable:
1. Silence
2. Hatefulness
C. My goal has been grace and truth
D. Bible Study Tools - Exegesis (To Lead Out), Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology
E. It is not my intention to give a sociological or psychological discussion, although I think you can make the case on either accounts on the impact of homosexuality on individuals and society.
F. Recap two weeks ago:
All sexual sin comes from a wounded heart, living in a broken world, trying to find intimacy outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ. You could just as easily say, “all sin comes from a sinful heart, living in a fallen world, trying to find God outside of a relationship with Jesus.”
The Bible sets the rules – not us. It does not change based on society, a speech or a new policy. It does not change based on my experience or feelings. No one here is the exception to the rules.
Genesis 1&2 sets forth a standard of relationships. There is no confusion here. This account is foundational to all Scripture. The Old and New Testaments build continually and consistently on the truth of the creation of man and woman with distinct roles within the marriage relationship.
Sex is God’s invention. It is designed as a bonding experience: an expression of union and oneness to be known by a man and woman who commit themselves to each other for life. Outside of this context of lifelong union, and outside the context of intimate self-giving, sexual activity will be destructive rather than constructive.
Leviticus 18:22-29
The Israelites moved from one idol-infested country (Egypt) to another (Canaan). They also had contact with other cultures (Moab). As God helped them form a new culture, he warned them to leave all aspects of their pagan background and surroundings behind.
Follow God by obeying his Word, and don’t let the culture around you mold your thoughts and actions.
Verse 22 is the one verse that applies to homosexual behavior
“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable”
The prohibition against homosexuality is not found solely in this one passage.
There is a distinction between major classes of OT laws.
- Civil laws – laws that pertain to the specific world around us – our country. This defined not only what the offense was, but how to discipline the offense – ex. Kill a child that is rebellious.
These concerned such matters of daily life as borrowing another’s livestock, principles of restitution for lost property and testifying in a lawsuit.
- Ceremonial laws - laws applied only to the nation of Israel in regards to their practice of worship. They were specifically repealed in the NT. Ceremonial laws defined actions or events that rendered someone unclean for ceremonial purposes, such as the handling of the dead…
The point here, however, is that the ceremonial law pointed forward to the work of Christ, which now has come so that they are set aside.
- Moral laws that were not limited to a time or place. These were repeated in the NT. These misdeeds are wrong at any time and any place. To suggest that these actions, which carry the death penalty, are of no greater significance than the eating of pork, which only renders one ceremonially unclean, betrays a serious misunderstanding of the biblical statements.
- How do we know which is which? Great question. The answer is no so clean. We have the privilege of looking at the O.T. through the lens of the N.T. When we look at moral law, it is a direct reflection of God’s nature – Ex. The Ten Commandments – good for all time.
http://www.reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/law.htm
Our answer is that we are doing what the New Testament does, namely reflecting back on the Old Testament from the perspective of Christ's finished work. Furthermore, we are forced to reflect on the New Testament examples in which certain laws are set aside - such as the dietary laws and the sacrificial system - while others are rigorously enforced - such as the moral laws of the Ten Commandment. There is a logic at work that is not seen in the Old Testament because it is the work of Christ that produces this logic.
The moral law, however, reflecting God's changeless character, remains unaltered, although in Christ we are no longer condemned by our sins against it.
http://thirdmillennium49091.yuku.com/sreply/4575/Re-Law-Civic-Ceremonial-and-Moral#.T-jIOXDa_BU
Romans 1:17-32
A. The picture Paul paints here is an ugly one.
There are some neighborhoods that I dislike driving through, and I avoid them if I can. However, my avoiding them does not change them or eliminate them.
God’s description of sinners is not a pretty one, but we cannot avoid it. This section does not teach evolution (that man started low and climbed high), but devolution: he started high and, because of sin, sank lower and lower.
“This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.” (Romans 1:17–32 NLT-SE)
B. God revealed Himself to man through creation, the things that He made. From the world around him, man knew that there was a God who had the wisdom to plan and the power to create. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork” (Ps. 19:1). You can see God’s laws in nature. “They have no excuse for not knowing God.”
C. Paul clearly portrays the inevitable downward spiral into sin.
First, people reject God; next, they make up their own ideas of what a God should be and do; then they fall into every kind of wickedness: greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
Finally, they grow to hate God and encourage others to do so.
In Romans 1:21, Paul said, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
This is in reference to total darkness, both spiritual and moral. Those who have their foolish heart darkened live in a realm that does not let in the light of the truth of God’s Word. They exchange "the glory of the incorruptible God" (Romans 1:23) and create their own false god.
The penalty is that He turns them over to their own sinful desires. He does not cause them to sin, but He withdraws Himself from them and allows them to pursue the sin that they love. They get to do what they want. This is a display of God’s wrath because He allows the unbeliever to be consumed and destroyed by his sinful desire.
Sometimes a parent has to let the child go and discover for themselves the penalty of their actions.
D. In essence, Paul is addressing the issue of idolatry.
When idolatry exists, shameful things begin to happen.
From idolatry to immorality is just one short step.
If man is his own god, then he can do whatever he pleases and fulfill his desires without fear of judgment.
We reach the climax of man’s battle with God’s truth when man exchanges the truth of God for “the lie” and abandons truth completely. “The lie” is that man is his own god, and he should worship and serve himself and not the Creator.
It was “the lie” Satan used in the Garden to lead Eve into sin: “Ye shall be as God!” Satan has always wanted the worship that belongs only to God (Isa. 14:12–15; Matt. 4:8–10); and in idolatry, he receives that worship (1 Cor. 10:19–21).
"Inventors of evil things." This doubtless refers to their seeking to find out new arts or plans to practice evil; new devices to gratify their lusts and passions; new forms of luxury and vice, etc. So intent were they on practicing evil, so resolved to gratify their passions, that the mind was excited to discover new modes of gratification.
E. He lists a host of sins.
The list of depraved behavior at the end of Romans 1 only serves to illustrate that the ills of society cannot be cured apart from God. The root of the problem is mankind’s rejection of a righteous God and His Word.
F. Paul offers an example of our fallen state and he chooses homosexuality
God’s plan for sexual relationships is his ideal for his creation. Unfortunately, sin distorts the natural use of God’s gifts. Sin often means not only denying God but also denying the way we are made.
When people say that any sex act is acceptable as long as nobody gets hurt, they are fooling themselves. In the long run (and often in the short run), sexual sin hurts people—individuals, families, whole societies.
Because sex is such a powerful and essential part of what it means to be human, it must be treated with great respect. Sexual desires are of such importance that the Bible gives them special attention and counsels more careful restraint and self-control than with any other desire. One of the clearest indicators of a society or person in rebellion against God is the rejection of God’s guidelines for the use of sex.
Homosexuality is given as an example of the kind of behavior that is a result of mankind rejecting God. It is not the only example of sinful behavior that is listed in Romans 1, but it is the example that is given the most attention.
Homosexuality and male prostitution, for example, were especially characteristic of Greco-Roman society. Plato lauded homosexual love in The Symposium (181B). Nero, emperor at the time Paul wrote this letter, was about to marry the boy Sporus (Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 6. 28), an incident bizarre only in its formality, since 14 of the first 15 Roman emperors were homosexual or bisexual.
G. This is the great exchange. They traded the truth about God for a lie.
Homosexuality:
A. Homosexuality crosses the line God has established as well.
B. Homosexuals move from the natural to the unnatural, which Romans 1 emphasizes so strongly.
The "unnatural function" occurs when women "exchanged the natural function" and "in the same way" men "burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts."
It has nothing to do with homophobia or irrational fear and hatred of homosexuals. It has everything to do with understanding that God is sovereign.
Ultimately everyone who rejects God will stand before the judgment throne of Christ to give an account of his deeds.
In Romans 1:26-27, the Creator clearly indicates that homosexuality violates the natural relationship between a man and woman that He established at creation. It is sin.
C. Adultery or fornication between a male and a female is a perversion of the natural relationship God intended for man and woman, but homosexuality move into the realm of the unnatural. They are activities that are contrary to the laws of creation.
D. The penalty:
Paul said, "God gave them over" three times in Romans 1:24, 26, 28. The natural sinful character of man is allowed to play itself out. The result is corruption.
E. Common Argument concerning the “unnatural” act of homosexuality
The words translated women and men in these verses are the sexual words “females” and “males.” Contemporary homosexuals insist that these verses mean that it is perverse for a heterosexual male or female to engage in homosexual relations but it is not perverse for a homosexual male or female to do so since homosexuality is such a person’s natural preference.
This is strained exegesis unsupported by the Bible. The only natural sexual relationship the Bible recognizes is a heterosexual one (Gen. 2:21-24; Matt. 19:4-6) within marriage. All homosexual relations constitute sexual perversion and are subject to God’s judgment.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
“Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.”
A. This is a list that includes, but is not limited sexual sin, including homosexuality.
This reminds us that those who continue to live in sin are rejecting God’s Kingdom. We are rejecting his reign and rule in our lives. How can we live like that and expect Him to receive us into His Kingdom?
(1 Corinthians 6:18–20 NLT-SE)
“Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
God does not forbid sexual sin just to be difficult. He knows its power to destroy us physically and spiritually. No one should underestimate the power of sexual immorality. It has devastated countless lives and destroyed families, churches, communities, and even nations. God wants to protect us from damaging ourselves and others, and so he offers to fill us—our loneliness, our desires—with himself.
Paul clearly stated that Christians are to have no part in sexual immorality, even if it is acceptable and popular in our culture.
God created sex to be a beautiful and essential ingredient of marriage, but sexual sin—sex outside the marriage relationship—always hurts someone. It hurts God because it shows that we prefer following our own desires instead of the leading of the Holy Spirit. It hurts others because it violates the commitment so necessary to a relationship. It often brings disease to our bodies. And it deeply affects our personality, which responds in anguish when we harm ourselves physically and spiritually.
What did Paul mean when he said that our body belongs to God? Many people say they have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies. Although they think that this is freedom, they are really enslaved to their own desires. When we become Christians, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us.
Therefore, we no longer own our bodies. That God bought us “with a high price” refers to slaves purchased at an auction. Christ’s death freed us from sin but also obligates us to his service. If you live in a building owned by someone else, you try not to violate the building’s rules. Because your body belongs to God, you must not violate his standards for living.
(Life Application Study Bible (Accordance electronic ed. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), n.p.)
So What? And What Now?
A. How do we live in such a perverted world? What does set apart mean?
We can’t hide in a holy huddle. We are part of the world, but we are not of it.
We must be missionaries – ambassadors of Good News!
B. The Great News! So, what are we to do? Society says, "People are born homosexual. They can’t help who they are." What is the correct answer?
Don’t miss the beautiful promise in 1 Corinthians 6:11. Paul, writing under divine inspiration said, "Such were some of you." The word “were” is in the past tense, which indicates a continuous action that occurred in the past.
Paul is saying, "some of you lived a life of fornication, adultery, homosexuality, greediness and drunkenness, but now you are believers in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He has cleansed you of your sin, and you are no longer the sinful person you used to be."
Salvation has been reduced to the point that it is only a word. People say, "That’s great you’re saved, but you’re still a homosexual," or "that’s great you’re saved, but you’re still an alcoholic." Statements like these are not found in Scripture.
Like any sin, we must confess and turn from it.
There is not a different set of rules for you. You are not uniquely broken. Following Jesus means turning our backs on a life of sexual sin, just as it does for every other Christian.
Walk in Forgiveness and not let it define who you are in Christ. Find a loving and supportive environment. Set a path of new life.
C. “I have a friend who is not a Christian…”
Live the life of love and love them as any other person that does not know Christ. Pray diligently for them. They want to know if you are going to blow them off like the other Christians have.
D. “I have a friend who says they are a Christian…”
You have an obligation to share the truth with them in love.
In "Leaving Homosexuality", Alan Chambers writes:
The opposite of homosexuality isn’t heterosexuality; it’s holiness. God wants you to pursue His holiness not heterosexuality. Become holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16), and you will become everything else. He intends for you to be in the process.
Our relationship with Christ doesn’t remove the potential for temptation; it gives us the power to defeat it when it arises.
A life of discipleship is a life that will not allow us to define ourselves by our sexual desires, but by our Creator. As we submit those desires to Christ, we find freedom.
