Sermon Brief
Date Written: July 05, 2013
Date Preached: July 07, 2013
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Biblical Truths for Societal Pressures
Sermon Title: How Do Believers deal with Homosexuality?
Sermon Text: 1 Tim 1:3-6 [HCSB]
Introduction:
I want you all to know that I have agonized over the sermon for this morning… but God has given me a peace about what I about to say… although I know many may decide to reject what I am about to say!
This past week our Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling that overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and in doing so became a defacto ruling that from a Federal or Constitutional standpoint, any law forbidding marriage between same sex couples is unconstitutional.
This ruling by a much divided Supreme Court was a huge step toward the normalization of homosexual behavior and lifestyles within our society/culture/nation.
BUT… the subject of homosexuality is NOT a new subject, in fact it has been around for quite a long time! I believe the church has FAILED to teach us about how we should deal with this very difficult issue!
Many approach this topic and go to the many verses of Scripture that condemn Homosexuality & then try to “prove” God's disapproval of the lifestyle!
There are others who will go to those same verses & then try to argue that those verses no longer apply in our culture OR that those verses are misinterpreted.
These 2 opposite end ways for the Christian approach to the subject of Homosexuality BOTH end up with an argument! It pits US against THEM and either side is hoping that 'the Best Arguer will Win!'
But here is the TRUTH, YOU know the Scriptures I am talking about and you know where I stand on the Scripture… Scripture is TRUTH, Scripture tells us that homosexuality is a sin and Scripture is very clear.
But this morning I want to take a different approach than either of those 2 approaches! This morning I want us to look at how we as Christians should deal with reality of Homosexuality & Homosexual people in our culture. For this I turn to a scripture that gives us a principle that will really help."
For FAR 2 long I believe the church’s main game plan in dealing with the sin of homosexuality has basically been a judgmental view (based on Scripture) that judgmental view has led believers to hate & condemn those who practice homosexuality… [use ‘no swimming illus here]
THIS type of approach to homosexuality by the church and THIS particular use of Scripture as a tool of judgment has not worked… I believe that the reason it has not worked mainly because although Scripture reveals the sinfulness of homosexuality…
it is NOT intended to be used by us as a tool of judgment! Instead Scripture has always been intended by God to be used as a tool of love!
Turn to 1 Tim 1 where Paul instructs Timothy how to deal with any ‘doctrine’ that deviates from God’s plan!
3As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different doctrine 4or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith. 5Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 6Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.
Paul’s instruction here is to a pastor, a leader of a church… a leader of a fellowship of Christian believers seeking to reach the lost and see the lost come to know Jesus Christ as SAVIOR! But it is also directed to all believers as a guide to not be deceived…
Paul laid out a template for dealing with doctrine that conflicts with the Gospel & Paul provides a few examples of ‘conflicting’ doctrines to the Gospel.
Let’s look at this passage and what we can GAIN in our perspective of God’s plan and how we fit into that plan!
3As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different doctrine 4or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.
Here Paul lays down the principle that we are called by God to be a part of a fellowship SOMEWHERE… for Timothy this was Ephesus! For you, at this point it is Oak Park! Paul instructs Timothy to ‘remain in Ephesus’
The principle here is that God places you somewhere and your duty while there is to ensure FIRST that you teach nothing that deviates from the Gospel of Jesus!
First we must ensure that everything we teach is insync with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The Gospel is the message Paul was telling Timothy to preach and teach! We find Paul detailed the Gospel in his letter to the church in Corinth… 1 Cor 15:3b-10 (HCSB)
…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,5and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He also appeared to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective.
Basically what Paul lays out about the Gospel is teaching that:
Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life,
Jesus willingly gave His life on the Cross for the forgiveness of sin to ALL the world,
Jesus was buried in a tomb, on the 3rd day He raised conquering sin, death and the grave!
That same resurrected Jesus appeared to over 500 disciples… the resurrection was REAL!
The grace brought about by Jesus is not based on what WE do, but on HIS love for us!
God’s grace can change a murdering zealot like Saul of Tarsus into a loving missionary/church planter like Paul!
ANYTHING outside of that teaching is a false doctrine. Jesus came to save… His message was to redeem humanity from sin…
He preached and taught the Word of God and wanted people to understand the REALITY of sin in their lives and their need of Him as their Savior! But preacher, what does this have to do with Homosexuality?
Well, this passage is a template by Paul on laying down a principle about any false doctrine! Paul says ANY doctrine that denies Jesus or the Word of God is a false doctrine & as believers cannot cling to or follow it!
The world would say that it is just people wanting to live their own lives and be left alone, but that is the lie the Enemy wants you to believe!
There is NOTHING about this world’s agenda that desires to be left alone… the agenda of the Evil One is to infect all of humanity with His evil acts and sinful desire and actions!
The enemy of God wants to pervert the Gospel of Jesus in any way he can… When it comes to the subject of Homosexuality we find Him coming from it from both sides of the issue!
Groups of people profess to be believers and they are teaching that the love of God will accept any lifestyle, & that we cannot judge people based on their sexual orientation… if God created them this way then we must love and accept them as they are!
This teaching is wrong in that God’s love does not allow sinful behavior. We are not FREE in Christ to do what we want, only free FROM the sin of our past! This is a perversion of God’s love!
Other groups like the fringe group from Westboro Baptist church who use signs like this [show picture here]… and they focus on God’s judgment… the wrath of God! This is a perverted look at the wrath of God!
Then there is the usual church member who does not know how to react and so out of ignorance they look down up homosexuals with a judgmental heart and condescending attitude.
This confusion is because many church goers believe God is sitting and watching and ready to squash us like a bug when we sin! This is a perversion of God’s sovereignty!
In the first 2 verses of our Scripture today, Paul is instructing Timothy who is a leader in the church! He instructs Timothy to NOT teach OR allow false doctrine to be taught.
BUT what we also see here is Paul teaching Timothy to NOT dwell public opinion OR societal pressures to pervert His knowledge of God’s Word!
4or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.
Society will always have a different perspective to present to us. Society will always seek to deviate from the Word of God!
This has been the way of humanity since creation. Adam/Eve sinned and blamed God. Adam justified his actions because of the woman. Cain killed Abel because he was jealous… he justified his actions with his feelings!
We live in a world that relies on & acts on feelings & not the Word of God! Our feelings will always mislead us, we must learn to focus on AND trust in God’s word! We cannot fall prey to that type of attitude!
We cannot teach any false doctrine (sway from the TRUE Gospel) and 2nd we cannot allow the world to influence our teaching with their created myths, endless points of connection OR empty arguments!
Now we know that ALL believers must remain true to the teaching of the Gospel! We also know that believers must also AVOID allowing the culture to influence our teachings…
Paul gives us a plan on how to implement the principle he had laid out… today I do NOT see this plan used by the church, especially when it comes to sins such as homosexuality!
Let’s look at what Paul says:
5Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 6Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.
Look closer at v5:
5Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
Paul says the GOAL of our teaching is love… We know that it is God’s love that brought about the grace and forgiveness that IS the Gospel!
John 3:16 [HCSB]
16“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Rom 5:6-8 [HCSB]
6For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly…8But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
1 John 3:16 [HCSB]
16This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us…
These verses reveal that “love” is the REASON for God’s grace to us! SO Paul’s instruction to Timothy is that OUR goal must be to instruct on that love… The love of God must ALWAYS be at the forefront of our teaching!
The goal of our teaching is to reveal the LOVE of God and we know that is what the Gospel of Jesus does… it tells us of God loves us & desires us be part of Him.
When we think of the love of God we often quote John 3:16, but we often overlook John 3:17 that states the reason BEHIND God’s love:
17For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
This is what we MUST understand as believers! It is that the love of God is focused on reconciliation & salvation NOT judgment & condemnation!
So in this verse Paul reminds Timothy that the ‘goal’ while instructing others in the faith is LOVE! That love is the love that God displayed to see us redeemed &reconciled to Him NOT judged and condemned!
But Paul continues on… Our GOAL is to teach about the love of God, but Paul speaks of OUR motives and what drives us when we begin to share the love of God! Look what he says to Timothy about this…
5…comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
The motivation for sharing the Gospel…
The motivation we must have for instructing others in love…
OUR MOTIVATION must be:
1st – from a pure heart: The Greek word used here for pure is kath-ah-ross’ which paints a picture of purification by fire OR the picture of the vinedresser pruning the vines of his vineyard to ensure the bearing of fruit!
To show the love of Christ… to teach the love of Christ… to share the love of Christ we must present it with a PURE heart!
This means a heart that has been seared and cleansed by the burning fire of the Holy Spirit! When profess Christ as Savior thru confession of sin and a repentant heart, the Holy Spirit comes into our spirit and purges us of our sin…and begins the process of purifying our hearts! The HS literally begins to burn away the baggage and burden of sin in our lives…
When we share the Gospel… teach the Gospel… our hearts must be PURE! But Paul also says:
5…comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
Our teaching/instruction must come from a ‘good conscience’. The Greek term used here by Paul is soon-ney’-dee-sis which is a view of the conscience much different than what you may think.
It does not view the conscience as just our thoughts or beliefs, but it sees it as a much deeper concept. Paul is referring here to our very soul… to that which distinguishes us!
To that which separates good from evil in our hearts… to that which seeks good OVER evil in our hearts!
It is NOT just feeling good about ourselves! It is NOT just about not having sin in our lives when we teach or share the Gospel… it is about projecting the holiness of Christ, the immense LOVE of God through our lives!
It is about painting a picture of the love of God for the world to see… and we do this with WHO we are… through our LOVE! A good conscience for the believer exalts Jesus to the world and promotes the love of God to the sinner!
When we share the Gospel… teach the Gospel… our hearts must be PURE and we must reveal a good conscience that reveals the love of God! But Paul also says:
5…comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
We must have a sincere faith… the Greek word Paul uses here is ahn-noo-pock-ree-toss which means all things are on the table… there is NO hidden agendas!
When we share the Gospel… it must be with an open heart cleansed by the fire of the HS! It has to be from a soul that seeks to exalt the LOVE of God in all it does and it has to be by one who is NOT doing it for their own agenda but because of their love and obedience to God!
When we share the Gospel we MUST only be about sharing the love of God by showing His love thru our own lives and it CANNOT be about ourselves OR our own agendas!
In v6 Paul says we cannot fall prey to instructing on God’s love in any other way… this is because Paul had witnessed others who tried to share Jesus but they were not pure of heart… they were NOT living out the pure love of God in their actions and they had their own agendas to WHY they were doing it!
6Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.
So preacher, you STILL haven’t told us what is so controversial about your sermon! You have said that to deal with doctrines that deviate from God’s plan… such as the subject of homosexuality that we must listen to what Paul told Timothy…
Preacher you have told us:
to not teach a different doctrine, but remain true to the Gospel…
to NOT listen to the culture about things that deviate from God’s plan; that it only leads to meaningless discussions…
that when we DO teach the right thing… the Gospel of Jesus… that we do it with its end goal being the revelation of God’s love!
But to truly reveal God’s love: we must instruct with a pure heart, with a good conscience and with all our cards on the table, hiding NOTHING!
All of this seems FINE to me! Where is the controversy? Well in v7-11 of this chapter Paul tells Timothy that to instruct on God’s love is revealing God’s Law & God’s law is a good thing… what we must understand here is that Paul’s emphasis is NOT on God’s law but God’s love!
God’s law will reveal who is NOT part of God’s family, but it is NOT our role to make that call! Our role is that of a messenger of love! A love from God that brings reconciliation rather that judgment! This is an approach many believers MISS when it comes to relating to a sinful world!
I will admit that there is a lot in our culture that is evil and bad and we are told we should accept as normal and good. Things like murder by abortion that is preached as the reproductive rights for women…and this is seen by many as the ‘right’ thing to do/way 2 live!
In almost every aspect of our culture today the homosexual lifestyle is being TAUGHT as a valid & normal lifestyle! They tell us that those who support homosexuality reveal true love & equality for ALL people!
But Paul knew & we know that these sort of things are NOT right in God’s eyes… we know that these sort of things DEVIATE from the doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
These things are wrong and God’s word reveals those things… we can bring Scripture TO people, but our focus again should NOT be God’s law, but God’s love!
But in v12-14 Paul lets his readers know that the grace of God MUST be our focus! The love of God must be at the forefront of our focus in sharing the Gospel!
So preacher what does that mean for us? Well what this means for us is that we can no longer simply look and judge the lost! THAT IS NOT OUR PLACE!
We MUST focus on seeing the lost in a different manner! We are going to have to view those embrace doctrines other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a different light!
For MOST of church history, the church has viewed the sinner as the ENEMY, but our enemy is NOT flesh and blood… the lost of this world are NOT our enemy!
The lost of this world NEED Jesus! We are the instrument in the hands of a loving God to reach the lost of this world!
In this letter to Timothy, Paul uses the subject of Homosexuality as one example of a ‘different’ doctrine other than that of Jesus Christ…
Homosexuality is NOT something that God approves of! Homosexuality is NOT something God will condone! Scripture is very clear that homosexuality is viewed as sinful and against God’s order of things…
So with Scripture condemning it, what does that mean for us?
Does it mean that we should hide our heads in the sand about this issue and just allow the judgment of God to fall on those who live this way?
Does it mean that we will should openly condemn them with Scripture and threaten them with God’s punishment?
How is the Christian supposed to ‘react’ when God puts a homosexual in their path? Do we react in judgment OR do we react as Jesus did with people caught in sin? [use story of John 8 here]
The world tells us something totally different about this:
Science says that people are born/genetically predispositioned to homosexuality & they have NO choice in the matter
Society says that we should let people live as they choose, that we should not judge others based on their sexual orientation
The roar of our culture that says that the homosexual lifestyle is just as normal as the heterosexual lifestyle
Finally, we have now heard the highest Court of our own Government say that we cannot legally prevent homosexual marriage in our country!
So how do we respond to what science says?
How do we respond to what society says?
How do we respond to what the culture says?
How do we respond to what our gov’t says?
Based on our passage this morning our response CANNOT be judgmental and condemnatory!
Based our the passage we read this morning we must focus on LOVE… LOVE has to be the 1st response by ALL believers!
We ARE NOT the Holy Spirit! We are not here to condemn others OR convict others of the sin in their lives! Paul tells us that the law does that well enough… that is NOT our job!
Our job is not to condemn or convict but ours is to reach out w/LOVE to the lost of the world! We must reach out to those living the homosexual lifestyle IN LOVE!
We must understand that we are NOT scientists and that this is NOT a matter about science! For us to deny what science says only serves to separate us and it does not reach out in love!
I am not saying we accept what ‘science’ says about this subject… what I am saying is that SCIENCE is NOT the issue here, so don’t get caught up in useless arguments! Winning an argument about science is NOT going to lead a lost person to Christ!
We must also understand that society (as a whole) is NOT Christian and will not see things from God’s perspective as we do as believers! They will not respond in a Christ-like manner regarding this or any other subject!
We don’t have to ‘understand’ why they do what they do? The lost are going to live their lives as they please and we know that the way of the Cross will seem foolish to them… but we cannot allow that to dissuade us from sharing the Love of God with them!
Another thing we don’t have to do is ‘explain’ or ‘defend’ Scripture stance on homosexuality. We are not here to debate… we are here to love… we are here to reach out with the love of Christ!
This does not mean we cannot debate with those who are lost…we can, but what it means is that our focus must be on sharing the LOVE of God! Our FOCUS in any debate is NOT to win the debate but to show God’s love!
Finally, and this is the MOST important thing… we must learn to TRUST GOD! When it comes to this subject of homosexuality, I believe Christians lose sight of our trust in God & our trust in the Holy Spirit as the revealer of truth and convictor of sin! We don’t trust that God will change them and so we POUR on the guilt and condemnation about the lifestyle!
People when are we going to realize that the lost are going to act and live like LOST PEOPLE? We are NOT going to guilt and shame the lost into coming to Jesus!
I want to go back to that verse - John 3:17 [HSCB]… 17For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
If Jesus who IS going to be the final judge BUT yet He did not come to this world to judge and condemn… who are we to think it is OUR job!
How should believers deal with homosexuality? We are called to share the Gospel revealing the love of Christ in how we do it, seeking to glorify Christ alone and not our own agenda!
When we attempt to witness by tearing them down with condemnation and shame, we not only are being disobedient to God’s calling, but we are NEVER going to succeed in winning them to Christ!
But I want you to know that homosexuality is NOT the only sin we should treat like this… this is how we should approach ALL who are lost! We are NOT called to condemn! Many feel that if they do NOT condemn it that they are condoning the behavior!
That is where our trust in God must come through! If we feel we MUST do the work of the Holy Spirit our trust in God is GONE and if we don’t trust God, how can we share His love?
How do we deal with homosexuals who are seeking God? We reach out to them with love! We accept them in our worship services! We INVITE them to join us in our worship service!
We INVITE them be a part of our Sunday School class! We must seek to INCLUDE them by LOVING them with the love of God… the love that flows thru us!
We should TRUST God to deal with them and their lives! We must trust God to convict of sin… the picture we paint for the lost must be a picture of God’s love!
So let me ask you this… where are YOU today? ARE you showing the love of God in how you instruct or share the Gospel? Love has to be our focus!
Give invitation here…
