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.
ILLUSTRATION: The story of the gay man who was called "Preacher" in the gay bars because he told them all his convictions that “We’re all going to hell.” Eventually, they refused him the microphone because of this proclamation.
Raised to know the truth, he struggled with his convictions, even through his entire gay life style.
He said the church drove him deeper in because of their hard heartedness toward homosexuals.
So he did whatever it took to run away from God and the church but deep inside he was terribly unhappy.
He was living the GAY life, in pursuit of happiness but never finding it. He was happy on the outside, but deep inside his heart he was grieving because he could not find GAITY in HOMOSEXUALITY. Somewhere deep inside he knew HAPPINESS was found in a relationship with his Heavenly Father. That’s when he came back to his senses…
One day as he was sitting in a gay bar with his gay friends, he heard the familiar echo of the voice of God in his heart, compelling him: “Come back home!” He knew God was calling him back to the same church he had been driven away from: the same hypocrites that called him a sinner: people who, according to the Word of God were his own brothers!
The prodigal son was facing the same convictions when he came to his senses:
Luke 15:17-20, “"…he said, ’How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father…”
So many sinners find that at the end of the earthy road that leads to the pursuit of happiness, there is poverty and shame: a sense of overwhelming emptiness and worthlessness. This is always the return when we invest in the things this world has to offer: false happiness, counterfeit joy…
“I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’”
The prodigal son assumed that because of his sins that he was unworthy of his proper place in the family. He’s like so many sinners today, unable to make a decision to return to The Father because we assume our sins are too great to ever be part of the family of God again.
You might be reasoning like a prodigal son today: I’m unworthy… I’ve made too many mistakes. I’ve gone too far. Maybe you’ve even gone so far as to make irreversible changes to your body and you think there’s no hope left for you.
I want you to know today that GOD is a GOD OF THE HEART and the resounding call of the message from GOD THE FATHER TO YOU TODAY IS THIS: COME HOME…
I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE!
Just before Jesus died on the cross, He “…cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34
Why did The Father forsake the Son in His last hour? FOR YOU!
The SON bore YOUR SINS, your acts of rebellion on His body so that when He died your sins would die with Him and He wants you to know HE DID IT ALL FOR YOU because He loves you!
YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUR PLACE IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, not because of your sin or lack thereof, but because of the blood and body of Jesus Christ!
TO EVERYONE LISTENING TODAY: TO GAYS AND TO THOSE WHO ARE HAPPY:
GOD LOVES YOU AND HE’S CALLING YOU HOME!
Luke 15:20-24, “…while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ "But the father said to his servants, ’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
When his son came home, the father wasn’t concerned about how he looked or what shape he was in. He was only overjoyed that his lost son, who had made himself dead to the father for so long, was now home, and he would live again!
The Father honored him with celebration and killed the fattened calf in his honor that day and the only one to complain was guess who… THE BROTHER!
Luke 15:25-30, "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ’Your brother has come,’ he replied, ’and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ’Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders…
…Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’”
I’ve told you about the unhappy gay man who was called by God to return home… But I didn’t finish the story… The day he returned, a Christian man in his Sunday morning adult study just so happened to make a gay joke. He said, “If it had been someone other than myself, they certainly would have left never to return to church again.”
My friends, there is a huge indifference in the church of God The Father: an attitude of hatred and frustration toward gays. We say, “Love the sinner and hate the sin,” but we don’t live it.
Instead of showing them the way, we’re busy focusing on the absurdity of their sins and shunning them away.
"’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"
Years later, this formerly gay man serves Jesus with all his heart. He plays a prominent role in the same church that drove him back to the gay lifestyle before, and part of the message he has for the church of Christ today is this: Raise your voice. Stop being silent about homosexuality. Quit ignoring it and let the world know where the church stands! Don’t dodge the hot issues of today’s society!”
I felt God saying, “Brad, my lost children will be listening. Let them know I love them and my deep desire is to rescue and redeem them from their sins.”
Everyone living today in opposition to the Will of The Father is a prodigal son.
You may be on the road away from The Father, in full pursuit of happiness the way you define it.
But some day my friends, when you come to your senses you will discover that happiness is not found in the pursuit of pleasure, whether that comes in the form of cash, self-expression or a variety of sexual encounters. Happiness is found in the arms of The Father and there is a body of blood bought believers here at VCC to welcome you back to the arms of The Father. Come home!
There are some listening online around the world today, who have pursued happiness in the same way as the prodigal son and somehow even in the midst of your laughter, your heart aches. You’ve found yourself far away from home in the pursuit of happiness and all you’ve found is grief.
Come home!
