NOVEMBER 21, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
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November 21, 2021: Bible & Sex 5
Transcription
I want you to imagine growing up through that moment in adolescence -puberty- and hearing your friends’ discussions move from video games, candy, and cartoons into deeper discussions about life and the opposite sex:
They start talking about that cute boy or that pretty girl that catches their eye...
They start to notice someone’s figure, or hair, or smile is appealing
School dances lend themselves to pair off
You see it all happening but you don’t seem to be tracking with them so you wonder:
“when will I feel the way they do?”
Maybe it just hasn’t happened yet and it will kick in later
You wait and wait but you don’t feel the same way
Then you realize, the way they talk about the opposite sex is the way I feel about the same sex and you ask yourself, “is this what people call being gay” but you suppress it because...
You don’t know how others might respond
You don’t know how your parents will respond
If you’re in a christian context, you’ve seen the way they’ve treated people and you hear words like “abomination”you think,
“I just need to wait this out and pray, yes I’ll PRAY!”
You even ask a pastor or youth pastor to pray with a generic request for “relationships or purity”
And, after you wake up every morning for months and ask God to give you what others seem to have - an attraction to the opposite sex- because...
it’s easier that way and
“I didn’t ask for this!”
...Nothing changes.
Maybe you’ve gone out on a couple dates with the opposite sex to try to spark something but it doesn’t work
Eventually, after years of quietly struggling with it, you decide this is just the way I am & I need to embrace it.
This is the story of so many people inside and outside of the church. It’s REAL & it can be filled with distress, confusing, frustrating, scary.
Today, we are talking about the Bible & the Gay community.
The story I just told is merely one kind of narrative but I want us all to understand and imagine how difficult it would be to navigate our world through this especially in the context of early adolescence at the school setting when any “difference” can make you a target for ridicule.
Maybe this IS your story or the story of someone you know and love
Maybe this is NOT your story but it helps those who have not had this experience to recognize their possible detachment from it as cis-gender, hetereosexual people in a world that normalizes their orientation:
It can create a calloused heart - a calloused approach when this gets brought up.
So, again, I want us to recognize, like we have along this whole series, that the church has caused a LOT of damage in this area.
It is not my heart or the heart of the leadership at CGNE to add to that damage or stress and so I want to make sure to set up a couple of expectations before we move forward and open up the text.
A couple of the expectations are familiar but I have some additions:
This is a PG-13 Series Rating so, if you are in the room now or watching,
you are an adult or an adult has approved of you being here…
and you are in a place emotionally to have this conversation right now.
Second we want this to be a place and have a tone of safety:
But the scriptures will often confront our ideologies and beliefs as a means to guide us into wholeness.
While I may challenge you, I don’t want to alienate anyone but to be as charitable, gracious and truthful as the Bible tells us to be.
Once again, you are welcome as you are in our church, you are welcome in this conversation, and we LOVE you even if we disagree.
Remember that this is part FIVE in an ongoing conversation about the Bible & Sex and at this point, we are leaning heavily on information we have already taught so, as I’ll point back to those things but I won’t have time to reteach them and:
you will need to listen to all the messages to get the full offering of the topic and
you may misunderstand something if you haven’t caught them all.
In addition, I am a pastor who teaches the bible speaking to christians or those learning about it.
Follower: I don’t have the expectation that everyone agrees with me but you must consider it &
If you're not a christian and listening to this, I have zero expectation that you would adhere to it, though I do believe the way of Jesus tells us the best way in which we are to live.
I’ve read it once but I do think it’s important to read again from our statement of faith which applies to this sermon:
Marriage: We recognize that all persons are made in the image of God and are to reflect that image in the community of believers, in home and in society. We believe in the family, celibate singleness, and faithful heterosexual marriage as the patterns God designed for us. Gen. 1:26-28
TWO things on this before I get started.
1. First, It is my hope to bring some clarity to this statement and give reasons for it today (it will unfold as a REASONED Theological Case) because being unclear is not a healthy or “loving” position for anyone.
Multiple churches who are on multiple sides of this coin have advised me to get as clear as possible as soon as possible because when you don’t people fill in the gaps and feel lied to.
In fact, an online organization called Church Clarity (which curates a database of churches based on how clearly they communicate their policies as a means to protect the LGBTQ+ Community) states “Ambiguity is harmful, clarity is reasonable.”
2. Second, I think it is important for you to know that I believe, through conversations, podcast sharing, and facebook posts, etc that a strong MAJORITY of our congregation would describe themselves as “affirming.”
With both of those things being said, I am not going to use either “affirming” or “non-affirming” to describe our church in this conversation. WHY have I made that decision? Because these terms have attachments that I think are problematic in at least 2 ways:
First, this terminology plays into an American Political War that has been being waged behind the scenes (whether you knew it or not) from BOTH the Right and the Left which have co-opted the churches doctrine to gain and secure a christian voting block and I don’t want to participate in it.
Second, these blanket terms tend to come with assumptions, grouping multiple ideologies that are not always true and cause confusion. Namely the ways we response including:
Justice & Civic Engagement Response
Shepherding Response
Missional Response
Doctrinal Response...
I will return to this at the end of the sermon.
SO, WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY..?
There are essentially SIX “prohibition” passages that directly address our focus:
three in the Old Testament (Gen 19:1–10; Lev 18:22; 20:13)
and three in the New (Rom 1:26–27; 1 Cor 6:9; 1 Tim 1:9–10).
This does not include where the Bible uses “sexual immorality” as a general statement though is commonly believed that this would include same-sex sexual behavior.
We have already spent plenty of time in Genesis so I am going to spend very little time there but, to summarize it:
We have already established that God made humanity in His image and they were male and female. They are alike in humanity but different in sexuality
Sex itself was created with a fourfold purpose: Illustration (covenant marriage), Procreation, Love, and pleasure.
Just to reiterate that we get sexuality wrong when our starting point excludes any one of these 4 things.
Leviticus 18 & 20 has some of the strongest language regarding same sex sexuality and are often used as “clobber passages.”
For the sake of time, I am not going to go deep into them but I think it’s important to know that the context had the specific purpose of “holiness.”
As God’s people leave Egypt, they are to be set apart from the nations around them and become a distinct people for God who is Holy himself.
As Jon Tyson points out: “You have holy people - the priests with holy clothes in a holy land at a holy place using holy utensils and holy objects celebrating holy days living by a holy law so they can be a kingdom of priests in a Holy nation.”
The laws aren’t meant to be restrictive but to be a code which helps them to live YHWH’s command to “be Holy as I am Holy.”
Often we just think that Leviticus is outdated or we are “picking and choosing.”
We think “It USED TO BE wrong for Israel to engage in same-sex behavior. BUT it was also wrong to eat pork, trim their beards, and gather sticks on Saturday.”
“Just because some laws are obsolete doesn’t mean all laws are. Lots of Levitical laws are still binding on Christians.” AND
We have specific ways categorizing the laws (Moral, Civil, and Ceremonial) and applying Old Testament law to determine their relevance today.
The main factor is that an idea carries over from the OT to the NT. So I want us to move over to the New Testament but I think it’s useful to know that this is a consistent idea throughout scripture.
There are a FEW NT sections but I want to focus on ROM. 1:18-31 (Tyson, 39) because it is the clearest verse on this subject...
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Stop for a second...
First, I want to acknowledge that Paul seems like a blast at a party, right?!
His words are not hubris though, the self proclaimed “chief of sinners” is not pinpointing one group but saying, there are struggles here that needs to be seen so they can come into alignment with God in this area of their life...
Paul is tying us into Genesis where God has a give His design for things and you WANT to be in it because there is joy, and freedom, and flourishing in it but the rebellion in Gen 3 has our hearts and heads all mixed up as we discern:
Truth for lies
Creator for the creation and...
God for ourselves
He goes on to give examples..
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
This section is a part of a larger argument Paul is launching in Romans which spans from chapter 1:18 to 3:26 which is trying to make us aware that, without Jesus, all of us are guilty before God.
First part is directed at the sins of the Gentiles 1:18-32
Second that the Jews are just as wicked 2:1-39
Third Paul shows that, while the law is helpful to reveal our sin it is inadequate to save us. The conclusion is that only Jesus can save; we can’t save ourselves!
Pastor Jon Tyson drives this point home by saying, “The whole point of this is to point towards God’s grace expressed to us in Jesus so whatever we’ve done Jew, gentile gay, straight, murderer, or moralist, Porn addict or pride addict; it’s been put into a coffin and sent away as dead and now we have life in Jesus.” PAUL’S POINT IS GRACE!!
Now, there are three movements that take place in the section I just read:
An exchange of the Creator for the things created which is idolatry.
In that Idolatry, there is a Substitution of GOD as the priority for the priority of self
And the conclusion of those thing is that you embrace:
Lies instead of Truth
Creation instead of the Creator
Our own desires instead of God’s
And that which is natural according to the design of God.
HE GIVES MULTIPLE EXAMPLES so
I want you to know that the highlight of sexuality (verses 26-27) isn’t to point out this one amongst other sins as worse, it seems to be the THING they are dealing with and it can’t be ignored, or sidestepped, or act like it is approved according to God.
The MOST common progressive interpretations for New Testament passages is that Paul’s description was referring to “non-consensual” or coercive sex.
The idea is that the type of same-sex relations being described was exploitative and NOT consenting, same-sex, monogomous partners.
So this is condemning rape, prostitution, and pederasty (i.e., older men having sexual relations with teenage boys).
However, when you look at the text,
there’s no mention of masters, slaves, prostitutes, rape, or pederasty.
In fact, there are several different Greek words for pederasty, and none of them…are used in this (or any of the NT) passages.
Additionally, while these types of relationships were KNOWN to exist among men during this time, they did not exist among women and women are mentioned in this instance.
And the text says those mentioned were “consumed with passion with one another” indicating mutuality between the two.
This is not just a conservative opinion, several scholars who would call themselves “affirming” agree that the bible is clear on this subject.
“Louis Crompton, a brilliant scholar, who identifies as Gay, who wrote a highly acclaimed book called Homosexuality and Civilization, says: ‘Nowhere does Paul or any other Jewish writer of this period imply the least acceptance of same-sex relations under any circumstance. The idea that homosexuals might be redeemed by mutual devotion would have been wholly foreign to Paul or any other Jew or early Christian.’
Bill Loader who is considered the world’s foremost scholar on sexuality in ancient Christianity and Judaism and identifies as an affirming Christian. Still, he rejects the argument that the only same-sex relationships in the ancient world were exploitative. Loader says that Paul’s words in Romans 1:26–27 “included, but [were] by no means limited to exploitative pederasty,” or “sexual abuse of male slaves”...“It is inconceivable that [Paul] would approve of any same-sex acts if, as we must assume, he affirmed the prohibitions of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 as fellow Jews of his time understood them.”
So, the idea that they were prohibiting only exploitative same-sex relations is neither biblically nor historically accurate.
The idea here is that gay sex is not endorsed by the bible.
It is important to remember that a Doctrinal Position about same-sex marriage doesn’t depend on these handful of passages alone.
They simply CONFIRM what we’ve been talking about over the last few weeks…
that God has a design and a pattern for what He considers healthy, flourishing of humanity: “that sex-difference is a necessary part of what marraige is and that all sexual relationships outside of marriage are sin. The prohibition passages are simply a few of many passages that prohibit sex outside of marriage (properly defined).
When you add this to the historical christian interpretation through generations, the conclusions
Now, listen, i want to love people well and I want to include as many people as possible in their endeavor to follow Jesus...as a pastor, who believes God’s word is an authority in our lives, guiding us into the best way in which humanity is meant to live and thrive and speaking to christians, I have to be honest...there just isn’t the kind of flexibility here to place God’s endorsement on it (I’ve looked for it over the last 2 years...but it’s simply not there in the scriptures).
There’s likely a million questions:
Are people born this way?
What about thoughts and fantasies, etc?
Can a christian be gay?
Don’t have time for Q&A today but, next week, I will try to answer any further questions we may have and give an end cap on our discussion where we will circle back to the beginning and talk about our sexual formation moving forward. Send in your questions.
So, once again, even if you agree with this theology, what do we do with it in real life?
I mentioned that terms like affirming and non-affirming tend to group ideologies that the scripture does not. I believe there are compartments of discussion that should be parsed out for application in at least 4 different ways:
Justice & Civic Engagement Response
Shepherding Response
Missional Response
Doctrinal Response
These Categories have been adapted from:
a text by L.R. Holben wherein he describes a spectrum of possible beliefs across modern denominations and..
When you use terms like affirming & non-affirming it assumes that all these categories are in alignment.
Today was teaching on the doctrinal response. Not much flex but there is a LOT OF FLEXIBILITY in other areas.
Justice & Civic Engagement Response
Involves the intersection of the church as it pertains to marginalization and liberation. This could be a public and, often, civic engagement.
Public - how you handle someone's preferred pronoun.
Civic Engagement and the way you believe the government should speak into these topics and shape public mandates.
Shepherding Response
Love all people and care for them.
DON’T use clobber passages
Seek to understand before you jump to judgements
Missional Response
Missional negotiation that takes place when someone begins to enter the Kingdom.
Doctrinal Response
Simply, “what does the bible say on this matter?”
Given what we have walked through today, there isn’t a lot of flexibility here not because He is a with-holding God. In God’s divine wisdom, he has simply designed sexuality, as a means of human flourishing and we believe the pattern that God designed to take place in the context of faithful heterosexual marriage.
I believe there is a LOT of flexibility and inclusion (I know that’s a loaded term but I think it's appropriate here) in how engage in Justice, in how we engage in Shepherding people, and how we respond in missional engagement - in fact, they are so flexible that
When we see Jesus do it, as we have mentioned already, it’s controversial.
It makes the conservatve circles of His day REALLY uncomfortable…
He loved people with extravagant grace
...but he also loved people enough to bring them into truth, and prod them towards His intention for human flourishing.
Love does that too...
I want to remind you of Dr. Yarhouse’s engagements - that this may be a personal, public engagement for you:
SO, if same-sex attraction is:
Personal (whether it is unwanted and you are struggling with it or you have embraced it).
I want you to know that I am not only sorry for the shameful way in which evangelicalism has treated you but I want to point out that:
They have themselves, denied the Imago Dei
They have denied the grace they live under
They have normalized their sins at the cost of marginalizing others...
And they will answer to God for it.
All I can say is WE will try to do better moving forward. Once again, it is my prayer that Common Ground is a SAFE place.
Our Job is not to Change You, attempt to re-orient you, or marginalize you. It is to walk with you in your discipleship of Jesus.
Public (meaning this is not your orientation but people you know)
I encourage you to Love, and to protect insomuch as it does not violate you doctrinal position
That is going to look different for different people
Nuclear Family vs OIKOS:
If we are going to endorse celibate singleness in our doctrinal statement, then we have to consider what we are asking of people and offer real, loving, practical solutions which could require a re-arrangment of our family and church structures...
Just as we started today, it’s important to remember that these ideals don’t live in a vacuum but in the daily reality of many of our lives personally or publicly and God has called all of us to move in our discipleship towards Jesus. We are all learning to let go of the habits, hangups, and sins, and just lack of trust we carry with us on a daily basis and we all humbly stand before the creator in desperate need for his intervention...this is more unifying than anything else in the world because we get to THANK GOD HE HAS MADE HIMSELF AVAILABLE FOR IT!
My final call is to ask that we turn to God and place our trust in Him and our hope of a sanctified life in Him our entire lives. Whether we be filled with:
“covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossipping, slandering, hate, insolence, haughtiness, boastfulness, inventors of evil, disobedience, foolish, faithlessness, heartlessness, or ruthlessness.
As Tyson said, this is meant to “point towards God’s grace expressed to us in Jesus so whatever we’ve done...it’s been put into a coffin and sent away as dead and now we have life in Jesus.
May we all walk under the banner of the love of Jesus Christ!
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
“Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.