Sunday, June 04, 2006

Reaching Gays

Rom.5:14 - Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression...
The Word of God clearly teaches us that we are by nature sinners and we are born in iniquity. Now since God is not the author of sin everyone is born of Adam with the full complement of possibilities. Now through a mixture of physiology, chemical balances, carnal abnormalities, certain sinful tendencies, and probably a host of other subtle curse anomalies every one is different. For instance, a husband and wife have three children, three different children exhibiting three distinct pronounced sin patterns. Why? Only the Lord can answer that but I'm sure it had something to do with the carnal kaleidoscope called the "curse". Why is one violent and one passive? Why can one lie so easily and one feels guilty over the smallest issue? Why does one talk back and one obeys immediately? We know one thing for sure, it has to do with the sinful nature of man.
But don't assume that the one who obeys on the outside is the one that is closer to God. In the parable of the prodigal son the older son would be the youth leader and the Sunday School teacher. He is obedient, submissive, and debt free and yet he is the one that Jesus points out was full of pride. Additionally, I have heard sermons on the Father's love, the older son's pride, and the younger son's repentance. But have you ever heard a sermon on who was most culpable? Maybe it was the father himself. Wouldn't you and I criticize a father who acquiesced to the irresponsible and carnal whim of his younger son. Are there not legions of books about parenting concerning the importance of saying "no"? And yet this father gave his immature son his inheritance and thereby became a facilitator to his younger son's sinful future. Would not the father actually be the most culpable since the younger son was his responsibility? Would not that father fit the "he let his kid run wild" description?
I pointed that out to get to my real point. I remember hearing sermons, and preaching them also, loudly proclaiming that "No one is born a homosexual!". Every fundamentalist worth his salt would cry out "AMEN!". Now we know God Himself doesn't design a person to be a homosexual, or for that matter a murderer, adulterer, a liar, or even a sinner. You may have it all figured out but I ponder this issue. Since only God creates life, and since all babies are born sinners, God somehow must separate Himself from the Adamic curse when He made us. But think about how people are born, not as a perfect design of the Creator, but as a result of the poison of the curse. Some people are born with a wicked attraction to the opposite sex. Some have that hidden aspect of the carnal nature dragged out by environment, but some are born with that particular sin front and center. Why can two boys be born to the same parents with one growing up normal and the other drawn to playing with dolls and attracted to other boys, even against the strict correction of their parents? Now let me say here, before some of you have a heart attack, that when a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ God's power is sufficient to overcome any sinful stronghold, including homosexuality! But years ago I repented of my self righteous attitude toward certain sins.
Think about it. Some babies are born with male and female genitals, but I've never heard any preacher proclaim "No one is born with male and female genitals, they choose that!". The reason I am sharing this is to try and get us to sharpen our humble focus as we look at sinners. Homosexuality is a horrible sin that goes against even nature, but some people chose it and some people were somewhat bound from birth and in desperate need of liberty. All of them can be forgiven and freed. I Cor. 6:10-11 tells us that some of us were sinners of every kind, but we are now washed, sanctified, and justified by the name of Jesus and the Spirit of God.
We as believers are challenged with a balance that we rarely get right. Sometimes we rail against sin in a way that misrepresents the offer of grace. And sometimes we misrepresent God's grace as fire insurance without any "count the cost" consideration. We must never condone or accept any sin including those that are an abomination but many times we have become comfortable with religious clichés that misrepresent the truth. All of us are born sinners("God doesn't make sinners") and all of us are in desperate need of eternal redemption. We as the church should be very careful not to combine the body of Christ with earthly government and their "morality du jour". Which would you consider more sinful, if the government recognized gay marriages, or if the government denies that "Jesus has come in the flesh"(spirit of anti-christ)? The answer is: It doesn't matter, there is no earthly government that speaks for God. Let us as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ allow the carnal dialogue between liberals and conservatives continue to be "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing", but let us humbly and boldly reach out to a lost and dying world, no matter what their sin!!

I'm going to love the comments on this one!

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