Every day you wake up to a crazier world than you left the night before. Currently during June, the traditional month of weddings, we are awaiting a Supreme Court decision in America that will likely change the historic definition of marriage to allow for members of the same sex to enjoy all of the material and social benefits of marriage. After thousands of years of cultural consistency, this legal and cultural shift has basically happened within a generation. At the same time, 1970s Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner, after 3 marriages, has decided he does not want to be a man, and has gone through the process of ‘becoming a woman’, even changing his name to Caitlyn. He is now posing on national magazines in lingerie. I’m sure my grandparents would think we’ve gone nuts, because we basically have. These movements away from God’s design seek our sympathy. The people deserve our compassion, but the sin does not. One may think that the Bible could not speak about these things because it was written thousands of years ago, and before the advent of transgender possibilities. But God does speak to these things in His Word. In one passage He could not be more clear. Writing to the Church in a very ‘progressive’ Corinth, Paul states, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NASB) God is holy. He cannot allow sin into His holy place, whether that holy place is Heaven, or an earthly temple, or humans. We know this. We remember this from when we were children in church. We remember reading these passages in the Bible. Over time we have been told that these words were written by people who didn’t know any better, in an archaic time, to another group. We are told by the ‘intellectuals’ (even in the church) that these words don’t apply today because we don’t live there, or because we are more compassionate, or any other number of ways we can dismiss truth. But the truth is there… in God’s Holy Word… written by people who were guided to write by His Spirit… on issues that violate His nature. Sexual immorality is sick and wicked, and will take us away from God for eternity. This includes people who have sex outside of marriage, people who have sex with married people who aren’t their spouse, people who act outside of the gender design God created for them (effeminate - men acting like women and likewise women acting like men), and those practicing homosexuality. God is very thorough in this list. And as is His habit, he surrounds these activities with things like thievery, drunkenness, idolatry, and swindling. He couldn’t be more clear. I do love how Paul includes the hope of humanity even as he condemns the works of evil in our lives. He recognizes that holiness is available. We can be ‘former sinners’. We are called to come out of sin. When we do, we can remember how we ‘were’. This is not who we are. If you are saved, you are not an alcoholic… you are a former alcoholic. If you are alive in Christ, you are not a thief… you are a former thief. If you are a new creation in Jesus, you aren’t a homosexual… you are a former homosexual. This is the power of the Gospel… that we are not who we were. There is hope for Bruce Jenner. And believe it or not, it is easier for God to turn Bruce into a holy man than it is for doctors to turn him into a woman. Praise be to God! The Supreme Court will not reinforce God’s truth. Hollywood and the media will not support holiness and wholeness. But the truth of God does not change. I want to remind you today that if you still believe in God’s Word, you have NOT gone crazy. The rest of the world is in darkness. You are in light. Trust it. Speak it. Live it. And hopefully someone will see it and come out of their darkness. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
March 2019
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly