Sermon: Isn’t the Christian View of Homosexuality Hateful?

Good evening. I, it is my delight to worship tonight with you and to continue in our sermon series, our evening sermon series on 10 hard questions about Christianity. And if you've been here, you know that these have been hard questions. I have had the privilege of talking to other brothers who have preached some of the earlier sermons, and we agree, this is, this is really challenging, but, but so important. It's so important for us in these hot button issues,

these cultural issues. To be clear in our understanding, we need to know what we're talking about to be firm in our conviction. So we need to look to scripture to see what God says and to be compassionate in our ministry. Tonight's question is, isn't the Christian view of homosexuality hateful? I acknowledge that this is not just controversial, this is a deeply personal issue. It sometimes divides families. There may be some here tonight who, if you were to admit it,

would say, I'm confused about sexuality. There's so many different competing voices. There might be some, maybe a smaller number here tonight who would say either privately or publicly, I identify as being gay. And we are very glad you're here tonight. And all of us know people, friends, loved ones, uh, who identify as being gay. And again, sometimes that can be divisive and, and very painful. So I wanna pray right now

that the Lord will help me to speak the truth in love. Would you join me in prayer? Lord, sometimes we veer off and we don't speak the truth. We chicken out. We don't say there are hard things that need to be said because we don't like conflict and we don't want people to think we're dumb. Other times we veer off and we speak very boldly. We may even speak the truth, but there's a hard edge to it. It's haughty, it's coming from above, not alongside.

Lord, this topic deserves our very best thinking. And only Christ has the perfect balance of infinite love and infinite truth. So Lord Jesus, would you send forth your spirit upon me tonight and upon each one of us? And would you teach us, teach us what is good? Feed us with what is good. We pray in your name Jesus. Amen. So isn't the Christian view of homosexuality hateful? I'm not gonna be able to address every issue

or every answer, every question, but I pray that what we talk about tonight will be helpful to at least begin to think about these things. So I've been given a question as a topic. My, my message tonight is in the form of three more questions. Okay, so my first question is, what is the Christian view of homosexuality? We need to start there. Second question, why do many people consider that view hateful? And then thirdly, most importantly,

how is the Christian view of homosexuality actually not hateful, but supremely loving? So let's start with the Christian view of homosexuality, and we're gonna start in Matthew 19 verses four and five. In, in order to look at God's view, the Bible's view, the Christian view of homosexuality, we must start with God's good purpose for sexuality in general. So in Matthew 19, Pharisees come up to Jesus and say, teacher, is it lawful for a man

to divorce his wife for any and every reason? And this is how Jesus answered. Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife. And the two shall become one flesh. Now this is a wonderful two verses because it's Jesus the Son, quoting Jesus, God, God the Father. Jesus is quoting Genesis one and two.

So it's God the Son quoting his father doesn't mean it has more inspiration. All of scriptures inspired, but the Father and the Son are absolutely agreed on this. And so fundamental to the Christian understanding of human sexuality is God. God himself. In the beginning, God created, he created three things. First of all, in the beginning, God created the entire universe by the word of his power, including as Nate referred to in his prayer, human beings

as the crown of his creation. He made human beings uniquely in his image to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And very importantly, according to Jesus, God created them male and female. What today is called a gender binary, two choices, male or female. God did not create a gender continuum. He created men and women equal in image, equal in glory and dignity, but in, in significant ways. He created them different. He created men and women to be physically

and relationally complimentary so that they could more fully reflect the glory of the relational trinity. Second, God created marriage. People didn't think this up. Society's cultures, governments didn't come up with this. God created marriage in the very beginning. The foundational human relationship is to be between a man and a woman in marriage. The man and woman were to be united for life in a solemn but joyful covenant relationship.

And so to fulfill God's good purposes, first of all, to complete one another in loving companionship. Second, to serve God together in mutual support. And third, to raise families with the children produced by their union.

Third, God created sexual expression, the marriage act, sexual intercourse. He created this as a beautiful gift to married couples for his glory and their pleasure. And according to God's good design, as we just saw in Matthew, from the mouth of Jesus, according to God's design, all sexual expression is restricted to a man and a woman in marriage. Therefore, all other forms of sexual expression are forbidden. So that's just a 30,000 feet overview

of God's purpose for sexuality. Now what happened? What went wrong? What has gone wrong with God's good purpose? And here we need to turn to Romans chapter one. This is one of the most significant passages, both theologically, biblically, and psychologically in the Bible, it explains the deepest problem that human beings face. So Romans one, we're gonna read, uh, I'm gonna read verses 18 through 27. I'll be skipping short parts, uh, just to for, for the sake

of, uh, brevity here. So I'm starting in Romans one 18. What has gone wrong with God's good purpose for human sexuality, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppressed the truth. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. That was the one of the main points of Nate's sermon this morning. But they became futile in their thinking

and their foolish hearts were darkened. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves 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. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women, exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.

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. In this very important passage, Paul explains how what God created very good male and female marriage, marital sex has gone very bad. Sin entered the world and ruptured the relationship with God, who is the source of all good and all blessing

and it perverted God's good design for sexuality. Here is Paul's main point of Romans one. I'm gonna read it twice. Here's Paul's main point. Willful idolatry leads to enslaving lusts and ultimately to eternal death. That's the deepest problem of the human race. Willful idolatry leads to enslaving lusts and ultimately to eternal death. This is what God sent his own beloved son Jesus into the world to reverse and to save us from.

Now at this point, I need to make just a small caveat, small point so that people don't misunderstand something. In Paul's talking about the progression from idolatry to homosexuality, he's talking about the history of mankind. He's not talking about any one person's conscious choices or story. We need to keep that clear. This passage highlights three deadly exchanges that we human beings make in our sin. Number one, this is primary and most foundationally evil.

We exchange the worship of God for idols that's behind everything else. Secondly, we exchange sexual purity, man and a woman in marriage for lust. And third, we exchange heterosexual relations for homosexual relations. Therefore, because same sex intercourse is a part of what author Thomas Schmidt calls humanity's primal rejection of God's sovereignty, it is always sinful. Now that leads us to a another big topic. What about same sex attraction?

It's not the exact same thing as homosexual practice. They're related obviously, but they're not exactly the same thing. And again, this is a huge topic. There's lots of debate about this both within the church and outside the church. Here are three things that I think we can and must acknowledge briefly as we think about same sex attraction. First of all, same sex attraction is a disordered result of the fall. Therefore, it is not good

and it is not, as some people try to say, even in the Christian Church, it's not neutral. It is an effect or a result or an expression of original sin. We could call it a sinful tendency. It becomes a deliberate act when in any way it's indulged in either mentally or physically. It's a disordered result of the fall. Second, this we don't learn from the Bible, but from I think reputable research in most homosexuals, almost all men, 30 to 50% of women,

same sex attraction is discovered rather than deliberately chosen. We'll talk more about this in a few minutes. And third, same sex attraction can be resisted by God's grace. A person with same sex attraction can progressively grow in freedom and holiness as a beloved child of God and be brought home eventually to the joy of God's presence in heaven. So let me summarize the Christian view of homosexuality very briefly.

Then we'll move on to the second question. First, scripture is our primary decisive and final authority about human sexuality including homosexuality. Second homosexual acts deviate from God's design for sexual expression and undermine God's good gift of marriage. And third, homosexuality, whether same sex attraction or actual homosexual practice is, but one sin of many and any and all repentance sinners can be forgiven, spiritually transformed, used

by God and brought safely home to enjoy Christ's glory in heaven. So there's brief summary. What is the Christian view of homosexuality? Second question. Why do so many people consider this view hateful? Now, I have obviously have to be very selective and try to be very concise here. So I'm gonna give five reasons why some people hate the Christian view because they consider it hateful. I'll say that again, five reasons why some people hate the

Christian view because they consider the Christian view hateful. And at the same time, these five reasons are also simultaneously five arguments for homosexuality. The first reason or argument is about same sex attraction. And it sounds like this, most people don't choose to be same sex attracted but rather discover it. So it can't be wrong as Lady Gaga said, you were born this way, baby.

This is an example of a partial truth leading to a false conclusion. It is true that most men and about half of women do not consciously choose their same sex attraction, but saying that people are born this way is not helpful. First of all, it implies that it's primarily biological and that's there, there's just not research to support that. And secondly, that it's simple. It's just one thing. The reality is there's many theories about

what caused the same sex attraction. They don't all agree with each other. And the best conclusion is there are several possible influences, nature and nurture contributors that might uh, influence someone in that direction. It's important that we understand this. So we, we, we acknowledge the complexity of this. We don't accept reductionist theories that make it just one thing. And so that we take the time to listen carefully

and learn each person's story.

It's also essential, excuse me, to understand that any and all nature and nurture influences do not remove moral responsibility. We are all born with various weaknesses, various vulnerabilities and tendencies to particular sins. Same sex attraction is one such tendency. We are all responsible to confess our sinful tendencies and our actual sins to God and then to trust in his gracious mercies and transforming power. The second reason why some people consider this hateful has

to do with gay marriage. Sounds like this. Since 2015, the Obergefell decision, homosexual marriage has been legal. It's the law of the land. And so that settles it once and for all. The idea is that lots of experts from different fields have weighed in and our nation's highest court has made a decision, just justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority. Put it this way, the right to marry is a fundamental right inherent

in the liberty of the person. And under the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, couples of the same sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty. And so again, the idea is that should settle it. How dare anyone say that what the Supreme Court has declared legal is morally wrong? Well, this objection recognizes something true, that our laws not only legislate, they educate. And I have no doubt that many, many, many people

have changed their view or been shifted in their view consciously or unconsciously by the Supreme Court's decision. But it's a misleading and deceptive argument based on a false assumption. The false assumption is that our Supreme Court is infallible and always makes wise and good rulings. And all you have to do is look up a history of the rulings. I'll just tell you too, in 1857, Dred Scott versus Sanford held that African Americans,

whether free men or slaves, could not be considered American citizens. Nobody believes that was a good decision. Today, 1927, buck versus Bell upheld the forced sterilization of those with intellectual abilities for the protection and health of the state. Nobody believes that was a good decision. The truth is, brothers and sisters, only God in FA makes Infallibly wise, righteous, and just decisions every time equally important.

God created marriage in the beginning and he alone can define it. Governments and courts have no authority to decide what marriage is. They can only recognize what God has created and what reason and natural law affirm. The third argument is about being gay in general. And it sounds like this, Hey, I, I have friends and family who are gay and they're good people. And here's, here's the line, you should be able to love

whomever you want. That's an emotionally persuasive argument that's probably changed more minds than anything else personally knowing people. I remember talking to one of my sisters some years ago. Our family was raised Catholic back in the fifties and sixties. Catholic church was pretty clear about sexual morality. And I remember learning that my sister was in favor of gay gay marriage and I was surprised. And so I asked her about it and the catalyst for

that change was being in a book club and someone else in the book club saying, I don't know if it was a question or a statement, something like, why shouldn't you be able to love whomever you want? And that sounds on the surface. Yeah. And that was a big catalyst for her to change her entire upbringing and her ideas. But remember, emotionally persuasive arguments aren't necessarily true or right arguments. The rightness or wrongness of this argument depends

entirely on answering two questions. First, who gets to define love? Is it the omniscient holy creator or the fallen creature? Second question, what does genuine love look like? If we define love correctly, then of course we should be able to love whomever we want. And hopefully we want to love everybody in some way. But what does that look like? As Christians, we would answer humbly, boldly, joyfully, genuine love looks like

Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life. And that leads us back to what Jesus said at the beginning of the sermon in Matthew uh, 19. And it leads us to our next reason or our argument. The arguments is this. Jesus never even mentioned homosexuality, so it can't be that important. Well, that's true in a wooden, literal way, but ultimately it's dead wrong. Jesus didn't mention homosexuality. Why not? Because his teaching mission was to the Jews.

And in Jewish culture, homosexuality was deeply repugnant and virtually unknown. He didn't need to mention it. But remember, he defined sexuality. Male and female, two shall become one flesh within marriage. He defined it in a creation positive way that absolutely excluded any sex outside of marriage between, between a man and a woman, including homosexuality.

The final argument has to do with personal happiness. And again, this is, this is a deeply emotional and persuasive argument. Might sound like this. God loves me, he wants me to be fulfilled. He wouldn't want me to be miserable. When I tried to deny my same sex attraction and same sex practice, I was miserable. And now I feel so fulfilled in my sex sexual expression. It's another emotional argument, but it's not totally insignificant.

It would be easy to just make fun of it, um, because it makes my happiness and my fulfillment the be all and end all. And we know better than that. We know that God caress more deeply about our holiness and our glory than our temporary fulfillment. But remember, God does care deeply about our happiness. I remember as a young Christian, probably under the influence of CSS Lewis thinking with surprise, God actually wants me to be happy.

He wants me to be happy more than I want to be happy. But it's happiness as he defines it according to his terms. So how do we answer this personal fulfillment argument? I think the answer is that the gospel call to repentance and faith is never meant merely to show people where they're wrong. That's part of it. It's not the whole, it would be easy to say God doesn't want you to be happy in your sin. Don't you see how wrong that is?

And that would be true, but it's not the whole truth. The gospel is also meant by God to win us to something better, infinitely better, to a greater pure deeper happiness. God shows us what's wrong with us, including what's sexually wrong with us so that he can lead us to what's right. How does he do that? Well, remember the Bible tells us a big story of the whole human race. Sometimes people call it the meta-narrative creation, fall

redemption, consummation. That's really helpful. Creation tells us why there's so many good things in the world, so many beautiful things, including sexuality. It's a beautiful gift. The fall tells us how things went wrong and got perverted and twisted and why so many things that look like they're good or start good head in the dark, dead end redemption. This is the story that we love, that God loved this sinful world.

He sent his own son into the world to live our life and to suffer and die our death and to be raised from the dead so that we can experience by faith, forgiveness and righteousness and the power of the spirit and precious promises and be brought home. And that leads us to the last part, consummation. That's the happily ever after. That's where everybody is headed. Who belongs to Jesus Christ. The best way to think about, uh, heaven, I think is

an eternal honeymoon with Christ and his bride. So that's the big story. The beauty of the big story is that we're supposed to, we're supposed to connect our stories and other people's story to the big story creation, fall redemption, consummation. It makes sense of people's stories and it gives great hope while acknowledging that things can be very difficult. The gospel also reminds us that all of us groan deeply in this fallen world due to the prevalence

of sin outside of us and inside of us. But in Christ the groans that we experience as we put sin to death, sinful desires, sinful attitudes and behaviors as we put those to death. And as we fight against harmful ideologies, those are labor pains, not death pains. I'm borrowing from John Piper here. The pains we experience now are like labor pains. They lead to life in Christ death and pain always leads to bigger and better life.

And finally, the gospel teaches us counterintuitively, that eventually, ultimately holiness and happiness are two sides of the same coin. This is the wonderful secret of the Christian faith. Dying to our selfish desires now and learning holiness, including sexual holiness, is our best hope of eternal happiness. We have one more question. We'll do this a little more briefly. How is the Christian view not hateful, but actually supremely loving?

And we're gonna look at one more passage if you'll turn in your Bibles to one Corinthians chapter six, verse nine.

This is the best part of the sermon because this sets out the gospel even more clearly. And the gospel is by definition, good news, happy news. Paul says, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of our God. Let me give you four reasons why the Christian view of homosexuality is not hateful at all. It's supremely loving. First of all, it is supremely loving to warn the sexually unrighteous that their lifestyles will condemn them to hell. Paul warns people because he doesn't want to be that, that, that

that would be their end. He warns that the sexually immoral adulterers and those who practice homosexualities will not inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus warned us too, but Jesus went further. Jesus bled on a cross to save us from that destiny of hell and to win us and bring us to heaven. That's loving. Secondly, it's supremely loving to expose the deception of the sexual revolution in all its moral, ideological and spiritual foolishness so that

people can turn and be saved. Brothers and sisters, friends, it's simply a lie to say that we are our own gods and that we get to decide what is right and wrong. It's a lie. It simply is a lie to say that our primary identity is found by looking within and it's sexual. That's a lie. And it's a lie that following our fallen desires is the way to life and flourishing. It's all a lie. It's loving to expose that best of all, it's supremely loving to proclaim

the compassion and the power of our dear savior to to wash every repentance sinner clean in the cleansing power of his blood and in the waters of regeneration. He makes sinners clean. He sets captive people free from enslaving and destructive desires and attitudes and behaviors and lifestyles to walk in sexual sanity and freedom so that this gift truly becomes a beautiful gift that's loving. It is supremely loving to proclaim the savior who offers

complete pardon for all past, present, and future sins. And to clothe them in his spotless righteousness so that they will never be brought under condemnation. And finally, it is supremely loving to offer sexually weak, weary and broken people. And that's all of us. There's not a person in this room that isn't sexually broken in some ways, that's all of us. It's supremely loving to offer us the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the Lord

and giver of life, the comforter, the counselor, the advocate and helper who opens blind eyes, who warms dull hearts and applies every blood bought blessing of the gospel to those who trust in Jesus. As we close here, remember we're all in this together. No matter what our temptations, no matter what our past record, no matter what our current struggles are, there are no first string or second string Christians. We all need a savior.

And he is offered to us tonight. I want everybody in this room to receive Jesus tonight. Now, you might be saying, wait, wait, wait. I've been a Christian for 35 years. I've already received him. Great. I want you to do it again. Don't you love it when you're doing devotions or in a Sunday service, when your heart is so full of truth and grace and the gospel that you just, you just cry out, Jesus, I receive you Again.

It's not that you haven't already received him, but there's just a new movement. It's what we do every time we take communion. And there may be somebody here tonight, somebody who's just feeling really confused, someone who feels estranged from people, um, somebody here who just feels like something's wrong. This isn't, this isn't working, this isn't the right way. I need a savior. Let's all look to him right now and receive him.

And the promises will be washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the spirit of our God. Let's pray.

Lord, uh, I love that verse in John one where it says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory. Glory as of the only son from the Father full of grace and truth. We thank you Father, that Jesus is your perfect image of grace. And truth is every word is every action was love to you and love for sinful people. Lord, we all need your grace. We may need cleansing from sin we committed earlier today or last night.

But thank you that you, you not only offer us mercy and grace and forgiveness, you delight to do that. So would you receive us as we come to you? And would you give us new hearts and put your spirit in us and cause us to love you with all our heart and soul and live and cause us to walk in your holy statutes? And we pray this Father because we want above all things for you to be glorified through Jesus Christ. And we pray in his name. Amen.