Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Sexual Ethics”
Our Bible verse for today: “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We are all guilty of sinning.”
The Bible is clear in its teaching about homosexual behavior – God prohibits it. However, although we often treat homosexuality as if it is in some special category of sin, the Bible does not. Go back and look at the passages we’ve identified which specifically mention homosexual behavior and you will discover that the Bible refers to homosexuality right along with a host of other sins. In Leviticus Moses lists it right along with a wide variety of other types of sexual sin. Paul lists it along with idolatry, adultery, greed, murder, envy, stealing, drunkenness, disrespecting parents, profanity and more.
I’m not minimizing the seriousness of homosexuality. My goal remains to simply address it Biblically, but we must do so fairly and accurately. We must be careful to approach the issue exactly the way God does, in the same context that He does. Remember, although homosexuality might not be your sin, yours is listed right along with it.
If there was a meeting of the “Sinners Club” you and I would both be charter members. There would be a seat reserved for you right between the greedy businessman and the homosexual. Seated in front of you would be a lesbian couple and next to them would be the unrepentant glutton. You and I would fit right in and we would discover that there was no distinction made between one sin and another. We are all sinners in need of grace and transformation. Homosexuality is not its own special kind of sin, its just sin.
The reason the sin of homosexuality gets so much attention from Christians today is because it is one of the only sins which has a highly organized, well-funded, very motivated advocacy group promoting it as a good thing and lobbying for its acceptance. The only other sin I can think of which also falls into this category is abortion (the sin of murder). Because these two sins are so clearly identified in the Bible as being sin, and because their advocacy groups are working so hard to force our society to recognize and accept them as right and good, we as Christians have to be equally motivated to stand for and promote the Biblical truth about them. However, that does not change the fact that you and I are also guilty of our own sins. Jesus illustrated this beautifully in Matthew 7:3-5 during the Sermon on the Mount.
Yes we do have to advocate for Biblical sexual ethics. But we must do so with a great deal of humility as we remember the truth that we too are sinners saved by grace. Tomorrow we will give a little more thought to Matthew Vine’s book, “God and the Gay Christian”. Then we will move on to consider some of the difficult questions Christians must be prepared to answer with respect to homosexuality and the impact it is having on our culture today.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 