Our intern preached on sexuality a couple of weeks ago in Cafe church. Here is most of what he said: (I have labelled this under 'answers to common questions' because people sometimes want to know what the Bible's view on homosexuality is)
This is a sensitive issue. It requires what John Stott calls "double listening." On one hand, we need to listen to the voice of God as it comes through Christ and through scripture. On the other, we need to listen to the voice of culture and particularly to the gay community. So that’s what we’re going to do tonight: listen to the Word and listen to the world that we, as Christians, are called to live in.
There are seven explicit references in the Bible. They fall into three groups. Firstly, the stories of God’s judgement on places like Sodom and Gomorrah. Secondly, the ban on homosexual behaviour in Leviticus (chapters 18 and 20). And thirdly, three references in Paul’s letters (the end of Romans 1; 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1). These passages have been thoroughly dissected and debated.
We’re not going to rehearse the same old arguments here. Instead, we’re going to take an approach that I hope will be more productive for two reasons: a) It is positive teaching not negative, instruction not prohibition; and b) It comes from the lips of Jesus Himself.
We find His words in Matthew 19, verses 4 to 6. Jesus is responding to a question from the Pharisees on divorce. But the principles He lays down have a much wider application than that. He makes three vital statements about God and about sex. Firstly, He talks about what God has created. Verse 4: …at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female.’ A direct quote from Genesis 1.
Jesus is stressing that the difference between men and women; our masculinity and femininity; our complimentary sexuality; was created by God at the beginning of human history. He did not make us the same. He made us different. God’s creation.
Secondly, He talks about what God has instituted (or introduced).
Verse 5: 'For this reason (in other words "because of our complimentary sexuality") a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ A direct quote from Genesis 2.
This is the Biblical definition of marriage. The God who created our complimentary sexuality went on to institute marriage for the expression and fulfillment of it. Marriage, according to God, is a monogamous and heterosexual union: one man, one woman. We leave our parents; we are united (the Greek used tells us He’s referring to a wedding ceremony); and the marriage is consummated by the two becoming one flesh (in sexual union). God’s institution.
Thirdly, He talks about what God has united.
Verse 6: Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.
What has God united? One man and one woman in monogamous, heterosexual marriage. Jesus quotes Genesis 1 about human sexuality; Genesis 2 about human marriage; and then adds His own conclusion that marriage is a divine act which human beings have no liberty to alter. God’s union. God created. God instituted. God united. Who are we to change it?
So Jesus states that heterosexual marriage is the only God-given context for sex. All the Bible does beyond that is prohibit sex outside of that context. It does not single out gay sex for condemnation and nor should we. All sex outside of this context is equally wrong.
That’s half our double listening. We’ve listened to God. Now, we need to listen to human voices. Culture has five main arguments.
Firstly, the Bible:
The world tells us that the culture of the Bible is different to our culture. Correct. People say we know much more about psycho sexuality than those who wrote the scripture so what they have to say doesn’t apply to us. Incorrect.
God did speak His Word within the cultures of humanity. It’s part of His divine revelation that He humbled Himself to address us in terms we would understand. But the essence of His revelation, the heart of His Word transcends culture. God’s Word is above our ways.
John Stott talks about the need to be RC: radically conservative. Radical about culture, conservative about scripture. We can change the wrapping paper not the gift inside. What creation has established and Christ has endorsed, culture is not authorised to disregard.
Secondly, creation:
Many people say they are gay because God made them that way. "I didn’t ask to be gay," they say, "but since it’s part of my creation gay must be good so I intend to express, even celebrate my sexuality."
This is a misunderstanding of creation and of humanity. What we are as human beings is not only derived from creation but from the fall and from the self-centeredness that we have inherited in our human nature. As human beings, we are a paradox: partly the result of creation and partly the result of the fall.
So we cannot possibly ascribe everything to God’s creation. Do we want to ascribe our self-centeredness, our bad temper, and our inappropriate sexual urges to the creation of God? These things come from the fall, not from God. They are, according to Paul in Romans 1, "…against the created order", against nature.
Thirdly, justice:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, admired for his stand against apartheid, has said the homosexual question is "a simple matter of justice." Now that women, slaves and blacks have been liberated, he urges support for gays in their struggle for liberation and justice.
When we talk about gay "liberation" we imply that they are oppressed. What is this oppression? If it is that they are insulted, ill-treated and victims of homophobia, then they are indeed victims of injustice and deserve protection under the law.
But if it is that society struggles to accept homosexual partnerships as an alternative to heterosexual marriage, then the language of injustice is inappropriate. True liberation is not freedom from God’s revealed will. True liberation is freedom from sin.
Fourthly, love:
Love, we are told, is the only basis upon which we can judge the authenticity of a relationship. The gay community says it’s promoting loving, stable partnerships not promiscuity. Well firstly, most studies show that gay partnerships are more often characterised by infidelity; and secondly, love is not the only decisive factor.
Four years ago, a married woman told me she’d fallen in love with another man and that the quality of that love proved it must be right. Of course it wasn’t right but it took some time to convince her that love, especially erotic love, is not a safe and reliable guide to quality. Love needs law to direct it. It needs the Bible to give it context.
Fifthly, self-control:
Bishop Jack Spong from New Jersey has concluded that sex is both "indispensable to humanity and uncontrollable." It is a good gift to those who are given it in marriage but it is not something we cannot do without. Jesus, the perfect men, remained single and celibate.
Nor is it uncontrollable. We are human beings not animals. They are creatures of instinct. We exercise self control. Yes, the desire is powerful but no, it is not too powerful. Self control is a fruit of the Spirit. It is our Christian calling to deny ourselves, to struggle against disordered desires, to take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ.
We’ve listened to the voice of God and we’ve listened to the voice of culture so let me attempt to conclude. If gay people, partnerships and practice are a departure from God’s created norm; and if they are an expression not of order but of disorder, what has the Bible to say to them? Is there are Gospel for gay people? Answer: yes!
The Gospel is good news of a NEW BEGINNING.
Is there someone here tonight who has strayed, even a little, off course? If so, I have the authority in the name of Jesus Christ to declare that the Gospel offers you a new beginning: both forgiveness and freedom. Forgiveness on account of the cross where Christ died for our sins that we might be forgiven; and freedom on the basis of His resurrection power and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
It isn’t freedom to live as we please but freedom to live as God pleases. This is the mystery of Christian freedom: in order to live, we have to die to ourselves; in order to find our identity and liberty we have to lose ourselves in the love of God. Self denial is the only way to self discovery. There’s a new beginning.
The Gospel is good news of a NEW COMMUNITY.
The Christian community is characterised by understanding, support, compassion and love, or at least it should be. You wouldn’t have thought it at City Hall that day. The only thing some gay people ever experience in the church is homophobia. There are many who have never found a welcome in the Christian community.
Homosexual people are in every way as valuable to and as valued by God as heterosexual people. We, in the Christian community, need to affirm their human value as people made in the image of God. That doesn’t mean we approve of their lifestyle. It is neither fair nor accurate to call disapproval "homophobia." If we genuinely love people, we want to help them attain God’s best for them.
Richard Loveless, in his book ‘Homosexuality and the Church’ calls for double repentance: that gay Christians renounce the active lifestyle and that straight Christians renounce their homophobia. Dr. David Atkinson helpfully adds, "We are not at liberty to urge celibacy unless support for it is available in genuine love." I hope that support is available here. There’s a new community.
And finally, the Gospel is good news of a NEW WORLD.
Homosexuality is still a matter of debate. Opinions differ as to whether it is genetic or cultural; inherited or learned; nature or nurture. Opinions on the causes differ and so do opinions on a possible cure (and I use that word cautiously).
Some Christians claim that as a result of their conversion or of some subsequent work of the Holy Spirit they have experienced a complete reversal of their homosexuality. Others report a gradual or partial change. But I have found such stories to be few and far between and difficult to authenticate. The short answer is we don’t know.
But there is something we do know. We know that one day, God is going to rise from His throne and in majesty declare, "Behold, I make all things new." He will not only change our bodies but He will create a new heaven and a new earth where we will be new people.
No more disorder, disease, despair. No more sin, pain, thirst, tears or death. The old older will have passed away and a new order will have been born. Then, we’ll be able to say that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with that glory.
So there is a Gospel for those who are gay.
Good news of a new beginning: forgiveness and freedom (now), embraced by faith.
Good news of a new community: of love.
Good news of a new world: the object of our hope.
Faith, hope and love have always been central to the Christian life…and the greatest of these is love.
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