Homosexuality is a subject many Christians try to avoid in this day and age. It's a heated subject, no doubt. I've had many people ask me about God's view on homosexuality and many times I didn't know how to respond. I knew what to say, but I didn't know how to say it. Now that I've grown spiritually, I'm able to properly answer those kind of questions, glory to God. It's very important we know how to address homosexuality in a way that doesn't stray away from God's word.
So here's the scenario: God has really blessed your ministry! Churches across the country are paying you to minister to their congregation. Today you just finished speaking at an university in Houston, TX.. You decided to stay afterwards and socialize. A guy approaches you and sparks a conversation. You two are talking about a little bit of everything, from sports to food. And since you are on the subject of food, of course you had to mention Chick-fil-a is one of your favorite places to eat! Referring to the controversy surrounding the restaurant giant, the guy asks you, what's your view on gay marriage? How does God feel about homosexuality?
Pause.
There are three common mistakes Christians make when answering this question (I've once made the same mistakes). We have a responsibility to be representatives of Christ, so we must be aligned with God's word. If we don't it falls on us. When God called Ezekiel to be a prophet He told him,
Ezekiel 3:17-19 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself."
Let's get to those three mistakes.
Mistake #1: Ignore it.
Think about it. Why are you serving God? If you are serving Him for popularity, then you are going to be greatly disappointed. Jesus Christ was far from popular. He was hated by many and loved by few in this world. Many people disagreed with everything He said--they even disagreed with His identity. That didn't stop Jesus from speaking. He left no stone unturned, no matter how controversial it was.
John 15:18-20 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also."
As a servant of God we must be prepared to face rejection. We can't take it personally. If your dad asked you to take the gift he bought your aunt and deliver it to her, and your aunt rejected it and told you to give it back, do you get offended? Did she not reject you and instead rejected your father? In this same way we must learn to separate from the situation and think of ourselves as merely the messengers.
Luke 10:16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Mistake #2: Sugarcoat it.
Our God is a very clear and transparent God. With that being said, in the bible He clearly said yes something is right and no something is wrong. Anything in between is Satan's deception.
Matthew 5:37 All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
We have to be careful not to twist God's word to ease the feelings of others. That's pure deception, and you're hurting people more than you are helping. For example, when gospel artist Kirk Franklin was asked about homosexuality, he twisted God's word to make the point that we should blend in with people by establishing a friendship before we tell them that homosexuality is wrong. Remember deception works by taking a little bit of truth and surrounding it with a lie. Yes it is true that we are to love everyone and remain humble, knowing that we are not perfect. However we are not to compromise God's word, nor be yielding to the ways of the world. He used Jesus Christ as an example, and referred to John 4. He said Jesus got to know the Samaritan woman at the well before bringing up the will of God. Not true! Jesus already knew everything about the woman, and that's how He won her heart. Jesus started off by telling the woman there's something missing in her life--God. He approached her with love, but at the same time He didn't sugarcoat anything. There's a difference between loving a person and enabling someone. Here's the interview if you want to see it for yourself:
John 4:7-27 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
So let's go back to the scenario and answer the guy's question. How does God feel about homosexuality? It's quite clear from the bible that God doesn't agree with homosexuality. He warns us not to partake in such things. So that's your answer. However how you deliver that message could be problematic and leads me to the next mistake.
Mistake #3: Being prideful and condemning
We have to make sure we don't make the same mistake Moses made at the Desert of Zin. The Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron because they were in the desert with nothing to drink. This wasn't the first time they complained, and it started to get to Moses. So he and Aaron went to the entrance to the tent of meeting to seek God in the matter. God's glory appeared and told them:
Numbers 20:8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
So Moses and Aaron gathered everyone, and Moses struck the rock and water came from it. But instead of sticking to God's will and obeying Him step-by-step, Moses strayed away from God's command. Before striking the rock Moses told the Israelites,
Numbers 20:10 “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”
This was not what God told Moses to do. Moses took it a step further, and in doing so he exalted himself and therefore brought judgment on him. There were two fatal flaws Moses made in his statement:
1.) He let anger take over and he called the Israelites rebels.
We have to be careful with what comes out of our mouths. The power of life and death is in the tongue. We can speak life over someone's situation by being encouraging, or we can speak death over a situation by using words that condemn a person. Moses himself was once a rebel as we all were before God stepped into our lives. Moses knew this and remained humble a majority of his life, but he had a moment. He slipped from God's will. We just have to be careful and make sure we are constantly in tune with God.
Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
2.) He took credit for God's work.
Moses told the Israelites "Must we bring you water from this rock?" There was no we. God created that miracle, not Moses.
We are walking miracles. Think of how you have changed. We must remember it was God who performed those miracles. We did not change on our own. Since Moses did not follow God's will, God told him,
Numbers 20:12 “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
Remember humility. We must always remain humble.
Matthew 23:12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
We are representatives of God. It's hard, I understand! We live in a world where Satan roams free. He tempts people and gets them to fall. Once they fall, he accuses and condemns that person for falling! Unfortunately we are living in times where through the media Satan has convinced the world that it is we, who accuse and condemn. This was the very thing Jesus was against! Jesus told people who condemn,
Matthew 23:13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."
He never ignored sin or sugarcoated it. Instead He dedicated His life to serving sinners by preaching about the wonderful life they can have through Him by giving up their old ways. God is a forgiver.
Yet Satan has gotten it to a point where there are people who hate Christians for not supporting gay marriage and there are prideful false Christians who hate those who practice homosexuality.
Those of us who are aligned with God's word are left to wear the labels and stereotypes of the fake Christians who hate. Jesus warned us. He told us when we are accused and persecuted,
Matthew 10:19 "Do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. "For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."
We must be aligned with the Holy Spirit.
So back to the scenario. Here's how I would answer the question, "How does God feel about homosexuality?"
I would say this: God warns us not to practice homosexuality. It is a form of lust that we are to stay away from. Before I turned my life to God I was caught up in lusts as well. I was addicted to pornography and that addiction left me empty. Once I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life He freed me from the bondage of my sin. I fell over and over again, but I asked God to forgive me and cleanse me of my sins and He did. Now I am free and I no longer feel empty. Jesus drowned me in His love and now I am a new person.
Notice this answer did not stray away from the truth, but it also didn't condemn because of humility. Now if the person accepted what you said, great. If the person decided to yell obscenities at you and accuse you of wrongdoing, remember it is not you they are rejecting. Just move on. Your job in the matter is done.
It is our job to be Holy Spirit driven. We must remain humble, be unyielding to this world, and love everyone. Don't let Satan scare you into avoiding or sugar coating the topic of homosexuality. Jesus Christ prepared you by giving you the Holy Spirit.
Be confident in God in knowing that He has prepared you for any and everything!
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