God's View on Homosexuality
Tom Shrader delivers a standalone teaching prompted by a local newspaper article reporting that sixty valley clergy had signed a statement affirming support for gay rights, using it as a launching point to examine what Scripture says about homosexuality. Drawing from Genesis 2, Leviticus, Romans 1, and 1 Corinthians 6, he argues that God's design for sexuality is exclusively within permanent heterosexual monogamous marriage and that homosexual practice is condemned in both Testaments without exception. He closes with pastoral application, emphasizing that homosexuality is not the unpardonable sin, that temptation differs from ongoing practice, and that repentance and forgiveness are available to all through Christ.
“If you are unrepentant, if you fail to come to Christ in repentance and faith, you will not be in heaven — that's what the Scripture teaches.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 2 Corinthians
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 38 min
Themes: homosexuality, sexuality, marriage, repentance, forgiveness, biblical morality, culture, temptation, struggling with sexual sin, questioning sexuality, teenager, parent of lgbtq child, young adult, new believer, pastor addressing controversy, navigating cultural pressure
Scripture: Genesis 2:24, Genesis 19:4-8, Ezekiel 16:49, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:21-27, 1 Corinthians 5:12, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Theological Themes: sexual ethics, biblical authority, inerrancy, natural law, sanctification, hamartiology, sin and forgiveness, creation design
Full Transcript
Introduction
I am doing something I rarely do, and that is to break from our regular teaching and take a Sunday to talk about a specific issue. This is prompted by an article that appeared in the paper on January 24th. It was in the local section of the Arizona Republic, and the headline read, "60 Valley Clerics Affirm Support for the Rights of Gays." We certainly are not a church that is a gay-bashing church. We would not in any way, as they propose, endorse any sort of violence, bigotry, or discrimination. But we cannot simply take that topic and pretend that the Bible is silent on it.
The announcement of the signing of this declaration coincides with a visit from Bishop Spong. Bishop Spong has written several significant books in terms of impact. The most recent is titled *Why Christianity Must Change or Die*, and it is a national bestseller. Here is some of what he has written, and I quote: "God does not invade our world with miracles and magic. Virgins do not conceive. Resurrection cannot mean physical resuscitation — the restarting of bodily processes after three days of death. Both human truth and traditional moral standards have been relativized. Infallibility and inerrancy do not exist any longer. Reality is that we are destined to be third millennium Christians, or we will not be Christians at all."
It is a fascinating position, and it is an interesting sentence. Infallibility does not exist any longer — so apparently those things that were absolutely true are no longer true. The statement falls under its own weight. Greg Bahnsen has written this: "As the church takes a fresh look at the moral question of homosexuality, it must recognize that without God's clear, infallible word and its pronouncements, Christianity has nothing to contribute to the issue. The church cannot condone what God condemns in Scripture without losing its own integrity and coming under His judgment. For the true disciple of Christ, moral boundaries are never drawn by man, but only and always by God."
Why This Issue Matters
This has become a very volatile issue, and you may even be thinking it does not really impact you. I have discovered that the older you are, the more you tend to think that way. The younger generation understands this is a huge issue. Last night, when I taught on this to junior high and high school students, one girl came up after the service and said — and I am sure she was exaggerating — that 50% of the students in her high school are homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual. She said it is just blatant all over the campus. I do not know if that number is accurate, but I do know this: it is a sin that has gained great acceptance in our culture.
What I want to talk about today is God's view of homosexuality. There is an ever-growing acceptance of homosexuality and lesbianism — please understand those terms as used interchangeably this morning unless we make a specific distinction — an ever-growing acceptance of this as a legitimate lifestyle, even within Christian circles. As best as I can tell, there are three reasons for this.
Three Reasons for Growing Acceptance
The first reason is that the gay community has painted homosexuality as a civil rights issue. The argument goes: just as you may be black or Latino, we are simply gay. This is the way we are made. We cannot change. We were designed this way. But it is not a civil rights issue. It is a moral issue.
The second reason I think there has been this acceptance is personal experience. I once taught a series on sexuality and in it I dealt with abortion. I gave my stand — not necessarily the church's official position, but my own — that abortion is wrong, and it is always wrong. Extenuating circumstances certainly make the issue more complicated, but they do not change the fact that a life is being taken. Even in the case of the health of the mother, I would say that is a decision for that mother to grapple through. I was speaking to a business luncheon of perhaps 300 to 330 men and women, and I thought that after I said amen, people would be lined up to respond. I finished, said amen, and there was not a single comment. When I dealt with homosexuality in that same series, I finished with perhaps a measure of false confidence, thinking it was not all that controversial. I said amen, and they were lined up to talk. What I discovered was that they had an aunt, an uncle, a brother, a sister, a father, or some other significant person in their life who had come out of the closet and declared themselves to be homosexual or lesbian — and these were good people, people they liked. The reasoning followed: if these are good people, this cannot possibly be such a terrible sin. God has probably changed His mind on it.
The third reason this sin has become acceptable in our culture is the ever-shrinking number of people who take the Bible as the infallible, authoritative Word of God. When Bishop Spong says there is no resurrection, no virgin birth, and no infallible Word, there is at that point no Christianity. We find all sorts of people who, when asked about their faith, will say "Christian" — but the proof is in the pudding, and we must define our terms. If you do not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, Scripture says you are not a Christian. That is not us making a judgment. That is what the Bible says.
God's Design for Sexuality
God has a design for sexuality and a plan. He created us as sexual people, and so in His plan, sexuality is a part of it. What we want to find is God's plan and God's view on this issue. I am going to walk through four or five points this morning, along with some practical applications.
Here is the first point: God's intent is sexual fulfillment in heterosexual marriage. God created you, and He created me, and He knows that we are sexual creatures. There is nothing wrong with sex.
God's Design for Sexual Expression
Within the boundaries that God has placed on it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with sex at all. Scripture, I think, speaks positively of sex within the proper, healthy framework. And He gives us that framework. Here it is in Genesis 2:24: "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife." That word "cleave" is one of those English words that are interesting in that they have definitions that are exactly opposite. We think of a meat cleaver — something that cuts and separates — but it can also mean to bring together, inseparably linked together. That is God's design.
God's design for sexual expression is within the confines of marriage: permanent, heterosexual, monogamous. So when you have to deal with an issue like gay marriage — should homosexuals or lesbians marry? — we don't look to the state of Arizona. I don't care what the state of Arizona says about that. They didn't invent marriage; God did. And God says, here is what marriage is: permanent, heterosexual, monogamous.
Now this is a very important point that I will make two or three times today. Anything outside of that is a perversion of God's plan. Obviously, homosexuality and lesbianism fall outside of that. If you are here today, you are married, and you are involved sexually with someone other than your spouse, that is adultery — that is a perversion of God's plan. If you are here today and you are not married but you are sexually active, that is also a perversion of God's plan. God's plan is a permanent, heterosexual, monogamous marriage relationship.
This is a genuinely hard area to address, and just talking about it is difficult. What does it mean to have sexual relations? We had a President of the United States who had oral sex in the Oval Office and said, "I didn't have sex." We laugh at that and say it is no big deal. But when I talk to high school students, they do not know much about history except that one moment — they know that one. What we have traditionally defined as sexual relations is anything you would really be uncomfortable doing in a healthy relationship with a mom, a brother, or a sister — in other words, anything beyond a kiss and a hug.
I want to be very clear, because I hear all sorts of terms that I think are inflammatory and may be considered bigoted, like calling someone a "pervert." But if you are involved in adultery, you have perverted God's standards. You are involved in a perversion. If you are unmarried and sexually active, you have perverted God's standard, to use that term. That is God's standard.
God's Response to Those Who Tolerate Sin
Here is the second thing. God does not just deal with the act of homosexuality. As we look at Sodom, He seems to deal harshly not only with the sin of homosexuality itself but with those who tolerate all sin. What makes the signing of a document by sixty clergy members so hideous is that they, as men and women of the cloth, are calling good what God calls evil. We have to be very, very careful that we do not do that. It is equally important that we do not call evil what God calls good.
The Destruction of Sodom
This brings us to the story of Sodom and its destruction. I do smile every time I come to this passage. I was teaching through the book of Genesis years ago, in a hotel, and when I arrived there was a great deal of security — men speaking into their wrists, wearing earpieces. I thought, what in the world is going on? Well, it turned out the governor was there. This was a few years ago; it was Governor Evan Mecham. He came up, introduced himself, and said he had heard a lot about me. I told him I had heard things about him too. We chatted for a while, and he said he would love to speak to the men and women gathered there. I told him we were not going to do that. So whenever I get to Genesis 19, I think of Governor Mecham and his desire to speak.
God is about to destroy Sodom. He sends a couple of angels to tell Lot what is about to happen. Genesis 19:4: "Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter." Not every single man in Sodom was there, but they represented every demographic of the city. They called out to Lot and said, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may have relations with them."
How does Lot respond? "Behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with men. Please let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof." He is saying he has a responsibility for these guests — so take my daughters instead. Then God comes and destroys Sodom.
There are a couple of reasons for that destruction. Ezekiel 16:49 records Ezekiel speaking to the city of Jerusalem: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy." Who does that describe? The world you and I live in — ease, abundance, arrogance, turning our backs on the poor and needy. There are a variety of reasons God destroys Sodom. Clearly, part of that is the open debauchery of the city sexually, and especially —
God's Standard: Condemnation of Homosexual Practices
Significant to note is that when God destroys this city, He destroys those who are active participants in this, He destroys those who are tolerant of it, and He destroys those who on the surface appear to be innocent. That is what sin does — it is destructive to all who come in contact with it.
God's standard is condemnation of homosexual practices. I saw a television interview with a man who had just been ordained as a minister of the gospel, and who said, and I quote, "I am a homosexual, I am celebrating my homosexuality, and it is pleasing to God." There is not even a hint in Scripture that would open the door where we might in any way see homosexuality or lesbianism as positive, or even neutral. "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination." "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act." Never — never — in the Old or New Testament do we see same-sex relationships described as anything but negative. Sex is spoken of positively in Scripture absolutely — in permanent, heterosexual, monogamous relationships. Anything outside of that is a perversion of God's plan.
God's Glory Is Dishonored by Homosexuality
God's glory is dishonored by homosexuality. Romans chapter 1 begins a three-chapter indictment of the history of all mankind. Whether you are a Jew, whether you are a Gentile, whether you believe in absolutely nothing at all, we are all guilty — all sin and fall short of the glory of God. None who does good, no not one; none is righteous.
In Romans chapter 1, verse 21, God says this: "Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks." What do you have to do to be godless? All you have to do is nothing. Don't give Him honor. Don't acknowledge His attributes, His power, His glory, His majesty, His might. Don't acknowledge His love, His justice, or His mercy. And don't thank Him — because every abundant good thing in your life is from Him. So if you want to be godless, don't give Him honor and don't thank Him.
Here is what happens instead. Men become futile in their speculation and their foolish heart is darkened. Verse 22 says, "Professing to be wise, they become foolish." George Wald, a professor emeritus at Harvard and a Nobel Prize winner in medicine, wrote this: "There are only two possibilities as to how life arose. One is spontaneous generation arising from evolution. The other is a supernatural act of God. There is no third possibility. Spontaneous generation was scientifically disproved 130 years ago by Pasteur and others. This leaves us with only one logical conclusion, that life arose as a supernatural act of God." And then he writes this: "I will not accept that philosophically because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible." Professing to be wise, they become fools.
What Paul is teaching here is that creation screams of a Creator. This morning — probably since you are here at eleven, most of you slept in a little bit — you missed an incredible sunrise. That sky was on fire, red and yellow and pink and orange against what I always call the Arizona blue sky. Romans is saying you cannot look at that and not see a Creator. I used to drive to Tucson every Wednesday morning and would see some spectacular sunrises. There was one morning where I was coming right around the bend in Casa Grande, right at the TA truck stop, and on my right to the west was a full moon setting, and on my left to the east was a sky on fire with clouds. I thought, God is so good — God is even good in Casa Grande.
The Downward Cycle and Homosexual Behavior
In some instances, Romans 1:26 records that God simply says, go your way — do what comes naturally to a degenerate mind. "Women exchange natural function for unnatural." He starts with women, and some commentators point out that he does so because this is how bad it has become. Women have historically been the ones who hold civility together. I used to go to meetings when I was involved in business, and if there was a woman in the room, no one would swear, and if they did, they would say, "I'm sorry, ma'am." Now you go to a meeting and the women speak like longshoremen. They were the ones holding back and keeping civility — not anymore. He starts there, and then the men follow in the same way. It is a downward cycle of a person, and involved in that is homosexual behavior.
Heaven Is Devoid of Unrepentant Homosexuals
The final point is significant: heaven is devoid of unrepentant homosexuals. "Do you not know the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived — neither fornicators, idolaters, effeminates, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, nor revilers." While we are today talking about homosexuality, understand this is not an all-encompassing list. If you are here and your sin is greed and you are unrepentant, you are just as guilty. We are talking about this sin because of the way culture has embraced it and no longer deals with it as sin. The issue here is being unrepentant — continuing on, unbroken. These are truly serious stakes.
Issues like yesterday's space shuttle tragedy drive home how fragile life is. We can talk about it in theory, but now all of a sudden we come face to face with it. Seven astronauts had prepared for reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.
Prepared for Eternity
Experts who understood what happened said that death would have been instantaneous, that those aboard would not have even known what happened. Probably the tiles around that one little door that let the wheels come down gave way, a tire exploded, and it was over very quickly. They had been prepared for reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. But here is my question: were they prepared for entry into eternity?
These were heroic men and women. Let us not lose sight of that. But you do not go to heaven because you are a hero. You go to heaven because you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The same is true of you. If you are unrepentant, if you fail to come to Christ in repentance and faith, you will not be in heaven. That is what Scripture teaches.
Homosexuality Is Not the Unpardonable Sin
Let me give you some practical things to remember. Number one, homosexuality is not the unpardonable sin. Right after Paul singles these things out and says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God," and lists them, he writes this: "And such were some of you." Apparently, in that body of believers in Corinth, there were men who had been involved in homosexuality, as well as people who had stolen and swindlers.
I guarantee you there are men and women right now in this worship service who have been involved in homosexuality and lesbianism and have walked away from it. That is one of the great lies told to those who are locked in this struggle — that God just made you this way, that you were created this way, that this is simply the way it is. No, it is not. It is sin. It is a choice. You have decided to sin.
I have no doubt that God wires people in different ways. Alcohol is a great example. I know some people for whom there is no lure whatsoever — they do not even want to taste it. Others can have a single glass and walk away. And others, once they start drinking, cannot stop. That was how I was. I would spill more in a day than most of you would drink, and on December 11th of 1980, God took it away forever. I had all sorts of people saying it was a disease and that I needed help. It is not a disease. Measles is a disease. It is sin. I made a choice. I chose to sin.
Now, I may have something that disposes me toward it. Maybe that is not what you wrestle with. Maybe you are simply a greedy person. And it may be that, for whatever reason, there is in you an attraction toward the sin of homosexuality. I do not know the specifics of each person's struggle. What I do know is this: this is not a message of condemnation. This is a message of hope. Such were some of you. You do not have to act that way. Maybe your sin has nothing to do with anything sexual. Maybe it is something else entirely, and you are saying God could never forgive you. That is a lie from the pit of hell.
The Difference Between Temptation and Practice
Here is the second thing to remember. There is a difference between temptation and practice. Jesus was tempted, but He did not sin. Paul writes, "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man." Now, the word translated as temptation there can also be translated as trial. God brings trials — or allows trials — into our lives, hardship into our lives, to reveal the righteousness in us. Satan comes and brings temptations into our lives with the specific purpose of trying to induce us to sin.
When it comes to the trials and difficulties that come into our lives, a couple of things are worth remembering from that verse. First, they are not unusual to you — they are common to man. And God is faithful. If you are in the midst of a trial or a temptation, maybe a physical ailment, and you say you simply cannot take it anymore, God says you absolutely can. He would not allow it to happen if you could not endure it. Perhaps not on your own — but with Him you can.
God is faithful and He knows your limits. When we talk about trials, we say He knows the maximum elasticity of your faith. He will not allow you to be tempted or tested beyond what you can endure, and He will provide a way out. If you are in the midst of a trial or difficulty, most likely the escape is through it. God gives you something and you say you do not think you can handle it — and then you come out the other end and say it was extraordinary, that you could not have done it. That is exactly right. But God did it.
Run From Temptation
I think temptations are different from trials. I think the first piece of advice in the midst of temptation is simply to run. A man came to me down in Tucson when I was teaching there and asked if we could have breakfast. We went to breakfast, and he said he wanted to tell me something he had never told his wife, never told his best friend, never told anyone. He asked if he could trust me, and I told him I thought so. He said he had had a series of homosexual lovers on a one-night-stand basis — dozens and dozens of them.
I do not know what he thought I would do or how he thought I would react. I simply said, "Tell me about it. Tell me about the last one." He said he had met someone at a certain bookstore. I asked about the one before that — same bookstore. The one before that — same bookstore. We eventually reached the point where he asked what he should do. I told him I had no degree in counseling, but I would not go to the bookstore.
We can laugh at that because it seems so simple. But when you are in the midst of it, it is not all that simple. And that principle does not apply only to that particular sin — it applies to nearly all of them. We had a woman in one of the PL studies who absolutely struggled continually with her weight. She asked for prayer, saying she was not going to judge anybody —
Discontinuing Contact with Unrepentant Sinners
In love, discontinue contact with sexually active Christian homosexuals. What I am trying to say is this: if you have somebody who is involved, sexually active, and they claim to be a Christian, get away from them. Here is what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5. He had already talked to them about a problem — there was a man in that church who was sleeping with his mother, probably a stepmother — and Paul is saying, get him out of there. Don't have anything to do with them.
By the way, this is the most loving thing you can do for anybody who is involved in any sin. Confront them with the sin. If they say no, you confront them as two. If they say no again, go to them as three or four. Ultimately, we bring it before the church.
We had a man who was involved in adultery. We went to him and went through the whole process. We were at the end and said, "Listen, we are going to have to take this to the church." He said, "I don't care what you do. I am going to stay with this woman." What is the loving thing to do? Is the loving thing to say, "Oh well, I am sure that is a temptation — hang in there, do the best you can"? No. Scripture says the loving thing to do is to separate from that person.
Does that mean you don't have him over for the Super Bowl party? That is right. Christmas Eve? No. Fourth of July? No. Arbor Day? No. You do not have contact with them except to call them to repentance. Understand who we are talking about: people who are unrepentantly and ongoing engaged in sin and who call themselves Christians.
How to Treat Unbelievers
For those who are unbelievers, let God deal with them. Right after this passage, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:12, "For what have we to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church, but those who are outside the church? Let God judge them."
So often we seem to be condemning people for this behavior, and I understand that impulse, but they are non-believers. When I do business with men who are not Christians, I expect they are going to take advantage of me. I expect unbelievers to sin. I do not expect believers to unrepentantly sin.
Reaching Out with the Gospel
Ultimately, here is the course you take: you reach out to homosexuals, you reach out to all sinners, with the gospel. The Pharisees and the scribes began grumbling at Jesus' disciples and said, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax-gatherers and the sinners? Why are you spending time with the most vile of people?" And Jesus said, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance."
What do you do in those situations? You condemn the sin most clearly, and you call them to repentance. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Whoever believes in Him has eternal life." All sin and fall short of the glory of God; the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. That is the answer. That is the solution.
If you are here today and you are involved in sin — maybe it is homosexuality, lesbianism, fornication, adultery, or something else — and you have been in this so long that your conscience is telling you there is no way God would ever forgive you, that is a lie. You can find forgiveness today. You can come and talk, and these men would tell you how to find Christ.
Examining Where You Stand
If you are a Christian and you struggle with this sin, it is a great indicator of where you are spiritually. The best way, I think, to understand where you are spiritually is not how much quiet time you have or how often you are in your Bible, but how you respond to your sin. Can you simply sin and say, "Well, if I confess my sin He will forgive it, so, God, I am sorry," and just go on and on? I think you are in very serious spiritual shape if that is the case. Repentance means a broken heart.
Declaring Truth as a Church
You as individuals, and we as a church, have to declare this truth. Greg Bahnsen writes:
> If theologians are not heralds of the King's Word, proclaimers of divine revelation, then their pronouncements are just more opinion among many others, and they deserve no special hearing. Christian standards are defined by the revealed Word of God in Scripture. Men can accept God's prescriptive will for behavior, or they can reject it, but they cannot tamper with it. If the biblical witness offends them, then it is God whom they must blame and reproach.
Here are the words to a song you sang this morning — a wonderful new song called "Ancient Words": *Holy words long preserved for our walk in this world, they* —
Taking the Message to the World
Do not be afraid to declare what God calls sin is sin as you leave this place and begin to infiltrate the world, whether in the marketplace, at the school, or at the club. You are not judging — God has judged. The challenge is to do this in a way that is sensitive, loving, and kind.
This is a huge issue. Sixty clerics, perhaps more, have signed one petition, and now a counter-petition is circulating with 175 signatures. I simply want you to know where I stand: I do not need to sign a petition. We need to take this message of hope to the marketplace. It is not homophobic, and it is not bigoted to call evil what God calls evil.
Preparation and Prayer
It is absolutely essential that you bathe this enterprise in prayer. If you try to do this on your own and live on your own, it is like anything else — apart from Him, you can do nothing, but with Him, He will do great things in your life. You need to be praying about this issue, and you need to be prepared for it.
This is the culture you live in, and it is everywhere. The younger you are, the more likely you are dealing with this day after day. There is a distinction that is starting to permeate, and I see it in young people: homosexuality is being condemned while lesbianism is being embraced, with young men telling girls this is something exciting. You need to be ready for this.
That is the world you live in — a world without a standard. When you get away from the moral compass of God's Word, you are simply blown back and forth in the wind.
Closing Prayer
Father, help us see this truth. Give us kind, gentle, sensitive, and loving hearts that proclaim the truth in love. God, we have from You a message of hope — words of life.
God, I pray that those who are here today, or who are struggling or immersed in this sin, will see this as hope. I pray they do not feel condemnation, but conviction. God, we love You and we love Your Word. Make us good students and good soldiers in this battle. We pray this to You in Jesus' name. Amen.