HOLDING ON TO TRUTH - A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW ON HOMOSEXUALITY

Nov 6

We trust today’s message encouraged and guided you in your journey of following Jesus. These notes are meant to help you remember and reflect on the message, help you go deeper into study on the subject, or be used for a sermon group discussion.

Sermon Title: A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW ON HOMOSEXUALITY

Main Scripture: Romans 1:18-32

If you’re going through this discussion with a community group this week consider taking the time to read the provided scripture to catch everyone up!

Summary:

Churches hesitate to cover this subject in their pulpits probably for a variety of reasons. Because it is prevalent and widely affirmed in our society, close and personal to our families, stirs up conflict or resistance, isn't covered or received with grace, and it's simply not easy to go against the grain of culture. My personal conviction is, to speak the truth on this subject is to love and care for those who are entangled in this lifestyle. To not speak on it is to leave the church ignorant and ill-equipped to minister to those wanting to repent but needing the church to help them.

What is God’s view and perspective on homosexuality? What does the Bible say? What should be the Christian church’s position and perspective? It's no secret what the Bible says or thinks (even though there is an aggressive attempt to dismiss the Bible’s teaching on this subject). But why is it considered a sin? Our scripture today gives us clear answers on this subject but also informs us that homosexuality is the result of a greater issue, in a larger context, that Christians and non-Christians need to understand. The Bible points to the gospel as the remedy for all sin, not just this one. The gospel also shows us how the church can show compassion without compromise.

Notes:

Context: There are two processes working simultaneously in scripture, God is saving humanity through the work of the gospel and God’s wrath or judgment on those who suppress the truth with wickedness. Both are moving forward to a point of completion–final salvation or final condemnation. In our text today Paul reveals the divine wrath on humanity’s sin before sharing the divine plan of salvation because we comprehend our need for salvation better when we understand the reality of sin’s judgment. In a nutshell: Paul reveals in the following scripture how sinful humanity has gotten and how much we need Jesus Christ to save us.

Romans 1:18-32 NLT

1:18-20

God’s wrath on the human race is a result of humanity’s rejection of God’s revelation.
Creation points to the beauty, order, brilliance, goodness, and life-giving nature of God. Through the natural revelation of God in creation we can and could come to believe in Him, leaving humanity with no excuse for not knowing and putting faith in God.
“Humanity is not indicted because of a failure to find God, but because of a failure to respond to God’s initiative.” FullLife Commentary
Wickedness suppresses and denies truth and God’s revelation in creation. Sinfulness has a way of making what was once clear and obvious, cloudy and questionable. It wasn’t God, He didn’t change. We turned to our own evil desires which gave birth to sin. (James 1:13-14).

1:21-25

Paul reveals the downward spiral of sin begins with rejecting God.
They knew God…but they chose not to give God worship and thanks.
Paul says instead of “worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worship idols made to look like mere people, birds, animals, and reptiles.” They “worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself.” This illustrates how foolish and arrogant they were, to trade the God of the universe for wooden or gold objects made by God (Terrible trade).
Notice humanity’s predisposition to worship something. We all worship, the only choice we get is who or what we worship.
Paul now turns his attention to the disastrous results of abandoning God…God abandons them (3x). What does that mean? God gave them over to their desires…he allowed them to pursue what they wanted without getting in the way. There was no divine intervention or direction from God. This was an instant and partial judgment from God. The completion of judgment will be on the day of judgment.
Let’s be honest, humanity’s favorite god is self and what we want. Paul is describing the selfishness and foolishness of man. This was the worship of self because they were creating gods they wanted versus the one that already revealed himself to the world.
Remember the first and second commandments from God? The 1st Commandment: Have no other god before me (Exo. 20:3) or alongside me (Exo. 20:23). No rivals. The 2nd commandment: “You must not make an idol for yourself…you must not bow down to them or worship them.”

They rebelled here so of course their conduct and way of living would be off too. If we can’t acknowledge and worship God we certainly won’t obey His commands…Therefore, we see how depraved humanity has gotten in the following verses… “The creation account teaches that men and women were created to live in relationship with their Creator and with one another. Humankind’s rejection of a relationship with their Creator results in the perversion of all their other relationships.” -FullLife Commentary, pg. 709

1:26-27

A Biblical worldview of Homosexuality

Our scripture reveals that homosexual relationships were born out of rejection of God and His design for natural relationships between men and women. Homosexual relationships are considered unnatural and in disagreement with God’s creation order which is an offense to God as if to say His purposes in creation were not good. This scripture reveals that the practice of homosexuality is included in the list of sins that are condemned and receive God’s judgment.
The Bible condemns homosexual relations in other places in scripture such as Genesis 19:1–13; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9, and 1 Timothy 1:10.
Homosexuality is never isolated or condemned alone. In each of these scriptures, the context is a rebuke of all types of wickedness, including sexual sin done by those who are heterosexual.
The Bible never affirms homosexual relationships or marriage, it only affirms relationships between a man and woman in the covenant of marriage, otherwise, it is sexual immorality (fornication, adultery; Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:6-8; Matt. 19).

1:28-32

This is the third time Paul says God abandoned them to their own way…God is not responsible for people’s desire for sin or their path of sin, we choose it. If we won’t respond to His warnings and conviction He will let us go and we’ve condemned ourselves to judgment.
Without God, without divine revelation, people become full of every kind of wickedness.
*This scripture makes sense of how sinful lifestyles, whether homosexuality or all other sins came to be the norm but nonetheless still wrong in God’s eyes and wrong for His followers.
All of these sins had become prevalent and have increased today because of our rejection of God.
The instant wrath or judgment is God has given them over, abandoned them to their own desires, without divine intervention.

Application-the good news, the gospel

Paul turns the table on his listeners and says, but you are just as guilty…Romans 2:1-11

God did not completely leave or abandon humanity altogether did He? You see Paul was looking back to show how bad it was for humanity and how much we all needed salvation. Paul continues to tell us that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard (Romans 3:23). God is so gracious He goes further than revealing Himself in creation, now God reveals Himself through Jesus so we can know Him even better. But not only did Jesus come to earth to show us God so that we may believe but He also died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus died to set us free from the power of sin in our lives. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God’s righteousness cancels the penalty of sin. This kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. The way to receive this salvation is to repent, turn back to God, and trust in Jesus as the Lord and God of your life and savior from your sin.

Maybe our scripture has made you realize how you’ve gotten off track, maybe with other sins not even mentioned in this chapter. Now we know how we fade or fall into sin, but how do we get back on track?

We tend to focus on the obvious sin but miss the greatest issue of all: our lack of belief and worship of God.

John 16:9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.
Romans 1:25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself.

You see, I operate in the truth that Jesus can save anyone who comes to Him with an open heart.

If you are a Christian but are living in a homosexual lifestyle I would ask you if you're worshiping God or are you worshiping yourself. The same goes for someone who's heterosexual and they are in a sinful relationship…are you worshiping God or self? Are you trying to be happy or make the other person happy? What about God?

This is why I encourage people to evaluate whether they truly believe in God, His Word, and whether He is first in their lives or not. When we worship God above all else we’ll usually live and honor Him in all other areas of our lives. When someone worships God they'll want to do what God wants, not what they want.

If someone isn’t a Christian the church needs to help this person in the proper way…we don't get them to stop sinning first, that's something that only the Holy Spirit can do. What we are meant to do is help them get to know God, trust and pray for the Holy Spirit to convict them so they will repent of their sins, believe salvation is in Jesus Christ, and choose God's desires over their own. I point them to worship and serve God and let His Spirit wash and transform their heart and mind.

If rejecting God sent all of us down this spiral of sin, depravity, and due punishment, then repenting of that rejection and accepting salvation through Christ is how we will be saved and live the life God intended!

If we were without excuse with natural revelation (God in creation) then we definitely are without excuse with special revelation (Jesus in the flesh and scripture). We have Jesus-God in the flesh, fulfilled prophecy, miracles, signs, and wonders, the resurrection, the coming, and baptism of the Spirit. The apostle’s testimony. The testimony of changed lives, the impact of the church. Our world is without excuses.

Discussion:

What scripture verse stuck out to you from this sermon and why?
What spoke and or challenged you in this sermon?
What did you think about Pastor Ryan rooting all sin to a rejection of God and rejecting His Word? Does that make sense?
How does worshiping ourselves instead of God lead to sin?
According to our sermon how does God get us back on the right path and what do we do to get on the right path too?

The most important decision you will ever make!

Are you ready to experience salvation and be transformed? We encourage you to process this decision with a strong believer and when you’re ready say a simple prayer like this from your heart: Dear God, I acknowledge and admit I have sinned. I see my need for Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I believe I am forgiven and cleansed of my sin by His death. I also believe I have eternal life because of His resurrection from the dead. I repent, I turn away from my old ways and I choose to live my life to worship you and follow Jesus, amen!

We would love to know if you made the decision to accept this wonderful gift from God. Let us know here.

Pray Together

We hoped you found this AFTER THE SERMON discussion helpful for your walk with Jesus. We pray you can find ways to apply it this week!

Ryan Coon