29 December
2013
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
1
Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV)
9
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10
nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom
of God.
-- the title of today's message is
"What Phil Said" -- of course I am referring to the recent
controversy resulting from an interview Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the
Duck Dynasty clan, gave to GQ Men's Magazine for their January 2014 edition -- Phil's
interview set off a firestorm in the media, resulting in the A&E network
suspending Robertson from Duck Dynasty because of his comments about
homosexuality -- but, if you were to subtitle this message, I guess you would
have to call it "Was Phil Right?"
-- today's topic, of course, deals
with homosexuality -- I know this is a controversial topic -- not something you
would normally expect in a message given in the Christmas season right before a
new year, but I just feel this is something that the church really needs to
talk about -- not only because of the controversy with Duck Dynasty but because
we need clear biblical insight on this issue and our response to this issue--
and the voice of the church has been somewhat missing from this media firestorm
-- I have seen only a couple of
articles from church leaders about the Duck Dynasty issue -- one from Al
Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and a few others
scattered about -- but, by and large, the church has been silent over the past
couple of weeks -- the controversy and the arguments about this issue have primarily
been bantered about by special interest groups on the left and conservative
politicians and grassroots supporters on the right -- Facebook in particular
has been lit up with this issue over the past several weeks
-- but the church has been silent,
and this should not be the case -- the church has not responded to this or
other controversial topics of our day in years -- I have seen very little from
the church leadership on Obamacare or our economic crisis or war in Syria or
any other similar divisive topic -- but this should not be
-- on issues of morality and
injustice and righteousness, the church should be at the forefront -- telling
others of the good news of Christ and responding with grace and truth in the
midst of the controversy
-- so this morning, we are going to
wade into this current controversy because I want you to understand why it
started and why it should not have started and what our response as the church
of Christ should have been in the midst of this cultural firestorm
-- before I begin, let me give you
some caveats -- first, I am going to address this issue solely from a Biblical
perspective -- if you look in the media or on the internet or in books or
magazines, you will see the political and biological aspects of homosexuality
debated -- that is not our concern as a church -- our concern resides in the
social and cultural and religious aspects of this issue -- and our focus and
response should be centered on what God's word says about it
-- secondly, this message is based
on my interpretation of scripture -- there are differing interpretations and
opinions among the nation's Christians leaders -- on a subject like this, I
think it is important that you read God's Word first -- then read the different
interpretations and opinions from both sides of the issue so you can come to
the place where God is leading you
-- my intent this morning is to relate to you what I feel
God has been saying to me about this issue and to challenge you to consider
your own position on this subject -- were your opinions on this Duck Dynasty
controversy formed because you researched the issue yourself or did you just
react because you like Duck Dynasty or because of what you saw on Facebook and
Twitter?
-- Sarah Palin jumped into this controversy and spoke out
several times in support of Phil Robertson, even drawing an analogy between him
and Rosa Parks, when it turns out she never even read what Phil said in his GQ
interview
-- our response should always be based on truth and we
cannot speak intelligently into a situation until we have researched the facts
and looked at both sides and searched God's word for His truth about the
situation
-- so, let's begin there
II. Exegesis of Homosexuality
-- first, what did Phil say? -- what
started all of this controversy? -- it all began when Phil shared with the GQ
interviewer a candid portrait of his life -- Phil was not always a good person
and he has been honest about who he was in his testimony -- but Phil's life was
changed through an encounter with the risen Christ -- and Phil is not shy to
share his experiences and his beliefs about Jesus -- as one person put it this
week, "If you don't want to know the thoughts and opinions of a 67-year
old redneck from the backwoods of Louisiana, you shouldn't ask, because they're
going to tell you"
-- throughout the interview, Phil
constantly talked about our country's drift away from Christian morals and
principles and shared the gospel message many times with the interviewer,
asking him point-blank if he and his wife were "Bible people" and
telling him to put his faith in Jesus -- at one point, Phil said the big
problem in our country is that "everything is blurred on what’s right and
what’s wrong" -- “Sin becomes fine.”
-- the interviewer than asked the
question: "What, in your mind, is sinful?" -- and Phil responded with
the quote that resulted in the media firestorm:
-- “Start with homosexual behavior
and just morph out from there -- Bestiality -- sleeping around with this woman
and that woman and that woman and those men -- Then he paraphrases Corinthians:
“Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male
prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the
slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”1
-- so that's what Phil said -- and
from that point on it was Katie-bar-the-door
-- so let me ask you -- was Phil
wrong? -- now before we answer, let me say that Phil did get more graphic in
the interview about the differences between homosexual and heterosexual
relationships -- he was using natural law -- the obvious truths communicated
through the design of nature -- to make the point God had designed our bodies
in a certain way and that homosexual relationships obviously and clearly are outside
that design -- but was he wrong in what he said?
-- in order to answer that we have
to go back to the word of God -- I spent some time going through the Bible
looking at the topic of homosexuality -- and, you know, when I began, I expected
the Bible to be filled with reference after reference about homosexuality -- but what I found was
surprising
-- the topic of homosexuality only
occurs about 5 times in the entire Bible -- depending on what translation of
the Bible you use, the actual word "homosexual" may only occur once
or twice -- two of these references to homosexuality are in the book of
Leviticus where God was giving the law to the Israelites
-- Lev. 18:22 -- "Do not lie
with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."
-- and Lev. 20:13 -- "If a man
lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is
detestable."
-- now, a lot of Christians will
tell you we live under grace and not under law -- and therefore, the legal
requirements of the Law of Moses that we see in the Old Testament do not apply
to us -- and that is correct, in a sense
-- no, we do not have to follow the
Law to the letter to find salvation -- our sins were forgiven through Christ's
atoning work on the cross and our salvation was made sure through His
resurrection on the third day
-- we couldn't keep the law nor find
salvation through the law, so Jesus fulfilled the commandments of the Law
through His life and death and resurrection -- we are saved by grace through
faith in Jesus
-- so what does the Old Testament
law mean to us? -- what do we do with it? -- the Law is a picture of God's
heart and of His intent for our lives -- God has called us to be holy as He is
holy -- and through the Law we see that holiness defined
-- so when we look at these two
passages in Leviticus, one thing stands out -- in both verses God tells us He
views the homosexuality act as "detestable" -- both verses indicate
that the act of homosexuality is a sin -- keep that in mind as we look at the
other three references I found to homosexuality -- all in the New Testament
-- hold your place here in 1
Corinthians but turn over to Romans 1 with me -- there is a passage here that I
think is most definitive -- Romans 1:26-27
Romans
1:26-27 (NIV)
26
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women
exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were
inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men,
and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
-- in these verses, Paul uses words
like "shameful lusts," "unnatural relations,"
"indecent acts," and "perversion" to describe the
homosexual act -- it's obvious from Paul's use of those words that God views
this act as offensive -- as a sin
-- let's look at Jude 7 -- the next
to the last book in the Bible -- right before the Book of Revelation
Jude 1:7 (NIV)
7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah
and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and
perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of
eternal fire.
--
if you know the story of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah, then you know
that the "sexual immorality and perversion" that Jude is referring to
here includes homosexuality along with other acts
-- finally, turn back to the passage
we opened with -- 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
1
Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV)
9
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10
nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom
of God.
-- this is the same passage Phil
Robertson was paraphrasing in his interview with GQ -- this is what got him in
hot water with the media and the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities
-- it wasn't really Phil's words -- it was God's word
-- and I think, if you honestly look
at what we just read in context, you will have to agree the Bible is very clear
and very consistent in condemning the homosexuality act as a sin -- and while
it is true Jesus never directly mentioned anything about homosexuality, He did
make it clear in His teachings throughout the gospel that it was God's intent
for marriage and for sexual relations to be between one man and one woman
-- one important thing I want you to
understand in all of this, though, and this will tie in with where I want to go
next -- these verses show that God condemns the act of homosexuality -- He does
not condemn the person who commits the sin -- this is an important point -- God
hates sin -- not the sinner -- we cannot get these two confused
-- we all know John 3:16
John 3:16 (NIV)
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.
-- but most of the time we leave off the next verse -- John
3:17 reads, "For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through Him."
-- we see the same thing in the story in the Bible about the
adulterous woman brought before Jesus -- Jesus refused to pass judgment on the
woman and said to the men who were gathered there, "If any one of you is
without sin, then let him cast the first stone" -- one by one all the men
left, and when Jesus was left alone with the woman, he turned to her and said, "Where
are they? Has no one condemned
you?" -- then she says "no one, sir." -- and Jesus responded by
saying, "Then neither do I condemn you -- Go now and leave your life of
sin."
-- God condemns the sin -- not the sinner
III. Was Phil Right?
-- which brings up the question I said was the subtitle of
this message -- "Was Phil Right?"
-- let's look back at 1 Corinthians
6:9-10 again
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV)
9 Do you not know that the wicked
will not inherit the kingdom
of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male
prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor
drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
--
that's what Phil said -- but was he right?
-- well, the answer is yes -- and no
-- yes, the Bible seems to be clear
in calling the homosexual act a sin -- yes, God does condemn homosexuality and
call it detestable -- yes, Phil was right on that account
-- but he was wrong on two others
-- first, he was wrong because he
focused solely on homosexuality in his interview -- look at what Paul wrote
here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit -- who does Paul say will not
inherit the kingdom
of God? -- just
homosexuals? -- No!
-- Paul says no sinners can inherit
the kingdom of God -- not just homosexuals -- but also the sexually immoral --
idolaters -- adulterers -- thieves -- the greedy -- drunkards -- slanderers --
nor swindlers -- all of these are detestable in the sight of God -- all of
these are equally offensive to God -- all of these are sinners
-- homosexuality is no more wrong
that being greedy -- it is no more wrong than being drunk -- it is no more
wrong than being a thief or a liar or an adulterer -- and that's where Phil
missed it
-- he applied his own personal bias
-- his own sliding scale of sin -- to these verses -- we do that, don't we? --
we look at some sin as being worse than others
-- but let me ask you this:
who is the worst sinner? -- someone who tells a white lie now and then
or someone who commits murder? -- the
answer is NEITHER -- there are no "worse" sinners or
"better" sinners -- in the eyes of God, there are just sinners and
sinners and more sinners
-- but we still think that way, don't we? -- we rank sin --
we treat people differently -- if Bill is having an extramarital affair, the church
doesn't go over to his house and protest with banners that say "adulterers
are going to hell" even though that's what it says here
-- if Jane was to go out and covet
Tom's car, we don't send mail to her telling her she will "burn in
hell" even though the Bible says it's a sin to covet
-- but the church does that with
homosexuals -- we treat this sin differently than we do most others -- and that's
exactly what Phil did in his interview and that's exactly why the Duck Dynasty
story blew up over the past couple of weeks
-- in God's eyes, sin is sin is sin
-- it doesn't matter what you do, if you transgress against Him in any area,
you are just as guilty as someone involved in homosexuality or murder or any
other sin we rank as horrendous
-- we all have sinned and when we
sin, we appear no different to God than any other sinner -- God doesn't rank
sin and neither should we
-- so what else was Phil wrong
about? -- let me remind you of the question the interviewer asked that started
this whole controversy -- he asked, "What, in your mind, is sinful?"
-- did you catch what he said? --
What -- IN YOUR MIND -- is sinful? -- not "what is a sin?" -- but
what, IN YOUR MIND, is sinful?
-- that phrase makes it clear -- the
interviewer was not a Christian -- he did not look to God's word for his
standard of right and wrong -- and although Phil was right in condemning
homosexuality and the other sins listed in these verses -- he was wrong because
he left something out that this man needed -- grace
-- look at 1 Corinthians 6:11
1
Corinthians 6:11 (NIV)
11
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of
our God.
-- Phil was wrong because he focused
on the sin and erected barriers with this man and the readers of this magazine
who obviously are not Christians -- rather than speaking the truth in love and
offering grace to the interviewer, Phil Robertson came across as a bigoted,
hateful man -- and even though he did share the gospel message later in his
interview, the damage was already done -- the message was not received because
of the messenger
-- but, we can't put all the blame
on Phil Robertson because those who sided with him on Facebook and Twitter and
in the media over the past couple of weeks were just as condemning and
judgmental as he was portrayed to be in that interview
-- missing in the midst of all the
response on the Duck Dynasty controversy was grace and truth and love
-- the way we respond to sin and
sinners shows what we truly believe about God and what we truly believe about
ourselves and can literally make the difference between a person accepting
Christ or not
-- let me ask you a question, after
all this controversy -- after all the media uproar and A&E finally caving
in to ratings and money and the political right "winning" this case
-- what do you think the non-Christians in this country think about us? -- Do
you think they would be encouraged to turn to Christ based on the response of
the Christian community in this controversy?
-- Jesus said that the world would
know us by our love -- there wasn't much love shown over the past few weeks --
there wasn't much grace offered
-- Paul was very upfront and bold in
his condemnation of sin -- but he always tempered that condemnation with the
good news of Christ -- with the offer of grace -- I didn't really see that here
in this situation
-- so how should we have responded
as a Christian community? -- let me
close this message by sharing with you the story of my friend Tommy
-- Tommy was a pastor friend of mine
-- one of my mentors -- he passed away a few years ago -- but I truly respected
him and his insights into God's word and God's work in our lives today
-- he shared with me the story of
his son -- after Tommy had been a pastor for quite some time, his son came to
him and announced he was gay -- and Tommy reacted just like Phil Robertson --
just like all of us on the Christian right did in this Duck Dynasty situation
-- he beat his son with the Bible --
verse after verse -- passage after passage -- denouncing his son -- telling him
he was a sinner and needed to repent of his sin -- telling him he was
condemning himself to Hell -- Tommy said he responded with judgment and hatred
of the sin rather than grace and truth and love -- he told his son to get out
and not come back
-- years went by -- Tommy's son
continued to live a homosexual lifestyle -- he was in a long-term homosexual
relationship in Florida
-- and father and son remained estranged
-- until God spoke to Tommy one day
-- he reminded Tommy of the truth I have given you in this message -- we all
are sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God -- we all are sinners in
need of grace -- we all need someone to love us back home again
-- in the Emmaus community we have a
saying -- "Listen, listen -- Love, Love" -- Tommy realized he had
done neither -- and so he reached out to his son and asked him to come home --
as his son sat at their table that day, Tommy didn't speak -- he didn't open
the Bible -- he just listened -- and then he responded with love
-- when Tommy died, he and his son
had been reconciled for several years -- no, Tommy's son did not turn from his
homosexual lifestyle -- yes, Tommy made it clear where he stood on the issue
and what God's word said about the issue -- but he loved him all the same and
prayed daily for his son's return to the faith
-- this is the way Jesus responded
to sinners -- this is the way He responded to the adulterous woman -- this is
the way He responded to the woman at the well and to Zaccheus and to Matthew
and to you and to me
-- He listened and He loved -- He
didn't condemn -- He didn't judge -- He listened -- He loved -- and He offered
salvation and freedom from sin -- this is how we, as followers of Christ,
should react to all who sin, whether they are homosexuals or adulterers or
slanderers, or gossipers
VI. Closing
-- in closing, I want to encourage
you to remember two things:
-- the first is to remember the
depths from which you were picked up -- remember who you were before you were
saved -- remember how filthy your soul was before Christ cleaned you and
forgave you -- even if the worst thing you did was tell a white lie, it was
still enough to sentence you to hell for eternity
-- secondly, don't condemn those who
are still lost in their sins -- we need to make it clear where we stand on the
issue -- we need to make it clear what the word of God says -- but we need to
speak the truth in love and offer grace and hope instead of hatred and judgment
-- as the old saying goes, you catch
more flies with honey than vinegar -- and we need to learn to respond as Christ
did -- through grace and love -- by listening and not judging -- by loving them
into the kingdom
-- sin is sin -- all sin is
detestable in the eyes of God -- but the message of the Bible is not that God
hates sin, but that God loves us so much He did something about it -- the
message of the Bible is that God sent Christ to earth to take away our sin -- to
fulfill the Law -- and to justify and sanctify our souls
-- never forget -- Jesus died on
cross for all sinners and for all sin -- liars -- gossips -- thieves --
idolaters -- drunkards -- sexually immoral people -- murderers -- and, yes,
even homosexuals -- even you and me
-- let grace rule your actions --
let love lead your tongue
-- Let us Pray
1"What the Duck?" by Drew Magary, GQ Magazine,
January 2014 -- http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson#ixzz2orlJzqvF
