Since I have talked about being young, gay and Christian it is time to talk about reconciling our homosexuality. Many of today’s youth and others have turned away from God because they feel that they can no longer worship him because of their homosexuality or they have not come out to their family, because they are not comfortable with it. People are torn between their feelings. Not being able to go on or to have a Christian relationship. It is hard enough to reconcile our homosexuality because of what we were taught when we were growing up.
I am going to present several scriptures that will help on reconciling our homosexuality and also to prove that homosexuality isn’t a sin. If you would like some studies, you can go to www.gcym.org and look at the Bible studies section on the site that talk about the Biblical passages that we are condemned for.
This will be in 5 part series about reconciling our Homosexuality. We will be looking at the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.
Does God Show Favoritism?
“Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.” (Acts 10:34 NIV)
Does God show favoritism to anyone? No he doesn’t. It doesn’t matter who we are, where we came from, our race, nationality or where we live. Samuel was looking for a man of God to be king to replace Saul. “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'” (1 Sam 16:7 NIV) Praise God!!! Yes God does not look at the appearance or how tall we are. But he does look at our heart to see if we are loving him, and following his Word, the Bible. (Compare 2 Samuel 14:14; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; 1 Peter 1:17)
Next we will be looking at what will it be like when we get to heaven. It will be interesting to see that there is no gender in heaven.
Angles in Heaven – No Gender
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28 NIV)
In the Body of Christ, we are one. There is no gender. We are not Greek and we are not Jews. We are not slaves or free. For Paul states that there is neither “male nor female.” But we are all in one with Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Apostle Mark agrees with Paul at Mark 12:25, “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” So scripture says that we are not going to marry or be given in marriage. But that we “will be like angels in heaven.” (See also Matthew 22:30 and Luke 20:35-36)
“And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Cor 15:49, 50 NIV)
Just as Christ came to earth, we will be like him in heaven. We know that flesh and blood cannot enter into heaven. And Paul gives us an example: that perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. There is no gender in heaven at all. (Compare 1 John 3:2)
Whosoever Believes
What did Christ mean when he said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16, KJV) Who is the “whosoever”? This precious and well-known verse speaks of the divine love, which moved God to provide salvation for the world through His Son. There are two words used for “life” in the Greek N.T. Zoe, meaning “life” in its absolute sense, as God has given it, is used in this verse. It signifies spiritual life in John. This word is frequently used for “eternal life” with its special emphasis upon the quality of life and its endless duration through the ages to come. This life is available only through belief in God’s Son. The biblical concept of “eternal life” is more than immortality, and it involves not only the soul but also the body.
The meaning of whosoever is that anyone that believes in his Son has eternal life. Jesus goes on to state, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17, NIV) So we see here that Christ did not come to the earth to condemn the wold, but that we might be saved through him. Of course things can separate us from God and Scripture clearly says that.
Listen to what Paul said in Romans:
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:8-23)
For the wages of sin is death. No problem right? Christ came and so we have eternal life through him.
Elsewhere Paul states:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1, 2)
Those that are in Christ have no “condemnation” at all. If a person has one partner and is committed and is following Christ there is no problem. Know for sins that are condemned are that when he wrote to Timothy he states:
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5, NIV)
This goes along with Jesus words at John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
As we can see with many Scriptural references, Christ does accept those who have received him. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one will boast.” (Eph. 2:8, 9, NIV)
As we go into the book of Romans we shall see that “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.” Many churches have said that we live in sin because being Gay; but what does Paul have to say? We shall see.
No Condemnation
Yes, you can proudly say that you “Love Jesus!” God has shown me from his Word that was written to Paul the letter in Romans — that we can be Gay and Christian at the same time.
We as the gay community have been told that we cannot be gay and Christian. That it is an abomination to God. As we look into what Paul wrote, this would confirm that God loves us very much and that we are his people.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” -(Romans 8:28, NIV)
Yes God will help those that love him and that have accepted Jesus as Savior. For Paul wrote, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”-Romans 8:1,2, NIV. We have no condemnation if we are in Christ. Amen! (Please Compare Romans 8:29)
One thing I know the Lord is doing is using the Gay Community to reach out to those that have been thrown out of there churches because they are gay. I have also started a Ministry of my own, so that people can know that God loves them. My ministry is called, “Zion Gay Christian Youth Ministries.” Paul writes, “And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30, NIV) He has called the Gay Community to be called, and he is justifying us. And at one point we shall be GLORIFIED!
“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:31-35, NIV)
Paul connects seven rhetorical questions to lead us to the wonderful truths that: (1) God is for us; (2) He will freely give us all things; (3) He has justified us; (4) He prays for us; and (5) we cannot be separated from His love. All of these precious blessings are granted to those who are in Christ Jesus. With encouragement such as these, the Gay Christian can endure suffering with hope and assurance. And SHAME ON THOSE CHURCHES!
Most churches are so legalistic — meaning legalism. The Microsoft Bookshelf defines these words as:
Legalism:1. Strict, literal adherence to the law or to a particular code, as of religion or morality. A legal word, expression, or rule.”
Some Churches today practice “fundamentalism” which means: “1.a. Often Fundamentalism. An organized, militant Evangelical movement originating in the United States in 1920 in opposition to Liberalism and secularism. b. Adherence to the theology of this movement. 2. A movement or point of view characterized by rigid adherence to fundamental or basic principles.”
But it is what Scripture says, not what men say!
As Paul continues in Romans, we know as Christian Witnesses of the only True God (John 17:3) that “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Romans 8:36 NIV) Yes we do face death. We are like sheep to be slaughtered. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” -Romans 8:37, NIV. Yes we are conquerors through him who loves us. We have a promise that no one else will have unless they “SURRENDER” all their selves.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38, 39, NIV.
We can be assured that nothing can separate us from the love of God. As long as we are faithful to him he will surely bless us. For Isaiah says: “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” [Isaiah 55:11] Yes His word that goes forth will not return to him without result. Amen.
What the Lord has showed the same thing and me that Paul’s statement is “I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit — 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” (Romans 9:1, 2, NIV) It’s not what I speak but that of the Lord. And we can be Gay and Christian at the same time. As I quoted before in Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We are set free in Christ Jesus.
In regard to me being kicked out of my church, it hurt very much. And I took what Paul wrote in the following verses:
“For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs [church fathers], and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” (Romans 9:3-5, NIV)
Yes I wish I could die for those who caused pain and dis-fellowshipped me. But I pray that God will open the pastor’s heart and anyone that has gone through the same thing. We don’t need to give up our salvation for Paul states at Philippians 4:13: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” In this verse, we can understand what Paul meant that the fervor of Paul’s evangelical heart is displayed in this verse. His Israelite brethren, because of their unbelief, are not the recipients of all the gracious works of God in salvation to which earlier discussions allude. But the apostle is concerned for them to the extent that he could wish himself “accursed” (anathema, Gk.) or “devoted to destruction” in the place of them. Paul has walked so closely with the Lord that a spirit of compassion similar to that, which led Jesus to make atonement for the human family, is now operative in Paul also. The fact that he specifies his “countrymen according to the flesh” prepares us to understand the term “Israel” as a reference to literal Israel in the discussion to follow. We can also apply that to us today. (Compare Romans 9:6- 14)
In the Old Testament Paul states in the book of Romans:
“For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ” (Romans 9:15, 16, NIV)
Yes the will have mercy on those he wants to have mercy on.
“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”-Romans 9:17.
The trials we go through the Lord will be there and he will help us. “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”(Romans 9:18, NIV) (Compare Romans 9:19-24)
God to many of his prophets called Israel to be his people. And through out Biblical History, Israel was God’s chosen people but to day are we His people he is using? As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”. Also “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'” (Romans 9:25-26, NIV) Yes God has said to us that `you are not my people,’ He will say he will call them sons of the living God. Praise the Lord! (Romans 9:27-29)
Since Israel was not faithful we can agree what Paul says at Romans 9:30-32: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.”
Yes we, as Gentiles, have obtained salvation through Christ Jesus and he loves us not matter what. Nothing can separate us from the Love of God! (Compare Romans 9:33)
I would like to invite you to attend a church that is a gay Church. They are God’s people and he is moving and working. He has blessed me with a wonderful ministry, for those that have been rejected from their churches that they attended most of their life. The Lord has given a Scripture to apply to the Ministry that he has given me. “I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand — I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.'”-Isaiah 51:16, NIV.
I want to start a group of Gay Christian youth that will be able to stand and say I can be Gay and Christian at the same time. We can do it. The door is open. The Lord is preparing and wants us to prepare. If you can help in anyway please let me know.
In our next study, we will be looking at Genesis 19. What was Sodom destroyed for and does it really have anything to do with homosexuality?
Copyright Steve Payne, all rights reserved. No part of this may be photocopied or reproduced by any means without written permission from the author.