Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but
for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is
contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
Commentators will point out the unique aspect of our text and the list Paul mentions here. While it is true that he is loosely following the ten commandments, there is something
else, in that the more aggravated forms of particular sins are mentioned. Perhaps you noticed:
Not simply disrespect toward parents but
beating fathers and mothers; not just carelessness of others but actual murder; not any sexual immorality but the practice of homosexuality; not thieves but stealers of persons; not just liars but perjurers, those that go into court and tell lies under
oath.
Paul mentions homosexuality. Perhaps in any other age, I would not write what I am compelled to write this morning. But because of our culture, our day, and because of what this
particular sin is doing to the church, a word about homosexuality is in order. Perhaps you are aware of the fact that there are voices in the evangelical community that argue the Bible’s warning in this regard is not against chaste homosexual relationships
but only the more violent and predatory forms of the practice.
I must say that this form of defense has fallen off over recent years simply because it is dishonest in dealing with all the texts of Scripture that speak to the issue. To conclude
this requires not only the twisting of scripture but the complete ignoring of texts that cannot be made to say what they so desperately want the Bible to say.
More disturbing, is an argument that has found its way deep into the conservative Reformed and Presbyterian world, is that the Bible does not condemn homosexual orientation or
desire, but only homosexual practice. So, the desires are not sin, only if you act on the desire. This has led folks to argue that homosexual relationships that are not consummated are fine. Two men can walk on the beach, holding hands living in ‘relationship’
as long as they do not act on their desires, sexually.
But where and when in the Bible are ungodly desires NOT condemned…where is unrighteous desire, not called sin? Coveting is a desire. A young man’s unrighteous desires
for a woman to whom he is not married, is condemned in no uncertain terms. Jesus even calls it adultery.
In this text, Paul describes sexual sin broadly. He mentions two forms of sexual sin, fornication and homosexuality. Paul has, in other words, included both the hetero- and the
homosexual forms of sexual sin. Homosexual desire is certainly sinful as well as the practice of that sin is condemned, just as heterosexual desire and practice is also sinful when directed toward people to whom one is not married.
Jesus made this abundantly clear that one can commit fornication or adultery in the mind as surely as with the body. Homosexuals are certainly not excluded from that general law
of sin and righteousness any more than heterosexuals are. This is reminiscent of what we have spoken to often regarding the church bowing to the pressure of the culture. Listen to this author:
The fact is, and everyone knows it, we wouldn’t be having this conversation about gay marriage were it not for the fact that the society has come completely to terms with sexual
libertinism, the vast majority of which is, of course, heterosexual.
If what we are actually saying as a people, as a culture,
God forbid as a church, is that only homosexuals shouldn’t be able to fulfill their sexual desires with whomever and whenever they please, no one should be surprised that homosexuals and many heterosexuals don’t take that argument seriously.
If what we are saying is that everyone else can enjoy pornography, just not homosexuals, well, anyone will ask, “Why?” Our problem is first and basically a problem of heterosexual
promiscuity. What we need as a church and as a country is chastity, which is sexual abstinence outside of marriage and sexual love and pleasure within marriage. That and that only has always been and must be today the Christian position! Surrender that position
and, whether one realizes the implications at the time or not, one has surrendered a great deal more besides. If we are going to convince homosexuals that a higher life of sexual chastity is what God calls them to, we must have proved that as Christian heterosexuals.
Let’s be candid: The reason for the mess that our culture is in…the reason for the morass of sin that individuals are drowning in, and even the reason for all the disfunction
and sin that you and I find ourselves giving into, is due to a denial, a rejection of life as God says it is.
Life is found in obedience to God…to His word, both in the Bible and in the Word Incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I know very well the truth of what the scripture says:
The way of the transgressor is hard…that is true for you and it is true for the whole of humanity as much as they try to live in defiance of this principle.
This is what Mother Teresa was getting at as we noted yesterday. I realize that many will think that to make abortion the center of the culture’s problems is overly simplistic,
or anecdotal, maybe even reductionistic, but I would argue they are missing her point…they are missing the Bible’s point.
Here is an analogy that I read that speaks to this issue: As a fever affects the sinuses, the throat, the lungs, even the heart, so abortion is connected to and gives further
impetus to the disintegration of the American family, to the looming budget crisis, to our national security, to our health care problem, and everything else. Abortion changes us morally and because we are in our very nature a moral existence, when we are
changed morally we are changed root and branch. This results from the ineluctably moral nature of human life. Human life is overshadowed by right and wrong as real, intractable things. People can deny this fact, as Americans today are denying it, but escape
it they cannot.
All of life is connected. If there is a tear in the seam, that tear will soon enough begin to unravel the whole. Righteousness cannot be compartmentalized or parceled out into
bits and pieces. That is why James says in 2:10, that to break one aspect of the law is to break all of the law.
As the redeemed of the Lord, we seek to obey all that God has commanded and because of His grace and the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, we are able to live blamelessly before Him.
Remember, blamelessness is not sinlessness. Part of being blameless is to make much of the gift of repentance.
Another example of this is to take an honest look at what the sexual revolution has done. We live in a day where sexual immorality, sex outside of God’s intention, that is, outside
of marriage, has had and continues to have devastating consequences. Unwed pregnancies giving rise to fatherlessness in the home, the abandonment of true masculinity, exalting male irresponsibility and the proper honoring of women…leading to greater abuse
and harm to women…leading to greater degrees of juvenile crime due to children growing up without dad, the family being disintegrated…all of this and much more, in just a couple of generations has unraveled the whole fabric of society.
Cultures, men and women, you and me, your children and mine can only be healthy, wise and virtuous when living in the shadow of the cross and that cannot be done without submitting
oneself, one’s family and a culture to the obedience of faith…to the obedience to the ways of God revealed in His Holy Word.
This is why Paul’s final phrase is so powerful: in accordance with the gospel. Remember, as I have told us a number of times: In this life, forgiveness of sins is not the
end goal, as glorious as it is.
No, the end goal that which our forgiveness pushes us toward is the freedom to live in the transforming light of God’s grace. God’s purpose is your transformation, not just the
forgiveness of your sins. And the means to that transformation is life lived in joyful obedience to God’s Word.
Prayer: Father, I too often shrink back from the sacrifices that would mark my life as belonging to none but Jesus. I am often fearful; fearful of what others might
think of me, fearful of not being successful, fearful of what tomorrow might bring! I know the claims of Jesus are absolute and immediate, give me strength of mind and heart to embrace the life that Jesus so beautifully lived that I too might know the joy
of surrender and the hope of the kingdom of heaven, through Jesus my Savior, Amen.
Hymn: Am I a Soldier of the Cross?
