The homosexual issue and the church

[12] What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? [13] God will judge those outside. - 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (NIV)

The homosexual issue in the world today is a political issue. What I mean by this is that it is an issue being debated on whether it should be except-able within the kingdoms of humankind. However as a result of this battle it has spilled over into the body of Christ.

I want to address this issue as to how the body of Christ is to deal with it when it comes to the nations of humankind. As Members of the body of Christ we need to not be distracted by this single issue when it come to the message to the gospel of the kingdom of God. Especially in the USA. We need to make sure we understand this issue is a political issue and not a kingdom of God issue when it comes to those that don't belong to the body of Christ.

2 Timothy 2:4 (NIV)
[4] No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.

In the same way our commands are from Jesus and our affairs are to be concerned with the body of Christ, His church not the kingdoms of humankind. We need to stop demanding that the kingdoms of humanity follow the values of the kingdom of God when they are not apart of the kingdom of God.

The gospel tells us that it doesn't matter if you are homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual or poly amorous. We all stand guilty before God as sinners. A heterosexual is just as guilty before God as a homosexual apart from Christ. And as sinners we deserve the judicial decree of being found guilty and as a result of our guilt we deserve punishment for our breaking God's law. It is very easy to emphasize the fact that God is love. Who doesn't want to be loved. I know I do. However we would be dishonest if we didn't proclaim the truth that God is also just. It's not one over the other. It's both/and when it comes to the gospel message. To do anything less would be a disservice to the souls of people and disobedient to the God who saves.

God says, for all have sinned and fallen short of His standard for humanity. Which is perfection. We must be perfect in all we have ever done whether it's thoughts, words or deeds. And no one has ever accomplished this level of a life lived. No heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or poly amorous person has done this. And because of this we can do nothing but pay the price that Gods judicial requirements demand. Jesus told us that this punishment was eternal punishment. “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels... Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." - Matthew 25:41, 46 (NIV)

This is what a good judge would do. A judge who refuses to punish evil is not a good judge; he is an unjust judge. A corrupt judge is not good, but God in his goodness, the one who judges all and does what is right, promises judgment against those that fall short of His standard. He calls that evil. To say God is good and expect Him not to be just is insanity. If God is good, then he will judge, and he will judge according to truth. Not a man made truth but His truth. We must be careful to not take His goodness and patience for granted. In his patience God restrains himself. He puts up with our rebellion and sin. He knows every sin we have ever committed, but he has not exposed them all. He has not visited his wrath or our just deserts on us for all those sins, but we wipe our foreheads and say, “God is loving and good therefore he will never deal with my sins.” Do you despise the riches of his goodness, Paul asks, don't you realize that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? However, the bible teaches us that the human condition is such, "When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong." (Ecclesiastes 8:11 NIV). I other words once we break a law and get away with it, it becomes easier to do it again. When this happens repeatedly our conscience becomes callused to that law therefore, God’s judicial restraint leads us not to repentance but to recalcitrance, to the hardened heart and the stiff neck. And when we get caught or exposed our sorrow is not because we did anything wrong but we become sorry because we don't want to be punished. "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."-2 Corinthians 7:10 (NIV).

It is an exercise in futility to demand that the world obey the God they don't know or even seek after. Jesus didn't come to make the Roman Empire the kingdom of God. Jesus came to invited all people out of every nation into His kingdom and it is their that we obey Him. Jesus said if you love me then you will obey my commands. His commands were to Love God, love your neighbor, love your brothers and sisters in Christ and to love your enemy. I haven't found one command from Jesus that tells us to go out and demand that the world follow Him apart from Him. The world desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the world. The world is going to do what to world does and that is to rebel against God. So let's stop being sucked into unnecessary issues within the kingdoms of humankind and start inviting people into God kingdom. Share the entire gospel message, not just one part of it, and then allow the Holy Spirit to do His work within the the hearts of those who have truly been born again.

This is the good news. God knows our predicament before Him. And since we can't do anything within our power to rescue ourselves from His judgments He provided a way out. This way out doesn’t not require us to go through any rituals or, to use a euphemism, get all our ducks in a row. Thats why Jesus came because God knew we could never do it on our own. We could never be good enough. However Jesus could and was. He lived a perfect life in thought, word and deed. Because of that he had the ability to stand before God and offer Himself in the place of all humanity as the person that could satisfy God's perfect standard and then pay the price for all the sins of humanity. Because the wages of sin is death. It was at the cross that Jesus experienced death for all who would believe. Thats love. There is no greater love then to lay down your life for an enemy. Because thats what we are in our broken human condition.  He was then raised to life, proving who he was and showing us that death and the grave had been conquered. This unmerited love and gift of eternal life comes to us when we humbly admit we are a sinner in need of a savior. That from the heart we believe in all that Jesus did and change our way of thinking about God and believe in His son Jesus Christ and live for him forever more.

Now if you are a citizen of Gods kingdom it is the NT that informs us as to what a citizen of God's kingdom is to believe and how we are to live as strangers and aliens within the nations of the world. Now in regards to homosexual behavior the very word homosexual in the NT is one of the keys to understanding whether this behavior is acceptable within the body of Christ.

The NT is the scriptural foundation of the Christian faith and they way we live. If you can come to Christ through the testimony of the scriptures, you can't then turn around and start picking and choosing which scriptures you want to follow. 

Paul's testimony of the christian walk is just as valid as Matthews, Johns, Luke's or Peters. Paul said, "Galatians 1:12 (NIV) I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Paul was a Greek-educated Jew writing to Gentiles in Greek, the common language of the day. He used the Greek translation of the Old Testament available in that day, the Septuagint, or LXX, for his Scripture quotations.

The Greek translation of the Leviticus passages condemns a man (arseno) lying with (koitai) another man (arseno); these words (excuse the pun) lie side-by-side in these passages in Leviticus. Paul joins these two words together into a neologism, a new word (as we do in saying database or software), and thus he condemns "arsenokoitai" in 1Corinthians and 1Timothy what was condemned in Leviticus.

Within the body of Christ homosexual behavior is unacceptable. As far as the world goes we as citizens of God's kingdom should look at this issue as Paul does: 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (NIV)

[12] What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? [13] God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”