The Most Important Bible Passage on Homosexuality

There's several different answers that I usually hear for this question. Occasionally you hear Sodom and Gomorrah thrown in (Genesis 19). But here's some of the main ones:

Leviticus 18:22 "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."

Leviticus 20:13 "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them."

Romans 1:26-27: "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."

Quite frankly, these miss the mark. Now before you pick up the stones to throw, let me ask you a question: Where is the hope for people who have committed homosexual sin? Seriously, from these verses alone, there is none. And that's why I don't think that these are the most important passages in the Bible on homosexuality. As Al Mohler once said: "Homosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say after we declare that homosexuality is a sin."

Personally, I think 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 should be our flagship passage in addressing this topic.

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. 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." (emphasis added)

This passage sums up clearly what Christians need to communicate when talking about homosexuality.
1. Homosexuality is clearly identified as a sin, along with other sins that keep people out of the kingdom. Homosexuality is not singled out and targeted as the only sin that keeps people from God, as is often the case with our speaking about it.
2. Grace is held out to the sinner through the power of Christ to transform. It's through his blood that we are cleansed, declared righteous and made to be holy as we ought to be. Christ is the remedy for all sin, even homosexuality.

To only focus on homosexuality as a sin is harsh and judgmental. And to condemn sin without offering the remedy is just downright hateful. But verse eleven clearly says that there are those who are changed by Christ's power - not their own willpower or choice or determination. Christ transformed them. Indeed it is Christ who transforms all of us.

The bottom line: don't just talk about sin. Talk about the remedy. Because in the end just telling someone they're going to hell and are without hope is ineffective. But to point them to Christ alone as the source for healing, forgiveness, and transformation is what the gospel is all about.

Memorizing Scripture: What Should I Memorize?

In the last post, I tried to challenge you to memorize scripture. Hopefully, you have been challenged to do so. But maybe you don’t know where to start. Or maybe you’ve been memorizing, but you’re not sure if you’re memorizing the right thing. I’d like to help you as you seek to learn God’s word and store it in your heart.

So what should you memorize? Well, John Piper offers the following suggestion about “shifting up” from your current place of memory:

Let me be very practical and challenge you to do something you perhaps have never done. If you are not a memorizer at all, shift up to memorizing a Bible verse a week. If you only memorize single verses, shift up to memorizing some paragraphs or chapters (like Psalm 1 or Psalm 23 or Romans 8). And if you have ventured to memorize chapters, shift up to memorize a whole book or part of a book. Few things have a greater effect on the way we see God and the world than to memorize extended portions of Scripture. (When I Don’t Desire God, p. 121)

So that’s the first part of the “what” answer. But I realize that’s not very helpful when you ask, “What verses/chapters/etc. should I memorize?” Again, Piper is helpful:

I’m not into mechanical memorizing. I’m into fighting the fight of faith. I want to memorize Scripture so that I can defeat the devil at 3 o’clock in the afternoon—that’s why I memorize! It’s so that I can minister to a saint in the hospital at 10 o’clock at night if I’ve forgotten my Bible. This is for my soul, and for the souls of others around me. (Bible Study Magazine, Sept.-Oct. '09, p. 12)

Piper’s advice (and I would agree) is to select passages that will help you grow in Christ-likeness. Also, memorize verses that will help you to help others in need. Don’t memorize verses just to memorize verses. Memorize verses that will challenge you to think on Christ, to point others to Christ, and most importantly to be like Christ.

Find scriptures that target direct temptations you face. Is lust a problem? Perhaps 2 Timothy 2:22 will help: “ So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” Or maybe 1 Corinthians 6:18-20: “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

How about anger? Ephesians 4:31-32 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

You get the picture. Target your temptations. This is exactly what Jesus did with the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). When challenged to abuse his power for selfish, belly-filling bread, he reminded himself and told the devil that man lives on the word of God, not bread alone. When challenged to put God to the test, Jesus quoted a passage about not testing God. When asked to bow down and worship Satan, Jesus responded with Scripture that stated that God alone is to receive worship.

Also, don’t forget about others as you memorize. Memorize verses that can help explain the gospel. Learn scripture that will help you minister to the hurting and broken. Store up passages that will help you encourage other believers.

John Piper’s church does yearly, church-wide memory program. It’s a verse or a few verses a week for the whole year. Maybe you can look through them. Maybe it’s a good place to start. Or, you can develop your own plan. But please, memorize God’s Word. Be ready to use it in the battle for the faith. We cannot survive without our greatest weapon.

In the next post, I hope to give you some ideas for how to memorize scripture. In the meantime, make a plan. Make a commitment. And by all means, stick to it.

Fulfill William Tyndale's Dream

I've been reading some of John Piper's book Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ, covering the lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton. William Tyndale was the first to give us a Bible in the English language. When talking to a Priest about this, Tyndale said, "If God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow, shall know more of the Scripture than thou dost" (p. 30). His desire was that the common man would know the Bible as well as, and even better than, a priest would. Indeed, Tyndale gave his life to see the Bible written in the language of the common man and not limited to the scholarly and well-learned.
As we come up on 2010, I have a question for you: have you tried to fulfill Tyndale's lifelong dream? I read a statistic that more than 85% of Christians have never read the Bible all the way through. Am I the only one who has a problem with this? And, I can already hear some objections:
#1 - "The Old Testament is Dull and Dry"
#2 - "The Old Testament isn't important anymore - we have Jesus"
#3 - "I don't really see the point in reading the Bible"
I'd like to answer these objections with 2 Timothy 3:16-17: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." Consider these two verses for a minute.
1. "All Scripture is breathed out by God" - ALL of it. The genealogies, the laws, the prophets, the psalms, the histories - everything. The whole book is from God.
2. "All Scripture...is profitable" - The Law is useful, the genealogies are useful, the Gospels, the stories and the prophecies. Through these various means of communication, we learn what to believe, we learn what is wrong in us, we learn what to do about it, and we learn how to live. The reason is so that we can be "equipped for every good work." It's not just about reading it all and knowing it all - it is about changed lives. It is about us knowing God properly and being prepared to do his work in the world.
God wants us to know his Word so that we can be effective in his World. So I challenge you to read the Good Book this year. Make William Tyndale's dream come true: know the Scripture more this year.
If you'd like to read through the Bible this year, here are a couple of links to some plans that can help you do it:
Into Thy Word - This site has several plans for you to choose from. I'm using their Genres Plan this year. I have made this plan into easy-to-use bookmarks if you are interested. Leave a comment if you would like these bookmarks in a Word Document format.
Discipleship Journal Plan (via Bethlehem Baptist Church) - This has a plan that also prints out on convenient bookmarks for your reading. Also, this plan breaks the Bible into 300 reading days, giving you about 5 grace days every month. I used this plan a few years ago.
You can also Google search "Bible Reading Plans" and come up with a wealth of plans for your choosing. Or you can create your own plan. Whatever you decide, please choose - no, resolve - this year to help fulfill Tyndale's vision. Above all, I pray that God transforms us all this year as we look into his perfect Word. God bless you as you seek to know him more!

Romans and the Reason for the Season

Romans has long been my favorite book of the Bible. It was the first book I ever interacted with, the first book I memorized Scripture from, and it has been foundational to my thinking and understanding about what God and the Christian life are all about. As I was listening to it yesterday, I couldn't help but think about how fitting it is for this time of year, how it's message leads us to rejoice this season that the Church has set apart to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Romans is a message about the gospel, or the "good news." In fact, Paul says that the the good news is so good that it is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes"(Romans 1:16).
You see, humanity has a problem. I have a problem, you have a problem - all of us have a problem. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (3:23). Basically, this means that all of us have turned away from the true God and worshiped other things (1:18-23). And because we turned from the true God, we have also ended up doing all sorts of things to hurt ourselves and each other - from selfishness to murder (1:24-32). We have judged and condemned others (chapter 2). As Paul said, ALL of us have done it. I am not exempt. Neither are you.
Yet, Paul tells us that God has continued being kind to us so that we would return to him (2:4). And in his kindness, God did the ultimate act of kindness he could. Some would call it the ultimate Christmas present. He gave us his Son. Jesus came into the world while we were unable to help ourselves and he gave his life for us (5:8). He died and rose again so that we would not have to be judged for our sins (3:24-26), and we could be at peace with God (5:1). He died so that we could be reconciled to God (5:11). What amazing love is this!
So, how do we respond to such a great gift and incredible offer? By faith (3:24). We receive God's gift by putting our trust and our hope in Him. And that is how the gospel has the power to save us. Those who believe are free from sin. They are free from the "wages of sin" which is death and separation from God (6:23). We are free from the influence of sin - in other words, we can live lives that God meant for us to have, loving him and loving others (chapters 6-8; cf. Luke 10:25-28). We can give our lives serving each other, sharing the good news, and living as we ought in the world, wherever we are (Romans 12-16).
The message of Romans is the message of Christmas. God gave his Son to save us from sins and to give us relationship with him. What will you do with God's amazing gift?