Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - June 17, 2019


Ep 126 ｜ Biblical Marriage


Episode Stats

Length

30 minutes

Words per Minute

192.5006

Word Count

5,962

Sentence Count

333

Misogynist Sentences

7

Hate Speech Sentences

19


Summary

In this episode, I discuss a topic that is extremely contentious within the Christian community, and especially within the LGBTQ community. I talk about how the Bible defines proper marriage relationships, and how God defines proper sexual relationships, particularly in reference to homosexuality. I also talk about the fact that God made all people, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation, valuable in the eyes of God.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. As you guys know, this starts the last week of my recording episodes for Relatable until you get the pre-recorded episodes that I worked on in May for the next eight or so weeks.
00:00:19.700 And I'm really excited for you to listen to those episodes. They're evergreen, but extremely relevant topics that we are going to have to contend with, not just with our faith, since we're talking about things like women in the church and predestination, Calvinism, things like that.
00:00:34.200 But we're also talking about things that you are going to be hearing about in 2020 or the election of 2020.
00:00:39.700 So we're talking about Medicare for all and a lot of the issues that you're going to hear about in the debate.
00:00:44.260 So they're very important and I hope very informative episodes, just giving you what I know in what I've researched.
00:00:51.740 So this is going to be my last week, probably, probably of recording, recording episodes about things that are going on right now.
00:00:59.860 Now, like I said, on Friday, I could pop in anytime over the next few weeks and be like, OK, guys, I just had to record a new episode because I have to talk about this thing that just happened.
00:01:09.280 But the hope is that you will get all the prerecorded episodes. And of course, I would love for you guys to share them as you see fit and for you to continue to email me and message me to hear about your thoughts.
00:01:20.200 So today we're going to talk about a topic that is extremely contentious, which is what the Bible says about marriage, how the Bible defines proper marriage relationships and defines proper sexual relationships, particularly in reference to homosexuality.
00:01:36.720 So this is a topic that I don't want to talk about. I don't want to talk about it.
00:01:40.960 I really don't because it's so taboo. It's something that I can get in trouble for talking about.
00:01:48.080 It's something that even within the Christian community is a difficult thing to talk about and something that most people simply avoid.
00:01:56.560 I just hope that you will understand. I hope that you'll understand that my heart behind this episode is not one at all of hate for my fellow man.
00:02:05.980 Just the opposite. This is about a love for my fellow man and a love for the word of God.
00:02:12.420 All people, all people, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation, are made in the image of God.
00:02:19.200 They are image bearers. They are valuable in the eyes of God.
00:02:22.460 And apart from Christ, everyone, apart from Christ, everyone is just as dead in their sin as anyone else.
00:02:30.080 We are all equally in need of a savior. We are all equally in need of reconciliation to God.
00:02:35.900 We are called to love all people, to be hospitable, to be generous, to see people with compassion and empathy.
00:02:43.300 So know that that is the perspective that I am coming from.
00:02:46.420 I also want to say that if you are in the LGBTQ community and that you, if you have been truly mistreated, if you have been spat upon, if you have been talked down to, if you have been truly hated because of your sexual orientation in the name of Christ,
00:03:01.580 I want you to know that that's not the heart of Christianity, that that is not a reflection of Jesus.
00:03:06.520 If someone has spoken to you as if you are less valuable than they are, know that that is not Christianity.
00:03:13.200 Uh, I am sorry that that happened to you. I am. I have no doubt that there are people out there who call themselves Christians who mistreat people because they erroneously think that they are better than them.
00:03:25.420 And I'm telling you, that is not the heart of Jesus. And that's certainly not where I'm coming from today.
00:03:30.720 Um, now though, you will likely disagree with this episode. If you are, um, in this particular community, or if you're on the other side of the political or cultural or theological aisle, I just want you to know that that is not, that is not what is happening here.
00:03:47.320 I am not looking to talk down to anyone, but what I also want you to realize is that sexuality does not define us. It is not our identity.
00:03:55.440 Uh, that means that I can disagree with someone and I can still love them as a person. That means I hope that you who may disagree with me, uh, that you can understand that I don't hate you, that I love you.
00:04:08.740 And I love God's word. And no matter how much current culture says that in order to love someone, I have to agree with everything they do.
00:04:16.160 I wholeheartedly reject that definition of love. I reject that definition of love. Um, I love you and I know that you are made in the image of God and I love God and I want to obey and know his will. And that is what this episode is about.
00:04:32.820 And so what I would ask is that if you are someone who disagrees with this, if who is going to disagree with this, I guess you don't know my position yet, but you've probably already picked up on it.
00:04:42.860 If you are someone who disagrees with this, what I would ask is that, um, well, first of all, I'm not offended by you being offended. I'm not angry at you being angry. I'm totally fine with that. And I understand that.
00:04:54.080 But before, before you automatically and immediately call me a hateful bigot, uh, what I would ask is that you contend with what I have to say in a thoughtful way.
00:05:04.880 And if you are a Christian who would like to refute what I say, I expect you to do so with the word of God and with scripture, not just from your own opinions.
00:05:15.800 And if you are a non-Christian who would like to refute this, well, that's perfectly fine. I don't really, I don't really expect us to agree on this because we don't expect, or we don't, um, agree on the authority of scripture.
00:05:27.660 So if you are not a Christian and you don't agree with me on this, that's perfectly fine. But if you are, then I expect us to have a theological conversation about this, a conversation that is based on scripture and not just a conversation that is based on either of our opinions, because I really don't care about my opinion on this.
00:05:44.040 I don't really care about anyone's opinion on this. I care about what the word of God says.
00:05:49.200 And I know this is kind of like a long introduction, but it all matters. Uh, for Christians, I totally understand if you're out there and you're like, this is just a really hard subject for me.
00:05:59.180 Like, I totally understand why this is hard. This is a hard subject for me. And for a lot of us, because we love so many people who are in this community, uh, for good reason, we don't want to hurt them.
00:06:08.860 Like we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. We don't want to make anyone feel ostracized.
00:06:12.800 Uh, we don't want to be seen as bigots ourselves, which I actually think is usually the bigger reason why we don't want to talk about this.
00:06:19.540 I know so many wonderful people in this community who are some of the kindest people I know.
00:06:24.260 And so I understand this is a hard topic because you are talking about people, um, that you love.
00:06:30.360 It would be so much easier. It'd be so much easier if the Bible were silent on this.
00:06:36.320 Like if we didn't have anything to say on this, if the Bible weren't clear on this and we could interpret the Bible to mean something other than what it says, then I, I would have found that a long time ago.
00:06:47.760 Trust me. Uh, if there were a more popular stance that I could take and still align with the Bible, I would take it.
00:06:55.800 But the fact of the matter is, is we're going to see today and talk about today. Uh, there's just not.
00:07:02.380 So my hope is to offer clarity on what the word of God says and why it matters.
00:07:08.000 It is not to a lot of people say, well, this is just a divisive topic.
00:07:11.740 Well, the Bible talks about it. And if it's a divisive topic and the Bible talks about it, that means that it's worth us talking about too.
00:07:19.360 Um, but my goal is not to cause division. It's not to cause confusion. It's to go into the word of God and to be thoughtful about what he actually says and realize that I'm a finite human being, that God is infinite.
00:07:31.140 And therefore he is worth listening to, and he is worth submitting to even on something as taboo and as unpopular to talk about as this.
00:07:39.740 This is something that all Christians should desire is to know God's will and to understand, um, what that will is.
00:07:46.540 Uh, I have talked about this before. I've talked about it, um, in an episode called United Methodist Church.
00:07:53.700 I answered a question on the podcast, um, about Lauren Daigle's comments on homosexuality.
00:07:58.540 I interviewed a man named Christopher Yuan, who wrote a book called Holy Sexuality, in which he talks about this from his own perspective.
00:08:06.240 Um, I sat down with Dave Rubin, who also happens to be gay, and I talked to him about this.
00:08:11.320 Um, and he was kind enough to give me a platform to talk about what the Bible says about marriage, and all of that is, uh, public.
00:08:18.460 You can go listen to that or watch those things.
00:08:21.280 Um, so that is what we are going to do today.
00:08:23.580 We're going to speak to the subject from a biblical perspective, and I think it might be, maybe not, it might be a biblical perspective that you haven't heard before.
00:08:31.460 Not that I'm trying to add nuance to the conversation or anything, because that's not my job as someone who is reading the Bible.
00:08:38.040 It is to just look at this from, um, a deep gospel-centered perspective, from a holistic perspective, based on the Word of God.
00:08:47.280 Um, I have given a lot of thought to this issue.
00:08:49.920 I've studied this issue.
00:08:51.200 I have, uh, researched this as much as I possibly can, because we hear about this in the news all the time.
00:08:57.180 We hear about it on social media and in culture, and if there's one thing that, uh, Christians are called a bigot for, it is believing the Word of God when it comes to His definition of marriage.
00:09:07.880 And so it's important for us to have an answer to these things.
00:09:10.440 It's important for us to be able to point to the Word of God and say, well, here's what it says, and I'm simply submitting to His will in this that He makes very clear, I think, in the Bible.
00:09:20.540 Um, I'm not really interested in people's opinions on this.
00:09:24.100 I'm not interested in my opinion on this.
00:09:25.620 I am not interested in New Age interpretations of God's Word.
00:09:29.080 Um, I am interested in what God's Word actually says and what, according to the text, according to the context, it actually means.
00:09:36.760 Not what it means for me, but what it actually means.
00:09:40.120 Uh, that means, as we covered in our Reading the Bible episode that I encourage you to listen to if you haven't, that we don't throw out verses that we don't like, uh, but we move more deeply into them, making sense of them in relation to the whole of Scripture.
00:09:52.880 Uh, remember, if there is something about God's Word that we don't like, the problem is us, not God's Word.
00:09:59.800 If there is something about God's Word that we do not like, the problem is always, and unconditionally, us, and not God and His Word.
00:10:08.540 That is the proper posture to take before Scripture.
00:10:12.000 So, there are a couple reasons that we're talking about this right now.
00:10:14.980 One, it is Pride Month, and because of that, uh, many of you have asked me to address this particular subject.
00:10:21.700 Uh, two, there's an article circulating claiming, uh, that the Bible doesn't really have anything to say about homosexuality, that the word homosexuality was added much later, and that really these verses are talking about, uh, pedophilia, prostitution, or rape.
00:10:35.300 It's not talking about a loving, committed relationship between two people of the same sex.
00:10:39.460 Um, that's actually not a new argument at all that has been propagated many, many times from those who consider themselves, um, probably more theologically liberal.
00:10:48.220 There are, uh, a few ways that those who call themselves, um, they would call themselves LGBTQ-affirming Christians.
00:10:57.380 There are a few ways that they, uh, defend the rightness of homosexuality with the Bible.
00:11:01.760 So, they say that, okay, the few verses that talk about this in the Old Testament and the New Testament are talking about promiscuity, they're talking about idol worship, they're talking about rape, etc.
00:11:11.300 They're not talking about this committed relationship, this monogamous relationship between two people of the same sex.
00:11:17.380 So, they look at the context and they say, okay, that's clearly what scripture means, and it would be silly, they would say, to apply this to gay relationships today, where two people are exclusive, where they're faithful, where they're following God in every other way.
00:11:30.440 Um, another thing they typically say is, well, okay, whatever, even if we were to take these verses literally, they're just a few verses, God talks a lot more about other things, He talks a lot more about helping the poor, He talks a lot more about loving people.
00:11:42.060 We're making way too big of a deal about this, and conservative evangelicals, they would say, are using out-of-context passages to justify their bigotry, to express hates toward people that they don't understand.
00:11:55.800 And then some other people say, well, Jesus didn't talk about it, and so it must not be that big of a deal.
00:12:00.620 So, let me say that these are all understandable, these are all understandable approaches to the issue of homosexuality in the Bible, if, if your question when you are reading the Bible is, what can I get away with?
00:12:15.220 So, I totally understand, uh, this mindset, if your posture, if your question when you are reading the Bible is, what can I get away with?
00:12:24.940 If you are looking for ways to justify what you want, you will find it.
00:12:29.300 If you are looking for ways to affirm what you already believe, you will find them.
00:12:34.420 Um, if you are looking for ways to validate what you feel, then you will find that.
00:12:38.640 Um, it would be very easy to throw out passages or to look for a way to interpret, uh, passages so that we can still be agreed with if our question when we are reading scripture is, what can I get away with?
00:12:51.140 But that should not, not in any subject, I don't care what it is, be our question when reading scripture.
00:12:57.700 Uh, we're all guilty of doing this, but this is not the correct stance to have.
00:13:02.260 The correct posture before the word of God and in all of life before God should be that of Jesus in, uh, the garden of Gethsemane, not my will, but your will.
00:13:13.960 So God helped me to know your will.
00:13:16.120 Give me your wisdom.
00:13:17.220 Help me love what you love.
00:13:18.660 Help me see what you see, not what can I get away with here, but God make me more like you.
00:13:24.500 That means make me to know your will.
00:13:26.780 So there are a few verses about homosexuality in the Bible.
00:13:30.920 Genesis obviously talks about Sodom and Gomorrah, which included, uh, the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, which included homosexuality.
00:13:37.780 Leviticus, uh, 2013 talks about this.
00:13:40.840 Romans 1, 26 through 27 talks about, um, exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones.
00:13:47.540 1 Corinthians 6, 9 talks about homosexuality as does 1 Timothy 1, 10.
00:13:52.400 So this is in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
00:13:54.980 Now there is actually no evidence.
00:13:57.000 There's no evidence that the original Hebrew and Greek, uh, that they're talking about anything
00:14:01.220 other than homosexual relationships.
00:14:03.160 The context doesn't indicate that, uh, now, yes, in this time, there probably weren't a whole
00:14:08.000 lot of monogamous gay relationships as there are now.
00:14:11.800 That is true, but that does not negate what the Bible has to say about this.
00:14:15.840 Um, so I would encourage you as a Christian though, to not go back and forth on that point.
00:14:21.860 Like if you were discussing this with someone or you're debating this with someone, I would
00:14:25.760 say, don't go back and forth on that point.
00:14:27.960 What the verses actually mean, what the historical context is, what the original language says
00:14:32.620 and whether or not it, uh, reflects homosexual relationships today.
00:14:36.500 I would not encourage you to do that.
00:14:38.760 Um, I would say that that is getting down in the weeds and it's still not looking at the
00:14:43.980 entire picture of what the Bible says about marriage.
00:14:47.240 And it's going back to that one question that asks, what can I get away with rather than
00:14:52.560 am I doing God's will?
00:14:54.520 And do I understand God's heart?
00:14:56.200 Um, the reality is, even if we threw out all of those verses, even if we found a way
00:15:01.080 to say, no, that's not really what these verses mean.
00:15:03.740 They're not talking about a committed LGB, uh, relationships.
00:15:07.520 We are still left with this.
00:15:09.260 We're still left with how God specifically designed and defines marriage.
00:15:15.160 So we're still left with that, which the Bible again is clear about.
00:15:18.960 So this is not just about what God says is not right, but also what God says is right.
00:15:25.300 Um, and we see in scripture that, uh, God's specific design for marriage is not just of
00:15:30.800 physical significance, but also of spiritual significance.
00:15:35.300 You've probably heard before that the Bible, uh, starts with a wedding and it also ends with
00:15:40.640 a wedding.
00:15:41.000 It starts with the marriage of Adam and Eve and Genesis, and it ends with the marriage of
00:15:45.000 Christ and his bride, the church in Revelation.
00:15:48.040 Uh, this is not a mistake.
00:15:49.660 This is deliberate.
00:15:50.960 And it points to the fact that marriage, that earthly marriage reflects a spiritual reality.
00:15:55.800 It is incredibly significant.
00:15:57.760 Earthly marriage reflects a spiritual reality.
00:16:00.700 Uh, we see this truth in God's word about marriage.
00:16:03.900 And we're going to dig a little bit more into this, that God's definition of marriage
00:16:09.360 is rooted in creation.
00:16:11.120 It is reiterated in the new Testament, and it's reflected in Christ's relationship with
00:16:16.380 the church.
00:16:17.280 So God's definition of marriage is rooted in creation.
00:16:21.040 It's reiterated in the new Testament, and it's reflected in Christ's relationship with
00:16:26.180 the church.
00:16:26.880 Y'all know that I love alliteration.
00:16:28.560 So I really tried hard to come up with this.
00:16:30.660 So first let's look at how it is rooted in creation.
00:16:34.600 So Genesis 2, 18 through 25 says this, uh, then the Lord God said, it is not good that
00:16:40.040 man should be alone.
00:16:41.040 I will make him a helper fit for him.
00:16:42.900 Now out of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the
00:16:47.120 heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.
00:16:50.800 And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
00:16:54.280 The man gave names to all livestock into the birds of the heavens and to every beast of
00:16:58.660 the field.
00:16:59.220 But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him.
00:17:02.620 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man.
00:17:06.000 And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh and the
00:17:10.660 rib that the Lord God had taken from the man.
00:17:12.760 He made into a woman and brought her to the man.
00:17:15.120 Then the man said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
00:17:19.560 She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
00:17:23.420 Therefore, uh, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and
00:17:28.240 they shall become one flesh.
00:17:30.040 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
00:17:33.640 So in Genesis, we see God's original intent for marriage, not just that he created a man
00:17:40.140 and a woman to be together, but that he also gave them different roles right away.
00:17:44.120 So immediately there is a distinction, not just in sex, but also wait for it controversial
00:17:49.780 in gender roles.
00:17:51.140 Uh, so Adam was given the responsibility to name the animals and to steward the earth, but
00:17:56.100 he needed a helper.
00:17:57.220 Um, he needed someone to come alongside him.
00:18:00.440 Adam was not sufficient by himself.
00:18:02.340 He was incomplete.
00:18:03.320 He had all the company of vegetation, of beasts of the field, and yet he still needed something.
00:18:09.560 He needed someone.
00:18:10.980 He needed someone, not just to be like him, not just to be his companion, but to compliment
00:18:16.080 him.
00:18:16.620 So woman was made different for man in both biology and in role.
00:18:20.780 So the two could compliment one another in the way that God intended.
00:18:24.400 Um, Adam didn't just need, uh, a friend.
00:18:27.860 He didn't just need someone to be there and to spend time with him.
00:18:30.820 He needed a wife.
00:18:32.340 He needed a woman.
00:18:33.620 So right away, we see not just a physical distinction, um, but a role distinction between
00:18:39.940 the two that shows God's intention for marriage.
00:18:42.020 The wife is to come alongside and to be a helper to her husband.
00:18:45.620 And it is for this reason, God's word says that a man leaves his original family and he
00:18:51.180 starts a new family with his wife, becoming one with her.
00:18:54.340 So the creation of man and woman in the marriage between them is the most stunning part.
00:18:58.660 It's the most stunning part of the creation account.
00:19:00.460 Like this is where it reaches its height that we see, wow, God really loves those who are
00:19:06.740 made in his image.
00:19:07.840 And it would be silly for us to look at this account and to say, well, that was just an
00:19:11.840 accident.
00:19:12.600 That's totally arbitrary, especially, especially since it is, uh, reiterated so clearly in the
00:19:19.060 New Testament.
00:19:19.880 So Ephesians 5, 22 through 25 says, wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord for the husband
00:19:26.800 is the head of the wife.
00:19:27.840 Even as Christ is head of the church, his body, it is himself, its savior.
00:19:31.520 Now as church, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to
00:19:36.340 their husbands, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up
00:19:40.980 for her.
00:19:41.980 So here we see again, that marriage is defined as between a wife and a husband, and that it
00:19:47.200 wasn't just because of a cultural context.
00:19:49.520 It wasn't just, um, some flippant thing that they said, a husband and a wife.
00:19:54.500 Um, it wasn't just because they said, okay, well, all we know at this point is heterosexual
00:19:59.320 relationships, but this passage actually tells us why it's between a wife and a husband, because
00:20:04.920 these roles are reflective of a spiritual reality between, uh, Christ and the church.
00:20:10.960 So a wife is to submit to her husband as she submits to the Lord in the same way that the
00:20:16.380 church submits to Christ.
00:20:17.640 And the husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church.
00:20:21.340 Christ loves the church so much that he gave himself up for her.
00:20:25.200 He gave his life up for her.
00:20:26.640 Meaning a husband is called to love his wife so much that he is willing to give his entire
00:20:31.840 life for her.
00:20:32.640 That is radical, unconditional, sacrificial love that husbands are called to.
00:20:37.500 And it is meant to be reflective of the same kind of radical, sacrificial, selfless love
00:20:43.780 that Christ showed the church by dying for her and sanctifying her.
00:20:48.820 And this passage that we read in Ephesians, it actually roots itself in creation.
00:20:55.000 Uh, Ephesians 5, 28 through 33 says this in the same way, husbands should love their wives
00:21:00.480 as their own bodies.
00:21:01.740 He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes
00:21:07.280 it and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body.
00:21:14.140 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two
00:21:19.360 shall become one flesh.
00:21:21.300 This mystery is profound and I am saying that it refers to Christ in the church.
00:21:25.580 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects
00:21:31.600 her husband.
00:21:32.340 So the creation account that we read in Genesis, that therefore a man shall leave his father
00:21:37.440 and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
00:21:40.720 Even in Genesis, that was a reflection of the gospel.
00:21:43.980 That was a reflection of Christ in the church that is then reiterated in the New Testament
00:21:49.100 by saying wives are supposed to submit to their husbands as to the Lord and husbands
00:21:53.060 are supposed to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
00:21:56.820 So this passage is the perfect encapsulation of what we establish for why God's definition
00:22:02.540 of marriage matters, why it is so specific, why it is so significant, because God's definition
00:22:09.340 of marriage is rooted in creation.
00:22:11.860 It is reiterated in the New Testament and is reflected in Christ's relationship with the
00:22:17.500 church.
00:22:17.820 God made wives and husbands physically complimentary, but much more importantly, he made them spiritually
00:22:24.720 complimentary to be an earthly metaphor for the one miraculous and eternal marriage between
00:22:30.660 Christ and his church.
00:22:32.740 The submission of the wife and the sacrifice of the husband reflects a far greater reality
00:22:38.880 than what we see here on earth.
00:22:40.300 So far be it from us to mess with that.
00:22:43.260 Far be it from us to say, no, we're going to redefine this as we see fit.
00:22:46.620 Uh, yes, if you see marriage, if you see marriage as only a physical bond, um, then it would be
00:22:54.800 easy to redefine it however we want to.
00:22:57.560 Uh, but that's not possible for the Christian.
00:22:59.500 We don't get to do that.
00:23:00.720 Uh, God's already defined marriage.
00:23:02.900 He, he tells us why he did so in his explanation of Christ in the church.
00:23:07.320 That was not arbitrary.
00:23:08.600 That was not cultural.
00:23:09.780 That was not a relative.
00:23:12.060 This was meant to reflect something that is eternal.
00:23:15.460 Uh, these terms that we see in scripture from creation to revelation between a bride and
00:23:21.880 a bridegroom are not gender neutral.
00:23:24.280 They're not gender fluid.
00:23:25.760 Uh, they are intentional because men and women are not only physically different, but also
00:23:31.640 their physical differences represent a spiritual reality.
00:23:35.100 So according to God, marriage is so much more.
00:23:38.240 It is so much more than what the world says.
00:23:40.860 It is.
00:23:41.200 The world sees marriage as something that two people do just because they want to, when
00:23:47.000 they're in love, when they feel like it.
00:23:48.880 And if one day they don't want to anymore and they're not in love, well, they don't really
00:23:53.220 need to be married.
00:23:54.180 Uh, but God says, no, that's not what marriage is.
00:23:57.260 God says marriage as I've defined it is both a physical and a spiritual bond of unity that
00:24:02.700 should not be broken.
00:24:04.160 And this speaks to a lot more than gay marriage.
00:24:07.100 This also speaks to adultery.
00:24:08.340 This speaks to all of the ways that people try to redefine marriage outside of what God
00:24:12.580 says it is.
00:24:13.560 Um, and I know that this is contentious.
00:24:15.580 So let me say what I'm about to say, and then I'll explain it because I don't want it
00:24:20.060 to come across as harsh.
00:24:21.080 But the, the reason why God says in the Bible that he hates divorce is not because he hates
00:24:27.340 people who get divorces.
00:24:28.760 That's not true.
00:24:29.620 He doesn't, uh, he hates divorce because he loves marriage.
00:24:33.420 Now in Matthew 19, Jesus gives reason.
00:24:35.540 There are reasons that divorce is necessary according to the Bible.
00:24:38.980 And Jesus says there are reasons sometimes that divorce is necessary, but God doesn't
00:24:43.220 like it.
00:24:43.920 It breaks his heart because he intended marriage so specifically, so purposely to be a reflection
00:24:50.460 of a spiritual and gospel centered reality.
00:24:54.440 Uh, marriage is sacred.
00:24:55.960 Marriage is a picture of God's plan of redemption, and it is not arbitrarily designed so that you
00:25:03.340 and I can change it as culture compels us or as feelings demand.
00:25:08.060 Now, how are we to approach this subject or how are we to think about this or how are we
00:25:14.000 to approach those or treat those who are a part of the LGBT, uh, community?
00:25:19.680 We are, it's simple.
00:25:21.580 It's pretty simple.
00:25:22.720 We are to be hospitable.
00:25:24.120 We are to be kind.
00:25:25.460 We are to be generous.
00:25:26.380 We are to be loving.
00:25:27.360 We are to be self-sacrificial.
00:25:29.420 Uh, for those who are not Christians, we remember that it is not their sexuality that
00:25:33.720 we are primarily concerned with.
00:25:35.580 Uh, it is their spirituality.
00:25:37.720 Uh, every person apart from Christ as we address in the beginning is dead in their sin.
00:25:41.640 Every single person, no one is more dead than someone else.
00:25:45.500 Every single person apart from Christ is dead in their sin period.
00:25:48.260 So that means no matter, uh, what your sin is before Christ, what you are repenting from
00:25:54.240 when you come to Christ, when God takes you from dead to alive in Christ, what you're repenting
00:26:00.600 from first is unbelief, not sexuality, unbelief.
00:26:04.300 So when Christ raises someone from death to life, he changes them.
00:26:07.620 He sanctifies them.
00:26:08.760 He may not remove every struggle forever, uh, but he calls them to a new life in which self-denial
00:26:13.900 becomes the rule rather than the exception.
00:26:16.000 Uh, that is true for every single one of us.
00:26:19.260 Therefore, the conversations that we have with them should not be centered on their relationships
00:26:24.000 with men or with women, but their relationship with Christ.
00:26:28.160 Uh, now for those who identify as Christians, if we have a relationship with them, of course,
00:26:32.420 we are called to speak truth.
00:26:33.680 We're called to share the gospel.
00:26:35.140 We're called to talk about what the Bible says.
00:26:37.000 I don't think that that means that you Instagram DM every single person who falls into this category
00:26:41.520 and you tell them why they're wrong.
00:26:42.720 I don't think that's the most effective thing to do, uh, but for those in your life, yes,
00:26:46.820 you have an obligation to speak truth.
00:26:48.780 First Corinthians five, uh, says a really difficult reality that those within the local church is,
00:26:54.900 that's the context, but it really kind of speaks to in general that you're not supposed to associate
00:26:58.700 with anyone who calls themselves a Christian and engages in the kind of immorality that it lists,
00:27:03.260 which is really tough.
00:27:04.420 Like that's a really tough verse to swallow, I think.
00:27:07.140 But that means we still, we speak with kindness and with gentleness, we speak truth.
00:27:11.860 And if we truly are going to obey the command to love our neighbor as ourself, uh, that means
00:27:18.920 that we have to speak truth.
00:27:20.140 So if we believe that God is good and we believe that the Bible is his word, then loving someone
00:27:25.300 means showing them the goodness of God, which is revealed in scripture.
00:27:29.240 If we believe that Jesus is better than this world, that means that we speak truth.
00:27:33.740 If we believe that God's way is better than our way, that means we speak truth.
00:27:38.060 That is our responsibility as Christians.
00:27:41.140 And look, I understand that this is not popular.
00:27:43.800 I understand that this is contentious.
00:27:45.660 Maybe some of you didn't want to hear this today, but maybe some of you were looking for
00:27:49.820 a way to approach this in all things, no matter what the cultural subject is, no matter how
00:27:55.200 unpopular it is, our authority is the word of God.
00:27:58.740 And when we look at something in scripture and we're uncomfortable with it,
00:28:02.280 our question should be, what is wrong with me?
00:28:06.080 What's wrong with my heart?
00:28:07.400 Why do I want to push back against this?
00:28:10.000 Why don't I want to submit to this particular passage or this particular command?
00:28:14.800 And we have to ask God to humble us.
00:28:16.560 And we have to ask God to allow us the wisdom to be able to submit to his word.
00:28:21.200 This is never going to be popular.
00:28:23.420 This is never going to be a popular stance.
00:28:25.140 There will not be another time in America where this is a mainstream opinion to have.
00:28:28.840 Believing in the word of God, standing firm on the word of God is going to get more and
00:28:33.740 more difficult to do.
00:28:34.900 And so it's important for us to not just submit in our own personal lives to scripture, but
00:28:40.040 to also know what the word of God says so that when someone asks, we have a reason for the
00:28:45.520 faith that we have.
00:28:46.340 And we're able to say, look, I love you and you are made in God's image and you are valuable.
00:28:52.960 And I want you to come to know Christ.
00:28:55.260 This is what the word of God says about marriage.
00:28:57.200 So do not believe all of the back and forth that you're hearing that is trying to pick
00:29:02.360 out all of the ways that we can redefine marriage to mean something that it's not according to
00:29:07.360 the Bible.
00:29:07.980 Because again, that's simply the wrong posture before scripture.
00:29:12.460 We're not supposed to be asking ourselves what we can get away with, but do we want what
00:29:17.920 God wants?
00:29:18.580 Do we love what God loves?
00:29:20.080 Have we counted the cost?
00:29:22.180 Have we counted the cost that Jesus asks us to count before we follow him?
00:29:25.680 Are we ready to pay the price that he asks us to pay?
00:29:29.780 Are we ready to truly take up our crosses, deny ourselves and follow him?
00:29:34.900 Are we willing to do that?
00:29:36.400 If that is our posture before scripture, it really doesn't matter what we feel.
00:29:41.000 It really doesn't matter our opinions.
00:29:43.020 What matters is that Christ has shown us a better way, that God has shown us a better and
00:29:48.040 more eternal way.
00:29:48.860 And all I'm saying is far be it from me, far be it from me to rewrite something that he
00:29:53.980 is so intentionally and specifically authored in his word.
00:29:59.360 I just, I just don't think that I have the authority to mess with that.
00:30:03.200 And I don't think that you do either.
00:30:04.960 So that's where I'm going to end that today.
00:30:07.260 I hope that was helpful for you in kind of wrapping your mind around what the Bible says
00:30:11.300 about this.
00:30:11.980 It's, it's become a very, um, like choppy issue where people just say, well, oh, these
00:30:17.880 are the only verses that are, that are relevant.
00:30:20.480 No, that's not true.
00:30:21.400 We have to look at the entirety of scripture and realize it's much more profound than that.
00:30:25.200 Um, okay.
00:30:25.740 I hope that you guys have a good day and I will see you back here on Wednesday.
00:30:28.300 I'll see you back here on Wednesday.