Right before second service last Sunday I was struck with a horrible kidney stone attack. At least that's what the Urgent Care Doctors think. I think I was shot in the small of my back. It was a nightmare. Hats off to Pat and Dave for keeping things rolling for the last two worship services. Unfortunately it means that a large number of St. Andrew folks didn't get a chance to hear the second sermon on Same Sex Relationships. Because these last three sermons build on one another, I will be excerpting a written text of the sermon today, Tuesday and Wednesday. I would encourage you to watch the sermon via the web page--though I know that is not possible for everyone. So in an effort to keep everyone on the same page, let me offer you Part 1 of "Disputable Matters."
Romans 14:1-4, 10-14; 15:5-7
We are wrapping up our
Sermon Series on Making Sense of the Bible. We’ve looked at what the Bible has to say about
everything from creation/evolution, to the status of women, and the End Times (Book
of Revelation).
Last week we looked at
key passages in the Bible that prohibit same sex physical relationships—trying to flesh out their original context and application. We came to the conclusion that though
the Bible has deep suspicion of—and yes, condemnation for homosexual practice—a
great deal of that condemnation appears to be tied to pagan/idolatrous religion
as well as abusive Greco-Roman practices.
The conclusion I came to was that it isn’t really apples to apples if we
try to apply what is described in big three prohibitive passages to a
contemporary understanding of same sex monogamous, life long
relationships. Yet we also came to the conclusion that this
continues to be passionately disputed among people of genuine faith today.
This week I’d like to
spend our time together talking about just that: can we find a
biblical model for dealing with serious disagreement among those who love God
and follow Jesus?
Next week we will wrap
up the series by looking at the teaching of our United Methodist
denomination, the instructions sent out by our Bishop, and to be fair and
transparent—where I come out in my own life both as a pastor and as a follower
of Jesus on this issue.
But let me start by telling you a story. Once upon a time
there was a man and a woman in a beautiful garden. The man and woman were naked and vulnerable but there were
no threats and so there was no fear.
The woman and the man lived in harmony with God and with all the plants
and creatures of the garden and it was a good as good can be.
God gave the man and
the woman many delicious fruit trees, and among them were two very special
trees. The Tree of Life, from which hung fruit that
gave and preserved life—fruit that allowed the woman and man to live as
children, depending upon and enjoying God and each other. The Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil produced fruit that
would allow them to decide for themselves what is right and wrong—to approve
and condemn—to judge and decide what was good and what was evil. God forbade his children from eating of
this second tree. For eating of
this tree would lead them to believe that they no longer needed God--and would
they would be forever separated from the Tree of Life.
For how long the
woman and man enjoyed their Creator in that garden we do not know, but in the
end, the temptation was just too great.
They wanted to be like God.
They thought that they could weigh and judge every bit as well as God--if
only given the chance, and if only they ate from the forbidden tree. And so they did. And they saw that they were naked and
defenseless and they were filled with fear. And life in the garden as they had known it up to that point
was gone forever.
I’ve been reading an
author recently who suggests that we descendants of Adam and Eve have gotten
ourselves in trouble by going back again and again to the wrong tree. Despite the
opportunity to get back to the Tree of Life--our original created purpose—we have gotten stuck in a kind of
feedback loop where our desire for knowledge and control never quite produces
the wisdom we need to judge in the way God judges.
Do you remember what
Samuel learns in trying to figure which of Jesse’s sons would be Israel’s new
king? “The Lord sees not as man
sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Or consider the hope
that Isaiah offered that God will one day raise up a King who will finally be
able to judge “the weak with integrity and
give a fair sentence for the humblest in the land.” The implication being that no King or Queen had managed to do
either up to that point.
Or consider the
Pharisees, who were so wrapped up in separating good from bad—so committed to
avoiding God’s judgment—that they misjudged the new thing God was doing through
the presence of Jesus Christ.
Go no further than
Holier-Than-Thou-Christians who make it a point of judging others and finding
them all wanting one way or another so that they may feel somehow more smug and
secure in their self-righteousness.
We should be
focusing on the fullness of life that Jesus has brought to us—enjoying our
Creator God—and tuning our hearts to His heart—but instead we keep gathering
the fruit of the forbidden tree, thinking we can think a little more clearly,
judge a little more wisely, believe a little more precisely than we have
before. We know we are doing more harm than good, but we just cannot seem
to stop ourselves.
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