Purity-4-Life 2013

In a depraved and wicked generation, people don’t like being told what to do. In fact, people don’t ever like to be told what to do, which is why so many of the prophets had tragic experiences with the children of Israel. The same is true of our current generation. People don’t like you to tell them how to act, what to say, and most certainly to stay away from something pleasurable. So, the question remains: what do we do about sex?

Last night, in youth group, the response to my question on how today’s teens view sex was, “They think it’s the greatest thing ever.” While still being a 30-year-old virgin, I’m not inclined to disagree. From what I hear, it is amazing. And, the general consensus is that it’s amazing. Some people would even go so far as to rate the importance of sex over the second coming of Jesus – as if anything could replace the importance of His return.

One thing, however, that we don’t often consider is God’s original plan for the marriage relationship. When we are continually exposed to thousands of sexual references a month, bombarded by people who say that it’s fun, and desensitized to the call of Christ, we forget that there is a bigger plan for our lives than the momentary pleasure of sex. We forget about our future spouse and we forget that God intends – truly intends – for us to have an amazing relationship with our spouse. We forget, because we are distracted by the pleasure set before us.

A Chinese proverb talks about sin very succinctly: “He who would not enter the room of sin must not sit at the door of temptation.” We have been standing at the door of temptation, saying, “I’m not sinning,” but still not recognizing how close to sin we are and thinking that it’s alright to toe the line. Instead of coming as close to sex as we possibly can without “crossing the line,” we should be looking at how we can live our lives to fully honor and glorify God.

See, we are so distracted by trying to get away with things that we have been blinded by the fact that Satan is keeping us from glorifying God. Satan doesn’t need to make us sin sexually, because the temptation alone has taken our eyes off of God. Instead of looking to see how much you can get away with, why not start thinking about how your life can more appropriately reflect the image of Jesus Christ.

When you change your perspective on sex and start to put it back into the context of marriage where it belongs, you stop paying attention to the distractions that Satan is putting before you. We’re getting ready to have our 3rd Annual Purity for Life Conference and the foundational understanding has to be that of a biblical perspective. Rather than continually arguing about what is and what is not appropriate, we should start considering what does or does not please our Savior.

Is Homosexuality God's Plan for Love?

Question: When God made woman for man and man for woman and love is not a sin, why is it a sin for men to love men and women to love women?

To start, love is certainly not a sin. I agree with that and believe that the Bible shows us that we are to love one another as we love ourselves. To summarize the greatest commandment, Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Check out Matthew 22:34-40 for more on that. So, Jesus tells us to love God and others as we love ourselves. What’s very clear is the fact that we are to love everyone. However, when you start to think about the love that comes between a man and a woman, this isn’t just the brotherly love that we have for everyone. The love between a man and a woman is a special and intimate commitment that is only to be shared between the two of them.

Paul talks about this love between a man and a woman when he says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh,” in Ephesians 5:25-33. He is requiting Jesus and the words that Moses wrote concerning Adam and Eve. Paul is talking about the relationship between a husband and a wife as Jesus loved the church (God’s people). It is a special love, just between the two, that should never be separated and cannot be duplicated outside of marriage.

So, this really leaves us with the question, “Why can’t men love men and women love men?” We know that love is real, that Jesus commanded it, and that the love between a husband and wife is a special bond that no one else should share. So, why does this love only happen between a husband and wife, rather than in a homosexual relationship? The question being asked is one of homosexuality and whether or not God allows for homosexual relationships within His plan.

I think, in order to answer this question, we should examine two separate questions: (a) Does the Bible say that homosexuality is wrong? and (b) What does God expect from a biblically-based marriage? There are more ideas that we could explore, but these two seem to be the strongest.

To start, there seems to be a lot of evidence in the Bible that warns against homosexuality, but here is just one example. In Romans 1:24-27, Paul speaks very strongly about God’s wrath against mankind:

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”

God was so frustrated with humanity for perverting His idea of the marriage relationship (and sex) that He allowed them to deal with the consequences that come from having homosexual relationships. Some consequences that have been observed from people having multiple homosexual partners include sexually transmitted diseases and other physical complications, a lack of commitment to any relationship, an inability to understand Jesus’ relationship to the church (His bride), and a separation from God’s will for the marriage relationship between a husband and a wife (discussed later). These are not the only consequences, but just some of what Paul was trying to convey in his letter to the Romans. God considered the act(s) to be indecent and shameful, because they had exchanged His truth for the lies given by the community around them.

Often, homosexuality can seem like the thing that “feels” right, because it feeds the sexual passion that every human is born with; however, it’s not fulfilling the sexual passion in the way that it was meant to be fulfilled. In another of Paul’s letters, he says, “‘Food for the stomach and the stomach for food’ – but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” (1 Corinthians 6:13) As humans, we tend to try and rationalize that, because we feel an urge, we have to fill it with something that feels right. People use the same argument for sex that they also use for food: I have a sexual desire, so I must fulfill that desire. That just doesn’t seem to be the way that God intended things to be.

Paul said that the body is for the Lord. We were created by God and therefore we are His. He has a plan for our lives, a desire to see every one of our needs and wants fulfilled, but in His plan, not our own. In Genesis 2:18, the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Later on, in verse 23, Adam says, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” Then, Moses sums the whole concept up in verses 24-25 by saying, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

There is something that happens between a man and a woman that proves to be shameless. When the married couple comes together for sexual intimacy, there is no shame, because that is exactly how God expected the relationship to be. In fact, from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (two paragraphs up), we find out that the act of sexual intimacy is a spiritual matter as well as a physical matter. God expected that this union of the man and woman would make them one – it would bind them.

Going back to Genesis 1:26-28, we see what God had to say about His intentions behind creating man and woman:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”

God desired that the man and the woman – together – would be one and that they would both reflect His image. As the man and woman come together, they reflect God together. The act of sexual intimacy links the man and the woman together and then together they reflect God with their lives and their actions. God didn’t make the relationship to be man and man or woman and woman. He made them male and female.

Some might question God’s judgment in this. Why would God only create them to be male and female? Why didn’t he allow for sexual relationships between homosexual partners? Because, male and male or female and female does not reflect God. When God created the man and the woman to reflect Himself, He knew what His reflection looked like. He is the one – as God – who decides what His will and purpose is for all of creation.

So, the last thing that we must consider is what to do with the information that we have been given. Jesus, very clearly, tells us to love everyone (men and women), but this is the brotherly love, not the intimate man-woman love that happens in the marriage relationship. God created the marriage to be between a man and a woman, because together, the two reflect His image. If we are going to submit to the will of God for His creation, then we have to start viewing the marriage relationship with the reverence and dignity that He destined it to have.

The Mystery of God

D. L. Moody was asked to explain a passage in the Bible and his response was, “no.” When the person, who was obviously shocked ask why such a learned person could not explain God’s word, he responded that if we were to know everything about God, that there would be no need for the Bible. He also related that if the young man wanted the answer, that he should ask God directly.

Considering all that I still have to learn about God, it’s amazing that my head has not yet exploded. I love God; I know that He cares for me. I know that His desires for my life are greater than my own; but for some reason, I have always had this idea that I knew what God’s ultimate goals were for my life. I had it set in the back of my mind: I know God and therefore I expect that He should bless me as His child.

Well…Proverbs 3:5-6 has a new meaning in my life today. Trusting God means more than just saying, “I’m your child.” In fact, it means that I will never, EVER, know all that there is to understanding Him, but allowing Him to still guide my life. It means that if I truly desire to follow Him, that I will completely leave my life in His hands.

For all of you control freaks out there, I’m sure you’re wondering why on earth we would give up the control. For all of you that could care less, you’re wondering why this is even an issue. The reality is this – my understanding is sooo much smaller than I originally thought that if I were to rely on just MY understanding of every situation, then I would literally run my life into the ground. I could name examples, but I don’t feel like being THAT vulnerable today. Suffice it to say, if we ran the heavenly battle on my brain, Satan would have won.

So, when I consider the mystery of God – who He is, why He exists, how He works – I have to just sit. I will never understand the depths of His might, power, and grace. Oh – and on the subject of grace, I should remind us all that it’s free. We didn’t deserve it and God gets nothing by giving it. It’s just His free gift.

I hope that you rest in Him this weekend. I hope that your life is more fully developed through resting in and considering who He is. He gave so much for our salvation, and while I don’t understand why He would even care enough about me to do so, He did. Mystery solved.

I Looked for a Man to Fill the Gap

I was reading Ezekiel 22, got to the very end of the chapter, and had my mind blown. The direct text is, '30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."'

Now, my question is this: how many men are there to stand in the gap on behalf of the people? I'm reminded of the warning "Mind the Gap" or "Watch Your Step", and frankly, I think more of us are actually more worried about our own steps than we are for the sake of others. And I'm not even talking about the "plank in your own eye". I'm talking about approaching the throne of God on behalf of the people.

God has been greatly speaking to my heart recently about the idea of unconditional love. What does it mean to love someone or a group of people unconditionally? If we really consider the concept, it means that we are willing to love and NOT expect anything in return.
Consider a 5-year-old. Now, he (or she) is mostly concerned with his own well-being. Am I hungry? Am I tired? Do I want to stay up and play? How many more play minutes do I get before I have to go take a bath?? If mom or dad tells him "NO", he breaks down, because it's all about him. He has no idea what it means to love unconditionally, because he is still more concerned about himself more than anyone else. And that's not to say that the child doesn't love mom or dad, because the parent is the first one that he runs to when he is scared or in need. But his love is always based on how he feels at the time.

Now, consider the average adult. Most of us are concerned with wealth, sustenance, relationships, work, kids, etc. And often we don't consider allowing someone else to be the focus of our relationship, because we are occupied with trying to do things for what we can get in return. I mean, isn't that what your job is all about? Isn't that what most of your relationships are about? I'm not going to give to you unless I am completely sure that you will respond in equal or better fashion.

I mean, that has been the existence of mankind. But what I see God saying is, "Who really cares about the people?? If you are SO concerned with your own issues and ideas and feelings, then you don't DESERVE my love! You don't DESERVE my gratitude! You don't DESERVE my protection! Obviously Ezekiel was writing, because God was fed up; but don't you think it makes sense?? God created us for a relationship and we took advantage of that in the Garden. He has been trying ever since to get us back, but it's a longer process than any of us actually think.

My challenge, if any of you are interested, is to consider others before yourself. Try loving someone for who they are, rather than for what they can give. It's amazing to see just how much God has in store for our lives when we give up ourselves and consider the needs of the masses to be more important. Just try it for a week and only then will I let you tell me that it didn't work.

The Object of God's Love

C.S. Lewis tells a story of a schoolboy who was asked about God's character. "He replied that, as far as he could make out, God was 'the sort of person who is always snooping around to see if anyone is enjoying himself and then trying to stop it.'" I would argue that many of us still have the same view: "How is God going to beat me down today, because I didn't measure up to His standards?" And, while I consider God's wrath to be one of the only certainties in life, I also know that God's love is equally certain.

If you will, consider the fact that God's love existed before time. Before there was a way to measure the events of the past, God had already loved the world enough to create it. Despite the fact that God's love allows for our errors and misjudgments, He still gives it. In addition to His gift, He WILLS it. God said there would be love and it happened, just as sure as any of the rest of His promises.

I recently sat down to have story time with a couple of young boys. They were wild and crazy as any other young boy might be; but they also have an uncanny gift for melting one's heart, as many other children do. As we sat down for story time (I was actually laying on my stomach), one of them came up and just laid down on top of my back. Now, I'm not a father, but I think this must have been the closest that I've been to feeling the love of a father, because as he laid there, listening to the stories, he just rested.

In that moment, every other thought of wrongdoing evaporated. No thoughts about what he had done wrong that day. No cares about what he would do wrong the next. Just peace.

And as I've tried to consider resting in God's peace, I had never quite experienced what it might look like in that context. I mean - how often does God desire for you to just walk up to Him, turn around, and just plunk your butt down into His lap?? Psalm 51 says, "for Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering." And while the Psalmist is specifically talking about the restoration of one's soul to God's grace, I also think that it refers to our desires toward God. Does He truly desire to see you rest in Him? Does He truly desire to love you?

See, we can all say, "Well, I'm not good enough for God, because I've done x, y, and z." Well, I have news for you! He says, "Give it to Me, because I can handle it. Give it to me, because I can wash it clean! I am Your Father. I am Your God. Therefore, what I command, you have NO business disobeying. And I command you to rest in My peace."

It's no wonder that so many of us walk around with our hearts dragging through the dirt - we have the anchor of the world pulling it down to the depths of despair. But, if we will just be the object of God's life, as He fully intended us to be, then we shall be blessed beyond measure. I don't care what you've done! I don't care how you feel! I only care that you give up you for the sake of Him.

Will you do that today?

My Son

My son, why have you sold yourself? Why are you deflated and dragging behind? Have you outgrown the usefulness of your Father? Have you left Me alone, because of your fear?

You have rejected Me in your desire to be well known. You have left your first love, because you were seeking another. You have outlived what you thought was My usefulness and it has been to your detriment.

My desire is to have you back. I would love to see your return. When you get tired of finding that you cannot live on your own, then come back and seek me. When you have tired of sowing your wild oats, then return to me and I will restore you to your previous station.

I will respect you when you respect Me. I will bring you along when you walk with Me. I will carry your burdens when you allow My yolk to lift you up.

I love you, My son,

God

My Daughter

My daughter, why are you so broken? When I look down from My throne, I see you hurting and I want to know why. You have been through much and have come out underneath. You have reached for the stars, but were shot down in your ambition.

You desired love, but were torn into pieces. You were looking for Prince Charming, but he destroyed your reputation. You wanted to be held closely, but have been ravished from the inside out.

After all that you have been through, I want you to know that I still love you. My desire is for your heart. My hope is your affection.

My strength is your weakness, and I can carry you through. My hands are healing, and I won’t break you. My heart is open, and I will restore you. Come sit in My presence and I will bring you through.

I love you, My daughter,

God