Creation Order | Biblical Antroplogy Pt. 2 - Sexuality

Hey Y’all, how are you?

Everyone freeze today? It was cold. Freezing Cold.

Well, so just cool thing really quick, tomorrow is the 4 year anniversary of us starting here at the FBC Gray. I say us because LL is a big part of this as well, I might have the title, but she puts in a ton of work. I can’t think of a better place we could have landed that here as we started out our lives in ministry. So to all of the volunteers who have been by our side since day one, thank you, and to you students, thank you for letting us in to your lives. And I just want to say, we have loved every second of it. And we can’t wait to see what the next few years hold here at FBC Gray. We are very glad to be here.

Opening Statement: The Big Idea that catches the attention.

Anyways, let’s get in to it.

Question for you.

What sends people to hell? Why do people go to hell? Sin? Yeah, sin makes us deserving of hell, yeah, but we have a remedy for sin. So why do people go to hell?

Not knowing Jesus. Not knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Because of Sin we are deserving of the wrath of God which is fully manifested in the place call Hell. Hell is the separation of all of God’s love and the full presence of His wrath.

So we are going to wrestle with this tonight, and in talking about sin and really a sin that we hold as especially grievous in the church.

But before we really get in to that, I want to address something, and some of the talk around it.

I know last week a JCHS student took his life. and that is tragic, I know some of y’all knew him. It’s a tragic thing. If any of you are ever feeling that desperate, that isolated, that anything, know that it is never that dark, it is not too far gone, please talk to us, call me. Call a friend, tell us, so we can help you or get you the help you need. You are not alone, life is worth living.

That being said though, when ever suicide is involved, people usually will bring up an old catholic belief, that is just not true. They’ll whisper it, but people will talk.

That Suicide is automatically sends you to hell. I want to say that it’s not true.

that suicide alone is not a mortal sin. It is a sin, but like we said before, what sends people to hell? Not knowing Christ as lord and savior.

SO if you hear people say, well you know suicide sends you to hell you have a conversation starter to present the gospel. Because when Christ took sin on the cross, he took sin for all time. when he saved you, he knew what sins you have already committed and what sins you were going to commit later.

Christ knew what he was buying.

Introduction Story: A story that invites the listener into that topic, creating credibility and connection immediately.

SO we are kinda starting off super heavy, but tonights topic is kinda heavy, it is full of nuance, and here is what i’m going to ask of you, pay attention and focus, because if you don’t you are going to miss here me. I touched on this subject about three years ago and some people misunderstood me, and we had to really clear somethings up. So press in, stay with me. If you have questions, come talk to me after, I’d love to talk to you about this.

In 2015 i spent the summer living in New York City working for the NAMB through their GenSend program for college students. I had just finished my first semester of seminary, and as all first year seminary students, when you get done, you think, “I know a good bit about stuff” but living in New York for just a summer told me that I didn’t know nothing.

SO have all the theoretical knowledge made me sure of myself, but then putting it in to practice was super hard.

Then a curious thing happened in the summer of 2105 while I was there. anyone want to take a shot at what happened? Big news, that still affects us today.

Obergefell v. Hodges was decided by the supreme court, basically, legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states. And for me, I’m in NY, working in West Villiage, which is where the pride movement in the 60’s started, am watching the whole world change.

The place is going nuts, party hard. Me and the team we are on are meeting and talking and wondering, what do we do now, we are tasked with having gospel conversations, we’ve gotta talk to people we do agree with on just about anything, how do we do this? Especially about this issue.

Segue: How this message will tie into the introduction story.

So we are talking about creation order, how does knowing that God of order, and that he has created all things and ordered all things inform how we think of things. We established last week, God is the ultimate authority on his creation. God is has ordered things to work in a certain way, a way that is best. Best for creation and best for human flourishing.

So tonight we are looking at Sexuality and Marriage.

And i include them both because they are so intertwined, they go hand in hand and the world right now is telling you that it doesn’t matter who you love, love is love. Love wins. God is love.

all of these things are self defeating arguments or a reference to scripture taken way out of context.

God created marriage and sexuality for a purpose, and how we think and operate on the subject matters.

Background: Explain the background of what is happening in the text we are about to read.

And there are ton of different places we could start in the bible when it comes to this, you could start in Leviticus 18, talking about homosexuality as an abomination, you could talk about Sodom and Gomorrah. you can look at Romans 1, you can look all over the place.

But where i want to start is what does Jesus say?

Because here is the argument you will get from progressive Christians or just the world, they’ll tell you, “Well, Jesus never spoke on homosexuality or Gay Marriage,” and that really just a half truth. So I want to start there.

I want to equip you to engage the arguments presented.

SO let’s look at what Jesus says when it comes to Marriage and sexuality.

If you have a bible great, go ahed and flip over to Matthew 19:3-6 if you don’t have a bible throe a hand up and we’ll get you one.

Matthew 19:3-6, before we get in to it, let’s pray for our time in the word.

Pray with me

pray

But let me set the stage here for what we are about to read.

Jesus has gotten in to Judea and a big crowd is following him, and he’s healing them.

Then the Pharisees show up and start asking him questions.

They’re trying to trick him. Trying to test him.

So they as ask him can you divorce for any reason?

Text: Preaching Text for the day’s message. Just one major text.

So read this with me, Matthew 19:3-6

Matthew 19:3–6 ESV

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

So what is Jesus saying here?

First thing is how sacred Marriage is to jesus.

because this is what is going on here, Back in Deuteronomy Moses makes a provision for divorce, on the grounds of indecency, which is immorality. But as all law, over time the law is twisted and in Jesus day, people are basically divorcing for what ever reason.

Similar to today, people can get divorced for no reason if they choose.

And Jesus starts by saying, remember what the Lord has done. You don’t get to define marriage, God is the one who created it, God is the one who defines marriage.

and Jesus quotes Gen. 1:27 and couples it with Gen 2:24

Genesis 1:27 ESV

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

We read this last week.

Genesis 2:24 ESV

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

SO what is Jesus saying here by quoting both of these verses?

One, Marriage is Sacred.

Marriage is a union between one man and one woman in covenant with God.

It’s sacred. It is not to be entered in to lightly, it is a lifelong commitment.

Two, sexual immorality cannot be tolerated. a few verses down, Jesus gives the out for marriage, sexual immorality.

So this follows that marriage and sexuality play a big part within each other. Marriage was designed with sexuality in mind, in perfect world we would all be products of a marriage union. I know that is not the case, but that is the design for marriage. Marriage is much more than procreation, but that is a big part of it.

So by defining what marriage is, we see a ton of what Jesus says about what marriage isn’t.

Marriage can only be one man one woman therefore it cannot be two men, or two women. Marriage is defined by being a covenant union between two biologically different gendered people.

So then if marriage is the realm where sexuality operates, then it can only operate in the way it was designed within the bounds of a legit marriage.

SO what does this mean?

The way God has ordered things to work is this:

Sexual relations was created to exist in Marriage. Marriage was existed to build the family. Sex exist inside of marriage, not outside. That means any sexual activity outside of marriage is by definition immoral, it’s called adultery.

So this includes homosexuality. It cannot exist as a marriage, and the sexual activity is outside the bounds of God’s good design.

This is why we cannot affirm gay marriage, because it is against God’s good design. It is against the creation order.

Build: How does this story answer the question, solve the problem or relieve the tension that the Introduction Story began with? JUST ONE POINT, PEOPLE.

So going back to when I was in New York summer of 2015. The decision had just been handed down by the Supreme Court.

So what did we do? How did we spread the gospel in the West Villiage?

Here is what i wish I could tell you, we talked to more people than was reasonable, and we lead 100 people to christ. We didn’t we tried. But we didn’t.

We had to learn though how to adapt our conversations to where we go to a deeper level than just surface beliefs.

That we did learn to do.

We were able to have good meaningful conversations where we were able to present the gospel. We were able to show the love of Christ through our conversations and were able to be salt.

But it was hard, and I know it’s only gotten harder, and it going to be extremely hard for you.

So I want to equip you to be able to reason through the arguments and present good arguments, but I also want to equip you to do in a way that leads to fruitful impact for the kingdom. Stick to your guns, but don’t automatically reach for your guns.

Are you able to have conversations with people who don’t agree with you and not get frustrated to a point of anger? Ask your self that. If not, why not?

Because at the end of the day, here is out mindset, just as in evangelism, we are messengers, the more we can talk, the more we can tell the message. But if a person doesn’t come to christ, don’t burn the bridge on being able to keep presenting the gospel to them. They may burn the bridge, but you didn’t.

Keep preaching the truth, do not dilute the truth. That is the temptation, but to preach the truth even when it is hard to do so, is the most Christ like love you can show someone when telling them about who Jesus is and His design for this world.

Crescendo: How does The Gospel ultimately solve this problem? Preaching is about pointing to Christ & the Gospel, not good works, trying harder or moralism.

Cause here is the bottom line, what did we talk about earlier? Why do people go to hell?

Because they die with knowing Christ as Savior and Lord. They are still in bondage to sin. The sin in our lives makes us deserving of Hell. But because of the grace of Jesus we have a way to the Father.

So for this issue, in the church, we pay close attention to this particular sin, and think it is warranted, I think we should give this more attention in how we preach the gospel, because it is what the world is dealing with right now. If the world was dealing with a different sin so publicly we’d be addressing it more often.

But here is what we can’t do, we can’t relegate a whole group of people stuck in this particular sin to the fires of hell just because we think this is so evil or off putting they are with out hope of redemption.

The gospel tells us that no one is without hope of redemption.

We are in a room full of high school and middle school students, i’m going to wager not everyone of you are acting with a perfect sexual ethic, it is still sinful. And the gospel still give you hope.

If you are stuck in sin, there is hope of redemption, there is hope of freedom through true repentance.

That hope is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are the messengers of Christ, sent to preach his Gospel of redemption and repentance. That God’s design is best for us and good for us.

If you are a follower of Jesus, then i want you to do two things, one, prepare. This world is getting harder to preach truth in, no what you believe, “Just Because” isn’t going to cut it. And two live how you say you believe. We need to be authentic followers of Jesus. it’s hard, but the world need the people of Christ to be Christ people.

The way we live, the way we think is for the glory of the Lord. A dying world needs Jesus. and Christ has given us the task to bring people to his feet.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, you may have a very different belief on what I just talked about, I’d love to talk to you about it. Or you might be sitting there thinking about your life and thinking that you are not good enough for jesus.

I want to tell you that is not true. You are not broken beyond salvation, you are not too bad or too far gone to redeemed by Christ.

I want to invite you in to the kingdom, in to the family of Christ, to take the first step in following Jesus. He will meet you where you are and ask you to follow him where her is going.

SO we going to pray, confess, and sing and when we do, I want you to think? Do I know Jesus, or who do I know that needs Jesus.

Y’all pray with me.

pray