What does the Bible say about the shifting cultural values of sex, relationships, gender, and identify?

Manuscript Template

Title:  

Focus Statement:  

Function Statement:  

Tweetable Phrase:  

Main Text:  

Supporting Text:  

Redemptive Closure (point to Jesus):  

Benediction:  

Questions to Review

Is the bottom line clear? Main point should be able to be said in a single sentence.

What’s the opening line? Not hello, start with a question or something to grab attention.

Is the transition from the introduction to main point clear?

What’s my main point? Make it short and memorable

Does it matter? Is the topic relevant to the congregation?

Where is the power in the text? What word or phrase highlights the tension?

How am I moving toward application?

What is my main to-do (application)? Be specific.

What does it matter? The WHY creates urgency.

How am I closing? Have a plan.

5 Things Each Sermon Must Do With the Biblical Text

Teach it: Cultural context, exegesis, what does it mean?

Illustrate it: Add emotion, illustrations, pictures, stories.

Apply it: How do we respond?

Distinguish it: How is this different? Invite the Holy Spirit in.

Portable-ize it: Make it RHYME (no WIN in COMPARISON), ALLITERATE it, make it ECHO (who are of infinite worth to the infinite God), use a METAPHORE (the Root of murder is anger...only God can uproot it from our hearts), or make it CONTRAST (a life devoted to self, leave you alone)

https://ideogram.ai/t/explore

Baptism - Skylar and Tristen

Skylar / Tristen, in keeping with the example of Jesus, you have presented yourself this day that you might receive the sacrament of baptism. Baptism is not itself the door to salvation, but rather is an outward sign of the new birth which God has wrought in your heart. It proclaims to all the world that you have taken Christ Jesus as the Lord of your life, and that it is your purpose always to obey Him.

It is at this time that Skylar / Tristen would like to share her/his testimony.

Before I baptize you, so we may know that you understand the significance of the step you are taking, we want to ask you a few questions:

Do you believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

That Jesus Christ the Son suffered in your place on the cross, that He died but rose again, that He now sits at the Father’s right hand until He returns to judge all people at the last day?

And do you believe in the Holy Scriptures as the inspired Word of God?

That by the grace of God every person has the ability and responsibility to choose between right and wrong, and that those who repent of their sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are justified by faith?

Answer: All this I steadfastly believe.

Do you intend by this act to testify to all the world that you are a Christian and that you will be a loyal follower of Christ?

Answer: I do.

Skylar Story / Tristen, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Congregation...Luke 15:10 states

Luke 15:10 “10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.””

Let’s Join the Angels in celebrating the decision Skylar / Tristen has made today. [clapping, cheering, etc]

To honor the step of faith of everyone who received the sacrament of Baptism moving forward, we’re going to have everyone who is baptized sign a water drop with their name and date of their baptism and hang it from the baptismal.

[Timothy hang his water droplet and take picture]

My prayer is that The Light KC can be a church that lives out Luke 19:10 seeking and to saving the lost, and very soon we can cover this baptismal in reminders of the amazing work God has done in our community.

Let’s give Skylar / Tristen one more round of applause for the decision she’s / he’s made today. [clapping, cheering, etc]

WELCOME

Good morning!!! My name is Ryan Hanson, and I have the honor of serving here at The Light KC as the lead pastor. I’m so glad you’re here with us.

‌Welcome to those joining us online. We hope you're doing well and hope to see you in person in the coming weeks.

And a special welcome to those joining us for the first time. We’re so glad you chose to be here.

ME/INTRO - Tension

Well, here we are. We’ve arrived to the final week of our HOT ONE’s series. We’ve, as they say in the actual HOT ONE’s show, “Reached the summit” and have now arrived at the HOTTEST question of the series. The stage lights don’t get any redder than this.

What does the Bible say about the shifting cultural values of sex, relationships, gender, and identify?

But before we tackle this question I want to take a step back and tell you a short story.

So in 2018, I went to NYC to run/jog/walk the NYC Marathon. It was my first road marathon and Andrea and I treated it like a vacation.

Andrea wanted to go to MOOD, the fabric store from the show Project Runway that she enjoyed watching.

I wanted to go tool around central park and get on Good Morning America (which I did)

One of the coolest things we did was go to the top the empire state building

While we were there we also tried every day to get on the Jimmy Fallon show. We failed, but one things from our attempts stands out. When you enter the lobby of 30 Rockefeller Center, there is a massive mural of all the famous people that have been on NBC over the years. Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno, Johnny Carson, and tons of other people I really didn’t recognize. The things that stood out to me the most from that trip was the caption on the mural. In the corner of the mural there was the NBC logo with a phrase that said “Changing culture since November 15, 1926” when they started the network. I didn’t think to take a picture of it, or can I find it online, but it hit me how much media (TV, movies, magazines, and now the internet) does affect culture.

Doing some research into it, I found this graphic from NumberAnalytics.com

[media shaping culture - flow chart]

The article that went with that flow chart was very interesting. To sum it up, they said that media affects culture in many ways.

Mirror Existing Culture - media reflects societies understanding of what the current culture values

Amplifying Aspects of Culture - media amplifies and distributes elements of popular culture, creating a feedback loop where isolated trends are born, spread, grow, and evolve.

Shape Cultural Norms, Values, and Identity - Media can reinforce or challenge cultural norms by normalizing alternate perspectives within their movies / TV shows / etc

Catalyst for Social Change - Media can highlight issues, amplify marginalized or minority voices, and influence public opinion

The Algorithm - The way that social media algorithms curate content for us, creates echo chambers where we can be led to believe that our minority opinions are actually what the majority believe further reinforcing fringe thinking and reducing or eliminating any challenge that we may have to our lines of thought

In today’s world we live in a society where everyone thinks they’re right, everyone can find a community that believes exactly what they do, nobody needs to be challenged in their line of thinking unless they seek it out, and consequently the boundaries of what is acceptable keeps growing until seemingly nothing is off limits.

We live in the society described in Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25

Judges 21:25 NIV

25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

As society becomes less and less Christian, we have stopped looking to God and His Word to set the standards with which we live, and have allowed everyone to set for themselves what they think is right and wrong.

We see this in the common phrases we hear almost on a daily basis

“you do you”

“live your truth”

“be your authentic self”

Without the baseline Biblical values to fall back on, nearly everything is culturally okay.

That’s where we see the cultural shift over the last few decades that has led to today’s HOT ONE’s QUESTION of the week.

What does the Bible say about the shifting cultural values of sex, relationships, gender, and identify?

Sex has transitioned from a sacred act between two people within the covenant relationship of marriage to a 3rd date expectation (according to Reddit)

Marriage has shifted from a covenant that 1 man and 1 woman enters into with the expectation it will last life time, to something that anyone (2 men, 2 women, you name it) can enter into or leave without a second thought if they are not happy, feeling fulfilled, or getting all their needs/wants met

Gender has gone from something God determines before we are born, to a belief that biological sex and gender are two different things and gender can be changed if one doesn’t feel like they don’t perfectly line up with what society tells them someone of their biological sex should be.

WE - Tension

I’m sure in this room, we have a very wide range of thoughts on the subjects of sex, relationships, gender, and identity?

I’m sure that most of us know some people who identify with the LGBTQ+ community.

At the same time, I think conversations like this are important if we’re going to be the community that we’ve said we want to be; a F.A.M.I.L.Y. that can have hard conversations, about hard topics so that we can together discern the will of God for our lives and help each other develop the Christ like character we are called to have.

So today, we’re going to do our best to go to scripture and see what God has to say on these very difficult topics.

If you missed the previous messages, please feel free go to our website, TheLightKC.org, to catch up.

Our main passage will be Matthew 7:1-6, but we’re going to be in many scriptures so...

We’ll have the scripture on the screen, but if you have a Bible with you, or Bible app on your phone, I’d encourage you to turn to the passage and follow along. There is nothing that replaces having God’s word in your hand.

AND... if you don’t have a Bible, we have Bibles under the seats. If you don’t have a bible and would like one, please come see me after the service and I’ll get you one you can keep.

Let's dive in.

GOD - Text

As we start, I think we need to break this into two parts.

First, we need to see what the Bible says on Sex, Marriage, Gender, and Identity.

Then, we’ll see how the Bible calls us to respond to these topics.

Biblical Stance

Humanity was created by God, in His image, male and female -

Genesis 1:26–27 “26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Humanity as God created us, was VERY GOOD -

Genesis 1:28–31 “28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

Marriage was designed by God to be between 1 man and 1 woman for life -

Matthew 19:3–6 “3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”” (reference to Genesis 2:24)

Sex should only occur within the life-long covenant relationship of marriage -

1 Corinthians 7:1–2 “1 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.

1 Corinthians 7:10–11 “10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.”

Sin corrupted God’s design for marriage, gender, and identity -

Romans 1:24–27 “24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

How We Are Called to Respond

As a Wesleyan Church, we believe what the Bible teaches. We believe...

Sex is only to be shared between a 1 man and 1 woman within the covenant relationship of marriage

Marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman

Marriage should be entered into as a covenant and is a life long commitment

Divorce is a last resort and only Biblically permissible when there is abuse or unfaithfulness within the marriage and every effort to restore the marriage through counseling has failed

Biological Sex and Gender are the same thing and determined by God before we are born

Changing one’s Gender is equivalent to saying God made a mistake when He made you and goes against God’s plan for your life

Temptation is not a sin. Jesus was tempted and did not sin. Acting upon the temptations we face, is where we cross the line and sin.

Given all that, how do we respond to those in our lives, and that we meet, who have bought into culture’s values and live lives contrary to what we believe.

I think we need to look at a few verses Jesus spoke during His Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7:1–5 NIV

1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

The truth is that we are all tempted to sin in one way or another. The Devil knows where we are weak and tempts us each where he think he’ll find success. That is different for each of us, and it is not our place to judge another person’s sin when we’re guilty of sin ourselves.

Any sin, no matter how small or sever disqualifies us from God’s presence. We all need a savior to take the consequences of our sin from us as we cannot be good enough to do it ourselves.

The good news is that...we may all be tempted to sin, but God won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear

1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV

13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

God always provides a way out.

The truth is we are all called to remove all sin from our lives, no matter what those sins are.

Colossians 3:1–10 NIV

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

I find it interesting that in the same list of sins that contains sexual immorality, lust, and evil desires (all the things we find so easy to judge in others), we also find the list of sins that include anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language (sins that we so easily justify in our own lives).

The phrase I’ve mentioned before feels very true within this topic, “We judge others by their actions, and we judge ourselves by our intentions”.

The truth is, our only response to the sin of others is to find a mirror and look at ourselves.

Search our hearts

Psalm 139:23–24 “23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Pray

Psalm 32:5 “5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

Ask God to rid us of the temptations we face

Matthew 6:13 “13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”

And know that Jesus knows exactly what we’re going through as He was tempted, but unlike us, Jesus did not sin.

Hebrews 4:15 NIV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

We serve a God that loves us so much that He came to Earth, became one of us, experienced the worst that this world can give, and gave us an example of how it is possible to live in this world without sinning.

YOU - Takeaway

I don’t know where you’re at on these topics.

I don’t know if you know people who struggle with temptations to live their live contrary to what the Bible teaches on Sex, Marriage, Gender, and Identity.

I’ve tried to present as clearly as I can what the Bible teaches on these topics.

WE / JESUS - Redemptive Close - Call to Action

One thing I absolutely know is that Jesus is very clear about how we are to treat people we don’t agree with.

Matthew 5:43–48 NIV

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I don’t think people that believe differently that we do are necessarily our enemies, but I don’t think it is a stretch to paraphrase this verse as, “Love those who don’t believe what you believe”

Paul is pretty clear on that topic

1 Corinthians 5:12 NIV

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

As Christians we can’t judge others for not living as the Bible teaches us to live, if they haven’t put their faith in Jesus and agreed to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

As Christians we’re called to live according to God’s laws, and to live a life that serves as a good example for those outside the church.

1 Timothy 3:7 NIV

7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

Jesus modeled this well in Mark 2:15-17, eating drinking, and even letting sinners follow Him to learn from His teaching.

Mark 2:15–17 NIV

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Who is God calling you do life with as Jesus did life with these sinners? Who is God calling you to be the example of what a Christian life looks like? Who does God want to free from their sin through your faithful example?

If I were to answer today’s HOT ONE’s question of the week,

What does the Bible say about the shifting cultural values of sex, relationships, gender, and identify?

as concisely as I can, this is how I’d do it.

The Bible is clear that God created humanity with two distinct genders; man and woman. God created the covenant of marriage to be between 1 man and 1 woman, and intended marriage to be a life long relationship that models the unconditional love God has for us to the world.

Divorce is an absolute last resort and only biblically allowed when there is abuse of unfaithfulness and after all attempted to reconcile through counseling have failed.

Sex is a spiritual experience where two become one. Sex is powerful and not something that should be shared with anyone outside the covenant of marriage.

Sin has distorted culture’s view of sex, marriage, gender, and identity. Society has drifted back to the days of Judges where everyone did what they thought was right in their own eyes. Yet, as Christians, we’re called to withhold judgement, knowing that we too are sinners and not everyone has put their faith in Christ or agreed to live by the values God teaches through the Bible. We are called to live lives that set a good example for those outside the church and be open to being in relationship with those outside the church so they can learn from us and we can witness to them.

PRAYER 

Will you join me in prayer...

SONG 

As we enter into our final song, I want to open the steps up front as an altar to anyone who needs God this week. The steps are open for you to pray to the God who is with you, who loves you, you wants to give you His peace.

‌

You may feel a hand on your shoulder as I or one of the elders join you in prayer.

BENEDICTION 

Matthew 5:46–48 NIV

46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This week...let’s stop judging those outside the church for not living by Biblical values. Let’s instead live lives that serve as an example to everyone of the life that God created us to live. Let’s not isolate ourselves from those we disagree with, but let’s be open to the divine appointments God gives us to for relationships with them and witness to them.

Quick reminder...

Happy Birthday to Amber

Garage Sale items can be dropped off any time (purple room upstairs)

2 Habitat for Humanity Days are available (8 spots each); September and November

Ordination Friday 9 AM at Connect Church in Lawrence

If you’re new, please stop by our info desk, or see me. We’d love to say “hi” and get you know you a bit better.

I hope you have a great week.

Go in peace.

You are dismissed.

DISCIPLESHIP QUESTIONS (download into APP)

How can understanding God's design for gender and marriage help us navigate today's cultural values?

In what ways can we model Christ's love to those who have different beliefs regarding sexuality and gender?

What specific actions can we take to demonstrate God’s love to individuals living outside of biblical values?

How can the phrase 'Love those who don’t believe what you believe' influence your interactions with others?

In light of today's sermon, what steps can you take to encourage open conversations about these topics within your community?

What does it mean for you to live your truth in a culture that often contradicts biblical teachings?

How can you support friends who are struggling with their identity while holding onto your own faith?

What challenges do you face regarding cultural norms about relationships, and how can your faith guide you through them?

How can you share your faith when discussing topics like gender and sexuality with your peers?

How does understanding God's view on marriage affect your personal relationships and expectations?