Homosexuality and the Mediator

εις γαρ θεός, εις κάι μεσίτης θεου κάι ανθρώπων, άνθρωπος Χριστός Ιησούς (1 Tim. 2:5).

"One for God, One and Mediator God and man, man Christ Jesus" (Word for word from Greek to English)  "For there is One God, and One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (My translation).  "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (ESV).

I am beginning a work on 1 Tim. 2:5-6 for some messages that I will be preaching in Mexico City and in Maine upon the subject of propitiation (the means of appeasing of the wrath of God).  In the beginning of my meditating upon this Scripture passage there are a few things that stand out as very obvious.  First, there is a definite hostility between two parties.  The two parties are God and man. Psalm 11:5 says that the LORD . . . "hates the wicked and the one who loves violence" and Romans 1:30 says that man is a "Hater of God".  The great problem between God and man is that God is Holy and man is sinful.  Holiness and sinfulness go together no better than oil and water, pro-life and abortion, freedom and slavery, or light and dark.  They are opposed to one another.  Second, the only way in which reconciliation can be obtained is through the work of the Mediator.  A mediator is "One that mediates between parties at variance" (Webster).  Third, the only way these two parties can be reconciled is if God is appeased.  The only way God can be appeased is by His justice being fully satisfied.  The only way to satisfy His justice is for Him to execute His full wrath upon the guilty party.  Thus, the Mediator in this scenario will need to place Himself υπέρ (in his stead, substitute, in place of) the guilty party.  Lastly, the One Mediator (vs. 5) will give His life as a sufficient ransom (vs. 6) and this Mediator is to proclaimed to the whole world.  The entire world needs to know that their hope is through Him alone, by faith alone, because He alone is the Savior.

Man has sinned (Rom. 5:12) and broken the law of God.  God is holy (Isa. 6:3) and will not excuse sin.    The only hope for reconciliation is for a sufficient Mediator to resolve the conflict.  Jesus Christ throws Himself between holiness and sinfulness and becomes the sponge for the water of God's wrath.  Jesus Christ soaks up the totality of God's wrath in the place of the guilty sinner.  The guilty party looks to Jesus Christ by faith for salvation.  If the guilty sinner does not trust in Jesus Christ alone for his pardon then he will have to absorb God's wrath himself for all of eternity in hell.  An eternity in hell will not be sufficient for man to pay his sin debt.  The only way the sin debt can be satisfied is for an absolutely perfect Mediator to substitute His life in place of the guilty party.  Jesus Christ has done this.  Repent and believe Him.

One last paragraph to touch on the title of this blog.  Homosexuality is a sin (Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Deut. 23:17-18; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10).  God hates sin.  Man sins when he commits acts of homosexuality.  The only way to solve this dilemma is to find a Mediator.  The homosexual must look to Jesus Christ alone as his substitute for the remission of sin.  The only way for the homosexual to have peace with a holy God is submit his life to Jesus Christ by repenting of his sin and believing upon the meritorious work (a work that satisfied God) of Jesus.  It is utter blasphemy to think that Jesus absorbed the wrath of God in the place of sinners to enable them to continue living in their sin.  Jesus' mediatory work was done to set men free from sin, not to enable him to live in it.  Oh, that the homosexual, fornicator, drunkard, prideful, reprobate, and etc., would repent of sin and flee to the only One who can bring peace between them and God.  

Alone

καί ουκ ειμί μόνος - Yet I am not alone (John 16:32).

Towards the end of Jesus' public ministry He comes to a point of acknowledging that all His closest followers will abandon Him.  Those who have heard His teaching, seen His miracles, and marveled at His prayer life will be scattered to their own homes and leave Jesus all alone.

Certainly there is a level of pain to be deserted by those you have invested so much in.  The Lord had taught these men personally.  He had slept out under the stars with them.  He had eaten and drank with them on numerous occasions.  He had done ministry together with these men.  They had prayed together and discussed the Scriptures together.  They witnessed Him walking on water, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk, and He even raised the dead.  He could even raise men who were four days dead.  Jesus not only did all of these things, but He was kind, loving, merciful, thoughtful, and the best friend they would ever have.  Yet, at the hour of His deepest need they would scatter in fear of their lives.  They would leave Him all alone.

How would Jesus respond to such treatment?  How do we respond to such treatment?  The common response is anger, hurt, disappointment, and a range of emotions that send many a soul into depression and anxiety.  Many people look within themselves and try to figure out what they have done wrong.  Others pour out anger upon the person who would desert them.

What means are used to deal with a time of desertion by the closest of friends or even family?  Some will turn to eating food to comfort their emotions.  Some will spend money and buy things that will supposedly give them happiness.  Some will take a trip and simply try to get away in order to escape the pain.  Some will curl up in a ball and pull the covers over their head in hopes that all will go away.  Some turn to alcohol and drugs.  Some turn to Prozac.  Some will turn to Dr. Phil, Oprah, and the Ellen Degenerate show.  The ways people respond to abandonment are entirely to numerous to list,  so let us return to the Lord and His response.

He responds with a truth that is sufficient for all of eternity and rises above the level of horizontal wrangling, "I am not alone"!  The reason He knows this is because the truth is that His Father will never abandon Him.  He follows this statement with direction for those who abandoned Him and then the next chapter is the recording of the greatest prayer ever prayed.  Oh, to God that we could learn such a valuable lesson from the King of Glory.

When abandoned by parents, children, siblings, relatives, church friends, co-workers, neighbors, and even by our best friend, that is the time to respond like unto our Lord.  "I am not alone".  The reason the Christian is not alone is because He will never leave us or forsake us.  He has never lost one of His own.  He will not cast away anyone who comes to Him.  The Christian can never say, "Nobody loves me", "Nobody cares", "Nobody knows my pain", or "I have no friends".  These are all lies.  The truth is that in Christ the Christian is never alone.  A Christian may have gloom, depression, and real sadness over relationships, but it is at these points that the Christian must learn to preach to himself: "I am not alone"!

Sin: Psalm 51:4

The Psalmist said, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words" (Psalm 51:4).

Sin is a wicked and grievous thing that the flesh does not want to deal with.  When people are pressed by the Spirit of God about their sin the temptation is to try and cover it.  The desire of man to cover up sin has been going on since the days of Genesis 3.  Adam and Eve sought to cover their sin with leaves.  Cain tried to cover his sin with ignorance when he said, "I do not know where he is".  Ananias and Sapphira tried to cover their sin by lying to God and man.  It goes on and on and on. 

In our generation we have simply invented different ways to cover sin, but our inventions are no better than those who have gone before us. If we sin in a local church that holds us accountable we simply run to another church in order that we do not have to deal with our sin.  If our sin is nagging at our hearts we simply medicate it with prozac or some other mind-numming drug that will never cure us.  If we sin against our spouse we simply divorce and move on to someone else.  If we sin against a friend we simply delete them from our Farsebook (Facebook) account.  If we sin against God we simply cover it with blaming everything else around us in order to justify our own hearts.  It seems that man would rather attempt to cover his sins with more sin rather than be honest with God and repent of sin.  I believe the Puritans captured the magnitude of sin correctly when they stated:

Let me never forget that I have an eternal duty to love, honor, and obey thee,

that thou art infinitely worthy of such;

that if I fail to glorify thee I am guilty of infinite evil that merits infinite punishment,

for sin is the violation of an infinite obligation.

The God of which we sin against cannot be pacified with prozac, self-justification, denial, blame, fig leaves, ignorance, lies, running away and hiding, nor any other of man's inventions.  The only way that the holy God of heaven will be pacified is by the blood of His dear Son. Beloved, go to God with an honest, humble, and broken heart and cry out to God saying, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight".  He is just and faithful to forgive.  If you will be honest with God and truly seek Him in these important matters you will find freedom and refreshing from the Spirit of God.  You will not have to go to the psychologist, the divorce lawyer, the bottom of a beer can, the end of a cigarette, the next church down the road, and of the greatest blessing you will be able to walk with a clean conscience before God.  

 

Homosexuality

The writings, videos, blogs, and news are filled with conversations upon the subject of homosexuality.  The enormous amount of talk has led to numerous controversies and misunderstandings regarding the subject.  The Christian voice has been labeled as hateful and intolerant.  Numerous Christians have been thrown under the proverbial bus of the unloving religious people.  The Christian is made out to be the bad guy who is condemning everyone else.  The church is seen to be uncaring and even mean.  Surely there is some hate, anger, and tension floating around the world over this controversial subject and many people are being affected by all the noise.

I as a Christian would like to comment from the side of genuine Christians.  The accusations of Christians being unloving and uncaring are false accusations.  These types of blanket statements that are put upon Christians by the homosexual group are slanderous and false.  I am sure that are some bad representations of Christianity in the world, but simply because some have given Christianity a bad name does not mean genuine Christians are that way.  Just because a few loud arrogant mouthed people who claim Christianity are on the internet and public spotlight does not mean that everyone is like them.  

Christianity and homosexuality must be judged from the same source.  In other words, to know what a true Christian is one would need to do a thorough examination of the Scripture.  What does the bible say a Christian is?  A Christian is one who has repented and believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation (Acts 20:21).  A Christian is one whose old nature has passed away and has been given a new nature which loves God and hates sin (II Corinthians 5:17-21).  A true Christian is one who loves his brother (I John 1:9-11).  A true Christian is one who takes the gospel to the whole world, proclaiming the person of Christ, so that people would have the opportunity to repent and believe upon Christ (Acts 8:4-5, 12, 25, 35).  A true Christian demonstrates love to sinners like Jesus did.  Jesus demonstrated love to the Samaritan woman (John 4), the woman caught in adultery (John 8), Zacchaeus (Luke 19), and he was known as a friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19).

Homosexuality must be examined from the same source to be properly judged.  The law of Moses says, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Lev. 18:22).  Moses also says, "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination" (Leviticus 20:13).  The apostle Paul says, "Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-10).  The apostle Paul tells Timothy that the law of Moses is for the sexually immoral men who practice homosexuality (I Timothy 1:8-11).  The apostle Paul says that when God gives up people that they naturally digress into greater and greater sinfulness.  "Women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error" (Romans 1:26-27)

The Christian like unto Jesus is to respond with a loving nature towards the sinner.  The most loving thing the Christian can do is point the homosexual, lesbian, transvestite to the truth of God.  The adulterous woman of John 4 is called to repentance.  The woman caught in adultery in John 8 is told to go and sin no more.  The sinful man Zacchaeus is to repent and restore those he has wronged.  The sinners that Jesus associated with were compelled to repent and submit their lives unto the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Warnings from God are always loving even if they do not feel loving.  God does not have to warn anyone.  When God does warn someone it is an act of his mercy.  He could simply let men and women go forward in their sin and ultimately to hell, but in His grace He sends warnings through His Word, His prophets, His ministers, and through His church.

As a true Christian who loves God and hates sin I urge and beseech any man or woman who reads this blog and is practicing that which God calls sin to repent of your sin and submit your life unto Jesus who died on the cross and rose from the dead for sinners.  Look unto Him and be saved.  Your only hope is in Him.  Plead with the Lord to be merciful to you and plead with Him until He grants you mercy.  He is able to deliver you from sin and He is able to fill you with abounding joy.  He is the all sufficient Savior and everything that you need for this life and the life to come is found in Him.  Their is great mercy with the Lord so come to Him quickly.  As the old hymn says, "Christ receiveth sinful men".  Your a sinner so go to Him and find true life. 

Cycling and Christianity

"For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:14)
The Greek word I want to comment upon is θλίβω (hard).  A good definition of this word would be, "to cause something to be constricted or narrow, press together, compress, make narrow" (BDAG).  In the case of a road it becomes a source of difficulty to those using it.

A few days ago I was able to watch some of the Tour de France.  Being a bicycle rider myself there were certain things that I noticed about the Tour.  First, there are not that many people who are in the Tour.  Second, everyone seems fast when the road goes downhill.  Third, there are some who break the rules and use drugs to help them have the strength to go uphill.  Fourth, in order to climb the grades that they climb they must consume a lot of food and water.  Fifth, the roads at the top of the mountain are extremely narrow and only a few make it to the top (Less than 200 hundred people finish the Tour).  Sixth,  there are far more spectators than there are competitors.  Last, at the top of one very important climb a bystander through carpet tacks on the road and caused over 30 flats.

I usually ride my bike on Monday's and as I rode I was thinking about bikes and Christianity and I offer you the following thoughts that parallel the above paragraph and coincide with the verse that Jesus spoke.  First, there are few who are walking the right path.  Second, people look like good Christians when things are going well (church is full, plenty of money, programs for the kids, pastor is funny and entertaining, music is like they like it, etc.).  Third, some people cannot follow the standards set by Jesus so they look like Christians on the outside, but on the inside they are full of dead men's bones.  Fourth, in general many confessing Christians are not consuming the right quantity of the bread of life and they do not drink enough from the well that never runs dry.  Fifth, the glorious view of Zion is never seen by many people.  Sixth, the number of people who are glad someone else is doing evangelism, missions, teaching, serving, preaching, praying, giving, and encouraging far outnumbers the people who are actually doing it.  Last, there is no shortage of people (even confessing Christians) who are more than willing to take down those whose lives make them look so fake.

What about you?  Are you going downhill or uphill?  It is easy to go downhill, anybody can do it.  Billions of people go downhill into the world, sports, entertainment, popularity, Facebook, surfing endlessly on the web, and etc., but it seems that there are few who are disciplined in Scripture reading, prayer, memorization, service to the local church, evangelism, and missions.  Well I have digressed into meddling a bit so I must end this post.  Peddling uphill may be 'hard', but the benefits are eternal.  

Anxiety for the Local Church

χωρίς των παρεκτός ή επιστασις μοι ή καθ ήμεραν, ή μέριμνα πασών τών εκκλησιών (2 Cor. 11:28).  "Apart from other external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of anxiety (concern) for all the churches" (My translation).
Paul has just given a lengthy list of the physical pains that he had endured.  Apparently he could have added or expanded upon this list of things that his body had gone through.  He now switches to something that he sees as an even greater battle.  "Apart from other external things" that he could have listed there is one thing that never eased up on him internally.  The thing that robbed him of sleep or of rest was 'the daily pressure of anxiety' that he had for all the churches.  Countless things were happening in the world during Paul's time and his external body was paying a price for his devotion to the things of God, but the one thing that consumed Paul was his love for the εκκλησία (church).

επιστασις (pressure) - "Responsibility for a matter, pressure, care . . . the sense of anxiety caused by a heavy sense of responsibility" (BDAG).  μέριμνα (anxiety, concern) - "Anxiety, worry, care" (BDAG)  The antonym (opposite) for the word anxiety is unconcern.  The apostle Paul was not a man who exhibited no concern for the local church, but rather he felt the pressure daily and lived his life in continual concern for 'all the churches'.

The word for anxiety can be used negatively or positively.  Negatively it is used in the gospels to show that some of the seed that was scattered was choked out by the 'cares' of the world.  These people were so consumed with the world that they never produced any fruit of the kingdom of God.  Paul is the opposite of this.  His concern was not for the world.  Paul's heart, soul, and mind was consumed with the local churches of his day.  He was not a false apostle (2 Cor. 11:1-15), but rather he was a true apostle and this was seen in his zealous love for the local churches.

A pastor who has no love for the local church is no pastor at all.  There is a list of qualifications for being an elder of a local church (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9) and Paul would also by example show that 'concern' for the local church is also a qualification for any minister of the living God.  The Lord Jesus shows His concern for the local church in that He laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:11) and He obtained the church of God with His own blood (Acts 20:28).

The Lord Jesus so loved the church that He gave His life to obtain her.  The apostle Paul so loved the church that his life was consumed with care for her.  The men and women who have gone before us were martyred, burned at the stake, sawn in two, ripped to pieces by wild beasts, imprisoned, and hated by the world because of their undying love for the Lord Jesus and His church.

What about you?  Do you love the church?  Is your mind and heart consumed with ways to serve the local church better?  Do you look for ways to be a blessing to your church?  Do you consistently pray on the behalf of your church?  Are you the one who is always speaking positively about your church?  Examine your heart today and see where you are in your affections towards the church.  If you desire to love God, follow Jesus, be led by the Spirit, and imitate the apostle Paul then you will naturally grow in your love for the church.  

The Only Local Church

"We give thanks to God always for all of you . . . mentioning . . . remembering . . . and knowing (1 Thessalonians 1:3-4).  Paul mentions this local church constantly in his prayers.  He remembers their 'work of faith', 'labor of love', and their 'steadfastness of hope'.  Paul's heart for this church is expressed in 1 Thess. 2:17 and his heartache that occurred because he was απορφανίζω  'torn away' from them. He wanted to come to them, but at this time he was hindered.  He had a great desire to see them "face to face", but was unable at the time.  Paul loved this local church.

Praise the Lord that somebody truly has a love for a local body of believers.  Paul had preached the gospel that birthed this church and was run out of town for it (Acts 17:1-9) along with Silas.  It is safe to say that Paul had paid some high prices as a result of his love for the local church.

It seems strange today that when a pastor speaks highly of the local church and teaches clearly the responsibility of the church members, someone will inevitably say, "So you think your church is the only church in town".  It would be akin to someone reading Paul's letter to the Thessalonians and concluding that they were the only church in the world.  This type of response to a pastor who loves his church and teaches responsibility for his members is unfounded and misguided.

For an example one would only need to consider marriage.  A man begins to explain what a wonderful wife he has, how patient she is, how loving she is, and how beautiful she is. The people that he shares this with respond and say, "So you think your wife is the only woman in the world".  The husband would aptly respond and say, "No, she is just the only woman in the world that I have committed myself to in marriage".

The church that you belong to is not the only church in the world, nor the only church in your town, but the church you belong to is the only church that you have committed yourself to serve your Lord in.  Certainly there are biblical reasons and exceptions for leaving a local church, but many people are leaving churches for reasons that cannot be justified by the person leaving.  

Biblical reasons for leaving a local church would include death, being providentially moved out of the area, being called into a ministry that would require your departure, the church makes major doctrinal changes that clearly goes against the sound teaching of the Word of God, and other like reason could be listed.

Un-biblical reasons for leaving a church would include hurt feelings, not getting your way about a matter, desire for something bigger and better to appeal to your flesh, unreconciled relationships, looking for a place where there will be no demands upon your life, looking for a place that no one will hold you accountable, and other like reasons.

If you possess an attitude towards your church that is more negative than positive then it is time to repent and develop a new attitude.  Confess your issues to God and confess the wrongs that you have toward your church, your leadership, or towards your other brothers and sisters.  Ask for God's forgiveness over your sin and for strength to reconcile any broken relationships that you have.  Secondly, look for ways to humbly serve your church for the glory of God and for your good.  Lead out in prayer, door to door witnessing, assisting in property maintenance, and find creative ways to show your commitment to the local church where you currently hold membership.  Ask God to grant you a great love for your church and that by the Holy Spirit you will be empowered to serve your Lord in the local church that you call home.