Sexuality & Holiness.

9. Kingdom over culture

A CHIOICE TO MAKE

One of the great questions I’m asked when discussing the same-sex topic is: “What are you suggesting a homosexual Christian does with their desires?”

We’ve already looked at what the Bible says on this issue, in terms of our being prepared to turn our back on sexual lust outside of heterosexual marriage, but this is a really important question to consider.

It’s so easy to tell people what Scripture says on the topic of sexuality, but it’s a lot harder to encourage them to follow it through, once they realise choosing Jesus may mean they will have to consider remaining single. I’m acutely aware that it’s so much easier for me - being married and heterosexual – to readily write about these challenges than it is for those who may be actually facing them due to their own struggle with same-sex attraction.

In this chapter, we will explore fully what Scripture is asking someone with same sex-attraction to do and why.

Let’s start with the words we looked at earlier when Jesus was speaking on marriage as it was in the beginning. In Matthew 19:12, Jesus says, ‘some choose to be eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom.’

As I have said previously, the parable of the Precious Pearl tells the story of a man who gave up everything for the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:45-46). This is the type of disciple that Jesus requires; someone who will literally sell all that they have and stop at nothing to gain Him, the most precious treasure of all. A follower who will put down their ‘fishing nets’ (their businesses or old way of life), be prepared to leave their home and family if required, and even contemplate dying for the Kingdom’s sake.

This is the Kingdom-choice we are faced with – choosing God’s Kingdom over the culture around us.

This is not a call given to us by a demanding God who wants to control us yet has no understanding of the pain that this may cause us. No, for each of us who choose to follow Jesus, this call is given by a God who personally identifies with us on every front…

A God who personally came to earth,

personally subjected Himself to the same temptations and pressures we face,

personally submitted Himself to His Father’s will to die a barbaric death on a cross,

all in order to pay for the sin of those who denied and hated Him, of those who made themselves His enemies -

people like you and like me.

A CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH

I find it alarming that in many cases, The Modern Church appears to have lost its understanding of the mission of God. Whilst those belonging to the Early Church in Acts fearlessly preached the gospel in public squares and regularly faced the realities of arrest and worse, the ever-present threat of excruciating martyrdom, most of us in the Modern Church know nothing of these things (see Acts 8:1). In fact, I think it would be fair to say that Modern Christianity in our Western societies seems tame in contrast.

I wonder if you would agree with me if I said that the Modern Church seems more concerned about the fringe issues than it does about the key issue – prioritising the style of worship, room-lighting preferences or the brand of coffee above the call of the Great Commission to reach out beyond the church doors to the lost in the communities around us.

I admit these words may sound harsh, but I think there is a degree of truth in what I am saying here - and I do not consider myself or my own church family to be exempt from this challenge!

I think it boils down to the Modern Church taking on the consumerism of Western society; sadly, most Christians who regularly attend church appear to be consumers rather than contributors. Many leave churches today, because they are not happy with what they get – and for some who choose to leave having taken offence at something minor, it is tragic that they go on to lose their faith in Jesus altogether…

Does this sound like a church that understands the call to Kingdom-life?