THEM HOMOS

“AMERICA DIVIDED”

THEM

‘I’d have to love him even more,’ was the punchline I reiterated to a group I was working with from church.  It was a reply given by Billy Graham to Larry King when Larry asked what Billy would do if one of his sons was a homosexual.  Billy replied, ‘I’d love him more.  After leaving the group, I was tracked down.

“Derek, I need to talk with you,” A stern voice came from behind me.  I’d heard this voice many times before.  Greg’s been a friend of mine for years, and one thing is true about him…he has no problem telling me how he REALLY feels!

“Are you saying that we are supposed to be ok with them?”

“THEM?”

“Yeah, them.” he replied.

“You mean, ‘them HOMOS,” I responded sarcastically.

“I don’t mean to be rude but…”

“Greg, why is it THEM instead of US?”

“I’m not one of THEM, Derek!”

“Ok, Greg, but if I remember right, you and Mike get together with a group every week because you both struggle with anger.  I guess I’m glad I’m not one of THEM angry guys.  In fact, I may have to stay away from you from now on,” I smiled.

“Derek, this is different.  These people don’t even believe what they are doing is wrong. They don’t believe it’s a sin.  Haven’t they read their Bibles?  I Corinthians 6:9 compares homosexuality to fornication, idolatry, and adultery. I Timothy 1:10 compares it to kidnapping, lying and perjury (NASB).”

“I understand many people do believe that homosexuality is genetic and not a sin…but what I’m trying to understand is why you think that everyone must believe what you believe, and if they don’t, then you need to categorize people as THEM.”

“Ok, ok, I see what you’re saying but…”

“Greg, why is it so important to you that everyone else agrees with your belief system and if not…”

“I get angry.  That’s the way I’ve been my whole life.  Maybe I was born that way!” Greg chided, in a feeble attempt at humor.  “So I guess you’re saying that I’m just supposed to sit back and be ok with homosexuals filling our churches, worshiping with us, knowing that they are probably out committing homosexual acts.  I don’t know if I can stomach that.  We’ve got to DO BETTER than that.”

DO BETTER

“So, you think if homosexuals DO RIGHT then they’ll be better.”

“Oh boy, here we go.  Derek, I’ve been around you long enough to realize this conversation is going to take a quick u-turn.”

“Seriously, you think that if homosexuals start acting like you want them to act then they will be good, and that will make you feel better?”

“I guess so,” Greg shook his head, secretly wanting to make a quick exit.

“We talked about this last month. Derek, it’s just so hard to believe.  It’s like I get it and then get lost again.”

“I know…the Enemy’s goal is to deceive us at every corner.”

“Remind me again.  I’m always getting confused, but it has something to do with the whole Law and Grace thing doesn’t it?”

“Remember the LAW is based on a belief system that says if we DO RIGHT then we will BE GOOD people.”

“And that seems so sensible to me, but what is GRACE again?”

“GRACE is based on a belief system that says if we ARE GOOD then out of that goodness we will DO RIGHT.”

“Ok, it’s all coming back.  But I forget…what’s wrong with the LAW?”

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE LAW

“Greg, there is nothing inherently wrong with the Law, it’s just weak.”

“Weak?”

“Yeah, it’s weak.”

“How so?”

“You already know how weak it is.  Think about something you would like to change about your wife.”

“Well, I’m kind of embarrassed to say this…but, I’d like my wife to lose some weight.”

“Greg, I really hope nobody reading this newsletter finds out who you really are!!!” I laughed.  “But regardless, here’s what I want you to do…go home tonight and lay down the LAW.”

“What do you mean?”

“Go home tonight and tell your wife she needs to lose weight.  Lay down the LAW! (We’ll assume for this example that Greg believes gaining weight is a sin, but that’s up to you!)”

“That would NEVER work.  First of all she would probably hit me over the head with the nearest object she could grab…”

“But then after being mad at you would she lose the weight?”

“NO WAY!  She’d probably gain more in spite of me.”

“So is laying down the LAW powerful or is it…”

“Now that you put it that way, oh boy is it weak!”

“Again, is there anything inherently wrong with your wife losing weight (anything inherently wrong with your new LAW)?”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just weak, actually it’s really weak, it doesn’t help at all.”

“EXACTLY!  You get it.”

“Man, I always thought the LAW made me more obedient but I guess it doesn’t, in fact, sometimes it does just the opposite. So where’s this stuff in the Bible?”

“We’ve discussed two concepts (1) the Law is weak (it puts a big dent into your relationship with your wife) and (2) the Law increases our sinful desire (your wife actually gains more weight) both from the NASB:

• Hebrews 7:18 – “For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment (The Mosaic Law) because of its weakness and uselessness”

• Romans 7:5 – “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body”

“Ok,” Greg replied, “I get this so far, but now what?  If the LAW doesn’t make us good, how does grace?”

GOODNESS  GRACEOUS

“Greg, grace is not based on making yourself good.  It’s based on a belief that you already are good because of Christ’s death on the cross!”

“But how do I get good?”

“You don’t get it; you receive it…it’s a gift.” (Romans 5:17)

“What do I have to do to get the gift?”

“Believe.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.  Once you believe, THEN God inhabits you.  God’s Holy Spirit actually comes INTO your spirit to live.  Can you imagine how good you would be if God was in you?” (Romans 8:10)

“How could I be any better?”

“You can’t.  Scripture calls this righteousness.  You become righteous!  You become that good.” (Romans 3:23, 5:1, 9:30).

“So that’s what Paul means when he says that our ‘faith is credited to us as righteousness’.” (Romans 4:3-5, 9)

“Exactly.  You believe and then you receive God’s goodness because of His grace.  You are righteous.”

“So what does this have to do with DOING GOOD?”

“EVERYTHING!”

“Really?”

“Law leads to conformity but grace leads to obedience.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Let’s get back to homosexuality for a moment and assume that it is a sin.  But does homosexuality make people less righteous?”

“No.  Righteousness comes through faith not from our actions.”

“Exactly.”

“Greg, they are one of US!  Homosexuals who have faith have the same God in them as you and I do.  They have the same righteousness.  It’s given to us by God; we can’t DO RIGHT to BE GOOD!”

“But I’m still confused, how does BEING RIGHT (righteous) lead toward DOING RIGHT?”  Greg replied.

“That’s easy!  Tell me the last time you got angry.”

“At work yesterday.  We made a big mistake and lost some sales and I cussed out a guy (I probably shouldn’t have done that).”

“But what if you didn’t feel worse about yourself if your company performed poorly because you already believed you were righteous?  Would you have to get angry?”

“No, I guess not.”

“And if you didn’t have to act on your anger impulse, would you cuss the guy out?”

“No.  Wow!  That’s right.  I would DO RIGHT because I believe I already AM RIGHT (righteous).  Man, this is easy to forget.”

“Exactly.  Grace does what the Law cannot do.  GRACE LEADS US TO OBEDIENCE.  And by the way, I’ll keep reminding you. (II Peter 1:12 – NASB)”

“So why do homosexuals who believe continue to act out the sin?”

“The same reason you did at work.  It’s easy to forget who we are.  It’s easy to forget we are already righteous.  So we move toward sin because we forget how completely righteous and deeply loved we already are and the result is…sin.” 

“Ok, give me a verse,” Greg replied, “and then I have one more question for you.”

Ok, here’s a verse…

Romans 6:14 (NASB) – For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.  (With grace, sin cannot master you!)

And this is my favorite…

“All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers.  But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace.  When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.”

The Message - Romans 5:20

GOD CAN HANDLE IT

“So what about the Christian homosexuals who believe that homosexuality is not a sin?  What should I do then?” asked Greg.

“Maybe you should take your anger, get mad and lay down the LAW!” I laughed.

“Uh…that ain’t gonna work!”  Greg shook his head.

“I agree, so then what?”

“Maybe the Holy Spirit can handle that without my help…I bet you have a verse up your sleeve for this one too.” Greg replied rolling his eyes.

“Yes I have a few verses and I’ve already changed them into the first person for you…”

“If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without my help.”

The Message – Romans 14:4

“Forget about deciding what’s right for each other.  Here’s what I need to be concerned about: that I don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult that it already is.”

The Message – Romans 14:13

“I cultivate my own relationship with God, but I don’t impose it on others.  I’m fortunate if my behavior and my beliefs are coherent.  But if I’m not sure, if I notice that I am acting in ways inconsistent with what I believe – some days trying to impose my opinions on others, other days just trying to please them – then I know I’m out of line.”

The Message – Romans 14:22

Thinking about it,

Derek

P.S.  As always I want to thank all the people involved in the Lives Transforming newsletters and message.  For those of you that don’t know, the stories that are told are ALL based on real life, true stories of Lives Transforming!