"What's On Your Mind:" God's Definition of Marriage

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Sunday, June 14, 2009

In September 2008, the Supreme Court held the language in Iowa Code 595.2 that stated civil marriage was limited between a man and a woman, that language had to be stricken from the Code and that Code had to be interpreted and must include that all gay and lesbian couples would have all the rights of the institution of civil marriage. Seconds after that ruling, national media coverage began declaring that in Iowa, in the heartland, they had redefined marriage. No longer was marriage just between a man and a woman but now, because of the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa, marriage could also be a man and a man, a woman and a woman or a man and a woman. They had redefined marriage. I respectfully disagree. Because you cannot define what you did not institute. God and God alone instituted marriage and God and God alone can define marriage.

This morning, we want to look into the issue of marriage and how God has defined marriage, how God instituted it at the beginning of time. But inherent in this conversation and the whole reason that it comes up, we also must address the issue of homosexuality, of the gay and lesbian behavior and lifestyle. And we must look to God’s Word for clarity on that. And then finally we have to ask ourselves, “How do we as Christians respond? How do we respond as citizens? How do we respond as individuals?” I believe God’s Word guides us in that as well.

A definition of marriage. It’s interesting to note that it is only in what we might call recent history that the state has even gotten involved in marriage. For most of time, marriage didn’t have anything to do with the state or with the government. It was agreements between families or the Jewdeo-Christian world. It was something that was regulated to the church. You went to the church if you were going to get married. You went to the church for a certificate of marriage. The closest that I can find is somewhere in the early 1800's, people were looking for a way to get married outside of the church and so they went to the government and they went to the state and, all of a sudden, the state started getting involved and it has evolved from that point forward to we might be tempted to believe that it is the government, that it is the state that defines marriage. But they cannot define what they did not institute. God is the one who instituted marriage and God is the one who defines it.

We go back to the beginning of time. We go back to creation. We believe that scripture is God’s Holy Word and we believe that it is factual and true. We also believe that it is factual and true the creation account which is recorded for us in the Book of Genesis. There we find out that God has created everything in the universe and, as each day ended, God says that it was good. It was looking good. It was just how He wanted it to be. Then on the sixth day, He forms out of the dust of the ground a man. He calls him Adam. He gives him the breath of life. And then He looks for a suitable help mate for him. He has him name all of the animals that God has created and then He records this, “But for Adam, no suitable helper was found.” There was no one who brought completion to the man’s life, no one that complimented him, nothing that brought completion to creation. God was not done yet. The world was not perfect as He had designed it to be. There was still more to do. He calls the man to fall into a deep sleep. He takes a rib from him and He shapes and He forms woman and He gives her the breath of life. And then He brings her to Adam and Adam says, “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh.” Now creation is complete. It’s at the end of the sixth day that scripture records for us that God looks around and He says, “Everything is very, very, very good.” In other words, now everything is perfect.

My friends, creation was not perfect until woman was formed, until there was a perfect compliment to Adam, one that brought completion in his life and he would bring completion in her life. My point is God, with purpose and intent, created woman as a compliment to man.

Even if you want to reject scripture, even if you want to reject the Holy Bible and the creation account, you cannot deny the complimentary fashion between men and women. We compliment each other. We bring completion to each other. We do it intellectually, we do it emotionally, we do it physiology. It’s all together. I think we finally come to a point in our culture where we stop trying to say that men and women are all the same, that there are no differences between the two of them because that’s insulting to men and it’s insulting to women. We are designed and created differently so we compliment one another. We think differently. We react emotionally differently. Our bodies are different but when they come together, they are the perfect compliment of one another. It’s how it’s designed. It’s how it’s created.

My friends, only a man and a woman can procreate. There’s just no denying that. You might have artificial this and artificial that but it boils down to you have to have a male and you have to have a female. It’s just the laws of nature. It’s how God created us and designed us.

It is God who clearly defines marriage as between a man and a woman. He instituted it. He defines it. It really doesn’t make any difference what an individual says, what an organization says or what a state Supreme Court says because they cannot define what they did not institute. God instituted and God defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Now, of course, inherent in this whole discussion is homosexual behavior, the gay and lesbian lifestyle. Because the whole reason this has surfaced and come to the top and is questioned what marriage is all about is because it’s one more attempt in society to legitimize the gay and lesbian lifestyle as just another alternative, as just as if it were another equal way in which people can live their lives. Once again, we have to turn to God’s Word. And what does God say about homosexual behavior? What does God say about the gay and lesbian lifestyle? And His Word is clear about that. God’s Word is clear in saying that is not an acceptable behavior. God’s Word says that is not a way in which He created us and designed us but what I want us to focus in on this morning is also let’s not forget the context in which God says that.

God, when He condemns homosexual behavior, is condemning all sexual sins. He’s talking about all sexual perversions and sexual immorality. He’s not just zeroing in and focusing in only on homosexual behavior but He’s looking at all of the sexual sins that we can fall prey to.

Let’s take a look at the first passage. It’s in Leviticus. Leviticus 18, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman. This is detestable.” God’s Word is clear on this point. But if you were to look at the verses before that, God has a whole list of things that are detestable in His sight. He says that it’s not right for a man to have sex with his father’s wife. It’s not right for a man to have sex outside of marriage. He says it’s not right to have bestialities. It’s not right for incest. There is a whole list of things that He goes through that He says this is not right, this is not acceptable. My point is this: God’s Word of judgment isn’t focused just on homosexual behavior but He comes down just as heavy, He comes down just as much on the adulterer. He comes down just as heavy on the couple who is having sex outside of marriage, He comes down just as heavy from the dude who is sitting in front of his internet and watching pornography. He looks at all sexual sins and He condemns them. “This is not how I created you,” He says. “This is not acceptable in my sight.”

In the New Testament, He’s just as clear there as well. We look to the book of Romans. Romans 1:25 and following, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator. Because of this, God gave them over to their shameful lust. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, men also abandoned natural relations with woman and were inflamed for lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men.” He’s condemning that lifestyle. 1 Corinthians, He says this, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves, greedy, drunkard, slanderous swindles will inherit the kingdom of God.” God condemns all sexual sins.

The reason I’m focusing in on this is because the church, over time, has been accused of being homophobic. The church is being accused of focusing in only on homosexual behavior, focusing in only on the gay and lesbian lifestyle. So let me say this: If we as a church have even given the impression that somehow homosexual behavior is worse than the other sexual sins, then shame on us. Then shame on us. Because that’s not how God’s Word talks. God’s Word condemns equally the adulterer and the homosexual behavior. He doesn’t draw distinction between the two. God doesn’t just bring out a word of judgment on homosexual behavior but He does on all sexual sins.

And lest we not forget the words of Jesus when He said, “I tell you that if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you’ve already committed adultery with her in your heart.” God’s Word of judgment on sexual sins convicts all of us. All of us. There is not a person here that has not fallen prey to one of the sexual sins that God points out in His Word. But God convicts us of that so He could show us our sin, so He can show us His forgiveness and He can put us back on the road to live the life that He designed and created us to live.

And you might wonder why is it that God focuses in so much on the sexual sins. There’s a good portion of scripture that is dedicated to this. He hammers it again and again and He’s crystal clear on the matter. First of all, it is one of the strongest driving forces in the human body. At certain ages, it’s stronger than others but it is the strongest driving force which means that we can fall prey to this sin easier than other sins.
Take a look at 1 Corinthians again, same Chapter 6 starting at Verse 18, He says this, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you’ve received from God? You are not your own. You were bought at a price.” God says flee from sexual immorality because, different from other sins, now you’re involving your own body. You’re sinning against yourself. And He says, “And don’t you remember that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” Now you’re getting God involved in your sinfulness. This is serious business to God. He says flee from this. Flee from all sexual sins. That includes homosexual behavior. It includes gay and lesbian behavior but it includes all the other sexual sins as well. God says flee from that because you’re sinning against yourself.

There can be no doubt that God is clear in this matter. And I don’t understand how we cannot see that from His Word. God clearly defines marriage as between a man and a woman. That’s how He instituted it. God is clear on what He says about homosexual behavior, as He is clear about all of the sexual sins. He says that’s not how He designed you, that’s not how He created you. He says the gift of sex is to be done in the context of a marriage of a man and a woman. He’s crystal clear on all of that.

The question before us is now how do we respond? How do we respond in a world that says we’re supposed to accept deviant behavior, a world that says that gay and lesbian lifestyles are just one alternative and we’re supposed to be loving and compassionate and understand that? How do we respond to a state in which they say marriage is open to all couples no matter what their gender mixup might be?

I believe there are certain things we have to reject and there are certain things we need to accept. And I certainly don’t want to get political because that’s not what this pulpit is for. But I feel we’re at a point in time in our society where the church cannot remain silent and we as Christians cannot remain silent. We reject the notion that anyone other than God can define marriage. We reject the notion that some Supreme Court ruling can define marriage for us because they cannot. God instituted it and God defines it. We reject the notion that somehow this is a right that human beings have and I’m really going to walk the line here and that is I have to tell you I don’t get it when they say this is a matter of civil liberties. It has nothing to do with race. It has nothing to do with gender. It has nothing to do with age, things that you have no control over, that’s just how you are, they’re factual things. We’re talking about a lifestyle. We’re talking about a choice that a person makes. I reject that whole notion and I say that because I think a lot of people are being sucked into that belief and saying, “Well, we don’t want to deny somebody their rights.” If it goes against God’s Word, yes, we do. Yes, we do.

We reject the notion that the litmus test for everything is a loving and committed relationship. The church has been accused saying, “How can you be against love? How can you be against a loving and committed relationship?” Well, then let me ask you this. I bet you can point to people, I know that I can point to people who have had an extramarital affair for 10+ years and if you go up and ask that man or that woman, they’ll tell you they’re in a loving and committed relationship. Are we all of a sudden going to accept that now? Is that going to be okay? You see, we’re on a slippery slope, my friends, and things that we don’t think are even possible can become possible. What do we do when all of a sudden a father says that he has a loving and committed relationship with his daughter? If that’s the litmus test for everything, we reject that. Because if it goes outside of the bounds of what God says, then we must reject it. And it’s time for us to stand up and to stand firm for what God has to say.

There are certain things we accept. And this is where it gets dicey. We accept the person but not the behavior. I say that because that’s how God treats us. He accepts the person but He doesn’t accept the behavior. All sin separates us from God. Every single one of us sin. Every single one of us is separated from God. But God accepts us but He rejects our behavior. John 3:17, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save it through him.” In other words, Jesus didn’t come into the world to convict us of all of our sin and then condemn us to hell for an eternity. God came to convict us of our sin so He could call us back, so He could forgive us, He could redeem us and He could put us back on the right path with God. We accept the person but we do not accept the behavior.

Look to John 8. Jesus is there and a woman caught in a sexual sin, adultery, is thrown at His feet. He says, “Who is ever without sin cast the first stone.” They all go away. Jesus says, “Does no one condemn you?” “No, not one of them.” Then Jesus says these words and catch both of them. He says, “Then neither do I condemn you,” but then He says, “Go and leave your life of sin.” Jesus accepts her as a person but not her lifestyle. “Go and leave your life of sin.” That’s God’s Word to all of us.

It seems to me that in the church sometimes we single out gays and lesbians. And I can’t imagine why they would feel comfortable in a church. And that’s something we need to wrestle with. Because if they don’t feel comfortable in the church, how can we ever share the message of the gospel with them? How can we ever stand a chance of showing them the truth of God’s Word, of bringing them to repentance just like you and I are brought to repentance so they can receive the forgiveness of God?

The fact of the matter is we have a responsibility. I’m going to go to the book of James, the last chapter, Chapter 5, “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this. Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save him from death.” If we live in a society or we live with individuals that are wandering from the truth, it’s our responsibility to turn them from their error and to save them. That has to be our motivation. That has to be our driving force. We want to save them from their sin. We want to save them with the message of the gospel so they can see there is a loving God, a God who sets parameters on how He wants us to live and we all want to abide by those parameters but a God who accepts us and forgives us and gives us the strength and the power to live for Him.

How is that all going to work out? I don’t know. We have to struggle with it. Just being honest with you. We have to struggle with how do we ever get that opportunity, how can we ever have that moment when we can share that message. It’s not an issue that’s going to go away. It’s going to stay with us. And we need to keep struggling and wrestling with it. We need to stay firm to God’s Word in what He says. And God’s Word is clear. God instituted marriage and God defines marriage. Amen.

Copyright 2009 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church