God's Design for Sexual Identity Steve Walker

Transcription

1 Series: Biblical Sexuality April 3, 2016 God's Design for Sexual Identity Steve Walker I don't know if there are any more perfect words to set the stage or to pave the way for the next six weeks that we're going to be spending in God's Word. We are going to spend some time talking about Biblical Sexuality. We've been thinking about this on a pastoral level and an elder level in the church since last summer, early fall. There are some convictions that go into setting aside some weeks to talk just about this. My convictions ( and I believe they are shared with our pastors) are twofold. First, I believe the transgender and homosexual revolution we see going on around us in our day and age may be the filter God is using to purify his church. I believe the struggle we're witnessing and experiencing in our time in history is being used by God to prepare us for the coming of Jesus. The second conviction I have is there is an increasing amount of confusion and even fear that is rising up in the ranks of God's people, and we have to be able to figure this out and know what God says about it. This series is not about me trying to convince or debate with unbelievers to accept and agree what the Bible says. Church, that is a matter of faith, not of sexuality. People who do not believe the Bible do not agree with us. Therefore, it would do no good to try and convince them to agree with us from behind this pulpit. I will not do that. Neither is this series about providing counseling from the pulpit. It's impossible for me to deal with every possible scenario we're facing either at home or with extended families, maybe facing in your neighborhood or where you work, maybe even facing and struggling with in your own heart. I can't possibly talk about every one of the different nuances of this discussion in the short amount of time we choose to do that on Sundays. What we do have is a Q&A night set aside for Sunday night, April 17, two weeks from today. We're going to ask you to text in specific questions you have regarding this discussion. We have a team of pastors ready to organize and sort through those questions to determine which questions are demanding the most response and attention. That information for that night is in your bulletin. You can start today even texting in those questions. Those questions come in anonymously, so there's safety in that. Canyon Hills Community Church 1

2 So what is this about? Why are we doing this? First of all, we're motivated to help every member of this congregation. Every person who calls this church home, we are motivated to help you hold confidently to and represent well what God's Word says about sexuality and gender identity issues. Church, more than anything, we need a theology to hold us tightly in the arms of God. We need a theology of sexuality, and that's part of why we need to do this. Secondly, one of the reasons we're doing this is to provide resources to friends and family in our church and to see that having friendships and relationships with those in the LGBT community, especially if they're in our family, does not require us compromising God's standards. As children of God and followers of Jesus, we can have relationships with those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, and we don't have to compromise God's Word. I want us to learn how to do that. Thirdly, and maybe the most challenging of all, I want to talk about what it looks like for us as a church to cultivate a safe environment and offer steps to Christians and non-christians alike who are struggling with same-sex attraction. I want to help us think about what it means to be a church where they can have a community that God intends so they can actually embrace and understand how the gospel of Jesus Christ offers hope and comfort for the struggle as well as forgiveness for the sin. We have to be a church like that, a place where Christians and non-christians alike who are asking questions and struggling with same-sex attraction issues "How do I process this with God and his Word?" We have to be willing to be a place where that process can happen amongst us. Those are some big challenges ahead. The world thinks all we want is for this to go away, but that is not true. What we really want is for this problem to drive us to the gospel. Why? Because we believe with all our heart that our true identity begins with the spiritual part of our lives and can only come by the grace of God. Who you are is determined first of all on a spiritual level, and discovering that identity has to happen by the grace of God. Let me define a couple of terms before we jump all the way in. You're going to hear me use the term sexual identity a lot. When you hear me saying that, I'm referring to people who are struggling with or deciding who they are going to go to bed with. Someone who identifies as a lesbian would determine that they're going to go to bed with other women, a gay man with other men, a bisexual with either, a heterosexual with the opposite sex. When I'm talking about sexual identity, I'm talking about the issue of deciding who you go to bed with. The other issue we're going to be talking about is gender. When I'm talking about that, I'm talking about the struggle of deciding who you go to bed as. This is the person who is really struggling and trying to decide if they are going to bed as a gender different than who they were born as. There are going to be some other issues that will come up in six weeks, but those terms you will hear a lot. Today I want to talk about the four or five things we evangelical Christians must believe if we are going to represent God well, if we Canyon Hills Community Church 2

3 are going to represent God's Word without compromise. What is it that we believe God's Word says and means? Before we do that, let me pray for us. Father, I acknowledge before one more word comes out of my mouth that you are sovereign and on your throne and that this time in history and these struggles in the hearts and minds of people in this day and age have not caught you by surprise. God, I acknowledge that you knew in eternity past that your people, your children, followers of your Son, would have to decide today what we believe. I pray, God, that you would bless the preaching and interpretation and hearing of your Word, and I pray, God, that you will fill us up with both grace and truth. God, help us to know and be like Jesus. I pray this in his name, amen. What do we believe? How are we going to walk through this and navigate these waters? They're not going away. This issue is not going to be solved with legislation or laws or politicians or elections. It is here to stay. So how do we function as children of God? 1. Most importantly, we believe that God is infinitely and eternally holy. Infinitely meaning there is no change in his holiness. Eternally meaning there is no end to his holiness. Church, for us as Christians, this is where this discussion must begin. Do we or do we not believe that God is holy, that his character is perfect, without one contradiction or one flaw, that he is the definition of holiness, and that definition cannot and does not evolve with time? In Leviticus 19:2, God says, " be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy." He doesn't say, " am becoming holy, am figuring out what holiness is." He doesn't say, "I the Lord your God am increasing in holiness, changing in holiness, or evolving in holiness." He says, "I am holy." In Malachi 3:6 we read, "For I the LORD do not change " This is incredibly good news for us, because it tells us that every act of God is moved and motivated by a pure and holy love. There's never one single selfish or harmful intent in God's creation and plan for our lives. Never. So we are absolutely safe to live as our holy God created and commands us to live, because he is holy, and he is motivated by an absolute pure and flawless perfect love. His commands and his creation never contradict each other or he couldn't be holy. So the first thing I want you to establish in your hearts today is God is infinitely and eternally holy. 2. We believe that all sexuality is broken by sin. The reality for all of us is that outside the garden, every hunger and thirst is in danger of destroying us. This includes our sexuality. I'm going to ask you to actually get a Bible and open it to Genesis, chapter 3. I want us to get real with each other for a minute. The truth is the church has to face up to other sexual sin problems that are wreaking havoc on lives and families in the church. Let me say that again. You will not hear me intimate that the issue of homosexuality and transgender issues is the biggest sexual sin or issue facing the church today. It's not. It is big, and it's so important that we get our arms around this, that we spend some time talking about it, but I Canyon Hills Community Church 3

4 want you to hear me say there is way more pornography going on in the lives of people in our church. We're dealing with issues of adultery and fornication and people living together having sex without marriage, and that is wreaking way more havoc amongst us than the issue we're about to talk about. So don't make the mistake of thinking this is the biggest sin we have to deal with. It's not, but by proxy of our culture, we are forced to understand it better so that we know what God's Word says about it. We're going to talk about why homosexuality and transgender definitions and choices are unbiblical and unacceptable to God and for God's people. The essence of all sin is self-love. The essence of all sin is selfishness. Sin by practical definition is always "me first," and "me first" by necessity is always "you second." All sin is rooted in doing what I do because I want what I want. Let me tell you the difference between Freud and Jesus. How many of you know there's a difference between those two guys? Are you aware of that? Freud and his secular disciples believe that something must have happened to us, something biochemical or environmental or relational, that makes us want to do certain things, including commit adultery or fornication or homosexuality. Their advice or hope for the culture is all we can do with what's happened to us is cope with it, is compromise, and live with it. That's what modern philosophy says is going on in our midst. Jesus taught that we are the problem, not some external force. Christianity is a plan for the destruction of our selfishness, which makes Christianity wildly more optimistic than anything Freud and his buddies could offer the world. Here's why sin breaks everything that is good and right. Here's what we need to remember about sin and why it has broken everything, including our sexuality. A. Sin questions the wisdom of God. We clearly see this with Adam and Eve and the temptation of the Serpent in the garden. You're familiar with Genesis, chapter 3. We even talked about it a little bit last week for Easter. If you go down about halfway through verse 1 it says, "He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say, "You shall not eat of any tree in the garden"?'" That little verse is filled with sarcasm and snide. The tone is the Serpent talking to Eve, basically saying, "Did God really say you couldn't have what you wanted on that tree? Did God really tell you that you can't have what your heart desires, what you crave, what you're attracted to?" That's what he's saying there. Today, I think Satan's temptation sounds like this: "Did God really make you like this? If he didn't, then why hasn't he taken away these attractions and these desires?" Sin is professional at causing us to question whether or not God is wise. What we know about God is that he makes no mistakes. We remember this in Jeremiah, chapter 10, where we are told, "It is he [God] who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom " The whole earth, the whole world, the whole universe was birthed out of the infinite wisdom of God. How does that apply to you and me? Proverbs 3 reminds us perfectly. Canyon Hills Community Church 4

5 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones." B. Sin questions the goodness of God. Again, we look to the Devil tempting Eve in Genesis 3, verse 4. "But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'" What's the Devil doing there? Once again, he's saying, "You know why God says you can't eat of that tree? Because he doesn't want you to have any fun. He doesn't want you to discover new things. He doesn't want you to know your true self. He doesn't want you to know what he knows. That's why he's telling you, Eve, not to go eat of that tree." Here's what we know to be true about God: God never tempts us to sin. In James 1:13 it says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one." Not only does he not tempt us to sin but he does not withhold good from us. He is not a God who has his arms crossed, basically saying up in heaven, "No fun for you. No happiness for you. No fulfillment for you. No meaning for you." Psalm 145 tells us, "The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made." It is psychologically and spiritually devastating to believe that God is somehow holy and good but that he also gives you sexual desires that he prohibits and calls sin. That is spiritual suicide to put God in that box. It's impossible to do it. Sin always causes us to question God's goodness, but we know he is good. He would never tempt you to sin. C. Sin rejects the sovereignty of God. In essence, sin says, "I don't need God," or worse, "I'll be my own god." That's exactly what happened at the fall in Genesis 3, verse 6. "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." Eve had a choice: the tree or God. She chose the tree, because she, in essence, chose to be her own god. "I'll take what God is withholding, and I'll be my own god." Ultimately, we do what we do because we want what we want. Sin is a rejection of God's rule and reign in our lives. So we must believe that all sexuality is broken by sin or we can't even have a reasonable conversation about this topic. 3. We believe that biblical authority is our anchor. We believe that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. That's why it behooves us to not try to convince the unbelieving world to agree with God, to agree with the Bible. We believe that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. The world doesn't believe that, but we must believe it. Canyon Hills Community Church 5

6 I want you to look up 2 Timothy 3:16. "All Scripture is breathed out [inspired] by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Man meaning mankind, men and women together. All of God's Word is breathed out and inspired by him, and there are consequences to wandering away from biblical authority. In the very next chapter, chapter 4, verse 1, look at what Paul warns. "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." Why? Why cling to the authority of God's Word? Verse 3: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions " Are we or are we not seeing that happen all over in churches today? Accumulating teachers to suit their own passions. Look at verse 4. " and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." We are seeing it, church. We are accountable to God's Word, and more importantly, not only accountable to his Word but to the correct interpretation and teaching of his Word. We read about it all the time in the Old Testament, where we see God's people veering off and starting to question what God actually meant in his law. Over and over again, we see in the Old Testament the Israelites starting to rub their chins and scratch their brows, saying, "Did Moses really mean that when he wrote that down or when he said that years ago? Is that what God said? Is that what his law meant? Is the law we have today what was truly said at the beginning and handed down to us? Do we have what God actually intended?" They were questioning if God really meant what their Bible said. God responded through the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 6. "Thus says the LORD: 'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, "We will not walk in it."'" God said, "Don't walk away from the true meaning of my promises and my commands." Church, the message for us today is that although God's Word may be ancient in its origin, it is 100 percent current in its authority. I'm begging you to hold to that. It may be an old book, but God is eternal, and his Word says in Isaiah 40, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Here's what's so troubling about what's going on around us in this sexual revolution. The culture has no accountability to the chaos they're unleashing. They just exist for the applause of those who are joining the revolution, and it reeks of selfish motives and cowardice. Educators, politicians, the arts, Hollywood, even churches and pastors, denominations, have sold their souls for the applause of men. Canyon Hills Community Church 6

7 The internal contradictions of this movement are going to be difficult to watch. The pain and confusion is going to be devastating as we continue to move forward in this cultural sexual revolution. We're already seeing it happen around us. Let me give you some real-time examples. You'll recognize the name Sally Field. She's an ardent advocate of LGBT rights, and she won a human rights campaign award for an ally for equality. Her youngest son Sam presented her with the honor, and during an interview with SiriusXM radio, an editorial director asked Field for any advice she would give to parents who expected their child was about to come out to them. Here's her answer. "'First of all, don't be frightened. And don't put your own prejudices or fears about sexuality your own fears about sexuality on your children,' Field says. 'Sexuality is a human glorious part of existence.'" That's about the only thing she says that we can agree with. "Field noted in Sam's case it was initially difficult for her son to become accustomed to his identity as a gay man. Field said she did her best to encourage Sam to discover his true self: 'I welcomed him to welcome himself and find that part of his life. What horrifies me is that there are parents who so disapprove, who are so brainwashed to think that this is something out of the Bible or ungodly or against nature,' Field continued. 'It's not against nature if nature has actually done this. Sam was always Sam, this wonderful human that he is, from the time he was born Some people actually shut their children out of the house when they're young, they're teenagers they're having a hard enough time to be teenagers and own any part of sexuality. I'm still trying to figure it out!'" She doesn't have it figured out, notice, but if you disagree with her, then you are brainwashed, fearful, and prejudiced by what you believe, especially if it has anything to do with God and the Bible. She's still processing how to deal with this in her own heart with her own son, but she's very clear to accuse anybody who doesn't agree with her yet confusion as brainwashed, fearful, and prejudiced. Let's get closer to home. Two weeks ago, in the Snohomish School Board meeting It was in the March 17 newspaper. "During the March 8 meeting at Valley View Middle School " Some of you have children who go there. " the mother of a transgender sixth-grader shared her family's experience." Sixth-grader. "The Herald is not naming her to keep her daughter's identity out of the media. At first, the mother said, she was afraid when her child started to express herself as a girl. But that fear grew into support as she learned more about gender identity and her daughter. 'She's female from her core. Her spirit is female,' she said. The mother said her child faces discrimination and a lack of understanding in the community, at school, and even within their family. She overcame anxiety about sharing their story in hopes of gaining more acceptance for transgender kids. 'My number one fear is the parents. I'm so scared they're going to teach their children to hate, judge, and bully my daughter and she'll become depressed and suicidal,' the Canyon Hills Community Church 7

8 mother told fellow parents, holding back tears. 'I just want my daughter to be happy just like everyone else.'" First of all, she's very confused about her high calling as a parent. She believes that her 11-yearold's personal happiness is the greatest accomplishment she can give to her child as a parent. But that aside, I want you to notice how she set it up. She's worried that if you disagree with her choice to allow her sixth-grade son to become a girl If you disagree and teach your children something different, if you hold to a standard of worth and value and identity that is divine and biblically based on your faith in God, if you teach your kids differently than she has taught her kid, she's afraid her kid is going to become depressed and suicidal. It's going to be your fault. If you teach your kid something different than what she is doing with her sixth-grader, you are teaching your kid to bully. Do you see what's happening here? You need to know what you believe. You need to know what you're going to hold to. Matt Walsh, a conservative blogger, said he came across one of the most disturbing, heartbreaking videos he has ever seen in his life. It shows a mother surprising her healthy 14-year-old son with a gift: a package of estrogen patches. "Her boy, Corey, decided with his mother's encouragement to start 'living as a girl' when he was 11. Some five years before he's considered legally competent to drive or apply for a job, seven years before we trust him to vote or get a tattoo or purchase spray paint, a full decade before society judges him mature enough to consume a can of Miller Lite or gamble on a game of cards, and 15 entire years before health insurance companies will declare him an independent adult, the child decided to reject his biological identity and assume a false one for the rest of his life." Walsh says, "When I was 11, I still hadn't given up hope of one day becoming an Avenger. When this boy was 11, his parents let him give up hope of ever becoming a man. It is nothing short of a travesty and an injustice." It's going to be devastating when these 11-year-olds, fifthgraders and sixth-graders, start growing up. We're seeing it happen. It's not that we won't; it's that we can't join in this revolution. Proverbs 30:5-6 says, "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar." Church, biblical authority is our anchor. 4. We believe that our gender and sexual orientation is by divine design. God assigns our gender and orientation for his glory. I'm not talking about our feelings or our struggle or the culture. I'm talking about our biology, our XX and XY chromosomes that God gives us. God assigns those chromosomes biologically. Right now there is a revision of biblical anthropology going on in evangelical Christianity. We have Christian writers and authors challenging the truth that God's creation of male and female is his permanent paradigm for humanity. They're saying that the male and female biological Canyon Hills Community Church 8

9 differences we're born with don't necessarily have to define normative role distinctions between men and women anymore. Basically, Christian authors are starting to say that the meaning of being created in the image of God as male and female is now up for grabs, and things like sex reassignment surgery are no longer ruled out based on theological grounds. What do you believe is your authority? Genesis, chapter 1, shows us that God's intent and will and design for gender and orientation is first and foremost to bring him glory, to showcase his goodness. Look back at Genesis 1 quickly. I want you to see it again. Let it sink into your heart. Genesis 1:26: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Now skip down to verse 31 for the crowning glory of this creation. "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." Our gender and orientation displays God's goodness, his very good goodness. Here's why our gender, your gender, your orientation, displays the goodness of God. First of all, it's because you were determined who you were going to be before conception. The psalmist wrote, speaking of God, "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." You were not a random cosmic choice or accident. You were conceived in God's heart before your parents ever met. That's what makes your gender and your identity so good. It's because God determined it before you were conceived. He determined your biology and how you would live out that biology before your parents met. Do you want to know another reason why it's so good? Because God determined our biology, our gender, our orientation inside the womb. "For you [God] formed my inward parts; you [God] knitted me together in my mother's womb." Your gender and orientation are by divine design, and your designer is God himself, but that design took place in the womb, not based later in your life on feelings or struggles or attractions. You are not determined by your confusion or by the culture. You were designed by God before conception in the womb. Then thirdly, do you want to know why it's so very good in Genesis 1? Because when God made you, he made you perfectly complete. "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." You are not broken or mis-assigned. You might feel different, but your body is not lying to you. Church, this discussion is not just about the sexual preferences of a certain group of people. It's not. It's not just about what people want to do in their private lives. The LGBT community sees themselves as agents of a human revolution. What they want us to see is that who we really are physically, socially, and emotionally is no longer fixed by your Canyon Hills Community Church 9

10 creation in the image of God but completely fixed based on your desires and your attractions only. They are reducing you and your humanity to your feelings. Their message is, "I am as I desire to be." I get to, I have to, define myself. My humanness is now an intellectual project. It's not a gift from our loving holy creator God. It's what I can think myself into being. When the truth is no longer fixed, all that is normal and stable and solid begins to burn and melt into nothing. We must not give up on the biblical view of human sexuality. Our body is not lying to us. Our God-given gender determines the way we live. He created us with supernatural design and worth. I know, church, it's becoming harder and harder to believe this as we become an everincreasing minority in the world, but listen to me. We are the last line of defense. There is no cavalry coming behind us. There is no one else in the world, in society, in any culture that is going to offer the hope that comes from knowing you are who you are because God determined it in your creation. There is nobody else but you and me left in the culture. You have to determine today if you are going to believe that your gender and identity has been determined by God for his glory. I pray that you will believe that. 5. We believe the gospel gives us hope and healing. There is no doubt that there is a lot of confusion and pain and depression. There's a lot of anxiety and anger and other health issues related to this very real struggle that goes on in a person's heart when it comes to same-sex attraction and how to process that. There is no doubt that there is a lot of pain and confusion and depression and anxiety all across the board. Those emotions are overwhelming and devastating sometimes, but let me say to you, be careful that you don't take the blame for that. That is an excellent strategy by the culture to try and process why there's so much pain and hurt and all of the things they say are going on. The best way to try and get rid of those feelings is to blame someone else. It's to go to Freud and say, "You disagree with me. Therefore, you're making me feel this way about myself." Don't take the blame, because if you start to believe the lie that the Bible doesn't really speak directly to your sexual identity because somehow the inspired human authors of Scripture were ignorant of the modern gay experience, as some pastors and denominations are wrongly deceiving their people, then the next haunting question has to be, "What else were the biblical writers ignorant about?" What else does the Bible not know about what it means to be fully human? If the Bible can't be trusted to reveal the truth about us in every respect, how can we trust it to reveal to us salvation? If we can't trust God to create us correctly, how can we trust him to save us? If we can't trust him to save us, how can we trust him to help us? Church, this is precisely why we can't just mind our own business and ignore this topic with each other. We can't just agree amongst ourselves to disagree. This is not an issue primarily about sex. This is an issue about the gospel. For preachers to tell their churches that what the Bible reveals as wrong is not wrong but right, that it's not sin but good, is in essence telling them they don't need Jesus for that. They're leading Canyon Hills Community Church 10

11 their people into sexual sin and to ignore God's commands. This type of teaching has to be refuted. It has to be forbidden in our churches, because this form of tolerance is not only sinful; it's hateful. If out of fear and a need for the culture's applause we start watering down and compromising what God truly says so that we will feel better about ourselves and feel like we're liked more by the culture, that is the most hateful thing we can do. God is going to hold it against us if we don't speak the truth to each other. Now the good news is the gospel of Jesus Christ offers people a way to be fully human and fully alive, and we share that desire for humanity with the LGBT community. We both want the same thing, just in a radically different way. The world says, "Embrace your feelings, and let your feelings redefine you." The Bible says, "Don't follow your heart, for God's ways are not our ways." What we have in Jesus is real. It is real change. It is a real transformation. In fact, it is a total transformation. God not only wants your mind and your heart; he wants your body also. This is what gives our gospel horsepower. The culture is simply just fixated on the body. The gospel of Jesus Christ is fixated on your body, mind, and soul together in unity with God's design for you. Jesus said it this way: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The apostle Paul says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God " How do we know what God's will is? By determining that our bodies belong to him. We'll know and discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect. "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.'" That's exactly what every human being searches for. "Which way do I go? What is the truth that I believe? Where is the life I want?" Jesus says, "I'm right here." In 1 John, chapter 5, the apostle John said, "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." That's the missing component. That's the transformation and the change that every heart desperately and deeply longs for. In just a moment, I'm going to give you three things to take home. Before we do, I want to give you a resource. Every week I'm going to give you a resource. This week's resource is a book called We Cannot Be Silent: Speaking Truth to a Culture Redefining Sex, Marriage, and the Very Meaning of Right and Wrong by Dr. Mohler. If you want to dive a little deeper and study and know more detail about some of the things I've brought to us today, this is the resource. It's very good. It's not difficult to read. It's not really big. It's very clear Canyon Hills Community Church 11

12 and concise, and I think if you want to study this more, this is the resource for you to add to this process and journey. Let me give you some things to remember. 1. God has not messed up. God has not messed things up. There's no need to defend God. He's not asking us to be his PR firm. He's asking us to trust him and trust him all the way to the end. He has not messed it up. 2. Don't be angry or afraid of the LGBT community. I'm calling you today not to be angry or afraid to be a friend or a family member of somebody who's lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. We have more reason to love them, maybe more reason than they have to love themselves. Don't be naïve, though. We're still going to be hated, but we can't get nervous about the ever-increasing cultural depravity that we see going on around us. I chose that word on purpose, because that's exactly how the Bible describes what we're seeing going on today. Just read 2 Timothy, chapter 3, on your own, and you will see it for yourself. Don't be afraid and don't be angry. God is not surprised. We can be friend and family of the LGBT community without compromising God's standards. We're going to talk a lot about that in the next few weeks. 3. We have God's wisdom to speak to the confusion in our culture. You might not feel the same as those around you, but your body is not lying to you. Sin is lying to you. The culture is lying to you, but God is not lying to you. Would you bow your heads for a minute with me? I'm going to ask you to do something in these last few minutes we have. I'm going to ask you between you and God in the quietness of your soul Child of God, follower of Jesus, would you recommit yourself right now to the anchor of the authority of God's Word? Would you be able to say a prayer to God, "God, from this moment on, I am going to hold fast to what your Word says and what your Word means as I navigate these struggles in this culture"? If you're willing to do that, I want you to make that commitment to God right now. Secondly, I want to ask you to make a similar commitment that you're going to decide today that you are not going to be angry or afraid but that you are going to trust that you can love and speak to and befriend those in this community because we know that the gospel of Jesus Christ offers the hope and comfort for the struggle as well as forgiveness for the sin. Will you commit right now that you will not be angry or afraid? Have that conversation with God. Lastly, will you decide right now that you will become a part of a church that wants to be a safe place for people who are sincerely struggling, that you will join not the compromise or the tolerance but you will join a church that wants to be full of both grace and truth? I pray you will decide right now that you want to be a part of a church like that. God in heaven, we end the same way we began. You are sovereign and you are good and you are holy. We pray, God, that you will use these weeks to prepare us to represent you well. God, above all else, above the applause of the culture, above the rejection and disdain of friends and Canyon Hills Community Church 12

13 family who don't agree with us, above it all, we commit to trust you and your Word, and we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. The people up here are here to pray with you. You may have a very real-time situation either at home or in your neighborhood or at work with this issue. It may be in your own heart, and we want to begin by opening these altars to anyone who would say, "You know what? I'm dealing with this in my own life, in my own struggle. I just need you to pray with me. I'm open. I want to hear from God." We want to pray with you. We want to join you in seeking and searching God's truth for your life. It may be that you want to talk to somebody about what it means to surrender to Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life that you're searching for, and if you are ready for that life of complete and total surrender to him, we would love to help you take that next step of faith. I hope you will. God bless you. Thanks for listening. Bring your Bibles next week. We'll do this again for the next several weeks. See you then. Canyon Hills Community Church 13