What’s With the Kneeling, Standing, and Lifting Hands?

June 5, 2016 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - OT - Psalms, Meditations, Resurrection, Singing Psalms, Worship
Psalm 95:6 (NKJV)
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
Psalm 134:1–2 (NKJV)
1 Behold, bless the LORD, All you servants of the LORD, Who by night stand in the house of the LORD! 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the LORD.
One of the most frequent questions visitors have about our service of worship, one of the questions that you may also have, is this: What’s with all the different postures? We sit, we stand, we kneel, we bow heads, we lift hands – why all the variety?
The answer to these questions is threefold: first, God did not create us as mere spirits but as creatures with body and soul. As those who have bodies, God expects us to use them for His honor. Paul writes, “…you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Our bodies belong to God and so what we do with them is important. Our actions should should reflect our reverence for Him and our knowledge that one day Christ will return in glory and raise these very bodies from the grave. Our bodies matter.
So this leads us to the second answer to our question: why all the variety? The answer is that in worship there are a variety of things we do. We praise and thank the Lord; we confess our sins; we hear the assurance of forgiveness; we listen to the reading of God’s Word; we confess the creeds; we present our tithes and offerings; we pray; we learn from the Scriptures; we feast with God at His Table. This wonderful variety demands a variety of responses – both verbally and bodily. There is no “one size fits all” bodily posture.
And this is why, third, the Scriptures invite us to worship God with a variety of postures – standing, kneeling, sitting, lifting hands, etc. So consider our texts today from the psalms – Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. Behold, bless the LORD, All you servants of the LORD, Who by night stand in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the LORD. These are just a few examples of bodily invitations given in the context of worship.
As we consider this threefold rationale, let us also beware les we merely go through the motions. For the ultimate reason that our posture changes is that we worship in God’s very presence. He is here with us and we dare not treat Him lightly. He calls us to worship; we respond by standing to praise Him. He thunders at our sin; we respond by kneeling to confess it. He assures us of pardon; we stand to listen and enter boldly into His presence through the blood of Christ. He instructs us from His Word; we stand to give our attention to its reading. This is the drama of the Divine Service – but it’s a drama that is meaningful only when accompanied by hearts that love and cherish Him.
So what of you? Why do you stand? Why do you kneel? Why do you sit? Do you do it just because that’s what you’re being told to do? Do you kneel so you won’t appear out of place? Do you sit so you can take a nap? Or do you do all these things because you recognize with awe and wonder that the God we worship this Day has invited you into His very presence to worship?

So today as we have entered into God’s presence He has thundered at our sin – let us confess that we have often just gone through the motions of worship; and let us kneel as we confess together.

The Sure & Certain Hope of the Resurrection

April 4, 2016 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Easter, Meditations, Resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:51–57 (NKJV)
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Last week we celebrated Easter. But lest we think we can exhaust the glory of Easter with one day of worship, the Church has historically celebrated this period of time as Eastertide – so today is the 2nd Sunday of Easter. Jesus’ resurrection is far too significant an event to be celebrated only one day – it inaugurates a season for rejoicing! Jesus has risen from the dead! And this means that for all those who believe in Him our bodies likewise will be raised.
It is this theme upon which Paul dwells in our text today. This corruptible body shall pass through the furnace of death and be raised incorruptible; this mortal body shall pass through the furnace of death and be raised immortal. And when this has happened, when at the Last Day Christ has returned in glory and raised us from the dead and transformed us into His own image – righteous, incorruptible, immortal – then shall come to pass the promise of Scripture, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
In other words, brothers and sisters, we have immense hope. Death is not the final word. As horrible as death is, as devastating as it is, death is a conquered foe. Jesus rose from the dead; Jesus dealt death a death blow. We now live in sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead; because Christ has risen we too shall rise.
So what does this mean? It means that we can have immense confidence in the face of death itself and in the face of all death’s minions – sickness, pain, torture, persecution, hardship, trial. None of these things have the last word – the last word belongs to Jesus and to life. As Paul declares, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We stand in great need of such confidence given the twofold task that has been entrusted to us as Christ’s disciples. On the one hand, Christ calls us to lead lives of godly sincerity and purity no matter what others may think or say. On the other hand, while living this way Christ does not permit us to retreat into a little hovel but calls us to engage all the nations of the earth with the message of the Gospel. We have to stand against the world for the world. What could possibly enable us to accomplish such a task? Listen to the early church historian Eusebius:
[To accomplish this twofold task] the strongest conviction of a future life was necessary, that [we] might be able with fearless and unshrinking zeal to maintain the conflict with Gentile and polytheistic error: a conflict the dangers of which [we] would never have been prepared to meet, except as habituated to the contempt of death.
How are we to treat death? With contempt. Why? Because Christ has risen and has broken his power. Even as Christ rose from the dead, we too shall rise. This mortal shall put on immortality. So what should characterize our lives? Fearless and unshrinking zeal to maintain the truth of God against all opposition – whether from our own flesh or from the world or from the devil himself. Congregation of the Lord, Christ is Risen! (He is Risen indeed!)

So reminded of the power of Christ’s resurrection but no doubt reminded also that we frequently are fearful and shrinking rather than fearless and unshrinking, let us kneel and confess our lack of faith to the Lord.

The Seriousness of Sin

February 14, 2016 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - NT - Romans, Bible - OT - Numbers, Church Calendar, Meditations, Sin
1 Corinthians 10:6, 11 (NKJV)
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as [our fathers] also lusted… 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Today is the first Sunday in Lent. As I mentioned in my newsletter this week, Lent is a period of preparation like the season of Advent. It is time to anticipate the arrival of Easter and the glorious good news of new life as a result of Christ’s death and resurrection. As the historic acclamation declares, Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ shall come again.
So let us consider in the next few weeks what focusing on Christ’s death and resurrection teaches us. First, Lent serves as a reminder of the true severity of our sin and the reason for Jesus’ death on the cross. While we often treat our sin with a breezy familiarity, Jesus’ death on the cross forces us to reckon with its true gravity and pervasiveness. We simply cannot save ourselves but stand ever in need of Christ – in need of His substitutionary death on the cross for forgiveness and in need of His resurrection power for obedience.
This week for my OT Bible reading I was in the book of Numbers. Because of their sin and unbelief, our fathers were doomed to wander 40 years in the wilderness. While wandering, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram compounded this sin by organizing a mass demonstration against Moses and Aaron. They complained that Moses wasn’t being sufficiently democratic; that they should be able to perform the same duties as the priests. “You take too much upon yourselves,” they complained, “for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” Haven’t you ever heard of the priesthood of all believers, Moses? God didn’t look kindly on their protest and judged their rebellion, commanding the earth to swallow some of them alive and consuming others with fire.
One would think that our fathers’ response to God’s visible and powerful judgment would be contrition and repentance. But not so. “On the next day,” Moses writes, “all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘You have killed the people of the Lord.’” Rather than acknowledging the real cause of the calamity that had struck them – their persistent and ingrained sin and rebellion against God – our fathers chose to blame Moses and Aaron. “The calamity that struck Korah, Dathan, and Abiram was your fault, Moses and Aaron! You are to blame!” Because of this renewed sin, God acted in judgment once again – plague began to make its way through the camp. So Moses urged Aaron as the high priest to enter into the camp and to burn incense, intervening between God and the sinful people. Aaron listened to Moses, God listened to Aaron, and the plague was stopped.
This story reminds us of two things – two things that Lent was crafted to highlight. First, it reminds us of the ingrained and serious nature of sin. As Paul writes, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). And this sin deserves the wrath and judgment of God for it is an attack on His Lordship and an affront to His holiness. Second, the story reminds us of the mercy which God has displayed in raising up a Great High Priest to stand between Him and His sinful people. Just as Aaron stood between God and Israel, interceding on Israel’s behalf, so Jesus stands between God and us, interceding on our behalf. Jesus stands between God and us, covering the guilt of our sin by His sacrifice and assuring us of God’s blessing rather than His curse. As we sing in the communion hymn:
“You who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great here [in the death of Christ] may view its nature rightly here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed, see who bears the awful load, tis the Son the Lord’s Anointed, Son of Man and Son of God.”

And so reminded of the seriousness of our sin but also of the greatness of God’s mercy in Christ, let us confess our sins to the Lord – our sins and the sins of our people – and seek the Lord’s forgiveness.

Extortioners, Swindlers and the Kingdom of God

September 21, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - NT - 1 Timothy, Bible - NT - Matthew, Meditations, Ten Commandments
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Today we bring our series of exhortations on 1 Corinthians 6 to a close. Paul has catalogued a number of sins from which God in His grace and mercy has determined to free us in Christ. While these sins did characterize us in our unbelief, they are not to characterize us in Christ. We close with Paul’s declaration that extortioners will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Extortion is the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats. Paul has already condemned thieves – those who take others’ possessions as their own – he now condemns a certain type of thievery – a thievery that uses one’s superior strength or wit in order to take advantage of others. The ESV captures the full extent of the Greek with the translation “swindle” – to put forward plausible schemes or use unscrupulous trickery to defraud others; to cheat.
It is likely that the group of people that Paul particularly had in mind were false prophets who used their slick speech to line their own pockets. Jesus warned in the Sermon on the Mount, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Mt 7:15). That word “ravenous” is the same Greek word found in our text. False prophets extort and swindle people; they get from the sheep whatever they can for their own advantage, not caring for the sheep or feeding them or protecting them.
The modern church has no shortage of such swindlers from televangelists who capture gullible men and women to certain mega-church pastors who tickle people’s ears with feel-good sermons. Paul describes them well as men who suppose that godliness is a means of gain (1 Tim 6:5).
But religious swindlers are just one type of a breed – we find the same type of person in politics and business and health care and social services and relationships. Swindlers include all those who twist the good gifts that God has given them – whether strength or wit or speech – and then use that gift to aquire that which God hasn’t given them. They are acting on the adage, “Might makes right.” Rather than use their strength and wit to glorify God and serve others, they use them to take advantage of others.
So what of you? Are you using the gifts that God has given you for for the glory of God and the good of your neighbors? Or are you using those gifts to swindle others?

Reminded that extortioners shall not inherit the kingdom of God, let us confess that we often use our gifts to take advantage of others rather than serve them. Let us kneel as we confess our sin to the Lord.

Revilers and the Kingdom of God

September 14, 2015 in Authority, Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - NT - Acts, Bible - NT - Jude, Bible - OT - Exodus, Meditations, Sanctification
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
For the last several weeks we have taken a hiatus from our analysis of this text where Paul’s catalogues sins from which God in His grace and mercy has determined to free us through Christ. If we have truly believed in Christ and the Spirit has been poured out upon us, then these pernicious fruits will be uprooted and in their place the Spirit will begin to bear His fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Thus far we have considered the sins of fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, thievery, covetousness, and drunkenness. Today we speak of reviling. Revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God.
To revile is to reproach, to insult, or even to blaspheme. Moses commands us in Exodus 22:28, “You shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people.” Reviling, therefore, has particular reference to the authorities which God has placed in our lives – including, especially, God Himself. We are to treat our authorities with respect; in other words, we are not to revile them or treat them lightly.
When the Apostle Paul was on trial before the Sanhedrin, he began by protesting his innocence but the high priest ordered him to be struck on the mouth. Not knowing who had given the order, Paul reponded in anger, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?” One the bystanders then demanded, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” Paul immediately corrected himself, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” Note that Paul shows respect for the high priest’s office even though the high priest was acting unjustly.
Paul’s conduct reminds us that God takes authority seriously – authority in the home, in the church, and in civil society. Why? Because these authorities represent Him as the ultimate authority. Consequently, those who revile the authorities that God Himself has established in the world ultimately revile God.
God is no egalitarian – He is Himself the Ruler over the world. Hence, the world that He made reflects these layers of authority and we are called upon to respect them. We are to give honor to whom honor is due. Jude warns us that it is false teachers who “defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries” (8).
So what of you? Have you given due honor to the authorities God has placed in your life? Children, are you honoring your parents? Wives, are you honoring your husbands? Employees, are you honoring your employers? Christians, are you honoring your local elders and deacons? Citizens, are you honoring the civil authorities that God has placed over you? This is our calling.

Reminded that revilers shall not inherit the kingdom of God, let us confess that we often despise and insult the authorities He has placed in our lives. As you are able, let us kneel as we seek the Lord’s forgiveness.

The Sin of Drunkenness

June 21, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - NT - Ephesians, Bible - OT - Ecclesiastes, Bible - OT - Proverbs, Holy Spirit, Meditations
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Today we continue to study Paul’s catalogue of sins from which God in His grace and mercy has determined to free us through Christ. These sins damage and distort the image of God in us, destroy our humanity and subvert community. Hence, God’s intention in Christ is to deliver us from such things. Today we consider drunkenness.
Throughout Scripture wine in itself is considered a gift from God, one of the blessings that He has given to the sons of men. The psalmist reminds us that God has given wine to make glad the heart of man. God created it to give joy and delight; this is its design.
As sinners, however, we often misuse the good gifts that God has given; rather than use wine for joy and refreshment, we misuse it for drunkenness, laziness, and destruction. So the Scriptures routinely command us to use and not abuse this gift of God. Solomon writes in Proverbs 23:29-32:
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.
In his list of qualifications for elders and deacons, Paul writes that no officer may “be given to much wine.” Likewise, he tells Titus to command the older women to “be reverent in behavior,…not given to much wine.” Drunkenness is the opposite of reverence and honor.
Paul commands us in Ephesians 5:18-20, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation [a lack of self-control]; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart ot the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul’s words reveal that drunkenness dulls not only our physical senses but also our spiritual senses. And so the opposite of drunkenness is being filled with the Spirit – and how does being filled with the Spirit manifest itself? In singing. Drunks sing in folly; Christians sing in joy, delight, and self-control.
So what of you? Are you given to much wine? Are you misusing the good gifts of God? Or are you using these good gifts of God so that you might become more strong physically and spiritually?
Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, And your princes feast in the morning! Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, And your princes feast at the proper time— For strength and not for drunkenness!

Reminded that drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God, let us kneel and seek the Lord’s forgiveness for abusing the gifts of God.

The Sin of Covetousness

June 7, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Meditations, Politics, Ten Commandments
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Today we return to Paul’s catalogue of sins from which God in His grace and mercy has determined to free us through Christ. These sins damage and distort the image of God in us, destroy our humanity and subvert community. Today we consider covetousness.
Paul declares that the covetous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Among the sins that Paul catalogues this is the only one that is exclusively an attitude and not also an action. Fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, sodomy, theft, drunkenness, reviling, extortion – these are all things we do. Covetousness gets at the heart; it is a twisted desire that motivates action. Webster defines it as “a strong or inordinate desire of obtaining and possessing some supposed good.”
The tenth commandment highlights the deadly nature of covetousness: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
The tenth commandment reminds us that God is the Creator and Lord of all. He is the One who has made us and not we ourselves. He has given to us our wealth, status, gender, spouse, body type, color, hips, and our shoes. These all come from Him – and what another man has honestly acquired is absolutely his own, given him by God. I may not take it from him; I am to respect God’s gift to him.
Covetousness is at heart an assault both on God and neighbor, a fundamental violation of the two greatest commands to love God and to love our neighbor. Consequently, covetousness is idolatry, the worship of some god other than the Living God.
We live in a day and age that is awash with covetousness. Our system of taxation is founded on covetousness – the poor are encouraged to lobby their congressmen to make the rich pay their fair share and “fair” always means more than they’re paying now because they still have those nice cars. This week Bruce Jenner’s transformation has been much in the news. And what is his transformation but a visible display of covetousness. He wanted what God had not given him.
Jesus has sent His Spirit into our hearts to teach us to be content. He is teaching us to receive life as a gift from Him and to rejoice in the gifts that He has given to each of us. Covetousness destroys human life. When I am covetous, I am unable to worship and serve the Living God because I am consumed by a deep and abiding resentment at the way God has made me or the gifts that He has given me. No man or woman who is thus resentful at God can inherit the kingdom of God.

So what of you? Are you covetous? Or are you content and thankful? Reminded that the covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, let us kneel and seek the Lord’s forgiveness for our own covetousness and for the covetousness of our nation.

The Sin of Theft

May 10, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Creation, Meditations, Politics, Ten Commandments
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Jesus has risen from the dead; and because Jesus is the firstfruits of those who believe, we know that we too shall rise from the dead. This mortal shall put on immortality – death has lost its sting. But not only does the resurrection give us hope for the future, it also gives us hope in the present. Jesus’ resurrection has broken not only the power of death but also the power of sin. For those who look to Christ in faith, He grants us, by the Spirit, His resurrection power so that we can overcome the sins that enslave us.
Today we consider theft. Paul tells us that thieves will not inherit the kingdom of God. A thief is someone who takes as his own that which belongs to another – whether possessions or ideas or relationships or credit. God is the Sovereign Lord – He is the Owner of all things. Everything in heaven and earth belongs to Him. Consequently, we are all stewards of what we possess. This has a number of implications.
First, because we are stewards, we will all give account to our Creator for how we use our possessions. We are to use that which He gives us – whether great or small – to the honor of His Name and the advancement of His kingdom. And we are to imitate His generosity with our own – being open-handed and generous, freely sharing with others. One day we will give account of our stewardship.
Consequently, second, we are called to pay tribute to God with our possesions. God claims the tithe as that which is His own – and to withhold the tithe is to steal from God. It is to act the thief – to take as our own that which belongs to God.

Finally, because God is the Owner of all things, He has the right to give things to whom He chooses. And when someone has lawfully obtained something by God’s gift, it is absolutely his own. He may give it away; he may use it to purchase something else; but it may not be taken from him without his consent. God commands, “You shall not steal.”
With this command, God establishes the glory and integrity of private property. God has given you and your neighbor the things you possess. And God wants each of us to look at the things that our neighbor has and to rejoice with him. But thieves don’t rejoice; thieves envy. Thieves think that what their neighbor has managed to acquire just isn’t fair. “He shouldn’t have that car, I should. He shouldn’t have that house, I should. He shouldn’t have that job, I should. He shouldn’t have that fame, I should.” This envy then gives rise to the act of theft.
So what of you? Do you rejoice with those who rejoice? Kids, do you rejoice when your sibling or your friend get a really neat toy? Or are you envious? Adults, do you rejoice with those who through ingenuity or hard work or frugality or inheritance have come to have more than you or something better than you? Or are you envious?

Reminded of our propensity to envy others and to steal from them  rather than to rejoice and share with them, let us confess our sin to the Lord; and let us kneel as we confess our sins together.

The Sins of Homosexuality and Sodomy

May 3, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Coeur d'Alene Issues, Creation, Homosexuality, Meditations, Politics, Sexuality
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
We find ourselves in Eastertide, the time of year that we celebrate the way the resurrection of Jesus has transformed the world and our individual lives. Hope has arrived: forgiveness has been achieved and new life has entered into the world. In our text, Paul catalogues a number of sins from which Jesus’ resurrection power frees His people.
Today we consider homosexuality and sodomy. These two terms express both the active and passive partners in homosexual liaisons. Unlike many of the other sins listed in Paul’s catalogue, homosexuality is being lauded and praised in our culture. While adultery and theft and drunkenness are still viewed as social ills, homosexuality is being celebrated as a social good. It is being used as the point of the spear in an attempt to refashion our societal norms. Even now the Supreme Court of the United States is considering whether homosexual unions should be considered a constitutional right.
But homosexuality is a perverse, unnatural and destructive practice that incurs the wrath of God both in this life and in the next. Today in our sermon text we enter the narrative of God’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah for their perverse sexuality. A thorough analysis of homosexuality reveals that it is a deeply religious practice. It is a refusal to listen to God speaking both in His Word and in the natural order. It is a rejection of the most basic distinction between male and female, a vigorous attempt to silence the voice of God revealed in the image of God – man as male and female. Peter Jones writes in his book The God of Sex: How Spirituality Defines Your Sexuality:
The pagan gospel preaches that redemption is liberation from the Creator and repudiation of creation’s structures. It offers the “liberation” of sex from its heterosexual complementary essence. The Christian gospel proclaims that redemption is reconciliation with the Creator and the honoring of creation’s goodness. This gospel celebrates the goodness of sex within its rightful, heterosexual limits.
Jesus took on human flesh, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose again bodily from the grave and ascended to the right hand of God so that we might learn to honor God with our sexuality. And the way we honor God with our sexuality is by remaining chaste until we, in God’s good Providence, find a spouse of the opposite gender with whom to enjoy sex.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6 that “the body is not for sexual immorality” – sexual immorality, including homosexuality, is not in the design plan. It produces emotional, physical, and spiritual breakdowns. While a married couple can make love to one another for decades and never contract an STD, a single encounter outside the marriage bed can leave one suffering for life. “The body,” Paul continues, “is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord is for the body.” The body, including our sexuality, is to be used to the glory and honor of God, in harmony with His design. And His design is for our good, not for our hurt.

God is the Creator of all and He has designed our sexuality to flourish in a monogamous heterosexual covenanted union. Reminded of this and that we as a culture are seeking to silence God’s voice, let us confess our sin to the Lord. And as you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sin.