You Are the Homosexual: Part II

If you didn't read the first post on this subject, I highly recommend to as this won't make much sense without it. Click here to read the first post.

On the heels of the first post, here is the problem. Most of you right now, are thinking “okay, give me a way to get rid of my sin…just give me a list to follow”

How is this going to help? What do you want me to do? Tell you to not look at girls anymore? Not look at other people’s possessions anymore? Tell you to pray harder? Tell you to remove this or that from your bedroom? Don’t look at this site or that site? Think if you told a homosexual trying to come out of that lifestlye. What are you going to tell them..."Hey, just stop going to gay bars and then pray harder!" They would laugh at you if you thought that was going to stop their fundamental struggle with the sin of homosexuality.

While this might put a band aid on the problem, and can be somewhat helpful practically, it isn’t the fullest solution.

I have heard people that struggle with pornography told to get rid of their computers and to stop getting on the internet. Is this dealing with the problem or just masking it?

That would be like saying that a tree is bearing bad fruit, so just cut off the bad fruit and it will get better. The more bad fruit the more you cut off, the quicker it grows the quicker you cut.

The problem has to do with the roots of the tree, not just the fruit.

So, although lists might provide a band aid, it won’t get to the heart where all this fruit springs from.

Week in and week out, people ask me to pray about the same sins and the same struggles. I have done it myself, I will ask people to pray for the same struggle over and over again. Their first question should be, “what are you doing about it?”

I had a buddy who was living with my wife and I and he asked how I was doing, I told him that it had been a bad week. He didn’t ask what was going on, he didn’t tell me to do the 40 days of purpose, he didn’t tell me that I should come up with a list of things to do to make my life better, he simply asked, “have you been in the word?”

I said “no”

He said, “this isn’t hard to figure out” and he walked away.

We want Jesus, we want peace and hope, but we don’t want to do anything about it. Some of you have struggles with many things, but you aren’t willing to do anything about it. You are struggling in life, you are struggling with sin, you are struggling with spirituality, but you aren’t doing anything about it. Don't we believe Paul when he says to work out your salvation with fear and trembling?

You know what God says about this type of so called worship? The worship from a people who plead for peace and hope while sitting around like a crying 2 year old for lunch?

Then the Lord said,
“Because this people draw near with their words
And honor Me with their lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,
Isaiah 29:13

Look to Isaiah 1:11-17

“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
Luke 6:40

Who is your teacher? Are you trying to live like Jesus and do what Christ did or are you merely whining like a baby about your struggles all while doing nothing about it?

Think on this:

How many of you have a regular time in the word each week? This can be by reading the bible, listening to the bible, listening to sermons, studying certain biblical topics, etc.

How many of you pray daily and pray often?

How many of you serve others often?

How many of you ask yourself often, why you do the things you do? Whether it is the clothes you wear, music you listen to, people you hang with, movies you watch? Do you ask yourself why? Do you ask if you are glorifying God through them?

How many of you ask why you pray? Why you read the word of God? Why you read about theology? Why you memorize scripture? Is it so you will be able to know more than others? Is it so you can win a debate? Is it so you can beat others up with your knowledge?

I ask my son all the time, "Why are you memorizing scripture in Awanas?" I am harsh, because if he says to get his book signed off, to get a dumb patch or candy, I tell him that isn’t why we do these things and then I show him the gospel.

So, you can see that there is a hard balance here. On one hand you have the people that just say that they love Jesus, they live in their sin and just merely put it to the side. They don’t do anything about it…they don’t surround themselves with godly people for help, they don’t read their bibles, they don’t memorize scripture, they don’t serve others…these people are just as bad as a homosexual and a murderer who say, “I was born this way…screw it.” They are practical antimonians.

You also have the other side. This is the “do more” side.

They
memorize scripture,
they read scripture,
they pray for others,
they answer every question correctly,
they win debates,
they do everything they can right on the outside…but they do it merely because they are supposed to.

They are merely a monkey in a circus. They are a practical Pharisees. They simply ask for the rules and follow them. They will say things like, you must at least read the bible for an hour, you must pray like this, you must memorize this much scripture and if you want your life to be better just do more of this or that or follow this list or that list.

The problem with this is that sometimes, you read the bible like crazy, you pray like crazy and you serve others like crazy, and you still struggle mightily with sin and your spirit. Now what Pharisee?

They don’t know what to do, because they have this façade that says, “I did it, it worked…what’s wrong with you?” What happens when you conquer the list and you still struggle in sin, or find yourself in a dark place? The question is not where is the list, but where is your heart.

Do you love Jesus? Do you desire to be his child or not? I heard a pastor friend of mine say it like this:

What if I was married, but still lived like I was single? What if only hung out with my buddies late at night, came home and slept on the couch. What if I never spoke to my wife, what if everything about my actions looked like I was single. You bring this up and I point to my wedding ring. How would you respond? You would laugh.

On the other hand, what if I did everything right on the outside. What if I had bible studies with my wife, took her to church, supplied money for her, gave her children, but it was all done because I was supposed to and not because I deeply loved her…what now? You might think I love her, but she is in agony because she knows it is all a façade to put on for the world around me.

There has to be a balance. We must work, we must bear fruit, we must read our bibles, we must pray, we must serve, we must do all this though for the glory of our Christ and to know him more. Not merely because we are supposed to.

The reason we work, the reason we bear fruit, the reason we learn theology, is for the glory of Christ. If you struggle with sin, if it is tearing at you, if you wake up daily fighting it off, look to your Saviour, ask for his strength, ask for his mercy and forgiveness.

Is homosexuality wrong? Yes. What is the difference with you and the homosexual if you live in sin without doing anything about it? Nothing.

Some months ago I saw a transvestite on the bus and saw the reactions on the faces of everyone on the bus. My first thought, and this was no joke…I wonder how they would look at me if my sin was worn on the outside instead of hiding in my heart?

It amazes me at how much people will call out homosexuality, but wink at other sin that people just care less about.

If this is you…if you sin and continue to sin and you think that because your life is busy and you don’t really have time to worship God 7 days a week…I wonder what Christ will say to you when you see him face to face?

What are you going to say to him? You want to see me play my sport? You want to see my homework that I finished? You want to see my grades? You want to catch a movie? You want to hang out with my friends? You want to see my blog stats?

How about instead…we say, “Jesus you want to see the works that I did, the struggle with sin I had because of your righteousness? I only did the works because of how much I loved you, not because I was trying to gain your love or affection. I struggled with my sin because I know your perfection…I tried…but I know I failed, and I thank you so much for being my Saviour and using me, despite me.

But, don’t tell me you love Jesus and live like he is dead to you.