Alright who’s excited to be at church this morning let me hear from you. Hey kid come on cadets let me hear from you over here come on. Alright yeah we’ll work on it. That’s pretty good that’s pretty good.

Hey we got a lot to get to and so I’m going to dive right in. A few weeks ago we kicked off this series called Lines and we had a really clear motivation behind why we were doing this series, and that was that we knew we needed to define some lines in our life because undefined lines are the easiest ones to cross.

And we’ve crossed some of those lines and they were predetermined. Like we knew we were crossing those lines. But other lines that we crossed were because of a subtle slow drift away from where God wanted us to be. Which is why I introduced to you this term called creeping normalcy, which is a process by which a major change can be accepted as normal and acceptable if it happens slowly through small, often unnoticeable increments of change.

And even right now this is playing out in our lives and you probably can’t see it because they’re just small incremental changes. This is playing out in our lives and I even challenged the notion of this a few weeks back when I said we’ve even allowed ourselves over the last few decades to redefine what love is.

And so I thought it was important that I get up here and actually preach a message on how love defines lines. And if love defines lines then it makes complete sense that we would want to arrive at the most accurate definition of what love is.

And as followers of Jesus we know that that has to be informed by what the scriptures teach because the scriptures say that God is love, meaning love can’t exist outside of God. So we went to John’s gospel and we determined that the Bible’s really clear on this. The fullness of grace plus the fullness of truth is God’s complete love.

You see grace is God meeting us right where we are, but truth is us not staying where we are. Grace is God leaning in our direction, but truth should be us leaning in God’s direction.

And so love without grace will always be incomplete. And love without truth will always be incomplete. And when we deviate from this particular definition of God’s love, what we all have a tendency to do is define love the way that we want to define love. Which is typically the lowest common denominator. And it plays out to whatever situation we’re in in any given moment at any given time. We’ll define it in a way that plays to our own personal comfort and convenience.

And I think it’s safe to say that all of us have shown love in such a way that doesn’t line up with that definition. And if you’re in here today and you’re a follower of Christ it is critical that we get this right. It’s critical that we get how we’re expressing God’s love correct because it’s in how we love that we’re actually expressing the heart of our heavenly Father.

And can I remind you of what Jesus says in John chapter 13 when he said it’s how you love one another. Guys he’s talking to his disciples. He’s like fellas listen to me, it’s how you love one another that people will know you’re my disciples. And then he said so love each other the way that I have loved you. I want you to love one another.

Well how did Jesus love. He always loved with the fullness of both grace and truth.

And that leads us to today. And I gave everyone a heads up for the last couple weeks that today we were going to be talking about the subject of sexuality. And the idea or the hope was that we were also going to be talking about gender and transgenderism, but that served to be impossible because I’ve just got way too much content.

And so what I’ve decided to do is primarily focus on sexuality today and then next week I’m going to talk about the conversation around transgender, but specifically how it’s affecting our young people. And if you haven’t done any reading on this subject it’s somewhat of a phenomenon. It really is. Over the last 10 years we have seen kind of this combustion specifically in teenage girls of transgenderism becoming a really big deal and a lot of people kind of being influenced by that.

And so next week, and I don’t say this flippantly, next week might be one of the most educational sermons that I’ve ever taught. I’ve been reading for weeks if not months on the subject and I think this is an area that all of us, especially if you have kids, need to be informed by and educated on. And so make sure you don’t miss next week.

Now I mentioned last week something that I want to mention again this week. Anytime that I talk on a subject like this that evokes a lot of emotion, it evokes a lot of opinions, I have to navigate what I call landmines. And landmines are typically they’re going to come from your own personal biases, they’re going to come from your own personal experiences, and they’re even going to come from your own personal wounds.

And so as I’m trying to teach something what I’ve learned is I may have a really clear intent to say one thing to me one specific thing, but depending on your experiences, depending on your personal bias, you may hear something entirely different. And so I’m going to ask you to do the same thing that I asked you to do last week when I was talking about toxic masculinity. I’m going to ask that you shelf your own personal biases for a moment and all I want to do is allow the Bible to breathe.

Because I can assure you if we will just allow the Bible to breathe it is crystal clear on the subject of sexuality. It is crystal clear on the lines that it has defined around what sex looks like.

Now before I jump into building a biblical framework for us there are a few things that I want to say. A few things I feel like I need to say.

If these letters represent you. If these letters represent your life. I want you to know that I’m incredibly thankful that you’re here today. We have several people that actually call Trace home who would identify by one of these letters. And many of them would tell you that they’re same sex attracted but they have committed a life of celibacy because they want to live their life through Jesus.

And I want to be clear about something. Same sex attraction is not a sin. Just like it isn’t a sin for a married woman to find another man attractive that isn’t her husband. And vice versa. Attraction is not a sin. But it’s what you do with that attraction that becomes incredibly sensitive. Because if you take action on that attraction, specifically living that out sexually, then yes the Bible is clear. You’re living in sin.

This goes for homosexuality. It goes for premarital sex. It goes for adultery. And it goes for pornography and even self pleasure and masturbation.

Anybody uncomfortable yet. Good. That means we’re on the right path.

Listen to me. I hope nobody ever wants to come to this church. I hope you don’t arrive here on any given Sunday with just a hope that I would coddle your feelings. But instead that we would all come here knowing that we are spiritually complacent. All of us. All of us will have spiritual complacency in our lives that usually again play out with our own comfort and convenience that needs to be challenged. Including me.

This is one reason why we decided this verse kind of be the backbone verse of this entire series. In Romans Paul says do not conform to the pattern of this world, which we all have a tendency to do, but be transformed. In other words you can’t have both of these. If you’re conforming you can’t be transformed. By the renewing of your mind. But Paul says if we won’t conform and we’ll allow our lives and our minds and our thoughts to be transformed, then we’ll be able to test and to prove what God’s will is. His good pleasing and perfect will.

I want you to know this about your pastor. Each and every Sunday when I arrive here I’m incredibly determined to teach in such a way that would challenge spiritual complacency but also lead you to be transformed in Jesus. And I really do hope that you would come here with that expectation as well. Again not just so that I would coddle your feelings and somebody would affirm any given position that you may hold on any given topic. But my personal mission statement especially recently and if you’ve been coming for a few weeks you’ve heard this come out of me. I feel a burden right now to make sure that I’m educating you and equipping you and empowering you to stand firm in the gospel. To learn what it looks like to live through Jesus where you live work and play.

But I don’t ever want to do that at the expense of not meeting you where you’re at. I don’t ever want to do that at the expense of dismissing the real pain and struggle that’s represented in this room right now. Which is why one of our four mantras, and it was incredibly important to me that we made this one of our mantras. We only have four mantras here at Trace. It was incredibly important to me that one of our four mantras would be that we extend hope when life hurts. Because if any of us have anything in common it’s that we’ve experienced some hurt in life.

And so listen to me. If these letters represent you I want you to know that I’m sorry the church has historically dismissed you. If these letters represent you or a family member or a friend and you’re just trying to figure this thing out I want you to know that this is a place where you can stop pretending. And so you don’t need to hesitate to let us know who you are and where you are.

And if you want some help in just trying to figure this thing out. If you want some help in trying to figure out hey this is how I feel, this is what represents me, this is my attraction, this whatever it may be, and you’re trying to figure out what that looks like through the lens of your faith. Listen to me. I’m available. I’m available at the point of exhaustion. I want you to know that I’m available to sit down and talk with you about this.

And I want you to know that I won’t condemn you. I won’t chastise you. I won’t chase you out of here. But the first thing I’ll do is confess to you that I got my own junk. I’ve got my own sin and crap to deal with. But then I’ll also challenge you to learn what it looks like to live through Jesus even though this may represent your life from this point forward.

I’m not going to try to pray the gay out of you. But I will meet you in the midst of your struggle and show you what it looks like to make your own personal sacrifices. That’s why those crosses are on their side every time we take communion every single week. It’s to be reminded of what Jesus said in Luke 9 23. That if you want to follow me then you have to deny yourself, pick up your own cross and follow me. Which means all of us have sacrifices that we are being called to make. Yours just may happen to be sexual preference.

Jesus was really clear when he said in John 14 that he’s the way, he’s the truth, and he’s the life. And no one will come to the Father unless they go through him. He fully expected us to follow his ways. To embrace his truth. And to live out our lives in a way that represents his love. Not how we’ve defined it but how he modeled it. The fullness of grace and truth.

And having a clear line. Having a clear line defined around what sexuality looks like is essential to living this out. And I am watching way too many Christians today drift away from this doctrine. Creeping normalcy.

Whether it was a Supreme Court decision. Maybe it’s the TV shows that you watch that reinforce this or movies or work policies. Maybe a friend came out to you. Maybe it was your son or daughter. And in your determination, listen to me I get this I’ve been there with you. In your determination to show them love you started to cross lines that you didn’t even know you were crossing. And what started maybe with accepting people just as they are lent itself to affirming people and something that God would never affirm.

And so if we’re going to do this well. If we’re going to live this out. And let me be really clear. I believe you can stand firm in your faith without dismissing people that identify by one of those letters. I believe you can stand firm in your faith and the only way that that can happen, the only way that you can establish what it looks like to stand firm in your faith and not dismiss people that are represented in the LGBTQ community, is to make sure you know why you believe what you believe.

And so I want to build the strongest biblical framework that I possibly can to help you to see that God is crystal clear when it comes to our sexuality.

I’m going to begin in John’s gospel in chapter 1 and you’ll see why I do this here in just a moment. It says this. In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was Jesus. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him. Everybody say through him. And nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created and his life brought light to everyone.

Now I want to jump over to Genesis chapter 1, the very beginning of the Bible, and you’ll see really quickly why I chose to use that verse in John first. Then God said let us make mankind in our image. Who’s he talking about. Let us make mankind in our image. God is talking about himself and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And he says let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and over all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.

So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God he created them. Male and female he created them.

I talked about this a little bit last week. It takes a man and a woman to complete the image of God. We call this Imago Dei. We’re completing the image of God when we have a man and a woman made in his full likeness. It’s beautiful.

And God blessed them and he said to them be fruitful and increase in number. Everybody clear on how that takes place. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

It is impossible to complete the image of God without a man and a woman.

Now stay with me because all of this is so significant and so rich. Jump over to Genesis chapter 2. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man and he brought her to the man. Then the man said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman for she was taken out of man. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife and they become one flesh.

Something very significant just happened. Do you know that when Moses wrote this, he wrote the first five books of the Bible, that when he wrote this and when he was referencing this time frame there wasn’t even a father and mother yet. It’s just Adam and Eve. And so when they’re just human beings Moses is representing that this is God’s intent. This was God’s plan from the very beginning. That a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife. This is the literal sexual act. And the two shall become one flesh.

And then it says Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame.

And the reason why I wanted to mention that last verse is because when I think back to all the reasons why people walk through my office doors because of a source of pain, because they want me to speak into something, the number one area of shame is usually reflected when the line that God defined around sexuality has been broken.

I’m not there to judge or condemn because I got my own crap. But I am there to clearly define what God has represented in his Word.

Trace when a husband and wife come together through the partnership of the Holy Spirit they are the full expression of God’s image. And when they come together as one flesh in a marriage relationship, do not miss this, they’re sharing in God’s creative order. That a man and a woman complete the image of God. When we come together and we create another human being underneath the matrimony of marriage and we create another human being we are creating somebody else in the image of God. Can you not see the miracle and the significance of this.

In other words we get to share in God’s creative narrative of this entire world. Of his main reason for creating all of this. We get to share with God in that. In the way that he designed it.

Jesus actually emphasizes this creative order in Matthew chapter 19. And let me give you some context for it and why Jesus brings it back up. There are people that are challenging Jesus on the subject of divorce, and they’re saying Hey Jesus isn’t it true like we can get a divorce for any reason. Like any cause. Like we don’t really need anything significant. Can there be just like what’s called an any cause divorce. Meaning I don’t know if I’m into this anymore, I don’t think it’s working for me so I’m just going to bow out. Isn’t that okay.

And Jesus said Haven’t you read the Scriptures. They record that from the beginning God made them male and female. And he said This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united into one. Since they are no longer two but one let no one split apart what God has joined together.

And so don’t ever let somebody tell you that Jesus doesn’t speak directly into the subject of sexuality, because he just clearly re emphasized what God originally designed.

So does the Apostle Paul. In Ephesians chapter 5 Paul says As the Scriptures say A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united into one. Then Paul says This is a great mystery. It’s a miracle. But it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.

Do not miss the significance of the divine language that Paul is using. And so think about what happens. When we tear down, when we begin to deconstruct something that Paul and Jesus and God re emphasize, where it’s like Hey I’m going to illustrate this for you by the way that Jesus is in relationship with his church. And when we begin to deconstruct something that God designed it will only lead to more damage.

Trace listen to me. The design of sex and marriage and gender has God’s fingerprints all over it. Which means regardless of what the Supreme Court of the United States says. Regardless of the agendas that are coming out of Hollywood. Regardless of how you feel. Regardless of how I feel. And regardless of how your kids feel. God will never be in support of same sex marriage and there will always only be two genders.

And when we deviate from this truth and we deconstruct what God designed, we are working. Listen to me. We are working in opposition to God’s creative order.

And this is a really strong statement. This means that we’re no longer embracing how God has created us in his image. But we are now attempting to create God in our image. That is a dangerous place to be.

The Apostle Paul recognized this in his time. He recognized this exact thing taking place. And he decided to speak very intentionally, very boldly, very candidly into it in Romans chapter 1. We can read about it.

He says Yes they knew God but they would not worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious ever living God they worshiped idols made to look like mere people. You know what I think of when I read that. I think about how many parents I’m watching worship their kids and how sometimes when a kid deviates from God’s truth, and when one of their kids decides to go down a different path that isn’t supported by God’s framework of how he wants us to live through Jesus, how he wants us to live out our life in a way that reflects Jesus, I watch parents jump ship and deviate from something that they’ve always believed to be true because they don’t want to lose out on that relationship. I’m not saying it’s easy but that is easily defined as idolatry.

And so Instead of worshiping the glorious ever living God they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. Can I say it again. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself who is worthy of eternal praise. Amen.

God’s purpose for sexuality is crystal clear. And I wanted to establish that first. But I also want to get incredibly practical. Because if I just establish that and I don’t meet you in the midst of what you’re likely experiencing, I don’t think that’s very helpful.

And so one of the things that I want to do is I want to illustrate some things for you and different experiences and conversations that I’ve had that will likely be something that you can identify with. Because my guess is many of us, or many of you right now, are asking the question Aaron I get what you’re saying and I don’t even dismiss what the Bible teaches. I’m there. I know what the Bible teaches about this particular subject. But what do we do. Like truly. What do we do when we have people in our lives that have embraced sexuality in a way that doesn’t line up with God’s design. Like what do we do.

And so I’m going to do my best to get really practical with you for the rest of our time together. And I want to begin with this verse. I think this is a really important verse for us to understand and for us to know specifically on this subject.

Paul makes mention when he writes to the church in Corinth. He says What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church. Are you not to judge those inside. In other words yes there is some accountability that comes with those of us that call Jesus our leader and our Lord and we’re a part of a body of believers. There’s some accountability that comes with that. But Paul says What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church. God will judge those outside.

And the reason that I think that’s important is because it’s not our job to go around and tell everybody how to live their life. And so I’ll talk to people about the subject of sexuality all the time, but one of the first questions that I ask them is Do you want to follow Jesus. Like do you want to follow Jesus. Because if you don’t want to follow Jesus I’m not going to tell you how to live your life.

And so sometimes I’ll be in a conversation, and maybe it’s with somebody in the LGBTQ community, and once they find out I’m a pastor a question often follows that sounds something like this. Well what do you think about same sex relationships. Or What do you think about same sex marriage.

And I clearly define Hey listen this doesn’t have anything to do with how I want to treat you and how I’m going to show you love. But I think the Bible is clear that sex was defined between a man and a woman in a marriage relationship. I think the Bible’s crystal clear on that. And so because I want to follow Jesus that’s the lens in which I view sexuality. And if you want to follow Jesus that’s the lens in which you should view sexuality.

And it’s not uncommon to get some kind of follow up statement or question that sounds like this. Well if God didn’t want me to act out on this then why did he create me this way.

And that’s kind of lending itself to this notion that people are born with a predisposition to be gay or straight. To which I don’t argue. I don’t get into the weeds of that. Is it possible that people are born with a predisposition to have same sex attraction. Sure it’s possible. But where that argument breaks down is whether or not they should follow through on that attraction.

And to make the argument that just because we were born with a predisposition means it’s okay. That argument breaks down really fast. Listen to me. There are children that are born with a predisposition to be addicted to drugs because of what their parents did or what their mom did while she was pregnant. That doesn’t mean that kid should follow through on that addiction.

Has anybody ever met an 18 month old that wasn’t selfish. And maybe there’s somebody in here that’s like Well not my little Sally. I’m sure your little Sally’s special. Just to be clear. I’m sure she’s special.

I want to say something. This is incredibly sensitive. And I wrestled with whether or not I wanted to say this. But I feel like I’d be doing the conversation a disservice if I didn’t say it.

Throughout my life I’ve had a lot of friendships with people that are represented in the LGBTQ community. A lot. I used to own a health club. A lot of people in that community came to our health club. I learned to love people early on without sacrificing my beliefs. I’ve got really good friends that are identified by one of those letters.

But out of all the people that I know. And I went back and I kind of tallied this up. Out of all the people that I know specifically men. Specifically men. I came up with this ratio. Eight out of the ten men that I know that identify this way were sexually abused by another man.

By no means am I saying that that’s the case for everyone. I’m just telling you my personal experience. I’m just telling you my personal experience. But if we don’t at least acknowledge that. If we don’t at least acknowledge that. Then we’re not acknowledging a wound that needs to be cared for. That needs to be ministered to. That needs to be loved.

Listen to me. It pains me. It pains me to think about how many gay people in the past were led to believe that God hates them and automatically condemns them to hell just because of how they feel. When often times they were probably just seeking to find some hope and healing because of a horrible thing that had taken place in their life.

And so if you’re here right now. Or you’re watching this online. Maybe somebody sends this message to you later to watch. I want to let you know that if you’re gay I don’t think you’re just an issue that needs to be dealt with. I don’t think you’re just an issue that the church needs to deal with. I believe that you’re someone who needs to be loved.

I have several friends that I mentioned already that I sincerely love that identify this way. Some have chosen to embrace singleness and celibacy because they know that’s the path for them based on their commitment to Jesus. Others have decided to follow their feelings in which they know from me, and they should know from you, that our faith will never affirm.

Let me end like this. In the beginning of the series I told you that I was going to encourage you. Challenge you. And if necessary correct some of the ways that you were thinking and living out your faith. But all of it was going to be out of motivation of love. Which we’ve determined is the fullness of grace and truth.

And so I want to say something that’s going to be incredibly strong. And I’m going to say it with as much grace and love as I know how.

When Jesus walked this earth he saved his strongest words and his greatest critiques for people who were believers. Specifically the religious leaders that were leading people away from the heart of God through what they taught and how they demonstrated faith through how they lived. Jesus saved his strongest words for them.

And so if you’re in here right now and you’re a believer. You’re a follower of Jesus. And you’re teaching and affirming sexuality in a way that’s outside of God’s design, Jesus would save his strongest words for you.

It’s not about where Jesus finds you. It’s about where he leads you. And your willingness to listen and follow. Because when we deconstruct what God clearly designed it will only lead to more damage. When you create a choice where there should be certainty it will only lead to chaos.

So let me ask you a question. Do you actually think, just look back over the last 10 years, do you actually think that embracing a more loose version of sexuality has led to more peace or chaos. And could that have anything to do with the fact that we’ve deviated from a divine sexual ethic. To which I would say absolutely yes.

So what do we do. What do we do. How do we live in a world that will chastise us for simply standing firm in our faith in Christ. How do we respond to a culture that is trying to silence us if we decide to speak up and say anything different. And if you don’t see how the Christian voice is being silenced I promise you you’re not paying attention. How do we handle those who will call what I’ve said today hate speech even though I’ve done my best to represent God’s truth in the most loving way that I know how.

What do we do. I’ll tell you what we don’t do. We don’t deviate from what we know to be true. That Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. So you can cancel us if you want. But that should never change our commitment to Christ.

Let me pray for us.

Father I invite your Holy Spirit to continue working on our hearts, refining us, pointing out where we’ve deviated from your truth in this particular area. How we’ve drifted. And God this is hard. So many of us want to show the people in our lives love, but when we do so without truth we’re actually not showing them love at all.

And so God I pray that you would meet each and every one of us wherever we’re at. For those that maybe identify with one of those letters, God that you would meet them and you would remind them that you haven’t condemned them to hell. That you want to meet them right where they’re at. But there is a call in their life to live and to challenge the conformity of this world so they can be transformed by the renewing of their mind.

God that they would embrace maybe what it looks like to be celibate. Maybe what it looks like to be single. Because their commitment to you is so much greater than a sexual preference.

So God would you just meet us in this time coming up, this response time, and show us what it looks like to gain our footing in this area again. To stand firm in the gospel.

And Lord we know that there’s a lost and broken world that we desperately need to represent the love of Jesus to. And so we’re not going to do that well when we don’t look to and live by the lines that you have clearly defined.

So God show us where we need to come back into your purpose and will for our life specifically in this area.

We pray this in Christ’s name.

Amen