5 Myths about Jesus, Sex, and Gay Marriage

Jesus never defined marriage as one man, one woman.

Matthew  19:1-6. Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Mark 10:1-9. And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Genesis 2:18-25.Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit forhim.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So theLord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Jesus never specifically mentioned homosexuality in His teaching on marriage, so we should not make a big deal about it either.

The fact is, Jesus doesn’t have to disaffirm anything in order to affirm God’s original intent for marriage. To suggest that he does would be kind of like a child asking, “Hey mom, what’s for dinner?” Mom answers, “Roast beef, but NOT turkey, not pizza, not pudding, not sub sandwiches, not corn on the cob, uh, not chili—oh goodness, I don’t want to leave anything out—um, not lasagna. I sure hope I mention everything that is NOT for dinner so you won’t be confused about what IS for dinner.” By affirming “what was from the beginning,” Jesus is defining marriage in God’s ideal terms! Jesus doesn’t have to disaffirm anything (which would be impossible since there are so many aberrations and the list just keeps growing). He only has to affirm one thing—and Jesus did that.

Jesus was never married, so He was obviously indifferent to marriage.

Luke 19:10. (Jesus speaking) “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

John 6:35-40. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

The Church is Christ’s bride.

Jesus reached out to and accepted people into His circle who did not fit the “traditional marriage” model.

Yes! The truth is that Jesus was reaching out to them, but not without a call to leave their sexual/relational dysfunction behind them.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Andsuch were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

These are the kind of people Jesus would reach out to if He were here today.

He would call them to Himself by calling them out of their sin and into a new life. Again, this is echoed in what the early Apostles understood when they themselves called people to follow Jesus.

1 Timothy 1:8-11. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Yes, Jesus would reach out to every kind of person. He would tell them of God’s love, and He would call them to repent of their sins. He would call murderers, thieves, liars, adulterers, homosexuals, gossips and racists.And He would lead them out of their sin and into a new life with Him. In this sense, we could say that our churches should be full of ex-sinners who have become Jesus-followers!

All ideas, writings, and Scripture references were organized/written by Kenny Burchard from www.Churchleaders.com

Check out his complete article here: 5 Myths People Spread About Jesus, Sex, and Gay Marriage.

Scripture from ESV.

I did make/organize this blog post. Everything written/ideas are Kenny Burchard.

Why did Jesus use parables? Mark 4/Isaiah 6

Mark 4: 1-20

Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.”13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Isaiah 6:8-13

And I (Isaiah) heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he (God) said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” 11 Then I (Isaiah) said, “How long, O Lord?” And he (God) said:“Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 12 and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

Jesus speaks in parables to provides doors, not windows. He is not revealing but concealing, and only with the key to the kingdom can you enter through the door. Isaiah’s ministry was to further the hardening of hearts, and Jesus continues this ministry. Jesus is not a kola bear, He is a Grizzly bear. But through His holy love He does not eat you, but is eaten for you by dying on the cross.

Ideas/explanation goes to Pastor Todd Wilson. Listen to his sermon here: 

http://www.calvarymemorial.com/sermons/parables-the-secret-of-the-kingdom/

ESV used