All Saints' Journal
EVENTS THIS WEEK
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Septuagesima Sunday
Sunday School 9 AM
Holy Communion
10 AM
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Do we ordain gay ministers?
No, we do not ordain gay ministers. The reasons for this come from
multiple passages in the Old and New Testaments. The idea is that one
cannot be ordained if they are living active lifestyles that contradict clear
Biblical teachings on morality. First, Leviticus 18:22 clearly prohibits the
practice of homosexuality. In addition, the entire 18th chapter speaks about
sexual purity for the people of God in dealing with practices seen as sinful
in His eyes. In the New Testament, we do not see a direct reference by
Jesus in opposition to this practice. Yet, we do read of the Lord upholding
the Moral Law in a very strong manner throughout His ministry. The Moral
Law includes the entire 18th Chapter of Leviticus. Our Lord said this in
Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Further, in verse 19, “Whoever
therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches
men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does
and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Our
Lord is referencing the Law, the first 5 Books of the Old Testament. In this,
He is saying that the practice of Homosexuality along with all the other
sexual sins are not to be practiced among the people of God.
For many in today’s Church that have turned their back on the Bible’s
teaching on morality, especially homosexuality, the argument is that the
people of that day were not enlightened enough about a lot of things and
therefore were simply acting according to the cultural pressures of their
society. The problem with this line of thought is that in Leviticus 18, the
Lord is warning His people of the practices that permeated the people of
the Land of Canaan. These practices included incest, homosexuality, and
bestiality. The Lord wanted His people to enter the Promised Land pure and
holy and not be influenced by the practices of the people present in the
Land before their conquest. So, the argument that those in the Old
Testament who wrote against this practice were wrong and therefore such
a prohibition no longer applies on our enlightened culture is simply an
attempt to give a free license to sin. The question has to be posed to such
advocates of ignoring Leviticus 18:22, “if homosexuality is no longer a sin
and therefore a lifestyle to allow and embrace, why can’t we also throw out
the prohibitions against those that want to engage in incest and bestiality?”
The problem is that once people start chipping away at part of the Moral
Law that Jesus fulfilled, then people in time will in their minds and practice
tear down all Moral teachings coming to us from Scripture.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 1:27 also speaks out against homosexuality
as going against the Natural order or Law that the Lord has set up that
governs all things. Further, Paul condems such practice along with other
sexual sins in I Corinthians 6:9 and I Timothy 1:10. With such language in
the Old and the New Testaments, the Lord has prohibited this sinful
lifestyle for all of His people, from the laypeople to the ordained ministers of
His Word. Further, in I Timothy 3:2 we read the following concerning
qualifications for ministers, “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband
of one wife …” In such language, the option for a minister to be a
homosexualy simply does not exist from a Biblical standpoint.
Do we support gay marriage?
No. The answer to the first question in terms of Leviticus 18 and the
Pauline references prohibits not only the practice but also any attempts by
civic and liberal religious leaders to turn such unions into marriages. Also,
the first reference we have to marriage in the Bible occurs in Genesis 2:24,
“Therefore a man shall leave this father and mother and be joined to his
wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6 quotes this
passage from Genesis, therefore saying that what applied for humanity at
the beginning still is in force in the time of Christ and therefore unto all
generations of Christians. By quoting this passage, our Lord is not leaving
us in a grey area, but clearly giving us in black and white what consitutes a
lawful marriage in God’s eyes.
How would we respond if a single homosexual and/or a homosexual couple
wanted to attend our church?
We would respond by using it as a time to present the Gospel to them, that
anyone can repent and come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. Of course,
for such a couple if they were blatantly telling me that they were an active
gay couple or an active gay individual, I would have to let them know that
they were not welcome to partake of Holy Communion until they repented
and changed their lives. At that point, it would depend on them as to
whether or not the Lord was working on them to bring them to a change of
heart to serve Him.
DEACON’S DESK
Just a reminder, as you are shopping, pick up a few cans of food for the Salvation Army Mission in
Vacaville, to help feed the homeless.
Alpha Pregnancy Resource is in need of diapers and baby formula
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Epiphany 4 2009
You will keep him in perfect peace. Looking around us, whether it is in the
news, we hear quite a bit about war. Man is constantly warring with one
another and peace is hard to find. Looking at the life of King David, his life
from the very point that God anointed him to be King was fraught with
strife, contention and all out war. In reading all the accounts of his life,
there are very few places where we see serenity. For the most part, he is
busy running from those trying to kill him or waging war against the
surrounding nations that were constantly seeking to stamp out the
Hebrews from the promised land. The enemy of God, the serpent of old
has always been intent on destroying the chosen people of God. We face
strife and contention everyday as Christians. Yet, we are promised in
Isaiah 26 that God will keep us in perfect peace. This morning, let us look
to what perfect peace is for all of us in Christ.
Mind Stayed on God
First, in our passage we read that those who are in peace are those
that have their minds stayed on the Lord. This is especially important in
today’s world where so many things vie for our attention. The only true
and perfect peace we can have is that which God provides through His
Son Jesus Christ. The Christian definition of peace is to have the mind
focused on the Lord no matter what is going on around us. The world’s
definition of peace is basically whatever makes someone feel good.
In this definition of peace the world sells, true lasting peace never
occurs. While we may have the absence of formal war at times, the world
is full of deceit and the constant danger of sinful men. Sin is essentially
what makes man feel good and he pursues these things to his ultimate
demise both physically and eternally. We cannot formulate peace because
we always try to do so without God.
Peace in Christ for those that keep their minds on Him is a far cry from
the peace this world sells or wants. Yet, keeping our minds stayed on the
Lord is something that we all tend to neglect. How do we keep our minds
stayed on the Lord in this world? We all know the myriad of temptations
that vie to pry us from devotion, meditation, and prayer unto God. Where
do we center our attention?
Isaiah 26:8 relates, “Yes, in the way of your judgments, O Lord, we
have waited for you.” Another translation states in the way of your Law.
God has given us His law for us to focus upon in the midst of a world that
tries to pull us from Him. We may think in our technologically advanced
era that we have it much worse than the people of Isaiah’s day in terms of
other things that steer us from concentrating on the Word. Yet, in Isaiah’s
day, it was difficult to truly wait upon the Lord and keep one’s mind
stayed upon Him as well as in our day. All around the people lived
neighbors and nations that practiced wickedness of every sort. Such was
always being flaunted in front of the Hebrews and became constant
temptations in which many of the people fell.
It is easy to get so caught up in the things of this world that we keep
our minds off of God and His Word by ignoring Him. Keeping our minds
stayed upon the Lord helps us to be ready when tempted to have a ready
answer and REASON to resist. Without His Word in our hearts and minds
consistently, we will fill the void with other things.
Another lie this world sells about its peace is that it must be PACIFIST
in the sense of letting all vying viewpoints trample over our faith and lives.
Such is merely giving in to the pressure the world exerts in a warlike
manner upon Christians that goes all the way back to the Cross. We are
called in Christ to rely on the peace as He gives and DEFINES in His Word,
which is the knowledge all our sins are paid for in full upon the Cross by
His one oblation and sacrifice for our sins. The peace we have is such
that comes from the point that we do not have to worry about figuring out
how to have eternal life. Many people unfortunately go through their
entire lives thinking they have to WORK their way up to God or jump
through the hoops of manmade rules. Man’s peace that he tries to give
people either through philosophy, religions, politics, etc. is fleeting and is
always a COUNTERFEIT that will never work.
It is either the peace given by Jesus or it is not peace at all. True peace
in Jesus Christ is freedom from the bondage of sin that this world offers
on a daily basis. Yes, man may say that he has the corner on some sort of
peace. In the end, such is not peace at all but another manner of being
slaves to sin.
Keeping our minds stayed upon the Lord requires devotion to His
Word. How much time and effort do we pour into keeping our minds upon
the Lord? It is so very dangerous for us as God’s people to get lazy
thinking we can slide by without putting in the necessary time in the Word
of the Lord. When we neglect the Word of God, we will begin to neglect
details and parts of His Law slowly, little by little. This is the manner in
which the enemy attacks us as the people of God to destroy our peace.
The enemy does not attempt to get us to deny or turn our backs upon the
entire Word and Commandments all at once. He does this little by little, bit
by bit. His first line of attack that we all need to be mindful of is that he
chips away at our faith and peace by flooding our available time with
things that steer us from the Word. Then, with the things we have
diverted to in our time, the enemy presents small attacks against the
Word.
In time, if we are consistently neglecting the Word, such attacks
against it will begin to make small yet significant impact on our lives. In
time traveling down such a road, the once strong Christian can stumble
and fall to the point that one day he wakes up wondering how he has
changed so much. The enemy goes about his deceptions with great
patience.
When we read and study the Word, we must approach it with patience.
We cannot approach the Word of the Lord with the mindset that we will be
able to get it all with the first reading. Patience when approaching the
Word brings peace in the fact that we keep our minds stayed upon it
throughout life. The major point for all of us to look at is consistency. We
need to patiently read and study His Word to allow Him to teach us in His
time according to His purpose.
The peace Jesus brings to us is consistent beyond measure. When we
are inconsistent, He picks us up in His consistency. We cannot beat
ourselves up when it comes to keeping our minds stayed upon the Lord.
We have to realize that we will fail at times to be consistent, to keep the
focus upon Him. As long as we are returning to the Lord in repentance
and asking for His help to lead us through, we will be fine. Another way
the enemy attacks the people of God is to goad us when we have failed a
bit here and there in our devotion to the Lord. We cannot give into such
attacks. The only option in such cases is prayer and a return to the Word,
to putting our minds in the right place in Christ and His everlasting peace.
Trusting in the Lord is an integral part of keeping our minds upon the
Lord. When we go about daily living, we need to think about where our
thoughts take us throughout every part of the day. As Isaiah stated in our
lesson, even the night is a time to desire the Lord. A good indication of
where we are spiritually in Christ is how we act when we are not reading
the Word and are doing everyday things.
We all need to look to see if our lives reflect the Words of Scripture we
read in all the times it is not directly in front of us. Rather, His Word
should be in our hearts to be applied to the mind for peaceful actions and
words in Christ. In any situation we find ourselves in, we have to weigh
what we are saying and doing by the Word. Are the words coming from
my lips glorifying Christ? Is the way I am conducting myself at work, at
school, at play, and in between glorifying Christ? Is my mind upon Christ
at all these times? The best manner to do this is while in the particular
moment to pause and look to see if what you are doing or saying is in line
with keeping the mind upon Him or not.
Conclusion
As we close this Epiphany Season, let us keep our minds stayed upon
the Lord who alone gives us peace. In trusting and obeying Him alone, we
will stay out of a lot of trouble that can plague the people of God. Where
is your mind? What kind of things do you focus on throughout the day?
Ask these questions of yourself throughout your days to see if you are
keeping your mind on Christ or on something else. May we all learn to rely
on the peace that only Christ can bring us in the midst of this wicked
world that tries to sell counterfeit peace that does not last. HE ALONE
KEEPS US IN HIS PERFECT PEACE. AMEN.