We Value Family

Selected Scriptures

2004 Values Series

The title of the message this morning is "We Value Family.”  Family is essential.  Basic.  Necessary.  The family is the basic building block of society, and the first institution created by God (Example: Gen. 1-2).  As goes the family, so goes the nation.  Unfortunately, the family as God intended it is an endangered species in America.  U.S. Census figures from 2000 show that the God’s ideal of the family is in a statistical free-fall.[i] 

Families consisting of a husband and wife in their first marriage with children dropped below 25% percent of all homes for the first time in American history.[ii]

Households with unmarried partners grew by 72%.[iii]   In fact, cohabitation has increased by 1,000% since 1960.[iv]

A third of all babies were born to unmarried women, (33%) compared to only 3.8% in 1940.[v]

The number of same-sex homes skyrocketed over 400% since 1990.[vi]

Many evangelical leaders see the greatest threat to marriage and the family is the radical homosexual agenda and “same-sex” marriage.   Well what does God's word say about this thorny issue?  And what impact does that have for Bible-believing Christians who are citizens in America as we approach Election Day 2004?

I. DIVINE PATTERN

First, let's consider the divine pattern for marriage and the family in the word of God.  The Bible establishes a fixed standard of righteousness, a fixed standard of moral absolutes, of right and wrong.  And here's what it says: Genesis 1:27: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them."  And then in chapter 2 we read the specifics of how God created Adam, and then Eve to be his companion, his soul mate.  So marriage between a man and a woman was God's idea from the beginning.  Notice the Bible says "male and female."  So in the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.  And thank God for that difference.

Then God told them to be fruitful and multiply, meaning have children.  Homosexuals can't do that, not naturally anyway.  Study after study has show that every child needs the influence of a father and a mother.  Homosexual couples cannot provide that.   Lesbian media personality Rosie O’Donnell was asked by her adopted son, “Mom why can’t I have a daddy like everyone else?”  Her reply: “Because Mommy wanted another mommy.”  How tragic.  God has a divine pattern: One man and one woman.   Children need a father and mother to be well rounded in their personalities, gender identity, and development.

When you come to the teaching of Jesus in the NT, you find that Jesus wholeheartedly endorsed this divine pattern.  Quoting Gen. 2:24, He asked the Pharisees in Matt. 19:4: "Have you not read that at the beginning, the Creator made them male and female, and said: ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh?’  So they are no longer 2 but 1.  Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate."  So God's original intention and Jesus' teaching on marriage repudiates homosexuality, and same sex-“marriage,” and gay “families.”

But there is a growing group of militant homosexuals and their allies who want same sex “marriages” to be legalized all across America.  But I want you to hear this: the only kind of marriage God will recognize is between one man and one woman.  And while homosexual “marriage” may be recognized in the court of public opinion, and it may be recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States, but it will never be recognized in the Supreme Court of Heaven, not ever!  The divine pattern is marriage between one man and one woman.

II. DEVILISH PERVERSION

Well that's the divine pattern, let's talk about the devilish perversion that we call homosexuality or Sodomy.  What is it?  Webster’s defines homosexuality as exhibiting sexual desire toward a member of the same sex.  What does the word of God say about this sin?  It is brutally clear.  Lev. 18:22 says: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, it is an abomination to God."  Lev. 20:13 says: "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, they shall surely be put to death.  It is an abomination to God."  What could be clearer than that?  I mean even if you have the IQ of an earthworm, you can understand what that verse says.  It is an abomination to God!  God hates it, it is disgusting, it is despicable, it is detestable.  This is the strongest biblical word for the denunciation of sin.

Why is it a sin?  Again, it is open rebellion against the divine pattern, the created order of God.  Say: "Well that's the OT.  And we’re no longer under law, we’re under grace.”  We are under grace, we’re no longer under the ritual law or the ceremonial law, but the moral law is still very much in effect.  In fact, Jesus said: "Think not that I have come to destroy the law, I have come to fulfill it.  Not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will disappear from the law until all is accomplished."  And the Moral Law of Moses calls homosexuality an abomination.  Jesus condemned homosexuality when He affirmed God's original plan and design for marriage that we just looked at in Matt. 19.  The Apostle Paul made it clear that the wrath of God is upon homosexuality.  Listen to Rom. 1:18, 26-32.  And there are several other scriptures we could look at, but I think you get the point.

III. DEFINITIVE PROBLEM

We've talked about the Divine Pattern, and the Devilish Perversion, but what is the Definitive Problem?  The definitive problem is sin.  The Bible says: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Within every one of us is a tendency toward sin.  The Bible calls that the “sinful nature.”  That nature begins to manifest itself when children are young and they begin to rebel.  That nature seeks to twist and pervert natural God-given desires toward all kinds of sexual sin, such as promiscuity, adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, etc.  And that nature pulls us down into all kinds of evil, not just sexual sin.

But homosexuals claim: "It is in our genes, so God made us this way."  They often cite the media celebrated and highly touted, and yet fatally flawed and biased studies of Simon Levay and Dean Hamer, which were proven to be bogus by independent studies done by researchers at Yale, MIT, Columbia, and Washington University School of Medicine.  Most of the "gay gene" research is biased from the start because its done by gays, then its published by the liberal media, which practices Joseph Goebel's philosophy of propaganda that says if you tell a lie loud enough, and long enough, then most mindless Americans will believe it.  Dr. James Dobson says: "I am certain that homosexuality does not result from irresistible genetic influences, as some would have us believe."  Scientifically speaking, there is no gay gene.  Listen, I do not believe that God would not place in your genetic code something that would destroy your immortal soul.  The definitive problem is our sin nature and its perverted and twisted desires that people give into, just as the Bible says in Rom. 1:24-27.

IV. DESTRUCTIVE PROGRAM

We've talked about the divine pattern, its devilish perversion, and the definitive problem, but the fourth thing I want you to see is the destructive program, the propaganda and the agenda that is being pushed onto society by homosexual activists with the aid of the entertainment media, civil liberties groups, activist judges, and the intellectual elite who populate our nation’s schools and universities.

A. History: The Homosexual movement as a political force began to take shape in during the turbulent time of the late 60's and early 70's.  The first major breakthrough for activists was in 1973, the same year as the Roe vs. Wade decision, when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders, a list that included: pedophilia, transvestitism, and exhibitionism.  The decision was politically motivated, not the result of a scientific study.  But that was just the beginning.  The Homosexual movement gained momentum when Leonard McElvick, dressed in his military uniform, appeared on the cover of the Sept. 8, 1975 issue of Time Magazine.  The caption read: "I am a homosexual."

B. Agenda: For a generation, homosexual activists and their allies have aggressively promoted sodomy as an attractive alternative lifestyle in America.  Their agenda has advanced on all fronts.  What is their specific agenda?  A couple of years ago on Gay Pride Day, nearly a quarter of a million homosexual activists marched on the Washington Mall in our nation's capital.  They demanded among other things:

1. Recognition of homosexuality as a civil right

2. Affirmative action in the work place (translation: quotas).  3. Inclusion in hate crimes legislation.

4. Recognition of homosexual “marriage.”

5. Same-sex benefits for partners, which have already been granted by many major corporations across America.

6. Rights to adopt children, which is already happening in states across the country.

7. Lowering the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex (dirty secret is that a number of homosexuals devolve into pedophiles).

8. Access to all programs of the Boy Scouts (makes sense with previous point).  They want our boys. 

9. Homosexuals are demanding the right to teach sex education to your children in public schools so that they can fully appreciate the homosexual, bisexual, and transgender lifestyles.

10. Some homosexuals even demanding that they be accepted in the church and ordained into the ministry. 

C. Effectiveness: How effective have the homosexual movement been at spreading their propaganda and promoting their agenda?  Let me mention 5 battlefields where the gay agenda is rapidly advancing.

1. Legal Arena: In 1960, every state had a law against sodomy.  However, on June 26, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court in the Lawrence v. Texas decision overturned a Texas anti-sodomy law, and in effect, declared all laws prohibiting sodomy as unconstitutional.  In my estimation, this decision is second only to Roe v. Wade in its impact on American morality, because homosexuality is now considered as a constitutional right.  Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a scathing dissent in which he charged the majority with taking sides in the culture war, and warning that if anti-sodomy laws are unconstitutional, then how can laws and statutes against adultery, bestiality, pedophilia, necrophilia, etc. be enforced?   Good question.  Think about it.  One day, sodomy was a crime; the next day it became a fundamental right. 

It came as no surprise when homosexual marriage was legalized in Massachusetts on May 17th of this year.   We were all shocked and saddened to see the images of men kissing men, and women kissing women after their trip to the courthouse.  And these images came not only from Massachusetts, but from other states as officials flaunted existing laws by performing same-sex “marriages” in New York, New Mexico, Oregon, and California.  While the courts  finally stepped in to halt this madness, the truth is most of the lawbreaking officials were allowed to carry on for days or even weeks without any court action against them.  But not so with Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.  When he refused to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the lobby of his courthouse, federal courts immediately stepped in, and he was charged with ethics violations and removed from office.   But the Mayor of San Francisco was hailed as a hero!

Because of these events, President Bush responded by calling for a Constitutional Amendment to protect marriage.  Some politicians reacted by saying that this issue doesn’t rise to the level of a Constitutional Amendment.  I ask: What is more important than the sacred institution of marriage?  If we can amend the Constitution at the point of pay raises for Congress, I think we can talk about amending the Constitution to define marriage.  Other politicians say:  We should leave it to the states.  I would agree if it were not for one factor: Activist Judges.  Efforts to protect traditional marriage are winning big at the ballot box, as recent votes in Missouri (71%) and Louisiana (79%) have shown.  However, activist Federal Judges and Supreme Court Justices can and do overturn the will of the people by declaring such legislation as “unconstitutional.”  The only sure way to defend marriage is an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

If a Federal Marriage Amendment is not passed by a 2/3 vote of both Houses of Congress and 3/4 of the states, we will eventually have court mandated same-sex “marriage” in America.  How will that affect you, your family, and your rights?  Here are some samples of what is coming:

• Marriage itself has almost completely disappeared in Scandinavia and the Netherlands where same-sex “marriage” by way of civil unions is legal and most couples are now choosing to cohabitate without marrying.  Since marriage means anything, it really means nothing.  Not surprisingly, Illegitimacy rates have gone from 2% to 60% in the Netherlands.  Is that what you want for America?
  
• Sensitivity training in public schools will go into high gear, promoting the homosexual lifestyle to our kids, and we’ll talk more about that in a moment.  But is that what you want for your children and grandchildren? 
  
• Hate Crimes legislation will include sexual orientation, limiting what churches and pastors can say and do when it comes to the subject of homosexuality.  For example, a Pastor in Sweden was arrested last summer in his pulpit for reading verses from the Bible about homosexuality and he was jailed for a month.  The Anglican bishop of Chester, England, was hauled into to the local police station and questioned about a sermon he gave because it might have been in conflict with Britain's hate crimes law. In Canada, human rights commissions have fined individuals and churches for publicly stating their opposition to homosexuality.  Is that what you want for your pastor and our church?

So same-sex “marriage” legislation is not the end of it.  In fact, hate crimes legislation has already made advances in the U.S. Congress, seeking to add homosexuals for special protection under the law.  While these added laws do little to add to the punishment of people committing crimes (a sentence for murder is still the same), these laws will threaten our Constitutional right to free speech.   The homosexual agenda is winning in the legislative arena. 

2. Entertainment Arena: Think about it.  There's probably not a major TV program that doesn't have a homosexual character in it.  Joining NBC's Emmy winning "Will and Grace," Showtime’s “Queer as Folk” et al in celebrating the homosexual lifestyle are several new shows last year: Bravo’s "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" features five gay men who call themselves "The Fab Five" who do a style makeover on a straight guy.  Another show, NBC’s "Boy Meets Boy," has a gay bachelor who must choose one man among 15 other men to be his partner.  MTV is sponsoring an all gay network coming online soon.  And there are many others, but their studied purpose and goal is to normalize and legitimize what the Bible calls an abomination.
 

One of the latest fads sweeping our high school and college campuses today is bisexuality, mainly with young women. This means that girls enjoy being with boys sexually and also enjoy being with girls sexually. They are bi-sexual.  Those who watched the 20th Annual MTV Video Music Awards last year were treated to this perversion when Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were singing Madonna’s Like a Virgin, and Madonna came out on stage and gave them both an "open mouth kiss."  Then at the close of the song, they got all in a line, held up their fists and shouted together, "We're bored with the concept of right and wrong!"  And the crowd gave them a standing ovation.  But I can assure you that there was no applause from heaven.

4. Educational Arena:  Homosexual clubs are multiplying in the public schools, a couple of 1000 over the past 15 years, recruiting more of our teens into their sinful practices.  The NEA, largest union in America, urged on by Homosexual activists are promoting their agenda in the public schools, brain washing our children with "Heather has Two Mommy's" and "Daddy's New Roomate," which are required reading in elementary school classrooms across the nation.  Two recent indoctrination films “It’s Elementary” and “That’s a Family” are being promoted, which preach the virtues of homosexuality and the vices of homophobia.

In one New England elementary school, a transsexual was invited into a 1st grade class to give details of his operation.  In another elementary school, children were assigned to play gays in a school skit.  Two girls were to hold hands and pretend to be lesbians.  One boy's line was: "It’s natural to be attracted to the same sex."  One 9th grade High School health textbook teaches: "Testing your ability to function sexually and give pleasure to another person may be less threatening in the early teens with people of your own sex...You may come to the conclusion that growing up means rejecting the values of your parents."

You say: Well that's some liberal school districts in some liberal states.  And I'll grant you that, but it is just a short step from AIDS awareness, and gay sensitivity training to some of the extreme indoctrination and recruitment that's going on in other places around the country.  It is like the frog in the kettle.  Just turn up the heat a degree at a time, just introduce the homosexual agenda in small doses, and before long, the frog is cooked.  Writing in the leading homosexual magazine, The Advocate, lesbian author Patricia Nell Warren, said this: "It is the first fact of civilization, whoever captures the kids owns the future."  And she is right.  That’s why they are fighting for access to your children.  Listen to Homosexual Activist Michael Swift: “We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools...in your youth groups, in your movie theatre bathrooms... wherever men are men together. Your sons will become our minions and do our bidding. They will be recast in our image. They will come to crave and adore us."  That’s the goal of the homosexual agenda, and they are using the educational arena to reach it.

5. Religious Arena: We watched in shock as the Episcopal Church surrendered to the gay agenda when their leadership appointed Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire.  Standing before the cameras and microphones with his daughter, Ella, and his sexual partner for 13 years, Mark Andrew, Robinson stated, "God has once again brought an Easter out of Good Friday."  How sickening!   Another church leader told the New York Times: “It’s a great day for the church!”  No, it is a sad day for the Episcopal Church—the church of many of our Founding Fathers and Presidents. 

But the Episcopal Church is not alone.  According to USA Today, 5 major denominations in America ordain openly gay clergy and bless same-sex unions: These are the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church USA, Episcopal Church, American Baptist Church and United Church of Christ.  The battle for homosexual rights is also raging among others denominations such as the United Methodists.  Even some Southern Baptists churches are struggling with this issue, particularly those aligned with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which recently defeated the issue by a narrow margin.

Just look at how the attitudes have changed toward homosexuality from the previous generation.  Sodomy has gone from the closet, to the classroom, to the congress, to the cabinet, to the clergy.  Barna research bears out that public opinion is becoming more and more accepting of the homosexual lifestyle, even among so-called Christians.  In fact, in 1988 75% of the American public though that sex between two people of the same sex was wrong, but 10 years later that number was down to 55%.  And while they only represent a fraction of the total population (2.8% of men and 1.4% of women), homosexuals are very vocal, highly organized, well funded, and very motivated.  They have used the political system, the media, movies, and even the schools to "mainstream" their sinful lifestyle.  And now they are poised to get homosexual marriage sanctioned across America and all that goes with it.

I say again, homosexual activists won’t stop at recognition, their aim is domination.  Congressman William Danemeyer in a book entitled: "Shadow in the Land: Homosexuality in America" lays out the Homosexual’s challenge to the Christians of America: Quote: "Now the tide has turned.  We have at last come out, and in doing so, we have exposed the mean-spirited nature of Judeo-Christian morality.  You have been narrow-minded and self-righteous.  But with the help of a growing number of your own membership, we are going to force you to recant everything you have ever believed about homosexuality….  We have captured the liberal establishment, and the liberal press.  We have already beaten you on a number of battlefields, and we have the spirit of the age on our side.  You have neither the faith nor the strength to fight against us, so you must surrender now (p. 105-107)."  End of quote.  Let me say this for the record, I'll surrender when hell freezes over and then skate on the ice!

But church, all of their agenda will come to pass if you continue to keep your mouth shut and sit on your hands.  It can happen, it will happen, it is happening!  As Edmund Burke is often quoted: "All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."  It is time for you and for you and for you to get involved, lift your voice, vote your values, and take America back before it is too late.   Remember what happened in Genesis 18-19.  God tells Abraham that He's going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of its wickedness, but Abraham interceded for his nephew Lot and his family.  And because of his intercession, judgment was delayed and Lot was delivered.  And I want to tell you that the future of America does not lie in the hands of the politicians in the Congress, the president in the White house, or the Judges in the Courthouse, it lies with the people of God who get on their knees, and pray and seek God's face.  Abraham did something the Sodomite Government wasn't able to do.  He got a hold of God.  Do you know how to do that?  Do you know how to intercede?  You can change the destiny of a nation by intercession.  In Ezekiel 22:30, God says: "I'm looking for an intercessor, I'm looking for someone who will build up the wall, and stand in the gap on behalf of the land so I won't not have to destroy it."  But in that day God found no one.  Can He count on you?  The need of the hour is not just eloquence, not just enthusiasm, not just activism, but we must begin with intercession.

If you think God will tolerate homosexuality, remember what He did after Lot and his family escaped.  God destroyed these cities with fire and brimstone.  Archaeologists have found that it used to be a beautiful and fertile plain, but now it is lifeless and barren.  In the NT, 2 Peter 2:6 says Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone or sulfur, and then reduced to ashes.  And what happened there is simply a preview of the fires of hell.  Jude the half-brother of the Lord Jesus wrote in v 5 and 7: "Though you already know this, I want to remind you...Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.  They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."  The point is this: God will punish this sin!

Consequently, the judgment and wrath of God is on any nation, any people, who condone what God condemns.  God will judge this sin in the fierceness of His wrath, and if we don't intercede as Abraham interceded, and if the people of America do not repent, we will experience the judgment of God on this nation.  The homosexual agenda and those politicians, actors, educators, and voters who align themselves with it, are advancing a destructive program that will incur the very wrath of a Holy God.  For just as the fire of judgment fell on Sodom and Gomorrah, judgment will fall on America.

V. DELIGHTFUL PROMISE

We have talked about the Divine Pattern: One man, one woman, in a marriage relationship for life.  We've talked about the Devilish Perversion: Men with men or women with women, and the Bible calls that an abomination, sin that is under the wrath of God.  We’ve talked about the Definitive Problem—there is no gay gene but there is a sin nature.  Then we talked about the Destructive Program—the homosexual agenda that is relentlessly being advanced.  Finally, I want you to hear the Delightful Promise found in 1 Cor. 6.  Read 9-10.

Is there any hope?  Listen to v 11.  Listen, Jesus is the one who can break this or any powerful stronghold of sin and offer freedom and forgiveness, and hope.  For when we turn from our sins, and turn to Christ, He will come in and transform us and change us.  He will change our desires, He'll change our passions, He will change everything about us.  2 Cor. 5:17 says: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new!"  And that is the delightful promise of God to every person here this morning, regardless of who you are or what you have done.  You can be a new person in Christ Jesus!

Call to Decision:  You may be here this morning and you're struggling with homosexuality.  Listen, God hates that sin but He loves you, and you'll never know joy, peace, hope, and meaning until you give your life to Jesus Christ and make Him Lord.  Literally thousands of homosexuals across this nation are being set free by the grace of God, and you can be too.  That family member, who is enslaved by homosexuality, can too.  Others need to stand up and speak up for righteousness in this nation, and you need to vote your values on Election Day.  But most of all, we need to do as Abraham did in his day, and commit yourself to pray that God would not destroy this nation in its wickedness for the sake of the righteous.  Pray that God will give us the strength to be model families before a watching world.  Pray that He will help us restore the biblical ideal for the family to the lofty place it once held in America.