Does God Bless Same-Sex Unions?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2, Hebrews 13:4, Matthew 19, Leviticus 18, Acts 15, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, John 10, Matthew 7:12

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--does-god-bless-same-sex-unions
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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to answer your question we must go to the Bible the word of God we believe the Bible is our Authority for salvation for Christian Life and for Christian Ministry 2 Timothy 3:16 through 17 says all scripture is given by inspiration of God it's profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect or mature complete uh thoroughly equipped for every good work and so when it when it comes to decisions like this or beliefs like this we're going to go to the Bible as our Authority that's the teachings of God's word so we're not going to go by Culture by current theories of psychology or sociology we're going to go by what the Bible says uh for a full discussion you can read my book God's infallible word when we go to the Bible we can start with Genesis chapter 1 the very first chapter before sin entered the world um we see God's plan so Genesis 1:27 God created humans as male and female and then in Genesis chapter two we see God's plan for marriage before there was a church uh before there was human government in the very beginning God established what marriage is supposed to be like he said a man will leave his father and mother King James says cleave unto his wife or join to his wife and the two will become one flesh that's God's plan for marriage uh a valid marriage in the sight of God is a public leaving of your previous uh family a public cleaving or joining of man and woman and they become one flesh which is physical uh emotional spiritual and it's meant to be for Life The Book of Malachi says God hates divorce it's not his plan sometimes it is U necessary or possible because of sin but it wasn't God's plan in the beginning uh so that's very clear and the Bible teaches that outside of marriage uh this kind of a marriage is defined biblically then sexual relationships are sinful so Hebrews 13:4 it says that God approves of marriage that the the marriage bed is wholesome and undefiled but Those who commit fornication sexual relationships outside of marriage God will judge them so that's God's basic plan when Jesus was asked a question about divorce in Matthew 19 uh he went back to God's original plan in Genesis he actually quoted from Genesis chapter 2 he said this is still God's plan and don't change God's plan he was talking about uh they were talking about options for divorce and he said well unless it's for the cause of fornication you shouldn't get a divorce because God's plan is for the two to become one and what God is join we should shouldn't separate and I suppose perhaps we can uh say the equivalent thing is what what God has designed to be separate we should not try to join so for that reason we believe that the only proper marriage has to be between one man and one woman who make a lifelong commitment uh therefore same-sex marriage is not biblical it's not a true marriage in God's eyes and that means same-sex unions of other kinds uh would be fornication would be a violation of God's plan for marriage to be sinful so notice this goes back to the original creation account before there was sin as God designed the human race and of course it's obvious he designed this kind of marriage first for procreation but second for um uh male and female are complimentary that is they are not equivalent to each other they're equal in God's sight but they're not equivalent they have different roles and functions and so to fulfill God's full image it takes both man and woman to fulfill God's plan for family for society it takes the complimentary input of husband and wife father and mother they're not considered to be the same they're considered to be different both are needed for God's plan now if you go throughout the scripture The Book of Leviticus chapter 18 talks about uh proper versus improper sexual relationship ship and marriages and although that's under the law of Moses this part of the the uh Book of Leviticus is dealing with God's moral law and so in Acts 15 when the early church was debating what needs to be retained from the law Moses when Gentiles come into the church do they need to keep the law of Moses the answer is no do they need to be circumcised no but they did need to keep the moral law specifically the laws against fornication so acts 15 the early church explicit Incorporated those teachings from the Old Testament of course we have the New Testament teachings in addition to Jesus Romans chapter one The Apostle Paul explained and he very specifically identified same-sex relationsships between men and samesex relationships between women and he said these are contrary to God's plan they're contrary to Nature as a society goes further and further away from God as they refuse to worship God refuse to acknowledge God they turn to their own div is they're LED progressively further and further away until they end up uh even going against nature itself as created by God this indicates the decline of human society and human culture now that's not to say that people who are involved in these sins are any worse Sinners than others but it's just to say as a society goes further and further away from God's plan uh you see this kind of sin being accepted and condoned uh and and that's exactly what you're finding today in a post-christian Society uh there are other passages um uh for example the book of Jude uh refers to Sodom and gomorah there are many sins in those evil cities but one of the sins was same-sex relationship and Jude specifically mentions um this immoral going after strange or unnatural desires of fulfilling them uh a very important passage of scripture for the church 1 Corinthians chapter 6: 9- 11 list a number of sins including adultery including fornication including homosexual relationships so notice we're not talking about whether someone is tempted whether someone might have a predisposition whether they been the past labeled with an orientation or nature we're not talking about the person we're talking about actions uh so lustful thoughts and lustful actions outside of a Biblical marriage whether homosexual or heterosexual or contrary to God's plan and so after listing these sins um the Bible says people who participate in these sins will not inherit the kingdom of God it goes on to say and such were some of you so in the past there are Christians who were involved in these various sins but you're washed you're Sanctified you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God so in the Cor thian Church in the New Testament Church there were people who had been involved in fornication adultery homosexual relationships and but they had been transformed by the power of God uh through a new birth experience of being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit their sins were washed away forgiven they received a new identity new power the spirit of God to help them develop a new life and so when somebody comes says I want want you the church to bless a same-sex Union our answer would be we cannot bless what God has not blessed we cannot bless what God has condemned um but if you want to know God's plan we'll teach you God's plan and we can offer a new life we we don't hate you we don't despise you uh and and so I think you know certainly we should treat people who are involved in the same-sex relationship we can treat them with kindness respect um there are humans who are created in the image of God there are humans for whom Jesus Christ died uh so we can be friends we can be co-workers uh we can recognize them as fellow citizens with all the rights of citizenship equal to uh anyone else uh but when it comes to asking for a blessing on a certain relationship we can only bless what God has blessed according to his word but if they're interested in God's plan we can say God can forgive you God can transform you and God can give you the kind of relationship that he approves so we're not trying to destroy your life we're not trying to put you under um a heavy burden or oppression or condemnation we're trying to offer you God's plan for your life and it's an Abundant Life John chapter 10 says the thief comes to kill to steal destroy and these are the words of Jesus but I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly so Jesus will give us an abundant life and our answer would be if you follow God's plan then God's blessings will be upon uh your life because it will be according to his word and it will be led by his spirit so uh we as uh Bible Believers must always stand firm on the teachings of the word of God some people have said the upci stance on this issue is bigoted and outdated how should Christian leaders respond to that allegation well my answer is it's not bigoted and if there is some hint of bigotry we need to get rid of that so we we can treat uh someone in a same-sex relationship or someone who have same-sex desires the same as anyone else same rights same privileges as far as humans are concerned um and as I said we can have a positive working relationship or positive friendship or a positive family relationship so no we're we're not bigoted we're not trying to deny them uh the right to live in our society and function as anyone else in our society but when it comes to the church we must follow God's plan to give a a simple but lesser illustration we treat teach that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and of course that involves sexual relationships but it also involves such things as smoking and drinking so we teach that uh if you want to follow God's plan for your life you shouldn't smoke cigarettes you shouldn't uh drink alcoholic beverages you shouldn't use things that can cause addiction or harm to your physical body does that mean we hate people that smoke cigarettes does that mean we want to take away their human rights that we want to deny them the privileg of society no we recognize it's a legal activity so we're not here trying to destroy their civil rights but we're telling them God's plan for their life so if they want to follow God's plan here it is if they choose not to follow God's plan that's their choice as a human God himself respects their choice but we're bound to say there are consequences both in this life and in the life to come for the choices that people make so no this is not a matter of bigotry uh we we need to respect people we need to treat other people as we would wish to be treated that's the golden rule that Jesus annunciated in Matthew 7:12 but at the same time we recognize truth is still truth so to use my analogy uh we still recognize that cigarettes cause 400,000 Americans to die every year so we're not going to pretend it doesn't we're not going to say oh it's good for you it's fine God doesn't care we don't care no we do care it does make a difference there is a right and wrong there there are consequences for bad choices uh but so