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Discussion Forum : Scriptures and Doctrine : Is it okay for a church to avoid "divisive topics" like Homosexuality/Gay Marriage and Abortion?

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yoadam
Member



Joined: 2009/2/10
Posts: 97
OREGON

 Re:

Quote:

KrispyKrittr wrote:
No... it is not ok.

Krispy


Hehehe. Simple enough! :-)


_________________
Adam

 2009/7/28 9:09Profile









 Re:

It is that simple, you're right. The only reason people dodge these issues in the church is because they are afraid of offending people... and if they offend people then they may not get saved. They forget that salvation is of the Lord, not of us. Our duty as believers is to preach the truth. If 50% of the congregation gets offended and leaves... let them leave, but dont compromise the truth.

If someone rejects the gospel because they are offended by the truth and never get saved... thats up to God to sort out.

Out duty is to be faithful to the truth.

Krispy

 2009/7/28 10:35
sojourner7
Member



Joined: 2007/6/27
Posts: 1573
Omaha, NE

 Re:

Look to the example of Jesus Christ. HE confronted
hypocrisy, injustice, unrighteousness, and sin
and denounced it !!


_________________
Martin G. Smith

 2009/7/28 10:45Profile
rbanks
Member



Joined: 2008/6/19
Posts: 1330


 Re:

Matthew 9:10-13 (KJV) 10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Matthew 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

Luke 7:34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!


Luke 15:1-2 (KJV) 1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

Luke 19:7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.


Jesus was accused of a lot of things but he never sinned, not once, in thought, word, or deed. The bible tells us in Hebrews 7:25-26 (KJV) 25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Also we find in Romans 5:6-8 (KJV) 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

One thing they did have right about Him was that he is the sinners’ only true friend. The fact that he loves the sinner so much that He gave His life on the cross to die in the sinners place is too wonderful to comprehend. Jesus is the master at telling sinners the good news and saying that we must repent and believe the gospel.

Jesus is the truth and there will always be the division of those who will not accept it but we must know that Jesus came not to condemn but to save.

John 4:4-18 (KJV) 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

John 8:3-11 (KJV) 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Notice how Jesus preached the gospel to these two women living in sin. He is the master of all preachers. He didn’t major on their sin and neither did he tell them how sinful they were. Jesus has a way of telling people the good news of eternal life and letting them know that He can save them if only they will repent and believe in Him. He had a way of getting people to see there need of having the life of God in them so that they will repent of all sin so that they can have this life of God in them which is Christ the Lord. You will never win people to God by only preaching against sin they must first see what they are missing. They must then know that they can’t live in any sin if they are to have fellowship with God. The sinner must see and experience the Love of God before he will be willing to completely part with every sin. The true preacher of the gospel must hate all sin but he must love the sinner with the love of Christ and preach the good news to where the sinner would rather have Christ than to have any sin. We are to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We must preach Jesus. That is our main message and sin will have to give us up because Jesus and any sin cannot abide together. If we major on sin in our preaching more than we do on the message of Jesus and what He has done for us then we have got the cart ahead of the horse and we will have little results.

Jesus is against sin more than anyone else but notice how he went about the sinners with the good news of the kingdom and then he told them to sin no more.

Grace to all!


 2009/8/1 22:51Profile









 Re: Is it okay for a church to avoid "divisive topics" like Homosexuality/G


Hello, JC

I am in agreement with Krispy- it is not Okay to water down the Word of God in order to not offend the lost.

[b]The great Preachers of the past, Spurgeon, Edwards, and others preached from the Word of God, that has the supernatural power of Salvation within it. If we try to to edit Gods Word, to cut and paste it here and there, in order not to "offend", the only one offended is God Himself. God, through the power of the Holy Spirit is the One who is convicting the hearts of those in the congregation of their sin, and in their need for a Savior. The Pastor/teacher who is afraid to "offend" by the preaching the Gospel is eliminating the Holy Spirit from his message, and is personally responsible for leading those in his flock straight to hell, along with himself.
[/b]

Sincerely,

Walter

Quote:

JCGarc55 wrote:
hello everyone,
if you knew a church was purposely avoiding topics like the ones mentioned above, would you be okay with it?

I'll give my take later.

 2009/8/2 2:32
JCGarc55
Member



Joined: 2004/3/1
Posts: 103


 Re:

Thank you Rbanks for the response. I appreciate it.
Regarding Jesus approach to sinners, I agree that he didn't just major on the sin. I wasn't saying that a pastor should. I don't believe in set methods for every situation. We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading. Some people are more contrite over sin while others may have a self righteousness in them. There are so many variables.

My main concern is that in a day and age when these mentioned sins are rampant and accepted by many, shouldn't a pastor address the sin and call it what it is?

Also, I do believe we need to let people know of God's holiness and how sinful we are apart from the shed Blood of Jesus. Otherwise, how will a person even appreciate His grace? Some don't even realize they need it.

By the way, the church I'm attending just started a discipleship class and the first lesson is called "The Holiness of God and the Sinfulness of Man" subtitled The Awful Dilemma. After doing the first lesson about God's Holiness, it put things in perspective for me. I desperately need a Savior every day. The lesson talked about the Wrath of God, His Holiness, Righteousness, etc.. Topics that are not really mentioned today (outside of sermonindex) .
;-)

check out this quote from AW Tozer that our pastor included in this first lesson:

All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him..
The gospel can lift this destroying burden from the mind, give beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them."
The Knowledge of the Holy, 1961 pages 2-3

thx again and God bless you.

jcg

 2009/8/2 3:28Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: s it okay for a church to avoid "divisive topics" like Homosexuality/G

Quote:
JCGarc55 wrote:
Topic: Is it okay for a church to avoid "divisive topics" like Homosexuality/Gay Marriage and Abortion?

My main concern is that in a day and age when these mentioned sins are rampant and accepted by many, shouldn't a pastor address the sin and call it what it is?

Also, I do believe we need to let people know of God's holiness and how sinful we are apart from the shed Blood of Jesus. Otherwise, how will a person even appreciate His grace? Some don't even realize they need it.


I've seen first hand that when God touches a person who knows nothing about God's grace, they DO know it and they are much appreciative!!

God is in control brother! He knows about all the rampant sins and those who are trying to overcome them and those who aren't! He is NOT hanging over the rail of the throne gritting His teeth, hoping against hope that everything down here is going to turn out alright! LOLOLOL No, Jesus is definitely in control!

I do have a question about another area rarely mentioned from the pulpit ... How many times in the past year have you heard the leader (pastor) preach a sermon against husbands who hit (slap, beat up or intimidate) their wives? Perhaps once, [b]IF EVER?[/b] I don't know, I'm just asking!

If you haven't, could I say that maybe those churches are avoiding a divisive issue as well? MORE divisive actually because if the pastor does, maybe those who do hit their women will leave and take their money with them! But yet, as Christians, we get bent out of shape over gay issues not being attacked from the pulpit.

Your quote from an earlier post, "it would seem they are the most needful to address during this time." With all the economic difficulties families are going through, you know it's got to be worse on a man who is the only one working, so it seems that this topic would indeed most needful now as well.

Jeremy, I mean no harm and I'm not trying to be divisive or argumentative with you; it just seems to me that there are more constructive ways to help Christian families and to be there for them.

God bless you brother!


_________________
Lisa

 2009/8/2 15:37Profile
JCGarc55
Member



Joined: 2004/3/1
Posts: 103


 Re:

Thank you Lysa. I wish the example you gave was the norm but looking at the condition of the church and all the casualness about sin (and yes even sometimes in my own life) I'd have to conclude that people have forgotten about Him being a Holy God. God may not be hanging over a rail of the throne, but I know He is grieved.

As for domestic abuse, I believe it should be addressed at times. The good thing is that that it is a crime and still considered wrong in our society (in America). But with homosexuality and abortion, one of them is already legal and the other one is getting close. Pretty soon pastors won't have a choice to preach against it (legally).. But I suppose some will be okay with that since they don't mention it anyways.
As for the economic difficulties, yes we definitely need to be encouraged in regards to the hope we have in Christ.

The main point is that this particular church is
[b]purposely[/b] avoiding these 2 issues. If it wasn't being addressed just by accident, I would not be bothered as much.

Thanks again for your input. No offense is taken at all and I don't think your are being argumentative. God bless you as well.



 2009/8/2 22:02Profile





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