Gal 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ
Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor
free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and
heirs according to the promise.
Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a
centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 2 a devout man and
one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to
the people, and prayed to God always. 3 About the ninth hour of the day
he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him,
“Cornelius!” 4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What
is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come
up for a memorial before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa, and send for
Simon whose surname is Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner,
whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.”
When my Father lay
dying in the Hospital, the people is his ward were all the same.... they
were given food, and some anti-cancer medications but there was a sense
of the inevitable and the solemn and quiet spirit to accept it. Where
will our Spirit go to when we die? will we be accepted by God?
We live in a world
where Gay people are routinely excluded from communion in the christian
church just because they were gay. We longed for a world where God is
inclusive.
As a result, we often
create a god of our own desires - a god of love and inclusion, whereas
many other Christians create a god of a roaring judge with the fires of
hell and condemnation.
Who is right? perhaps
neither.
We live in an age of
Post Modern and Progressive Christianity which frames God as inclusive
of all peoples, traditions and faiths. When we believe that God is
inclusive with no hell, neither would there be a Good News nor would
Jesus have died for us.
The bible speaks of
much narrower terms of being in Christ, of being owned by the God of
Israel as opposed to other gods.
God is indeed inclusive
for He welcomes all and deny none who chose to worship Him. Are we
included in His kingdom? The evil one does not care whether we are gay
or straight but he wants your soul.
When Israel worshipped
other gods, they were told by the Prophets and Judges that they were
departing from God and indeed acted like a prostitute seeking other men.
The picture of spiritual inclusivity is a picture of a prostitute in a
dark lane seeking whosoever that might come to pay for the services. God
is asking us today to be faithful to Jesus.
It was ironic that
Jesus met the divorsee in Samaria. Jesus did not include her faith as
equal (even though the Jews and the Samarians shared scripture),
but pointed to the church where Christians worship God in truth and in
Spirit through Jesus Christ.
The grace of God is
inclusive. In Gal 3:28, it did not matter whether they were slaves, free
people, male or female. They became one in their identification of
Christ as Lord and Saviour.
In Acts 10:1-6,
Cornelius was already a God fearer. He was a Gentile, outside of the
Jewish faith yet worshipped the God of Israel. There was no grace under
the law to bring Him in to the promises of Abraham but grace is found in
Jesus Christ. Cornelius still needed to be saved even though he
worshipped God! and he found his salvation in Jesus Christ.
As GLBT peoples, we
yearned for God to be inclusive in view of the churches who had excluded
us from her gates. God is indeed inclusive for He never rejects
people as the church does. He welcomes all who seek Him in truth and in
spirit in Jesus Christ.
Jesus does not comdemn
sin per say because if He did so, the religious people, the people of
faith would be the greatest sinners. His only condemnation is our
unbelieve in Him as Lord and Saviour.
Are we taking away the
glory and majesty of the One God of Israel? The Glory of God is
personified in the necessity of Jesus Christ to die for us and who rose
again to bring us home to God. It required an individual response to
worship Jesus and be baptised into His name.
We have a narrow
highway to heaven, but a mass transit slow train to hell. The question
is what do we tell those in the train. I rather tell of the bright
lights of heaven and the overriding grace of Jesus Christ to save,
prosper and bless us, that we might be a blessing to others.
Do we include Jesus and
the Holy Spirit in our lives? There is grace, God's supernatural
abundant grace in Jesus Christ. Jesus wants to be included in our lives.
Jesus actually owns yet, but He gives us freewill to include Him in our
busy lives.
We have many religious
churches who are beginning to accept GLBT folks. But what the Gay
community needs is to include Jesus and reject the condemnation of
society, family and church.
Are we inclusive of
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in our lives? It does not really matter
whether the churches and their perception of God as inclusive or
exclusive!
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