Wednesday, April 10, 2013

I Support "G.A.Y." Marriage -- God and You in Christ

"Gay marriage" is getting a lot of press these days.

The very idea that men could marry men was pushed to the forefront in the last decade.

2004, and the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that indeed men many marry men, and women may marry women.

The first state to sanction gay marriage then set a heady, empty precedent in which more states, little by little, have endorsed gay marriage.

California passed by constitutional amendment a prohibition against gay marriage, which is now being debated and contested in the Supreme Court.

Point of fact, homosexuality is a choice, and a bad one. Homosexuality is a sin, but not the worst one, not as bad as any other.

Men and women were never called to identity with their sexuality or their sexual behavior.

In fact, we identify with one of two men:

"15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

"18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5: 15-21)


Adam or Jesus -- one or the other. We are defined not by what we do, but who we identify with.

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." (1 Corinthians 15: 45)

So, we have a choice. We can die in Adam, or we can live again in Christ.

We are invited through the Glorious Good New of Jesus Christ to die to our former status in Adam, and to enter into New Life in Christ. Using the analogy of a wife, a woman cannot enter into another marriage as long as her husband is still alive. Under the Old Covenant, the Israelites were married to the law. The law is perfect and good, but we cannot meet the law. We needed to die so that we could be free of the law, and thus God has provided the death for us, through His Son:

"4Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. 5For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 6But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." (Romans 7: 4-6)
 
We are broken away from the law, so that we may be "married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead"
 
Could it not be any clearer? Every believer in the body of Christ is married to Christ Jesus.
 
We are married to Him, made one with God through Christ.
 
In this respect, then, I can write:
 
"I support "G.A.Y" marriage
 
God
 
And
 
You
 
God reaches out to us, and want us to be one with Him, married to Him. The Old Testament is full of this type for us:
 
"15And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
 
16And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali." (Hosea 2: 15-16)

and

"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

"5For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." (Isaiah 54: 4-5)
 
and
 
"I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11: 2)
 
We are called to be married to Christ, to be one with Him:
 
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
 
21That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
 
22And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
 
23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John 17: 20-23)
 
The "marriage" issue has more problems than most people are willing to talk about, or that people realize.
 
Marriage in general is falling apart, not just because two men want to "be married", or because two women want to "tie the knot". The biggest problem with marriage is that the key, central, essential element is missing.
 
That person is "Jesus". He is the Life of men, the life that every man, every woman, and thus every marriage craves.
 
He is the Center, the core, the glory of all things:
 
"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." (Colossians 1: 18)
 
We are called to be married to Christ, to be one with Him, to be defined by Him, and to live because of Him.
 
I support "G.A.Y" Marriage -- I am married to Christ, and He is my love, my life, my everything.
 
What about you?

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