The Beauty of the Local Church

This past Sunday we started a new series at Northwest entitled Build Community. We will spend the next 6 weeks studying the book of Acts as we discover how the early church overcame enormous obstacles and has been able to have a global influence for 2,000 years. Of course the real beauty in the local church is that it is not simply a human institution. The local church is the body of Christ and we are to literally do the ministry, teaching, serving, and ministry of Jesus as if he were here physically. Consequently, when the local church is healthy and acts the way it is supposed to there it is a beautiful thing. Check out this video which shows Northwest Community Church along with dozens of other local churches serving the city of Joplin, MO last month after a devastating tornado. Watch how Christ followers spring into action, convert a church building into a logistics headquarters, and serve with no-strings attached all in the name of Christ. The local church is a beautiful thing!

Northwest Community Church serves Joplin:

http://youtu.be/-BgV3QQqSw0

Redesigned Website

Check out the newly redesigned Northwest Community Church website. It's got more info about the church's vision, mission, and process as well as ways to plug into what God is doing in Northwest Arkansas.

Tough Questions about Homosexuality

Recently I received an email from a friend of mine about how Christ followers are supposed to respond to the issues surrounding homosexuality. I thought it might be helpful to post my response because chances are lots of other people struggle with the same type of questions. As I mentioned in my response, these are usually extremely emotionally charged questions and our response will either draw people to God or push them further away. Here goes...

Before I try to answer you questions, let me just say that in "debates" like these I think it is so important that we remain extremely relaxed and kind, especially when talking with someone who maybe has some baggage against God, the church, and/or the Bible. Usually in a situation like this, people are not concerned about seeking truth as much as they are about proving their point. The best thing we can do is show people that we love them and are committed to pursuing truth wherever it leads...that attitude will speak volumes to most people and in the long run allow us to really speak truth into his/her life.

In my humble opinion, there are two big issues behind most questions about homosexuality:

1. God's character. Has God's character changed? Does the NT replace the OT?

2. Our character. Can we live a perfect life on our own?

I will address these two issues first and then I will attempt to answer your specific questions.

First of all, God's character has not and will not ever change. God is unchanging. He's steady as a rock. He will be the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. Probably the best way to think of the OT and the NT is to think of it as one continuos story in which God reveals his unchanging character to humanity. God has always had a heart for all people to know him. In the OT, God used Israel to be a testimony to the world of God's grace and goodness. In the NT and today, God uses the Church to be a testimony to the world of God's grace and goodness. God gave Israel a list of "rules" ONLY AFTER a relationship existed. The rules were NOT a "If you keep these, I will love you" promise. The rules were given to Israel in the context of a relationship that had already been established by God. In fact the rules were given to protect Israel from destructive lifestyles so that other people would see Israel and know immediately that something was different about their culture. In a similar way, God wants his Church (all Christ followers) to live in such a way that our lives speak of God's goodness and grace. Christ followers should have the healthiest marriages, raise the best kids, be humble servants in all areas of society, and be the most generous people...not because we are "better than others" but because we are simply being obedient to God and allowing Him to work in our lives.

Eventually this issue of God's character begins to bleed over into the issue of our character. Are we (or was Israel) able to live a perfect life on our own by keeping a list of rules? The answer is NO! That is what makes God's grace and the work of Christ so pivotal in the OT, NT, and today. The moment we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit enters our life and begins to create in us a new life. On a daily basis (even a moment by moment basis) we are able to decide how much freedom we want to give the Holy Spirit to work in our life. We can either push the Holy Spirit out of certain areas and give into temptation OR we can give the Holy Spirit total control of our body, mind, will, and emotions and live our lives the way God intended us to live. The bottom line is that we cannot do this on our own. As soon as we get self-righteous and think that we are perfect we set ourselves up to fall flat on our face. That is why the Bible tells us to walk humbly with God. Our hearts should break when we see anyone who is not living by God's standard and we should do our very best to point them to Him.

Now to your specific questions about verses like Leviticus 20:13. These verses should never be taken out of context nor used as an argument that God is somehow an unloving, homophobic God. Rather, God was trying to teach Israel how serious we are to take sin. Sin is like a cancer and when it goes unpunished it can destroy a society much quicker and with worse consequences than an invading foreign enemy. God knew (and still knows) that as the family goes so goes the nation. God was trying to show Israel that when the institution of marriage is compromised by homosexuality it destroys families and consequently Israel's culture. As a result, the NT consistently teaches the same exact thing...homosexuality is wrong and displeases God. For instance, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 specifically mentions homosexuality among other sexual sins. However, many Christians who just want to "win arguments" forget to continue readying 1 Corinthians 6:11 which talks about how God is able to forgive all of our sins when we commit our lives to Christ...that's good news!

These certainly are loaded topics but it is so important that we respond to people in a Christlike way which means always presenting truth in love. I hope your friend will come to Northwest one day because I am convinced that God could use our church to point him/her to the loving, gracious God we actually see in the Bible.