12 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:
13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city.
14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. 15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. 16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.
Revelation 2:12-17
Dear God, I might as well go there with this passage. What is sexual sin? Where are the lines?
I think a lot of people in the American church right now would go straight to homosexuality or any LGBTQ issues and start there. But I want to start on the other end of the spectrum. This makes me think of the part of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus says things like, “You have heard it said…, but I say…” That’s where he raised the bar on murder, adultery, and some other things. So I want to go to all of us and say, “You have heard it said do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman for that is detestable, but I say do not look at a woman in lust, subject your mind to sexual situations outside of your marriage, or sexually bond yourself to anyone who isn’t your spouse.” I have a friend who was living with her now husband for years and welcomed in a church that would never have welcomed an LGBTQ couple. Was their standard too high or too low? And how do we treat that couple who is living together outside of marriage? Do we love or reject? This passage can be a hard teaching.
Our society has gotten to the point where even the most conservative people have accepted an entire range of sexual activity. I’m thinking about a pastor friend who told me his local church was wanting to leave its denominational affiliation because of its open stance towards LGBTQ issues. His reply was, okay, we can talk about it, but we will also need to talk about all of the other sexual sins the Bible outlines. Do you really want to have that conversation? And while it was good to point out that hypocrisy on the part of his church, it is telling that the people backed down and decided to not have the conversation at all rather than give up the sin they liked.
Father, I am not holy in this area. My thoughts are not always pure. I don’t always keep myself from seeing content I shouldn’t see. There are television shows I love that display immoral sexual behavior and I partake willingly. So, I’m not picking up any stones to throw. I guess what I’m challenging myself and anyone else to do is just go to the fringe sexual activity and start with my judgments there, but start with the highest bar Jesus would set and start there. I’ll confess to you that I am still perplexed over a same sex monogamous relationship and if it is truly wrong, but I do believe that any monogamous sexual relationship, whether it be heterosexual or homosexual, is difficult to do well. And I do think homosexual relationships are complicated to do in a relationally, spiritually healthy way. I just don’t know that it’s impossible or that it’s something that is denied grace if it is wrong. But again, it’s not about them right now. It’s about me. I’m heterosexual. I am happily married. Help me to keep myself pure and love my wife how you designed me to love her.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 