Leviticus 18:2-3 Axis of Sexual Perversion

"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: "I am the LORD your God. According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances.
(Leviticus 18:2-3 NKJV)

You may have heard of different types of axis. Historically, there have been different places named axis. For example, during World War II, the Axis Powers were made up of the alliance between the countries of Germany, Italy, and Japan.




In his 2002 State of the Union speech, President George Bush referred to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the Axis of Evil.

The Bible speaks about another geographical exis in Leviticus 18. The people of Israel were moving away from Egypt to the Promised Land. The Promised Land was known as Canaan. Bth Egypt and Canaan were places with people who acted differently than God wanted His people to act. In a sense, Egypt and Canaan could be called the Axis of Sexual Perversion.

AXIS OF SEXUAL PERVERSION

There is a right way to do something. But to do something in a way in which it was never intended is called a perversion. Sex is a gift from God. He has an intended way in which sex should be committed. He says that sex should be confined to two people (a man and woman) in a marriage relationship. Even though sex is a gift from God, there are practices that should not be done. When we commit sex in a way in which God never designed it, that is a sexual perversion.

Romans 9:14-21 The Hard and Soft Responsible Love of God

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?
(Romans 9:14-21 ESV)

God shows mery to whomever He wants. His sovereignty shows itself in His mercy.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
(Romans 9:16 ESV)

WILLS -> No one can decide on their own to receive God's mercy. Mercy is a product of God's will to love, not man's will. One could say this is God's will of command.


For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
(Romans 9:17 ESV)


RUNS-> No one can run the world. No one can act alone. God's mercy shows itself in His will of action. God acts to put people in power. God acts in this way so He can show His power and so He can show His name. (What is that name? - The name is of a God of all people - a God who loves.)

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
(Romans 9:18 ESV)

Does Romans 9:18 mean that God has mercy on some and on others He hardens? Yes.

You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"
(Romans 9:19 ESV)

But why? It is because some wills of action by God are based on our response to Him.

ILLUSTRATION:

MERCY ---> WILLS | WILLS ---> HARDENS

COOPERATION | OPPOSITION

Mercy is God's will of action in the realm of cooperation. God shows His mercy to those in an anticipation of cooperation. When God shows mercy to His children to do His will, it is an act of "soft" responsible love. God is being gentle with someone because He knows there will be cooperation.

Hardness is God's will of action in the realm of opposition. When God hardens His children to do His will, it is an act of "hard" or "tough" responsible love. God is pressing harder to shape someone because He knows there will be opposition.

Of course, we may question this kind of work from God. You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"

Why does God act like this to me? But if God's power is an act of His responsible love, then we should be cooperative, not in opposition to God's will in our lives.

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"
(Romans 9:20 ESV)

It is as if God works with different types of clay. God's children are the different types of clay. What kind of lump of clay am I? Am I a lump of clay that God can mold with soft hands? Or does God have to soften me? Am I so hard that God has to soften me? Does He have to be tough in His responsible love to make me learn? Does He have to press and push, so that I will soften up to His will?

Romans 9:22-23 Wrath is a product of opposition to God's Responsible Love

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory--
(Romans 9:22-23 ESV)


God uses His power (based on His sovereignty) as a display of His responsible love on different vessels. Some vessels (those on whom He shows mercy) He uses to honor Himself. On others (those on whom He shows wrath), He dishonors.

There are two types of vessels: mercy vessels and wrath vessels

God shows hard responsible love on some to soften them up for cooperation to do His will.

However, there are some that will stay in opposition, no matter how much God works on them with hard responsible love.

Why? The answer given here is so that the people who oppose God display the glory of God to others.

God prepares some vessels which He will break (vessels of wrath) so that the vessels of mercy will come to God in cooperation.

Vessels of wrath are people who oppose God - they don't come to Him like they should. And although God wants to make His power known or to show His love to others) He wants. He suffers long with these vessels of wrath. These vessels should turn to Him, but they never do. So God breaks and destroys them.

All the while, the mercy vessel has been watching what is going on with the wrath vessel. And seeing the power of God, the mercy vessel learns that it is easier to come to God and let Him show His soft responsible love.

The way that God shows His soft and hard responsible love is the same as when a child does something wrong. The boy opposes the instruction and love of the father. So the father uses tough love. Perhaps the consequences are hard - prison, or a fine.

The other child learns from what has happened. The other child learns that the father doesn't have to act with wrath, but with mercy. The other child acts in cooperation because he knows that it will be better for him.

Romans 9:21-23 God's wrath and mercy are products of God's responsible love

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory--
(Romans 9:21-23 ESV)


God makes vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. Both God's wrath and God's mercy are products of God's love.

Out of God's love (because God loves us) uses wrath as an instrument of His power.

If the wrath instrument were a trumpet, then the breath blown would be God's power. This trumpet produces a sound. The sound produced is a symbol of God's love.

If the wrath instrument were a hammer, then the arm of God's love is used to hit the object. When the hammer hits, it may hurt (the pain shows God's power). Yet it is still a demonstration that God loves you.

If the wrath instrument were an illness. then the virus or disease is a form of God's power. God uses His power to demonstrate His love to you.

Romans 9:18-24 God's Responsible Love is the Source of God's Sovereignty

Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?" But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
(Romans 9:18-24 NKJV)


Because God wants to reach people who do not know a God who loves, God will show His power, based on His love. God's power will favor certain people. It may seem to us as humans that God is showing favoritism. But if God hardens someone, it is precisely because God wants to reach that someone. God wants to show His sovereignty and His power, and He wants to show these attributes through His ultimate attribute - love.

This idea of favoritism will generally trouble us.

You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"

I know may people who have problems with God when He finds fault with us. Their problem is a problem of sovereignty (or authority). The question they are asking themselves is: "Who runs my life?" They answer this question by saying that they themselves run their own lives. When I decide that I want to be in total control of my life (while I am really saying that I have problems with God when He wants to work in my life), I am questioning God's authority and sovereignty in my life. As a Christian, I certainly have no right to question God's authority in my life. As a human, it is the struggle through which I come to discover that God is the ultimate authority in my life. Let me illustrate what I mean:

If God loves me by creating me, can I as His creation question the way that He created me?

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

Can I question God because He made me white, black, or brown? Can I question God because of where I was created (Iraq, China, or the United States)?

If God loved me by giving me parents, can I as a child of these parents question the way I was raised?

If God loved me by giving me less than He has given others, can I as a poor person question God about my financial situation?

Of course not.

Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

When we come to know God better, we will understand that His love is the source of His sovereignty over our lives. We will learn to better understand that sovereignty and follow it. We will learn to follow it, not because we think God is prejudiced, but because we know that He knows how to love us better. God knows how to love us responsibly. Because He knows this, He will use his authority over our lives to give us good things in our lives, and show us that He loves us.

Romans 9:14-17 God's Responsible Love is the Source of His Righteousness

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."
(Romans 9:14-17 NKJV)


Is God unrighteous? No, of course not. But why is He not unrighteous? Or to ask it in a positive way - why is God righteous?

God shows His mercy and compassion (which are forms of His love) to whom He desires. Therefore, mercy, compassion, and thus love are the reasons why He is righteous. God is righteous because He loves. Righteousness is a result of God's love. God can show that He is right and He can lead people in the right direction in life because He knows how to properly love.

This ability to point people in the right direction (righteousness) is tied to God's sovereignty or His authority and power. God's authority and power are based on the precept that God chose to love.

What does this mean?

God did not have to love anyone. God was not obligated to love anyone. God was and is God. God is all powerful and has ultimate authority. However, He chooses to love. Why did God choose to love? Because love was and is part of God's nature.

God showed His love, not because He favored a person. God showed His love (or refused it in the case of Pharoah) to teach the world that He is the God that people should come to in their lives. God showed His love on some so that other can see that there is a God who loves.

Most people have no idea that God loves them. They only know of a God to whom they are expected to submit. The God of the Bible wants to reach those people.

Psalm 8:3-6 God Chooses to be Responsible with His Love by Creating

God in His infinite wisdom and sovereignty chose to be responsible with His love. He chose to be responsible with His love in His act of creation. God created Adam and Eve. Why did God create humans? God created humans so He could "delight in someone to love."

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
(Psalms 8:3-6 NKJV)

Humanity was part of His creation, and yet humanity was His masterpiece.

Genesis 1:26
Deuteronomy 10:15
Psalm 148:5-6, 11-12
Psalm 144:3
Psalm 8:4
Psalm 139:13-18

God chose to create humans. Each and every individual human that God created is an act of love. His entire motive in creating us was love - God did it for no other reason.

Babies are not made like a simple chemistry lab experiment. Babies cannot be boiled down to just a chemical formula or a biological concept. Babies are an expression of love to the ones who created those babies, namely the parents. To create is an act that is derived from love. Someone does not decide to make babies for financial reasons.

The same is true with God. He never needed to create to fulfill Himself. God never said: "I don't feel well. I think I will cure it by creating."

God expressed great love in choosing to create us. He did not need to think about it at all. God has His glory - the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God the Father - they reflect each other, stay in complete unity and harmony for eternity. It had always been so. God chose to love, not because He needed to fulfill some longing in His heart. God chose to love because of His own free, independent, and magnificent sovereign will.

He chose to create a universe.

The first recorded expression of God's responsible love in creation is the universe.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
(Psalms 8:3 NKJV)

God lives in Heaven. God did not need to create at all. Yet, He chose to create the universe - the stars, the galaxies, the planets. David says: creating the universe was amazing. How could God choose to create man compared to this? How could we be in God's delight when He had such a wonderful creation as the universe? Yet, God chose to love. He chose to create life, unity, harmony, color, and community.

He chose to create humanity.

If the essential nature of God is love, then we see that love in what He created. God became very detailed - much more in His creation on earth He creates the sky, the sea, and land. He creates the entire kingdom of animals. He ends His creation with a man.

Yet, creating a man was not good enough. God knew, because He was never alone, that being alone would not be good for Adam. Therefore, God proceeds to help Adam find community. Adam is created in the image of God.

James 1:19-20 Responsible Love and Anger

My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God's sight.
(James 1:19-20 NLT)

The Bible encourages me to be "slow to be angry." Why does it say this in this fashion? The reason is because anger is a reaction, not a response.

Of course, every reaction is a response, but some reactions are not good responses. When you get angry, you are angry mostly because something happened to you and you don't know how to respond.

The Bible gives us help here in how we should respond. A simple three-step process:

1. Think before you speak
2. Speak less than you think
3. Don't let everything agitate you (in other words, don't take everything too seriously).

Since anger is a reaction, and not a response, we have to learn to respond and not react to circumstances that come our way. When you come to a situation and you don't know what to do, slow down. Anger is not the way to love someone. Anger just shows the other person that you have a problem.

Sometimes we can't help but get angry. I heard a professor in seminary tell me that the way we should approach anger is like this:

Let your fuse get a little longer. When you react by getting angry (by blowing your stack, blurting out at others), it is like a stick of dynamite. The anger is what is very explosive. The fuse that lights the anger can be circumstances you are in that you cannot control. Perhaps you don't like what someone said to you. Perhaps the work stressed you out. Perhaps driving in traffic took too long. So instead of reacting, extend your fuse a little longer, and a little longer, and a little longer.

Don't react in anger, but respond with love.

Romans 6:1-4 Responsible Love Requires Costly Grace

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
(Romans 6:1-4 NKJV)

Grace is not grace f we continue to choose to respond irresponsibly.

Dietrich Bonhöffer opens up his book The Cost of Discipleship with these words: "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace"

Cheap grace is a promise of God's blessings without any appreciation of the cost. As Bonhoeffer puts it,

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.

Cheap grace is a grace that says I can change without a process. I can easily obtain what I want in life from God. This cheapens the value of God's love for you.

God does not love you just because of who you are. Instead, God is very responsible with His love. To show His love to you, it cost God something. It cost God His Son. Why was it responsible for God to give up His Son to help us? Because the cost was so great, the love was so much, that the responsibility that God would have to show to prove His love would have to enough to match the amount of freedom we would receive.

With much responsible love from God, came much freedom to live an abundant life. So are we given the freedom to sin more because we have so much grace in our lives now in Jesus Christ?

Bonhöffer would call this a cheapening of God's grace. I would say it turns God's love and His acts to prove that love a waste of effort on His part. Therefore, grace demands that we learn to be responsible in our love with other people.

1 Corinthians 13:4-6 Ten Characteristics of Responsible Love

Ten Characteristics of Responsible Love
(1 Corinthians 13)

1.Responsible love is patient

Love is patient...
1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

Relationships take work over time. They cannot be fixed instantly. Therefore, a person has to learn to set priorities, set goals and not let the small problems in the relationship hinder the two from growing.

2.Responsible love is considerate

Love is...kind...
1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

People who share responsible love show an interest in the other person; they are genuine and honestly care for the other person in the relationship. The other person will be willing to open up to someone who shares responsible love.

3.Responsible love is satisfied and content

...love does not envy...
1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

When a spouse is jealous FOR their mate, this is healthy. However, when a spouse is possessive (which is the never-satisfying desire to have more and more of the other person for oneself, whether that be in time or attention), this is defined as jealous AGAINST their mate. When you are jealous against your mate, this is unhealthy.
When someone is not responsible in their love, they are jealous AGAINST their mate and they see other legitimate interests (people and ministry involvement) as rivals to be eliminated.

4.Responsible love is modest

...love does not...boast...
1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

A person who has responsible love will not want to be noticed. They will not spend time putting the attention on themselves. Instead, they will want to spend time with other people.

5.Responsible love is humble

...love...is not arrogant
1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

A person who has responsible love will not be egoistic. Instead, this person will be humble. The other person will be more important than themselves. While modest shows that a person does not want to promote themselves, an humble person by nature will encourage someone else.


6.Responsible love is appropriate

...love...is not rude
1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

A person who has responsible love knows the right words to say, and knows what not to say in a certain situation.

7.Responsible love is defined by giving


It does not insist on its own way
1 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)

Because I am secure in God's love, I can give to others without expectation of return from them. Because I know God will bless me as I follow him, I don't have to demand or manipulate. Responsible love is shrewdly calculating—but not to get for itself, but to move people closer to God.

8.Responsible love is self-controlled


...it is not irritable...
1 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)

An uncontrolled anger is anger that forms when a person gets easily irritated. For example, when someone steps on a dog's tail, the dog reacts. But responsible love is slow to get angry. As a result, responsible love teaches us to control ourselves from reacting to the other person.

9.Responsible love is forgiving


...it is not...resentful
1 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)

A resentful person is always counting how many times the other person has done wrong. Resentful people are bitter people. Unlike the anger than can occur when we are out of control, resentful people hold thier anger in for a long time. They wait to splash their unforgiven anger to another person. A person who has responsible forgives each wrong.

10.Responsible love is positive

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
1 Corinthians 13:6 (ESV)

People who have responsible love learn to be happy at the right time. They do not take joy at the mistreatment of other people. Instead, a person who has responsible love will be happy in the good things that happen to people. A person who shares responsible love will look to the good in others and try to say positive words of encouragement, not criticism that only brings people down.

Deuteronomy 7:7-9 - God Loves Because He Loves

God Loves Because He Loves

The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. "Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
(Deuteronomy 7:7-9 NKJV)

Why does God loves us? It is because God loves. It is as simple as that. God loves us because He chooses to love. He freely made the choice to love us and therefore He loves us.

Because God loves us, He is:

faithful

covenant-keeping

merciful

God shows that He loves us by being these qualities. But the foundation from which this qualities spring is His love. God is love it says in 1 John 4:8 – and therefore He can love.

Why does God love us because He loves us? What is the reason that God chooses to love us? Where does God make the decision that loving His creation is better than hating His creation? Why doesn't He just make demands on us because He is God? Why doesn't God just say: OK, I made you and now you owe me. Where is the source of God's desire to love us because He loves us?

Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God...
(Deuteronomy 7:9 NKJV)

God loves us because He loves us because He is God. It is as simple as that. God is a God of love. God being who He is – God – can only do what God can do. God loves. God can do much more than just love, but the basis of His actions is His love.

You may say: What about His holiness? Is not God different because He is holy? What is holiness anyway – holiness is the idea of being separate. The fact that God is holy means that He is separate and unique in quality integrity and character. Basically we are saying there is no one else like God. God is unique. This is why when we refer to other gods, we use little “g” and when we refer to Lord God, we use capital “G”. But then the question is: What makes God holy? God is holy because He is who He is. He called Himself to Moses as – “The One who always is”. The One who has always existed. Yet, what makes God separate? What makes God who He is and has always been? What makes God unique? God loves. God loves because He loves. No other god loves. Other gods demand without any reason. No other gods can provide the love that humanity needs. However, God can provide because He loves.