If It Ain’t Broke
Sermon presented to COHOKC on Sept 19, 2010
By David Disbrow
Scripture: Galatians 5:2-15 and Ps 139:13-18 (attached)
In a moment I’m going to ask you to complete a phrase for me. Don’t be shy. I want you to yell it out with all you got. Ready? If it ain’t broke (response – “don’t fix it”).
That’s right you’ve got it. It’s a piece of wisdom that will save one a great deal of time and grief. In fact it can be used to sum up the message in the passage you heard read from Galatians. This section is part of a letter Paul has written to a people he had once visited and ministered to. It’s clear that Paul is upset with what can be described as “false teachers” who are confusing the Galatians. You don’t have to be a Bible Scholar or even have read the Bible much to deduce Paul is extremely angry. Unless, you somehow missed the part where Paul says, “I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!”
There are indeed many false teachers in the world. Teachers that would have us believe that we who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and those who are allies need to be fixed. Last time I checked I wasn’t broke because of who I love. How about you? Well, if it ain’t broke … (response).
Still because of various questionable agendas and perhaps some good intentions this aberration known as ex-gay or reparative therapy exists and is promoted. I believe that if Paul were alive today he would be angry that anyone would make this a requirement for receiving God’s grace.
Let’s look more at what Paul is angry about. These false teachers are promoting the idea that one must follow Jewish law in order to be Christian. Paul who himself was a Jew and an expert in Jewish law understood it was necessary to follow every single tenant of the law and he knew first hand how incredibly hard that was. He also knew that the law was misused to say who was in and who was out. I think that is why he says at the end of this passage, “If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” He is warning that it is easy to become consumed by legalism and moralism and in the end destroy each other and the community.
The law was a unique covenant between God and the Jewish people. To put it very simply, it was a covenant where God promised to be their God if they promised to follow God’s law. Paul saw in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that a new covenant had been created. It was now God’s grace, not the law that maintained this new covenant. Furthermore it was a covenant that was available to everyone who had faith in God’s grace regardless of whether they were Jewish or not.
As Paul says in his letter, once a person subscribes to any part of the law then, “he is obliged to obey the entire law” and this is a road doomed to failure. I think we can relate. Adherence to the law is a very tall order for there are over 613 statutes to this law. Most of us are familiar with the first ten:
“I am the Lord your God you shall have no other God’s before me”
“You shall not make for yourself an idol”
“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God”
“Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy”
“Honor your father and mother”
“Do not murder”
“Do not commit adultery”
“Do not steal”
“Do not bear false witness against your neighbor”
“Do not covet your neighbor’s wife”
I’m very happy to say I have no problem with that last one. “Thank you God for making that one easy for me.”
But there are other interesting statues that prohibit: cross-breeding livestock, shaving or getting a hair cut, tattoos, eating fish without scales like shrimp, crap, or lobster, and get this one – charging interest on a loan. Again Paul points out in Galatians, once a person subscribes to any part of the law then, “he is obliged to obey the entire law” Paul is not trying to say that Judaism is wrong but that God has extended grace to everyone through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus regardless of whether they are Jew or Gentile, Roman or Greek, man or woman – there is no requirement of any kind – especially circumcision and adopting Jewish law.? Then there is this law used to clobber the gay community? “You shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it is abomination.” Bottom line, this is a part of Jewish law which Paul clearly says is not a requirement to be loved by God and receive God’s grace. In fact Paul plainly says if you are determined to use any part of the law as a requirement you are literally rejecting God’s grace and that can’t be a good thing at all. Put simply, Paul is telling the Galatians that their salvation is not broke and if it ain’t broke (response).
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John Evans and his partner Ron Morano were not broke. There were a happy committed couple living together in the early 1970’s. They had celebrated 10 years together. They even attended church together and operated a successful art gallery in the beautiful city of Sausalito California. Then John met Rev. Kent Philpott, the owner of a nearby bookstore and pastor of, “Church of the Open Door.” They became friends and shared a conviction that the church should not drive homosexuals away. John envisioned a ministry that accepted gay men and nurtured their spirituality. But that was not the vision of Kent who was the much stronger and charismatic persona. He envisioned a ministry to convert and save gay persons from hell. In 1973, the first ex-gay ministry, “Love in Action.” was born.
Kent was even successful in convincing John to separate from his loving partner Ron. That separation would lead Ron to despair, drug addiction and eventually he would die a hopeless and broken man. He would become the first on a long list of casualties resulting from the ex-gay movement.
—
Paul says that if one adopts the law they are doomed to failure and furthermore it is a rejection of the Christ. The word Christ is not the name of a person it is a title like president. It comes from Greek and means “savior” So rejecting Christ is really rejecting salvation.
So why would the Galatians reject Paul’s teaching. Apparently, after Paul left the Galatians it was not long before they faced “moral dilemmas” and it appears this principle Paul taught them of loving your neighbor as yourself was not sufficiently clear or more probably it was inconvenient because it also meant you would have to sometime forgive your neighbor or worse yet sometimes ask your neighbor for forgiveness. The false teachers arrive with the perfect solution – Jewish law. A law whose first step is circumcision.
Paul compares the Galatians to a runner who is running a true course but somehow has veered of course because someone has tripped them up. He is referring to these false teachers. He also compares the teachers to a bit of yeast that infects a batch of bread quickly and totally. Paul is afraid for the Galatians.
We too must fear for our gay sisters and brothers who are being tripped up. Who are being told they can’t be loved by God unless they change who they are. They are literally being told they must be circumcised of who they are.
The irony of conservative Christian movements like the ex-gay movement is, as Paul puts it, it is a rejection of Christ. You know, that all important first part of the word “Christianity.” Now that’s irony for sure.
The other irony is the ex-gay movement doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because it is trying to fix something that isn’t broke and as we all know, if it ain’t broke, (response).
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I read about one ex-gay program for men that took place in a camp setting. The “cure” involved praying for change with a prayer partner. However, there was a slight hitch since not many straight men wanted to be part of this program. According to one participant the program went like this, “The first night you chose a prayer partner. The next night you and your prayer partner prayed fervently. Sure enough by the third night your prayers where answered”
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Even leaders of the ex-gay ministry find over time it does more harm than good. Perhaps one of the more dramatic examples is the story of Gary Cooper and Michael Bussee both who were ex-gays and worked as ex-gay counselors. They were also the founders of Exodus International, an umbrella organization for ex-gay groups worldwide. Both men traveled individually and spoke at ex-gay conferences proclaiming the good news that homosexuality could be cured or at least divorced from one’s behavior.
It was not long before they began traveling and talking at events together and in the course of their travels they became very close. No real surprise there. Each man secretly was becoming more and more distraught over the harm they saw resulting from the ex-gay ministries, but they did not talk about it until their discomfort became unbearable. It was on a plane trip to Indianapolis to speak at the General Senate of the United Church of Christ, that they finally admitted their concern to each other and acknowledged their love for each other.
I believe God gives us signals when we are on the right path. Discerning these signals can sometimes be tricky. However, the signals were pretty obvious for Gary and Michael, for when they arrived at the hotel there had been a mistake and they had been booked into the same room and if that wasn’t a clear enough signal, then perhaps the fact the room had a king sized bed convinced them they were on the right path.
They didn’t get much sleep that night. (pause) That’s because they scrapped their prepared speeches and rewrote them to be consistent with their new view of reality. The next morning they appeared before an auditorium packed with conference attendees waiting anxiously to hear about stories of change and indeed that is what they heard. However, it wasn’t the kind of change the had expected.
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Let me finish up with the Psalm your heard earlier. I think this Psalm clearly supports that we are created by God to be who we are and we aren’t broke. The Psalmist writes:
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
This psalm may date back some twenty five hundred years, but doesn’t it still ring true today? That is the beauty of the Bible. Not that it is authoritative but that it is reflective of a journey of faith and experience and that while culture may change over time, the Bible gives us a glimpse at truths that stand the test of time. This psalm echoes something we know in our hearts to be true. It is God who makes us and God is a marvel and so are we.
God is and will always be a great mystery. However, the way God made me is no mystery. The way I was intricately woven is very clear to me especially after spending a good portion of my life trying to fix what wasn’t broke. Furthermore, God’s grace is clear to me. Paul’s message that it is grace, not the law which saves me is clear to me. The aim to love my neighbor as myself is clear to me.
It is also clear to me that we are not broke because of who we love. What saddens me is when I hear someone say, “I don’t understand how you can be gay.” It saddens me for their sake not my own. I want to say to them, “Then you don’t understand yourself. You discovered you were attracted to the opposite sex. At least it could have been a gift of discovery but you were denied that discovery because it was expected of you to be like everyone else. The blessing of being gay is we did experience a wonderful discovery and it was a clear signal from God.
—
Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. 4 You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working?k? through love. 7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? 8 Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. 10 I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. 11 But my friends,?l? why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves! 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters;?m? only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence,?n? but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Ga 5:2-15.
—
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end?a?—I am still with you.
The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Ps 139:13-18.


