Living without the penalty of sin

*[[1Ti 2:1-4/ISV]]* 1 First of all, then, I urge you to offer to God petitions, prayers, intercessions, and expressions of thanks for all people, 2 for kings, and for everyone who has authority, so that we might lead a quiet and peaceful life with all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who
wants all people to be saved and to come
to know the truth fully.


*[[1Ti 1:15]] ISV* This is a trustworthy saying that deserves complete acceptance: To this world
Messiah came, sinful people to reclaim. I am the
worst of them.


*[[1Co 3:11-15/ISV]]* 11 After all, no one can lay
any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that is Jesus the Messiah. 12 Whether a person builds on this foundation with gold, silver, expensive stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 the workmanship of each person will become evident, for the day of judgment will show what it is, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s action. 14 If what a person has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If his work is burned up, he will suffer loss. However, he himself will be saved, but it will be like going through fire.


*[[1Th 4:1-8/ISV]]* 1 Now then, brothers, you
learned from us how you ought to live and to
please God, as in fact you are doing. We ask and
encourage you in the Lord to do so even more.
2 You know what instructions we gave you
through the Lord Jesus. 3 For it is God’s will that
you be sanctified: You must abstain from sexual immorality. 4 Each of you must know how to control his own body in a holy and honorable manner, 5 not with passion and lust like the gentiles who do not know God. 6 Furthermore, you must never take advantage of or exploit a brother in this regard, because the Lord avenges all these things, just as we already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to be holy. 8 Therefore, whoever rejects this instruction is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.


*[[1Th 5:14-22/ISV]]* 14 We urge you, brothers, to admonish those who are idle, cheer up those who are discouraged, and help those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that no one pays back evil for evil. Instead, always pursue what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Always be joyful. 17 Continually be prayerful. 18 In everything be thankful, because this is God’s will for you in the Messiah Jesus. 19 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Instead, test
everything. Hold on to what is good. 22 Keep
away from every kind of evil.


*[[2Th 3:13-15/ISV]]* 13 Brothers, do not get tired
of doing what is right. 14 If anyone does not obey
what we say in this letter, take note of him. Have
nothing to do with him so that he will feel ashamed. 15 Yet, don’t treat him like an enemy, but warn him like a brother.


*[[1Ti 1:5-11/ISV]]* 5 The goal of this instruction
is love that flows from a pure heart, from a clear
conscience, and from a sincere faith. 6 Some
people have left these qualities behind and have
turned to fruitless discussion. 7 They want to be
teachers of the Law, yet they do not understand
either what they are talking about or the things
about which they speak so confidently. 8 Of
course, we know that the Law is good if a person
uses it legitimately, 9 that is, if he understands
that the Law is not intended for righteous people
but for lawbreakers and rebels, for ungodly
people and sinners, for those who are unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers,
their mothers, or other people, 10 for those
involved in sexual immorality, for homosexuals,
for kidnappers, for liars, for false witnesses, and
for whatever else goes against the healthy
teaching 11 that agrees with the glorious gospel
of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.


*[[Rom 13:12-14/ISV]]* 12 The night is almost
over, and the day is near. Let’s therefore put aside the actions of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let’s behave decently, as people who live in the light of day. No wild parties, drunkenness, sexual immorality, promiscuity, quarreling, or jealousy! 14 Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and do not obey your flesh and its desires.


Just because we are free from sin through
Yahshua does not mean that we get to live
however we want. The idea that sin is no longer
an issue with a Christian is very opposite from
what we learn in the scriptures. The idea of
holding other people up to impossible standards
or believing that through our actions we can earn our salvation is also wrong. So what is the middle ground? What is the truth? We have invited YHVH to live inside our body, why then would we take our body into sin? If flesh is subject to the laws of sin then it is easy to see that acts of flesh are acts of sin. Unfortunately if we acknowledge that homosexuality is a sin we will instantly be judged by this statement and accusations of condemnation will be added to us. If we call rape a sin we don’t get accused of condemning the rapist. If we acknowledge that drug addiction is a sin we don’t get accused of condemning the drug addict. These things are viewed differently than homosexuality when in fact they are the same. As we see with 1 Corinthians 3:11 - 15 that salvation is not the issue at hand. How can we condemn something that God has made a way of salvation for? Condemnation is just a tool to leverage
against a brother in order to call them judgmental.We are called to judge, and if you don’t believe that you are making judgments on a daily basis you are lying to yourself. These judgments we make are intended to protect ourselves or to correct ourselves, not to judge others. We are instructed to separate ourselves from sin, but without judging what is and is not sin how can we separate ourselves? By targeting opposing opinions with accusations of condemnation it allows one to redirect one's own feelings of confliction onto the owner of the opposing opinion. In this way people can create an enemy out of anyone that does not accept their view point and allows them to justify their own sinful actions to themselves.

If homosexuality is evil then shall we treat the
homosexual as an enemy? No. Never answer evil
with evil. Like Martin Luther King says: Hate will
never drive out hate, only love can do that. The
homosexual that accepts Yahshua in his heart
and follows his commandments just like any
other sinner, like myself, will be saved. Therefore there is no condemnation, just the simple fact that homosexuality is an act of the flesh and shall not be called righteous. The homosexual can be righteous through the salvation of Christ but the act of homosexuality will always be an act of the flesh. Just like adultery, stealing, lying or coveting are all acts of the flesh. 

Now we don't see people trying to justify their salvation, we see people trying to justify their actions. Acceptance is now blanketed under love, and love is now expressed through physical means, and physical desires are taught to be pursued as a method of achieving happiness. But I tell you this, if the church continues to call those things that are cursed as holy and the things that are holy as cursed, the conflicted feelings of condemnation will never go away.

- The Responsible Christian