Art Toombs Ministries 

Online Bible Commentary

Whose Team are You On?

 

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (NIV)

 

Paul says in this passage that “wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God”. Then he goes on to define what he means by the term “wrongdoers”, naming certain sins. 

One of those sins is the sin of homosexuality, and, again, he says that these people will not “inherit the kingdom of God.” Paul concludes this passage by saying that some of the church members were previously in the homosexual lifestyle but that was before they were baptized and received the Holy Spirit. 

This passage tells us that before one can be baptized into the church he must confess his sin and repent, or turn away from the sinful lifestyle. So the condition for being allowed to join the church is that one must have confessed his sin and turned from that sin. 

Paul is giving the church at Corinth the qualifications for who will be accepted into the church and who won’t. These qualifications apply to every church that claims to be a Christian church. 

Paul is defining the relationship between the church and sin. The distinction Paul makes is that just as those who die in a sinful lifestyle cannot be a part of God’s kingdom in Heaven, neither can they be members of the church. They can attend the church, but they cannot become members until they forsake their sinful lifestyle. 

I have singled out the sin of homosexuality in this commentary because that is exactly what some churches are doing today. They are allowing homosexuals to join the church and be married in the church without turning from that lifestyle. 

They would never allow a professing adulterer, alcoholic, or thief to join the church and then support them in their sin by saying “attaboy, we like what you’re doing, keep it up”, but that is exactly what they are doing for homosexuals. 

These churches have singled out those guilty of the sin of homosexuality themselves, and by their actions have said “feel free to practice and promote your sin in our church because it is perfectly alright. We do not want you to change one thing.” That is not God’s design for His church. 

Also, how can we claim to be “One Nation under God” when we mock Him at every turn? Homosexual marriage mocks God’s design for marriage. Marriage is a sacred institution created by God when He created Eve for Adam in the Garden of Eden. 

If our nation continues to defy God’s will it will suffer the same fate as nations before it who fell because of their sin. We Christians will suffer the same fate as all other Americans, because we failed to take a stand against sin. 

I pray that we wake up and stand up against this sin that is bringing our churches, and our nation, down.  Our churches and all Christians are called to love the sinner but hate the sin of homosexuality. 

Whose team are you on? You can’t be on the team that supports homosexuality and be on God’s team too. You can either disappoint some unrepentant sinners or disappoint God. It is your choice. I know whose team I’m on.