The Day Jesus Came Out

THE DAY JESUS CAME OUT

Pastor Lee Steele

June 12, 2011

1st Annual Celebrate Life with PRIDE Event

Introduction:

After posting the title of the message that I was bringing in this year's Celebrate Life wtih PRIDE event I began receiving emails and posts from various persons from various  parts of the nation.  Some of these message were simply curious as to the meaning of the message and wished to hear it in its fullness.  Some of the messages were questioning my 'wisdom' in giving a message such a title; while others were assuming and condemning, implying that I was terribly misguided by naming Jesus a homosexual.   Before I brought the message last night I refused to discuss the contents until after the service.  Now that the service is over and done (and a wonderful, WONDERFUL time it was) I am going to post a very brief, condensed version of the message itself.  

"The Day JESUS Came Out"

Scripture References:

Hebrews 4: 15 and 16

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmaties; but was in all points and in every way tested and tried as we are, yet HE was without sin.  Knowing that, let us go BOLDLY to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.

Luke 4:16-21

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and , as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and stood up for to read.  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written (of Himself):  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  Then He closed the book and He gave it again to the minister and sat down..."

Jesus, as was custom in that day, traveled back to the city of His childhood, Nazareth, and upon entering the Temple was handed the scrolls of Scripture to read.  It was His turn on this particular day to read as was appointed Him to do by the priest of the Temple.  Little did those around Him know that the passage that was selected for Him to read was written hundreds of years before about HIM.  He read and expounded that the Spirit of God was upon Him and the anointing was present so that He could:

*Preach and bring some GOOD NEWS!  

*Heal the broken hearted!

*Preach deliverance to the captives!

*Give sight to the blind!

*Set free and liberate those that have been bruised!

*and to Proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord had arrived!  

In reading this passage... keeping in mind that it was written for Him and about Him many years earlier... Jesus made the proclaimation and the declaration that HE WAS the CHRIST the SON of the LIVING GOD and on this day THIS PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE; this prophecy had come to pass!

This was the day that JESUS CAME OUT!

Yes, He came out.. He did, He did!  To understand what is meant by Him "coming out" you have to understand this:

Because Jesus was reading this in the Temple in His home town we can only assume (dont go there) that He was surrounded by those who knew Him personally.  Although His friends were listening to Him make this proclaimation they didnt understand because He was their friend.  They played together as children.  They fished together, fetched water from the wells together, ran the dirt roads and skipped stones on the water together.  Their mothers cooked and baked together and they had dinners together

We must also assume that the neighbors of His parents were there... they had watched the boy Jesus grow up and knew that Joseph and Mary had raised Him along side of His brothers and the other children in town.  They knew Joseph was a carpenter and had taught Jesus the trade as well.

If His friends and neighbors were there then surely His family must have been there also.  Mary and Joseph knew in their hearts and spirits that this day would eventually come and today it had arrived.

Something happened in the realm of the spirit at this PROCLAIMATION that Jesus had made.  The very moment Jesus made this proclaimation that "today this scripture is fullfilled" (verse 21) something took place:

Jesus CAME OUT of His humanness and stepped into His deity.

Jesus CAME OUT of His 'childhood' of Mary and Joseph and stepped into being the SON OF GOD

Jesus CAME OUT of the carpenter's work shop and became the corner stone

Jesus CAME OUT of the darkness and became the light

Jesus CAME OUT of the law of Moses and the prophets and became the NEW COVENANT

Jesus CAME OUT of imperfection and became total PERFECTION

Jesus CAME OUT of bondage and became our FREEDOM

Jesus CAME OUT of the scriptures and became the WORD

Jesus CAME OUT of the dead, burdensom, cumbersom, ineffective religious nothingness and became LIFE!

JESUS CAME OUT!

Some of you may be asking... "Okay, so Jesus came out and pronounced that He had arrived to carry out His life's mission... what does that have to do with me"?

Well, insomuch that this message is being delivered at a PRIDE event, many of you here are gay and can certainly relate to the rest of the story.

Jesus knew that his "COMING OUT" would not be without negative result or impact.  Jesus knew that when He 'came out' there would be some that would accept Him and love Him as always and even more...He also knew that would not be the case with all... 

He knew He would be talked about

He knew He would be made fun of and mocked

He knew He would be beaten

He knew He would be driven out of town

He knew He would lose friends

He knew He would be rejected and turned away by the "religious, church goers" of the day

He knew He would be put to death

Do you remember the first scripture I read from Hebrews?  

All of this relates to you because HE KNOWS EXACTLY what you have gone through, come through, put up with, tolerated and faced in your coming out!  He knows exactly what it feels like to be treated so horribly by just simply being who you were born to be.  He is keenly and well aware of the fact that many of you have been talked about, teased, ridiculed, rejected, turned away, beaten, abused, bruised, mocked and despised.  He also is aware that some have lost their lives, just as He did, for being nothing more than who you are.

Remember that is why 'they' killed HIM... because He was who He was.

Listen, Jesus didnt come out so you could be driven back into a closet!

Jesus didnt come out so you could be hidden in a dark room at a bath house or a booth at a book store!

Jesus didnt come out so that your life would be lived from the stool of a smokey bar somewhere with no where else to go and feel welcomed and loved!

NO!

Jesus came out to bring you GOOD NEWS of peace, joy, hope, love and LIFE in HIM!  

He came out to HEAL YOUR BROKEN HEART!

He came out to DELIVER YOU OUT OF THE CAPTIVITY OF YOUR MIND

He came out to GIVE YOU SIGHT to see HIM and HIS life's abundant promises and blessings!

He came out to bring you to Himself and RESTORE you to the place that HE has prepared for you!

He came out to restore your health and wellness, to reverse the ugliness that hate often brings!

Finally He came out to assure you that the 'acceptable year of the Lord' had come!  Do you know what that means?  The acceptable year of  the Lord is the YEAR OF JUBILEE.  The year of jubilee was the seventh year in which ALL debts of every person were forgiven and erased!  Today, because HE came out the debts that you owed to GOD are freed and cleared through, under and by HIS blood!

JESUS CAME OUT FOR YOU!  Knowing this, why would you ever allow someone who has never given his/her life for you to push you backwards.  He came out to PROPEL you forwards into His HOPES and DREAMS for your life!  To bring you to an EXPECTED end!

What I like most about the passage from Luke that I read was this:

After He had read the passage from Isaiah, He "closed the book and handed it back to the minister".  In so doing He made the announcement (by His actions):  The law is fulfilled, the old is done and gone.. the new has arrived and death is passed.  I am here to save you, deliver you and keep you.  I am here to LOVE YOU and ACCEPT YOU.  I am here to be your replacement for sin's punishment!  In closing that book and handing it back, He was demonstrating the giving of bondage back to religion.  He was giving judgement and hatred back to religion.  He was giving darkness and ugliness back to religion.. and HE was making a NEW way.  A way of LOVE and LIGHT, PEACE AND JOY, HOPE AND GLADNESS.

Once and for all it is done and over and YOU HAVE ALL THE HOPE YOU WILL EVER NEED simply because Jesus came out!

If religion has abused you.. hand it back.

If religion has ridiculed you and despised you.. hand it back

If religion has tried to put you in the bondage of 'thou shalt and thou shalt not" .. hand it back

If religion has mocked you, humilliated you, mocked you and disrespected you... HAND IT BACK!

Jesus came out and suffered all the things that many in the GLBT community have faced or will face... He knows how you feel... He knows where you are.. and trust me, He came out to love you not to turn you away!

AMEN!