Saturday, July 4, 2015

Christian Love Without Hypocrisy

How should we respond to the Supreme Court ruling as Christians?

First, to any who would call themselves homosexual, I know and love people who identify with your life, and I’ve heard their struggles and felt their pain. Anyone with a heart would weep at the treatment many of you have received at the hands of your fathers, families, strangers and even friends. I know that Jesus gave Himself for all kinds of people, straight and gay, and the doors of heaven are wide open to all who would turn and believe in Him no matter what they’ve done. I mean, let’s be honest, if God saved me – a wretched, selfish, hateful legalist, then He can certainly save you, and just because my beliefs cannot let me condone your lifestyle, that does not mean I would not be up at 3:00 AM if you needed anything, nor does it mean I believe that I am a better person than you; I’m a sinner desperately in need of God’s grace just like everyone else.

Second, to my brothers who are upset about this: be careful, be very careful, because God has not called us to build an American theocracy but to build His kingdom – a kingdom made of people whom He loves. You may be able to blast your way through an argument but you are then forgetting the command to show perfect courtesy to all people and to speak evil of no one (Titus 3:2). How do you desire God to treat you when you’ve been faithless and when you have dishonored Him? Wrath or mercy? It is not God’s wrath, but His kindness that leads us to repentance and we should desire mercy more than sacrifice. If what we are saying is not in love, we gain nothing, so please pray for people instead of writing scathing words that will do nothing but drive men away from the Kingdom of God.

Third, and most importantly – to those who call on the name of Jesus and yet are condoning homosexual marriage. I have to ask what you do with the 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 passage, which states very clearly that those who practice homosexuality as a lifestyle will not enter the Kingdom of God. You say that “love wins” but how can you love what God speaks so clearly against? My flesh would love to mince words here, but God calls it an abomination. Did He suddenly change His mind? God says He doesn’t change, and that means if He felt it was an abomination back then, He feels the same way today. The New Testament reaffirms the same sentiments about homosexual practice (Romans 1:26-27, 1 Timothy 1:10-11, Jude 7), so we must not deceive ourselves into thinking that this law was merely a portion of the ceremonial or cultural law of ancient Israel.

So is it loving for you to see someone walking into a minefield and to say nothing? Or worse yet, to tell them to continue onward? You have made the mistake of being the mouthpiece for the serpent. You have asked the deceiver’s question, “Did God really say…?” when God has made Himself clear. You have told people, “You will not surely die” when the scriptures make it clear that they are marching toward destruction. This is neither accepting nor loving; you are ensuring that your hearers are not accepted – that they never enter the Kingdom of God. Please do not fall into this error – we are called to live not as the culture dictates, but to speak the truth in love. We are called to be counter-cultural, which means that some of our beliefs will always be unpopular, whether we speak out to forgive our enemies or to love untouchables, or whether we speak against slavery, gladiatorial fights, abortion, gossip, or homosexuality. If you have fallen into sin in this area, God is faithful and just to forgive – repent and speak what is true, and do it in love.

FullSizeRenderUnderstand that I did not pen this because I think I’m better than anyone (for I was a terrible sinner when God called me), nor is it because I enjoy judging anyone – that’s infinitely above my pay grade to do so. Rather, it is because I believe what the scriptures say: that we already stand judged in our sins, all of us, but Jesus died to rescue us from every sin: from lying and from homosexuality, from gossip and even from murder. So when one comes to faith, he is no longer a liar or a homosexual, but a blood bought Christian who needs nothing else to identify himself with besides Jesus. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:19