I riffed for a minute yesterday in my sermon on the cultural pressure to redefine marriage. It is immense and coming from two of the three major shapers of society: the legal system and the info-entertainment industry (I include news broadcasts in that). If the legal system can mandate it, then we have to accept it. If the info-entertainment industry can get us to laugh at it, then we will accept it.
So let me reiterate a couple of things I said in yesterday's sermon and, Lord willing, tomorrow I'll try to bring it home for everyone. To be clear: I am not for redefining marriage so that it fits any definition of the society's whim of the moment (which just so happens right now to be gay marriage). I reckon that since God made it, He can define it. So, here are my thoughts...
First, the cultural pressure is not going to ease. I think it will only grow in intensity and breadth. As followers of Jesus, we need to be thinking about this now and readying our response.
Second, the Word of God has not and will not change. Gay marriage or any other redefinition of marriage will never be okay in God's eyes. I'm not mad about that. But our wills cannot change His standards.
Third, Christians who think that the wrath of God is coming because of gay marriage are both foolish and unbiblical. They are foolish because they sound like God is readying His quiver of thunderbolts to drop on Mount Rushmore and the Washington Monument and the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. It's simply not true and unbelievers have no idea what you're saying. They are unbiblical because, according to Romans 1, the wrath of God is already upon us if we're having these discussions. Three times God states He will turn us over to our own desires as a passive expression of His wrath against us. Here we are.
Lastly, the call of the church hasn't changed. We are to stand for the Truth and love the people around us. What that means is we stand for all the Truth, not just the parts we like or the portions we feel like we're obeying already. And it means we reach out in love to everyone: even gay people or those who think gay marriage is a good idea.
It's high time we as a church quit being mad at those who are lost and are acting lost.
But that's just me thinking thoughts...
(and more tomorrow)
Hey friend. I really, really liked the message yesterday. The "riff" was probably my least favorite part of the whole thing though. But that's just me. Here is something to think about...by referring to gay marriage as a "whim of the moment" gets you muted. The struggle that gay people feel in relation to their faith is serious. The fight for equal rights is serious. Their abuse at the hands of christians is serious. I know you and I know your point, but if we are going to truly reach out and love, we can't keep using language that denigrates them.
ReplyDeleteBut this is just me firing a counterpunch without a lot of thought! You are still my favorite senior pastor at HPBC!