The past few weeks have seen one particular ‘issue’ take our culture by storm. The Rainbow Flag has been saturating our social media (though often in quite an anti-social manner), and everyone’s got something to say.
We’re all entitled to an opinion, and so I’m offering mine. Please make note that I am sharing exactly that - my opinion. Imperfect and flawed as it may be, as of Saturday afternoon, on the 4th of July (while enjoying Macca’s free wifi), this is my headspace.
Before I address the issue at hand, I first want to express my remorse and disappointment at how Christians at large have handled the idea of homosexual marriage. Billions of people in the past few weeks, have been driven away from the Church, from Christians, and even from God because of us. We, more than ever, are separating ourselves from humanity. The world sees Christians as often nothing more than a bunch of judgmental hypocrites, and I dare say the last few weeks hasn’t helped that out. Not in the slightest.
And I’m not even talking about the gay people (for whom Jesus actually died) that our attacks are levelled at. The world has been watching. They are the millions of heterosexual spectators who have sat on the sidelines observing how we as Christians have been conducting ourselves. What kind of God are we showing them? Are our reactions drawing people to God or repulsing them from Him?
Paul put it like this:
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
2 Corinthians 5v18-19 NIV
You could put it like this: There was a great big problem between us and God, and He fixed it. Meet Jesus. And now, after fixing it, God has given us the task of making that happen in peoples lives. Its called the Gospel, and contrary to popular opinion, its good news.
How are we going at that? If thats our job description, are we doing it well? Before we move on to refereeing everyone else’s lives, lets check out our own first. Are our actions and words bringing people closer to God, or are we having the opposite effect? Is love characterising our lives? Does the world look at us Christians and think, “Man these followers of Jesus really love people!”? It’s worth thinking about.
But what do I think about gay marriage? To put it simply, I think it’s wrong. But so is a straight sexual relationship outside of marriage. And for that matter, so is stealing, pornography, dishonouring our parents, cheating on our taxes, lying, hate and unkindness, just to name a few.
How do those rocks in our hands feel now? A bit heaver than we remember? Maybe we should just put them back on the ground where we found them.
Don’t get me wrong, homosexuality was not Gods idea. It’s a rip-off version of something He created to be fulfilling, fruitful and really good. Anything less than God’s perfect design (which is sex between a man and a woman, inside of marriage) will leave people missing out. Its a counterfeit. And lets be honest, settling for anything less than God’s perfect design will leave us broken and empty, no matter what it is.
So whats Gods response to all this? Does He, in a fit of holy rage want to destroy the homosexuals, utterly obliterating them from the face of the earth, or does He want them reconciled to Himself? Does He want the thing keeping them from Himself to be removed, so He can have relationship with them? Which mission are we serving?
“But hold on a second!! Don’t you know that the Bible says homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God?!?” You’re right, it does say that. Let’s have a look:
“Don’t you realise that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
1 Corinthians 6v9-11 NLT
Notice where Paul said, ‘Some of you were once like that, but God fixed it! That thing that was between you and God, well it’s gone now.’ And if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll remember that time long ago when we were actually in that boat - lost, broken sinners who needed a Saviour.
And thank God we got one.
Am I trying to justify homosexuality or gay marriage? Absolutely not. Nether would I justify the times when I’ve compromised on Gods best or settled for a counterfeit. I’m just so grateful for His mercy, and kindness, and grace, and forgiveness, absolutely none of which I deserve.
Do homosexuals need Jesus? Do they need to turn from their sin and call out to God? Yes. And so do it. So do you for that matter, along with the new girl learning to cook the fries, and the guy enjoying his chocolate sundae.
I’m simply asking that we check our perspective. As I know first hand, its easy to get caught up in the flow of things and end up somewhere, or doing something, or saying something that we never would have intended.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
The past few weeks have seen one particular ‘issue’ take our culture by storm. The Rainbow Flag has been saturating our social media (though often in quite an anti-social manner), and everyone’s got something to say.
We’re all entitled to an opinion, and so I’m offering mine. Please make note that I am sharing exactly that - my opinion. Imperfect and flawed as it may be, as of Saturday afternoon, on the 4th of July (while enjoying Macca’s free wifi), this is my headspace.
Before I address the issue at hand, I first want to express my remorse and disappointment at how Christians at large have handled the idea of homosexual marriage. Billions of people in the past few weeks, have been driven away from the Church, from Christians, and even from God because of us. We, more than ever, are separating ourselves from humanity. The world sees Christians as often nothing more than a bunch of judgmental hypocrites, and I dare say the last few weeks hasn’t helped that out. Not in the slightest.
And I’m not even talking about the gay people (for whom Jesus actually died) that our attacks are levelled at. The world has been watching. They are the millions of heterosexual spectators who have sat on the sidelines observing how we as Christians have been conducting ourselves. What kind of God are we showing them? Are our reactions drawing people to God or repulsing them from Him?
Paul put it like this:
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
2 Corinthians 5v18-19 NIV
You could put it like this: There was a great big problem between us and God, and He fixed it. Meet Jesus. And now, after fixing it, God has given us the task of making that happen in peoples lives. Its called the Gospel, and contrary to popular opinion, its good news.
How are we going at that? If thats our job description, are we doing it well? Before we move on to refereeing everyone else’s lives, lets check out our own first. Are our actions and words bringing people closer to God, or are we having the opposite effect? Is love characterising our lives? Does the world look at us Christians and think, “Man these followers of Jesus really love people!”? It’s worth thinking about.
But what do I think about gay marriage? To put it simply, I think it’s wrong. But so is a straight sexual relationship outside of marriage. And for that matter, so is stealing, pornography, dishonouring our parents, cheating on our taxes, lying, hate and unkindness, just to name a few.
How do those rocks in our hands feel now? A bit heaver than we remember? Maybe we should just put them back on the ground where we found them.
Don’t get me wrong, homosexuality was not Gods idea. It’s a rip-off version of something He created to be fulfilling, fruitful and really good. Anything less than God’s perfect design (which is sex between a man and a woman, inside of marriage) will leave people missing out. Its a counterfeit. And lets be honest, settling for anything less than God’s perfect design will leave us broken and empty, no matter what it is.
So whats Gods response to all this? Does He, in a fit of holy rage want to destroy the homosexuals, utterly obliterating them from the face of the earth, or does He want them reconciled to Himself? Does He want the thing keeping them from Himself to be removed, so He can have relationship with them? Which mission are we serving?
“But hold on a second!! Don’t you know that the Bible says homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God?!?” You’re right, it does say that. Let’s have a look:
“Don’t you realise that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
1 Corinthians 6v9-11 NLT
Notice where Paul said, ‘Some of you were once like that, but God fixed it! That thing that was between you and God, well it’s gone now.’ And if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll remember that time long ago when we were actually in that boat - lost, broken sinners who needed a Saviour.
And thank God we got one.
Am I trying to justify homosexuality or gay marriage? Absolutely not. Nether would I justify the times when I’ve compromised on Gods best or settled for a counterfeit. I’m just so grateful for His mercy, and kindness, and grace, and forgiveness, absolutely none of which I deserve.
Do homosexuals need Jesus? Do they need to turn from their sin and call out to God? Yes. And so do it. So do you for that matter, along with the new girl learning to cook the fries, and the guy enjoying his chocolate sundae.
I’m simply asking that we check our perspective. As I know first hand, its easy to get caught up in the flow of things and end up somewhere, or doing something, or saying something that we never would have intended.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
Amen.
