“Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ . . . Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.” NRSV
Yesterday, California began issuing marriage licenses to homosexuals. It’s a distressing event to most Christians but, I think, distressing to me (and to some others) for different reasons than are being touted.
As horrible as the sin of homosexuality is, I don’t think that issuing gay marriage licenses will bring down American morals any more than they already are. And, in fact, I’m tempted to lay the blame for this corporate and social sin at the feet of the Church, rather than at the feet of those who promote it. Why? Because they (the unsaved judges who are permitting this) are simply acting according to their natures. Romans tells us that, while we are unbelievers, we are slaves to our sinful natures. We have no choices.
We, the Church, are however another story. We are called to holy lifestyles. Peter tells us clearly:
• discipline yourselves
• do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance
• you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth
I watched a YouTube video yesterday. It was made by a young man who claimed to be a gay Christian. This young man says (in the beginning of his video): “Everyone says that I need to be myself.” This idea of personal honesty—acting on one’s impulses, desires, and lusts—is not the gospel of the Bible. And yet, we hear from many people that God simply wants us to “be ourselves.” God never said that.
Satan did.
God always calls us to a higher calling, to be more than we can be simply within ourselves. He calls us to be reborn, rebirthed, remade through the power of the Holy Spirit and in the image of His Holy Son, our Savior.
There is, by the gay community and by many Christians, a huge emphasis on the “love of God.” This love is described as unconditional, but the definition of this love is very different from the love described in the Bible. The love of God in the Bible wants to change us so that we can be reconciled with God. We are, when living in sin, at odds with Him. His love is there for us, but there is no relationship without the shalom (peace) of God.
When Jesus demonstrated His ultimate love for us, He didn’t say, “I understand your sin and I accept it. It’s part of who you are.” Rather He said, “I am willing to pay the price for your sin, but you must accept that payment and reject your sin.”
Father God loves those who have chosen to embrace the homosexual lifestyle, but as with all sinners, He doesn’t love their sin nor does He live with them in peace. He is at war with those who would choose rebellion, to go against His holy laws and His holy ways. The emphasis that many well-meaning churches have on focusing upon having a personal relationship with God fails to acknowledge that we can only have that relationship on His terms; not on ours. It isn’t the idea of getting God to accept us as we are; He won’t. It’s the idea of getting us to acknowledge that we are sinners, in need of a Savior, and greatly in need of forgiveness.
In our effort to attract the world, we have so watered down the power of the gospel that God’s love has been reduced to tolerance and acceptance and our idea of “holy living” has been changed to being honest with ourselves. None of this can we lay at the feet of anyone except ourselves as Christians. We so wanted a “church experience” that was enjoyable, fun, and happy, we have lost the sense of Who our God is and who we are supposed to be as His followers, as His holy people.
We can’t blame homosexuals for wanting what we flaunt. To be honest, we should be looking at the beam in our own eyes (e.g. the divorce rate within the church that is higher than in the world) and calling ourselves to repentance. God promised to heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14), but the first step is for the Church to deal with its own sin.
© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).
