So in my last blog, the focus was addressing our own issues in the proper order. Today, I want to talk about the same subject, only in relation to OTHER people. This blog will undoubtedly be very controversial with some of the folks who I know will be reading it - if you're a bit squeamish, or don't want to have your long-held beliefs challenges, stop reading now. However, I hope you don't stop here. Why? Because this also relates to one of those issues that really made me re-examine my faith. Let me clarify: It didn't make me question Jesus or his significance in my life. But it DID make me re-think what part of my faith is truly faith, and what part of it was merely cultural. I want to discuss the matter of homosexual marriage, and our reaction to it as Christians.
Let me be clear about one thing. Even though I know some people who would push back on this point, I am operating under the assumption that homosexuality is a sin. In no way do I intend this post to be taken as an endorsement of homosexuality as an acceptable practice in God's eyes. And before I go ANY further, I would like to remind anyone who might be cheering on such a public confession that YOU sir, and YOU ma'am will be equally judged. Maybe your sin is instead gluttony. Or greed. Or idolatry. Or adultery. How many obese Christians do we have out there with no self-control? How many Christians obsessed with money and possessions, who put twice as much thought into those things any given day than as they do about Jesus? How many of us, Christians, have committed adultery? Oh, you haven't actually done so? Don't forget Jesus's words: 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. I very well doubt that any of us can honestly say we're not guilty there. So don't be so quick to publicly champion the cause of hitting the streets and publicly calling homosexuals sinners, because NONE of us are innocent of our own accord, ALL of us need to rely on Jesus for that.
With that said, I want to go back to the passage of scripture examined in my last post:
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven [c]from [d]people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in...
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full [w]of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
The passage in its entirety is in my last post - I snipped a bit just to focus on the parts of it which are relevant to today's post. Jesus actually accused the Pharisees of SHUTTING OFF the Kingdom of Heaven to others. Because of their focus on appearances, they missed what they had been tasked with: tending to the hearts of their people.
It's easy for us to shake our heads and point our fingers at those Pharisees, but I want to make sure we aren't repeating their mistakes in our own time. I think we could all agree (From Ezekiel 3: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for[b] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.) that as Christians, we have a call on our lives to IN SOME WAY share the news of Jesus Christ with others. So we are, in a way, in the same position of responsibility as those Pharisees.
So how do we live up to our duty? Every person is so different, every circumstance so unique that there's no possible way to get it right every time. Why not follow the best example there is?
From John 8:
2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her,“Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, [a]Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
Look at that. Jesus was presented with a woman guilty of sexual sin. Remember, I mentioned earlier that we are also assuming it to be true that homosexuality is a sin - obviously, a sexual sin. Just like this woman. What did Jesus do? Did he call her out for it? Did he take her to the Roman court and demand her actions be made illegal? Did he call her actions an abomination? Did he make Facebook posts about it?
The answer, of course, is no. Christians, we have so obviously missed the boat on this one. Why are we storming the ballots and Supreme Court demanding "justice"? That affair is every bit as much a challenge to the "sanctity of marriage", as popular Christian culture has us term it. Or maybe the way you mistreat your spouse. Or the fact that you had sex with SOMEONE ELSE before you were married.
Look, I'm not trying to beat anyone down on any of that. Hopefully, it's all in the past, and Jesus's grace is there to give you freedom from it. But let's be real. All of those things are HAPPENING in today's world. And they do every bit as much as homosexuality to degrade and erode the institution of marriage. But Christians aren't out there lobbying and protesting and shouting about them. No one wants to make them illegal. Anyone guilty of any of those sins are just as much broken creatures who need Jesus as any one of us. Should we offer them that grace or drive wedges between us? Is our political battle, as Colossians 4 says, "full of grace"? Are we being wise in the way we interact with non-believers?
Folks, this is one of those situations where it just doesn't matter one iota what our INTENT is. Do we realize what other people are hearing us say when we lobby against homosexual marriage?
"You don't matter"
"You're not important"
"Jesus loves everyone BUT you"
"Jesus loves everyone BUT you"
"You are a second-rate person"
I KNOW that's not the message that Christians want to get across. At least, I know that's not what most of us intend. But let's not get so wrapped up in one detail that we miss the larger picture. This is what people are hearing us say. Can you imagine Jesus responding to the woman in John 8 like we do today? Just imagine that scene in your head. OH MY GOD! It absolutely breaks my heart. How can we have gotten to a point that this is the message of today's Christianity? Do you see what Jesus does in this passage? He is extending his grace to her FIRST. Yes, he commands her to go and sin no more, but not until AFTER she has met him; AFTER he has captured her heart. I don't know of a single example of Jesus using politics to go on a crusade against sin. He took that fight to the CROSS. And that, friends, is where our fight against sin belongs. Not in a courtroom.
Christians, I'll say it again. We are MISSING the boat. Our calling is not to make non-Christian people act like Christian people. We are after their hearts. We need to get them captivated with Jesus. And then and ONLY then, we guide them in leaving their past life behind. Done in any other order, we are engaged in busywork. Dare I say we would be wasting our lives.
Let's get this right. Let's make first things first. Let's follow Jesus, not culture. Introduce Jesus into the hearts of those you know. The rest will follow.
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