With the ruling on gay marriage this past week, social media has been ablaze with debate, outrage, sadness, and jubilation. This ruling isn’t surprising. We’ve been heading here for a long time. We can’t expect the unbeliever to act morally like we expect from a believer.(1 Corinthians 2:14) I have stayed out of the debate as it is senseless. We are not going to change anyone’s mind about whether the ruling was good or bad through debate. I want to answer two questions. How did we get here, and what should we as Christians do now?
How did we get here?
The United States of America was founded as a Christian nation, but America is looking less and less Christian every year. So, how did we get to this point? I think that question is answered in Romans 1:18-32.
Romans 1:18 says that the unrighteous suppress the truth. The suppression of the truth of God has been happening for a long time. This started way before homosexuality became the issue of the day. In fact, homosexuality is a result of this, which will be seen later. Slowly, everything about God is being removed. Science has been trying to remove God from everything for years going back to Darwin’s theory of evolution in the 19th century. Psychology has been replacing God with humanism. No longer is sin called sin but an “illness.” In 1963, prayer and Bible reading were removed from schools. God has been slowly removed from our society.
The suppression of the truth about homosexuality has also been suppressed. According to God, homosexuality is a sin. Man suppressed that truth starting in the 19th century to say that it was not a sin but an illness. Then, in 1973, they no longer considered homosexuality an illness, but an alternate lifestyle or sexual orientation. Churches have suppressed the truth in the Bible by changing the meaning of Biblical passages to say that homosexuality is not prohibited. The suppression of the truth was the beginning of the downfall.
Romans 1:21-22 says that they became fools and no longer thank or honor God. With the suppression of God’s truth, this is obviously the next step. Notice it is the “educated” people who are taking God out of our society. They think that they are wise, but they have become fools.
Romans 1:23 and 25 say that man made himself God. Since the truth about God has been suppressed, humanism has exalted man over God. We have replaced ourselves as God.
Romans 1:24 and 26-31 tell us that God gave them what they wanted. He turned them over to their wickedness. Each passing day, there is more and more wickedness. Homosexuality is specifically mentioned in this passage as one of the sins that God allows them to commit. Because man has rejected God, God has given him over to his wicked desires.
Romans 1:32 says that others will approve of the wickedness being done. This past week, the government gave approval to those who practice wickedness. Because of our(U.S.A.) rejection of God’s truth and God Himself, we have put ourselves in the place of God. Because of our rejection of Him, God has given us over to our reprobate mind, and allowed us to continue down the path of wickedness.
Where do we as Christians go from here?
First our response should NOT be:
- The answer doesn’t lie in fighting this or getting the Christian vote out to get conservative value politicians in office to change laws. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t encourage Christians to vote for politicians with Biblical values, because we definitely should. However, is having a Biblical based system of laws going to change the hearts of the people living in the country? My answer to that is, “No!” Their hearts have been darkened(Romans 1:21). They cannot see the light, even if it is as clear as day. It’s just like in parenting. We can have one million rules for our kids, but if we do not train their hearts, the rules will do no good. It will just be legalism. When they are out on their own, they will turn to sin as there was no heart change. This is not an outward problem, but an inward problem. We don’t need a set of laws to follow, we need a heart surgeon to do heart replacement surgery. (Proverbs 4:23, Matthew 15:18-19, Ephesians 4:22-24)
- We also do not need to judge them. I’m not saying that we are to condone their sin, but we shouldn’t go out and preach to them about their wicked homosexual acts. I’m sure that some Christians may be reading this and thinking, “Of course we should!” According to God’s Word, that’s God’s job. 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 says that our job is to judge those within the church. It’s God’s job to judge those outside of the church. They already know what the majority of Christians believe about homosexuality. Will openly judging them bring them to Christ? It’s highly doubtful. It’s more likely that it will push them away. Remember, the problem is not an outward sin; it’s the sin nature that fills the heart. Homosexuality is just a symptom of the deep heart issue.(Matthew 15:19) EDIT: I want to clarify. The homosexual, or any sinner, needs to understand that they have a sin problem and are in need of a Savior. That comes in point 4 below about the gospel. However, judging them or debating them on Facebook, blogs, school, work, protests, etc. will not bring people Jesus. A good question to ask is: What is my purpose in my comments? Will these comments glorify Christ and bring that person to Him?
Our response should be:
- We must trust that God is in control. Do you really believe that with your thoughts and actions? Has your mind been considering how this ruling is going to affect the church and Christians in the future? Has this ruling consumed your thoughts? There is no need to worry.(Philippians 4:6) God is in control!(Proverbs 19:21) One of my favorite stories in the Bible is about Joseph who was sold by his brothers. The book of Genesis closes with Joseph telling his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”(Genesis 50:20) God is in control. He has a purpose for everything(Romans 8:28-29), and we should trust in Him completely(Proverbs 3:5-6) and give Him thanks.(1 Thessalonians 5:18)
- We need to pray for our country. What do we pray for? Do we pray that they would leave this immoral sin and that we would get people to rule who can change our laws? Yes, it’s a good prayer request, but no, it shouldn’t be the main objective of our prayers. Once again, leaving the sin does not fix the heart issue. We need to pray for the salvation of the sinner and that the country would turn to God.(1 Timothy 2:1, 4)
- Instead of judging them, we need to love them. If a couple walked into your church who were obviously homosexual and had a seat, what would you do? Would you greet them? Would you take a seat next to them? Or, would you just stare or ignore them? Would they feel welcome or rejected? The commandments can be summarized like this, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”(Luke 10:27-28) Then, Jesus goes on to share the story of the Good Samaritan. Is a homosexual our neighbor? If so, how should we treat him according to Jesus’ story? Our job as Christians is to love them. Jesus loves them. We are also sinners, and God loved us as well.(Romans 5:8) If God loved us so much that he died for us, shouldn’t we love the world like God does?
Why don’t you look for opportunities to love your neighbor this week whether homosexual, adulterer, gossip, or whatever their sin of choice is? Bake some cookies for them. Help them with their problems. Put your arm around them and show Christ’s love. They need to see how God has transformed your life, so that they can come to know Him as well. (Matthew 5:16)
- Finally, and most importantly, they need the power of the gospel. We need to share it with them. We may have never committed the sin of homosexuality, but we are all sinners in need of a Savior. Jesus is the answer and can help us all turn away from our sin. When we put our trust in Christ, the power of God begins a process of transformation in us. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says that we were homosexuals, immoral, greedy, etc., “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” God did(and is doing) the work in us. We cannot do it on our own. Going back to Romans 1, we see in verses 16-17. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” The gospel is the power of God. This is what every sinner needs no matter what the sin is. The power of the gospel makes us righteous through faith in Him. This is not only a positional righteousness in justification, but also in sanctification in which God transforms us to the image of His Son, Jesus. The Holy Spirit will come into the sinner’s life and transform him from the inside out. He will do the open heart surgery, and give him a new heart.(Ephesians 4:22-24) Our job is to share this good news.
Romans 1 outlines how we got to this point. Our response should be that we need to trust God and pray to Him for the country to come to Christ. In our relationship with the sinner, we must show God’s love to them, and share the power of the gospel with them which can completely transform them.
Well said, Bryan!