Pride Month
“If by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked…then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passions and despise authority.”
2 Peter 2:6-10
Over recent years June has become a designated time in the United States to give the public spotlight and microphone to the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender communities. During this month-long focus people from these groups advocate with passion for their understanding of sexual morality. They are working to radically reshape the moral landscape of America and are succeeding in their advocacy. It’s vitally important that we not remain silent during this month. What is of greatest importance is that we not lose sight of what the Bible teaches us about sexuality and gender. It’s become impossible to chase all the various forms of sexual perversion developing in our time. We must instead clearly know, live by, and defend a Christian worldview.
As Christians, we must always be more defined by what we are for, than what we are against. We must be about the gospel not culture war. We must be about evangelism over boycotts. Only by seeking the lost that they might come to salvation will we ever see dramatic change in America. This is praying for and laboring after spiritual awakening. However, the gospel requires that we point out sin. There is no need for a Savior if I’m ok and you’re ok. Pointing out sin in a person’s life is offensive. This is especially true when you declare that according to God’s will the way a person is living – openly, passionately, and defiantly – is causing them to be under the active condemnation of God. However, by speaking to sin and calling for repentance, some will be convicted of their sin, repent of their sin (turn away from it), and call out in faith to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. By this a person will be forgiven their sins. Their guilt before God will be removed. They will receive eternal life and begin to go forward making incremental, but constant, steps toward following Jesus and living a different life of godliness.
Biblical sexual morality is rather simple and straight forward. God created two genders, male and female. God has purpose in creating two genders, and that purpose relates to complementing genders forming one whole in marriage leading to the birth and raising of children. No person is born with the wrong gender. No person is born as a blank slate with no gender. God has an induvial purpose for each person’s life. The purpose and plan for each life begins with being a man or a woman. God has designed the bodies and the souls of one man and one woman to relate together sexually in a life-long bond of marriage. This deep physical, emotional, and trust-based bond works to build the deepest of all human relationships. This stable relationship works to provide a stable home for children, then stable generations of family, and stable community relationships.
This month a radically different worldview is being is being advocated. The LGBTQ worldview believes that each human being comes into the world a blank slate. Each blank child grows and will determine their own gender and morality according to their own feelings. We are told that parents have no authority or place to direct, guide, or discipline their child. We are told that God has no say, because there is no God. Each adult is supposed to simple affirm and support the choices of the child along the way, and present to them a view of God that also affirms their choices. The outcome of this type of living will be chaos as each person literally does whatever is right in their own eyes without restraint.
God’s plan for human sexuality only works in connection to the gospel. Only when sinners turn from their sin and believe in Jesus will they strive after the sexual ethics of Jesus. In Christ we learn to die to ourselves, live with self-control, and love other people unconditionally. As Christians we learn the virtues of self-control, modesty, and faithfulness. In obedience to Jesus, we reject the ways of the world and live in the ways of Jesus. The darker and more perverse our culture becomes, the more that following in the ways of Jesus will make us an offense to the world. Let us remember the words of Jesus, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matthew 11:6, Luke 7:23).
We live in a pluralistic culture. This means that our culture views all religion as the creation of human culture, and all are equally relevant or good. No one religion inherently has authority over another. No one religion is true or right in any objective way. Any religion that claims moral authority over another is labeled intolerant and bigoted – especially in the area of sexual ethics. This is often rolled into arguments related to diversity. The world is filled with wonderful God-ordained diversity. Diversity of races, national customs, foods, music, artistic expressions, and natural beauty, but the Bible makes no room for diversity of moral expression. Being a follower of Christ does not relate to a person’s race, gender, or national origin. One of the beautiful aspects of biblical Christianity is that being a follower of Christ allows for diverse cultural and racial expression. To be a follower of Jesus does not mean becoming a middle eastern Jew in culture expression. This was well adjudicated and settled in the book of Acts. However, it does mean that you live according the to revealed moral will of God no matter who you are or where you come from.
Our culture is pushing so hard to change language and normalize things that are clearly non-Christian in their expression. One of many examples relates to the cultural pervasiveness of ‘drag queens.’ A drag queen is a homosexual cross-dressing male that dresses up specifically to act in a female sexually enticing way. No Christian should have to consider long that this life choice would not be declared righteous and godly by Jesus. Therefore, as Christians we cannot approve of this lifestyle or giving someone in it a public platform. This goes for any person that intentionally pursues sexual expression that is condemned and forbidden by God.
In closing, it’s very important to recognize that this is not a small part of the Bible. From Gensis all the way through 2 Peter, the event of God warning then destroying Sodom and Gomorrah is mentioned almost thirty times. Each time it is referred to, the reference serves as a warning to hard-hearted ungodly, especially the homosexual, that they are doomed to the same end of destruction if they do not repent of their sins. We must not act like these many verses and many warnings do not exist. God knows and cares about how we conduct ourselves morally. Sexual actions are moral actions – no matter how many times people in modern American culture say they are not. Moral actions affect your relationship with God. You cannot go on living in sin and also live under the blessing of God.
Let me finish where I began. It must be our earnest hope and prayer to see people come to salvation in Jesus. Our goal must be Jesus’ goal, to seek and save the lost. In appealing to the lost and naming their sin, it will bring us into direct moral conflict with the world. But in living for Jesus, let us be known foremost as those filled with love, sacrificial service, hope, and truth. Let us walk in the boldness but also the winsome grace of our Lord Jesus. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, abide always in His word, and live lives of constant holiness in a lost and dying world.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Vic