I completely agree with Dr. Russell Moore’s response to the recent non-action by the Supreme Court which all but legalized gay-marriage in five states. Dr. Moore closed with this:
Let’s hold fast to what the gospel reveals about the meaning of marriage and the gospel behind it. Let’s articulate a Christian vision of what marriage should be, and let’s embody that vision in our churches. Let’s love our gay and lesbian neighbors. Let’s move forward with persuasion and with confidence. This is no time for retreat or for resentment. This is a time for mission.
That first sentence is key. My contention is that we’ve all but lost the gay marriage debate because years ago we lost the gospel. Instead of the heralding the biblical gospel of a holy God redeeming unworthy sinners the church has tried to Christianize our cultural narcissism.
At this point, to many, opposing same sex marriage feels like opposing the gospel. In our culture the good news of Jesus is that God primarily exists to make me happy. God has a wonderful and prosperous plan for my life, every thing He does is aimed at accomplishing this goal.
When this “gospel” confronts homosexuality it is powerless.
If this is your gospel try arguing against this: “Being gay is how God made me. Loving my partner is the most natural and joyful thing to me. It makes me happy. And doesn’t God want us all to be happy?”
Our narcissistic “gospel” believes that opposing personal happiness is opposing God. This is why in our cultural climate it feels like you are opposing the gospel by opposing same-sex marriage. And this is why many professing believers are accepting the above argument.
If it feels anti-gospel to oppose same-sex marriage my guess is that your gospel has a little too much culture in it.
Confronting the cultural gospel
This is less about homosexuality and more about the gospel. While our culture scoffs at these truths, homosexuality is but the natural outgrowth. And when our churches begin to give and twist these truths—they too will bow a knee to Uncle Sam’s gospel.
1. God is radically dedicated to your joy…in Him.
Forget that last part and you miss the gospel. God is the most glorious and joyful being in the universe. He is radically dedicated to our finding joy. But he is the fountain of joy, not us. Therefore, he defines joy and happiness. Not us. The biblical gospel tells us that what you believe is happiness in a homosexual union is but a sham. And it is a sham because…
2. God is holy and really does forbid certain actions.
There is more joy found in holiness than in sin. Sin really is met with God’s wrath. He cannot tolerate it because it destroys His kingdom and His people. He created us and he defines for us what is right and what is wrong. You and I do not. And as Creator…
3. God has certain intentions for marriage.
God has set up marriage as a picture of the blessed Gospel. Marriage is not primarily for us. Marriage is meant to be a display of the greatness of God. While marriage makes us both holy and happy it is but a shadow of our beautiful God. As Sam Allberry has rightly noted, “A man and a man, or a woman and a woman, cannot reflect the union of Christ and the church, instead only reflecting Christ and Christ or church and church”.
4. Jesus saves us from very real guilt.
I acknowledge that my guilt before a holy God is very real. Though, my sin is different it is no less odious before God. My sin deserves the wrath of God. On the cross Jesus died for real, tangible, and ugly sins that I have committed. And he did this because of love. He has saved us from very real guilt. And this same Jesus calls us to die to self and find life in Him.
5. It’s all about Jesus.
It’s not about us, it’s about Him. And that is really the crux of the issue. If you’ve got a gospel that places anything in the center except for Jesus—then you’ve missed it.
This is why I’ve said previously:
It’s not just homosexuality that needs to be confronted. It’s an entire mindset. The gospel directly confronts these “virtues” and defines them as the vices they really are. What we need in our day is a robust gospel. One that has God at the center instead of man. One that is willing to suffer for the sake of Christ. One that has it’s identity grounded in Christ and His work and not our own innate awesomeness. One that believes our greatest virtue is conformity to Christ and not some “being true to myself” hogwash.
This is what is needed. And the gospel really does have the power to rock mindsets and transform entire cultures.
Sean McDowell and John Stonestreet have done a nice job with this topic in their recent book. My review of it is here: http://michelemorin.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/consequences-trump-intentions/
The thought that sticks with me from my reading is that marriage is not ours to define. It is God’s idea, His original concept, and it is given to man only to describe it as given–not to define it to suit us.
The Gospels of Matthew Mark Luke and John never said anything about homosexual marriage….although Paul obsessed over Homosexuality quite a bit with his notable “affliction”.
#5 in the list: All about Jesus is key…He never said a word about homosexuality. ..grab your red line versions and read it again.
The problem of “mindset” is that each mindset leads to interpretation and can lead one to justify judging others which is ultimately only in the hands of the creator. So love one another.
That argument simply doesn’t work. It’s imposing on Jesus our 21st century obsession with homosexuality. In order to prove your point that Jesus was somehow pro-homosexuality or indifferent to homosexuality you’d actually need to find Jesus saying SOMETHING about it.
I say that because it is clear in the Old Testament Law that homosexuality is sin. Jesus fully affirmed and followed the Law. If he was going to somehow “fulfill the Law” concerning homosexuality then you’d have read something (like you do in the dietary laws and purity laws). But you don’t and that’s because Jesus isn’t overturning the fact that homosexuality is sinful.
But consider reading this as well: https://www.mikeleake.net/2012/01/as-jesus-said-about-gay-people.html
Jesus also did not speak of rape, yet we can be quite confident that it is sin, no? He did not speak of pedophelia, sex with animals, etc. Except for the Beatitudes, I do not believe he ever spoke of murder being a sin. Yet, we know that it is.
Mike Leake makes an excellent argument as well.