Why the Charles Worley’s of the World Make the Welton Gaddy’s Seem Plausible (1/2)

Mike Leake

If you haven’t already done so, watch this video:

Take a few deep breaths.  Try to calm down. 

There is much in Worley’s “sermon” that is detestable.  And I want to rightly denounce his “preaching” and his message here.  But for the full treatment of that you will have to wait until tomorrow.  Today I actually want to consider the response of Welton Gaddy.  I do that because I am claiming in this piece that Worley’s ridiculousness is what makes the non-sense spewing from Gaddy’s mouth actually seem plausible.  So, before we can rightly tackle the problem with Worley’s rant it needs to be shown that Gaddy’s response is just as anti-gospel.

Gaddy’s Response

I agree with Welton Gaddy that Charles Worley’s tirade is wrong and flat out dangerous.  In that much we agree.  But why I think it is wrong and dangerous is much different from why Gaddy believes it is so. 

Welton Gaddy, rightly, believes that Worley is simply cherry picking verses and then going on hateful rants against homosexuality.  He rightly says that Worley does not consider the whole sweep of Scripture.  I agree.  Then Gaddy defines the whole sweep of Scripture as a message of a loving God who wants us to love each other.  The message of the Bible is that we learn to get along and cooperate.  Which he is quick to mention is also what our government is about. At this point we diverge. 

What Gaddy says here sounds so good and so “like Jesus” when compared to a dude that wants to round up “queers” like you would a batch of mules that cannot reproduce.  “That’ll get rid of them and then we won’t have to have this problem anymore”.  Acceptance, tolerance, unity, and a message of love seems like a no-brainer compared to such ridiculousness. 

The Problem

One problem though.  The whole sweep of the Bible isn’t fundamentally about humanities quest to learn to love one another.  The message of the Bible is about the self-giving God drawing undeserving rebellious sinners into a relationship with Himself.  It is about him rooting out of his world all sin and belief and creating in its place passionate worshipers. 

Though Worley does cherry-pick verses and rip them out of context he is not wrong that God is “againt” (how do you spell that?) homosexuality. 

It takes some serious exegetical gymnastics and a complete mutilation of the text to make an argument that Romans 1 does not place the sin of homosexuality within the grand scope of Scripture’s message.  Homosexuality is a result of worshipping the creature instead of creation.  And Paul uses that particular sin not because it is worse than any of the others listed in Scripture but because it provides a helpful picture of worshipping and serving “like” instead of worshipping and serving “Other”. 

If it is true that homosexuality is image of God destroying then the most loving thing that we can do is not leave them in their sin.  Yes, Jesus “accepted” the loose Samaritan woman.  But he also told her “go and sin no more”.  There really is such a thing as sin in the world and it’s far more wide-reaching than just “lack of accepting one another”. 

Hate is a sin.  So is homosexuality.  Because both are sin doesn’t mean that both are now somehow acceptable and we just need to learn to love one another in the midst of our sin.  It means that we both need Christ and as we both grab hold of the Cross of Jesus we find unity.  That’s the story of the gospel. 

Unity is found when broken and rebellious sinners find grace and acceptance at the Cross of Christ.  It’s not found when broken and rebellious sinners put on fig leaves and then have a fashion show to encourage one another in their new rebellion-denying attire. 

But rebellion-denying seems so plausible when compared to the anti-gospel rants of the Charles Worley’s of the world…

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By the way, I find it really telling that a man of such acceptance and love can label the group of people that were listening to this man as those having “sick minds”.  So it is perfectly acceptable, and tolerant, and together, to dismiss and insult those that aren’t deemed as acceptable, tolerant, and together?  Actually, I agree with Gaddy that those shouting “Amen” have sick minds.  But I can say that and not be a hypocrite because I’m not the dude trying to convince sinners (like myself) to hold hands and sing Kumbaya because we really aren’t so screwed up.  But it is quite hypocritical to preach tolerance for all belief—except of course to those that aren’t tolerant. 

Today in Blogworld 5.23.12

Mike Leake

Normal Sermon Prep?  Really?

Yesterday I linked to Stephen Um’s article on sermon prep.  Today I want to point you to a helpful corrective from David Murray.  If you read Um’s piece be sure to read this from Murray, I think he makes a couple solid points. 

Congregationalists and Individualists

Thabiti Anyabwile makes a careful distinction between “pooled individualism” and congregationalism.  If the vast majority of a congregation desires to follow the leadership but four members are holding it hostage because they demand all the information the leaders have, is this a congregational expression of church polity?  Thabiti’s answer—and distinction between congregationalism and individualism—is very helpful. 

How to Sabotage and Introverted Pastor

In the spirit of The Screwtape Letters, Jared Wilson gives some demon counsel on sabotaging an introverted pastor.  As an introverted pastor myself, I found his counsel here quite fitting.  I have sensed some of these temptations myself and have been exhorted by the Spirit to do things that do not come “natural” to me. 

Compare, Contrast, and Caterwaul (2/2)

I really appreciated this post from Frank Turk.  He does a tremendous job of disagreeing with Tim Keller but also encouraging his readers to “do what was done here, and then do it better.” 

This is what Gospel Community should look like:

5 Truths An Attractional Church Denies

Mike Leake

Yesterday I asked whether or not your church is Old Testament.  Today I want to look at a few pitfalls of embracing an “attractional” or Old Testament model of missions when we are living in the New Testament era.  I believe this is not merely a matter of opinion but a matter of being faithful to the Great Commission. 

As I begin this list I want to be fair and considerate to those that may have an attractional mindset.  I understand that most would probably say, “I do not believe these 5 things”.  And that is a good thing.  My point is that embracing an attractional model is inconsistent with these five truths. 

  1. The church is a people and not a building.  Most all of us give this one lip service.  We know deep down that the church is a people and not a building that we gather in.  Yet, when our fundamental concern is how to get people into a building we are betraying this belief. 
  2. God’s power to use you and not just the preacher.  Yes, God has set aside gifted men to proclaim His Word and His gospel.  But as Charles Spurgeon’s father once said, “he may be able to preach the gospel better but he cannot preach a better gospel.”  All believers are indwelled by the Holy Spirit and have the same promises that are given preachers when we open our mouths.  To think that people need to “come hear the preacher” in order to come to know Christ denies the Spirit’s power in your own life.
  3. The Holy Spirit’s ministry.  The Spirit of God works in jars of clay to proclaim the eternal truth of Christ.  Whenever the gospel is proclaimed—even from the lips of a donkey—He accompanies the proclamation with His power to accomplish His purposes.  To think that in the NT people still need to “come and see” denies that the Spirit now permanently indwells believers to accomplish His purposes no matter where they are located.
  4. The New Testament mandate to “Go”.  The Great Commission is to “Go” not to stay and hold up a sign that says “come here”.  After Christ has ascended into heaven and the Spirit comes at Pentecost you will be hard pressed to find examples of believers engaging in a “come and see” type of ministry.  They are almost always engaging in a “go and tell”. 
  5. That God owns every square inch of creation.  The veil was torn on the curtain of the temple for a reason.  Just as the Jerusalem temple was destroyed for a reason; namely, Immanuel.  Good luck finding a place in the NT after Jesus’ ascension and pre-New Heaven and New-Earth where a building is called holy.  Yet, you will find the glory of God spreading throughout every square inch of creation by people that are deemed “holy-ones”. 

Therefore, if we are to be a NT church we will be missional and not attractional.  There was a day when God said “Come and See” there may even yet be a day when He says the same.  But in the present era His mandate is “Go and Tell”. 

Today in Blogworld 5.22.12

Mike Leake

Sermon Prep: A Week in One Life

Here Stephen Um describes his typical week of sermon preparation.  He also provides four lessons that we can learn.  I found the team approach particularly interesting. 

Four Ways to Fight Clean

Dustin Neeley provides us with four ways to fight clean over doctrine.  Neeley gives us a great reminder that if you fight dirty then neither player truly wins. 

Competitive Mothering

I don’t know of any challenge or opportunity or responsibility—however you want to classify motherhood—that lends itself more readily to guilt. Many mothers live in guilt from the day they first become pregnant (“I can’t believe I drank coffee! I need to take more vitamins!”) to the day they die (“So many opportunities missed!”).

That is from a solid article written by Tim Challies on the competitive world of mothering.  I’m going to be sure my wife reads this article—it will be an encouragement. 

What a Comedian Taught Me About Parenting

Some parents are permissive and lazy. Others are over-bearing kill-joys. Sadly, many of us manage to be both. I say: keep them safe, keep them away from sin, give them the gospel, and let the good times roll. Hey, I wouldn’t mind being five again. So why make the five year-old miserable because she likes being five too. Kids are kids. And we’d be better and happier parents with better and happier kids if we allowed that sometimes the joy in their silly, childlike hearts is worth more than the paint on our precious parent-like walls. 

This post from Kevin DeYoung is helpful and convicting to this daddy. 

I also found this video from D.A. Carson quite helpful:

(HT: Z)