Following Judah's Lion

A New Heart for Sinners

(Gay and Straight)

At midnight tonight New York becomes the 6th state to legalize gay marriage. Of course that goes against what God intends, but it is not a major slide from a generally moral society. It is just another symptom of a fallen and antichrist society residing in an antichrist government. Go ahead and express outrage if you must, but on some level that is just moral hubris, especially if you are not outraged about your own failures and sins.

Let’s remember a few things about that situation. The gay couples will now be recognized by the fallen culture of New York State, and as it pertains to both temporal and eternal issues it is meaningless. Those same couples will return to their homes as married and do the same things they did last night. Can I be honest with you? I have always found gay men to be nice and even charming. But I cannot watch two men being physically expressive, and yet I do not find the same repulsion about two women - generally. It must be my fallen nature, I’m sure it is.

What I am saying is that in order to reach gay people for Jesus we must ask God to give us a love for their souls that is much greater than any moral outrage or repulsion we might experience. After all 50 states recognize gay marriage, and if Jesus tarries they will, we can be assured of one thing - Lost people are still lost and saved people are still saved. That is the vision a believer has when he sees through gospel glasses and he views sinners of all kinds as part of a whited field in need of a spiritual harvest. Before I was saved I was not gay, but you would not have liked me. I was a drug addict, violent (6‘5“ 275 lbs.), a drunk, and planning on robbing a bank and killing the guard going in. I sold drugs into the high schools and I was promiscuous with girls several years younger than I. Oh, but I was not gay!

You will notice that when a preacher’s son is rebellious and promiscuous, but heterosexual, it rarely makes the news. But let some preacher's kid, or some liberal politician’s kid, come out as gay and we are eager to publish such moral depravity since we have not struggled with that sin. The western church is filled with all kinds of sin, both condoned and not condoned, but the gay issue provides a great cover for our significant failures. In fact, the church is not only filled with self righteousness, it cultivates and applauds it.

A person can be divorced and remarried and yet he or she stands upon a moral podium and can castigate any gay person who makes the news. Four years ago my wife of 31 years left me for another man, and I remain unmarried. I am not judging divorced people, but I am judging those who throw stones at other sinners when we all have a boat load of sins of commission and omission. Please understand this principle: The ministry of correction should be within the church and among people who know Christ and have the Spirit. And further, this correction should come from the leadership of the church lest everyone become a pseudo elder-prophet.

And when someone is corrected by the leadership, it must be done privately at first with love, grace, and a pursuit of restoration. The leadership must humbly reach out in corrective love to this sheep and go the extra mile to restore such an one. We should not publish anyone’s sins for the whole world to see and feast upon, and if one refuses correction then and only then should they be brought publicly before the assembly where they worship and where they should be accountable.

That is generally an outline for the fellowship of believers. But when we lift up our eyes to the fields, we must do it through eyes and hearts that see souls rather sins. Are we surprised that sinners sin? They are dead in their sins already, and yes, they stand condemned. But we are not sin publishers, we are messengers of good news. Go ahead and lay out a Scriptural foundation that exposes the false teachings of preachers. And when they say that God approves of the gay lifestyle, confront that teaching with conviction and Scriptural evidence.

But when some person comes out as gay, that is not the time to spread that news, that is the time to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died to save that gay man or woman. Of course, some theologies believe that Christ did not die for everyone and that is part of the problem. Can you see the difference? We must believe and obey the Scriptures, but we must also distinctly recognize the difference between scolding our own and evangelizing those who know not Christ. We surely can share in general what God thinks about sin to a lost person, but to condemn him for a certain sin takes the focus off the gospel and on some level is moral self righteousness. The entire human race was condemned to spiritual death because one man committed one sin. Was it murder? Adultery? Homosexuality? No, it was a simple act of rebellion which involved taking one bite of one piece of fruit. Doesn’t that make the ground around sin flat?

To itemize the sins in this culture is like shooting fish in a barrel. It is easy and usually only serves to elicit the amens from the choir. But if you feel you must do so, the material for your research is almost infinite. In fact, if you just start with your own sins you might have enough for a decade of publications. I am sincerely not attempting to continue to address any other blog, but I am addressing a general principle of gospel behavior.

So when you hear that New York has approved gay marriages, and when you see gay people expressing their feelings toward each other, reach deep inside your spiritual chest, pull out your spiritual heart, hold it up to the Master, and ask Him to break it for you. And after He breaks it, and after you no longer look down your Mosaic nose at other sinners, then ask Christ to remake your heart.

“But,” you ask, “Into what shape should I ask Christ to mold my heart?”

The shape of a cross.