The Gospel Without Sexual Caveats

THE GOSPEL
WITHOUT SEXUAL CAVEATS
 

 

 

Ok, I get it. Chris Broussard is a professing Christian who believes that homosexual behavior is a sin. I get it. Lying, greed, pride, lust, it’s all sin. I get it. But all this hysteria was in response to an NBA player saying he had same sex attractions. And as if throwing red meat into a pit bull pen many believers not only came out in agreement with his statement, which was Biblical, but they applauded him for being bold and “calling a spade a spade”. Wow, that’s all it takes to make a Christian hero? I cannot disagree with Broussard’s assessment, but I do have objections on a number of other fronts.

Let us not forget that although Broussard’s assessments were Biblical, he makes his living covering and supporting one of the most greedy, hedonistic, self elevating, and promiscuous venues in history. Somehow I do not believe Jesus endorses men making hundreds of millions of dollars to throw a ball into a hoop. And if the infidelity and strip club visitations were revealed inside the NBA I doubt there is much spiritual foundation to be throwing stones. And although Broussard makes some valid statements, he never gives the gospel.

That is like telling people their house in on fire but not showing them a door of escape. Without the gospel it is moralism which may elicit support within the camp but does very little for the spreading of the gospel. When they shove a microphone in your face talk about Jesus. The world should not be able to dictate the conversation. Talk about Jesus or give your personal testimony but avoid the trap that is being set. The gay thing continues to be a moral game of Wack-a-Mole.

So let us examine this phenomenon of professing believers being elevated and praised based in large part about what they speak out against and what they believe is sin, and in this case a very specific sin. I call it the Phelps paradigm. How about the clarity of their life prism as it pertains to Christ? You can program a computer to say homosexuality is a sin but can that computer live for Jesus? Why do I take such an issue with this gay thing and the church? Because the church has become conveniently obsessed with it and it is subtly and not so subtly used to cover the abundance of sin practiced in the church as well as the pulpit.

The President said that he was proud of Jason Collins. We should not be proud of him but we should understand he is being more honest about who he is than most believers. I have never taken the position that the gay lifestyle is godly and acceptable. Never. But I also cannot take the position that what goes on in the church is godly and represents a self denying discipleship that follows Jesus. What if Chris Broussard had said divorce was an abomination? Or greed? Or prayerlessness? Or debt? That would not have made the television report. Why? Because the world loves a good moral fight and the church has complied with its wishes. And so what transpires is a back and forth about some moral issue which cannot save even if every gay person left that lifestyle today.

The gospel calls sinners to faith first and then to change, in that order. When that order is reversed that is legalism which can never be redemptive. And so in pulpits and on radio and on television believers stand boldly and proclaim that homosexual behavior is a sin. And the kingdom of darkness gets the strong impression that God hates the gays, or at least that before any gay person approaches Jesus they better do some moral fence mending. And when it comes to the gay issue much of the church actually believes exactly that.

The entire issue continues to be centered on what we believe about redemption and how Christ desires us to present the gospel.

Matt.28: ¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Do you see the chronology? Preach, baptize, and then teach. Jesus told us that the Spirit would guide us into all truth. Well how can they who do not have the Spirit understand these truths? The concept of sin may help a sinner see who Jesus is and his need for a Savior, but when you harp on a certain sin above all the rest you have become a moralist if not a legalist as well. The church has largely stepped into the world’s moral wars and thereby we have left the message we have been given.

Acts 1: ⁸ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

How have we taken our eyes off the eternal and settled for a few temporal crumbs? We belong to a kingdom that is not of this world and yet we battle to change it. There is no way to change the kingdom of darkness. God isn’t interested in leaving sinners where they are and changing their culture. God’s way is to see a sinner believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be translated from that darkness into the kingdom of light. And then and only then is that sinner’s kingdom changed.

In effect, and I say this advisedly, we minimize the cross when we rail against certain moral issues along with unbelievers both religious and nonreligious. We become one voice among many in a sea of politics gently layered with a smattering of Bible but certainly without a cross centered motivation. Our motivation is being morally right at the expense of holding our tongue in public and allowing our voices to speak deeply inside our prayer closets. I sold drugs to high school kids and I planned on robbing a bank and killing the guard. Does it make a difference that I was a rabid heterosexual who engaged in unbridled promiscuity? Why don’t believers rail against that for certainly that lifestyle lives and breathes in professional sports?

It is a riveting question the church seldom asks because we know everything already. How should we speak and what should capture our attention? And if we pursue the answer via the life and teachings of Jesus we will find some interesting templates. Sadly the church has drifted into the cultural sea until the shore of the sacred steps of Jesus has disappeared. Yes, I am suggesting that the church has so departed from the teachings and example of Jesus as to be little more than a self serving religious and moral institution. Jesus is seldom preached and there is precious little strong exhortation to surrender all and follow Him. We have been so long without seeking Him with our whole hearts that we no longer can be awakened from our religious slumber. And this slumber is sweet to the flesh.

Most of the local buildings we call church provide some excitement and some tepid Bible study as well as a well oiled ecclesiastical machine that supplements our western lifestyles with just enough religious anesthesia so as to deafen the ears and dull the senses. The Sunday morning get together is predictable and planned and orchestrated in order that people leave warm and happy regardless of their spiritual condition. With the darkness all around closing in and with sin running rampant within the church one should expect some kind of desperation in the company of believers. Should we not be earnestly seeking God’s face and power?

We are in such dire straits and in such a deep need of a spiritual revival that we should be prostrate before the Lord in repentance. But instead it is so very easy to address the sins of the dead rather than the lethargy of the living.

Is.64: Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

² As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

³ When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

⁴ For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

Are we not hungry for a move of the mighty Spirit of God that strips us of our pretences and our lies? Can we not hunger for something in our lives that can only be explained by the Spirit of God? When will men say as they did in the Book of Acts, “We have never seen it on this wise?” But if we do not desire any more than what we now have then we can just do what we are doing and play pin the tail on the sinners and feel like we are fulfilling our religious obligation. It isn’t the gay community that is an obstacle to any spiritual awakening. It is the community of faith which has become adept at spying out the sin of others while remaining blind to its own sin.

Let it be known that Jesus loves every gay person even though He does not condone their sin. Pretty much like He feels about me.

But what about these people, Lord?

What is that to you? Follow Me and let your light so shine before these people. Preach and live the gospel and exhibit an uncomfortable love toward the most demonstrative and rebellious sinners.

Yes, but Lord, they are sinning greatly and are expecting us to approve their sin.

Take your eyes off their sin and look at their souls. So are you being forced to accept anything? How did I deal with such monsters of iniquity?

The cross.

(Go and do likewise)