How is the church of Jesus Christ to respond to the recent Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage?
There is no doubt that our culture has changed. What was once unquestioned and taken for granted—marriage as the union of one man and one woman—has now been redefined and expanded to any two individuals (and feasibly more) of whatever gender or gender identity.
Marriage is no longer an objective, established institution that we affirm. Rather it is a subjective entity that we can define any way that we please.
It is the ultimate postmodern dream. There are no clear lines. There are no real distinctions. Everything is blurred, ambiguous, open to individual interpretation. We can not only redefine marriage but also gender, sex, family, identity, truth, even life itself.
Christianity, by its very nature, will stand against such a culture…not because it seeks to be oppositional but because it affirms a Creator who defines reality regardless of our personal opinions on the matter.
A church which believes in and is committed to objective Truth will inevitably clash against a culture which believes in and is committed to subjective truth as defined by each individual or by political correctness.
So how should we now live in this present culture?
We must follow Jesus Christ.
When Jesus walked this earth, He both preached Truth and practiced Love.
Perhaps no story in the Gospels illustrates this balance better than the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8. The religious leaders cart this woman in front of Jesus looking to force His hand and make Him choose between truth and love, between law“ and compassion.
Will He deny truth in order to show compassion? Or will He uphold truth and allow the woman to be stoned to death without compassion?
In the face of this dilemma, Jesus calmly bends down and writes in the dust. There is much speculation about what He wrote. Scripture simply does not tell us. I tend to think that He began to write out the sins of those around Him. But whatever He marked out in the dust, it brought about conviction on those standing there.
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
If we are going to live boldly, wisely, and compassionately in this present culture, then we must first acknowledge our own sin and our desperate need for grace. There is no room for pride or arrogance in the heart of a believer in Jesus Christ. Our own sin condemns us apart from the redeeming blood of our Savior.
Next, after the religious leaders have all dropped their stones and departed, Jesus speaks a simple message to the wayward, adulterous woman.
I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more.
While religious leaders can often forget their own sin and need for God’s grace, our present culture confuses love and compassion with affirmation of practically every sexual impulse and desire.
The message of religion is “We condemn you so stop sinning.”
The message of our culture is “We don’t condemn you so continue doing what you are doing.”
The message of the church of Jesus Christ must be “We don’t condemn you. You are made in the image of God and valuable in His eyes. He gave His own Son to die for You and to offer You new life. And we love you too much not to tell you of the devastating, destructive, deceptive nature of sin and to help you walk in the path of holiness and wholeness.”
This is Christ’s message of hope to those who will inevitably be wounded, deceived, and confused by our culture’s increasing affirmation of sex without boundaries.
May the church of Jesus Christ not only speak it but live it.
