What has one got to do with the others? Chick-fil-A has become a flashpoint in the debate on gay marriage and
I think it is important to “unwrap” the matter biblically. As I sat this
morning in Chick-fil-A an enjoyed a sausage breakfast burrito, I couldn’t help
but notice the “layers” I had to get through to enjoy it. The first, a sticker
on the outside that let me know what I was about to eat. The sticker read
“cheese”. I removed the sticker. The second layer was a foil and paper wrapper
surrounding the burrito itself. I removed the wrapper. The third, a flour
tortilla filled with delicious contents … you get the picture.
The debate on gay marriage in
analogy is much like the burrito I just described. The debate is layered from
the outside in and we really don’t understand or accomplish much until we get
to the inside. To properly understand the situation we need to see through the
layers to the very heart of the issue. Underneath all the wrappings we will see
the most beautiful truth the world and all of creation has ever known.
Look at layer one of the
gay marriage debate, the civil rights political issue. We
refer to basic human rights like the freedom of speech and association,
liberty, and equal treatment in the justice system as civil rights, because
they are fundamental rights that each and every person should not be denied on
the basis of their sex, race, or religious belief. Though it has been proven
that homosexuality -- the sinful, sexual desire for those of the same sex as
oneself -- has been around since the early years of man’s existence, the
framers of the Constitution did not include the unconstitutionality of
discrimination against persons on the basis of sexual preference, thus, making
this discrimination legal (I’m not arguing the case, just stating the facts).
Inspired by the African American
Civil Rights Movement, homosexuals in America began to organize themselves and
to fight for the equality and the justice they believe they did not yet have.
With the rise of gay rights activists, gay-rights opponents appeared, and the
issue about homosexuals' rights turned into a controversial, legal battle,
which today is still fought with neither party entirely winning. The Civil
rights issue is just the top layer of the debate, and doesn’t adequately
address or offer a solution to the issue.
Look at another layer of the
gay marriage debate, the religious issue. The debate over homosexuality and religion has been a heated
discussion for some time now. The issue of homosexuality has split churches
like the Episcopal Church while at the same time uniting others such as the
Metropolitan Community Church, with a predominantly gay membership (please note
the word “church” being used loosely here).
Does God condemn
gays? Is homosexuality a sin? The religious debate attempts to answer the questions surrounding the issue of gay marriage.
The Vatican and
the late John Paul II stance on gays is clear: homosexuality is a sin and gay
marriage "attempts to pit human rights against the family and against
man." In the late Pope's philosophical work on the nature of good and
evil, "Memory and Identity," gay marriages are considered an integral
part of "a new ideology of evil" plaguing our world today. The
religious debate is just another layer and
doesn’t adequately address or offer a solution to the issue either.
I would venture to say at this
point that most professing, bible believing Christians miss the very center of
the body of truth fueling this debate. Don’t get caught up in the layers.
Please hear me as you read this; it is absolutely necessary for the glory of
God and the good of man that you properly understand the body of truth fueling
this debate.
Most people, even secular
historians would agree that Genesis 2:24 was written before Ephesians 5:32 (go
ahead, it’s o.k. to look them up).
However, what is of the utmost
importance to understand is that in the plan of God for all of creation
Ephesians 5:32 was determined before the foundation of the world, before Adam
ever “knew” Eve.
“This mystery is great; but I
am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”
Marriage is a symbolic picture.
The earthly marriage union is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ and His
relationship with His bride, the Church (Revelation 19:7-8).
Some professing believers,
stuck in the religious debate layer have elevated marriage and even the
institution of the family to an inordinate, distorted level in Christian
theology. We must understand the importance of the symbolism and the reality
of marriage to the glory of God and for the good of man.
However, when all is said and done “This mystery (that of marriage) is great;
but I am (Paul was) speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”
Entering into the gay marriage
debate without breaking through the layers to the truth is futile at worst and
frustrating at best. At the very center of the debate lies a truth so
beautiful, it is literally worth dying for, and Jesus did just that.
Jesus Christ came into the
world to save His people from their sins (Zechariah 9:16, Matthew 1:21). Specifically,
Jesus Christ came into the world to get His bride, the Body of Christ (Romans
12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:12). Jesus Christ came into the world to leave His
Father in heaven, to leave His mother on earth and give His life to be
eternally joined to another. Jesus gave up His life to become one flesh with
His people, the redeemed, the Church (Galatians 3:13, 1 Peter 1:18).
The civil rights debate can
never adequately address or solve the issue because God is the “right giver”.
In fact, those who engage in the civil rights debate from a purely “rights”
perspective will fall short every time. Not only would there not be any civil
rights if Jesus didn’t go to the cross, but the world would not exist at all.
Please do not fail to understand that the cross of Christ not only purchased
the existence of civil rights, but the world’s existence altogether. Before the
world existed, Jesus Christ determined to be married to His bride. If Jesus
Christ never determined to die on a cross to demonstrate God’s righteousness
and to justify His people, the world wouldn’t exist (Romans 3:23-26). The world
itself still exists because Christ has redeemed His church and is gathering His
elect from the four corners of the earth. When He is finished then the end of
this world as we know it will come.
The religious debate can never
adequately address or solve the issue because God isn’t simply concerned about
the scriptures and religion, but “it is the Scriptures that speak of Jesus
Christ” (John 5:39). Debating or reasoning about the gay marriage controversy
without the person and work of Jesus Christ at the center is worthless. The
gospel is the only correct answer to the debate and all of its questions and
controversies.
Defending marriage and family is a seemingly noble cause, but defending
marriage and family without the glory of God in Jesus Christ at the very center
is eternally worthless.
Marriage is defined as between one man and one woman
not only because God’s Word says so, but as explained in His Word because God
has determined before the foundation of the world that His Son would come into
the world to redeem His bride, one body, joined with Him for eternity. This
holy matrimony and eternal union is temporally pictured in the joining of a man
to his wife.
Jesus Christ and His church are pictured by marriage not the other
way around, Ephesians 5:32 being determined before Genesis 2:24.The church is
the body, the people for whom Christ died. The church is the most important
institution in the world and God has chosen to display His “manifold wisdom
through His church” to the powers of all of creation (Ephesians 3:10).
Marriage and family are
only worth defending in that the absolute, overriding passion is for God to be
glorified through His Church. Christ didn’t die for “marriage” or “family”, but
Jesus Christ died for the Church. Marriage and family are two of many pictures
of the gospel that lived out rightly declare the glory of God in Christ Jesus
to the world. Please don’t misunderstand me, marriage and family are important
relationships and in their own respects pictures of the gospel, but they are
not the theological summit or the focal point of Christianity.
Jesus Christ setting His love
on, choosing, and redeeming a people for Himself called the Church is God’s
glorious plan for the world and all of creation to see. The love of the cross
of Jesus Christ is God’s plan for humanity by which He sums all things up in
Jesus Christ.
After peeling back the layers
of rights and religion, I hope you can see there is more to the gay marriage
debate than meets the eye. Is homosexuality sin? Unequivocally, yes. Is
marriage defined as between one man and one woman? Unequivocally yes. Are these
questions answered yes because of the “rights” or “religious” questions and
answers of the ages? No they are not.
Homosexuality is sin and
marriage is only between one man and one woman first and foremost because God
has determined to display His glory to the world and the powers that be through
the church and her relationship to her groom, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Homosexuality is to be opposed just as heterosexual fornication is to be
opposed. Homosexuality is to be opposed just as bestiality is to be opposed.
Homosexuality is to be opposed just as pedophilia is to be opposed. However,
this opposition is not a matter of civil debate or religious ambiguity, but a
matter of preaching and displaying the saving message of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
The most important issues at
the center of the gay marriage debate is the glory of God and the salvation of
souls.
Jesus said, “ ‘ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.
The second is like it, ‘ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these
two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
The civil rights gay marriage
argument misunderstands and misrepresents the divine demands of the Law of God,
and therefore misses the divine grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Arguing
that God, the right giver has endowed all men with the right to “sexual
preference” misunderstands and misrepresents the greatest commandment as well
as the second greatest commandment. If God’s Commandments were some arbitrary
set of rules that He decided to demand of His creation, He would still be right
and humanity wrong. However, God’s Law, His Ten Commandments are not an
arbitrary set of rules, but the divine reflection and accurate representation
of the very heart and character of God. The divine Law of God displays the Holy
Nature of Almighty God.
This same reasoning is why the
religious argument as well misses the divine grace of the Gospel. Your
understanding of the Holy Character of God as displayed in His Law is directly
proportional to your understanding of the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Religious and political people
are opposed to gay marriage primarily because it is offensive to them or
because there religion says it is wrong. While their opinions may be formed
from biblical reasoning or moral tradition, they have missed the point. Have
you missed the point? Are you opposed to gay marriage because of what you’ve
“always believed” or because of your political party affiliation or even
because “God says so”?
God says a lot, but are you as
convinced and convicted in other areas as you are in the gay marriage debate?
Are you quick to say
homosexuality is wrong, but heterosexual fornication is tolerated in your
church, maybe even in your own life?
Are you sure homosexuality is
sin and that God hates it, but when it comes to your own sins of anger, lust,
idolatry or even remembering the Sabbath to keep it Holy, somehow you get a
pass?
Are you so religiously or
politically foolish to think the God who says homosexuality is wrong will
overlook your sins on the Day of Judgment?
What makes you think that the
homosexual is in sin, but the idolatry of placing your own marriage, family or
political and social agenda above Christ and His church will not send you to
hell?
Do you condemn the homosexual
and you don’t even show up for church on Sunday and Wednesday, which is the
real display of marriage to the world?
Will you drive to Chick-Fil-A
to spend your protest money and gas money, but your tithe and offering are
non-existent or seriously lacking?
Let me tell you what makes us
think that way, we don’t understand the Holiness of God as displayed to us in
His divine Law and therefore we do not understand the Gospel of grace we even
claim to believe.
Jesus said, “If you love Me,
keep my commandments”. This is a description of what a disciple of Jesus Christ
looks like, not what someone does to get into heaven.
Are you a disciple of Christ,
do you keep His commandments?
Don’t fool yourself into
thinking your religion will some how save your soul.
Many Baptist, Catholic,
Pentecostal and Charismatic people are going to show up at Chick-Fil-A today,
but how many Christians will actually be there?
Many Baptist, Catholic,
Pentecostal and Charismatic people will stand before the Lord on Judgment Day,
and He will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART
FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ The Law He is talking about is His Ten Commandments.
Jesus said, “Do not think that
I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to
fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the
smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to
do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever
keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven."
Have you been saved? How do you
know? Has God written His Law on your heart (Jeremiah 31)? Do you delight in keeping His
commandments … all of them?
Or do you think your
theological, religious or political views will exempt you on that Final Day?
Cry out for mercy to the only
One who can save you from your religious hypocrisy. Cry out for mercy to the
only One who can save you from your political or social idolatry.
The Jews were more religious in
Jesus day than most of the good Catholics, Baptists and other denominations of
our day. Do you think you are better than they were?
Today if you hear His voice, do
not harden your heart. There is mercy at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Put down your political idols, throw away your false religion and repent of
your sins towards God and cast yourself on the mercy of Christ.
Christ has risen from the dead to save His bride the church. Are you married to Him?
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