Sun 9:30a Class; 10:30a Worship; 11:35a Communion
Bible Bites
Glorifying God While Battling Sin
Are you feeling it yet? Are you feeling the pressure to tolerate the homosexual lifestyle and having stabs of sympathy pains when some egregious case of mean-spirited discrimination (often involving children) hits the newswire? On the other hand, have you considered the inconsistency of mistreating homosexuals who flagrantly thumb their noses at scriptural principle while giving a pass to heterosexuals who do likewise?
Unfortunately, the response of many professing Christians to the rising tide of immorality is behavior that is not becoming the name of Christ. In their reaction to societal pressure, some have resorted to ugly behavior so as not to be thought “soft” on the practice of homosexuality. There is no evidence that the first century Christians verbally assaulted the ungodly and immoral with epithets or used other carnal tactics. The truth wielded by the cause of Christ is a mighty spiritual weapon. When we are frustrated that the worldly are so calloused as not to be pricked by its message, we must not resort to their weapons or methods of warfare (2 Corinthians 10.3-5).
I am not at all suggesting that we give up even one inch of the moral high ground that God’s grace and truth have secured for us. On the contrary, I am suggesting that to return evil for evil is contrary to the marching orders we have received from our divine Commander (1 Peter 3.8-12) and that to resort to such “talk radio” tactics reflects a lack of faith in God’s way and imperils our cause. Frustration with the hard-hearted ungodliness that infects all levels of our culture is to be met with prayer, the characteristics of the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5.22-6.3), and a recognition that vengeance belongs to God and not to us (Romans 12.17-21).
Do we trust God and His ways to rescue us? When we stoop to the style and methods of Limbaugh or Levin, we are not courageous Christians but carnal conservatives. Surely these men are not our heroes. Occasionally when driving I will tune into one of these notable bloviators and try to listen. I am amazed at how redundant they all are and how little of substance is actually said in the span of an hour. Certainly many of these radio personalities are capable of more substance (as they may demonstrate in a monologue or in writing), so I am not questioning their intelligence; but when they are entertaining their listeners, they fall prey to doing what most entertainers do—pleasing their primary audience. However, these entertainers whose guiding principle is to please men are not servants of Christ (Galatians 1.10), so we should not be surprised that their methods are not Christ-like, and we should not imitate them.
We must continue to resist the spiritual and moral degradation that our country is going through in the hopes that our nation will become ripe for repentance rather than judgment. We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices that he is effectively using to soften our revulsion toward homosexuality as he has already done with our more tolerant attitudes toward the heterosexual sins of fornication, divorce, and remarriage. However, we also know that his devices include inciting zealots to take up carnal methods and weapons to have us bite and devour one another in the name of truth, justice, and the American way. Instead our response needs to be with grace and truth in the spirit of Jesus Christ.
In offering the peace that only Christ can bring to warring factions of conservatives and liberals, Christians may suffer attacks from all sides; but let us glorify God in these matters (1 Peter 4.16) rather than ourselves, our traditions, our country, or our political party.
— In "Think on These Things", Fall 2012
