mdemchsak

Mar

2021

The Christian Life and the Christian Reality

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (I Cor 6:19-20)

Praise you, Father, for you have made me a dwelling place for your Spirit, unworthy though I am.

Christianity calls you and me to live a life that seems impossible, and, indeed, would be impossible if it was not for the fact that Christ makes us new and indwells us through His Spirit. He makes us new through the Cross and Resurrection, by canceling our sins, making us clean, crucifying our old sinful nature, and raising us to new life as new creatures. We are born again – to use Jesus’ term.

In this sense, we are now saints – that is, people who have been sanctified. This means that, in one sense, we are holy. Not “we shall be holy,” but “we are holy.”

Yet in another sense, we must put into practice our holiness, and this putting holiness into practice is a lifelong process and struggle. We do not always live up to who we are. Sometimes Christians still sin, even though they are already sanctified. This idea that we are holy in one sense but working on our holiness in another can be hard to grasp, so let me try to illustrate.

Scripture says that husbands and wives are one flesh. But sometimes they live as two, even though in reality they are one, and the fact is that they are still one even when they do not live that way. Their life does not change the reality of what God has done. Or try this picture. Sometimes citizens do not live as citizens ought, but the fact is that they are still citizens even when they do not behave as such. There is an intrinsic reality, and there is a life, and the life does not always align with the reality. This is how it often is with the Christian faith. In reality, those in Christ are saints, dead to sin, alive to God, born again, new creatures, sanctified, holy. This is the reality. Christians, however, often fail to live out this reality perfectly.

But the genuine Christian takes seriously the business of living in holiness. The genuine Christian pursues a life that matches his or her reality in Christ. The genuine Christian life changes and grows in the direction of the reality. Christians fall as they grow, just a toddler falls when learning to walk, but they walk the path that pursues a life that reflects who they are. They are learning to be who they are, just as a new graduate is learning to be a graduate. Before the Christian became a Christian, he took his imperatives from the world around him. But now that he is in Christ, he takes his imperatives from Christ. His imperatives must reflect the indicative of who he is. The life must match the reality. And the reality is foundational to the life.

To live the Christian life requires first the reality. You must be a new creature to live a new life. But even then, this living of the new life is difficult. We live in a fallen world, and while we may be dead to sin, we still listen to it.

But God does not leave the Christian to live this life all on his own. In addition to making us new, He gives us His Spirit. Now the transforming work of the Cross is essential for the presence of the Spirit, for the Spirit is holy, and holiness will not dwell with impurity. The mere fact that the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian shows that, in some sense, the Christian is holy. The work of the Cross in making us new paves the way for the presence of the Spirit. The work of the Cross builds out of us a home for the Spirit. The Cross makes us into a temple for God’s Spirit (I Cor 6:19-20). No Cross and no Resurrection equals no indwelling Spirit.

But in Christ, we do have the Spirit. This is the next essential piece to the reality of the Christian life. Not only are we new creatures in Christ, but we have God Himself, through the Spirit, living inside us. God has changed who we are, and God has come to dwell in us.

Stop.

Meditate on that.

God has changed who you are.

And God now dwells inside you.

Hallelujah! That is good news

Feb

2021

Not I But Christ

I am crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20)

Praise you, Father, for the grace of the Cross. I wrestle to live out the life of the Cross. It is hard. But it is real and powerful. As you have given me the grace of the Cross and Resurrection, give me also the grace to live out the Cross and the Resurrection in my life, resting in my Savior.

Living the Christian life does not begin with you. Christianity is not about you. It’s not about how good you are or how strong you can be or what wonderful deeds you could do if only you applied yourself or reached deep inside and seized your full potential. That’s Disney.

Christianity, however, claims quite the opposite. It says that on your own you are sinful and utterly incapable of living any kind of righteous life. It says not only that you sin but that you sin naturally. It’s not just that you violate God’s will; it’s that you can’t help but do so. Sin runs deep in your heart, and you can’t get it out.

The reason we do not live the Christian life is that we cannot live it. It is too high, and we are too corrupt. And yet people still think that normal human nature can be godly. They think this way because they want to, and they justify such thinking by lowering God’s standard of holiness and by flattering our corruption. I have seen hundreds of people who protest that they are not so bad, but I have never seen one of them actually live for God.

They say they are good and then explode in anger at their kids or reveal impatience or cut corners at work. They say they are good and then change Scripture so they can feel good about themselves. They don’t believe that their lust is adultery or that their greed is idolatry. They say they are good but then live for their own comfort or for a political end or for anything but God. No. They won’t live for God, and part of the reason why is that they think they are already good enough. They don’t need God, and when you don’t need God, you don’t go to Him or live for Him.

People who think they can live the Christian life on their own just by being good are not honest with themselves. They have sold themselves a pipedream, and unfortunately, if they persist, they will take their goodness with them all the way to hell. Heaven is for sinners who know they need God. Hell is for good people who rely on their goodness (Lk 18:9-14).

Christianity is simply not about you and what you can do. Christianity begins with Christ and what He has done. This different perspective is so fundamental to the Christian life that if you get it wrong, you get everything else wrong as well. Therefore, since the Christian life begins with Christ, let’s focus on Him and on what He has done to bring about in us the life He wants.

But before we see what Jesus has done, we must first see the real problem we face. Sin is the basic problem of the human race, the cancer in our souls. Thus, for Jesus to be of any real help to us, He must deal with our sin. He has done so through two works on one Cross.

The first work of the Cross addresses our sins – our thoughts, attitudes, words, and deeds. The second work of the Cross addresses our sin – the nature inside us that produces those thoughts, attitudes, words, and deeds. Think of it this way. A criminal produces a crime. In dealing with the criminal, one must address issues of justice as well as the damage the criminal’s deeds have caused. But if you stop there, you still have the same criminal who produced those deeds. You have dealt with his crimes, but you haven’t changed him. Now the Cross and subsequent Resurrection are God’s response to our sins and to our sin nature. They deal with our deeds, but they also deal with us.

Concerning our sins, the Cross serves justice and repairs the damage that our sins do to our relationship with God. The blood of Christ appeases the wrath of God (Rm 3:25), administers the justice of God (Rm 3:26), declares us righteous (Rm 5:9), cleanses us from all sin (I Jn 1:7), redeems us from the pit (Eph 1:7), brings forgiveness (Eph 1:7), and makes peace with God (Col 1:20).

Because of the precious blood of Christ, the penalty for our sins is paid. We are criminals for whom justice has already been served. When God looks at us, He does not see our sins. He sees the blood. Thus, we are clean in God’s sight. We are righteous in His eyes. We have peace with Him. We are forgiven. When by faith we are in Christ, we cannot outsin the reach of the Cross. The Cross covers all our sins – past, present, and future.

The Christian must hold onto this fact. We still sin, and if we are to live the Christian life, we must begin by holding onto the fact that in Christ our sins do not defeat us. God still loves us. God is still for us. God forgives us. Our relationship with Him is still intact. In Christ, none of that will ever change. The forgiveness of God is not an excuse to continue in sin. It is a comfort that our sins can never separate us from God. Never. The Cross makes us right with God. Forever. By dealing with our sins, the Cross gives us spiritual security, and this security is foundational to living a godly life. Resting in the blood of Christ and the forgiveness it procures is foundational to living a Christian life because we cannot live the Christian life without Christ, and when we sin, Satan uses our sins to drive a wedge between us and Christ. He wants our sins to separate us from Christ because he knows that if we pull away from Christ, we will fail to live the Christian life. We are then no threat to Satan. We have to hold onto the Cross because it is the Cross that pulls us back to Christ when we sin.

But the Cross does more than wipe away our sins. It also crucifies us. Here is how Galatians puts it:

I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet it is not I but

Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20)

May I never boast in anything except the Cross of Christ. Through

it the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. (Gal 6:14)

Here is how Romans puts it:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may

abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ

Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with

him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised

from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in

newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like

his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the

body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer

be enslaved to sin. For he who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live

with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will

never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the

death he died he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives he lives

to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive

to God in Christ Jesus. (Rm 6:1-11)

Here is how Colossians puts it:

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world . . . (Col 2:20)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above,

where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on

things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have

died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-3)

In Christ it is not just that our sins have been wiped away. In Christ, you and I are dead. We have been crucified with Christ. We have been buried with Christ. We have died and our lives are now hidden with Christ. Our old self has died. And all of this happened at the Cross.

In addition, we have been raised to a new life in Christ. We have been united with Him in His Resurrection. We are in Christ. When He died, we died; when He rose, we rose.

What all these Scriptures are saying is not just that we have forgiveness but that we have a new nature, a new life in Christ. In these texts, God is dealing not so much with our sins but with us. In Christ the old you is dead; the new you has come (II Cor 5:17). In Christ, you are no longer the same person. The Christian, thus, is capable of living in righteousness, not on his own but in Christ. I don’t mean that the Christian always does live in righteousness but that the Christian has in Christ the resources to do so. The unbeliever does not have these resources.

The Christian response to this second work of the Cross is to believe it and to set our minds on the things appropriate for the new nature. Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rm 6:11). And the life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2:20). Seek the things that are above . . . Set your minds on things that are above, not on earthly things (Col 3:1-2). If I could describe as simply as possible how to live the Christian life in steps, it would begin this way:

Step 1: The Cross and Resurrection. In Christ, you are clean and forgiven and nothing can come between you and God. In Christ, your old, sin nature is dead, and you are a new person. This step is what God has done in Christ. It has already been accomplished, it is grace, and without it you can do nothing to live the Christian life.

Step 2: Believe Step 1. Rest in Step 1. Live in Step 1. If you do not live in Step 1, there is no living the Christian life. Period. The Christian must know in the depths of the heart who Christ is, what Christ has done, and who He has made us to be in Him. This knowledge is not intellectual knowledge. It involves heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Step 3: Walk in Christ. You cannot walk in Christ unless you are first in Christ (Step 1) and know that you are in Him (Step 2). Walking in Christ then entails all sorts of specifics: hardship and suffering, speaking the truth, sexual purity, loving your difficult boss, freedom from greed, humility, joy, service, and more.

The biggest problem Christians have in living the Christian life is that they focus on the details of Step 3 instead of the foundations of Steps 1 and 2. They know that pornography is sin, so they grit their teeth and work on avoiding it. They then fail because they try to fight pornography in their own strength quite apart from the Cross and Resurrection. They are new creatures in Christ, but they rely on their old self to live a new life. They know what is good and simply try to do it.

But the Christian life does not begin with you. It begins with Christ who lives in you, who loves you and gave Himself for you (Gal 2:20). The Christian life is a life of “not I but Christ.” This is a much higher life to live than the life that says merely “go be good.” That life is cheap and shallow. That life wants to be good but can’t. That life cheapens godliness by lowering God’s heavenly standard to what we can do. That life eliminates Christ and the Cross. It rips all of the power and depth from life and then pretends to have substance. It has none.

The Christian life, however, requires Christ. It also requires a new nature. But because of the Cross and Resurrection, the Christian has Christ and a new nature. This is who we are. When we forget who we are, we have greater problems living how we ought. And quite often we forget because it is easy to take our eyes off of Christ.

The Christian life is hard. It involves struggle and work and hardship and persecution. But the Christian life is simple. It centers on Christ.

Jan

2021

A New Life

unless one is born again . . . (Jn 3:3)

Father, I praise you that in Christ you have made me new. By your grace, please set my eyes on your glory, your kingdom, and the work you have done through Jesus Christ.

I want to begin talking about the Christian life – what it is and how to live it. And right away, I need to say two things. The first is that the Christian life encompasses everything: your work, your money, your relationships, your family, your sex life, how you use your time, what you read or what you watch on TV, how you speak, how you think about government, education or your neighbor, what your purpose in life is, how you think about human nature or your own sin, where your hope comes from, who you trust, how your pray . . . You get the idea. Now obviously, when I talk about the Christian life, I can’t talk about everything all at once, so over time, I plan on talking about many different topics – one at a time. And when I am done, there will be many more topics that I will not have addressed. That’s just reality.

The second thing I need to say about the Christian life is that it flows out of Christians. I do not mean that all Christians always live the life they are supposed to live, nor do I mean that nonChristians never do nice things. I mean simply that a Christian life requires a Christian. If you understand what a Christian life is, this statement is a bit obvious, but many need the reminder, for too many people think that living a Christian life is merely a matter of how you live. Therefore, before we get into how you live, I want to focus on something far more important.

When a man or woman becomes a Christian, a new life begins. This is why we call conversion a new birth. But if you listen to many Christians talk, you would get the impression that conversion is the end of the road. We pray for God to save Ella, and when He does, we offer some thanks and move on, as if God is now finished with Ella. This thinking is grossly shallow and produces grossly shallow Christians.

We follow popular portrayals of Christianity instead of Biblical ones. We consider conversion to be a matter of saying some words and/or changing some ugly behavior – drinking or swearing or whatever. We do not consider conversion to be . . . well . . . a conversion. In the New Testament, a conversion is precisely what the word means. A convert was one person but is now a new person. Conversion is radical. It changes who you are. In the New Testament, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature (II Cor 5:17), his old self has been crucified and he has been given a new life in Christ (Rm 6:1-11, Gal 2:20, Col 3:1-4).

Conversion goes deeper than we think. It changes not just external words or deeds but cuts to the heart. It changes your very soul. Conversion makes a new man or a new woman. And when it does so, that man or woman begins a new life. Conversion does not change merely what you do. It changes who you are. And who you are is more important than what you do. God wants you, not just your works.

This is how Christianity operates. It does not focus on improving behavior. God wants to change your heart and soul and not just make you polite and nice. Christianity works from the inside out. God knows that when He changes you, your behavior will follow. When God gets the heart He gets everything, and God is quite insistent upon having everything.

We do not like this sort of talk. It is much easier to talk about social justice or sexual purity or reading the Bible. It is much easier to be a nice, kind person and claim that we are part of God’s kingdom simply because we are nice. That’s how most religions operate, and it is how much of the secular world thinks religion should operate. But it is not Christian. In addition, we don’t like to talk of God insisting upon having everything because then we are not the center of the universe; and if there is one thing we humans want, it is to be at the center of the universe.

Therefore, if anyone wishes to live the Christian life, he must not merely change his behavior. He must change his identity. The Christian life is not merely an old person doing new deeds. It is a new person. With a new heart. But you and I cannot change who we are any more than a sow can become a woman. In order for our identity to change, we need power from the outside. The Bible calls this power “grace.”

A Christian, thus, is someone whom God has changed. As we begin to talk about living a godly life, please understand that the foundation for such a life is a godly heart, and a godly heart does not exist until Christ changes it and dwells in it. You cannot have a Christian life without Christ.

For the Christian, this means that living a godly life is not a matter of gritting your teeth and grinding out good deeds. You know: “I will share my faith. I will stay away from sexual images. I will give more to the poor. This is because a Christian life is not primarily a matter of what you do. It certainly includes what you do, but it is so much more. It involves who you are.

Thus, for the Christian, the process of living the Christian life does not begin by focusing on being more patient or less angry. It begins by focusing on Christ. And being His. You cannot live a Christian life by focusing primarily on the life. Pursue patience and you will fail. Pursue a pure mind and you will fail. But pursue Christ and He makes you new. It is Christ who works patience and purity in you. But He doesn’t do this all at once. He does it through struggle, through forcing you to trust Him in the crucible of life. He wants you to see Him and to see who He has made you to be. If we do not believe who He is or who He has made us to be, then we will advance little in the Christian life. The real advances in the Christian life come by grace through Christ. And they come through our holding onto the person and work of Christ.

This holding onto Christ comes by faith. Therefore, the foundational work in a Christian life involves a real change in who we are. It involves Christ making us a new person. It then involves faith in the Savior who has made us new and faith in what He says about who we now are. We believe we are new or we don’t. If we don’t, then concerning this new life, we remain stuck in the garage. And you never get anywhere by staying in the garage.

Dec

2020

Christmas or christmas

At Christmas the world changed. At Christmas God became man. At Christmas God so loved the world that He gave His son. Christmas is, after all, a love story.

If Christmas is true, then your king and mine was born in a stable. If Christmas is true, then Jesus is the center of everything. If Christmas is true, then the only appropriate response is to bow and worship.

But this world doesn’t want to bow and worship, so it ignores the central fact of Christmas and celebrates instead its own christmas.

You and I are then left with Christmas or christmas. Both holidays are present simultaneously. Everywhere you look you see christmas, for it shouts and presses itself forward with a marketing campaign any corporation would envy.

But Christmas is quiet, like a starry night outside Bethlehem. Christmas stills your soul. Christmas points you beyond christmas. Christmas opens your heart to the love of God. Christmas is far more wondrous than the marketing campaign, for Christmas reveals the astounding humility and grace of God.

The holiday of christmas changes the season by plastering on thick makeup. But Christmas changes the heart . . . forever.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Dec

2020

What Does the Bible Say?

I sat on a student panel tasked with investigating the morality of abortion. It was the 1970s, and I was in high school and had not yet made up my mind on the issue. As the panel discussed the various arguments flying around the culture, one student asked a question that hit me like a bucket of water.

“What does the Bible say?”

I was just beginning my Christian life, and I didn’t know what the Bible said, but somehow I knew that if the Bible addressed abortion, that student’s question was the key to this issue. Not everyone on the panel may have ascribed authority to the Bible, but I knew that as a Christian I had to.

Authority comes in many varieties, and people give different levels of authority to different types of authorities. Appeals to science, to reason, to freedom, to economics, to emotion, to culture, to government, to Scripture are like sergeants, captains, colonels, and generals in an army. They all have a measure of authority at times, but they cannot all have the same level of authority. Some authorities must outrank others.

Now I knew that if I was to follow Jesus, the Bible had to be commander in chief when it spoke. I knew that if the entire culture lined up on one side and the Bible lined up on the other, I would have to fall where the Bible was.

This principle – the pre-eminence of Scripture – is a hallmark of Christian thinking and flows from the nature of Scripture. If the Bible is God’s Word, it must be pre-eminent. If it is not pre-eminent to you, you do not treat it as God’s Word.

Unfortunately, for most people of every culture the Bible is not pre-eminent. When it comes to thinking about God, human nature, sin, faith, heaven, hell, spiritual matters or moral issues, most people give priority to something other than the Bible. It may be their upbringing, their culture, their friends, social media, a professor or popular teacher, Hollywood, a political party, or their own desires. Many people say they honor the Bible as an authority, and they may give it a measure of credence, but they still dishonor it when they fail to give it priority. They may honor it as a soldier honors a sergeant. The problem is that Scripture is commander in chief and not a mere sergeant. You dishonor the commander in chief when you treat him as a sergeant.

The church in the West thinks more like the West than it does like the New Testament. We have let the culture define love and followed it. We have let the culture define equality and believed it. We have let the culture tell us that it is arrogant to think God has provided only one way. We have adopted cultural ways of thinking about sexuality. We have adopted cultural thinking about human identity. Many of us do not believe we are fallen, or if we confess that we are, we often think that our sin is not that egregious. We wonder why God would condemn us for such “minor” transgressions as lust or anger, especially when the anger is justified.

Some of us speak, as the culture does, as if political activism is the ultimate answer to our problems. Others speak, as the culture does, as if racism is the sin above all sins. We can forgive an adulterer perhaps, but we can’t forgive a racist. Some follow the culture by saying that the husband is not the head of the wife. Others follow the culture by saying that a person’s sexual identity defines him or her. Others follow the culture by thinking they can be independent from the body of Christ. They don’t need to commit to a church. Or so they think. Many follow the culture by adopting a consumer mindset when it comes to their local church. They think the church exists to feed them and not that they exist to serve the church. We are good at meeting our needs. That’s the culture. But we won’t die to self. That’s Scripture.

We have bought into what social media tells us. We have bought into what our friends say. We have bought into what we see on Netflix. We have bought into what our favorite political party says. We have bought into the culture, and in doing so, we have abandoned Scripture. We have ignored the commander in chief and listened to a sergeant.

One of the marks of a thriving faith is that the Bible trumps the culture. Your culture (whatever it is) is hostile to what Scripture says, and it wants to draw you away. Different cultures do this in different ways, but all cultures do this. If you give priority to your culture, you lose spiritual authority and power, your faith grows limp, and you begin to live like everyone else.

One of the keys to living a Christian life is listening to the right authority. When you listen to Scripture above all other authorities, you thrive. When you listen to other authorities above Scripture, you wither.

If you want to know what you listen to most, look at your free time. How much of your time do you spend in the Scriptures, in prayer and in seeking God, versus how much do you spend on social media, watching movies, listening to music, or otherwise absorbing your culture? Where you most engage your mind is where your highest authority is. If you spend 10 minutes of your free time each day reading Scripture and two hours absorbing your culture, then you are giving your culture priority, and your faith will suffer. If you want to make God’s Word a priority in your life, make it priority in your time. You are always feeding your mind. The question is – what are you feeding it?

Nov

2020

Wanting God’s Word

I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. (Job 23:12)

I love you, O Lord. Therefore, I love your Word. Feed me on it.

The Bible is God’s Word.

Many voices deny this fact. They claim that the Bible is man’s book, not God’s book. They claim that the Bible is culturally conditioned and, thus, suspect when it comes to addressing people today. They claim that the Bible is full of contradictions or that the events it relates never happened. They claim that the Bible is cruel, oppressive to women, or sexually backward.

Today the various voices against the Bible are loud and occupy the seats of power within all cultures. The Bible stands as the most attacked and most censored book in history, and among the power brokers of Western culture, its ideas are roundly mocked and brushed aside.

But the Bible still stands as God’s Word. Despite the efforts to discredit and dismantle Scripture, it still changes lives, brings peace, frees people from sin, reconciles enemies, puts joy in the heart, and more. This is because the Bible is God’s Word.

The power of the Bible is not in the book on its own but in the God who stands behind it. The Bible has power because ultimately it comes from Christ and points to Christ.

For this reason, those who know God love the Bible. Indeed, one of the marks of genuine faith is a love for Scripture, for if you love God, you want to know what He says.

Unfortunately, however, too many who go by name of Christian have no desire to know what God says. They work their jobs, go to their schools, raise their children, eat, shop, play, and live life as if God has nothing to say about who they are and how they should live. They are so busy living life that they have no time to listen to God. They don’t even think about listening to Him. But they consider themselves good people (churchgoing people even) and, thus, Christians. This phenomenon is not Christianity. You do not see it in Scripture.

But most people in church don’t know Scripture. They don’t take time to read it, to meditate on it, and to learn from it so that they might obey it. And so they disobey it (all along thinking they obey it) because they love other things more than they love God. For if they had loved God, they would have taken the time to learn what He says.

The irony is that many of these people would tell you that the Bible is God’s book, but they live like the people who tell you that the Bible is man’s book. They somehow think they revere the Bible when in reality they pay scant attention to it.

God calls you to know Him, to love Him, and to obey Him. From the heart. And a heart that wants God, wants His Word.

Nov

2020

Jesus is Everything

Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:21-2)

Jesus is everything or Jesus is nothing.

He is more important to you than your mother, father, son and daughter, or you have missed Him (Mt 10:34-9). He calls you to unwavering allegiance to Himself.

Modern Christianity has glossed over the radical nature of Jesus’ Christianity. Modern Christianity is merely respectable. It wants the comforts of home, the entertainment of Hollywood, the approval of society, and, oh yes, let’s throw in some Jesus too.

This is not the Christianity that turned the world upside-down. Rather, this is the world turning Christianity upside-down.

Jesus is everything or Jesus is nothing. Here in America we had an election this week, and the results are still unknown., Much of America is wringing its hands over who its next president will be. Social media has lit up with claims of doomsday if such-and-such gets elected, and the mainstream media treats this election as if life itself hangs in the balance over who wins. This fear shows where their hope is. To these people, political power is everything.

But Jesus must be everything. If your hope lies in an election, then it does not lie in Jesus. If politics is everything, then Jesus is not. And if Jesus is not everything, He is nothing. I struggle with this. Who wouldn’t? If you take seriously the ultimacy of Jesus, you should struggle with His call. If you are like me, you find times when good things pull you from ultimate things – when sleep or work eats up your time with God, when sports or money becomes a priority, when family keeps your mind and time occupied. I struggle precisely because I have good and normal desires for various earthly things, and I don’t want to place those desires under the lordship of Christ. I want Jesus to be one good thing among many good things and not to be everything.

But Jesus is everything or Jesus is nothing. This is why He calls us to die, to take up our Cross, to lose our life, and those who follow Him walk that path. They may stumble while on that path, but they are on that path. It’s hard. But it’s good.

For when you get Jesus, you get everything.

Oct

2020

Racism: A Christian Perspective

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 12:9-10)

Father, you are God of all peoples, for you made them. And people from all races and nations and languages will stand before your throne together and proclaim your excellencies. Hallelujah! May we your people see our oneness in Christ, even when we look different on the outside. Let us see race as you do.

God is the God of all peoples. Black belongs to God. White belongs to God. Hispanic, Indian, Chinese, Inuit – they all belong to God. All races belong to God because God made them and redeemed them. The blood of Christ makes worshippers of all skin colors, and one day, the redeemed of all races will stand together in one joyous throng and sing and shout and proclaim together that salvation belongs to their God and that there is no other.

This picture shows the end goal God has for all races. But right now, when you look at race, you do not always see such oneness. The picture in Revelation is of glory; the reality here on earth is broken and fallen. Racism is quite alive here on earth, and the reality is sad.

Talking about racism is extraordinarily difficult right now. Here in America when you look at the data – from income to incarceration rates to out of wedlock births to a host of other issues – racial inequities abound, and these inequities make racism a heated topic in America right now. In fact, the current conversation on race is not really a conversation. Conversations require two people to listen to each other in an intelligent way, but right now, people just want to shout. In the midst of the shouting, sometimes people excuse racist behavior and sometimes they wrongly accuse honest folks of being racist. This “conversation” is not progress, and it will not take us anywhere productive.

As a Christian, I believe we need to love the truth, and to discover the truth we need to listen. Whites need to listen to blacks, and blacks need to listen to whites. Listening doesn’t mean we accept everything everyone says, for there is a lot of nonsense out there, but we do need to understand what others are saying before we shout. America is not doing that. The irony of this situation is that if we want others to listen to what we say, we must give them the courtesy of listening to what they say – with an ear to truly understand and not just to offer rebuttal. Racial issues in America are complex, but we deal with them in sound bites. I will say this as plainly as I can: As long as America continues to deal with racial issues through sound bites, racism will get worse. If we want to heal racism, we must honor other people and not just shout them down.

I fear that what I have just said will turn some people off; they may be done listening. If that’s the case, that’s my point. Those people hurt the cause of racial justice in America.

First Grade Lessons

Let me begin with a personal story. I grew up in an America that was in racial upheaval. When I was in first grade, my teacher arranged our desks in groups of four, and in my group was a black girl. I don’t remember her name. I do remember, however, going home at night and seeing on the news images of blacks marching in protest and police beating them. I then would go to school, and here was this girl sitting next to me.

During math time, she and I would frequently talk math. I don’t remember if it was because we were both good at math and were comparing notes, or if I was helping her with math, but I know that during math time we often worked together. In addition, when the teacher gave assignments that required students to pair up, this girl was often the one I worked with.

I liked her personally and didn’t see how she was any different from the other six-year-old girls. Yet I sensed that the culture didn’t view her the same as the other six-year-old girls. Sometimes children sense things they don’t understand. I felt that within the culture broadly some kind of tension existed between blacks and whites, but when I interacted with this girl, I felt no tension at all. The undercurrent that I felt in the culture did not fit my experience.

This is my first memory of wrestling with racial issues in America, and I can remember as a six-year-old boy feeling “something is wrong here.” I did not yet know the word “racism,” and I couldn’t explain my feelings in words, but I sensed both the presence and wrongness of racism.

Today, I have a better understanding of the history than that six-year-old boy; I have had many more interactions with people of different races than that six-year-old boy; I can explain my feelings better than that six-year-old boy, but that childlike sense that began with that black girl hasn’t changed.

I don’t know what happened to that girl, but I am going to assume that she grew up and is my age, and lives somewhere in America today, and I am certain that she and her family has experienced racism in a different way than I have. I do not pretend to understand her situation. But if I could, I would like to thank her for being a normal six-year-old girl and talking with me about math and doing our projects together, for I believe she taught me something about race that I could not have learned from books or speeches, and she taught it to me without trying to teach me anything and when I was at an early and impressionable age. Believe it or not, that black girl was quite formative in my thinking on race.

A Global Perspective

Because I pastor an international church, I see the world – not just America. And one fact that is inescapable to me is that racism is not unique to America. It is an ancient and global problem. It is a pandemic of monumental proportions. Racism is more fundamentally a human problem than an American problem. Consider the following.

I have a friend here in Austin from the Karen peoples of Burma. He came to America as a refugee because of ethnic persecution of his people. That is racism. I have another friend in Austin who is Chinese-Indonesian and who also became a refugee because of the ethnic riots against Chinese that took place in his country. That is racism. I have a Japanese unbelieving friend who frequently blames the Jews for the problems of the world and who can’t accept the Bible in part because it was written mostly by Jews. That is racism. I have an Indian friend who has told me that racism is rampant in India, and a Malaysian friend who has said that he has personally experienced racism in his country.

The Bible relates racism. Between 1800 and 1400 BC, Egypt enslaved a single race – the Israelites. That was race-based slavery. Pharaoh gave orders to kill the male babies of only one race. Jonah preached to Ninevah, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t see Assyrian people as worthy. Haman exhibited what can only be called racial hatred. In the gospels you see racial tension between Jews and Gentiles, and Jews and Samaritans. One of the most divisive questions of the early church involved how to handle Gentiles who were converting to Jesus. Racial tensions are ancient.

In the Roman Empire of the first century, close to half the population was in slavery, and race was a large factor in determining whether a man was free or slave. Jews hated and looked down on Romans, and the Romans returned the hatred. They treated the Jews like dogs and eventually slaughtered about a million of them during the Jewish Revolt of 66 to 73.[1]

In more recent times, South Africa has struggled with apartheid. Persians and Arabs share a hatred for one another that may be surpassed only by their hatred for Jews. In Latin America, governmental and cultural systems have long practiced discrimination against indigenous, ethnic and tribal minorities. Chinese and Japanese have a long-standing animosity for one another. The Yihetuan Movement (Boxer Rebellion) in China saw Chinese people murdering nonChinese people simply for being foreigners. Many fled for their lives. Many did not make it. Today the Chinese prison camps for the Uigher people in Xinjiang province are racial oppression, and the fact that foreigners and ethnic Chinese must worship in separate churches is enforced racial segregation. In Nazi Germany, Hitler set out to form a state built on a superior race. In the process he massacred 6 million Jews. The pogroms of Czarist Russia displaced uncounted numbers of Jewish people, forcing many to flee the country. Australians have discriminated against the aboriginal peoples, and New Zealanders against the native Maoris.

Then we come to America. And we find race-based slavery, Jim Crow, lynching, segregation, racial inequities in the criminal justice system, suppression of voting, and so on. And that’s just with African-Americans.

We need to see a more global picture of racism than we do. Racism is universal. It is a toxic weed that grows in different soils and climates. It is not limited to specific economic, cultural, or political situations. Knowing this fact helps us approach racism with some hard realism. It helps us see how powerful a force for evil racism can be and how deeply it flows from and within the human heart. It reveals something of the depths of sin. It shows us that racism is stubborn and worldwide.

But isn’t this what Scripture says? “There is no one who does good, not even one.”

We must see that racism runs deep within the human race. Otherwise, we will think we can apply a uniquely American (or Indian or Chinese or wherever) band-aid to a cancer that flows from the human soul.

What is Racism?

Racism is a form of arrogance. All forms of arrogance share the belief or sense that one is superior for some reason – good grades, athletic ability, morals, lack of morals, popularity, politics, religion, lack of religion, education, social class, position at work, beauty, strength. Racism simply bases its arrogance on race. It is the belief or sense that a particular race is better than another. At the heart level, racism is like other forms of arrogance; it is ugly because arrogance is ugly.

In addition, racism is often a cultural sin. A cultural sin is a sin endemic to a particular culture such that the people in that culture consider the sin quite normal and often harmless. In the Old Testament polygamy was such a sin. In fact, sometimes godly men practiced it without thinking it a problem. Today in America divorce, premarital sex, abortion, homosexuality, or gluttony might be examples of cultural sins. In many places today, racism is such a sin.

Racist people are rarely aware of their racism. Sometimes this is a result of the fact that, for their culture, racism is a cultural sin. Sometimes it is simply because of the nature of sin itself. Sins are often invisible to sinners. The greedy man doesn’t see his greed. He sees only that he is being responsible and taking care of his family. The bitter woman doesn’t see the wrongness of her bitterness; she sees only the sin of the other person who needs to repent. Racism is much like this. Pharaoh sees only that he is protecting his country from a people who are dangerous.

Because racism is a form of arrogance, at its core, it is a heart issue, but when that heart expresses itself in behavior, racism can take many forms. It is a disease with many symptoms. When we see racism, we normally see the symptoms and not the actual heart itself. Jesus said a tree is known by its fruit. We see apples. We do not see the DNA that produces those apples. Racism is like this.

When secular culture talks about racism, it tends to focus on symptoms. It talks about social structures, political legislation, economic inequalities, or criminal injustices. These are all real issues, and we must address them, but we also need to see that these are symptoms of racism. These issues reveal how racism behaves when it has power, but at its root, racism is a spiritual issue and a heart issue. You can change social structures all day, but if you never change the heart, racism will rear its head in a new form. This is why America can abolish slavery and end up with Jim Crow. Why it can remove Jim Crow and still have Ahmaud Arbery.

If we never deal with people’s hearts, then we never deal with racism. A good doctor must treat the virus and not just the symptoms.

And yet a good doctor also treats symptoms. A virus causes a fever. The fever prevents the patient from getting rest. The doctor treats the fever so the patient can rest and be better able to fight the virus. Symptoms often exacerbate the problem. Racism is like this. Slavery, Jim Crow, inequities in the justice system, unequal opportunities, racial slurs, and more all exacerbate racism. Fighting these symptoms helps fight racism, but fighting only these symptoms is incomplete.

This is where much of the culture gets racism wrong. It is right and necessary to fight injustices. It is right even to think that fighting injustices helps fight racism. It is wrong, however, to conclude that changing only the outside solves the problem. In this, much of secular culture is naïve. If you want to change racism, you have to change people’s hearts. And that is much harder than changing social structures. The need to change hearts is also why the current shouting and name calling that is going on will actually hurt the fight against racism. You never change hearts by shouting people down. In fact, you only harden them more.

The fight against racism must include working on social structures, but it also must be a fight in the trenches that takes place a man and a woman at a time. It is in those trenches that you win hearts.

A Foundation to Fight Racism

If we wish to fight for equal justice, we need a foundation upon which to stand. The concept of equal justice implies two factors: humans have great value, and all humans have the same value. We don’t talk about equal justice for mosquitoes because, while we do see them as having the same value, we don’t see them as having significant value.

The Bible from the beginning addresses the question of human value.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26-7)

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. (Acts 17:26)

All races have come from Adam. Therefore, all races have the image of God and, thus, have great and equal value. This is the foundation for racial justice and equality in the world.

Martin Luther King saw this connection. Here is how he put it:

Our Hebraic-Christian tradition refers to this inherent dignity of man in the Biblical term the image of God. This innate worth referred to in the phrase the image of God is universally shared in equal portions by all men. There is no graded scale of essential worth; there is no divine right of one race which differs from the divine right of another. Every human being has etched in his personality the indelible stamp of the Creator.[2]

To King, the image of God provides the basis for racial justice. To King, God is the foundation for the entire house of civil rights. Remove the foundation, and the house crumbles. Too many people crying against racial injustice want King’s house, but not his foundation.

If there is no God . . . if we are not created in His image . . . if we are merely nonmoral, evolutionary byproducts, then I do not see where human value and equality come from. I see people assume it, but I don’t see them explain it. If you remove God from the fight for equal justice, you remove the rationale for equal justice, and a fight without a rationale will not get far.[3]

Throughout Scripture you find God loving different races.

God told Abraham that he would be a blessing to all nations.
God commanded Jonah to go preach to Ninevah because God had compassion on the Ninevites.
God spoke through Isaiah saying that the Assyrian and Egyptian would join Israel in worshipping God.
God commands the Israelites to treat well the foreigner in their land.
Jesus ministered to the Samaritan woman and spent several days in her Samaritan town preaching the kingdom of God to the people there.
Jesus healed the servant of the Roman centurion and the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman.
Jesus commanded his disciples to make disciples of all nations.
God corrected Peter’s racial exclusivity by sending him a dream and then sending him to Cornelius’ house.
God told Paul He would send him to the Gentiles.
God gave John a revelation that included worshippers from every tribe and tongue and nation.

From beginning to end, God is for all races. His ultimate goal is one body made up of many peoples who worship Him. God wants to see black and white, Chinese and Japanese, Arab and Persian come together because of Him.

God intended the work of Christ to accomplish this unity. Here is how he describes it:

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh . . . were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11-22)

Paul speaks of Jews and Gentiles – different races – and says that in Christ, both have been made one, both have been reconciled to God, both have access in one Spirit to the Father, both are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, both are part of the holy temple of the Lord, and that God dwells in both. He gives a picture of a building and says that these different races are like different stones that make up the same building. He says that in Christ God has made peace between these races, for Christ Himself is their peace. He says that the blood of Jesus has brought these races together and that the dividing wall of hostility is gone.

The Cross is God’s ultimate answer to racism. The Cross changes hearts. The Cross unites people of different languages, cultures and ethnicities around something far deeper than their differences. The Cross kills the virus and not just the symptoms. This fact is real, and I have seen it with my eyes.

Any attempts to fight racism that leave the Cross out of the picture are hopelessly naïve.

This does not mean that we just preach the gospel, but it does mean that we preach the gospel.

Fighting racism requires a multi-pronged approach, and preaching the gospel is an essential prong. The fight for equal justice flows out of the gospel. We must never pit it against the gospel. We must never say social justice OR the gospel. We must instead say both. If we care about the gospel, then we should also care about racial injustices.

Putting Feet to Justice

So what then do we do? Here are some thoughts:

1. We must first ensure that any words or action we take to fight social injustices genuinely flows from the love of Christ in us. The foundation for any fight needs to be Christ, not our anger. We are to build our actions upon the kingdom of God, not some desired political end. Two people can protest social injustice side by side but have very different reasons for doing so and a very different heart in the process. Remove Christ from this fight, and all you have is an angry, loud, hate-filled, power struggle. You just have a political game, and that’s not going to change the world.

Martin Luther King taught that the fight against racism must flow out of a heart of love because only love can drive out hate. The source of love is Christ. We can’t fight racism without Christ. We need Him.

2. We must listen. I said that earlier. Listening helps change hearts. When you genuinely listen, you show respect and honor, but you also increase the possibility of having others listen to you. If you will not listen, why should you expect anyone to listen to you?

3. As much as is possible given where you live, befriend people of different races. This fights racism at the heart level and fights it in the trenches – a man or woman at a time. You may not affect public policy, but if you change two hearts, that’s significant. What if 30 million people changed two hearts each? That would change public policy, and it would do so at the heart level.

In a small way, I think something like this is what happened to me in first grade. I interacted with an African-American girl up close and saw that she was much like me.

A more radical example today would be that of Daryl Davis, an African-American man who spends significant time hanging out with KKK members. He sits down with them, talks with them, has dinner with them, and invites them into his home. He gets to know them and lets them get to know him. In the process, over the past 30 years, he has helped more than 200 KKK members renounce their membership, including some who were high up in the system. Davis fights racism with friendship, and he has results to prove that that fight works.[4] Don’t underestimate the power of friendship.

4. But you ask, “What about the big news issues? What about criminal injustice or police brutality? Making friends with someone from another race doesn’t change these issues. We have to change systems.”

Before we talk systemic change, I suppose it is necessary to remind us of the obvious fact that systems do not pop into existence willy nilly. People create them, and when we change people, we change what they create; thus, we should never separate systemic change from attitudinal change. The road to attitudinal change will be harder and longer, but it will also be deeper, more long-lasting and more stable.

Nonetheless, we must change unjust systems even if people are not ready. Condemning innocent black men to death is wrong whether people see the problem or not. We act on the basis of what is right, and if we encounter an evil system, let’s do what we can to change it. Even if the people are not ready.

It is precisely at this juncture that we find the greatest shouting and disagreement. Are American police departments systemically racist? Or do they have a few bad apples that give the rest a bad name? Are economic inequities the result of racism or the result of other factors like, say, single parenthood? Should cities defund the police? Or would such defunding end up hurting minorities the most?

Typically, when people read questions like these, they feel they know the answer and have fairly strong opinions on one side or the other. Often they have difficulty imagining how someone can intelligently disagree with them. But when they stop and listen to what the other side says and begin to understand why, the conversation changes. They then begin to see something of the complexity of racial issues in America. They see that there are no easy answers.

If we are going to take steps appropriate to the reality on the ground, we need to take seriously the complexity of that reality.

I do not believe that my African-American brothers and sisters are calling for changes in the criminal justice system for no reason. I do not believe they are inventing grievances out of thin air. Nor do I believe that every police shooting of a black man is racist or that police officers are unjustified when they fear that mob anger may invoke changes in which innocent policemen go to jail simply for having the misfortune of being in a difficult situation. Both sides have real concerns that need to be dealt with. The solution isn’t simple. Instead it’s the real world. But what makes matters worse is that everyone with a thumb thinks he knows best and wants to sway public opinion, as if having a thumb somehow qualified you to make expert policy decisions in criminal justice.

Peaceful protests have perhaps brought attention to the need to do something, but violent protests have de-legitimized the position of the protesters in the eyes of much of the community and have merely fueled more racism, for if the people who disagree with you break windows, loot stores and burn buildings, why should you listen to them? They fit the stereotype you already had. They prove, so you think, that you were right all along.

I do not have policy answers for the difficult questions. In that respect, I am not as smart as the people on Twitter or Instagram. I do not know enough about law enforcement to talk intelligently about how to resolve a thorny issue that the experts struggle with. But I do believe that leaders in the law enforcement community need to sit down and talk with leaders in the African-American community about possible ways to move forward. Both communities need to listen to and understand the concerns of the other before they propose practical changes. And both communities would need to be willing to accept an imperfect solution. We live in a fallen world. A step in the right direction may be an improvement even if it is not perfect.

5. Concerning political action, it’s OK to pursue legislation if you know that it will improve the situation. This is America, and people have the right to speak and vote their conscience. I don’t want to take that from anybody. But I am not naïve enough to believe that honest Americans will agree on which legislation is best. So pursue what your conscience says but be willing to live with people who disagree. They may not be beasts.

6. God may call different people to different emphases. In Christ, we are a body. Not everyone is a hand or an eye. All believers should hate racism and be committed to fighting it wherever they find it, but this doesn’t mean that all believers fight it the same way. Some may march in protest regularly. Others may join occasionally, and still others may not be able to join at all. Some may write to congressmen. Some may speak. Some may preach the gospel. Some may confront racism in friends or relatives and graciously try to persuade them. Some may volunteer to help victims of racism. Others may be in positions at work or school where they can implement practices that respect all people. All should love.

What I have just said about racism is not unique to racism. All believers should hate abortion and be committed to fighting it wherever they find it, but that doesn’t mean that all believers fight it the same way. All believers should hate human trafficking and be committed to fighting it wherever they find it, but that doesn’t mean that all believers fight it the same way. And yet in all of these issues and more . . . all should love.

The things I have said here are incomplete. To do justice to racial issues would require a several-thousand-page tome, and even then, I’m not sure that would suffice. I don’t have that kind of time. I acknowledge that I may not have addressed the issue you wish I had addressed or that I gave it short shrift. For such sins I ask your forgiveness. I felt that I needed to say something, even if inadequately.

Yours in Him,

Mike

[1] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-great-revolt-66-70-ce

[2] King, Martin Luther. “The Ethical Demands for Integration,” A Testament of Hope. The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King. ed. James Melvin Washington. https://fliphtml5.com/scdb/duvn/basic/, pp. 118-119.

[3] I am indebted to James Spiegel for this discussion on Martin Luther King. Here is his article. Spiegel, James. “Celebration and Betrayal: Martin Luther King’s Case for Racial Justice and Our Current Dilemma,” Themelios, Vol. 45, Issue 2. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/celebration-and-betrayal-martin-luther-kings-case-for-racial-justice-and-our-current-dilemma/

[4] https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544861933/how-one-man-convinced-200-ku-klux-klan-members-to-give-up-their-robes

May

2020

Christianity and Homosexuality: Addressing Criticisms

In previous blogs I gave an overview of the Biblical position regarding homosexuality. Now I want to merely address various criticisms people make of the Christian position. If you haven’t heard any of these, you will — at least, if you live in the West for any length of time.

Christians are on the wrong side of history on this issue.

To this I would say three things:

1. Who cares? I would rather be on the right side of God than on the right side of history.

2. How do you know? The Christian view of homosexuality is still the majority view in the world today. Maybe that will change. Maybe it won’t. And if it does change, maybe that change will last. Maybe it won’t. To say that Christians are on the wrong side of history is a bit arrogant at this juncture. It is like an infant crowning himself victor.

3. What a short-sighted view of history! God’s kingdom is eternal. Men who practice homosexuality will not inherit that kingdom (I Cor 6:9-11). Even if the majority of the world accepts homosexuality for billions of years, what are those years compared to eternity? In the end, the Biblical view of homosexuality is on the right side of history.

Jesus Never Condemns Homosexuality

Jesus never condemns the worship of images either. He never condemns bestiality, infanticide, kidnapping, rape, money laundering, or child abuse. Does he, therefore, approve of those practices? See previous blog here about what Jesus does say about homosexuality.

Homosexuality is a naturally occurring phenomenon in the animal kingdom.

So is cannibalism. And murder. And theft. Natural does not mean right.

The Bible condemns only exploitative forms of homosexuality.

This is perhaps the most common way that Western culture tries to dance around what the Bible says about homosexuality. Because the Bible never says anything positive about homosexuality, and because some people are convinced that a consensual homosexual relationship is a good thing, they, thus, conclude that the Bible must be referring to only bad types of homosexuality. But as we’ve seen when we looked at the Biblical texts, the Scriptures consistently condemn both partners in a homosexual relationship. In addition, the Bible condemns “lying with a man as you would with a woman.” Lying with a woman is to occur only within marriage and only by mutual consent. If a man does this with a man, the Bible condemns both men.

Leviticus forbids eating shellfish and wearing clothing of mixed fabrics.

This statement appeals to the idea that the Old Testament is out, and the New Testament is in. It argues that since Christians are under a new covenant and no longer follow all the Mosaic laws, they need not follow the laws against homosexuality either.

Here is a brief reply.

1. The New Testament does not do away with the Old Testament. Some parts of the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New, but the moral law in the Old Testament is still binding on New Testament believers. Homosexuality is part of that moral law. For a longer treatment of how Christians view the Old Testament see here.

2. As we have already seen, the Leviticus prohibitions against homosexuality appear in the New Testament as well (Rm 1:26-7; I Cor 6:9-11; I Tim 1:8-10; Jude 7). And in I Corinthians and I Timothy, the prohibitions actually use the same language as Leviticus, not just the same idea. What’s more, the I Timothy passage actually ties homosexuality to the purpose of the law. God intended the law for the disobedient and ungodly. And who are these ungodly? Paul gives a list, which includes “men who practice homosexuality.”

3. If you look at the Leviticus prohibitions in context, you see that Leviticus 18 focuses on prohibited sexual relations. Therefore, if you want to say that homosexuality is OK because the prohibition is in the Old Testament, then you must also say that a man can legitimately have sex with his mom, his step mom, his sister, his sister-in-law, his aunt, and his dog because all of these other prohibitions provide the context for the prohibition against homosexuality. To say that the Bible allows a man to have sex with another man but not with his sister or his sheep requires some criteria for separating the prohibition against homosexuality out of its context. No one who gives the shellfish argument has yet provided intelligent criteria for making this distinction. In addition, common sense tells us that a prohibition against homosexuality is much more like having unlawful sex than like eating shrimp.

Homosexuality is Genetic

Or to put it in popular language: “I was born that way.”

The idea, of course, is that homosexuality is not a choice people make but an inherited trait, like skin color, and that it cannot, therefore, be sinful.

1. My first reaction is to state what to me is rather obvious: that I was born naturally selfish. I didn’t choose my selfish nature, and I can’t help it. I can fight against it, but in my own strength, I can’t overcome it. I don’t, however, defend my selfishness because I was born that way.

I used to provide counseling for alcoholics, and occasionally an alcoholic would say something like, “You know, it has been proven that alcoholism is genetic.” And genetics does seem to often play a role in alcoholism. And not just alcoholism. Violence seems to have a genetic component to it as well. Scientists have known for years that high testosterone levels can contribute to violence. Some people are more prone to violence than others, and they were born that way. You have seen people who have trouble controlling their anger, and their difficulty is related to how they are wired; in other words, their birth contributes to their sin. It would not surprise me if virtually every sin has some genetic component to it. Scripture does not say merely that we are sinful. It says that we were born that way. We don’t come out of the womb neutral. The presence of genetic factors that influence us toward sin would actually support the Biblical doctrine of depravity.

What this means is that no one can say that a behavior or attitude is right or wrong on the basis of genetics. Genetics is physical. Morality is nonphysical. They are completely different categories. If someone wants to plead genetics to justify homosexuality, then he needs to be consistent and justify violence, alcoholism, anger, selfishness, and a host of other sins. If he doesn’t want to use genetics to justify those other sins, then he can’t use it to justify homosexuality either.

2. Homosexuality involves sexual desires and behaviors. These are precisely the sorts of issues that morality deals with. Skin color involves nothing like this. It is not a behavior. It is not a desire. It is not a way of thinking. It doesn’t touch the moral realm at all.

3. Even if science finds that genetics contributes to homosexuality, it would need to demonstrate that genetics is the one and only cause of homosexuality in order to make a plausible case that homosexuality is not sinful. If genetics is merely a contributing factor, then there is room for other contributing factors. The American Psychological Association (APA), quite a liberal organization on most issues, says this about the origins of homosexuality:

There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/orientation

In other words, the science does not back up the claim “I was born that way.” Research may support the idea that in some people genetics may be a contributing factor, but the idea of a gay gene that explains everything does not seem to exist.

With race, however, things are quite the opposite. Genetics determines whether a woman is African, Anglo, Korean, Indian or Hispanic. Her skin color, and her natural facial features and hair, all have one cause — genetics. She was born that way. Homosexuality simply doesn’t fit this category.

The Christian view of homosexuality is hateful and bigoted.

I almost don’t know what to say to this because it isn’t an argument. It’s an ad hominem. It’s like saying, “Oh yeah? And your mother is . . .”

But let’s talk.

1. Certainly there have been people who identify as Christian who have treated homosexuals in a hateful way, but their treatment does not render the Biblical position hateful or bigoted, nor does it represent the majority of genuine Christians. In fact, hateful behavior violates the Bible.

2. The accusation that Christians are hateful and bigoted assumes that homosexuality is like race — morally neutral and 100% genetic — but common sense and science say otherwise.

3. The Christian position is that homosexuality is sinful. That has been the Christian position for 2000 years, and it never crossed the minds of anyone until recently that such a position is hateful or bigoted. And for good reason. There is nothing hateful or bigoted about calling a sexual behavior sinful. You may, if you wish, say that the position is wrong, and we can have an intelligent conversation about it, but labeling the position “bigoted” goes beyond all evidence and ends any hope of an intelligent conversation. If someone said to me that sex between a husband and wife is sinful, I would not accuse her of hatred or bigotry though I would strongly disagree with her idea. I would say simply that she is wrong.

4. If it is hateful simply to say that a behavior or idea is wrong then, I’m afraid our accusers are quite hateful, for they insist that we are wrong. Why are we bigots but they aren’t?

5. We say lust is sinful, but no one says that is bigotry. And most men are hard-wired to lust. They are born that way. And what’s more, if you keep your lust to yourself, you haven’t harmed anyone. Technically. Yet we insist it is sinful, and no one calls us bigots for saying so. How is homosexuality different?

6. When people accuse Christianity of hatred or bigotry, they assume motives they know nothing about. This mislabeling Christianity as hateful or bigoted is merely a contemporary version of the name-calling Christians have endured as long as they have been around. The Pharisees said that Jesus cast out demons by the Prince of demons. The Romans called Christians atheists and accused them of cannibalism. Nero labeled them “haters of humanity,” though Christianity revolutionized the world with its ethic of love. Muslims call Christians blasphemers. Many secular people say that Christians oppose education even though it was Christians who set up the first schools and universities in America and in many places around the world. Some say that Christians are ignorant, though Christian belief was instrumental in the foundation of science itself. Communist governments say that Christians are rebellious and a menace to society. History is full of people, cultures, religions, or governments calling Christians virtually every name in the book. This new charge of hatred and bigotry is not really new. It is merely another smear in a long history, and it won’t be the last.

We need to see this accusation for what it is. It is an emotional appeal that hopes to end any intelligent discussion from the other side, for if the other person is a bigot, you can dismiss him with a wave of your hand. You then don’t have to listen to his dangerous ideas. The culture fears the Biblical position. That is why it engages in ad hominems and doesn’t allow for honest dialogue on this issue.

Apr

2020

The Bible and Homosexuality II

This blog continues the discussion on what the Bible says about homosexuality. We’ve already discussed Leviticus and Jesus. Today we will discuss what Paul has to say.

Jesus ministered in a Palestinian Jewish context. Within that context, homosexuality was almost nonexistent compared to what went on in the 1^st century Gentile world. Paul, however, ministered in that Gentile world, a context in which homosexuality was perhaps more common than it is today in the West. Paul had to deal with practicing homosexuals who became Christians, and Christians who lived in a culture that considered homosexuality normal. It, thus, makes perfect sense that Paul would address this issue. He had to.

When you read Paul, it is clear that homosexuality is not his main concern, but it is equally clear that when he does address the issue, he has nothing positive to say, and Paul would have been well aware of long-term, loving and committed homosexual relationships. They were common in the Gentile world Paul ministered to. So let’s look at the Scriptures.

Romans 1: 26-7

For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Before I discuss the Romans text in detail, I should note that within the broader context of Romans 1, homosexuality is not the main focus. Paul does not see homosexuality as the granddaddy of all sins. In Romans 1, the Gentiles have suppressed the truth of God by their unrighteousness (v. 18), exchanged the glory of God for idols (v. 23), and exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator (v. 25). In other words, these Gentiles have rejected God and chosen to worship idols instead. For this reason (v 26), God gave them up to their passions. Homosexuality is, thus, the consequence of their idolatry. The idolatry is the more foundational sin. The sins Paul lists in Romans 1 flow from rejecting God. They are symptoms of rejecting God, but it is the rejection of God and the worship of something not God that is the basic problem.

Enough context. Let’s talk about the text.

When you look at Romans 1:26-7, you should see two things right away: 1) God has set up a natural order for sex and 2) the text contrasts this natural order with an unnatural one. Notice: women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones, and men likewise. In other words, Paul is setting up a natural/unnatural contrast.

When Paul talks about what is natural, he is not talking about what feels natural to us. Sin often feels natural. Selfishness comes naturally. Anger is a natural feeling. Coveting, bitterness, arrogance, jealousy, greed, lust — these are all quite natural states of the heart. The alcoholic feels naturally inclined to beer, and the tyrant to power. The reference to natural relations is not a reference to feelings but to a created order God has set up. God made sex for male and female. This is the natural way God intended sex to happen. We see this in life simply by looking at anatomy. When you look at a wheel and an axle, a screw and a nut, a bulb and a socket, you know they were made for one another. Same with male and female. The mere plumbing of gender has a sexual design to it, and when you look at the plumbing, you see the natural order. In addition, the text plainly states that for men natural relations are “with women” and that when men give up such natural relations, they are consumed with passion “for one another” and they are committing shameless acts “with men.” Paul’s natural/unnatural contrast is a contrast between heterosexual sex and homosexual sex. Paul’s problem with homosexuality is that it throws away God’s natural design in order to express unholy passions. Unholy passions may feel natural, but they are unholy. They are unholy because even when they feel natural, they defy what God intended to be natural. The created order is objective. We don’t get to change it.

It’s rather obvious that in Romans Paul addresses homosexual forms of sex and that he condemns what he addresses, but some argue that what Paul addresses is merely exploitative forms of homosexuality. They claim that Paul is not condemning loving, committed relationships but male prostitution or pederasty or some such practice.

The evidence, however, doesn’t point this way. First, Paul doesn’t use the normal Greek words for male prostitution or pederasty. If he had wanted to condemn only certain forms of homosexuality, then his broad language is an awfully poor way of doing so. Second, look at verse 27 again. Here it is: “men gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.” Pay special attention to the phrase “for one another.” Paul equally condemns both parties in the relationship. As we saw in Leviticus, this means Paul is addressing something mutual. Both parties are guilty. Third, in verse 26, Paul condemns lesbianism, a fact that shows the universality of the condemnation. If Paul were condemning merely exploitative forms of homosexuality, he would have no need to refer to lesbianism.

Thus, to Paul, a committed, consensual homosexual relationship involves unnatural sexual relations and shameless acts.

In Romans, homosexuality is part of God’s judgment. The text says that these Gentiles refused to worship God, so God gave them over to their passions. In other words, homosexuality is not merely a sin God will judge but is itself part of the judgment. It is a plain sign that people are under God’s judgment.

Paul’s point in this text is that God created a natural pattern for sex. That pattern is male with female. The Gentiles in Romans 1 have exchanged that natural pattern to pursue their passions. Their passions may feel natural to them, but those passions violate what God set up. When you read the whole flow of Romans 1, homosexuality is merely a plain example of people exchanging God for their own desires. Thus, unrepentant homosexual behavior is the result of, among other things, the rejection of God.

I Cor 6:9-11

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

This text begins with a general statement: “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.” It then proceeds to illustrate that statement by listing specific sins that disqualify someone from the kingdom of God. Twice this text states that these people will not inherit the kingdom of God (vv. 9, 10). Finally it reminds the Corinthian believers that they used to be among those people, but in Christ they are now clean, holy, and righteous (v. 11). In other words, they will inherit the kingdom of God because they are now in Christ and live a different life.

1. Verses 9 and 10 are obviously a vice list. No one will argue that Paul views any of these behaviors in a positive or neutral light. They all disqualify someone from the kingdom of God. For our purposes, we need to focus on the words translated “men who practice homosexuality.”

Paul uses two words here. The first is malakoi. Literally it means “soft ones,” and in 1^st century Greek its range of meanings included male prostitutes, feminine men, and the passive partner in male/male sex.

The second word Paul uses is arsenokoitai. It comes from the Greek words arsen, which means “male,” and koitos, which means intercourse or bed. If you translated arsenokoitai literally it would refer to men who lie in bed with men. Of course, you should see a connection with Leviticus 18 and 20. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament Paul frequently quotes from), Leviticus 18 and 20 use the words arsen and koitos side by side when saying, “You shall not lie with a man as you would with a woman.” In other words, Paul is mimicking the language of Leviticus. Whatever Leviticus means is what Paul means. The New Testament merely repeats the Old.

When the words malakoi and arsenokoitai are used together, they represent the passive and active partners in a homosexual relationship.

2. Again, Paul condemns all forms of homosexuality. The reference to Leviticus suggests that Paul condemns “lying in bed with a man as you would with a woman,” and the fact that Paul condemns both parties in the relationship indicates that he includes mutual, consensual relationships in his condemnation.

3. The fact that Paul twice says that such people will not inherit the kingdom of God indicates how serious this issue is. The stakes are eternal. This is not an issue that Christians can agree to disagree on. In I Cor 6, homosexuality is like idolatry, adultery, stealing, greed, and all the other items in the same vice list, and unrepentant homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. If I Cor 6 is true, then the teaching that God accepts homosexuality is not just a minor issue we can overlook but a teaching that leads people to hell. That teaching is no more Christian than the teaching that God accepts adultery, idolatry, or swindling.

4. Homosexuality is not stronger than Christ. Verse 11 says, “And such were some of you.” It is past tense “were,” not present tense “are.” The Corinthian believers who had practiced homosexuality no longer do so. They are now washed, sanctified, and justified in Christ. Jesus changed them. Their identity is different. The power of God has come upon them. To argue that homosexuals cannot change is to deny the power of God. Not only can they change, but Paul says they have already changed. He likely could name names.

And I could name names today. I won’t because I want to protect them. But I could. I personally know several Christians who used to practice homosexuality. Homosexuals can change. I don’t mean that change is easy or without struggles or failings. I mean simply that change does happen. In Christ the old is gone, the new has come. That is reality, and the world that denies it needs to open its eyes.

mdemchsak

The Christian Life and the Christian Reality

Not I But Christ

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What Does the Bible Say?

Wanting God’s Word

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Racism: A Christian Perspective

Christianity and Homosexuality: Addressing Criticisms

The Bible and Homosexuality II

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