mdemchsak

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.

Mar

2020

Coronavirus and God

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:2)

Thank you, Lord, that we can trust you in the good times and the bad.

Who would have thought a few months ago that a virus would run rampant through the entire world, killing where it went, instilling fear in entire populations, and shutting down the economies of virtually every nation on the globe? I never would have dreamed this. You read a lot of news about this virus, but the people who tell the news, by and large, have no heavenly perspective on what they are talking about. Thus, it is easy for the Christian to overdose on the news and start believing things contrary to God’s Word. What I want to do is give a theological perspective on the events surrounding us. So here are some thoughts:

Coronavirus is the result of the Fall

When God created the world, He said it was very good, but when Adam and Eve fell, they brought calamity to God’s very good world. When they sinned, they corrupted the entire human race and the world system we live in. Here on Earth everything is now broken. The calamity that sin brought includes problems like sickness and death, pain and suffering, emptiness and sorrow. The current coronavirus is merely one small result of that Fall.

Coronavirus is God’s reminder that this world is not and never will be the utopia we want it to be. Coronavirus is God’s reminder that this Earth is broken and if you live for Earth, you get only brokenness in the end. Coronavirus is God’s reminder that this world is not our home.

God gave consequences for the Fall, and those consequences exist for a reason. Coronavirus is merely a small example of one of those consequences.

Coronavirus shows us that we are not in control.

This is the 21^st century. This is America. We have scientific knowledge. We have advanced technology. We have money and comfort and pleasure.

But we are not in control.

Coronavirus is a reminder that the human race is weaker than we would like to think. Past eras saw this fact more clearly than we do, for they were not sheltered from pain to the extent we are. They had no electricity, no central heat or air conditioning, no Tylenol for pain, no Netflix for entertainment. They did not need a major plague to know that they were not in control. Daily life told them that.

But we are different. We shield ourselves from everyday pains and get drunk on the elixir of entertainment or our own comfort. We have a thousand choices at our fingertips. Until something severe comes along, we pass the time thinking we are fine . . . we are in control. Our information, technology, and entertainment have built for us a house of cards that we put our trust in. Coronavirus tears down this house of cards.

Coronavirus is not bigger than God

Coronavirus shows us that we cannot put our trust in our own strength or this world system, but coronavirus cannot and will not harm God. To God coronavirus is a speck of dust in the universe.

What this means is that the proper spiritual response to coronavirus is to acknowledge our own sin and weakness and run to God. God is bigger than coronavirus.

On Sunday night our church met online, and several people shared that God had spoken to them through Psalm 91. Here is what it says:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
²I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

³For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴He will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵You will not fear the terror of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
⁸You will only look with your eyes
    and see the recompense of the wicked.

⁹Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
¹⁰no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.

¹¹For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
¹²On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.
¹³You will tread on the lion and the adder;
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

¹⁴“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
    I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵When he calls to me, I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble;
    I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

God is our protector. God is our refuge. God is our fortress. God is our shield. God is our deliverer. God is our shelter. And God is bigger than coronavirus.

Psalm 91 does not mean that God’s people never suffer. Jesus suffered. Paul suffered. Peter suffered. Jacob, Moses, David, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago, on we could go. Psalm 91 does not guarantee health, wealth, and prosperity in every instance. It is a statement of trust in God who takes care of His people. His faithfulness is our shield.

Psalm 91 also does not mean we abandon common sense. Satan quoted this psalm to Jesus to get Jesus to jump off the temple. We are not to tempt God by being stupid and then say, “God will protect me.” We are to use common sense and to trust God as we do. Concerning coronavirus, we will limit physical contact, wash hands, and all the rest, but we do not pretend that these practices are our refuge and fortress. God is. And only God is. Coronavirus should drive us to God. If it doesn’t, we have no understanding of what is going on or of God Himself. We see with physical eyes only.

God will work out good things in the midst of coronavirus

People are suffering and dying. Families have lost loved ones. Workers have lost jobs. Businesses are struggling financially. All of these situations are real, and I don’t want to minimize the pain people feel. Coronavirus has brought real suffering.

But in the midst of all the pain, God will do good. He is that kind of God. He turned Haman’s plan against him. He took Satan’s plan to crucify the Son of God and used it to save the world. Can there be a darker day on Earth than Good Friday? And yet Good Friday is called Good for a reason. God turned evil on its head and destroyed it with its own weapon. He will do the same with coronavirus.

God will use coronavirus for His good purposes. Coronavirus has already caused many people to be more open to God. It has caused some to see how shallow and empty Earth is. It has brought families together. It has given billions of people more time to seek God, and some have used that time to learn of God and seek Him in Scripture and prayer.

God does not see things the same way we do. Most people see only the physical and the right now, and if that is all you see, then coronavirus is a sad picture. But God looks at the spiritual and the eternal. His perspective is fuller and richer than ours. He sees things we don’t. If suffering causes people to seek God, then God will gladly bring suffering. He will trade the temporary in order to get the eternal, and suffering has this way of causing people to think on the eternal.

If you look at the news, all you will see is the suffering, but the heavenly news reports different things, and it is not all bad.

Is coronavirus God’s judgment?

That’s a complicated question. In one sense it is. In another sense it may or may not be. Let me explain.

We need to understand that the wages of sin is death and that the consequences of the Fall are God’s judgment on sin. In this sense all pain, suffering, sickness, and death is a judgment of sorts. God has judged sin to be worthy of such consequences. In this sense, God has woven judgment into the fabric of this world. Normal pains are judgments. Even when a baby dies, his death is a result of being born with a sinful nature into a sinful world, and death is God’s normal judgment on sin. In this sense, coronavirus is a judgment in the same way that the flu or cancer or an avalanche can all be judgments. This sort of judgment is generic and is part and parcel of living in a fallen world. I mention it because most people do not think of ordinary pains and deaths as judgments, but they are — even if they have no relation to some specific sin.

However, when people ask if coronavirus is a judgment, they do not have in mind this generic type of judgment. What they have in mind is whether coronavirus is a special and specific judgment of God on some specific sin or set of sins in the human race.

To this I have to say, “I don’t know.” In order to say that coronavirus is or is not some special judgment of God, I would need to receive some special revelation from God, and I have received no such thing.

Some people, however, may confidently declare that God would never punish anyone with such a plague, but those people have never read their Bibles. In Scripture, God brings special judgments for sin all the time. Consider Noah and the flood, David after he took the census, Jeremiah and the Babylonian captivity, or the book of the Revelation just to name a few. We cannot rule out the judgment of God as a possible explanation for coronavirus. Such judgment would be well within God’s character.

At the same time, neither can we confidently state that coronavirus is a special judgment that God has released upon the world. People who say this also need to consider their Bibles. In Scripture, God allows calamities to come upon the righteous and the unrighteous. Consider Job, the man born blind whom Jesus healed, the persecuted church in Acts, and the psalmists’ frequent cries of “How long, O Lord.”

It would not surprise me if coronavirus is a special judgment of God. It would also not surprise me if it is not. Therefore, given the fact that, apart from some special revelation, we simply don’t know, I think it best for the average believer to not overly concern himself or herself with the question. Be OK not knowing and focus on more fruitful questions like “How can I draw closer to God . . . How can I live a more holy life . . . How can I love and serve my neighbor?” Pursuing those kinds of questions will actually bear more fruit in your life.

Feb

2020

The Bible and Homosexuality

Last week, I gave a brief introduction to a Christian perspective on homosexuality with a focus on the fact that we are to show the love of Christ to homosexual people. This week and next I will briefly discuss some Scriptures that address homosexuality in some way.

Some time ago I was looking on the website of a gay-friendly church. This church hosted a seminar on how to deal with the Bible’s claims about homosexuality and introduced it with a quote in which a man from the church asked in essence: “How do we deal with what the Bible says about homosexuality?” The quote struck me because of what the man assumed the Bible seems to say. He recognized what everyone recognizes when he or she reads Biblical texts that address homosexuality. Namely this: the plain sense of the Scripture condemns homosexual behavior. If it doesn’t, the man’s question makes no sense. The website also recognized the same plain sense by using the man and his question as an example of why the seminar was necessary. Now obviously, the seminar likely gave alternate interpretations of the texts in question, but the fact that many gay people struggle with what the Bible says indicates that even they naturally interpret Scripture as condemning homosexuality.

They have to. The plain sense of Scripture on this issue is obvious. Therefore, if someone wants to give an alternate interpretation of the Scriptures that deal with homosexuality, then the burden of proof rests on the alternate interpretation, not on the plain sense. If I say, “You shall not bow to idols as you would to God; it is an abomination,” or “Do not be deceived, no idolater will inherit the kingdom of God,” and you want to claim that I am affirming idolatry, then the burden of proof rests with you, and you’d better have some clear and strong evidence that cannot be interpreted more than one way.

So what does the Bible say? Let’s look at it.

Leviticus

“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (18:22)

“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” (20:13)

Leviticus 18 focuses predominantly on sexual sin. The chapter begins by saying in effect, “Do not do what the people of Egypt and Canaan do. Do not be like them. Instead, keep the statutes of the Lord.” (vv 3-5) The chapter then describes what Egypt and Canaan did sexually that God’s people are not to do. It reads something like this:

“Do not have sex with your mom. Do not have sex with your sister or your granddaughter or your aunt or your neighbor’s wife. Do not have sex with a man as with a woman. Do not have sex with an animal.” (1-23)

Both the context and the phrasing are sexual (e.g. look at verses 19-23). In Leviticus, God is condemning homosexual behavior, and the command refers to all forms of homosexual behavior, for it says, “you shall not do with a man what you would do with a woman.” Ordinarily, a man would lie with a woman within a committed and consensual marriage relationship. Leviticus says you shall not do that. The wording is comprehensive.

In addition, Leviticus 20:13 gives the punishment. It says that when a man lies with a man, both partners are guilty and both shall be put to death. The fact that God condemns both partners indicates that He is not referring to homosexual rape or pederasty. Leviticus condemns consensual and committed homosexual behavior for both partners.

Jesus

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person . . . (Mt 15:19)

Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. (Mt 19:4-6)

People often claim that Jesus never addressed homosexuality, and the claim is true in a strict sense. The words “homosexual” never cross His lips in the gospels. But Jesus does address sexual behavior and marriage. In Matthew 15:19 and other places He condemns sexual immorality. The word Jesus uses in the gospels is porneia, and it was a catch-all word for all types of sexual behavior outside marriage. Within His Jewish culture, it included adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality, bestiality, and a host of other sexual sins.

Suppose then that I say to you that dishonesty is evil. Have I condemned perjury? Technically, I never addressed perjury, but perjury is a type of dishonesty just as homosexuality is a type of sexual immorality. Both Jesus and His audience would have seen homosexuality that way.

In addition, Jesus does talk about marriage and states that marriage is built on male and female (Mt 19:4-6). For further discussion, see the blog “Marriage Is . . .” here.

Jesus is much more relevant to the contemporary discussion on homosexuality than many people think.

mdemchsak

A New Life

Christmas or christmas

What Does the Bible Say?

Wanting God’s Word

Jesus is Everything

Racism: A Christian Perspective

Christianity and Homosexuality: Addressing Criticisms

The Bible and Homosexuality II

Coronavirus and God

The Bible and Homosexuality

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