In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a war going on. In fact, there are many wars going on. Cultural wars, racial wars, political wars, religious wars… it’s a crazy, mixed up world we live in.
The war is about so much more than which bathroom people should use. The war is real, but it’s really a war that is being fought in the heavenliness for the minds and souls of mankind.
It’s a different kind of war…
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
The battles rage around us, but the real war is fought far beyond our view. It’s a spiritual fight to the finish and we already know who wins. His name is Jesus.. the Conqueror…the King of kings and Lord of lords.
And our King calls us to a different kind of fight…
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
So, let’s go where no one really wants to go and talk about what no one wants to talk about. We have to. Because if we don’t, who will?
Christians need to quit fighting a spiritual world with fleshly hearts and in fleshly ways.
Yes, we are faced with a dilemma that we never thought was possible… not in the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the nation claiming to be a Christian nation.
But the dilemma is really nothing new… it’s just more blatant and more in our faces. In a world that is embracing what God calls sin, how then are we to live… how are we to deal with the issues that are so prevalent today?
Specifically, how do we deal with a culture that is promoting the gay and transgender lifestyle when God’s Word clearly calls it sin?
We know the Christian answer…what we’re supposed to say… “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
But loving the sinner means accepting the sinner.
Love means acceptance – but acceptance doesn’t mean approval.
Love means seeing past the sin to see the people. Their hearts. Their needs. The places where they’ve been broken and hurt. The things they are hurting from. The things they are longing for.
You see, there is a difference between the LGBT agenda and LGBT community.
Tackling agendas and policies is a very different thing then the way we handle our conversations with people.
There are the radicals who are propagating a radical and ungodly agenda. True. And it’s wreaking havoc on the hearts of young people and the moral fabric of our nation is being ripped in shreds… not only by the LGBT agenda, but also by the strategic secular humanistic agenda launched in the 1930’s with the goal to remove God from society and establish a human moral and ethical behavior as deemed acceptable by the mere humans that establish them.
As citizens, we have a right and a moral obligation to stand for biblical truth in a country that was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics.
But when we look beyond the agenda-pushers, we see people looking for the same things everyone looks for… love and acceptance. We see a community of individuals who God created for the purpose of glorifying Himself… and that same God longs for them to run to Him and be set free and find hope, peace and eternal life.
Below I want to address 3 very important questions many Christians are asking in this very mixed up world we live in.
SHOULD CHRISTIANS BOYCOTT BUSINESSES THAT BLATANTLY OPPOSE CHRISTIAN STANCES OR PUT WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT RISK?
The answer is simply yes, yet also no.
Christians are to be a voice for righteousness in any nation. Proverbs 14:34 (ESV) say, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
But if we are going to boycott, we need to do so with respect and offer solutions. Running through a store and yelling about how wicked people are is not going to reach anyone with the Gospel. In fact, it turns people away, and they won’t want to hear what we really should be saying… that Jesus loves them and has a plan for their lives… and that we were held captive to sin and self before Jesus set us free, and the same Jesus that set us free longs to set them free.
SHOULD CHRISTIANS JUDGE?
Again, the answer is simply yes, but also no.
John 7:24 (NKJV) tells us, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
We don’t judge according to appearance. We judge according to righteousness.
Christians aren’t called to judge others in the sense of condemning them. But we are called to make judgement about what is righteous and what is not righteous according to the Word of God.
We do that all of the time. If someone is lying, we judge righteous judgment by determining they are lying, but we don’t hurl vicious words at them expecting them to hear the love of Jesus in our hearts to the extent that they will want to repent and turn to the Lord and be saved or get right with the Lord.
No, we made a clear determination that they lied, and so we pray, we seek God’s face for them, we love them in spite of their lies, we ask God for the wisdom of words – for opportunities to speak life into their lives.
The goal is always reconciliation. Our lives should look like we are begging people to know Christ not pushing them away from Him.
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20
WHAT SHOULD CHRISTIANS DO? WHAT SHOULD OUR RESPONSE BE?
Pray for those involved
People who are gripped by the LGBT lifestyle are men and women just like you, who are struggling for love and acceptance. And beyond the sin of homosexuality is a heart in need of Jesus. The love and acceptance He offers them.
Pray for those who are in authority
These are difficult days we live in. It’s not time to sit back and watch our world go to hell (as my old preacher used to say) in a hand basket. It’s time to pray like the souls of this nation hang in the balance – because they do. So, pray for those who make decisions to be gripped by the love of God, to repent before a holy God, and to be more concerned about pleasing the Lord than they are about pleasing man.
Be a voice
It’s okay to picket, it’s okay to boycott, it’s okay to be a voice. You should. But do it in a way that honors God, not in a way that makes people think Christians are crazy. You can stand for truth and righteousness without causing such a commotion that you send people running from your message instead of running to it. You can write letters, speak to leaders, make your voice known without making yourself look like you’ve lost your mind.
You can stand against the LGBT agenda without standing against the community of people in need of Jesus.
Love with the love of Jesus
The love of Jesus is not just for heterosexual people. It’s for all people. We need to be able to love people where they are but remember that part of loving them is telling them the truth.
When Jesus calls people to Himself, He often tells them of their sin, offers Him His love and forgiveness and, if they are willing to receive Him, He says, “Go and sin no more.”
That’s the truth of the Gospel for all of us. That’s what we are called to share.
Here’s a great radio show with host, Susie Larson and her guest, Caleb Kaltenbach. Caleb was raised by a gay couple and he not only became a Christian, he became a pastor. His insight is amazing!
And my sweet friend and sister MOM, Kathy Howard, wrote a great article over on Crosswalk that speaks to the heart of this issue well.
And my sweet friend and sister MOM, Lori Wildenberg, shares several posts from a very personal perspective. You will want to read every one of them.
9 Ways to Respond After You Have Been Blindsided By Your Young Person
How to Talk to Your Kids About the Supreme Court’s Ruling
Bruce Jenner, Chaz Bono and My Oldest Daughter
When Belief and Behavior Collide
As Christians, we can’t lean so far on the grace side that anything goes and God’s holiness is disregarded. But we also can’t lean so far on the truth side that we negate the grace and goodness of God that leads us to repentance and calls us to be His own.
It’s time for us to let grace and truth collide and become the light that is set on a hill, the salt of the earth, the ambassadors of God that He calls us to be.
What say you?
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- Heaviness and Newness - December 23, 2016
