What About Homosexuality*?

I guess you noticed the asterisk, huh? To tell you the truth, this particular blog is not about homosexuality. While I may venture to blog about the subject later, this is a more basic blog. It is about the preconceived ideas we bring in our search for meaning and spirituality and—well, God!

You see, often in a conversation about God and the particular community of faith, hope, and love that one enters as part of an authentic discovery of God, there comes a moment when the seeker asks the question, “What do you believe about ____________?” The blank can be filled in with all sorts of words… homosexuality, war, the homeless, riches, abortion, physical healing, the environment, efforts to convert people of other faiths… you name it!

From one perspective, it is quite right to ask such questions about faith. We want to know what God says about different subjects, and we want to know how the community of faith, hope, and love applies that word from God in the day to day of life. So, certainly questions are legitimate, and I welcome all kinds of questions from genuine seekers who want to know more.

However, there is also a sense in which such questions can not only be illegitimate but can thwart the seeker from finding the answer he or she truly seeks. Here’s what I am talking about:

When some folks ask, “What about homosexuality”—or any other subject—they are asking it in a way that it is a “deal-breaker” in the search for God and spirituality. In other words, if the God you are telling them about does not match up with the opinion they already hold, the search ends there.

You may ask, “What’s wrong with that?” If we weren’t talking about ultimate answers—God—it wouldn’t be as important. But think for a moment: if there really is a God, shouldn’t we be looking to Him for the guidance on these controversial questions of life, not judging Him by our little opinion? (I will put a caveat on that later, so stay with me.)

Shouldn’t we be seeking to find out, in the midst of all the different ideas of God or higher powers or cosmic consciousness (or whatever different people might call such things), if one is really true? And if we could somehow come to understand that there is one true God and that He speaks to us, shouldn’t we come to Him without our preconceived ideas of what is right and wrong and start looking to Him to tell us? (By the way, the word “good” comes from the word “God.” What God says, by definition, is what is “good.”) Isn’t it a little absurd to say to the big God of the Universe, if the evidence points to His existence, “I can’t put my trust in you because you have the wrong idea about government”?

Perhaps an illustration would be best. Let’s say that you absolutely love sugary desserts. They are what you live for. You have, however, been having some physical difficulties, so you make an appointment to go to the doctor. He has the reputation as the best doctor in the city. You are waiting for him to come give you the results of some tests, and as he walks into the examination room, you blurt out, “Doctor, I love sugar, and I live for sugar. What do you believe about sugar? I won’t accept any diagnosis that in any way limits my sugar intake.” The doctor says, “I’m sorry to hear that, because you have diabetes, and you absolutely will have to modify and monitor your sugar intake.”

What are you going to do? Are you going to say, “I don’t accept your diagnosis because I have already determined that consuming sugar is right”? Are you going to walk away from the treatment that is going to bring you health?

Well, that’s exactly what you are doing if you say, before you find out if God is real, “Well, if I find, God, that your opinion on homosexuality (or adultery or drunkenness or abortion or anything else) doesn’t line up with what I already believe, I will look for another idea of god who will agree with me and tell me that what I am already thinking or doing is okay.”

If you bring ANY preconceived notion as to what God has to say or do, you are limiting your search for the true God. And if you discover, say, that Jesus is truly God the Son and that God has left for us a book that reveals to us his ideas, we would ask the question we started with (and all others like it), not as a question of judging whether we will proceed down that path in our search, but in a humble attempt to find out what God says so that we can adopt His attitude as our own.

I often say to Bible study students, “We should approach the Scripture today with the attitude, ‘God, if I find today that my opinion is different from yours (after a careful study, of course), I’ll change mine.’” You see, if you would really search for God, you must be open to the fact that you might be wrong in one or two of the 10,000 opinions you currently hold!

I promised a caveat. If your search for God came to the place where, for instance, the one true God ended up being the god of this world (that is, the evil one)— a god who delighted in making us suffer and bringing destruction to our lives rather than loving us and seeking to rescue us from the mess our sins have made of the world—I certainly do not think that I would commit myself to such a god! I would hopefully fight against him tooth and nail.

The Good News for the believer in Jesus Christ is that our God is everything we could hope for and desire—a God of love, a God of justice, but also a God of mercy. And when we discover that, we are ready to put all opinions on the table. We are ready to say, “Teach me, O God, your ways.”

Please don’t let your pet opinion in this slice of history get in the way of your finding out the truth about God. Don’t go the doctor and rule out beforehand the diagnosis that can save your life!

Holy Week

Holy Week has, over the years, become more and more special to me and my family. One of the reasons is that we practice a Messianic Passover Seder during the week. This meal, which Jesus took with his disciples the night before he was crucified, is a commemoration of God's deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt through the last of the ten plagues--the death of the firstborn in the families who had not slaughtered the Passover lamb. (For the full story, including God's direction for this to be an annual ordinance to both remember the event and pass it on to the following generations, see Exodus 12.)

It also provides the framework for what Christians today celebrate as communion or the Lord's Supper. Jesus was using elements of the Passover meal--matzah (unleavened bread) and wine--to show us an even deeper meaning, that is, that Jesus body and blood would be broken and spilled as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus would become the Passover Lamb for us so that we might escape the judgment. It is amazing--and I don't use that word lightly; read on!--also how many points of the Passover Seder point to Jesus and to his gospel. Eating a Messianic Passover meal each year has given us greater appreciation for all that God has done, including giving us beautiful foreshadowing of his plan of redemption as well as a better understanding of communion and salvation itself.

(By the way, have you noticed how many images of the Lord's Supper, whether in picture or in dramas put on by churches, have leavened bread in them? I got an online offer the other day for PowerPoint images of Holy Week--with leavened bread! Don't people read the Bible? The alternate name for Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread! There are at least two issues here--first, the Israelites were in a hurry and would not have time for the dough to rise, and second, the yeast symbolizes sin in this context, and so the removal of yeast in the yearly commemoration should point believers to a fresh examination of their lives.)

Another part of Holy Week that has become important is the Good Friday service. While not as well attended as I would like, the people who come always seem to be deeply moved as we concentrate on the death of our Lord Jesus. (I can't tell you how many people have come up to me since Friday telling me that it was a truly moving service and the best they had ever been a part of; it was interesting that every year we get similar comments.) While we are not overly fancy on Good Friday, we do try to create a dark mood, emphasize the death of Jesus, and put worshipers in the place of the disciples as we partake of the Lord's Supper and as we walk through the events through Scripture, word, song, and simple drama. In other words, we want worshipers to leave the service sad and confused but convinced of God's love.

One way we try to accomplish this is through mood and lighting. We set a somber tone throughout on most years. We try to show the emotion of Jesus. We don't usually print a program so that people aren't as sure of what is next. We also make an effort to end the service in an abrupt way--at least not like the end of a usual service--so that worshipers are not quite sure if the service is over or not. This uncertainty, it is hoped, will help them feel in some sense like the disciples did after Jesus abrupt from turnaround--from entering Jerusalem to cries of "Hosanna" on Sunday, to delighting the crowd with his teaching on Tuesday, to being mocked, ridiculed, and crucified on Friday. We seek to do this to make Sunday all the more sweet!

In fact, we try to take the first few moments of the Resurrection Sunday service to recreate that mood--to remind worshipers what the disciples were feeling on Sunday before the news came to them and before Jesus appeared to them. Then we can truly experience the joy of the resurrection as we hear God's word and listen to words of triumph and sing with overflowing hearts about God raising his Son from the grave! Someone once told me that the word gospel in its original context does not simply mean good news but good news in the face of bad news. In other words, when a policeman is around, I suppose it is good news; when he shows up just as you are being robbed, that is really good news. It is good news to put to right a bad situation. That's what the gospel of Jesus is--good new of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection in the face of bad news--my sins that need to be forgiven!

Hallelujah! Christ is risen!

Christ is risen indeed!

I should close here, but I want to share the introduction to my message from yesterday, Resurrection Sunday (I know that most of you call it "Easter," but I have a good reason for not, and I may share that some day.) This introduction itself had nothing directly to do with the resurrection, but I used it to share a bit of the difficulty that pastors may have on special days like resurrection because of the way we use words. (Perhaps it might even make you stop and think about the words you use!)

Have you noticed how our world today is so given to hype and hyperbole? We can see it in advertising for TV series: “The most shocking episode ever” will be followed by, “The one episode this year you don’t want to miss.” Of course, that will be followed two weeks later by “The most intense episode ever.”

Did they get it from us—or did we get it from them? Have you noticed how many things in this day and age are “awesome”? I’m not quite sure how that differs from “totally awesome” or “amazing,” but terms like that thrown around today about the most mundane of subject.

“I love your shoes. They’re totally awesome!”
“We went shopping today. It was an awesome experience!”
“Oh, the game today was really amazing!”

One of my best friends has the gift of encouragement. That’s wonderful. But everything I do is “amazing.” It would not surprise me if I sneezed in his presence because we are in pollen season if he said, “Fred, that was an amazing sneeze!”

You may ask, “What’s the big deal? You know what they are talking about. It’s just the way language evolves in its usage. And your friend is just trying to be encouraging.”

Yes, I do understand that. But, since you ask, let me tell you the problem that can come from it. When everything is “totally awesome,” how do we describe something that is totally awesome?

The Bible says, “Our God is an awesome God.” That means, in the original, that he inspires awe. He takes our breath away when we consider him and all of his creation. It gives rise to deep thoughts of life and love and eternity and the nature of all things.

Today, it means he’s like a pair of new shoes.

When the Bible writers said that Jesus’ teaching was amazing, they meant that people were stunned by how this one with little formal education could bring the truths of God down to their level on a practical basis and show them what God was really like, a God not in love with ritual but with people. A God not concerned as much about outer appearances and with the heart.

When John Newton wrote that God’s grace is amazing, he meant he couldn’t believe God would save someone as wretched as himself, someone who had been a slave, got his freedom, and then turned around and traded others as slaves. Today, to say that Jesus’ teaching and God’s grace are amazing just communicates we think they’re cool.

Here’s my specific problem today: it’s my job to tell you the most totally awesome, the most amazing thing that has ever happened in history, and for you to really
understand that it is not hype nor hyperbole.

Well, that's it for now. Remember, he is still risen!

"Who Told You That You Could...?"

[Today is Tuesday of this year's Holy Week. Here is a message based on the events of that day.]

It was late February or early March. I was home with the children; Cindy was out for a while. The day was unseasonably warm, but there was still a nip in the air. A child with her friend came up to me in the late afternoon. “Can we put on swimsuits and turn on the hose and get wet?”

I had forgotten to put on my bracelet that morning—my WWMS bracelet. You know, “What would Mom say?” Still, in the back of my mind, I knew what Mom would say: “NO!” And she would have several dozen good reasons for that answer.

My mind was full of deep theological thoughts, though, and try as I might, I could not marshal a single reason to say no. “I guess,” I said, but wanting to prove I was no pushover, I added, “But not one drop of water in the house, and no mud at all. Stay on the driveway or in the grass.” As they ran happily off, I returned to my easy chair in front of a television showing NCAA basketball that I was, of course, ignoring, being caught up thinking deep theological thoughts. But I remember that inwardly I felt a little uneasy and hoped it would be a while before Mom returned. However, it wasn’t long before I heard the van make its way into the driveway and to the rear of the house.

My wife is an excellent musician. She has a beautiful voice. And in that moment I heard her melodious strains wafting through the backyard and on into the house.

“Who told you that you could get wet and muddy?” I froze as I waited to hear the reply, which came rather quickly. “Dad said we could.” And I heard them continue to explain it in such I way that it sounded like I gave not only permission but that it was my idea.

They were off the hook. They had authority. “Dad said we could.” I reluctantly pushed my deep theological thoughts aside and quietly made my way to the front door. I just remembered some errands I needed to run. And since my cell phone battery was not taking a charge very well at the time, I decided I would conserve the power and just leave it off for a while.

“Who told you that you could?” That’s a popular question, isn’t it? Jesus was asked that question on a busy teaching day during Holy Week. He was asked that by the guardians of Judaism who were threatened by his popularity and his power and his very presence.

It was Tuesday of Holy Week. On Sunday the crowd had gone wild with shouts of “Hosanna!” as Jesus entered Jerusalem for the week of Passover. On Monday, Jesus had cleared the temple in anger at the greed of the people. So on Tuesday, the chief priests wanted to know, “Who told you that you could do all these things?” They were the hierarchy; they were the leaders of the faith. Where did he get off telling the people that they themselves—the chief priests, the teachers of the law, the Pharisees—were hypocrites and worse? Who told him he could receive the praise of the people? What made him think he could disrupt the sacrifices that had been practiced for 1000 years?

Since a crowd of people were around, they were a little more polite than they might have been in private: “‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you the authority to do this?’” (Mark 11.28 NIV)

He could have answered them, and perhaps he would have answered them had they been honest inquirers of what could have been, in my mind, a legitimate question. But legitimate questions seek for answers. And they had already decided in their minds that since they had not given him authority, there was no authority. They were not looking for an answer to consider; they were looking for an answer to entrap and condemn.

So Jesus offered them a deal. If they would answer a question about the authority of John the Baptist, he would answer the question about his own authority.

John’s baptism… was it from heaven or men? “Tell me.” (Mark 11.30)

They got together in a holy huddle…

³¹ They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn't you believe him?’ ³² But if we say, ‘From men’....” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

They were caught in just the kind of trap they had been laying for Jesus (and would again with the question about taxes.) Unlike Jesus, they couldn't come up with an answer.

“We don’t know,” they replied. (Mark 11.31)

“If you are the experts on religious authority and cannot determine the authority of John’s message…” Jesus seemed to be saying as he uttered the words:

“Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” (11.33)

To add insult to injury, Jesus told a parable that cast them in the roles of thieves and murderers. This made them more angry than ever. So they regrouped and tried to come up with a way of putting Jesus in a bad light with the people or making him look foolish.

It was April – that’s tax time for everyone, I guess – so they asked him if it were okay to pay taxes to Caesar. He said, in essence, “Yes, but it is even more important to give God his due.”

And what is God due? What is God’s? We would like to know that this Holy Week, wouldn’t we? Good news! Jesus answers that question for us after a slight detour.

The Sadducees, a group that didn’t believe in life after death, first throw out a riddle trying to show the absurdity of the resurrection. Jesus uses the Scripture to say firmly, “Yes, there is life after death. This is not all there is.” And if they didn’t believe the Scriptures, all they had to do was hang around town just a few more days and they could see it for themselves.

But then, in the last question anyone dared ask him publicly, someone asks that day a question that Matthew implies may have started out as kind of a setup, but ends up with the questioner becoming impressed with Jesus, and that, in turn, impresses Jesus.

Mark 12 (NIV)
²⁸ One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

This last question is the most important. Essentially, “What is the most important thing in life?” “What is life all about?”

Mark 12 (NIV)
²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Essentially, Jesus said, “I can’t give you just one, though there is one that is most important. I will give you two that are closely related.” After sharing them, he says, “There is no commandment greater than these.” Does that statement sound like something we need to underline in our lives—that we need to order out lives around these words?

The most important thing in life: Love God. But how must we love God?

Look down at verse 30. There are four words mentioned: heart, soul, mind, strength. I began to wonder if one of the words in the verse was the key to loving God correctly. What would you judge as the key word or concept in that passage? I once did a word study of these concepts mentioned. I understood this was perhaps the most important verse in the Bible (since Jesus said so!). I wanted to understand how to love God . There were secrets here to the meaning of life! I was disappointed, though, as I tried to understand these words in the original language. The meanings were not as concise and unique as I had anticipated. Their meanings overlap. One commentator used this phrase about the four words: he said they are “semantically concentric.” In other words, they pretty much have the same center of meaning and differ in breadth of meaning. I discovered that the key word here for loving God is not heart. It’s not soul. Mind? Nope. Not even strength.

But upon further reflection, I did discover that there was indeed a key word in that passage in teaching us how to love God. It just wasn’t one of the ones I was initially drawn toward.

What is the key in how to love God? It’s the word all.

If we were honest, some of us might admit that we are half-hearted in our love for God.

Some of us are of a divided mind…we are too enamored with the entertainment of this world that focuses on the sensual and decadent rather than the spiritual and the good.

Love with all. Jesus is saying that we are not to approach God with only parts of ourselves. If we want to love God, it must with our total being.

Here’s our last question of the day: Is Jesus right? The questioner thinks so: ³² “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. ³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

This man evaluates Jesus. And Jesus, after being evaluated, evaluates this man. He, in essence, wants the man to know that he is not judged by this man, but he himself is the judge. Look at Jesus’ answer:

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Which brings us back to the original question:

By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you authority to do this?

“Who told you that you could make such pronouncements?”

What gives you the right to pick out these two as the greatest commandments?

Jesus didn’t give these guys the answer that day, but he gives it to us:

Matthew 28 (NIV)
¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Who told you that you could do that?

Jesus says, “Daddy told me I could.” And in the way he explained it, he lets us know that it was his Father’s idea all along. “I do only what the Father tells me to do.”

He proved it by going to the cross.

This Holy Week, attending worship opportunities is a good thing. But what is most important is to love God with all that you are, and to love one another as you love yourself.

Love on God this week through prayer, praise, the Word…

Love on God by being intentionally obedient to his commands.

Remember, Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Love your neighbor today, whether that is your spouse, your child, your parents, your roommate, your classmate, your co-worker, your acquaintances. Remember that Jesus would say to love on somebody, to help somebody who can’t do anything for you in return.

Love God with all you are. Love your neighbor as yourself. And we love, because he first loved us.

And the Father has told me to remind you that this is what will make this week—and every week—a Holy Week.