Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse! A conservative US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the acts of LGBT persons are as protected by civil rights laws as those of racial minorities, the disabled, etc.
While this may seem negligible in light of the accelerated pace at which social norms have changed, I believe it sets the table for the next wave of legal battles aimed at cementing post Christian America. It may not immediately affect your church, but it will soon impact Christian hospitals, Christian universities that accept federal student aid, and Christian children’s homes. And let’s face the fact now that, if your children or grandchildren learn the biblical view of marriage, gender, and sexuality, it will happen because you taught them a lesson counter to everything else they will learn.
When similar culture defining rulings have passed, such as the Obergefell ruling on same sex marriage, many Christians grew angry that, again, Christian values were under attack. They remember a time when even unbelievers respected the scriptures and agreed with us mostly about right and wrong. The idea that everything the church held true was suspect, or worse, the direct cause of global pain, unsettled them. So they retreated into their churches with like-minded people.
But the people of God cannot retreat. The church of Jesus Christ is not a fortress for hiding from a hostile world, it is a forward outpost for carrying His gospel into the world. And God is not surprised that these events are happening, or that you are in the middle of it.
As I ponder this, all in the context of everything else happening in 2020, I’m reminded of Esther 4:14 and how, with the lives of all Israel at risk, Mordecai suggests to Queen Esther that the very reason she occupied her position was “for such a time as this.” And through her, God accomplished His purpose.
I believe God has you and your church here, at this time, for His purpose. If he had wanted you for any other time, he would have set you then. So our mission is to continue living for Him, sharing His word, and growing disciples today.
Jeff Iorg, president of Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention in Ontario, California, said this yesterday in his blog: “Stay the course even when our global situation has a negative trajectory. The Bible describes the world’s future as a global descent into chaos before a cataclysmic ending. In light of this, we must still work for the common good and the greater good—relentlessly and tirelessly—while at the same time recognizing our battle will always be uphill.”
I think he’s right. The world will not get easier for us. But God’s mission remains. The good news for us is two fold, He still reigns, and we’re in this together.
So, let’s be the church!
Bro. Jim