A gospel response to the Supreme Court decision

Today the United States witnessed a significant shift in public policy regarding traditional marriage. Some theologically conservative Christians might see this as a tough time for our nation, for morality, and for the church.

I see potential. In fact, as I heard the news this morning I realized this season represents a unique and unparalleled opportunity for Biblically faithful Christians and churches to articulate the gospel as it’s related to marriage and sexuality.

For a long time believers have been able to lean on the laws of our nation to support a particular position on marriage and on sexuality. Without that civic support, Christians will need to wrestle through Scripture to understand and intelligently articulate a Biblical perspective on these things. In a culture that readily welcomes various forms of sexuality and that has redefined its understanding of the marriage commitment, it is now even more incumbent upon believers to graciously express why sexuality reserved for monogamous heterosexual lifelong marriage is part of God’s design.

In other words, we must be prepared to answer how limitation in sexuality and good news can, and do, work hand-in-hand. This isn’t the time to scream judgment against a culture that couldn’t care less what the Bible says anyways, but to humbly learn how to communicate why broken sexuality (in all its forms) is part of the broken human condition, and how Jesus came to bring wholeness to all manifestations of brokenness: The Good News.

But it also isn’t the time to bury our heads in the sand; responding well to this will take clarity, conviction and courage. If we are (like Jesus) going to be, and speak, good news to our world, we will need to have a clear perspective on why homosexual activity is incompatible with God’s intent for humans and we’ll have to know how to communicate it with love and grace to our co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family members—all of whom we are called to truly love; some of whom identify as homosexual.

Remaining silent while the rest of the world is celebrating this transition is missing an opportunity to represent a different way that is full of both grace and truth. Being subversive to a larger culture has long been part of a Christian tradition, but so has love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Somehow I think that if we get this right, and communicate it well, there are some who are trapped in bondage who will discover freedom in Christ, and our society will at least hear about our alternative lifestyle which provides a real and vibrant option that runs counter to the way of living that our broken world embraces.