Today, June 26, the Supreme Court of the United States, legalized gay-marriage in all 50 states. Here are a few thoughts from the Christian perspective.
Not The Time for Anger or Quick Speech
The author of Slate’s article on Justice Anthony Kennedy’s ruling, Jordan Weissman, called the last paragraph of Kennedy’s ruling, “one of the most beautiful passages you’ll likely read in a court case”, saying as he read, “I teared up”. It should go without saying that our words, today especially, should be full of the light and glory of Jesus Christ. We ought to put away all words of anger and continue to be quick to hear. One way to be quick to hear is to learn how your neighbors and friends feel about the SCOTUS decision. Also….read the SCOTUS decision. Seek to understand. Read articles on both sides of the decision seeking to understand people’s motives and reasoning. Even though same-sex marriage is not God’s design, many enter into it because they think it will find fulfillment for their God-created desires. That is exactly what Justice Kennedy wrote:
Before we say a word we ought to make sure that we seek to understand.
"One gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame."
Proverbs 18:13
"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."
James 1:19–21
Do Not Give Approval
Romans 1:18-32 is often entitled “God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness”. In that text it says three times that “God gave them up”. He gave them up “in the lusts of their hearts to impurity”, “to dishonorable passions”, and “God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done”. These things include envy, murder, strife deceit, gossip, God-hating, boasting, and yes, includes men and women who “gave up natural relations”.
This passage states as a matter of fact what God has sovereignly done. The passage ends not with those who do such things, but, “they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Rom 1:32).
This is not saying that we should start a SCOTUS overturn campaign today. Simply, we are not to stand in approval of sin. Our dissaproval may be done very publicly. Perhaps, it needs to be done in hearts before God (Ecc 3:17). Prudence and wisdom know the difference and in Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:2). There is "a time to keep silent; a time to speak" (Ecc 3:7). God help us know the difference and how to dissaprove in love.
The One Judge
As Al Mohler reminds us, “The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the land, and its decisions cannot be appealed to a higher court of law.” But this is not the final court on earth. James calls us to humble ourselves before God and remember, “There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” Likewise, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, “Is it not those in the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside” (1 Cor 5:12-13).
We can set our hearts in the truth that Solomon spoke in his heart when observing every time and season under the sun, “I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for ever matter and every work” (Ecc 3:17).
Pray for God’s Kingdom to Come (It Will Come)
If you have been praying the Lord’s prayer you have been praying that the kingdom of America will one day go away, albeit maybe unknowingly. That is not something that we should do for the first time in frantic response to a SCOTUS decision. Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Lord teach us to pray….”. Jesus said,
…When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:2-4).
That is not just how Christians should pray in response to some crisis. That is how they should pray every day!
When Jesus’ Kingdom comes all other Kingdoms will vanish. We ought to be concerned about courts, laws, and freedoms in our nation. But it should always be secondary at best to our looking for the Kingdom of God. And God’s Kingdom might not grow like we think. Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Pray that God’s kingdom comes, that it grows and grows and grows through more and more people being “transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the beloved son” when they hear the gospel of Jesus crucified and resurrected for our sin (Col 1:13).
As St Augustine (354-340) wrote in The City Of God, “Here below the Saints endure obloquy (public criticism) for the City of God, which is hateful to the lovers of this world.” Let us not love this world. But yearn and pray for the Kingdom fo God to come. This is the everyday prayer for those in Christ.
Here are a few helpful books on the development and shift in our culture:
- Culture Shift, by Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Seminary
- What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?, by Kevin DeYoung
- A Free People’s Suicide: A Sustainable Freedom and the American Future, by Os Guinness (British author)
- A Christians Manifesto, by Francis Schaeffer
- God in the Whirlwind, by David F. Wells
For His Glory,
Nathan Loudin
