Sexual Morality in a Christless World

Greetings All,

     This week's selection is about sex. Or more to the point, it's about the new views of sexual morality and how they vary from Christian sexual morality.  I copied and pasted it from a blog by Tim Challies.
     It's actually a critique of a book by Matthew Rueger entitled, "Sexual Morality in a Christless World."  Yet it offers to us some very helpful insights about the revolutionary nature of Christian sexual ethics in light of history, and I would add, the alarming rise of sexual violence, human sex trafficking of children and adults, and the type of environment that arises when people throw off all thoughts of sexual restraint.  I recommend both this blog entry by Challies as well as the book by Matthew Rueger. Enjoy.

Sexual Morality in a Christless World

Tim Challies

Times are changing. Sexual morality is undergoing nothing less than a revolution as traditional morality gives way to something radically different. The former morality, based on the Christian scriptures, is being shoved aside by a new one that not only departs from the Bible, but outright rejects it. Meanwhile, Christians who abide by those traditional sexual morals are increasingly seen as outcasts, backward people dangerously hung up on ancient, oppressive principles. It is all very disconcerting.

Into the fray steps Matthew Rueger with his book, "Sexual Morality in a Christless World."  Though the last few years have brought us no shortage of books on how to live on this side of the sexual revolution, Rueger offers something unique… he shows that Christian sexual morality has not always been traditional but was at one time its own revolution. In other words, Christians have been here before, and there is much we can learn from our own history… He offers a fascinating yet disturbing examination of what Roman culture considered good and normal. “Rome’s sexual climate is a model of the utopia for which today’s sexual ‘progressives’ are striving.”

     Yet it was hardly Utopian. He shows that “In the Roman mind, man was the conqueror who dominated on the battlefield as well as in the bedroom. He was strong, muscular, and hard – in both body and spirit. Society looked down on him only when he appeared weak or soft.” Respectable men were permitted to have sexual relations with just about anyone, provided they were the aggressors rather than receivers of such sexual acts.  Marriage existed, of course, but was not first about mutual love, but about the provision of an heir. A far purer form of love was the love of a man for a boy, so a culture of pederasty arose in which adult men carried on overt sexual relationships with adolescent boys. Prostitution was rampant. Rape was widespread and accepted, provided a man raped someone of a lower status. In so many ways Roman sexual morality was abhorrent and one of its most prominent features was the strong dominating the weak.

     And then Christians showed up. Christians began to teach that men were to be chaste, that homosexuality and pederasty were sinful, that men were to love and honor their wives, that wives and husbands had equal authority over one another’s bodies. Such teaching was not only seen as repressive, but as full-out destabilizing to the Roman system. No wonder, then, that the whole culture turned against Christians.  “Though Christian morality promoted genuine self-emptying love and was positive for society, it nonetheless set Christ’s people against the prevailing culture. Romans did not like being told that some of their favorite activities were displeasing to the Christian God, and they pushed back.”  And here is where we can draw important lessons for our day, for today, too, Christian sexual morality is seen as destabilizing to the culture around us, as a serious societal sin…

     Rueger also shows that Christian morality was almost as opposed to contemporary Judaism as it was to Rome. This was especially true in according equal rights to men and women, in protecting women from divorce, and in putting away notions of sexual purity that harmed women. Again, Christianity offered a sexual morality that was kind and equitable and that protected the weak and marginalized.

     With all of that context, he is able to show how these Christian teachings were full-out counter-cultural, how they were radical, not traditional. He shows how Christian sexual morality helped individuals, helped the marginalized, and helped society—it was a tremendous blessing to everyone.  Yet Christians suffered because their views were seen as destabilizing and harmful. Though today we see that their morality was actually a blessing, at that time it was considered a curse. And Christians suffered terribly for it...

     Rueger says “My desire in writing this book is to help Christians engage the world around them in reasoned discussion.” He does so very well. And his greatest contribution is helping us understand that this is not the first time that Christians have been at odds with the culture. This is not the first time the biblical understanding of sex and sexuality has caused the culture to turn on Christians, to consider them disloyal, to push them to the margins. For that reason we need books like this one to interpret the times and equip us for today and the days to come. I thoroughly enjoyed this work and highly recommend it."

     As I have repeatedly stated over the years (in light of studying history) -- our cultures sexual morals (or progressive eradication of them) is not a sign of progress, but the sign of a cultural regression which is taking us back to what existed before Christianity appeared on the scene some 2000 years ago.  And as those sexual morals are separated entirely from Christ, and Christianity, history will likely repeat itself and we will actually see more sexual violence toward women, more children put into the growing sex trade, and a continuing devaluation of the Christian virtue of committed and sacrificial love between a husband and a wife. And it will become harder and harder to police, because it will become more and more common, and more and more acceptable, and seen as less and less problematic to the societal conscience.

     As Jesus predicted for the latter days, "the love of most will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12).  And Paul restated that same truth when he said that people being "without love" (for anyone but themselves or money or pleasure - II Timothy 3:2-5) will be a sign of the approach of the last days.

     No predictions. I know better!  Just some earnest food for thought, Pastor Jeff

Jesus Never Moves On

Greetings All,

     This week's 'thought' comes from Tim Challies and is entitled: "Jesus Never Moves On" (www.Challies.com July 3, 2013).
     I share it with you because it is such a common scenario -- even in the church -- and such a wise, yet often overlooked Gospel-like response. We can (in the midst of temptation) forget that as believers our relationship with Jesus lays the groundwork for how we are to live all of life.
     To "love one another as I have loved you," would resolve many an intense struggle before it even arose or got to the point where it was so difficult. The way God in Christ deals with us should lay the groundwork, and be the blueprint, for how we in turn relate to others. Challies reminds us of this truth through a conversation he had with another believer over dinner. Enjoy.

Jesus Never Moves On

     "She just seems so much easier to live with than my wife."  It was a conversation over dinner between sessions at a conference, a conversation in a state far from home. The man felt his heart drawn away from his wife or, perhaps more accurately, toward another woman, a woman who was not his wife, a woman in his church, a woman who was another man’s wife.  He believed these thoughts were involuntary, that the ideas were extrinsic to him, that Satan was tempting him with a sin perfectly suited to his weaknesses, to his heart idolatries. He was battling hard to keep the temptation from turning into fantasy, and from there to action.

     “My wife is difficult to live with at times. She is needy. She is complicated. And this other woman seems so easy to figure out, so simple to live with.” He saw it not as a judgment of his wife as much as a simple statement of fact: it is difficult to make a life with another person. On the one side he had a woman who needed so much from him and on the other side he had a woman who looked like she would only give without taking. He knew it was a lie, he hated every thought that drew his heart toward her, and yet day after day it crept up and presented him with what promised to be an easier path.

     We shifted the conversation away from his wife, away from the other woman, and toward Christ. Sometimes it is difficult to see how the gospel applies to life; sometimes it is not difficult at all. The Bible tells us that a man is to love his wife in such a way that he imitates the love Christ has for his church, for his people. And if there is anything at all we know about Christ’s love for his people it is this: it is a love that will never end. Though we may stray for a time, he will draw us back. Though we may give up on Christ, he will never give up on us. His love will endure. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

     Christ’s love for the church provides the model of a husband’s love for his wife. This is the deepest kind of challenge for the Christian husband. Christ will never grow so worn out that he will shift his attention toward someone else instead. His heart will never stray. His affections will never waver. He will never grow so weary of us that he moves on.  I could hardly blame him if he did. There must be people out there who would prove a lot easier to deal with than me. There must be people out there whose hearts are less sinful than mine, who would progress in holiness faster than I would, who would worship more wholeheartedly and who would live with greater gratitude. And yet he has chosen me, he has set his love on me, and nothing will cause him to abandon me. He will never give up.

     This husband is called to love with that same endurance. He is called to love with the same hope, the same dedication. The security he has in Christ is the security his wife must have in him. This is the gospel. This is the display of the gospel in marriage.

     This life, says the Bible, is but a vapor, or mist, that appears in the morning and is gone by noonday (James 4:14). We have only so many years to serve Jesus.  We have only so many years to live for His glory.  We have only so much time to seek to reflect to the world the type of love and commitment that our Father, and our Lord Jesus, have for us. To reflect an other-worldly type love that is beyond measure -- higher, wider, deeper and longer than we are even able to begin to understand (Ephesians 3:18-19).

     And how do we do that? It must begin by stepping back, taking a breath, looking into the Word, and considering how richly we've been graced. How richly we've been graced with a love we did everything not to deserve, and still do so much to be unworthy of -- even in our best of days. Only when we take the time to honestly consider the unbelievable depths of the grace and mercy and forgiveness and commitment and innumerable "second chances" shown to us by God, can we even begin to seek to love others as He has loved us.

     Do it now, before the temptation grows into full-blown sin, and leads to the needless death of a relationship that could be salvaged by an earnest and prayerful glance at the Gospel of God's unfathomable love for us.

Hoping To Fix Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Pastor Jeff 

Joy of Gaining Victory over Sin

Greetings All,

     This week's 'thought' comes to you from Tim Challies.
     It has to do with the joy of gaining victory over sin. It resonated with what I've found to be true both in Scripture and in my life, and thus I thought you might benefit from it as well. After all, a significant part of our Christian walk deals with the pursuit of godliness and the growth of the fruit of holiness.
     Salvation (at least as defined in the Bible) has to do with being "saved," or delivered, from the power and penalty of sin -- its penalty when we trust in Christ and are justified (or declared not guilty) through the application of the atonement to our actual guilt and the crediting of Christ's righteousness to our account, and its power as we continue to trust in Christ, come to know His will more fully through His revealed Word, and learn to stake our lives upon His promises to us in the Gospel. In regard to this Challies offers some helpful insights. Enjoy.

The Joy of Not Sinning

     "I think it is a question every Christian would like to ask God, given the opportunity. It is an honest question. A humble one, I hope  --  "If you have the ability to immediately destroy and remove all of a Christian’s sin the very moment he puts his faith in Jesus Christ, why don’t you?  Why didn't you?"

     There is always a good bit of debate in the Christian world about exactly how God sanctifies us and how human effort relates to divine work. Whatever we believe about sanctification, we know it is a lifelong battle and we know it is a difficult one. The difficulty is related to the extent of our depravity, the fact that the effects of sin extend to our every part, to our minds, our hearts, our wills, even our bodies. We could give every moment of every day to the battle against sin and still die as deeply sinful people. Every Christian will die much more holy than he was when he first put his faith in Jesus Christ, but a lot less holy than he would like and probably a lot less holy than he would have imagined.

     The Bible is indispensable in sanctification.  Literally.  You cannot and will not grow in holiness without reading God’s Word without submitting yourself to God’s Word without applying its truths to your life.

     And yet the Bible does not zap away sin any more than my salvation does. I have discovered in my own life that there are not a lot of texts in the Bible that instantly obliterate a particular sin. Rarely do I hear a text preached and see an instant, substantial advance against a sin. Never do I read a text and see my sin immediately and irreversibly melt away. Rather, the Bible provides the categories for my sin, it displays my sin in all its ugliness, it displays holiness in all its beauty, it exposes me as a sinner, it convicts me of my need to do battle against this sin, it gives me the desire to destroy it, it arms me to do so, and gives me hope through the gospel that this sin—even this sin with such a grip on me—is powerless before the indwelling Holy Spirit. And then begins the long and difficult task, the moment-by-moment battle, of killing it, of going back to the Bible again and again and preaching its truths to myself, of relying on the Spirit, of calling out for his help, of waging war against my own flesh, my own desires, my deep-rooted habits, my mind, eyes, ears, heart, hands, feet, and everything else I am.

Romans 7:14-25

     Putting sin to death is never easy—life does not bring much that is the rare combination of easy and worth doing. Sanctification is no exception. Yet few things are more rewarding, more encouraging, than seeing victory over sin, seeing a pet sin begin to look ugly, seeing its power erode, seeing its prevalence diminish. Few things bring so great a sense of God’s pleasure and so great an opportunity for worship than not sinning in the face of what was once a near-irresistible temptation.

     I don’t know why God did not sovereignly remove all my indwelling sin the moment I became a Christian. I don’t know why he does not zap it away through a simple encounter with Scripture. What I do know is that sanctification is a battle, but a battle always worth fighting."

     The fight with our adversary, sin, is an ongoing mystery.  It is always a struggle. Sometimes we make progress.  Other times we think we have only to discover it was not us who changed but our circumstances. And as much as we might wish it were not so, we can easily deceive and numb our conscience with excuses when there happens to be a sin we want to participate in. Not only that, when something becomes universally acceptable in society, it invariably seems to become acceptable in the church -- even if God's word condemns it.

     That's why we need to be ever in the Word. That's why we need the Bible to inform our consciences and not the latest public opinion polls or the media. God calls us to resist sin, not compromise with it. And that battle never ends so long as we are in this flesh. Yet as Challies notes, it is "a battle always worth fighting."

     We may succumb.  We may slip and fall. We may willingly fall. But when we do God's habitual call to His people is to rise to our feet again as forgiven children, readjust or put our armor back on, and get back into the fray of the battle once again -- continuing to do so as long as we have breath.

     And, yes, it is a battle worth fighting.  Because the honor of our worthy and gracious God, and the validity of our testimony to the life-transforming power of the Gospel, and our joy in Jesus hangs in the wings. We will not always win. That much we know. There may even be times we lose more than we win. But with so much at stake -- we must never lose the will to fight.

In His Service, Pastor Jeff

Stand and Greet Time

Greetings All,
   This week's 'thought' comes to you from Tim Challies. It is taken from his blogsite: Challies.com  You can visit his site, or read the article below which has to do with the "Stand and Greet Time" which many churches have incorporated into their morning service time. If you dislike such times as much as he does, you may benefit from his wise and transparent insights. They are deserving of a wider audience! Enjoy.

     "I may not know you, but I think one thing is safe to say: You do not have as much natural revulsion as I do toward a stand and greet time during a church service. You don’t feel a greater measure of inward terror when you hear a service leader command, “Stand up and greet a few of the people around you.” I am naturally shy, introverted, and easily intimidated, and can always feel the fear rising when I hear those words. And yet I am involved in planning our church’s services and often advocate for a stand and greet time. Let me tell you why I believe in this time of greeting one another, even though it is completely contrary to my natural desires.

     Why are you part of a church community? Why are you a member of a church? Why do you go to the public gatherings of the church on Sunday morning? Broadly speaking there can be two reasons: You go for the good of yourself, or you go for the good of others. There is a world of difference between the two.
     When I go to church for the good of me, I am free to be shy and introverted, free to keep to myself and free to be consistent with who and what I naturally am.

     I can hide in a corner or bury myself in a book. I can hope that others will come to me and pay attention to me. I can come for the service, sing some songs, hear a sermon, and slip out seconds after the final amen. I can do whatever is good and comfortable for me. I can hate that stand and greet time because of how it makes me feel, because of how it forces me shake hands with people who have colds, because of how it prompts me to judge others as less sincere than myself.
     When I go to church for the good of others, I have no right to be shy and introverted, and no right to keep to myself. I have to die to myself and so much of who and what I naturally am. I can’t hide in a corner or bury myself in a book, but I need to seek out others and pay attention to them. I can come for the service, sing some songs, hear a sermon, and enjoy it all. But when I hear that final amen, I am right back to seeking out others and looking for ways to serve them.
     I believe in the second option, and I try to practice it. When I walk into Grace Fellowship Church eager to do good for others, I am guarding myself against those ways that my natural introversion leads me to sin—especially the sin of selfishness. One of these ways is running away from other people, rather than loving and greeting them. That selfishness can even manifest itself in grumbling and complaining about that time of forced fellowship when we all stand and greet each other.
     The stand and greet time still terrifies me if I allow it to, but I have learned to embrace it as another opportunity to serve others. I can meet people I haven’t met. I can find a visitor I didn't catch on the way in and greet him. I can talk to people I don’t otherwise tend to talk to. We sometimes do “Name Amnesty Sundays” where we tell everyone they are free to say, without embarrassment, “I know you've been here for a while, but we still haven’t met,” or, “I know I've met you before but I just can’t remember your name.” This time pushes me outside of myself and forces me to do something uncomfortable but good. I believe in it. I just plain need to get over myself, because that’s what the Christian life is all about.

     Here’s what I've come to see: My natural desires and fears are completely irrelevant when it comes to what is right and wrong, and what is wise and unwise. If this time of greeting is an opportunity to serve others, I need to learn to love it. I just plain need to get over myself, because that’s what the Christian life is all about.

Let me close with a few considerations for a good and meaningful stand and greet time.

Church is for Christians. Though unbelievers should be welcome to attend, the service is primarily for the growth and refreshment of believers. If unbelievers do not like the stand and greet time, that may be a consideration, but it should not be a major consideration. What we do in church we do primarily for the good and growth of those who profess faith in Christ. Make the greeting time something that benefits Christians.

Make it meaningful. Every element in a worship service should be carefully planned to ensure that it has a purpose. A stand and greet time can be meaningful, but only if the leaders know why it exists and what it means to accomplish. Don’t do it if it is merely habitual and serves no clear purpose within the flow of your service. Begin it with clear instructions and close it with a clear transition to the next element of the service.

Don’t make it dumb. Many people hate the stand and greet time because they are forced to do or say something silly. Don’t make people say a particular phrase or repeat a little mantra to one another. Don’t force people to exchange hugs. Just allow people to naturally greet others in a way that is comfortable to them. Allow them to be sincere, not forced.

Christians love. The New Testament has a lot to say about greeting one another and expressing love to one another which means there are good, biblical reasons to include greeting as an element of a service. The church is probably the only place you will ever be told, “Stand and greet one another.” You will attend many events in the course of your life where you will be alone together, just one person in a big and impersonal crowd. By having people stand and greet one another during a church service, we are proclaiming that there is something different about this crowd and about this gathering. That alone makes it valuable and powerfully counter-cultural.

     So do it! Do it well, do it wisely, and do it out of love for others."

     Well stated.  In a society that can often be very impersonal, we need to make the church a place where people feel welcome and their presence noticed. Let's take his words to heart and put his advice into action -- even if you're one who has struggled to see the sense in it. Hopefully now you do!

Blessings on your day, Pastor Jeff

Sermons Are Not For Liking

Greetings All,

www.challies.com

     I've been on vacation for a few weeks ("holiday" for my British friends!) so I haven't sent out a 'thought' for a while. Yet, during my time away I received this post from Tim Challies and have been intending to share it with you.
     It deals with how listeners should view sermons. As such, it's a message every preacher wishes his people would read and take to heart. Anyone who has ever stood behind a pulpit, or lectern, or sought to convey the truth of God's Word to a group of people, understands exactly what Challis means and would want all who listen to their messages to understand it as well. So here it is... from one who preaches to many who listen.  Enjoy!

Sermons Are Not For Liking

     I did not set out to be a preacher. Ten years ago I would have laughed out loud if someone had told me that a decade hence I would be a regular in the pulpit. As I've slowly acclimated to preaching, I have found myself thinking very differently about sermons. I've been listening to sermons all of my life, but only now do I see preaching from the other side of the pulpit, so to speak. It has been very good for me.

     Today I want to share a lesson I've learned that applies primarily to those of us who listen to preaching (as I do, most Sundays, since I am not an every-Sunday kind of preacher). Here’s the lesson: Sermons are not for liking.

     Sermons are for listening, they are for discerning, they are for applying, but they are not for liking. You don’t get to like or dislike a sermon. We tend to ask questions like, “So how did you enjoy the sermon today?” It is just the wrong question to ask.

     I guess that isn't always true. If a sermon is outright unbiblical—if the preacher butchers his text, misses the point, teaches nonsense or outright error, then I guess you are well within your rights to dislike it because God dislikes it and is dishonored by it. And maybe if it is clear the preacher put little or no thought into his text, if he is delivering a sermon only out of a sense of duty or the overflow of pride, maybe then you can dislike it because, again, it dishonors God. But I suspect few of us find ourselves in that situation on a regular basis.

     Back to my point: Sermons are not for liking. There are at least two reasons for this: it dishonors preaching and it dishonors the preacher.

     1.) To ask, “How did you like the sermon?” dishonors preaching. It dishonors the very form, the God-given medium. We trust that when the Word is preached, the Spirit works. He is present in the preaching, present in the speaker, and in the hearer, shaping words, molding hearts, applying truth. We preach because God tells us to, and we preach trusting that God uses this form of communication instead of another form. We preach even though preaching seems so foolish. When we ask, “How did you like the sermon?” we make the sermon something we consume rather than something that consumes us. We judge it like we judge the custom-crafted latte at Starbucks or the new iDevice we saved up for.

     2.) To ask, “How did you like the sermon?” dishonors the preacher. The sermon you hear on Sunday morning may look like it just flows out of the preacher’s mouth. It may seem so easy, so natural, that you think the preacher hardly had to work at it. Yet the more effortless it appears, the more work it represents. When you see Albert Pujols swing a bat or Phil Mickelson drive a ball, you are not seeing people simply taking advantage of innate talent. You are seeing the result of practice and preparation. These are people who have dedicated thousands of hours to honing their craft; they have become so skilled that they make it appear easy.

     This is true of preachers as well. The sermon that is smooth and easy, that moves seamlessly from one point to the next, that delivers bang-on application—this is the sermon that displays more practice, more skill, more time in preparation.

     Don’t confuse hard-earned skill with easy preparation. And then there is the delivery, where a man has to stand before a hundred or two hundred or a thousand people and deliver that sermon, hoping he connects with his listeners, trusting his interpretation is sound, longing for the application to fit. It dishonors the man to then ask, “How did you like it?”

Don’t like it! Instead, ponder it, meditate upon it, and apply it.

     At the end of it all, “How did you enjoy the sermon?” is simply the wrong question to ask. Far better is, “What did you learn from the sermon?” or “How did the Holy Spirit speak to you through the sermon?” These are questions that elevate the form or medium far above our preferences, and call upon us to submit to the Spirit as he is present in preaching."

     If we are caught up in some particular sin, the best sermon for us is not one that we like, or one that makes us feel good, but one that cuts us to the core and unsettles us so deeply that it moves us to repentance. If we are struggling with doubt and feel like giving up, its the one that helps us to see God's promises anew, infuses us with hope, and moves us to a renewed determination to persevere. If we are filled with guilt and despair of ever sensing God's affirmation and love, its the one that convinces us no sin is beyond the reach of the grace and forgiveness Christ secured for us on the cross.

     A sermon is not to be measured by how it makes us feel, but by how it reveals God, His redemptive will for our lives, and by what it moves us to DO in response to the truth conveyed through it.

     Michael Horton put it well in his book, "A Place for Weakness." Discussing his wife's experience with "a severe hormone-induced depression" related to her pregnancy he states:

     "Lisa realized that she could not preach the Word to herself; she needed a herald sent from God himself to proclaim externally something different from what she felt internally. In times of crisis, the most important thing we can do is go to church. Chiefly, this is where God's herald (the preacher) announces that 'external Word' that contradicts our private judgments. Working against the tide of our inner experience and thoughts, this announcement comes rushing toward us like water from the Himalayas: 'You are forgiven, go in peace.'" (Luke 7:36-50)

     The last two weeks of my vacation I was privileged to sit and listen to two sermons by two of the gentlemen who filled my pulpit in my absence.  The first was Bob Moyer on, "Leaving What's Behind, Behind,"  and Ted Rabenold on,  "Your Husband Is Your Maker". They were sermons that instructed me, served as a good reminder, and moved me to do something in response to them.

     I didn't just "like" them (a dishonor to both preaching and the preacher) I was challenged and changed by them. That's preaching and I'm somehow different for having been there to hear it.

May we all, "submit to the Spirit as he is present in preaching."  Pastor Jeff

Love into Light

Greetings All,

Tim Challies

    In light of the recent U. S. Supreme Court decision opening the way for each individual state to legalize gay marriage, I thought this particular 'thought' was an appropriate choice, coming at an appropriate time.
     It comes to you from Tim Challies, who sends out regular mailings via Challies Dot Com  Some of you may already be familiar with him. I received this post today and simply pass it on to you for your consideration.

Peter Hubbard

     Along with Challies I believe that Peter Hubbard (author of the book Love into Light) is right -- every situation that confronts any Christian in any society should not be dealt with simply by pointing to biblical 'proof texts' that, show it to be right or wrong, but with the application of gospel truth to the situation -- remembering our common condition under sin, and the amazing nature of God's grace to the undeserving (which means me and you) -- a grace we are called in turn to extend to others. I trust you will be challenged by his words and might place this book at the top of your summer reading list. Enjoy.

Love Into Light

     "It is becoming increasingly clear that homosexuality will be a defining issue for the twenty-first century church, at least here in North America. It seems inevitable that same-sex marriage will soon be legalized across America; it has been the law in Canada for several years now. Meanwhile the acceptance and celebration of homosexuality is becoming a cultural shibboleth, a means of determining who has a voice worth hearing and who does not.

     In the middle of all this is the Christian church which, since time immemorial, has held that the Bible forbids homosexuality. Is it time, as so many insist, for Christians to take a second look at the Bible, to get with the times, and to embrace homosexuality as a valid lifestyle, a valid expression of love and sexuality?

     Many Christians feel threatened, like their backs are against the wall, and that this issue represents a major threat to their faith. But is it possible that Christians have been thinking about the issue all wrong? In his new book Love Into Light, Peter Hubbard asks, “What if homosexuality is not a threat but an opportunity? Could God use one of the most controversial moral issues in our nation to awaken His church rather than damage it?” Is it possible that if we continue on our current trajectory, the church will soon be defined by what we are against, whom we oppose, and all the while the gospel will be lost in the fray?

     Hubbard writes as a pastor, as a counselor and as a man deeply marked by the gospel of divine grace extended toward human sin. He insists that the gospel makes all the difference, for before the cross we are all the same, we are all sinners, we are all in desperate need of grace. He says, “We need Spirit-empowered love to move toward those struggling with [same sex attraction] without despising or excusing their sin, because their sin is our sin—our hearts are no different! … My sin always seems reasonable to me, and your sin inexcusable. Left to myself, I can find a way to justify anything I really want, and the choices I make can hurt the people I most love."

     The gospel makes all the difference and the gospel is exactly what Fred Phelps and so many others have thrown away in their misguided, hate-filled attempts to address homosexuality. “If our attitude toward a gay or lesbian person is disgust, we have forgotten the gospel. We need to remember the goodness and loving kindness that God poured out on us. God should have looked at us and been disgusted. Instead, without condoning our sin, He loved us and saved us. And I want everyone to know that kind of love!”

     “The gospel penetrates to the root of the heterosexual and homosexual dilemma: Who am I? Whose am I?” It assures us that we are all sinners who are utterly and wholly dependent upon God’s grace if we are to be saved from the eternal consequences of our rebellion. Rather than focusing so much attention on a particular category of sin, we ought to concentrate on the joy of being undeserving, forgiven sinners, for “a church characterized by a small experience of forgiveness will be characterized by a small expression of love.”

     The book has several notable strengths that make it a valuable and important contribution to this discussion. One strength is in Hubbard’s approach to homosexuality through a biblical lens. He attempts to diagnosis it accurately using biblical categories and as he does so, he helps show what it is and, perhaps especially helpfully, shows what it is not. He eschews easy labels and easy solutions. Another strength is Hubbard’s pastoral tone and his love for the people he writes for and writes to. It is always clear when a writer knows and loves people who find themselves struggling with same sex attraction and people who are unapologetically homosexual; it is equally clear when a person is writing about a caricature, about people has never met and never loved. A third strength is that the book is anchored in the gospel; from beginning to end, the gospel pervades it all.

     'Love Into Light' is a powerful, biblical, compassionate look at a moral issue that represents a great opportunity for the church. This is a book that will benefit anyone who chooses to read it. It is one leaders would do well to read; it is one pastors will want to read, especially if they are counseling someone who is struggling in this area, searching for identity, wondering what the Bible says. It will shape the Christian’s thinking, it will apply the gospel, it will be a blessing. It is kind, it is biblical, it is pastoral, and it receives my highest recommendation."

With earnest wishes for a blessed summer for all,  Pastor Jeff