Culture of Corruption
There is much controversy in our culture today surrounding followers of Jesus who own businesses being forced to photograph gay engagements, bake cakes or provide flowers for gay weddings, or rent rooms to gay couples. Some bakers have refused to provide service for homosexual weddings, incurring lawsuits, media invective, and the world’s ire. Other disciples see no problem with providing service to gay weddings.
I don’t intend to get into the politics of all of this here.
Here is one general principle: the only way the unbelieving world will hear the good news is if we, as disciples, live it and proclaim it. God will be the judge of whether I am faithful in proclaiming the good news of Jesus. That is God’s goal for me.
“How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).
Totally avoiding everyone who lives in sin would require us to leave the world. We live in a fallen world, and we cannot avoid contact with the fallen without moving to Mars — and then we’d still have ourselves to deal with!
We can’t be salt and light unless we engage the world. Light has to shine into darkness in order to be meaningful — light that doesn’t shine isn’t really “light”; and salt has to get into the food in order change the flavor — salt does no one any good in the salt shaker.
- Habakkuk 1:13 —Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?
- Matthew 19:13–14 —Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
- Mark 9:33–36 —They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them,
- Mark 9:38–40 —John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. “For he who is not against us is for us.
- Philippians 1:17–18 —the former proclaim the Messiah out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, the Messiah is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.
Yes, it’s a tough call, Michael. We are all sinners, but I can easily understand how Christians who work as bakers, photographers, DJs, wedding planners would not want to participate in a same-sex wedding. Witnessing on behalf of the Gospel is a given, but some would argue that participating in a same-sex wedding is contrary to Gospel witness. If the apostle Paul had been invited to a same-sex wedding, I imagine he would have had much to say to the participants, but given all that he wrote in his epistles, I cannot picture him participating in any way. Yup, it gets sticky. If you work at a hotel desk, do you provide a room to a same-sex couple? If you’re a contractor, do you build a house for a same-sex couple?, etc., etc. It’s a rabbit hole, but a wedding is pretty blatant.
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Very well said. Thanks.
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I agree with Tom, it is a tough call because the line between not participating in sin and just discriminating is a hazy one. It does make me recall a conversation I had with my Mother in Law once. She was the Circuit Clerk in our county for several decades; the Circuit Clerk files divorce decrees. The County Clerks file marriage licenses. Anyway, this happened back with that woman was fighting for her claimed right to not have to file gay marriage licenses and still be her county’s Clerk. My MIL was really on a roll about religious rights and all the rest, so I just asked her a question. I asked, over the years, how many divorce decrees had she refused to file as Circuit Clerk? Since she was so all about the sanctity of marriage and all that. Maybe we should have picked THAT hill to die on years back? The issue gets murky for sure. The flip side of that, that is Constitutionally questionable for Christians is when we demand our religious rights be honored, while at the same time seeking to curtail the religious expression rights of religions that we detest. I don’t necessarily claim any solid answers, but sometimes we ought to be more even-handed in the way we approach issues. Getting too bent out of shape over our “constitutional rights,” may not be the hill we want to die on. However, the delivery of the Gospel is certainly a hill we should die on, and sometimes it seems we skip that. Good, though provoking post, Michael.
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Wally, thanks for your insightful observations. Very helpful.
This is definitely a tough one. God is good and God will give us all wisdom.
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Yes, He will Michael! Be blessed.
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