Sermon on the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S., for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost.
In the Name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today I am going to speak in response to a
monumental change that has happened in our country, that is of great concern to
most of us. That change is the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to legalize
same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Many of you have already begun asking
questions of how the church will respond, and what this means for us as
Christians. This is without a doubt, an issue on which the church cannot remain silent. And the authority
with which the church speaks is the authority of God’s Word alone. If we are to
remain faithful Christians to follow our Lord Jesus, then we must be faithful
to His Word. May God grant me to speak to you today with faithfulness to Him,
that all who are willing may hear and receive God’s Word. Amen.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus sends
out His disciples to various villages, to teach the Good News of His kingdom.
He warned them ahead of time that some would gladly received His Word, while
others would refuse and resist it. He gives clear instructions to His disciples
to leave those towns and homes where they are not received, shake the dust off
their feet as a warning, and to go on to places and homes where they are
received and welcomed. These instructions also inform us about how we as
Christians proceed into a world that is increasingly unwelcoming to the Good
News. Jesus did not send His disciples with swords or clubs to force anyone
into the kingdom of God, but sent them equipped with virtually nothing but His
own Word. If the message itself did not win the hearts of those who heard, they
were to move on. In other words, His own Word would change hearts and create
the reception and hospitality and support they needed to continue. Those who
did not receive it were not harassed or threatened, but left alone with a
reminder that they had been told, but resisted God’s Word.
As we address this issue of same-sex
marriage in our society, it’s vital that we first have some of the basics
firmly in our minds. God’s Law is higher than any laws of men that change, laws
that come and go, laws that serve a society for some period of time, or even
laws that run against the greater good of a society. God’s Law is the final
authority, no matter what 5 or even 9 judges may say, or even if a whole
country should have voted in favor of some law (which in this case, they
definitely did not). God’s Word endures forever. So in a certain sense, for the
Christian who believes in God and His Word, nothing at all has changed. God is
still on His throne, His 10 Commandments are still as true as they were
yesterday and 3,000 years ago and 1,000 years from now. From the standpoint of
God’s authority, nothing has changed. His kingdom and power remains forever and
ever. This is why Psalm 146:3–4 states, “Put
not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When
his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.”
Long before it ever appeared on our money, the Bible reminds us to trust in God,
not government. Men and their laws cannot save us, and their plans are
short-lived. God’s plans, on the other hand are eternal, and He alone saves.
At the same time, we have to live in the
midst of changing laws and fickle governments. In some times and places they
are more protective of the church; at others they are more unfriendly or even
hostile to the church. Laws about marriage affect our families, the definition
of parenting and the relationship to children, the programs of public
education, and a host of other issues. Even aside from any laws, we know family
or friends who identify as homosexuals, or wrestle with those desires. It may
affect us on a deeply personal or emotional issue. If it sometimes seems like a
political issue, it is every bit as much a family issue, a faith issue, a
how-do-we-live-together-in-society issue. Simply, it is a life issue, on which God’s Word speaks, and on which society is
speaking also, loud and clear—yet a very different message from God’s Word.
God’s Word is our authority for faith
and life, and tells us who we are. Being a Christian means that you are a
disciple or follower of Jesus Christ. You have heard His Good News, you have
believed it, and have answered His calling to follow Him. As Christian
disciples, we answer to the higher calling and authority of God’s Word. We
commit to live by Jesus’ teaching. This includes Jesus very clear teaching that
(Mark 10:6–8) “But from the beginning of
creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his
father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.” Jesus’ teaching on
marriage is that it is meant to be a permanent, life-long union between one man
and one woman.
As we disciples commit to this and the
rest of Jesus’ teachings, we recognize many others do not know Jesus’ teaching
or desire to live by it. In 1 Corinthians 5, St. Paul explains that this means we
are to hold Christians inside the church accountable to God’s higher standard—to
call them to live by God’s plan for sexual purity—abstinence before marriage,
and faithfulness to a spouse of the opposite sex in marriage. Paul says that we’re
not to permit Christians among us to practice “sexual immorality or greed,” or be “an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler” (1 Cor. 5:11). As a
disciple or follower of Jesus, we commit ourselves to humbly listen to the
rebuke and correction of fellow Christians, to call us to repentance when we
sin, and that they gently urge us away from sin and temptation. Heterosexual
sins of adultery, cohabitation, pre-marital sex, divorce, and others are just
as much forbidden for the follower of Jesus, as are homosexual sins.
On the other hand, Paul says that we
have nothing to say about judging outsiders—those who do not profess to be
Christian—God alone is judge (1 Cor. 5:12). We do not expect our friends and
neighbors in the world who are not Christian, to hold to Jesus’ teaching, and
therefore we do not judge them for it. Nor do we have to avoid associating with
them, as Paul says this would mean we’d have to leave the world! We do,
however, lovingly tell our unbelieving friends about Jesus, and the Good News,
if they are willing to listen. Though they may not be part of the church, they
may be open to hearing about a better way, if they have experienced the consequences
and guilt of sin in this world of brokenness.
Those who reject and refuse the
authority of God’s Word, and who refuse to be ruled by God’s 10 Commandments
will live as they please, and experience themselves the natural consequences of
sin. Whenever we ignore God’s commandments, it’s not as though we are just
ignoring suggestions or advice, but actual commandments. And there are
consequences for it. If we don’t learn by listening and obedience, then we
sometimes have to learn through the heartache and pain of bad choices, or
negative consequences to our health, or relationships, or finances. All of our
sins and wrongdoing bear consequences. However, it’s not as though we can or
should try to trace back and figure out how things go wrong in our life and
find a particular sin to blame. As though God made your car break down because
you ran a stop sign, or that God made your body break down because you stole
something from a store. But some choices do have obvious and direct consequences.
It’s not earth-shattering that some choices are healthier than others, and that
certain lifestyles lead to better or worse health. This applies to bad choices
regarding our sexuality as well. When we deny or ignore those realities in
order to keep doing what we want, it only hurts ourselves. We should not be
surprised that our relationships break down if we are cruel or unfaithful, or
that our reputation breaks down if we cheat or steal, or our health breaks down
if we make destructive choices.
We never know where and when God is
preparing and opening a person’s heart to receive His message. Learning things
the hard way may open a person’s heart as it never was before. The Church’s
message is not for us only, but we are to proclaim repentance and the
forgiveness of sins to all people. As the church continues to point all people
to Jesus, it will most certainly continue to call people to Jesus who have
committed heterosexual as well as homosexual sins, and sins that have nothing
to do with sexuality at all. And each new believer who becomes a disciple or follower
of Jesus is called by Jesus to part from old sinful ways, no matter what the
sin. Things that may be deeply ingrained or habitual, like pride, or selfishness,
may be very hard to change, but we are reborn in Christ Jesus. All who receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit, and are born again by water and the Word of God in
Holy Baptism, receive a new life. We are washed and cleansed of former sins,
and God pours down His continual grace on our lives as we are regenerated in
His image. We come with our sins, repent and leave them behind, and Jesus
forgives us and strengthens us to walk anew after Him.
So we are made a new person, and it’s
only by His grace and help that we can change anything, whether it be the urge
to lie or some other more powerful urge. The church remains a hospital for
sinners, a place where we all come with our brokenness and sin, and God brings
us the healing balm of His forgiveness, and grace to walk anew with Him. We treat
all people with dignity and respect
as human beings made in God’s image—regardless of their beliefs or personal
choices. Anyone is welcome and encouraged to come and hear God’s Word. To take
that next step of becoming a believer, a disciple of Jesus Christ, is a gift of
the Holy Spirit. To have faith, or trust in Jesus, is when God opens our hearts
for His treatment, for us to move from the “lobby” of the hospital into the “operating
room”, where Jesus begins to help and heal us by His gifts. By His gift of
faith, we begin to receive the benefit of His help.
Each of our own lives are examples of
the grace of God has made us a new person in Christ Jesus. We are like the
Corinthians, to whom Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor
the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom
of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our God.” Like the Corinthians, some of these things may describe
our former life—but they are not who we are now. God redeems sinners from all
walks of life. Jesus has broken and continues to break the hold that sin has on
our life, and that old sinful nature is not who we are now in Christ Jesus. In
Christ Jesus we are washed and made new. We are justified—God declares us
forgiven—righteous—an heir to the kingdom of heaven. There is no sin that is
greater than Christ’s power or His cross. He has died for them all. Whatever
your sins are, hand them over to Jesus by repentance, and call upon Him to
forgive you and help you to overcome. For He has already overcome sin, death,
and the grave for us.
There is certainly much, much more to be
said about how we as Christians live in the midst of a changing world. But it
all begins with knowing who we are in Christ Jesus and what His grace has done
for our lives, and freely extending that same grace to others. Everything else
is built on that foundation of discipleship, that we have been made disciples
of Jesus, and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching everything that Jesus has taught us. Though many may
not welcome Jesus’ message, we cannot be afraid to speak it. We must continue
to boldly bring His eternal, unchanging Word to all who will hear it and
believe, and to move on when necessary. Trust that Jesus’ Word will bring in
its own harvest. In His Name, and by His grace, Amen.
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