One Christian woman confessed that she had attended the
wedding of two lesbian friends. She explained that she had no choice because not
attending would make her appear to be a bigot and would also disqualify her
faith in the eyes of her friends. Consequently, they would not be amenable to
hearing anything about Christ. Instead, by attending, she was able to
demonstrate that she, as a Christian, loved and accepted them.
In the mind of most Christians, this seems to be quite
reasonable. Why create an offense where offense can be avoided! Isn’t it the
duty of the Christian to show love and not contempt?
I too will confess that this seems quite reasonable.
However, what is reasonable from a human point of view might not please God. I
explained to her that we cannot celebrate what God clearly refuses to
celebrate. Doing so would be a matter of loving the people of this culture more
than God:
·
You adulterous people! Do you not know that
friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a
friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to
no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that
he has made to dwell in us”? (James 4:4-5 ESV)
What would make us adulterous? When we violate our primary
relationship with our Savior, we become guilty of adultery. How would we do
this? By being more concerned about the opinions of the world than the Word of
God and His opinions!
The Bible consistently teaches that our first love must be
for our Lord. Jesus was very clear about our priorities:
·
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is
not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy
of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever
finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it.” (Matthew 10:37-39; Luke 14:26)
How are we to love God? To love God is to obey God. God had
established this principle for Israel:
·
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is
one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be
on your heart. (Deuteronomy 6:4-6)
The test of Israel’s love of their God was whether or not
they would keep all of His commandments (Deut. 13:1-5):
·
“You shall therefore love the LORD your God and
keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. (Deuteronomy
11:1 ESV)
The children of God were never given the liberty to set
aside any of God’s commands. This same principle also pertains to the NT. Jesus
taught:
·
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and
my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever
does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine
but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:23-24)
Admittedly, this sounds harsh, inflexible, and not
human-centered. However, Scripture argues that following the commands of God is
the best way to love others:
·
By this we know that we love the children of
God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John
5:2-3)
To love God by keeping His commands is also to love others. This
is also the best way to love ourselves (1 John 2:4; 3:24).
While we feel affirmed when we affirm others, this is not
the way to love others. Instead, the best way to love others is to first love
God and to be true to our beliefs.
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