This is a letter on Proposition 8 I wrote to the church I pastor…

“… that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.”

Next week Proposition 8 asks California voters to constitutionally clarify for our state the definition of marriage by approving or disapproving the phrase: “only marriage between a man and woman shall be valid or recognized in California .” I will be voting “Yes” on Proposition 8 … for reasons described below. However, this letter is not intended to tell you how to vote– I trust each of you to vote every candidate and proposition with a conscience alive and responsive to Jesus’ call upon us.  

I am writing because I wanted to share my thoughts on Proposition 8 within my larger pastoral call and understanding of who God has called us to be here at Faith Community… If this doesn’t interest you, then read no further!

Beloved, I feel the liberty to write this to you because I trust that together we share  

   a common and growing passion for Jesus,    
      a devoted love for His gospel Word,       
         a dedicated commitment to live faithfully before Him, and  
            a fervent desire to see every life, including our own, transformed by His present grace.

I am writing you because I trust we value Christ’s call to follow well, to love well, & to serve well. 

Every Christian community must have her understanding of sexuality shaped by the redemptive revelation of God’s Word. We cannot follow well if we do not recognize the authority of His Word. We never want to be indifferent to Christ’s rule, redeeming love, and coming Kingdom that is revealed in Scripture. Here is a very brief summary of what I see in Scripture concerning sexuality and marriage:

Jesus Christ is Lord and Head of His Church. Through Him we are all created male and female. He calls us to a personal, loving, and intimate union with Himself individually and through the fellowship of Christians that we call the Church. Scripture teaches us that the marital union of a man and a woman illustrates the union of Jesus Christ with His Church.

Furthermore, the supreme and universal lordship of Jesus at His Second Coming is frequently portrayed in wedding imagery.

The Scriptures of the Old Testament abundantly testify to the final “Day of the Lord” in a similar fashion. For example, many biblical scholars have long noted that the Song of Solomon is more than merely the sonnet of two lovers celebrating their love and anticipating the joys of their pending union through marriage. It also illustrates the relationship between God and His people. The apostle Paul describes marriage as a rich and sublime metaphor that illustrates the relationship between Jesus and His Church: “This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

This instruction was given amidst the wonder of God’s creative splendor before sin had corrupted the perfection of His hand. God announced for all time: “A man shall be joined with his wife”—thereby guaranteeing that the ongoing flow of life that was sparked in creation would be sustained through this union. This heterosexual union was established as the normative pattern for man and woman before the devastation of sin could erase this imprint on humanity. Marriage has always been the DNA of society. We recognize that there is no cultural absolute to the practice of marriage throughout the world in times past or present except this– marriage has always embraced and solely recognized heterosexual relationships until the current debate.

I realize that some would caution that historically Christians have been wrong on slavery, civil rights, and  the equality of women and their gifts for ministry and service in the church. The truth is that we have been wrong on these and many other issues on God’s heart that we are blind, insensitive, and/or indifferent to. Nevertheless, in each instance cited it has been the responsible study of Scripture as God’s authoritative Word that has penetrated surrendered minds and hearts to repent and bring the Body of Christ into alignment with God’s will and Word on these significant issues. Therefore I perceive that any definition of marriage that embraces homosexual relationships will ultimately harden minds and hearts to Jesus because we must repudiate the clear teaching of Scripture.

In short, this is why I will be voting “Yes” on Proposition 8. 

 

I am writing you because I desire for us to maintain a realistic and Kingdom perspective amidst the heightened awareness and reactivity Proposition 8 has created.

Dear ones, as I have repeatedly stated on Sunday: the biggest threat to marriage is not the Gay agenda… it is the rampant and ravaging impact of divorce that has been and continues to be the threat to marriage.  Divorce redefined “marriage” and “family” long before the advocacy for gay marriage. Marriages broken by betrayal, abuse, dishonesty, recklessness, and laziness have redefined “marriage” and “family” as parents remarry (frequently more than once) creating families of multiple dads, moms, grand-parents, step-brothers, etc. Long before “Tommy had  2 daddies,” Tommy may have had 2 or more daddies, 2 or more mommies; 8 or more grandparents,  instant (step) brothers and sisters– not to mention how many aunts and uncles! Are we really  surprised that a secular world would express a growing advocacy for gay marriage out of this quagmire of brokenness and confusion?! 

Proposition 8, if it really wanted to fully define marriage for our state would read something like: “marriage is a loving relationship between a man and a woman intended to last a lifetime.” Our definition needs more than a clarification of sexual orientation. It also needs a recognition of its intended intimacy and permanency. But I doubt that this definition would stand a chance. 

I trust that we want to be a community that celebrates and values the uniqueness and life-giving permanence of marriage. We can be a community that confidently declares that marriage can be loving, life-giving, and life-long by coming in the opposite spirit to what exists in our world today. We can be a community that encourages healthy relationships and mends broken ones too.   The Gospel we express, experience, and extol is a gospel of grace wherein God promises to heal, mend, restore, and reconcile.

I am writing to you because I trust that we recognize that God is still in Christ reconciling our city, state, nation, and world through the person and power of Jesus Christ. 

I trust we value our State and her people… together we believe that everyone is worth contending for in the love and authority of Jesus’ name. The challenge before us is to create an understanding of God’s heart for all people. Dear ones, we must make every effort to insure that ours is an unconditional compassion that will not be dissuaded even by refusal or rejection. Patient, relentless, clear, approachable, concerned, generous, and loving must be the observations of others of our relationships, speech and conduct. It must be clear that we are not mere contrarians living by a narrow, fearful, prudish, and legalistic religious manifesto. Our position is not because a conflicting perspective makes us feel insecure or threatened… or simply that we are change-averse! We care because we recognize that sexual brokenness (whether heterosexual or homosexual) leaves a trail of human brokenness that will devastate future generations and harden children, youth, women, and men before the grace, wisdom, and love of God. Dear ones, this is about Truth… but we must always remember that we know that Truth is a person—Jesus—and seek to live before others as He did.

Our life together in Jesus is worth sharing with others in hope that as we serve and love everyone well our “lights” will shine before others in a manner that will light their path to our Savior.  Consider this: There is no other people who are commissioned with this responsibility and endowed with the redemptive authority to carry out this task other than God’s beloved– the Church. We are to light up the world’s “night” (Matthew 5.14-16, Philippians 2.15) with Jesus– His presence, His power, His purposes, and His promises to everyone. 

I do not think our mission is to be at war with culture or people no matter how misunderstood we may be… I do believe that we are engaged in a redemptive conflict on behalf of the broken nation and culture we live in. I am certain that we are called to contend with unconditional love, that is defined by the Cross of Jesus, for women, men, youth, and children who knowingly (or unknowingly) are imprisoned, broken, tormented, oppressed, and afflicted by sin– the sins that are one’s responsibility as well as the uninvited sins that bend, break, and destroy lives.

Dear ones, we are called to a challenging task to unconditionally love a world that keeps trying to “improve” on God’s plan. Let us not shrink back. Let us not give up. No one is beyond the reach of Jesus. Together let us “shine like stars in the universe as we hold forth the word of life…”

Loved ones, may we use our freedom in Christ to do more than repudiate the sins evil promotes before us. Let us encourage each other to use our freedom in Christ to demonstrate 

a better way… 
   a greater freedom… 
       a more noble vision… and
           a passionate expectation for how life can be… 

Finally, I trust that we will enter next week prayerful for our city, state, and nation and with a fresh resolve to pray for our leaders no matter which candidate wins…

May God’s abundant grace and peace lift your eyes to the Redeemer and Prince who sits on the throne with patient sovereignty and unceasing love that wishes for none to perish but everyone to come into repentance and life…