NOTE: I invite you to join me in honoring our veterans today by praying for them, their families, and our nation. I am sharing a personal reflection in an article we will publish on our website this morning.
The US Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will not revisit its landmark 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The Court rejected an appeal from Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was ordered to pay compensation to a same-sex couple after denying them a marriage license due to her religious beliefs.
For those of us who believe in Jesus’ definition of marriage (Matthew 19:3–6; cf. Genesis 2:18–25), this news is disappointing but not surprising. Whether the issue is abortion, adultery, divorce, pornography, euthanasia, or a host of other moral concerns, we should not expect a secular democracy to guide itself by biblical morality.
How is such secularism working for our culture?
The popularity of “ethical non-monogamy”
Among Millennial and Gen X respondents to a recent survey, more chose “ethical non-monogamy” over monogamy as their relational style preference. In case you’re not familiar with “ethical non-monogamy” (and I hope you aren’t), the term refers to “romantic or sexual relationships where all partners consent to having multiple intimate relationships.”
Of course, for those of us who believe biblical morality, the term is as oxymoronic as “minor surgery” (there’s no such thing for the patient), an “unbiased opinion,” or the “Civil War.” (An elderly member of the church I pastored in Atlanta cautioned me against the latter term, reminding me that “there was nothing civil about it.”)
Pornography is becoming more violent and addictive than ever. Chatbots are becoming more sexually explicit as well. Without the constraints of network television FCC regulations, streaming services air movies regularly that are highly pornographic. (I won’t link to recent examples, nor will I watch them.) A recent Saturday Night Live host actually made jokes about sex trafficking, rape, and pedophilia. (Again, I won’t link to what she said due to its disgusting nature.)
At the heart of our cultural morass is our rejection of a cultural moral compass. It’s not just that we disagree about right and wrong—secular people no longer believe there is such a thing as right and wrong.
This has implications for our national future. As the eighteenth-century philosopher Edmund Burke noted, “Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.”
But it also has implications for our eternal future, an issue you and I urgently need to consider today.
JD Vance hopes his wife will become a Christian
My wife and I were watching when Vice President JD Vance recently addressed a group of students at a Turning Point USA televised event. When he was asked about his wife’s religion (she was raised Hindu), he said, “I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way.”
The reaction was swift and vociferous, some branding Mr. Vance a “bigot” and worse. Such critics betray a basic ignorance of biblical teachings regarding the necessity of evangelism (cf. Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8). But even more deeply, they point to the greatest danger of our tolerance-based ethos: the insistence that Christians tolerate what harms another person eternally.
Jesus said of himself, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). This is why he later testified, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
The apostles took Jesus’ words to heart when they risked their lives to proclaim concerning him, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Lest there be any question, consider this clear statement: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).
“I loved you enough to say no”
Here is the biblical logic behind the claim that salvation comes through Christ alone:
- If God is the Supreme Being, he must be perfect (Isaiah 6:3). Otherwise, a more perfect being would be more supreme than he.
- Heaven must be perfect as well, or God cannot remain perfect while dwelling there (cf. Revelation 22:1–5).
- Every human being has sinned, committing mistakes and failures which break our relationship with our perfect Creator and must bar us from his perfect presence (Romans 3:23).
- The consequence of sin is death, since sin cuts us off from our holy Lord and thus the only source of eternal life (Romans 6:23).
- A person who would pay this debt on our behalf must be sinless himself, or their death could pay their debt but not ours (Romans 5:8).
- Jesus Christ is the only sinless person who has ever lived and the only one who died in our place to purchase our salvation (1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2). No other religious leader or figure of history has ever claimed to be and do the same.
- When we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and become our Lord, he reconciles us to his Father and makes us the children of God (2 Corinthians 5:21; John 1:12). No other religion makes the same offer.
- If we reject our Father’s loving grace, we will spend eternity separated from him in a place the Bible calls “hell” (Matthew 10:28; cf. Revelation 20:15).
This was why Paul had “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” for his unbelieving Jewish brethren (Romans 9:2). It was why early Christians risked—and many gave—their lives to preach the gospel to “the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Like them, we should no more tolerate the spiritual lostness of our secularized friends and neighbors than we would tolerate a terrorist who would murder them. The more they reject our message of salvation, the more they need it. And the more we love them, the more we will risk their temporary rejection for the sake of their eternal souls.
Author and humorist Erma Bombeck once wrote to her children,
“I loved you enough to say no when you hated me for it.”
How much will we love the people we influence today?
Quote for the day:
“Witnessing is that deep-seated conviction that the greatest favor I can do for others is to introduce them to Jesus Christ.” —Paul Little
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