Tension....is tough!!

Sunday, our Incarnational Living class talked about taking a relationship to a conversation about religion or spiritual things.  Well, here's a hot topic that will do just that:  Gay Marriage.  Granted, political hot buttons were not necessarily the focus of the class, but stay with me a minute.

Last week President Obama came out in support of gay marriage.  That was pretty big news.  Here in Minnesota that will continue to be a hot topic since DOMA is on our ballot this fall.  There will be plenty - and I mean plenty - of discourse on this between now and November.

The reason I mention this, is because last week I had also listened to a podcast driving back and forth to work.  I had downloaded a sermon series Andy Stanley was preaching called "Christian".  I thought it would tie in nicely with our emphasis here at CrossPoint.

In one of the sermons, Stanley used a gay couple that attends his church as an example of the tension between Law and Grace.  Actually, it was much more complicated than just these two guys attending.  If you want to get the full blown version, you can listen to the sermon and fast forward to the 22 or 23  minute spot where he talks about this situation.  That section is around 10 minutes.  As Stanley said: "It was messy."

Later in the week, I saw in the blogosphere that Al Mohler (President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) took offense because of Stanley's "non-mention" of homosexuality as a sin in that sermon.  Well,  I see his point.  But that's the tension of the situation.  I don't believe Stanley condoned their lifestyle, but Mohler apparently felt it needed to be stated.  What do you say or do in that situation?  Is it the proverbial win-the-argument-lose-the-soul situation?  You tell me.  It's tension.

Do we need to be perfect before we come to church?  Of course not.  That defeats the purpose of the cross.  Every week, sin-stained pastors and elders (had to through that in) come to church for teaching, worship and fellowship.  Yes, yes - I know the Apostle Paul said not to sin so that "grace can abound".  But the fact of the matter is: we're all sinners.  We sin every day.

Admittedly, Northpoint (Stanley's church) is geared more towards the seeker.  Andy had mentioned (in this sermon) that he heard first hand from a few attenders that are gay, that they began coming to Northpoint because they felt that the pro-gay churches they were attending focused almost totally on why the gay lifestyle was OK.  They believed they heard more of the "whole Gospel" at Northpoint.  They did wonder however, "when the other shoe would drop".

As I mentioned, in class, the emphasis was on creating discussion through questions.  Offering short, quick, to-the-point-I'm-right answers more times than not will short circuit any potential civil discussion.  It may end up like this conversation:

Gay marriage is a tough subject to discuss in a civil way.  It doesn't take much for the temperature of the conversation to heat up.  If you get into a dialogue on this topic, how will you handle it?  I don't think this topic is going away any time soon.

But, let me suggest one way.  It's probably not something you're thinking about.  At the end of Ephesians 5, Paul instructs husbands to love your wife as Christ loved the Church.  And for women to submit and respect their husbands.  Guys - here is the challenge.  We are to give ourselves up for our brides.  Women - you too, are to respect your man.  Even if there are times we don't really earn that respect.

My 2-cents:  If those of us in the Church exhibited the kind of marriage we are commanded to, it would go a long way in the battle of what constitutes a marriage and what does not.  How we treat our spouse, talk to our spouse and even talk about our spouse would make a HUGE difference in people's perception of what God intended between a husband and a wife.