6 Things Pastors Should Preach about Gay Marriage

• Chad Napier

Pastors are commanded to only preach “thus saith the Lord.” Preacher Matt Hagee told a story about preparing for his first sermon at the age of 17. He accumulated 38 pages of notes for that one sermon, which was quickly and painfully reduced to two pages. His father John Hagee informed him what remained was from the Bible, and the rest came from Matt Hagee.

If you’re a pastor or teacher, it’s easy to personalize deeply sensitive and divisive subjects. Understandably, pastors and other spiritual leaders often have difficulty addressing the subject of gay marriage.

If you speak too hard on the matter, you can alienate or dishearten a portion of the congregation.

If the sermon is too soft on gay marriage or fails to take a stance, you can be considered ambivalent or agreeable.

The pulpit is a place for instruction, reproof, and discernment of the Holy Scriptures. It is not a place for a political platform or a call to organize the troops to go out and demean a particular group.

The odds are great someone within the congregation has a gay friend or family member who they love dearly and will continue to do so after the sermon is over.

It is helpful as a pastor to ask yourself: when was the last time I preached about the traditional Biblical marriage? There may be greater odds that the congregation contains an unmarried heterosexual couple living together than a homosexual contemplating gay marriage. The traditional marriage and its impact on couples within the perimeters of the Bible is likely a more relevant topic in most congregations.  

When the legality of “gay marriage” was being pushed through the legislatures and courtrooms, churches all across the nations changed their bylaws and constitutions to address their stance and prohibition. This practice was likely done out of fear that the gay community would be rushing to the local Baptist church demanding to be married by its pastor. I was hesitant in our church’s rushed efforts.

I cannot picture our Savior teaching, or Paul preaching to the church at Ephesus, instructing the congregation to ban a service clearly already prohibited by the scripture.

I can’t imagine Jesus going around Jerusalem proclaiming, “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”

However, it does not mean a pastor or religious leader should be silent on the topic. Any sexual behavior outside of the institution of marriage is fornication and thus a sin in the eyes of God. The only marriage God recognizes is the union of a man and a woman.

Here are 6 things preachers should bear in mind when preaching about gay marriage: 

1. There’s a difference between Bible legal and state legal.

There is a difference between a legal marriage that is codified by a state’s legislature and the marriage contemplated and recognized by God. My understanding of what the Bible says on this matter is that a marriage between two people of the same sex is not a recognized biblical marriage.

A nation’s laws are not always in agreement with God’s laws. We must abide by and follow the laws of our nation. However, it does not mean we have to participate in, or condone the participation of, the legal behavior.

In Genesis 2:24, God commanded a man shall “leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Similarly, a few states still recognize a “common law” marriage for the purpose of benefits and inheritance.  If the couple has lived together long enough and hold themselves out as “husband and wife,” the state will recognize their relationship as a “common law” marriage. Similarly, God does not recognize a “common law” marriage of a heterosexual couple.  

2. There is a biblical purpose for marriage.

Does the marriage of two persons of the same sex promote the purpose of marriage? In Genesis 1:27-28, God created Adam and Eve for the purpose to be fruitful and to populate the earth. God does not agree with any relationship which is not able to accomplish this original purpose.

  

3. We are to show love to one another.

The preaching of love from the pulpit should never be forsaken. The believer should have an urge to love the adulterer, be led to love the drunkard, and is directed to love the homosexual. Salvation is the most extraordinary miracle.

God’s love of all of mankind is one thing, but His love for all of sinful mankind is quite another. In Ephesians 3:17-19, we are told to practice a love which is unimaginable and incapable by one who does not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

It was prayed, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.”

4. Acceptance means welcoming.

It is easier to say, “we don’t accept the sin, just the sinner” than actually invite and welcome the sinner into our churches. Our community churches should be welcoming to the adulterer, the drug abuser, the fornicator, as well as the homosexual. Where else will the sinner hear about the unsearchable truths of our Lord and Savior?

Social media and Internet message boards are often full of hate, including towards the gay community. Keyboard Christians feel the need to quote Leviticus and tell the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

They fail in the key aspect of the gospel of Christ, which is exhibiting love. Christ welcomed the crowds in Luke 9:11. He then “welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.”  

5. Social creation is ongoing.

The advent of gay marriage is a creation of society. In Genesis 4:19, Lamech was found to have taken two wives. His action does not amount to an acquiescence of polygamy by the Bible. The Bible used the story as a teaching; as a reflection of “a progressive hardening in sin.” (Waltke, Genesis, p. 100).

Sometimes our sinful actions are permitted or allowed to teach this hardening or sensitivity toward the sinful behavior. As this behavior increases, man is convicted and hopefully brought to a realization of the sinful nature of the behavior.  

6. Jesus call us all to repentance.

The preaching of the word of God will not be returned void. The pastor can only preach the word of love and forgiveness. A pastor full of hate will not have the chance to reach the homosexual or the drug abuser.

The Holy Spirit’s office work is to convict hearts of sinful behavior. It is the Holy Spirit that renews and replenishes the heart of a sinner.

The words of a pastor cannot change hearts, but it can harden hearts. Jesus did “not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32)

Additionally, Paul taught in Ephesians 4:31, to “let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” while being “kind to one another tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”   

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God Does Big Things with Small Deeds

God Does Big Things with Small Deeds 
by Max Lucado

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin" (Zech. 4:10 NLT).

Begin. Just begin! What seems small to you might be huge to someone else. Just ask Bohn Fawkes. During World War II, he piloted a B-17. On one mission he sustained flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. Even though his gas tanks were hit, the plane did not explode, and Fawkes was able to land the plane.

On the morning following the raid, Fawkes asked his crew chief for the German shell. He wanted to keep a souvenir of his incredible good fortune. The crew chief explained that not just one but eleven shells had been found in the gas tanks, none of which had exploded.

Technicians opened the missiles and found them void of explosive charge. They were clean and harmless and with one exception, empty. The exception contained a carefully rolled piece of paper. On it a message had been scrawled in the Czech language. Translated, the note read: "This is all we can do for you now."

A courageous assembly-line worker was disarming bombs and scribbled the note. He couldn't end the war, but he could save one plane. He couldn't do everything, but he could do something. So he did it.

God does big things with small deeds.

Against a towering giant, a brook pebble seems futile. But God used it to topple Goliath. Compared to the tithes of the wealthy, a widow's coins seem puny. But Jesus used them to inspire us. And in contrast with sophisticated priests and powerful Roman rulers, a cross-suspended carpenter seemed nothing but a waste of life. Few Jewish leaders mourned his death. Only a handful of friends buried his body. The people turned their attention back to the temple. Why not?

What power does a buried rabbi have? We know the answer. Mustard-seed and leaven-lump power. Power to tear away death rags and push away death rocks. Power to change history. In the hands of God, small seeds grow into sheltering trees. Tiny leaven expands into nourishing loaves.

Small deeds can change the world. Sow the mustard seed. Bury the leaven lump. Make the call. Write the check. Organize the committee.

Moses had a staff.
David had a sling.
Samson had a jawbone.
Rahab had a string.
Mary had some ointment.
Aaron had a rod.
Dorcas had a needle.
All were used by God.
What do you have?

God inhabits the tiny seed, empowers the tiny deed. He cures the common life by giving no common life, by offering no common gifts. Don't discount the smallness of your deeds.

The Judge

The Judge

By Dr. Charles Stanley

Acts 10:42-48

During our life on earth, Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. However, as our days here draw to a close, and especially at the end of time, He takes His seat as Judge and prepares to reward believers for the good things they did in His name.

I think there is a widespread misconception that God the Father will be our judge. But it is Christ who gave us, His followers, the charge to go into the world and make disciples (Matt. 28:19). Therefore, He has been given the right to determine which of our actions and thoughts furthered His goal (John 5:22).

Christ is an impartial judge. He is not influenced by what others think or say, but rather, He determines what is right and good based on His honorable, just standard. We'll be stripped of our worthless works--in other words, the actions and words we used for selfish ambition or vain conceit. All that will remain are the worthwhile things we thought, said, and did to honor God. These are the valuable parts of our lives for which we will be rewarded.

Reward is the whole point of placing believers before the judgment seat of Christ. Shame and guilt over past sin and mistaken motivation have no place there (Rom. 8:1). Our loving Savior is eager to show us our heavenly treasure.

Christ will expose the real you at the judgment seat by casting away the worthless things you've done. What remains will be the man or woman who endeavored to please the Lord. Let us determine to be powerful reflections of our Savior, both on earth and in heaven.

When You Stand in the Flames

When You Stand in the Flames
By Jennifer Ikner Lowry

The testimonies of brothers and sisters in Christ are woven with mistakes, forgiveness, anxieties, and grace. When we take the time to listen to others as they share their trials, perseverance, or conversion, we get a special invitation to glimpse into the Holy Spirit’s workings. The sharing of our stories allows our hearts to be filled with an overwhelming desire to praise Him by saying, “Only God.”

Only God can bring hope to the hopeless, and fearlessness to those who fear. Sometimes, in the middle of our challenges, there might seem to be no end in sight of the mess. It could be one event after the other that piles upon us, making us so heavy-laden with trepidation that we lose sight of where to turn. Instead of declaring, “Only God,” we ask, “Why God?”

Even though it might seem like an impossible task to hold on to verses when we are in the middle of problems that seem to have no solution, be assured that Jesus promised to be with us even until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Let us be mindful — when we are facing financial burdens, family problems, or sickness — that our mess could just be the makings of something else: a future message for another brother or sister experiencing a similar hardship. They might need our story to give them hope and keep the holding steadfast to the Lord.

Let us model our steps after those three rebellious young men of the Old Testament. Their names were some of my favorites that I loved to repeat as a child: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Faced with conditions forcing them to come face to face with their faith, they bonded together and took a stand against King Nebuchadnezzar’s commands. Even though they were thrown into the fire, they did not feel the flames.

You might be standing in the middle of a blazing fire, but trust in the Lord to deliver you from your circumstance. You may see the flames or hear the crackling, but you will feel no heat because you serve a mighty Father that will bring you through this trial. And when you have broken free from your mess you will have a testimony to say, “Only God.”

The story did not end with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being rescued from flames unsinged. It could have, and it still would have, been the glorious testimony of the faith of a few and the power of God. But, reading further, we see that King Nebuchadnezzar’s hardened heart was softened. He even promoted them within the kingdom for their display of integrity and commitment.

Your time is coming. Hold on to that unwavering faith that can move mountains:

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20)

In the flames, repeat that nothing is impossible with God. When you walk away, praise His name and say, “Only God!”

A Prayer to Answer Compassionate Calls

A Prayer to Answer Compassionate Calls
By Meg Bucher

Father,

We praise You for the stories that You place in front of us. The ones that make us unconformable and call us to action. Thank You for all those who answer calls to physically go to those far corners of the world to feed the hungry. Keep them physically safe as they travel the globe on Your behalf. For those of us who feel the stir to help around the world and in our own communities, grant us the resolve to remain obedient to Your leading. Bless all those who go hungry in this world, and show us what our part is to aid in filling their stomachs with food and their hearts with Christ’s love.

Thank You for the blessings that we count in our lives, and show us how to extend our hands and hearts to those who need Your love.There are so many souls that starve and lack for clean water and a place to call home. We lift them up to You in a special way today, and pray that those who feel the compassionate call to help answer.

Whether through prayer, finances, or physical presence, show us where our place to extend Your love is. Soften our hearts to those who suffer, and embolden us to share the Gospel where hurt and suffering are prevalent. There are so many big things, little things, daily things, that we can do.  Help us to operate in Your love daily, so we don’t miss an opportunity for one.

In Jesus Name, Amen.