Toward a Marriage Culture

There is a trend in this culture to either de-emphasize sin or to accept and tolerate behavior that the Bible calls sinful.  The Bible is clear in 1st John 3 that:
4Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.5And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.6Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.7Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

The Scriptures present to us a picture of God's desire to redeem humanity that had departed from His ways.  Throughout its pages, we see a God who was and is reaching out toward people who did not follow in His ways.   Through Jesus, He offered a way to overcome sin.  But, we cannot experience the powerful redemption of our Savior unless we recognize our need for Him:  to acknowledge that we are sinners, to align our view of sin with God's view, and to accept the sacrifice Jesus made for our sins.   We cannot presume to call a behavior right when the Bible does not.

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Marriage is an expression of the relationship between Christ and His bride, the church.  Ephesians 5 lays this out very well:

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,26that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,27that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Day 1 of the conference called, “The Gospel, Homosexuality, and the Future of Marriage,” presented by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and held in Nashville, is now in the books.  ERLC President Dr. Russell Moore is quoted by The Tennessean in an article written prior to the conference as saying, “We do have to do a better job of articulating a biblical version of marriage and sexuality.”

Moore said that “every single church, every single family” needs to equip the next generation on how to think through these questions and articulate a Christian perspective with civility and kindness.

“Often these conversations degenerate into shouting matches that don’t respect the humanity of the individuals,” he said.

Well, if you'd like an online equivalent of a "shouting match," you could have searched the #ERLC2014 hashtag yesterday.  I referred to it on The Meeting House yesterday and began to read the long line of tweets that caused the hashtag to become a trending topic.  And, while proponents of traditional marriage consistent with God's plan were gathered in a ballroom at the massive Gaylord Opryland complex, the culture was fighting back in 140 characters with mean-spirited and misguided vitriol from people sympathetic to or participants in the gay lifestyle, who were apparently watching online.

The @ERLC Twitter feed featured some pertinent quotes from the conference, including Carmen Laberge, who said, "I am far less afraid of being on the wrong side of history, than I am of being on the wrong side of a holy God."  

Sherif Gergis, who has been a guest on my radio show, said, "Every aspect of the common good depends on a strong marriage culture. This is Matthew 25 stuff."

And, how about this strong statement from seminary president Danny Akin: "I've always found it fascinating that Paul grounds his theology of marriage in the atonement."

Jennifer Marshall of the Heritage Foundation said, "A marriage culture is hard work, too. And all of us need to be working on that, whether we are married or not."

Others who helped to articulate the message of a marriage culture included Dennis Rainey, Jim Daly, and John Stonestreet.

And, so on Twitter yesterday afternoon, and I would project that today will be more of the same, we see a microcosm of some of the cultural debate that is taking place.  Unfortunately, there are those who proclaim Biblical truth, no matter how conciliatory and compassionate the tone, who will be ridiculed for taking a position consistent with God's Word.   There is an element who would want to force Christians to retreat into our church enclaves and hold to our antiquated views, to disappear while our Scriptural positions are branded as irrelevant.  Some debate...we are expected to validate their views while our views are summarily dismissed as old-fashioned and intolerant. 

I do believe that our tone toward homosexuals could improve, but we have to be careful that we are not granting special rights toward the sin of homosexuality.  It's a sin - one among many - and should be treated as such.  Jesus was accused of fraternizing with the sinners of His day, and He did so not to legitimize their sin, but so that He could proclaim His truth toward them.   

We are all sinners.   Each of us has our own sin areas with which we struggle.  But, to take one large culturally-debated sin off the table is an affront to the gospel.   Christ died to bring complete redemption, and He will redeem all sin.   We have to recognize the Biblical prescription for sexuality - it's designed to be within the context of marriage.

And, I believe that's where this impressive speaker lineup is headed at the ERLC conference - to encourage pastors, church leaders, and Christians to create a marriage culture.  Those of us who are married recognize that God has provided us an awesome mate whom we are called to love and cherish - a gift from the Father.  And, if we love our spouses in the way God intended, it sends a message to our children, to our friends, our churches, and hopefully to the culture that marriage is incredible.   That contributes to creating a marriage culture.  That kind of love is compelling, and I think will even fill a void that many are seeking to fill by engaging in improper, non-Biblical relationships.