Are Evangelicals Missing the POINT???

Are Evangelicals Missing the POINT???

Though he were a Son, yet he [Jesus] learned obedience by the things which he suffered 

Hebrews 5:8

John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose... Luke 3:16

Are we worthy of anyone that we might untie their shoes and wash their feet? If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

It used to be that Abortion was the third rail in American politics, touch it and you die. Now it has been replaced by homosexual “rights.” Or is this a fourth rail, an added level of liberal re-enforcement against Christian values?

As one who was a “world class” heterosexual sinner, and one who still wars in his heart against ungoverned desires for women, it might seem hypocrisy for me to be opposed to and disgusted by  homosexual behavior. But as a Christian I have to let God be God, I have to agree with Him. God calls homosexual behavior an abomination. “Abomination” is a strong word. It means disgusting. I fear that many people simply don’t want to believe God can hate anything or any one. For them God is someone who is capable of only one thing: Love. Whatever your or my opinion or knowledge of God, it is, and forever will be God who knows who He Himself is. Letting God be who He is: that is the only real starting place in knowing Him. If my name is Frank Smith and you come to my house calling me Bill Jones, it is not likely you know me at all. So I should tell you my real name and who I am, yes? Many say they believe God to be Jesus the Messiah, they actually know the right Name, but they have not known who He is.

If your “god” is someone you can make to agree with you every time and at all times, it is not God. God says His word is settled forever in heaven. God says His word is truth. God says ALL have sinned. God says He is not a man that He should lie. He says of Himself:  I am the LORD, I change not. You are a sinner. You are a liar. You change your mind frequently. God says for two men to lie together is disgusting. But now in 2015 your eyes may have already glazed over, or you may have become unrighteously indignant against God who IS Love, yet who is also Holy and Just.

Or perhaps you are an “evangelical,” or someone the media and the pollsters and the politicians call an evangelical. And perhaps you are also a caterer or an inn keeper. And perhaps you do not want to allow homosexuals to stay a night at your inn. Or perhaps you do not want to serve the meal for a homosexual couple at their wedding reception. And if so you certainly do not want the government by law requiring these things of you. I understand those desires. I have served homosexuals in my restaurant and in my taxicab. I’m retired now. But If I could have refused to serve them I might have done so.

Most people do not enjoy the guarantees and protections Americans have under the U.S. constitution. We have enjoyed freedom in a way few people have in the course of human history. Many have become so accustomed to these freedoms that any infringement upon them wounds us, it wounds our proud dignity. We have come to consider ourselves worthy of freedom. The Lord and His word teach us that all have sinned and the wages of sin is death. And we all do die. So we should not see any blessing of freedom in this life as that which we deserve, but as that gift of mercy and grace we receive from the Lord our God.

Are we offended by homosexuals and our government who now favors them? Are we offended so much that we would refuse them services we render to other sinners? What if the USA were to become a Muslim nation. Great Britain is nearly one today. Will we refuse to allow Muslims to rent our rooms, will we refuse to cater the weddings of unbelievers, or the wedding of a Christian to a non-christian, or of a believer who is a known adulterer? As a cab driver I often picked up men and women and transported them to bars and strip clubs. Sometimes I made round trips for people buying drugs from the streets. You never knew where you might take someone. It was a crazy job at times. I asked a Christian brother if he thought I should refuse transport people on such trips. He noted that if I didn’t someone else would.

When Jesus came to die for us, Israel was under the Roman boot, she was occupied by Roman soldiers representing the Empire of Rome. Roman dignitaries and military personnel had the power impress people, even Jewish people into service, to have them perform labors without compensation, to make them slaves temporarily And yet Jesus preached to His people:

Mathew 5:38-48  “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.  Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Homosexual sin is certainly the result of human denial of God in the Messiah Jesus. It is a rejection of the proper and noble relationship of man and woman. It is a sin which usually marks people for all to see. So does drunkenness and drug abuse. What should we do if the heterosexual wedding party we cater becomes an orgy of alcohol and marijuana? Both are now legal in several states.

HONESTLY WHAT BOTHERS ME IS SIN IN GOD’S OWN CHURCH. AND OF ALL THAT SIN, my sin BOTHERS ME THE MOST.

Job was blessed above most men, and was righteous more than many. He had sons and daughters and great wealth, and yet when he lost it all he declared: “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Left with nothing but his wife and his health, God allowed that his health be taken away. His wife, in a state of despair advised Job to “curse God and die.” Job replied: “‘Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?’ In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Job would have done well  to  suffer in silence from that point forward…yes? no?

What would Jesus do? What did Jesus do? He took away the sins of the world. If any will trust Him, He will take away also their guilt and shame for their sins, and their punishment for them. God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Evangelical cannot refuse to love their enemies. Jesus love them while they were still sinners, sinners at enmity with Him.

D. Severy aka lambsev