he who has eyes...

“If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone.” [John 8:7]

People are often known for one thing or a small number of things they’ve done, not on their entire career of work. I mean, think of Paul Reubens. You either know him as Pee-Wee Herman or for some… uh… bad decisions made in an… uh… movie theater. The poor dude’s career was destroyed because of these bad decisions. Sure, that was a pretty bad move for a children’s television host to make, but come on… Pee-wee’s Big Adventure is still one of my favorite movies of all time (”I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel…”). Respect the man for his art! (I’m not being sarcastic here… I love this movie.)

Now, as I’ve said before (and grieved over), I think it’s safe to say that in American culture, the Church is not known by it’s love as it should be [John 13:34-35]. Many things come to mind, but love is not one of them (and the picture above makes me want to throw up). I’m reading the book They Like Jesus But Not The Church by Dan Kimball. He talks about all the different ways in which people he’s interviewed gripe about what the Church is like and why they don’t like it. And, it’s never because of Jesus — it’s because of the many ways in which the Church has strayed from its original intent to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. The Church has developed its own agenda — based on the teachings of Christ, sure… but perverted in such a way that it’s distancing people from God rather than bringing them to Him.

I just got done reading the chapter on people’s perceptions that the Church is homophobic. This got me thinking on the topic of “sinners” again, and how the Church labels people as such. Now, let me set things straight a bit… I may have been a bit overstated in the two-parter from before called On Sinners, but the heart of the matter was that we as the Church ignore that people are God’s creation enslaved by sin, not people defined by it. The Church is perhaps the number one agent in the world that causes the marginalization of many different groups of people — ironically enough the same marginalized people that Jesus always found himself with. It is very sad to me to think that if Jesus were on earth today as he was in the first go-around that the people he’d be going to are those cast out by the religious establishment of the Church, just as he did 2000 years ago. In short, the Church is filled with Pharisees — and Jesus opposes what they teach.

On the specific topic of homosexuality, Dan (”Can I call you Dan?”) highlights the same thing I was talking about before — that, yes people can be homosexual by orientation, but that does not disqualify them from anything. How dare the Church cast them out in ignorance or self-righteousness (my words here, sorry … I just get worked up). It is sin that separates us from God. In Dan’s belief (and mine as well), engaging in homosexual relations is defined by the Bible as sin, but being homosexual by nature (yes, I said by nature) does not mean that you are living in this lifestyle of sin.

As with any other sin, there is a choice we have to make as to whether or not to engage in it. Are heterosexual people who struggle with pornography any better than homosexual people who struggle with attraction to people of the same sex? Are people who struggle with gossiping about others behind their back any better?

Where has this great hierarchy of sin come from?

Dan relates a story about talking to a leader in a church about homosexuality.

When I said something about homosexual Christians, he stopped me and said, “Dan, correct me if I’m wrong, but did you just say homosexual Christians? There can’t be Christians who are homosexuals.” What this dear but wrong man was thinking was that when people come to see that homosexuality is a sin, they will decide not to be homosexual anymore. He quoted 1 Corinthians 6:9-11… Part of his understanding is right. God doesn’t see us as anything but forgiven sinners, pure as snow. This gentleman, though, meant more, that people can stop being homosexual at once. But homosexuality is not like that at all. It isn’t something people choose and can turn on and off. Granted, there are wonderful stories of people who over time and with counseling have found their sexual attraction changed to opposite-sex attraction. But it doesn’t come easy for most. The older man wasn’t aware of the many Christians who conclude that they are homosexual but choose to be celibate. He wasn’t aware that someone can be a Christian and still have a homosexual orientation.

This awareness that Dan mentions is what this book is all about. He highlights the issues that people have with the Church just so you’re aware of the fact that they’re issues. You honestly can’t hide behind ignorance anymore.

No, issues like homosexuality, oppression of women, Church-based political agendas… these are issues that must be addressed and understood by church leaders in today’s culture. These are the things that define how we are known by the world. Let us not let the world know us by this one thing as Paul Reubens was known for his… uh… one thing. The Church shall be known by our love!

However fairly or unfairly these issues are assigned to the Church, you have to admit, we aren’t doing much to combat this impression in general. In fact, more often than not, we reinforce this stereotype. We’ve somehow become a group of people living within the lie of the hierarchy of sin such that we are in some way better than all these other “sinners.” And, in that way, homosexuals become less than we are… less than human even. How dare the Church de-humanizes someone created in the image of God.

For Christ’s sake, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [Romans 5:8, emphasis added].

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As a quick aside, I wanted to share an excerpt from a sermon by Jay Pathak of the Arvada Vineyard (The man is a genius. He’s taken over as my number one favorite teacher — sorry Rob…). The sermon is called “A Resolution Worth Keeping: Taking Jesus Seriously” and was given on January 25th of this year. I think it beautifully highlights how something like homosexuality is not what salvation is all about. Take it away Jay:

It’s getting later at night, and I look over on the other side of the booth and there’s one of the women in our church as they’re talking to someone. And she’s looking at me like, “Please, God rescue me.” I mean that’s all that’s in her eyes.

So, she waves me over. So I walk over. And this woman in our church says, “This woman has a question and I’m not really sure how to answer it.”

So, I say, “Yeah, okay. Hi!” And she turns and it’s like laser beams. Now, I’m like, “Okay… here we go.” I don’t know if you’ve had moments like that, but I knew something was about to happen.

So she steps right up to me. “I have a question for you. You’re the pastor?”

“Yeah. Oh man, I don’t want to be right now, but yes I am.”

“I’ve got one question for you. Am I going to hell because I’m a lesbian?”

It’s worth pausing for three seconds to consider what you would say. You’re considering right?

So, I don’t know what you thought, but I stalled. And I said, “Well… he-hey! Whew. That’s intense. I’m Jay!”

And she said, “No. No. I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want to talk about anything else unless you answer this question. Answer the question.”

“Okay. Um. Do you go to hell because you’re a lesbian? The answer is no.”

She goes, “Really!?”

“Yep. So, I’m Jay. Can we at least introduce ourselves? This is pretty heavy-lifting for not even knowing each other.”

She goes, “Oh. So you’re one of those liberal churches like with the rainbow flag out front?”

I said, “No. No. Actually we’re pretty conservative. I’d say we’re really conservative and really intense. Like, freak-you-out.”

She goes, “Oh. Well then how can you say that then?”

“Well, I think it’s pretty simple. The dividing line is not heterosexuality or homosexuality. The dividing line is not if you’re tall or you’re short or you’re fat or you’re skinny or you’re black or you’re white or you’re good or you’re bad. That’s not the dividing line. It’s about Jesus. A person who is alive named Jesus who offers you life like you’ve never dreamt of.”

She was like, “What are you talking about?” She was just surprised.

I said, “Do you know Jesus? Have you read any of his teachings? Have you considered what it would look like to know him? To follow him? Be like him?”

She said, “No. No, of course not. Of course I’ve not considered that.”

I said, “Well, why not?”

She said, “Because it’s obvious that Jesus doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

I said, “Oh… that is NOT true… See, that’s not true. You might find this surprising but the people Jesus surrounded himself with were people on the margins. Those are the people that were drawn to Jesus. And I understand that there’s lots of people out there that try to speak for Jesus and do the exact opposite of what he is saying. I get that. But, don’t let them screw you up. Don’t let idiots keep you from Jesus. Because he’s worth it. He’s worth everything.”

She said, “Well, I’ve just never even considered this. So you’re saying that I’m going to need to not be a lesbian.” That’s the first thing she said back.

I said, “Well, I have some really bad news for you. Whether you’re a lesbian or not is probably going to be a fairly minor issue in the scope of what you do in following Jesus. It can get much, much worse. You might be in the jungle in Brazil before you even know what happened if you decide to follow him. The life that he offers is infinitely more reckless than you would ever want to consider. I mean, trust me. The things that are really important to you become less important because he is worth everything. You’re missing the target. You don’t hold on to ANYTHING you cling to to pursue the life that he offers. Even what is to your gain becomes a loss to know him.”

She said, “I never thought about this.”

I said, “I would be honored if you and I could get together and study the teachings of Jesus together.”

She said, “Sure, that’s be great.”

So we started getting together.