Loving the good = hating the bad: the struggle in life

I have been deeply blessed by the last few months spent listening to John Piper's sermon series on the book of Romans. At 225 sermons over the span of 9 years, I can only imagine how daunting the task must have seemed when he began the series in 1998, but now with about 45 sermons left to listen to I approach each drive to work with a desire that God will open my heart to the truth he speaks, while also giving me discernment to separate Biblical truth from human opinion (a prayer I have no doubt Pastor John would concur with) as well as protecting me from laziness about reading my own Bible--no podcast will ever supplement the written Word in feeding oneself spiritually.

The entire book of Romans is so enormous that I expect blogging on it would take at least as long as his series did if not longer, even though I am not constrained by one post per week. (although given that I haven't posted in several months, one might disagree) But the subject of the last couple days' worth of podcasts deserves, I felt, special attention and prayerful discussion especially in light of today.

It's Columbus Day, probably one of the more controversial American holidays as the last couple decades has seen education about Columbus shift from his accomplishments of discovering the New World and opening up an entire new era of exploration, to condemning him as a racist, sexist, bigot, mass murderer, etc. But that's not the day I have in mind to discuss here. In more recent years, today has become "National Coming Out Day," a day to encourage those with homosexual desires to "come out of the closet" and to celebrate homosexuality as a lifestyle.

The Bible's stance on homosexuality is clear, yet not so one-dimensional as people think. Paul spells it out in Romans 1:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.--Romans 1:18-32

In other words: homosexuality is the result of man staring at himself in the mirror and worshipping that image. He falls in love with himself, both in a symbolic and in a literal sense. It becomes idolatry of the self, and in our culture is reinforced with healthy doses of pride. Unfortunately a lot of evangelicals have responded to the rising number of people claiming homosexual tendencies by trying to whitewash it, as though they can make the world "family friendly" and not in a way that is loving to those who struggle. So here is the double-edged sword: the Bible condemns homosexuality as a consequence of sin and calls believers to be around sinners and love them deeply.

One of the amazing things about Paul's writings is the consistency of the patterns he sticks to. When he talks about marriage, he speaks to wives first, then husbands, for no husband can lead a wife who refuses to be lead (and this pattern is true throughout the Bible). And in the case of Romans 12, as in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, Paul speaks first about spiritual giftings, then about the cruciality of love and what, exactly, is love:

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.--Romans 12:3-21

There's a lot in there but I tried to highlight just a few of the spots that are crucial to my point today. So much of American evangelicalism has become a political movement associated with a moralistic, "Won't somebody please think of the children?!" way of living, where everything that vaguely sniffs of the world is attacked viciously in the name of Jesus. This is not how we're called to live as believers. But it seems like in this day and age of hypersensitivity and where everyone feels like the way to accomplish anything is to designate yourself part of a victimized group, Christians have taken what is supposed to be an internal struggle against their own sin, supported by the love and compassion of the believers around them, and transformed it into a Pharisaical war on sin in culture and society.

When the law is covered by God's mercy and displayed to the world in the form of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, it becomes an open door to God's throne room, where sin is cleansed, healing happens and real relationships are founded on the rock of Christ. When the law becomes a means to force behavior by one's own will, it becomes death because that's a standard we can't live up to. We either lose all hope and eventually just assume an attitude of "whatever, no one can tell me what to do, it's all a waste" or we become self-righteously religious in an attempt to quell our constant knowledge that we can't live up to our own list of rules, let alone God's.

And so here we are, on a day that celebrates the former in opposition to the latter. Yet I am here to say that neither way is right, and both lead to death. The former because it is nothing more than overt sin combined with the murder of the human conscience, the latter because it is all law with no mercy and certainly no love.

So we're stuck here with something of a paradox: God hates sin and calls us to hate it as well, yet He also calls us to love all people, including--or maybe I should say especially--the people who hate us and hurt us. So that certainly doesn't leave room for any sort of self-righteousness or any attitude other than love and compassion towards others. But: is it loving to look at a man who's burning, and not tell him he's on fire just because he believes being on fire is the only possible state he can exist in, and is offended at any contrary suggestion?

There's no love in that, contrary to what culture says. Yet I do not wish to downplay the sort of struggle I am speaking of here, and I don't believe I do. While homosexuality is not something on my list of particular struggles, sexual sin certainly is, and its inevitability just as strong to a sinful heart. I know that will anger a lot of people, to hear my personal struggle with lust and pornography compared to what our culture has declared a legitimate lifestyle to be respected, but I simply make that comparison because the Bible does, and because many men I've encountered with that struggle face it in the same way I face mine. This is not a finger-wagging "You'd better believe!" line, but a humble, pleading call from a man who has found the one true home for humanity at the foot of the cross: "Come join me. There is joy here, real joy, and real freedom."

To my friends out there who struggle with this in shame: it's okay to not be okay. Christ offers wholeness and love, real forgiveness from your true Father. Not from me, not from any other human, but from your loving Creator God. To my friends who are "out" and refuse to feel shame, I pray that your hearts will be broken--not to punish you, but that they would be broken for Jesus and that you would be able to taste His amazing, and true, love. I pray that there would be truth in what I'm saying, and I pray that many new brothers and sisters would join with me.