What if Your Child is Gay?

My denomination is dealing these days with a pastor in California who reversed his position on homosexuality. The pastor said that his shift coincided with his 15 year-old son’s announcement that he is gay. This is a situation every Christian should think through, now. As I’ve said before, at stake on the issue of a Christian sexual ethic is the gospel of Jesus Christ. But what if, sitting across from you, is your child or grandchild?

You will, without a doubt, have someone close to you in your family come out as gay or lesbian, if not already, then sometime in the future. How should a Christian parent or grandparent respond?

One of the reasons this is such a crushing experience for many is because they assume that their alternatives are affirmation or alienation. I either give up my relationship with my child or I give up the Bible. The gospel never suggests this set of alternatives, and in fact demonstrates just the opposite.   Continue at Russell D. Moore

The Millennial Generation's Acceptable Sin

Every human institution and society has its own list of sins and virtues that contradict the law of God. With the rise of the Millennial generation in evangelical churches, a vice is creeping up into the realms of acceptance, indifference, or at least resignation: fornication (i.e. extramarital sex or unchaste living).

A few decades ago, this was one of the main issues that evangelicals hammered in their social witness. The skeptical news cycle and entertainment industry mocked this often; they saw pleas for chastity as a laughable result of pietistic sexual repression and no small bit of hypocrisy. Theological leaders and other influential voices chided their fellow believers for obsessing over a select set of sexual taboos.

Now, however, the exhortations have eased off. Commentary from Tim Keller at the latest Q Conference in New York is quite telling. "We're not doing well on the sex side," he confessed. Talking about his church, Keller said, "We're just like the rest of the city. If I preach like that [on sexual ethics], everybody gets real quiet."

Similarly, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy discovered 80 percent of unmarried evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 29 had engaged in sex. Using a more stringent definition of "evangelical," the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) recently reported that 44 percent of millennial evangelicals had sex outside marriage. Of course, just because Christians oppose sexual immorality does not mean they never struggle with it. Nevertheless, in this sort of moral environment, harping on moral sex lives is analogous to starting an abolitionist church in the antebellum South. Thanks to the public liturgy of Hollywood and our own human inclinations, fornication has been normalized and poses a massive obstacle to effective pastoral ministry.   Continue at Barton Gingerich

A God-Centered Sexual Ethic

Intro: Remember that Corinth was afflicted with the love of philosophy and rhetoric. They wanted that which sounded good and seemed wise. It didn’t matter whether or not it was right, they just liked fine sounding and wise sounding things. (Cf. Acts 17:21 They spent their time either hearing or telling new things. Beware the itch for new things when the old will suffice.) Their pride led to division. Now, remember that James told us that envy and strife are accompanied by every evil work (James 3:16). It is no wonder, then, that Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians for the approval of a church member committing incest (1Corinthians 5:1-13). A proud and envious person who is striving with others is never satisfied, and that person is very likely to seek out his satisfaction in any place and manner that he can find it, except in God.

It is in this context that Paul establishes a God-Centered sexual ethic.

1. The Relationship Between Worship And Sex :9-11

They were once sexually immoral, but God has forgiven them and cleansed them of these things. The gospel of Christ is a message of sacrifice of self as well as good news that God gives us that which is better. Having cleansed them of their sins, God has given them Himself.

That being said, immorality is idolatry. Note the downward spiral of sin in Romans 1:18-17. The worship of the Creator is traded for the worship of the creature and carnal passions. It is not that the carnal passions are wrong, but outside of the context of worship of God, they are filthy and immoral, and they lead to that which is unnatural in the pursuit of pleasure and satisfaction. One only need observe the glorification of sex and the objectification of people in our nation to recognize that immoral sex is an act of misdirected worship.

True worship leads to monogamous, heterosexual pleasure. Note that the mandate given to Adam and Eve was not only to take dominion, but first to be fruitful and multiply. This mandate is about imaging forth God. It is about worshiping our Creator and showing His greatness through the way that we live. Being fruitful means having sex and raising children. Note also that there is pleasure associated with it, because Moses said that the man and woman were to cleave to each other, and that they were naked and not ashamed (Genesis 2:24-25). Man and woman were to enjoy their union, and they were unashamed in their union.  Continue at Pastoral Musings

A Plea to Mark Driscoll

There are things I truly appreciate about Mark Driscoll. I love that he knows and preaches the Gospel (the "matter of first importance" - 1 Cor 15). I love his zeal for evangelism and evident compassion for the lost. I love his desire to teach doctrine so that his church is not shallow and untrained. I love his desire to return to the church an understanding of and respect for biblical manhood.

But like all of us, Mark Driscoll is a bit of a mixed bag. He is a very public figure who has stirred up no small amount of controversy. Some of that controversy has been the result of his faithfulness to the Gospel, biblically prescribed gender roles, and biblical sexual ethics. However, much of the controversy has been due to some rather unfortunate behavior and statements on his part. All of us have said and done things that we would like to take back. But for an internationally known "rock star" pastor, author, and church network leader the margin for error is precariously thin.

With the release of Mark and Grace Driscoll's new book, Real Marriage, there is fresh conversation about the pastor's tendency to preach, teach, and write about sex in frank, and, some would argue, inappropriate ways. Others are weighing in on this matter helpfully (Carl Trueman [here and here], Denny Burk, Tim Challies). I hope that Driscoll will listen to and learn from these brothers. I won't, at least for now, seek to add to their comments.  Keep Reading >>>

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