Dr. Russell Moore of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission challenged us from 2 Timothy 2 to be good soldiers who fight with conviction and kindness. There was a time when our larger culture did pre-evangelism for us (people tended to want the same things we want, had an understanding of God, faith, and a moral foundation); today our culture not only disagrees with us, but it doesn’t even understand what we’re talking about. We must hold to our convictions, but we must fight with kindness. One of his most helpful observations was that if we’re preaching the whole counsel of God, we’ll tend to get “clobbered” from both sides. If you call homosexuality sin, you’ll be called closed minded, bigoted and “on the wrong side of history” by the larger culture. If you call Christians to show the same love, grace and patience that they’ve experienced from the Father, you’ll be accused of going too far, associating with “sinners” and watering down the Gospel by some of our very own brothers and sisters. Let’s strive to teach and live the whole counsel of God!
Finally, a similar theme was the issue of true, genuine community. When we call people to repent from their LGBTQ life, we’re calling them to abandon their community. Too often we’re inviting them into a community that is less genuine and caring than the one we’re calling them from. We’re calling them from their “family” but we, far too often, don’t have a very good family to welcome them to. Loneliness is rampant in our society, particularly amongst those considering leaving the LGBTQ life. If we are to fulfill our call to take the Gospel to all people and nations, then we must foster a deep, rich and genuine sense of community within our families of faith. God forgive us when the rest of the culture offers a deeper sense of community than what your people do!
My understanding is that the video from Equip Austin will be made available soon. We will pass along that information when it becomes available. Let’s keep strive not only to believe in grace and truth, but to practice grace and truth and live it out!
Christ’s Peace
Lance