One of my heroes in the faith is Pastor John Piper.
The impact this man and his ministry have had on my life is indescribable, and I thank God for the blessing of his teaching, which I’ve enjoyed through countless sermons listened to at home, and numerous books that have helped me grow as a Christian.
Piper penned a response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage that is something we all, especially Christians, need to hear in the aftermath of such an event.
I’ll let him speak for himself.
From Desiring God:
In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States of America has ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage.I want to point out right off the bat that there is hope for those who are practicing homosexuality to be forgiven of their sins through faith in the life, death, and burial of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is not silent about such decisions. Alongside its clearest explanation of the sin of homosexual intercourse (Romans 1:24–27) stands the indictment of the approval and institutionalization of it. Though people know intuitively that homosexual acts (along with gossip, slander, insolence, haughtiness, boasting, faithlessness, heartlessness, ruthlessness) are sin, “they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:29–32). “I tell you even with tears, that many glory in their shame” (Philippians 3:18–19).
This is what the highest court in our land did today — knowing these deeds are wrong, “yet approving those who practice them.”
My sense is that we do not realize what a calamity is happening around us. The new thing — new for America, and new for history — is not homosexuality. That brokenness has been here since we were all broken in the fall of man. (And there is a great distinction between the orientation and the act — just like there is a great difference between my orientation to pride and the act of boasting.)
What’s new is not even the celebration and approval of homosexual sin. Homosexual behavior has been exploited, and reveled in, and celebrated in art, for millennia. What’s new is normalization and institutionalization. This is the new calamity.
My main reason for writing is not to mount a political counter-assault. I don’t think that is the calling of the church as such. My reason for writing is to help the church feel the sorrow of these days. And the magnitude of the assault on God and his image in man.
Christians, more clearly than others, can see the tidal wave of pain that is on the way. Sin carries in it its own misery: “Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:27).
And on top of sin’s self-destructive power comes, eventually, the final wrath of God: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6).
Christians know what is coming, not only because we see it in the Bible, but because we have tasted the sorrowful fruit of our own sins. We do not escape the truth that we reap what we sow. Our marriages, our children, our churches, our institutions — they are all troubled because of our sins.
The difference is: We weep over our sins. We don’t celebrate them. We don’t institutionalize them. We turn to Jesus for forgiveness and help. We cry to Jesus, “who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
And in our best moments, we weep for the world, and for our own nation. In the days of Ezekiel, God put a mark of hope “on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 9:4).
This is what I am writing for. Not political action, but love for the name of God and compassion for the city of destruction.
A homosexual is not a worse sinner than I am. I’m the worst of the worst, the chiefest of sinners, and if there is hope, love, grace, and forgiveness for me, it’s there for everyone.
And for those who are involved in such activities, for you, truly, my soul weeps, because whether you recognize it or not, you are separated from the love of God, lost, and in desperate need of a Savior.
I weep for you because the world around you is telling you this kind of behavior is normal and right, knowing that it isn’t, watching you walk into destruction without a care because your cause furthers a political agenda that will make them — the political ruling class — powerful and wealthy.
My prayers are that God would open your eyes to the truth, and you’d be rescued by the loving arms of Jesus Christ.
Christians, while it may not be the job of the church as an institution to be involved in politics and change things, we as individuals are definitely called to be involved, and it’s on us as individuals to loving share the gospel with homosexuals, the same way we would with adulterers or fornicators, and work to preserve our liberty from further encroachments by the federal government.
Let’s love those around us, but let us never be neglectful shepherds who allow lost sheep to be devoured by power hungry wolves.
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