Category: Pastor Mark

By Pastor Mark Toole

There are many different stances on the traditional buffet.  Many think it is a gross endeavor for multiple reasons; the fact that the food may have been sitting there for a couple of hours, and of course the young child that uses their hands for getting the food onto their plate rather than the utensil provided, just to name a couple.  But many are like me.  We see the experience of walking into a buffet as no other experience in the world.  Paying a nominal fee at the door so that I can eat unlimited portions of a seemingly unending amount of choices?  This far surpasses the normal restaurant experience of being forced to choose one specific meal, with its limitations, from the menu.  Choosing the steak over the ribs, instead of the Parmesan chicken, and forgoing the Cajun shrimp pasta is one of the hardest decisions I have to make.  This is because I want it all.  My desire is to have my steak and eat it to.

That’s why it is awesome when we can walk into a restaurant and eat all of the above without paying for each individual meal!  But it is a truly terrible thing when we take this “have it all and have it your way” approach to what we take from God’s word, but that is exactly what has been happening to our church culture.  When I use the word “culture” I am speaking of the bigger culture that is the United States, and even the world as a whole, but I am also speaking of the specific culture that is our local churches, even here in West Virginia.  We have a tendency to look at things that are happening throughout the world and think that they will never happen to us, but it is becoming more and more apparent that we are not impervious to the growing influence of secular culture.

So what do I mean what I talk about the Bible as being the church buffet?  Much like the restaurant buffet, where I can walk through the line and put the steak and mashed potatoes on my plate, but walk right past the cauliflower and lima beans, we have begun to go through the Bible and take out and apply the things that we agree with, while we discard the things that contradict what the overwhelming culture says is true, and frankly, contradicts the way we would like to live our lives.  By doing so, we are creating a “Christianity” of convenience, rather than a Christianity centered on Christ through the truth given to us in His word.

One of the predominate truths that is being compromised in the church for the sake of convenience is the church’s stance on homosexuality.  As reported by Albert Mohler on The Briefing, there has been a new wave known as “The Third Way.”  With this movement, churches are declining to take a stance on whether or not homosexuality is sinful, but rather are looking to coexist in light of differing views on the issue.  This new position was spurred on by New Hope Community Church in La Mirada, California when one of the pastors of that church was faced with the decision of sticking to a truth he had held to for years or accepting his now openly homosexual son and his new lifestyle.  The pastor, driven by his love for his son chose to support the homosexual lifestyle, but did not want to force that opinion on the church so he devised “The Third Way.”  The Third Way is a stance that more and more churches are turning to, saying that they are a congregation that neither endorses nor condemns “homosexuality but viewing it as a matter about which sincere Christians can honestly disagree in the same way Christians differ in their understanding of the Bible’s teaching about divorce and remarriage in the 21^st-century context.”  Those are very dangerous words.  We are not to interpret the meaning of scripture in light of our cultural context.  When we talk about being culturally relevant, we are discussing relevant application to the unchanging truths of God’s word; not changing the truths of God’s word to fit our culture.

We may look at New Hope Community Church and see that they are based in California and expect that kind of thing from a church in California as it is a very “liberal” state, but many of us would be surprised that the same idea is permeating our churches, specifically through our younger generation.  Parents, as a youth pastor, I see and hear these kinds of conversations from your students all the time.  Culture’s growing acceptance of homosexuality has led to a growing number of “openly gay” relationships in our schools.  Our students have been put in a situation of either supporting their peers (maybe even their close friends), or being labeled intolerant.  Many of the students are conforming to society’s acceptance of this lifestyle because they may not know what the Bible says on the issue, or they may buy into the buffet of God’s word and be willing to throw away that truth thinking that it is archaic and should no longer apply to people.  They have fallen victim to the same emotional sentiment that the pastor at New Hope Community Church has; they love their friends and are choosing “support” over truth.

What we must understand is that the Bible is very clear on the issue of sexual immorality.  There is no room for “interpretation” when we look at what the Bible has to say about homosexuality and other sexual impurities.  When we look at passages such as Romans 1:18-32, which says,

“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness…. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.  So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.  That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.  Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”

Or 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 1 Timothy 1:8-10, it is very clear that God’s word does not leave any wiggle room on the issue of sexual immorality and that it includes homosexuality under the umbrella of sexual sin.  These passages can be summed up quite simply by Leviticus 18:22, “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman.  It is a detestable sin.”  The minute we choose to reject any one of God’s truths in His word, not limited to, but including this truth, we have rejected the very truth Jesus spoke in John 14:6; “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

Instead of responding in acceptance of a lifestyle that is so obviously opposed to God’s call to righteousness, we should love and support those who have chosen this lifestyle by sharing the truth of the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Don’t blindfold them so that they cannot see their sin, but help them to see the freedom from their sin that is offered through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.  He has the power to set us free from the bondage of our sinful nature through the outpouring of His grace and mercy.  Sharing the truth of the forgiveness of our sin and the freedom from our sin that only God can offer through His Son, Jesus, is the most loving and supportive thing we can do for those we know who have submitted to their sin nature in the form of homosexuality.  As for those who have traded in the inerrant word of God for their own edited version, we should continue to share the dangers of this with them as well, allowing them to know that the same truth Jesus speaks in Matthew 6:24 in regards to greed and the love of money applies to God vs. the love of the world, or acceptance of secular culture; “No  one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other…”

Although the focus of this discussion has been homosexuality, don’t miss the point; we are subject to the danger of treating God’s word and Christianity the same way we treat our buffet line.  If we are not careful, we will pick apart God’s word and take only what we are comfortable with, and this is truly dangerous.  Instead, let us have the heart of Paul as spoken in the famous passage, Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”