A Christian's Response
David E. Strope, April 5, 2009, Ankeny Baptist Church
A Biblical Response to the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling sanctioning Gay Marriages in Iowa
GOD IS YET KING!
But the LORD shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble (Psalm 9:7-9).
In light of the Iowa Supreme Court regarding the sanctioning of gay marriages, every believer in Jesus Christ should respond appropriately.
Each believer must, each member of Ankeny Baptist Church must
1. ... be faithful citizens of our country, exercising our full right of influence, vote, service and prayer.
2. ... remember that God is still God, fully sovereign as the Righteous Judge over all, who will if not in our world or courts, overturn any and all injustices and errant rulings.
3. ... be faithful in our families! What damage the sanctioning of gay marriage will do to our society and families is but a continuation of the damage we have done through divorce, in our families that are not ordered by the truth of God. To decry the Supreme Court decision while being unfaithful in our families is nothing more than hypocrisy of the highest sort. In response to the Supreme Court ruling each husband must give great effort and prayer to giving loving leadership to his family, each wife to display willing submission and reverence, each child giving glad obedience to their parent(s).
4. ... in our response to people we must remember to respond to such official sanction of immoral lifestyles in such a way that gives opportunity for witness. It is possible to respond to the profane, the godless, the immoral in a way that communicates the love of Christ and the gospel of Christ. Jesus Christ maintained regular social intercourse with pagans, with sinners, never compromising His holiness but touching their lives by his redeeming grace.
5. ... remember that lights shine most brightly not in the midday sun, but in the black of midnight. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain (Philippians 2:14-16).
These will be appropriate responses in a world increasingly marked by sin, by movement from God and His Word. May God give many opportunities to speak the truth not only about marriage, gay rights and public morality, but also of the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ that saves from every sin!
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NKJV).
