Comments on Sunday 9/11 Sermon - Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Mebane
Loving God, one another, and the world through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Baptist, Mebane, Service Times 9:30/11:00/5:30
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Comments on Sunday 9/11 Sermon

Comments on Sunday 9/11 Sermon

By Gary Hendrix

– The underlying purpose of Sunday morning’s message was to set forth the Christian World and Life View. Admittedly it was a bit crude and clumsy; however, there were points of great importance.

The sermon was constructed around a story.  The story line concerned a man named “Eric” who was proudly engaged in a polygamous marriage. There was a professing Christian, named “Bill” who was blindsided by Eric’s lifestyle and scarcely knew what to say. Lastly, there was a man named “Chuck” who was a mature, well-instructed believer.  Chuck helped Bill to understand how to speak to Eric about his sin.

The point of emphasis was Eric’s insistence that religion is a personal, private and subjective matter which has nothing to say about social morality or personal life-style choices.

Polygamous marriage is not something that most of us have to think about or respond too, yet.  It is the next shoe to fall in wake of the Supreme Court decision legalizing homosexual marriage.  Polygamous marriage was really not the point. The point was that Christians must not be shaken by the “new darkness”.  We must rather be able to think accurately and to speak boldly and confidently.

Too often, I fear, Christians try to focus their arguments against moral evils in terms of the trouble moral evil inevitably brings to those who engage in it.  Sometimes we argue statistics regarding the inevitable failure of sinful lifestyles and how counterproductive they are to the temporal well-being of the participants.

As true as those points may be, that is not what makes sexual misconduct wrong and dangerous. We must not make subjective arguments against objective evil! Instead, we must declare the ultimate objective reality: Christ is Lord over all creation, over all human beings and over morality.  The treasures of all true wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him.  We must know that.  We must make it known.  As much as people may reject that reality, as much as they may hate us for speaking it, this is the truth. This is what makes their life-styles sinful. This is what places their lives in great danger; namely, their defiance of the revealed will of the Creator, Sustainer and Lord of the universe.

The Lordship of Christ is not a private, personal, subjective matter.  He is the living Lord Who has spoken clearly about sexual right and wrong.  All mankind will soon see Him and will give account to Him.  Even if sexual sin makes people “happy” and “works” in all the ways that they insist it does (which it doesn’t), it is still terrible evil because it violates God’s righteous order and will for human conduct.

We must know that.  We must not stoop to lesser arguments.  We must declare Christ and His Lordship, His wisdom and Word to people who are in real jeopardy regardless of how they feel.

One last thought: nothing was said about how to approach someone like Eric with the message of Christ. Every such approach should be marked with genuine love and compassion.  Every such approach must be soaked with fervent prayer for the gracious help and blessing of the Holy Spirit.  We are not the One Who judges and we must not give the appearance that we are. Rather we are ourselves pardoned criminals who have committed evils worthy of eternal damnation. We must never forget that!  Still, we are the redeemed bondservants of Christ and out of love for His Glory supremely, we must speak.  Let us speak with great humility and tenderness; but let us speak also with great confidence and without embarrassment.  And let us pray, a lot!