What is the greatest issue of our age? That question would get a lot of different answers. Many on the right would say radical Islam; many on the left would say global warming. A Republican might say it’s the spiraling national debt; a Democrat might say it’s a paltry minimum wage. A “Twelve” may say it’s trying to make sense of throwing the ball from the one when everyone knows you should have given it to twenty-four. And a teen might say it’s being forced to put their phone away when the family sits down for dinner. The point of this being we all have our issues. But once again, what is the greatest issue of our age?
Here is mine and I am going to argue for it to be yours. The greatest issue of our age is human sexuality. What do I mean? A biblical worldview regarding male and female is critical. In the first chapter of the first book of the Bible we read: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). There is male and there is female. The physical equipment tells you what team you are on. But common sense isn’t all that common anymore. Now there are so many teams the acronym keeps getting longer and I don’t know any more what the letters mean. I could stay up on it when it was LGBT but now its LGBTQQIA and growing.
The biblical worldview Christian sees the image of God in male and female. The one who has his or her own worldview likes the additional gender-identity letters because that means one’s whims, pleasures, and lusts are justified. That’s really the issue. Man never has liked the fact that as Creator, God gets to act like one—determining and distinguishing righteousness from unrighteousness. Not content with that arrangement, man wants to do whatever pleases him.
So now the definition of marriage has been changed. Our state rushed to amend the marriage license. It used to require a husband’s signature and a wife’s. Now, when the wedding is over, the husband has to choose, signing as “Person A” or “Person B.” It won’t be long before there will be a line for “Person C” and maybe “Person D.” Why not? They tell us they love each other. Isn’t that all that matters? No—and it is why all of this is the greatest issue of our age.
God made us male and female, in His image, so that marriage might image forth the relationship Jesus has with the church (Ephesians 5:21-33). The church is the bride of Christ; and Jesus the groom one day shall gather her to the great Wedding Feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9). But until that day, in marriage, husbands declare the love Jesus has for his church by loving his wife; and wives declare the respect the church is to have toward Jesus by respecting her husband. The metaphor marriage provides regarding Jesus and the church requires one husband and one wife—no other combination will do.
But marriage is just one aspect of human sexuality. There is much more to it than that; especially if the discussion we are having is the greatest issue of our age. The greatest issue deserves more than just one blog. I will pick it up next time.
Pastor Rich Hamlin
March 12, 2015
Amen Rich! I am, arguably, an ex-gay reformed believer of some three decades. And the church’s shifting sands of attitude regarding “lifestyle choices” are nothing short of a shock to the system! Where is repentance, and redemption in this darkening age? There is nothing new here, nothing to see, keep moving closer to the Lamb!