I am a twenty something professional who works at one of the bio tech companies in RTP. When I moved here a few years ago I decided I would make the Bible Church my home church. I do in fact consider your church to be my home church. I don’t attend other churches, and whenever I am at worship, I have a great morning and I feel like Jesus meets me every time. But I will be honest.  Between vacations, visiting family, my love of the outdoors, getting sick, and often simply needing to rest, I find that I attend once or twice a month. Your series in the gospel of John seems like a blur. I have probably picked up about five of the sermons, total. 

Lately you have been talking about making church a big deal in our life and therefore we should get plugged in. Part of me gets that, and wants to have more community with the church, and to find a place to serve. But, I don’t have family in the area and quite frankly I work so hard that I am exhausted on the weekends and need to rest. I cannot fathom having a weekly responsibility or the sense of responsibility to other people that would come if I joined a life group. But then I feel guilty that I should make church a bigger priority.

Here’s the thing. I’m a young man. While I don’t attend very often, I do download your sermons regularly, I hang out with solid friends, and I do intend to make church a bigger deal once I get married, and definitely once I become a father. So, what do you think about my situation. Don’t young professionals have a special situation where weekends can be a bit more fluid and one’s relationship to the church can be a bit more fluid?

Thinking out loud,

Kinda Sorta Attender

Dear Kinda Sorta Attender,

Let me begin by being very pragmatic and idealistic. Then I want to ask you some questions that will attend to your heart and will force you to go to the issues behind the behavior.

Upon arriving here I realized that a good portion of our church does not attend regularly. I noticed that quickly because I came from a church in a very traditional culture and that church was a staple in the community, so most of its congregation attended most Sundays. We had a very predictable and stable attendance chart. The Triangle is a different bird. For a host of reasons, there are many more distractions on weekends and also the demographic is different. Church is not as much a staple here. So, I figure that about fifty percent of our church attends fifty percent of the time. That is a big variance. Our Sundays can vary drastically. Less so now, but it still happens. If everyone came at the same time, I think people would be surprised at how large we are. But, they don’t. This is a phenomena many church, in many locations, experience all the time, even mega churches.

So, what is the ideal? Well, vacations are important. We get sick and need to rest and protect people at church. And, family should be a priority and often we need weekends to visit them. But, if you back all of that out, one should be out 8-10 Sundays a year, which leaves a good portion of Sundays where you are back in town. What about hiking, backpacking, and other fun weekend events where you hope to have both days free? Yep, I think you could include that in the 8-10 weekends. I was being pretty generous with that number. That is like two and a half months, you realize? So, the ideal is if you are in town, you should simply want to be at church, with your spiritual family, worshiping Jesus.

Now, not everyone is going to be churched or believe in church that much, so figure twenty percent of a healthy missional church are unchurched or spiritually immature attenders for whom church is not a priority. That leaves eighty percent of a congregation that should be accountable to a high view of church, and who make every effort to attend when in town. So, a healthier number, in my mind, would be around 80/80 – eighty percent attend eighty percent of the time. Not absolute, but wise I think.

OK. It sounds like you are a part of our crowd who are at church less than half the year. Think about that. Half the year. That is a very disconnected church reality. That is superficial at best. So, here are some questions.

1. It sounds like church is more of a burden. When you are tired, it sounds like church becomes a source of more fatigue. Why do you feel this way? Why is church not a source of pleasure and rest?

2. Have you looked at the Bible and what it has to say about the church, especially in the NT letters?

3. Are you noticing issues in your life that you know do not please God and are perhaps attached to your detachment from church?

4. Have you ever tried to holistically dive into a church and give of your time and energy, in a committed way where your attendance was necessitated?

5. Are you the product of either a home that viewed church attendance legalistically (which drove you away) or was overly slack (which didn’t drive you anywhere)?

6. Are you substituting other institutions, like sports, leisure, or other non Christian communities, for a local church, hoping to find the same stimuli but in a more controllable, less demanding, less soul requiring package?

I think my questions make the point. My big burden for you is that you are missing out on so much fulfillment and joy. Church should be a joy – a discipline, yes, but a joy. I talked about loving obedience this past Sunday. Same goes for church. If you love Jesus with all your heart, and you believe the church really is the body of Jesus (his representative, his family, the plan A of truth, community, and mission), then you should love the church. I fear you have allowed certain things to cloud that. Friend, this is not about an arbitrary desire for us to be a church with a bigger Sunday attendance. Quite frankly, part of me wants to avoid the potentially unavoidable reality of a building campaign if our attendance keeps growing at the present rate, but my real concern is that the Bible church be full of people who experience the life giving reality of gathering as a church to worship Jesus, by praising him in song, reading his word, hearing his word preached, and by being physically together in community. That is both a healthy church and one which is very useful in God’s hands.

The assembling of the church is a spiritual thing. Read Hebrews 10:24-25 on this. The writer says that the reality of the gospel itself is made known in our coming together, so we can stir each other up to love and good works. Friend, you need church because church provides things it alone can deliver. Seriously, the local church is a spiritual reality and Jesus is known in a special way in and through it. So, I’m going to ask you to put that in your theological pipe and smoke it! And, by all means, test this against the Bible.

I would love for you to love the local church. It is a powerful and special institution, and someday I hope to hear that you schedule your life, out of loving obedience, around the worship of God’s people, rather than the other way around. Friend, you will find so much more truth, family, and purpose in doing so.

Every blessing,

Pastor Jay

I read enough blogs, note what’s being published, and have picked up on some of the bigger themes in your teaching, and I see that there is a movement to make not just ‘the’ church but the local church a big deal again. I guess I am wrestling with this idea because I feel like what the local church has become is not what it used to be when I was a kid. I grew up in a strong Christian home and my family considered the church to be very important. But that meant going to Sunday worship, and occasionally a Wednesday prayer meeting or church picnic. Back then we did not have all the events and programs that so many churches have today – like you all have at the Bible Church. We did not even really have a youth group. Local church was worship. Now church is worship, plus youth group, plus a small group, plus other focus ministries, plus being involved in your outreach ministries. That’s like 20 hours a week, I think! 

But, the big rub for me is that I feel like this is more than just a time commitment. It seems like the church is replacing what God intends for families to be. We have youth pastors instead of parents. We have all these service events, when families should be living a full Christian life and serving in their places of influence. If we were to really dive into church, I feel like my role as a dad would be outsourced. So, my wife and I don’t really encourage our kids to be part of the youth group. For now we come to morning services and put our youngest kids in Sunday school, but that’s about it. That leaves us with a lot of room and time to be family. Our kids can be fully committed to their sports teams, we can use our nights and weekends as family, and we can make it our priority as parents to disciple our kids, rather than the youth pastor. Don’t get me wrong, we appreciate your teaching and the worship, but I’m OK with that being your contribution to our family’s life, and I don’t feel too compelled to get any more involved at church, since I use my work as a place of ministry, I read lots of good Christian books, and our family is growing spiritually as we are being an intentional Christian home.

So, can you explain why we ought to make the church a ‘load bearing wall’ as you often say, if we’ve already got good ‘load bearing walls’ as a family?

Regards,

Family First

Dear Family First,

Let me begin by saying that I wish I had more people like you to persuade into a deeper or thicker life with the local church. You are fundamentally right, may I say Biblical, in your vision of family. Yes, the family was God’s first and primary means of discipleship and community. I don’t think anything has changed that in the New Covenant era (after Jesus has come). But, even in the OT, and its stress on the biological family, the nation of Israel, in terms of extended families, towns, clans, tribes, and the entire nation, was also very important. Community was more than the family. Not less, but more. That theme continues in the NT and even more vividly. The family is still core in the NT, but the importance of the family of God becomes central. Look at places like Mark 10.29-30, 1 Corinthians 11 and the communion table teaching, and the joy Paul demonstrates in the book of Philippians over his partnership with the church. It is so great your family is Christ-centered and intentional. But, that should not compete with the beauty and exalted status of the local church. Local church involvement should not just be for those without family in the area, or those without believing family, or those who want to outsource their discipleship to the professionals. No, it seems that a deep family life can complement a deep local church life, comprised of more than one service on Sunday mornings.

My first suggestion is to simply look again at the NT letters and see how Paul and Peter and the others regard the local communities they were writing to. Look at the exalted status of those communities in the apostle’s theology. The fancy name is ecclesiology (study of the church). The apostolic ecclesiology was very exalted. They loved the church because of what they believed about the nature of the church. It did not replace the biological family but it was the greater context of the biological family. So, however you proceed, make sure you can confidently say it reflects the Bible’s teaching on church.

OK, as for what church has become versus what it used to be. Yes, churches are now becoming larger and more organizationally complex than ever. Some might say busy and littered. I do agree that most churches need to de-clutter the programs and events, or at least not baptize the passion and ministries of all our missional people into formal initiatives of the church. But, part of what has happened, I think, is that churches are becoming more robust in being local churches, and are thinking about truly wise and helpful ways of discipling people in an era where there are not a lot of mature believers and families like yours. So, the abundance of specialists can be a good thing. The church is getting better and better about reaching people, engaging culture, doing public work of great depth and gospel faithfulness. The more robust organizational life allows us to do this. Also, our world is very fractured, due to some of the cultural changes that have taken place since you were a child. I bet you spent more time than you think with people from your church, but life back then allowed for it in more organic ways. There was less busyness, less technology, less overall distraction. The church today has to find ways of pulling people back into slower, methodical, community and mission with its programs, events, and staff leadership. Our desire, though, is for the institutional part to be subtle and begin to hide once relationship and bonds are fixed.

OK. I have made some conceptual points, but the question of why your family might/should plug in more is still out there. Here is the deal: while you may not need the resources we provide because you are self-feeders and intentional in your own lives of mission (again, nothing but awesome!), need is not the only reason to plug in past Sunday mornings. Nor is guilt, might I add. This is not a drive-by guilting Joy-producing investment and ministry are also reason and actually should be the controlling reasons once you pass a certain place of spiritual maturity. Your kids may not need our youth pastor. But, what if our youth pastor was able to help them invest in other youth’s lives, grow in their leadership, give them opportunities within a worshiping community to evangelize and serve our city? At that point he is not supplanting you, but rather supplementing you and your wife. Our youth pastor is not intended to replace parents. He is there to encourage and supplement. Why not take advantage of that and plug your kids into church-based service, if in fact the church is God’s plan A of mission in the world? Same for you and your wife. Is there a place you can use your gifts in our church? I love it you use your time at work to reach out. But, what if you shared some of that time and energy at church? We could use your partnership and I think you would be blessed.

Let me finish by saying it is never our intent for people to do everything we offer. In fact, here is my ideal. We all worship together at a weekend service. We invest in a Life Group. And we have one place of service. Your kid’s version of a LG would be our children’s ministry or youth group. I find that model keeps our family together for most of the time, and the time apart is not really that much in the long run. Do we have to say no to certain opportunities to live this way? Yes, but it is so worth it.

Hope you’ll consider some of these things, especially the study of what the Bible says about the local church. If something is true, then it’s also good and beautiful

Blessings,

Pastor Jay

My husband and I are Christians. We love the Lord and we love his church. Yet, throughout our marriage there has been one pretty big challenge. He and I have very different experiences and values when it comes to church, and thus we tend to be drawn to different kinds of churches. We both want a church with strong evangelical beliefs, that takes preaching seriously, is warm and welcoming, and that wants to reach non-Christians. But he grew up in a solid Christian home in a very traditional Presbyterian church in the suburbs and I became a Christian as a college student at a small charismatic church in the city. In grad school we did find a church that satisfied both of us, but now we are just not finding a church that seems to fit us both. For the past six months my husband has been attending a church he really likes and I have been attending another that I really like. We feel ministered to and are thriving at our respective churches, but something about this does not feel right. We are thinking of starting a family soon, and my gut sense is that we do not want to have our children raised in this type of situation. How important is it that we attend the same church?  If it is important, how do we decide on which one to attend?

Sincerely,

One Spouse, Two Churches

Dear One Spouse, Two Churches,

This is an important question, and I am so glad you are asking for wisdom from a pastor. Most people kinda know there is something not quite right with this arrangement but keep their heads down and keep doing it, hoping for the best. Here is my honest advice, followed up by the reasons for it. I think you should do everything within your power to attend the same church. 

Now, I do not think this is an issue of sin, at least I don’t know your hearts well enough to say that. Sin always has some involvement in our wisdom decisions, but you will have to seek God and match your heart with Scripture to determine that. I do think this is an issue of wisdom. Put another way, what is the best decision to make?

I guess there are reasons to attend different churches, but having racked my brain for some, I came up with scant few. Here are some:

- Transition. You are leaving a church (for Biblical reasons) and one of you feels that you need to finish out a certain commitment, like teaching Sunday school, before you both  uproot and leave. One spouse goes ahead and starts to attend the new church, while the other ties off loose ends before joining the first spouse.

- Separation. Unfortunately, in devastating marital situations, separation might be a wise solution for a time of healing, counseling, and restoration. During this time it might be wise for one spouse to attend another church. But hopefully this is a short term solution, and once the marriage begins to heal both spouses should gladly worship together again.

- Extenuating missional reasons. I know of one couple who lived in a Muslim country that forbid its own people to openly worship as Christians. The wife was a foreign westerner, and so she worshiped openly at an ex-patriot church. The husband had to worship in an underground church. But, once they came to the U.S. for grad school, they gladly worshiped together for the first time in their whole married lives, prizing their ability to do so.

That is all I came up with. In other words, while there are other reasons, I think they are preferential and I think the greater good of worshiping together trumps them. I take this strong stand because of what I believe about the local church. The local church is not just a Sunday experience of getting good music and Bible teaching. The local church is an extension of our families. In fact, in places like Mark 10.29-30 Jesus says that our new family in Christ is as important, if not more important, than our biological family. So think about that. You are dividing your marriage relationship over a community that is comprised of people sewn together by the blood of Jesus, a blood that runs thicker than family. A bit ironic, don’t you think? I know it may seem like you are preserving unity by doing it this way, but I would argue you are causing subtle form of disunity that will come back and bite you because you are not living within the integrity that God has designed for you and your relationship to the local church. I cannot see how choosing to attend different churches is a faithful and accurate testimony of the covenant community of the local church. In fact, I feel like you are betraying the beauty of the church by doing so. Given my examples above, you are choosing to do something reserved for marriages in dire straights, not a marriage that is healthy and wants to fight for ever more unity, even if great sacrifice is the cost.

Sacrifice. I guess that is the operative word. If the church is all about Jesus, and Jesus is the Savior who sacrificed himself for us, then part of you getting on the same page with a church is sacrifice. If both of your churches really are evangelical, have good teaching, good community, and are committed to outreach, then the sacrifices you will make are pretty small in the big picture. That couple I mentioned, who lived in a Muslim country, I think would be amazed at how we Americans view church. We have so many good churches to choose from that we tend to be like people shopping for a car, rather than those hungry for Jesus and completely committed to his body, the church. His body! It is one. You two are one! I divided marriage for a unified church? No sense, if you do indeed have a healthy, growing marriage, as you say.

Consumerism. That is the other word. Please look at your hearts and see if you are being led by consumerism. Yes, both of you have different experiences of church. While those aren’t totally irrelevant, in no way has God given those to you to divide you, especially with regard to something as important as the local church. What if he gave you those experiences to unify you as a couple in finding and serving in a good local church?

By the way, you brought up children. Indeed. How you relate to the local church is teaching your children ecclesiology. You know this is not ideal. So, do what it takes and do the right thing, not only for your marriage, but also to set your kids up to be able to love and participate well in Jesus’ body, the local church. 

So, One Spouse, Two Churches, here is what I would do. I would sit down and pray for wisdom. I would then talk with both of your pastors. If one of you goes to my church, I would actually tell you to go to the other church rather than remain at the Bible Church with your divided communities. Remember, almost every church records its sermons now. If you love your current pastor’s preaching, just listen to it online during the week. Which of you should sacrifice for the other? I don’t know for your situation, but given my view of a husband’s leadership role, I think he should hand over his rights and go to your church – at least as a starting point. That is sacrificial leadership. His desire should be for you to be blessed and he should try to take the lead in protecting the integrity of your holistic participation in Christ’s body.

God will lead you. I believe he wants you at the same church, given what he says about the church in His Word. The church is a place that is a load bearing wall, it is meant to be very influential in our lives, and so the most important people in our lives should share that with us.

By the way, if you follow my logic all the way, I would make it a regular habit to literally worship together at the same service. Try and find places to serve on Sunday mornings that allow for you to be at the same service, as much as possible. AND, for those of you dating or engaged, now is the time to talk about this! But, I guess that is another topic.

Blessings,

Pastor Jay

There are three things I regularly pray for my children, on top of my foremost desire that they be converted, Spirit filled followers of Jesus Christ. First, I pray that they would love God’s word, and believe that it is absolutely central to love it, learn from it, and obey it – I want them to have a Bible-saturated faith. Second, I pray that they would have a God-centered theology. That is, I want them to prize the holiness, sovereignty, and supremacy of God in all things, not least their life. I want them to hunger for how they might glorify God forever, not how God might give them more comfort in this life. Finally, and the one I find most parents leave off, is my desire that they love the local church, and that consequently they make the local church a load bearing wall in their lives. One of my pastoral goals is to get my people to do likewise. I believe with all my heart that the local church is God’s plan A of community and mission for his people. Yes, lots and lots of great stuff is happening in ministries and situations not technically the local church, but from what is clear in the NT Scriptures I think the local church should be the pivot foot for every Christian in their endeavor to live for Christ.

Also, while these posts should speak to everyone, I will have a bent toward the family and how parents in particular should be wrestling with these issues, as it should be a priority for them as parents to raise their kids to follow Jesus in the very ways Jesus wants to be followed. If Jesus desires us to follow him with an earnest investment in a local church, not merely as individuals or even nuclear families, then parents need to model that and pass that on.

So, this series of posts will be modeled after the Dear Abby style of advice columns. Each day I will try and address a pertinent question, and yes, I am sure some toes will get stepped on. In fact, the people who most need to hear some of this probably are not reading my blog, so you may want to pass these onto people whose toes are ready for some pounding (wink). Or tweet the link! Honestly, I don’t write these on my soap box. I really do write these out of love, and I am most concerned that many, many Christians, even passionate ones, are missing out on God’s best for their life, and the joy of a healthy, holistic Christian experience, because the local church is not a big priority for them or they are relating to it in a way that is not going to produce the most fruit.

Each post is going to get you to consider some key foundational questions. I am not going to re-play these questions each time, so let me list some of them.

1. What is your theology of the local church? Forget lifestyle for now. What do you think, in theory, of the local church? Now, is that in line with the Scriptures? Don’t know? Start looking at the NT letters, especially how the author thinks of the people he is writing to – which is a local church, or group of them.

2. What is your functional theology of the local church? What does your personal attitude toward your church and your lifestyle reveal about what you actually think concerning the local church?

3. If you are no very high on the local church, why is that? Is the issue with your church, or you? If you feel like the issue is with your church, is that based on your preferences or on more objective Biblically important values? Are you ready to be part of the solution, if possible, and if not, are you willing to find a Biblically compelling church?

4. While your current arrangement with your church may not be an issue of sin, or right vs. wrong, is it nonetheless wise? Is it the best? Is it going to produce the most fruit, in the long run, for God’s glory in your life?

That is a tough question, with a lot of nuance and subjectivity. For some, the minute we lay down doctrinal and ethical commitments, love is compromised. I wish this was not a reaction, but it exists and for understandable reasons. Also unfortunate is that many doctrinally keen churches don’t put as much thought and passion into relationally pursuing broken people. So, let me clearly and explicitly say that we need both a commitment to Biblical concepts of obedience and sexual purity AND gracious embrace of all we encounter, whether they are obeying Jesus or not.

However, if I were to take a pastoral stab at this, let me outline some thoughts:

One, we need to be a church that preaches grace, all the time. Costly grace. Biblical grace. Jesus-centered, gospel grace, but grace nonetheless. Grace must be our culture. One of the most important truths of grace is that God accepts us apart from our goodness or badness. He accepts us because of the righteousness of Christ. Even when we don’t love him, pursue him, or obey him, he still loves us.

Two, we should tie in our belief in grace to our love for and acceptance of the sexually broken, consistently and when appropriate to the text.

Three, this should begin to bear fruit, revealed in people opening up and confessing in appropriate settings and smaller communities, like Life Groups, or accountability groups, or other intimate communities, that they struggle with sexual sin, including homosexuality.

Fourth, another fruit should be that homosexuals  are taken into loving community: Life Groups, other mid size groups or ministries, etc. In other words, our relationship with the sexually broken cannot be abstract. They must be a part of our community.

Fifth, homosexuality should be viewed as a subset of sexual brokeness in general, not a separate and utterly distinct form of sin and/or the effects of the curse of the fall. This is exegetically true and thus theologically important. By doing this, we make sure we view it as form of brokeness AND thus we also do not set it off as worse than other forms of brokeness. Like anything else, we ask that this propensity is fought against with the fight of faith, along with things like greed, anger, impatience, covetousness, etc.

Sixth, we are consistent in our calls for repentance and obedience to God’s Word. To be consistent and to be whole, we must ask the sexually broken to repent if they are currently living in sexual sin. If we believe sin is death, then we go after those playing with death. We save them from themselves and the snare of the devil. Again, we treat homosexual behavior as a form of sexual sin, and so we take it with utter seriousness. But, we need to take cohabitation, porn, pre-marital sex, and other sexual sins as seriously.

Sixth and a half, all of us – all of us – must own, openly confess, and constantly go to Jesus with the fact that we all are sinful, have addictions, have idols, and are not rid of sin, not for a long shot. Whether it is a nice white-collar sin, or the big, hairy, nasty ones, we are all sinners. Period. We all need grace. All is level at the foot of the cross.

Seventh, and finally, we do our best, with what we know from God’s word, with lots of prayer, lots of good thinking, and with our pursuit of Jesus above all. I don’t know, but I feel if we do this, God is going to be faithful and lead us. I feel like a loving atmosphere is going to form where people who struggle with homosexuality will be safe and know the grace of Jesus – through us, co-sinners and co-inheritors of grace. I may be naive or overly optimistic, but I sense that a passion to follow the clear teachings of Scripture, to be loyal to Jesus above all, and to humbly love the sinner will go a long way toward this kind of church.

First, we must be committed to another Biblical truth, namely, the church is called to love sinners. That is one of our primary missions. Our goal is to reach people, far from God and close to God, who need to have the devastating effects of sin dealt with, either in terms of conversion or in terms of discipleship. Remember, we were first loved by Jesus while we were sinners. We are called to love in his name in light of that. This is our mission as a church. This cannot be theory. It has to be what we actually are passionate about and live out.

Second, though homosexuality is an extremely controversial and sensitive issue right now in our cultural time and space, it really does not change how we approach this in terms of conviction and compassion. Let me say that another way: though the issue of homosexuality is controversial, polarizing, and a headliner, a lightning rod of an issue, it does not force us to be belligerent on the one hand or morally tolerant on the other. Regardless of the buzz, we must still honor Jesus by being loyal to his truth and we need to embody Jesus by pursuing the sinner. Caving in on conviction is not helpful or loving. Lacking compassion is disloyal to Jesus, too. The prominence and cultural attachments to this issue do not change the basic dynamics of how a faith community reaches out to people struggling, or not struggling, with sexual sin.

Third, when engaging someone who claims to be a Christian who is homosexual, a key point of discernment is how that person views their sexual disposition. I am not asking whether they see the disposition itself as good or bad. That is a very complex issue. One thing that is important to affirm for all of us is that we were born sinful. Literally. We are full-of-sin, sin-full. We are bent in sin. All of us – emotion, intellect, volition, our bodies –  are affected. Homosexual orientation is one subset of that reality. Here is what I am asking: Do they see it as part of the fall? Or do they find it a part of the good creation? Is it something they believe to be a temptation that can be overcome by the grace of the Holy Spirit? Or, do they believe it a valid and even life giving option within the human sexual options? Do they define it as sin-ful, or is it possibly righteous if expressed within certain ethical parameters? In other words, just like any other moral issue, do we sense they are repenting, fighting for faith, growing OR are they defending and camping out in sin?

Fourth, if a person does not claim to be a Christian, and who is a homosexual, and desires to fellowship with us and learn about the gospel during our services and other venues, then we welcome them, love them, walk with them, and preach, live, and commend Jesus to them. Right now they think, feel, and act with the natural self. They are blinded by the god of this world. They need a new heart. They need to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Forget their sexual disposition for the moment. They need a new life in Jesus. Lord willing, with great joy, they get saved! Then, we start the third point above.

Fifth, based in the point of discernment above, we respond to what they are believing and how they are living. If they are defending and camping out in what we believe to be sin, we must ask that they believe the will of God as revealed in the Bible and repent (whatever that means in their specific situation). If they repent, we embrace them, we walk with them, we disciple them into further Christian growth – just as we would with anyone else. If they will not repent, but defend and camp out in a sinful lifestyle, we must break fellowship with them, as texts like 1 Cor 5 teach us to. If they come broken and hungry for truth and redemption in the first place, then we of course embrace them, walk with them, and point them to Jesus. This is the case for all ethical/moral issues, not least homosexuality. Again, the current electricity does not fundamentally change anything about the mission of reaching the world, homosexual or not. The Biblical pattern of reaching without accommodating is our strategy.

Sixth, we trust God with the results. By taking this stand, the world will hate us. People who wanted a certain vision of Christianity that allows for certain idols and agendas to exist and even thrive will find this very disappointing and will even accuse us of being unfaithful to certain principles like love, grace, and healthy progress. But, by staying the Biblical line, we will also offer life to men and women who know something is fundamentally broken and twisted in their very being and, therefore, need the grace of Jesus to redeem and restore. Read this powerful letter from a lesbian written to an evangelical pastor here.

So, with men and women who struggle with homosexual orientation, we apply our Biblical minisry with love, patience, and conviction, just as we would with men and women who struggle with pride, despondency, gluttony, greed, bigotry, materialism, anger, heterosexual sin, and on, and on.

Let me be upfront. I support the historic and evangelical interpretation of the Bible regarding homosexual behavior. I have not found any argument, theological or exegetical, compelling enough to re-understand the Bible and the world God has made regarding homosexual behavior. No new lexical, grammatical, historical, theological, scientific, or other data has come to the fore that radically changes what I believe to be the clear Biblical teaching on sexual purity and sexual sin. But, I acknowledge many Christians, even evangelicals, are confused, are torn between the poles of compassion and conviction, and some brothers and sisters seem open to new arguments being levied that might make a case that sexual boundaries are wider than we once thought. How come? Why do Jesus-loving people disagree on something as significant as what defines sexual purity and sin? Let me suggest that all interpretation is a result of how one approaches the Bible in the first place. So, before I list some helpful web articles on this issue, let me list out some of the assumptions I bring with me to the table, that set the trajectory of my interpretations. I hold the historic interpretation, because I hold to a historic approach to Biblical interpretation.

1. I believe the Bible is verbally, plenarily, and inerrantly inspired. I believe the move from original manuscripts to our modern manuscripts was so stable that what we have now in terms of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek is a text I can, with integrity, call God’s Word – free of error in what the author was affirming as true.

2. I believe that while some of the Bible was mechanically inspired (God simply used the human author as a stylus to convey direct revelation apart from the experience, training, and gifting of the writer), most of the Bible was not mechanically inspired. I take that to mean that the assumptions, cultural perspective, values, theological vision, and biases of the human author that directly shaped the text were part of the process of revelation and are to be respected as true along with the final product of the text itself.

3. Whatever the Bible affirms in principle form is the only truth that text can ever have. The Bible’s meaning and relevance do not evolve. Application can evolve and vary from situation to situation, but the meaning cannot. One must decipher what is the principle and what is a possible application when studying Scripture, but once the principle is ascertained, that is the eternal truth of that passage.

4. Given the above, the Bible’s teaching on volitional homosexual behavior is as clear as incest and adultery. In fact, if one were to try and make a case for the widening of sexual purity laws, it would be a much easier case to make for polygamy and pedophelia. Both are unthinkable by the vast majority of westerners. But, that is the social response. In terms of exegesis, they are less clear as boundaries in Scripture. Homosexual behavior is much more directly addressed in the Bible, certainly as clear as incest and adultery. Yes, the issues, contingencies, and results might differ from incest and adultery, but the clarity of the boundary marker is the same. Different sins have different realities within them, but we must respect the clarity of the  boundary, nonetheless.

Now, some resources:

What the Bible really still says about homosexuality.

Why the arguments for gay marriage are persuasive.

An open letter to the church from a lesbian.

OT Law and the charge of inconsistency by Tim Keller

10 theses about Christianity and Homosexuality.

Homosexuality, Christianity, and the Gospel.

Various Gospel Coalition Articles.

“Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt. Send me where Thou wilt. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever.” ~ Betty Stam

a. Where does the tithe come from? (no NT commands)
i. Gen 14.17ff first occurrence.
ii. Context of worship: first fruits, holy – who is the Creator and who gets glory?
iii. Practical – sustains priesthood and temple ministry.
iv. Keeps idolatry suppressed.
b. Where does our tithe go? Local church vs. para church? – Pharisees question!
i. Be driven by a theology of the local church, but know God is at work in extension of the LC and be generous!
ii. If you are so wealthy that your tithe would float most or all of a budget, then definitely give a lot to cross kingdom

ministries.
c. Pre or post tax? Pharisees question – be generous!
d. Do I tithe off capital gains, gifts, inheritance? Pharisee!
e. What about a spouse who is not a believer and doesn’t agree about giving?
i. Pray that the gospel would transform them.
ii. Don’t make this about BC but about your love for God and what drives your desire to be generous – the generous gospel!
iii. Gently and graciously ask them to support you in giving something, in light of your deepest heart convictions. Ask them to love you by allowing you to give. And, they can definitely talk to our leadershi about many of the things we are doing that I think they can agree with in terms of cultural renewal and loving our city – so maybe giving directed toward special projects.
iv. Give your time and talent…and then honor your spouse if they are insistent. Trust God.
f. Do I need to be a member to give?
i. No (but you should be a member!).
g. Will giving make me more financially stable?
i. Not necessarily. God might bless you so you can bless more. But the point is spiritual wealth. ILL – the widow’s mite – she may have died poor but she was rich in soul.
h. What if I am unemployed and in dire straights financially?
i. You should receive the generosity of the church.
ii. Where can you be generous? Time and talent!
iii. Get the help you need to get things in order: Crown, budget principles, etc. set yourself back up, so you can be generous financially again.
iv. Give something, even the smallest amount, as an act of faith and worship. God doesn’t care about the amount, but even a mite does create worship in your heart.
v. Principle: be generous with what you have! It sets you up for future generosity.
1. Luke 12:48 – But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
2. Luke 16:10 – One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little    is also dishonest in much.
i. What if I am a student and make no money?
i. If your parents give you 20K to go to school, put it all toward school.
ii. Be generous! Time, talent.
iii. God always gives something to us to give, so give what you can.
j. What if I have never really done this? How do I start?
i. Start – even if $5 a month.
ii. Address lifestyle issues, so generosity can be put at the top of the chart.
k. What about my children? Schooling, sports, opportunities for them.
i. They are God’s! He cares for them infinitely more than you!
ii. They are part of your stewardship, too, for sure.
iii. But, you are training them to be generous and to sacrifice to be generous. Talk with them about it, about your family’s priorities.
iv. In a tough decision: look at Scripture, pray, seek godly counsel.
v. APP – if our financial generosity convictions ever come up against private Christian school, PCS loses. That is icing on the cake. Total luxury. My children watching us give that up is better for their souls. Also, we could be saving a lot more for college and providing other things for them…but again, we are called to trust God with what is left after generosity and taxes. That is his perfect remainder for us.
vi. Do we trust God with our most precious stewardships?
l. I want my children to love generosity. How do I teach them?
i. Start as early as they have a concept of ownership and giving important things away.
ii. Give them money to give away.
iii. Live it in front of them and invite them to participate in your giving.
Holistic generosity.
a. Cultivate a generous lifestyle.
i. APP – tip well, pay for meals, hospitality, let people borrow your stuff, try and say yes when asked to serve, have readiness for ad hoc needs. IE – embody the gospel! This is evangelism, you know!
b. The “man, I really have all my eggs in one basket” test OR “if the gospel is not true, I’ve wasted my life” test.
c. Joy in the gospel!
i. EXPL – bottom line: do you believe what you believe about what Jesus has done for you by dying on the cross for your sins? That is generosity. That drives your generosity.