Last year I witnessed a large mob of people who were desperately seeking to be seen and heard. It was a group who felt they were being treated unjustly, because in most states they couldn't receive legal standing as a "married couple." Signs shouting the need for "Equal Treatment!" and for "LOVE" to rule littered the crowd. But one sign stood out to me above the others. Someone had taken the liberty to drag Jesus into the mix and put their opinion on the sign as though it was His view on the topic.
The sign read: "Jesus Is for Same-Sex Marriage."
Really?
Had Jesus conveyed that to this individual? How?
We don't know everything that Jesus said and did, but thankfully, Jesus did give us a definitive word on marriage that applies to this issue.
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matt. 19:3–6).
Jesus defined the marriage model by taking the group back to Genesis where we see God create, define, and establish the institution of marriage:
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:27).
God created two genders. Two. He repeats this distinction of two created genders in Genesis 5:2, reiterating the classification of "male and female." He created the prototypical couple, the first marriage, as our example—male and female—united by God.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:24).
God does not mistakenly create a male body to house a "female spirit" or create "two-spirited" people" (as the North American Indian tradition promotes) that house both female and male spirits. God created male and female. Within those genders, individuals may have a variety of tendencies that are not stereotypical of their particular gender, but the individual is created by God as male or female.
The truth is, we were created with gender and created for the purpose of displaying God’s image to others
It is obvious that many people today (in increasing numbers) struggle with their gender identity. We should reach out to them and seek to help them, just as we should assist anyone who is struggling with any issue. We live in a fallen world where all individuals begin with a warped view of their personal identity, and to some extent we all struggle with "identity confusion."
But the truth is, we were created with gender and created for the purpose of displaying God's image to others.
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26).
Nothing else in creation is given this designation of being created in God's image. You as a woman, me . . . we are created in God's likeness, in His image . . . we're created to IMAGE GOD—to bear God's reflection. We're created to bear His likeness through our gender.
To understand the significance of the same-sex marriage debate, we must understand God's purpose for marriage.
The display of two genders united in marriage provides a significant metaphor. God's design of marriage is the physical model He created to display His great mystery: the relationship between Jesus (the divine Bridegroom) and the Church (His Bride) as seen in Ephesians 5:22–33.
Same-sex marriages obliterate the biblical model for marriage.
The Supreme Court ruling on marriage has not changed God's ruling. God's design and purpose for marriage stands. Man may attempt to redefine marriage, but we don't have the authority to redefine what God has defined. When we accept same-sex marriage as an option, we've ripped the design from the Designer and re-engineered our own invention for our own purposes—and what we've designed is not marriage.
Man may attempt to redefine marriage, but we don't have the authority to redefine what God has defined.
This decision has implications that are much more serious than whether two individuals who declare that they love each other can enter into marriage. Make no mistake—this decision is in direct opposition to God's design and purpose.
This decision is a direct assault on God's authority.
I'm not opposed to same-sex marriage because of the individuals who demanded that it be legalized. I'm not opposed because I'm a "homophobe" or a hatemonger or because I like to push people's buttons. I am opposed to same-sex marriage because it stands in direct opposition to God's revelation of Himself.
I'm opposed to same-sex marriage because it stands in opposition to God.
Although some may claim that my opinion is merely an opinion, my stance is not rooted in any personal agenda, but is based on what God has revealed to us through His Word. When I saw Jesus dragged into the mix by someone placing on a placard what they claimed to be His opinion on this topic, it compelled me to share what Jesus actually said about this.
A court decision doesn't change what we're to do.
Our response to the Supreme Court decision as believers should be the same response that we have when we're faced with the fallen condition of mankind on a daily basis. As believers we are called to the ministry of reconciliation. We are to be living demonstrations of God's amazing grace by speaking the truth in love, by sharing the hope of the gospel with a lost world, by offering the rescue plan that Jesus provided through His sacrifice on the cross.
A court decision doesn't change what we're to do.
No matter what, we are still called to share the real message Jesus gave. We're to let others know what true love actually looks like:
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers (1 John 3:16).
How can you demonstrate Jesus' love to those who stand in opposition to God's plan for marriage?
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