SUFFERING FOR SPEAKING TO THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE

For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.  Because John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”  (Matthew 14:3-4)

I heard of an evangelist who began revival services at a small church near Las Vegas.  In the first sermon, he let loose on the evils of alcohol.  After the service, the pastor met with the evangelist and let him know that many of their members sold alcohol, and that if they were offended, then the church would lose a lot of people and the offerings would plummet.  So, in the next sermon, the evangelist unleashed a broadside on greed and gambling.  You might imagine how that went over!  He was warned that such preaching might work in the South, but it would not go over in the Southwest, since virtually every member made their living directly or indirectly from a connection to the casinos.  The frustrated evangelist said, “Well pastor, what sins can I preach against?”  The pastor responded, “Preach about the sins of the Paiute Indians!  We don’t have any Paiute Indians that attend here!”

In many churches today—contaminated by the corrupt culture—it makes people uncomfortable when the subject of sexuality and marriage is mentioned.  How are we to reach the young couples of this generation by demanding chastity, when so many are shacking up?  It is a judgmental turn-off to them to preach on such a topic we are told.  Lest we think this confined to a younger generation, we might be shocked to find the number of older couples doing likewise because of financial considerations.  How are we to preach on adultery and divorce, when so many of our members have gone through this?  Is it not sticking a Bible into a hornets’ nest?  It used to be you could at least preach against homosexuality, but now that the courts have legalized homosexual marriage and the media promotes it, church folk are listening to voices reinterpret Scripture with hermeneutical gymnastics.  Love wins!  How can you preach against love?

You will suffer if you speak to the sanctity of marriage.  That is a given.  Just ask John the Baptist.  He could have preached on a wide array of sins, and avoided this one.  One man had the power to take his life—Herod.  Why didn’t he just look the other way?  Surely, John was too judgmental! 

I suppose that he feared God more than man.  That is always the pivotal point in our preaching is it not?   Whose approval are we trying to gain?   I am not calling on us to be cruel or hateful.  We are to be compassionate and helpful.  If sinners cannot be forgiven, then this preacher will be the first one barred from the church.  Yet, a doctor who avoids diagnosing a disease and offers a placebo is guilty of malpractice.  We cannot cure the malignancy of sin by putting a band-aid over it.  The painful probing with pointed precepts, and the cutting with the scalpel of Scripture are needful, along with a bitter pill of repentance to swallow.  Let us rather die than to be guilty of ministerial malpractice that brings the death of the patient!