Five Reasons to Be Encouraged by Last Week's Supreme Court Decisions

As I am sure you know by now, last week the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of gay marriage in two landmark cases, The United States vs. Windsor, which struck down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Hollingsworth vs. Perry which allowed the lower court’s decision blocking a voter approved amendment to the California State Constitution (Prop 8) defining marriage as being between one man and one woman to stand and the reaction from the “evangelical” media has been swift and loud and strong, typically with a tone of anger, disbelief, or surprise.

I have to say, I think much of the reaction, although sincere and even flowing out of good motives, has been wrong headed.  The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God  and believer ought not engage in the practice of judging unbeliever for their sin so bible believing Christians should know better than to be angry at either the Supreme Court justices or those who are enslaved to this immoral lifestyle.  And as far as surprise and disbelief, I fail to see how anyone paying attention at all was caught off guard by these decisions, after all President Obama ran in 2008 on a platform calling for the repeal of DOMA and the California Attorney General refused to defend Prop 8 in court, and all of society has been tracking in this direction for quite a long time.  Only the blindly optimistic could have failed to see this coming.  

That said, I have a different take on the events at the Supreme Court, I find them encouraging.  Not that I in anyway believe that homosexual behavior is not a dire sin (just like heterosexual immorality, and greed, and looking on members of the opposite sex with lust, and hating another in your heart etc.), I do or that I in any way think that gay marriage is good for society, I don’t.  I am encouraged because I find my sufficiency and solace in Christ alone and my contentment in God and His provision.  So allow me to present five reasons I am encouraged by this past week’s events at The Court.

1. God is Sovereign

Nothing that happened in the Supreme Court happened outside of the sovereign will of God.  He wasn’t taken by surprise, His forces were not out argued before the bar and He is not reeling in heaven wondering what to do now.  As the prophet Isaiah wrote God has declared the end from the beginning and all of His purposes will be accomplished.   Although things may feel hopeless and out of control to us, everything is unfolding exactly as God has planned from before the foundation of the world.  If you want to gain a better understanding of how God views the machinations of men who seek to oppose Him and thwart His will read Psalm 2.  God is not worried about His plans being derailed, and neither should His people.

2. Maybe this will mark the end of the evangelical churches’ obsession with presidential politics.

For decades there has been a call from many pulpits, some more bully than others, that Christians must be supporters of Republican candidates, especially for the presidency.  The argument was essentially that if the right presidents are elected then the right judges will be appointed and then court cases will be decided in favor of biblical ethics.  That simply has not happened.  Roe v Wade has not been struck down, and there is scant indication that it ever will, pornography has been ruled free speech many times; at every turn the biblical worldview seems to loose in court and now the Supreme Court has upheld gay marriage. 

Last week’s decisions were handed down by a court comprised of a majority of Republican appointees.  Maybe this will be the wake up call needed to refocus the church on the proclamation of the Gospel instead of partisan politics.  Now I am not saying that believers should be apolitical or silent, they shouldn’t, but I am saying that if Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world or else His followers would have been fighting His arrest and if He was utterly unconcerned with temporal politics (sorry liberation theologians and Christian libertarians He counted both a former Zealot and a Roman tax collector among His apostles – hardly what a political  revolutionary, tax resistor or otherwise politically minded messiah would have done) maybe the church should focus less on politics and more on things of eternal consequence, and maybe now it will.  

[And maybe we can reclaim the title evangelical which is seen by so many as a synonym for Republican.]

3.  Marriage is a God ordained institution and nothing can change that.

Quite frankly it doesn’t really matter what any court or government says, marriage is a God ordained institution between one man and one woman and nothing can change that, not a court ruling, not a referendum not even the sinful heart of man which led to the polygamy recorded in the Old Testament.

Perhaps now the “evangelical” church will stop worrying about what the world says about marriage and start worrying about what the bible teaches about marriage.  Far more concerning to me than gay marriage is the “church’s” acceptance of at will divorce even in the pastorate. [I actually know of a large church where the “pastor’s” announcement of his intention to divorce his wife was met with a standing ovation!]  Perhaps this will be the wake up call needed so that the church will begin to clean its own house, and uphold the biblical standards of marriage.

4. This could be the end of the “Culture War.”

One of the most disheartening things to me about the American “evangelical” church is it’s zeal for the so-called culture war.  Its not that we shouldn’t stand up against and fight against evil, but we ought to realize who our enemy truly is.  Homosexuals are not the enemy of the church, neither are abortion providers or pornographers, they are sinners hopelessly lost and enslaved to sin and dead in their trespasses who need the Gospel, and to repent and believe in Jesus.  Just like every believer was until God being rich in mercy in love made them alive in Christ, not of their own merit, but solely of grace so that no man may boast.

Too many in the church have been so immersed in this fight that when they look at gay marriage advocates they see their enemies instead of the mission field.  Maybe this decision will allow some “culture warriors” to admit they lost the political struggle once and for all and realize that the only hope to change society is through the individual changing of hearts through the Gospel.  The church needs to focus on spiritual warfare not cultural warfare, and maybe these decisions and their implications for “culture warriors” will open new doors for evangelism. 

5. Scripture clearly teaches that things will get worse before the return of Christ, and they clearly are.

Now I am not saying that last week’s court decisions are harbingers of Christ’s immediate return, after all none except the father knows the hour but it is a clear indication that societies around the globe are not getting better and more enlightened but are sliding deeper into sin.  Just read 2 Timothy 3:1-9  and see if you don’t think things are on track.

Bible believing and bible literate Christians should have no expectation other than a steady decline of civilization until Jesus returns and should expect no godly government until Jesus is ruling from the throne of David.  These court cases do not invite God’s judgment on the U.S.A. they are God’s judgment.  As things continue to get worse we can be assured that everything is unfolding according to God’s plan and that Jesus will return and put all things right.

While I am certainly not happy about the direction that our country is going (or has gone, I think that Christian morality was never really woven into the fabric of American society; have you ever notices all of the brothels in old westerns or heard someone call Benjamin Franklin America’s first pornographer?), I don’t think as believers there is anything discouraging or disheartening about it.  Rather we should be encouraged knowing that God is sovereign and that what we are witnessing, though it may be the decline of America, is the unfolding of His plan.  Our mission as believers is not to hold the moral line for society, but to make disciples and we are still free to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  Let’s focus on that.