Debtors

“Brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. ”

THE city of Minneapolis seems to have a bad affect on the Episcopal Church USA. The last time ECUSA held its General Convention there in 1976, they ratified a new Prayer Book and unbiblically justified the ordination of women as priests. This time, well—you've been watching the news. A priest divorced his wife and left his family with two children to live with his male lover 14 years ago. Today, standing with the same lover, he is the bishop-elect of New Hampshire. The General Convention in all three houses has welcomed an openly homosexual man to the seat of the Apostles.

Now, what is so abysmal about this action needs some clarification. Let me start by saying that I have not in several years preached about the Episcopal Church. And in all the 12 years I have been in Chico, I have not spoken directly to the issue of homosexuality. These are not my whipping boys—so today if I address both critically, please know that it is a little out of character. Out of character because they are such easy targets and they are both outside these walls. I preach about us, mostly.

At that earlier Minneapolis Convention, ECUSA opened to women priests by applying the current social standards and refusing to apply Scriptural tests for creating new doctrines or practices. While there are several biblical arguments against priestesses in the church, there's not one verse that favors this innovation. The Bible lost its footing in ECUSA in 1976, and that was why we had to leave our former church.

Since then, John Shelby Spong, ECUSA Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, wrote several celebrated books in which he renounced the creedal doctrines of the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, Christ's miracles, and the bodily Resurrection. He claimed that St. Paul was an ashamed closet homosexual and that Mary got pregnant by her boyfriend. But the shocking event of these heretical pronouncements by a bishop of the church was not that he said any of these things. There have always been heretics. The real message was found in the silence . This bishop's church didn't touch him, didn't even bring presentment charges against him. What that silence meant was that this man's disbelief in the truths of the Bible were now stock in trade in the Episcopal religion, acceptable, normative and welcome. That silence was a deafening cry of death to the spirit of a once great church. It was over.

Now comes the homosexual issue. It's really been here all along. That was what lay behind women's ordination. Gender confusion and switching sexual roles had to be breached somewhere more obscure than gay rights at first. The fact that the first woman ordained a priest was a lesbian escapes most chroniclers. But she didn't ask General Convention for their permission, either. Forgiveness used to be easier to get than permission. Now both are irrelevant in ECUSA.

What is the real issue in the consecration of a gay bishop? Please understand that this is not a new thing. The Episcopal Church has many gay bishops already and hundreds of homosexual priests and priestesses. And their argument to the remaining 2 million Episcopalians is that homosexuality is not condemned in the Bible, at least not in the New Testament. Could this be true? The Old Testament was unambiguous. Leviticus reads: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” 18:22 “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” 20:13 I don't endorse a return to Old Testament justice, but this is God speaking through Moses and He is truly outraged at this immoral practice. Did He change His mind later?

St. Paul wrote clearly against homosexual practice, calling it a vile affection: “…even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error.” Romans 1:26-27 And he lists it among many other sins, as in this example: “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you...” 1 Cor. 6:9-11

Note that homosexual sin is listed among other sins such as fornication, adultery, stealing and drunkenness. It is not the chief of all sins , the only really bad sin. God alone knows what sins are the worst in His eyes. Homosexual sin is an action , not a state of being . It is a choice made and followed through, espoused and lived out— not a third gender, a genetic variation that makes some of us gay or lesbian by nature. There has never been a case for the gay gene . There have been many studies on environments and experiences that shape homosexual mentality. And if God made some people more prone to this temptation than the rest of us, He also made us all weak toward certain sins. Certain people are totally weak towards alcohol. We tell them to never drink. Some are aggressive. We retrain their thinking, and may even drug them to keep them from fighting. We see weakness in the other socially unacceptable sins, and we do what we can to curb it. We have lost the way, however, in dealing with the homosexual matter . We have accepted the lie that it's not harmful, predatory, and debilitating . We have accepted the lie that it hurts no one. We have accepted the lie that it is normal for some, and we have no place to judge.

What we have really accepted in these lies is a new definition of love . To love as Christians, we must now never call sin “sin.” We can't tell someone for their own good that their lifestyle is harmful to them, and may even destroy their relationship with God and send them to hell. St. Paul said so, but we feel he's too harsh. He was wrong about women speaking in church, after all. Wrong about their covering of the head. Wrong that they reverence and obey their husbands. Why do we keep him in the Bible at all? He's so unloving. But what we really do is condemn the sinner to eternal death by telling him he has no sin. And then we think ourselves loving. That's what just happened in Minneapolis. ECUSA just condemned all homosexuals to eternal death by telling them their sin is no sin. Then they called it love.

Now, do we feel justified? We shouldn't. If we call homosexual actions sin, then we must call pride, envy, anger, covetousness, gluttony, lust and sloth sin also, and repent of these terrible traits. We have to admit our debt, and our own bankruptcy toward God. Remember how St. Matthew's Gospel recounts the Lord's Prayer? Instead of “forgive us our trespasses,” it says, “And forgive us our debts , as we forgive our debtors .” Matthew 6:12 Debt is another way to look at sin. When we do wrong, we create a debt. If I scratch your car door with my own, I ought to leave my card on your windshield and offer to pay for the repair. If your dog rips up my front yard, you should pay for new plants and apologize. If I sneeze on your potato chips, I should ask pardon and get you new ones. When we sin against other people, even unintentionally, we owe them our apologies and restitutions. And every sin that we intentionally commit creates a debt with God. We have broken His commandments. We have spurned His will. We have broken trust with the Almighty. We have to pay Him back. But how?

Of course, Jesus Christ paid the debt in His sacrificial death. So now, if we believe in His divinity and a tonement, r esurrection and r edemption, we are no longer debtors to the flesh. Indebtedness to the flesh is doomed to death . But if we, by the Spirit of God, put the evil deeds of the body to death, and by faith live a new life that is sanctified, we will live. Perfect? Not yet. Forgiven? If we repent of the sins . But we can't be forgiven our sins if we merely redefine sin and tear out whole passages of Scripture if they make us nervous or angry. Have faith in Christ and build your life on Him, obediently showing God that you love Him and wish to serve Him above all other things —that's the Christian life. Then we, as debtors , owe our whole lives to Jesus. We are now children and heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ. Romans 8:17

The false prophets that Jesus promised should come are wearing bishop's clothing. Inwardly, they are ravening wolves. It isn't gay rights or gay wrongs at issue here, but the complete take-over of a once upstanding and righteous church. The Episcopal Church used to stand for something, now it will fall for just about anything. It lost its moral certainty for sure. But more importantly , it has lost its certainty in Christ. A tree has become evil and produces evil fruit. My home church, St. Nicholas, Encino, where my mother's ashes lie in a columbarium, is nearly empty every Sunday morning. At least a third of the denomination has already left. But these are only the outer workings of truly shocking inner turmoil. This is the first catholic body in 2,000 years that has embraced such totally anti-Christian positions. It was catholic in faith and ministry, apostolic succession and creed, a historic and mainstream Christian body. Half a century ago, the Episcopal Church might have spoken to Roman Catholics and Protestants alike with dignity and understanding and might led the way to a more meaningful ecumenical dialogue. But the devil stood at the head of most seminaries and he sewed moral confusion, theological doubt and endless reform instead of godly leadership. When a thing has been inspired by God the Holy Spirit and has withstood the tests of millennia, why does it need reform?

St. Augustine of Canterbury Church, the Anglican Province of Christ the King, this church stands apart and watches. Not in scorn: we've done that, and it's a hollow victory. Now we just sadly stand watching our former church sinking lower in the water, like some cathedral-shaped Titanic, and we await the lifeboats, if there will be any. Did they get off in time? Do they still cling to the railings? Is the orchestra still playing on deck? Who is pillaging the staterooms? Will there be any survivors? We were once debtors, too. We can't judge another man, or another man's church. God is the Judge. But His Word is still true. We read it, and we weep, and we watch. Where are the lifeboats?

PFH+