Who Needs the Gospel?

We talk a lot about the problems of embracing the sin of homosexuality or the sin of murdering babies or the like. Like broken records, we pound our pulpits about the sinfulness of homosexual behavior or abortion ad infinitum ad nauseam while the rest of our world blows us off as "on the wrong side of history". You would think that these kinds of things that we are repeatedly complaining about are the worst of sins and we're hoping to end them. You would think that we think that homosexuals and pro-aborts really need the Gospel.

If you think, based on the frequency of our discussions on these fairly limited issues, that these are our primary concerns in our world today, you would be mistaken. Well, I should only speak for myself. If you think that these are my primary concerns, you'd be wrong. I don't mention them as often as I do because they're "the worst"; I mention them because they're being normalized, and when sin is normalized, no one notices anymore.

Take, for instance, the issue of divorce. In my youth divorce was bad. None of my friends or schoolmates were from divorced homes, or, if they were, they kept it a secret. Divorce was rare (10% in 1960), a sad thing, and most people were ashamed of it. Fast forward 50 years and divorce is rampant. Even among professing Christians the rate is high. I've actually heard Christians speaking of it in glowing terms. "I'm finally free." Now, there is no question that the Bible is not in favor of divorce (e.g., Matt 19:3-11). So how is it that even among professing Christians it has become normal? It's because Christians refused to think biblically and accepted the world's value system on the topic and now no longer recognize divorce as a problem despite what the Scriptures say about it.

That's just an example. It is what happens when we shift from a God-given moral basis to a world-driven relative morality. What I'm saying is that the problem here is not a change in morality, but an inability to recognize sin. That's why we're beating this drum or that one. If "it" -- whatever the current sin issue is -- becomes "normal", warnings fall on deaf ears and hearts get harder.

My point, in the end, is not why it is that we talk about these issues. My point is the question, "Who needs the Gospel?" Do we think that homosexuals need the Gospel? Well, sure. Because they're homosexual? No. Not at all. It's because we need the Gospel. It's because you and I and all of us need the Gospel. It's because heterosexual sin (Matt 5:27-28) is just as bad as homosexual sin. It's because hating (Matt 5:21-22) is just as bad as killing the baby in the womb. It's because all have sinned and fall short (Rom 3:23). It's because every, single, last one of us needs Jesus.

Let's not lose sight of that, those of us who try to stand against the sin du jour. They aren't worse sinners than we have been. We need Jesus and they need Jesus and that is the point we should be making. Who needs the Gospel? Not just them. We all do.