Spiritual stability in troubled times.
There’s been a lot said over the last few weeks about the Conversion Therapy Bill currently before the Victorian Parliament. As it now stands, the bill has been passed by the Lower House and will be brought to the Upper House when sitting commences in 2021. It is very possible that this bill will pass through the Upper House unamended, and that our gospel freedom will then come under certain restrictions as far as same-sex attraction is concerned.
Perhaps as this has been unfolding, some of you have felt a lot of concern. At this point it should be said that Christians ought to rightly oppose forceful conversion practices. Becoming a Christian and continuing as a follower of Jesus is something that must be freely offered in the gospel, and voluntarily received in the grace of God. In contrast to this gracious gospel mission, there is a widespread stereo-type of Christians as being hateful and judgmental toward sinners. Our calling, however, is to be gentle, kind, and loving, yet faithfully biblical as we hold out the gospel to all people.
But it seems that this legislation goes beyond criminalising forceful, unbiblical conversion practices, and begins to criminalise normal biblical Christian conversion practices (like prayer and pastoral counselling). As Christians, we are on a mission to convert unbelievers (including unbelieving LGBTQI people). It's an essential aspect of our faith. After all, the Lord Jesus commissioned us didn’t He? “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:18-20). This legislation will stop truly harmful conversion practices, of which there is enough guilt to go around in the church. Sadly, there are Christians and churches who haven’t done the right thing on this issue. Nevertheless, this bill will also confront sincere believers with a very real potential problem: be faithful to Jesus and share the gospel with LGBTQI people, or be unfaithful to Christ and potentially face jail time or heavy fines. As another example, if a church member embraced a homosexual lifestyle, and the church exercised biblical church discipline against that person and called them to repent, its hard to see how that would not classify as a criminal offence under this legislation.
Now I don’t know what’s going to come of all of this, and I don’t know where it will leave us. But one thing I do know is this: whichever way it goes, we need not fear. You see, all of it is part of God’s plan. Romans 8:28 reminds us that “all things” work together for good for God’s people. Ephesians 1:11 also reveals that He works all things according to the counsel of His will. These are not trite biblical platitudes, they are rock-solid truths upon which we can stake our lives. They are truths that will strengthen us to weather the greatest of storms.
You see, when the Sovereign Lord is on our side, there is no possible way that we might be undone or lose. There is no point at which things get out of control. In Romans 8:37 the Apostle Paul declares: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Even if our worst fears are confirmed, and Christians start getting sent to jail, God’s purposes will not be frustrated. In Philippians 1:12, as Paul sat bound in prison, he said: “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”
Even the hard things of this life will serve His purposes, there’s no question about that, and at the end of it all we will be glorified and perfected in Christ. We will be made like Him. In that sense, the momentary and light afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed. Not kings or princes, devils or demons will frustrate the outcome that He is working out in history. In fact, in God’s timing, everything that they do will serve to bring His goals to pass – including the conversion therapy bill in the Victorian Parliament. God has made and orders all things for His own glory, and His plans and purposes will not be stopped. Brothers and sisters, with these things in mind, let me share an encouraging meditation with you from the pen of Pastor John Piper. May it encourage you as it encouraged me!
Soli Deo Gloria!
For God’s Little People
Devotional by John Piper
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. (Luke 2:1–5)
Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that God ordained beforehand that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 5:2 shows); and that He so ordained things that when the time came, the Messiah’s mother and legal father were living not in Bethlehem but in Nazareth; and that in order to fulfill His word and bring two unheard-of, insignificant, little people to Bethlehem that first Christmas, God put it in the heart of Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be enrolled each in his own town? A decree for the entire world in order to move two people seventy miles!
Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a world of seven billion people, where all the news is about big political and economic and social movements and outstanding people with global significance and lots of power and prestige?
If you have, don’t let that make you disheartened or unhappy. For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes, without their even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake, but for the sake of God’s little people — the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields an empire to fulfill His word and bless His children.
Do not think, because you experience adversity in your little world of experience, that the hand of the Lord is shortened. It is not our prosperity or our fame but our holiness that He seeks with all His heart. And to that end, He rules the whole world. As Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will.” And He is always turning it for His saving and sanctifying and eternal purposes among His people.
He is a big God for little people, and we have great cause to rejoice that, unbeknown to them, all the kings and presidents and premiers and chancellors and chiefs of the world follow the sovereign decrees of our Father in heaven, that we, the children, might be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ — and then enter His eternal glory.