Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch. And in today's episode, we're throwing it back. This is something fun we're doing this summer.

WULU's now a year old, and we're looking back at some of our most popular episodes. And when I say popular, I mean, of course, they got a lot of views, a lot of downloads, but I also mean they received a lot of comments. And in light of those comments, we're revisiting the opinion that I had and seeing if that's still where I am. In this episode, we're looking back at one we did on pope Francis, who's recently, passed away. And we were looking at his stance on LGBT issues, and we're asking, is it possible to love people, of different sexual orientations without compromising the gospel?

Of course, we were asking that because pope Francis had been, at best, inconsistent on, his views on these topics. At one point saying, priests could bless same sex couples and then walking that back to say, well, they can bless the individuals who make up those couples, always seeming to imply that the church should be welcoming and affirming, but stopping short of saying that out loud. Just kind of muddled. But, of course, the episode really wasn't about pope Francis. It was picking up on his own struggle with how do we have truth in one hand and love in the other.

And, of course, for you and I, it's not about pope Francis because most of us have people in our lives who identify with something other than biblically normative sexuality, and we're trying to figure out, how do we love these people and yet hold on to truth? Do we have to become a loving person without truth or a truthful person without love? Well, the answer to that is no. But, more importantly, one of the things we talked about the episode that I wanna continue to root in your heart is that there are a couple primary issues here that we have to remember. And the first is that one of the most audacious claims in the bible is that God is love.

Now what that means is really important. The bible isn't saying that there's a definition of love that exists outside of the bible and outside of God. This kind of cosmic definition of a term that God is always making sure he's in compliance with. Like, God's a general contractor and there's a building code he has to follow. What the Bible means when it says that God is love is that whatever God says, whatever God does, whatever god doesn't say and doesn't do is the definition of love.

If you wanna know what love looks like, watch the character and actions of god. That is what love looks like. The bible is challenging us that one of the most important concepts for how we think about ourselves, how we think about other people, relationships, is the definition of love. And one of the things the Bible is calling us to is to surrender our own definition of love in favor of God being the one who tells us ultimately what is loving. So when we think about any issue connected to love, in this case, sexuality, what we have to realize is that there are going to be things that seem loving to us that are not actually loving.

Things that seem acceptable to us that are not actually acceptable. And when that happens, what we're really deciding about is not our view on sexuality or even our interpretation of scripture. What we're deciding about in that moment is who gets to define love for me. And, of course, what we're really deciding even underneath that is who gets to be God to me. The bible tells us that God sees all and knows all, which means he knows what's best for us.

He knows the ripple effect of every moral action. He knows what actions lead to to decay in our own hearts, our own families, and in the larger world, and which actions do not. And the bible unequivocally has God saying that sexual expression that is loving only happens in the context of a monogamous heterosexual marriage. That is what God, who is love, tells us, which means then that if we encourage anyone, ourselves or anyone else, to step outside of that or if we legitimize stepping outside of that, even though they may take us as being loving because we're being affirming, we're being encouraging, we're being welcoming, We are not actually loving them. Let me use an analogy.

One of the hard parts about raising teenagers is the realization that their teenage friends, their opinions matter more, a lot of times, than mom and dad, which, of course, is silly because their teenage friends are just as clueless as they are. They're just as clueless as any of us were when we were teenagers. So my kids think their friends are loving them, and I believe their friends are trying to love them when they give them advice on the various life situations they're in. But, of course, as a parent, someone who's a a little wiser, a little more life experience, I know that whether they're trying to love my kids or not, the things they're telling them are wrong. That's a great metaphor for what we're doing to each other.

When we legitimize people making choices outside of what God has said is loving, they may feel loved by us, but they're actually being unloved by us. There is no such thing as a loving relationship outside of how god has defined love. I don't mean there aren't people trying to love each other, I just mean the god who is love has told us that whatever they're trying to do, love is not what they're doing. So is it possible to hold on to truth and love people? Sure.

As long as loving means doing it god's way. Hey. Thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!