YOUR MARRIAGE MATTERS MORE TODAY

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for the Southern Baptist Convention sent out a helpful resource yesterday, in light of the Supreme Court decision, ruling that DOMA is unconstitutional. This document offers some clarity on what changes and doesn't change as a result of this ruling, along with some wise insight for churches to consider in how they respond.

Teach your congregation to avoid anger, outrage, or despair.Jesus tells us marriage has existed as a male/female one-flesh union “from the beginning” (Matt. 19:8). This means marriage is resilient, regardless of what any culture does to minimize or redefine it. 

Love your gay and lesbian neighbors.They aren’t part of an evil conspiracy. They are, like, like all of us apart from Christ, seeking a way that seems best to them. Be kind, and respect all persons as image-bearers of God. 

Preach and teach on the integrity of conjugal marriage.Don’t assume your people understand the gospel foundations of marriage. Take this opportunity to point to the formation of healthy, gospel-shaped marriage cultures within your congregation. 

Repent of the ways our congregational cultures have downgraded marriage.If your church hasn’t addressed divorce, cohabitation, or fornication through proclamation and discipline, now is the time to repent and rework. 

Make your marriage convictions clear in your confession of faith.If your church assumes a definition of marriage, your confession of faith is now irrelevant. Defend your religious liberty by making your congregational convictions clear in your statement of faith. 

Stop laissez-faire wedding policies.Your church building is not a public space and your church ministers aren’t justices of the peace. Make clear that you will marry, and host weddings, only for those who have accountability to the people of Christ and to the Word of God.

There should be no posture of resignation on our part is Christians. If you are married, we should instead resolve to make sure our marriages offer a Christ-exalting, glorious picture of the gospel. This should compel us to greater love and affection, selflessness and service, repentance and humility and purity and fidelity within our marriages. This should motivate us all the more to be an open demonstration of the joy and fulfillment that God intended for marriage to produce. There is much talk among Christians and conservatives of the disintegration of marriage in our cultural and political climate. But I would beg you to recognize that your marriage is not less important because of the Supreme Court's ruling. Your marriage is much more important. May God give you and me the grace to tell the story of the gospel through the story of our marriages.