Would You Attend a Gay Wedding?
00:00:00.000 | Pastor John, if one of your family members invited you to their so-called
00:00:09.960 | same-sex marriage ceremony, would you attend it? Just contemplating that
00:00:15.160 | thought is heartbreaking. My answer is no, I wouldn't, and that would be a kind of
00:00:27.200 | shattering of the cornerstone of a father's broken heart at that moment.
00:00:33.560 | And here's why. I assume that's what they really want to know, not just
00:00:40.720 | whether I'd go or not, but why? Why wouldn't you? Number one, it's not a
00:00:46.120 | wedding because it's not a marriage, and therefore attending it as a wedding is
00:00:53.840 | to be false, like everyone there is being false. There is no such thing as a so-
00:01:03.320 | called same-sex marriage. God has defined marriage as a covenantal union for life
00:01:11.160 | between a man and a woman, as husband and wife. This isn't that, therefore this is
00:01:15.920 | not a marriage, and this is not a wedding. I'm not gonna lie about it by going.
00:01:23.240 | Number two, this union, if you can dare to call it that, is not being joined in heaven.
00:01:31.800 | Jesus said, "What God has joined together, let no man separate." This is what makes
00:01:37.880 | weddings awesome. They're not human accomplishments. God joins a man and a
00:01:43.960 | woman. Marriage is made in heaven, Jesus said, not between two people merely, or a
00:01:50.400 | pastor, or a judge, and this pairing of two men or two women is not being joined
00:01:59.120 | in heaven, and to give the impression that it is is an offense to heaven.
00:02:06.360 | Number three, this blessing of this event would be hateful. It would be hateful for
00:02:18.440 | me to do it, because it would be confirming a life and a lifestyle that
00:02:25.360 | will lead to hell. The Apostle Paul said, "Don't be deceived. Neither the
00:02:32.360 | sexually immoral, or idolaters, or adulterers, or men who practice
00:02:36.800 | homosexuality, or thieves, or greedy, or drunkards, or revilers, or swindlers, will
00:02:45.960 | inherit the kingdom of God." They won't. So to celebrate this lifestyle is to
00:02:52.160 | celebrate the destruction of human beings, and that's hateful. It would be
00:02:58.320 | like gathering to celebrate theft, gathering to celebrate drunkenness,
00:03:04.400 | gathering to celebrate swindling. Let's all have a meeting and celebrate greed.
00:03:09.560 | Let's all have a meeting and celebrate adultery. Anybody that joins in
00:03:14.400 | celebrating sin is sinning. I shouldn't sin. The fourth thing I would say is that
00:03:23.600 | this ceremony will defile the drama of Christ and the church. God designed
00:03:31.240 | marriage to display Christ's covenant to his bride, the church, to celebrate a
00:03:36.400 | brideless union as marriage is to distort and deface the parable of the
00:03:44.080 | most beautiful act in the world. And fifth, I wouldn't go because the weight
00:03:50.200 | of sorrow and love and revulsion would probably overwhelm me. I don't think I
00:03:57.840 | could probably get through the ceremony. And the last thing I would say is my
00:04:06.600 | not going is not my drawing away from my child, but his drawing away from me. I am
00:04:17.120 | where I have always been, arms wide open to the homecoming prodigal, ready to
00:04:23.920 | forgive anything. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this
00:04:29.480 | podcast. Email your questions to us at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org. You
00:04:33.800 | can visit us online at DesiringGod.org to find thousands of books and articles,
00:04:37.000 | sermons, and other resources from John Piper, all free of charge. I'm your host,
00:04:40.200 | Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening.
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