Surviving A Month of Pride

Each June, I languish as I consider the effects of the fall of man that will inevitably surround us. I’m not speaking of the inevitable humidity that arrives in late June in Tennessee, or the drought that causes our lawns to look less than lush. The effects of the fall are seen in what has been called “Pride Month,” a celebration of sexual deviancy by many individuals, people, and corporations.

1) How should Christians think about pride month?

Three things:

1) Pride is sin.

From the outset, Christians should be opposed to Pride Month because Christians are repeatedly told in Scripture not to be prideful. A short collection of verses:

Amos 6:8 (ESV)

8 The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts: 

“I abhor the pride of Jacob 
and hate his strongholds, 
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”

Psalm 31:23 (ESV)

23  Love the Lord, all you his saints! 
The Lord preserves the faithful 
but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.

Proverbs 8:13 (ESV)
13  The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. 
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil 
and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 16:18 (ESV)
18  Pride goes before destruction, 
and a haughty spirit before a fall.

The Scripture has a pretty clear and consistent witness: don’t be prideful. It is the way of evil.

Pride is boasting about who you are or what you’ve accomplished. It takes the spotlight of God off of the cross of Christ and points it at you.

Pride month is not concerned primarily with boasting about a job well done, but with saying to the world, “This is who I am and you must accept me without me changing anything about me.”

I cannot imagine a more destructive message.

2) Sexual immorality is sin.

Secondly, Pride month is specifically flaunting sexual deviancy. It is reversing the created order.

Scripture is clear about homosexuality:

1 Corinthians 6:9 (ESV)

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

1 Timothy 1:10 (ESV)

10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

Paul says in 1 Timothy that the Law is meant to be used lawfully to restrain evils like homosexuality. The Bible could not be more clear on this issue.

Those who embrace an LGBT lifestyle are sinning. They are sinning against God and against light. They need to be told that they are sinning and told that there is a savior who is able to save to the uttermost.
Jesus loves to save and redeem sexual sinners. Those who are stuck in this lifestyle don’t have to stay this way but can be made new in Jesus Christ. We have good news for a dark world, but we cannot lie and say the darkness isn’t dark or dangerous. It is, and we must be clear about that.

3) Rejecting God is sin.

Romans 1 is required reading for the month of June. Romans 1 shows us that God has shown himself in creation but people reject that truth and pursue their own ways, inevitably leading towards a path of debauchery which includes homosexuality.

To reject what God has made and say that it is not good is to reject God’s character. Far be it from us to dictate to God what is right and wrong. Rather, we should place ourselves under his hand and rule.

Failure to believe what God has said is uncharacteristic of a Christian. At the very bottom of the Christian religion is an understand that Christians believe God, they do not reject him or His design for the world.

Will we believe God?

We must.

2) How should Christians respond to pride month?

I can think of three things:

1) Clarity.

Do you know what the Bible says about these things? Do you know why Peter and Paul agree with Jesus? Can you demonstrate with certainty the clear teaching of Scripture and show that the argument against the LGBT agenda is not rooted in personal distaste but the Word of God?

We must speak with clarity. You might lose friends. You might lose a job. Is it worth compromising? Never.

2) Conviction.

We are not to simply know what we believe and then refuse to act on it. We must stand where the Scripture stands at every opportunity. I do not mean that we must shout at people on the street, but there must be a conviction about doing the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do.

The issue is that those who are standing for the side of truth are subtly being told that they are not doing the right thing but the wrong thing. Standing up for God’s truth is not seen as loving, but as unloving. This demonstrates the lengths that the world will go to attempt to unsay what God has said. Must hold truth with conviction. We must know clearly what we believe and why what we believe matters.

3) Courage.

John the Baptist lost his head advocating for marriage (Mark 6:17). He had the boldness to tell Herod that it was wrong for him to be married to his brother Philip’s wife. The man who declared “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” was courageous enough to testify to the truth, even when it cost him something.

I don’t know what courageous things we might be called to in the coming days, but I have no doubt courage is needed for the days ahead. If we know with certainty what God has said and believe with conviction that it is the right thing, we will have the courage to stand, even if we stand alone.

3) How can Christians be proactive in opposing the tide of the culture?

I have believed for a long time that the only way a culture can be influenced is by culture. Culture typically influences other people without their knowledge. I once heard an illustration that helped me understand this idea.

A fish is swimming in a pond. Another fish swam up to him and said, ”Hey man - how’s the water?”

The first fish looks at the second fish and asks, “What is water?”

This is so often how culture works. It is all around us and we don’t even notice it. In reality, the only way we know something is culturally distinct is because we experience a different environment from time to time.

The best way to combat the culture is with culture.

Here are a few things we can do to cultivate culture:

1) Look for ways to put the principle of Deuteronomy 6 into your life. Talk about Jesus in the car, on a walk, at the dinner table, when you wake up, when you go to bed. Talk about Jesus with your spouse, with your kids, with your friends, with your fellow church members.

2) Celebrate moms being moms and dads being dads.

When you see families at church together, comment on how good it is that moms, dads, and kids are all worshipping together. When you’re at the park and a family is enjoying a picnic, playing on the swings, or anything else, normalize celebrating families being together.

If a mother is bringing a child to church alone, comment on how good it is to have a faithful mother just like Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5). Dads should get together and do dad things. Moms should get together and do mom things. Families should get together and do family things.

We have assumed that the world is a certain way. Now, the culture is attempting to normalize having 2 dads or 2 moms or any other combination of things. This is not the way God designed and we must help our children (and each other) to know that.

3) Celebrate girls being girls and boys being boys.

“God made you a boy” and “God made you a girl” are some of the most important words you can say to your kid. Followed by “God loves you as a boy” and “God loves you as a girl.” Let us help our children to celebrate the fact that God’s love and Gods’ design are not distinct things, they are related to one another.

4) Talk with your kids.

Parents remain the dominant influence on their children. You must speak with your children from a young age about this issue. Different parents might have different techniques but the tide is rising and the age of exposure is lower and lower. What was uncommon at 12 for one generation is now normal at 8. Kids need to know what God did when he made them to be a boy or a girl. And kids need to know it is a good thing to be a little boy or a little girl.

5) Reinforce masculine and feminine cultural norms.

This one is tricky, but there are certain activities in our culture that correspond to being manly (i.e. running a chainsaw) and certain things that correspond to being feminine (i.e. baking bread). Before you try to accost me as being sexist, I do all the cooking in my house, and I also run all the chainsaws in my house.

Recently, a man in our church had a number of trees fall in some bad storms. A bunch of guys got together to help him. I call them “the Chainsaw Committee.” And the Chainsaw committee is awesome. This allows guys to do something manly with other guys and help out another brother.

Similarly, a matriarch in our church held a “salsa class” at her home a few years ago (I was fortunate enough to be able to show up to eat salsa). The reason for this class was not only to eat salsa, but also to teach other ladies in the church a skill she had developed over the years. Salsa night is awesome too, as the women do the kind of things women do.

Let’s be clear about this last point: it’s tricky. Women can certainly run a chainsaw and it’s not a sin for me to make salsa (though it might be sinful to eat too much salsa). But generally, we should encourage boys to do masculine things and women to do feminine things. There is a creational difference that always reflects itself in cultural customs (dress, vocation, activity). As best as we are able, we should attempt to reinforce masculine and feminine cultural norms because the culture is attempting to destroy them.

How can you help? Pray. Ask for wisdom. Look around your church.

Celebrate that marriage is a picture of the gospel. Celebrate the marriage is between one man and one woman. Celebrate that marriage was created by God.

And know that as the culture comes to take away the meaning of what God has made in creation, it will inevitably deny what God has done in redemption.