In Psalm 23 David declares, “The Lord is my shepherd.” He then goes on to say that as the Lord shepherds us, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake.”

That ever-so-famous psalm stands as the supreme model for any man called by God into the pastoral ministry. At the end of the day the compassionate care of the shepherd must direct the sheep into the paths of righteousness.

In an article found in Leadership Journal addressing the subject of homosexuality, the author is introduced as follows:

In his prominent role as author, theologian, speaker, and leader of the emergent conversation some forget that Brian McLaren is also a pastor. In the latest issue of Leadership Journal, which focuses on ministry in a sexually charged culture, Brian shares a story that reveals the complexity of the homosexual question — a question where theology, truth, sin, grace, culture, politics, and pastoral wisdom collide.

The leading thinkers in the “emergent conversation” (also know as the “emergent church”) mention six things on a collision course with pastoral wisdom.

• Theology
• Truth
• Sin
• Grace
• Culture
• Politics

Without a doubt pastoral wisdom can, and often does, collide with culture and politics. However, such collisions should never influence the role of the pastor in participating in the work of Jesus leading men and women “in paths of righteousness.”

The troubling position that is emerging in the “emergent conversation” is that of redefining the role of the pastor. Rather than the role of the pastor being one of leading men and women in the paths of righteousness they say that it is on a collision course with:

• Theology: as in the study of the God who is the good shepherd in Psalm 23.
• Truth: as defined by Jesus, “the Word of God” (John 17:17).
• Sin: that is any behavior contrary to the holiness of God and the revealed will of God in the Bible. (Note that Jesus was anything but conflicted in the “sexually charged” moment in which they dragged before Him a woman caught in adultery. He was compassionate and merciful… and then said with great clarity, “go and sin no more.” John 8:11)
• Grace: often it is some how presumed that grace and truth are incompatible; viewing them as opposite polls on a magnet in the personality of God. (Note what is stated in John 1:4, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Nevertheless, McLaren writes, “I hesitate in answering ‘the homosexual question’ not because I’m a cowardly flip-flopper who wants to tickle ears, but because I am a pastor, and pastors have learned from Jesus that there is more to answering a question than being right or even honest.”

That is one of the most frightening statements that I have ever heard. When was Jesus ever less than “right,” or less than “honest?”

McLaren continues, “…we must also be . . . pastoral. That means understanding the question beneath the question, the need or fear or hope or assumption that motivates the question. We pastors want to frame our answer around that need; we want to fit in with the Holy Spirit’s work in that person’s life at that particular moment.”

Suddenly the role of the “pastor” is to find out which way the wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing… for that particular person at that particular moment. This kind of relativistic approach may be fine if that person is trying to decide whether to move and take a job in Dallas or New York, but tragically McLaren is talking about sin being redefined on an individual basis.

McLaren then writes, “Frankly, many of us don’t know what we should think about homosexuality. We’ve heard all sides but no position has yet won our confidence so that we can say ‘it seems good to the Holy Spirit and us.’”

Something is Emerging… But it isn’t the Truth. The Holy Spirit has spoken.

1 Cor. 6:9-11 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Rev. 2:8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

God has defined abominable:

Lev 18:22 (NKJV) “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.

Lev 20:13 (NKJV) “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”

McLaren’s closing statement says, “Welcome to our world. Being ‘right’ isn’t enough. We also need to be wise. And loving. And patient. Perhaps nothing short of that should ’seem good to the Holy Spirit and us.’”

When do we ever see Jesus having to choose between being wrong or wise? When do we see Jesus choosing between being right or loving? The answer is never.

The problem is that McLaren and his fellow “conversationalists” want to accuse “fundamentalist” Christians of being close-minded and narrow-minded. In reality they are saying that unless a position seems good to them, it can’t be good with the Holy Spirit.

I want to close by leaving you with a quote from a man who was, without a doubt, not a part of the emergent conversation:

*The Reason Sinners Live*

Read the Ten Commandments, and pause at each one, and confess that you have broken it either in thought, or word, or deed. Remember that by a glance we may commit adultery, by a thought we may be guilty of murder, by a desire we may steal. Sin is any want of conformity to perfect holiness, and that want of conformity is justly chargeable upon every one of us. Yet the Lord does not, under the gospel dispensation, deal with us according to Law. He does not now sit on the throne of judgment, but He looks down upon us from the throne of grace. Not the iron rod, but the silver scepter, is held over us. The long-suffering of God rules the age, and Jesus the Mediator is the gracious Lord-lieutenant of the dispensation. Instead of destroying offending man from off the face of the earth, the Lord comes near to us in loving condescension, and pleads with us by His Spirit, saying, “You have sinned, but my Son has died. In him I am prepared to deal with you in a way of pure mercy and unmingled grace.”

O sinner, the fact that you are alive proves that God is not dealing with you according to strict justice, but in patient forbearance; every moment you live is another instance of omnipotent long-suffering. It is the sacrifice of Christ which arrests the axe of justice, which else must execute you. The barren tree is spared because the great Dresser of the vineyard, who bled on Calvary, intercedes and cries, “Let it alone this year also.” O my hearer, it is through the shedding of the blood and the mediatorial reign of the Lord Jesus that you are at this moment on praying ground and pleading terms with God! Apart from the blood of atonement you would now be past hope, shut up for ever in the place of doom. But see how the great Father bears with you! He stands prepared to hear your prayer, to accept your confession of sin, to honor your faith, and to save you from your sin through the sacrifice of his dear Son. — CHARLES SPURGEON

Blessings,

Pastor Richard

**Thank you Kevin Pagan for the Leadership Journal link and Spurgeon quote.