“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3, ESV).
This is the first of the Ten Commandments, and it remains a foundational element of true religion. The New Testament declares the way in which we may come into a right relationship with God—the one true and Triune God—but it does nothing to negate the calling that God’s people serve Him alone. True faith involves loyalty, and the test of loyalty may vary with the shifting ways of history…but the one true God remains the same.
In the contemporary west, cultural trends have brought new temptations to compromise our loyalty, and Christians must choose. We must choose individually, and we must choose as churches and movements and institutions, to remain faithful to the God of our salvation. The conflict is particularly acute for Christian institutions that straddle the spheres of the church and society, such as Christian colleges. Schools, such as Azusa Pacific University, must decide between their Christian confession and the paganizing force of the sexual revolution.
The sexual revolution may, in fact, be a religion, with the unstated but pervasive assumption of the self as god. But, even if it is not, it strikes fundamentally against devotion to the true God, and fits more comfortably into a pagan paradigm. Observe a leading recent article at the secular Religion News Service, “Meet the United Methodist pastor featured on HBO’s drag reality show ‘We’re Here’”. What is the theology that allows this Methodist minister, Craig Duke, to justify promoting immorality and denying God’s good design for men and women?
After all, this is not simply a case of a Christian putting God out of mind and walking into temptation. Duke, in fact, puts his abomination in an explicitly religious frame—but one directly opposed to the religious frame provided by Scripture. “It was an incredibly wonderful, refreshing, deepening, powerful spiritual experience”, Duke said. Spiritual? How so? The article doesn’t specifically say.
However, further on Duke even refers to his experience as “worshipful”. He says, “Any time there is a community of people that are willing to welcome other people, together with a community of affirming each other, helping each other rise to the occasion, and add to that a heartfelt care and love for one another, it has the trappings of a church”.
Not a Christian church. Yes, a Christian church absolutely should be characterized by love, but it must also be characterized by worship of the one true God. Vague, humanistic affection and affirmation is certainly not enough. Duke attests that God was present—and indeed, God is omnipresent—but that doesn’t make an activity honoring to Him.
In short, what appears to be missing from Duke’s theology is the holiness of God. The true God loves sinners, and therefore calls them to repent and be saved. The affirming god of the sexual revolution is really just a cheerleader for the supposedly divine self.
The word of confrontation was brought in by Duke himself. He attests, after consulting denominational officials, “There is nothing that I have done in my participation that can be brought up on any formal charges”. Maybe not before the ecclesiastical courts of the UMC. But his last words in the article are, “The truth is, God is always present.” Yes, He is. We are never hidden from the judge of all the universe. The Holy One sees, and His day of judgment will come.
But now is the day of salvation. Now is the opportunity for sinners to repent and be saved. Now is the time for the church to stand firm, to affirm that ‘we shall have no other gods.’ God alone is God, and God alone is to be our God.
Jesus is Lord.