Humility and a Gay wedding cake

What would I do if I was a baker and a gay couple asked me to bake a wedding cake for them?  That is not going to happen; I am not a very good cook.  My Ramein Noodle Venison Stew Surprise was described a “snasty” by my daughter.  What ever it means snasty is not good.  Not being a baker or cook I need to be careful about pronouncements of what a Christian baker ought to do.   Additionally, as far as I know no baker will answer to me for anything other than perhaps how much I like his or her pastries.  So I will attempt to keep from offering judgments on someone else’s servants.

However, I am disturbed by a development that has occurred within the Christian community as our faith and convictions come into contrast with the convictions of others in the marketplace and society as a whole.  I get an uneasy feeling when I hear Christian individuals or organizations asserting their rights, legal rights, artistic rights, civil rights, etc. etc.  My problem is that we assert and cling to our rights as if they are the most important possession we have.   We must not be flippant about our legal standing and the importance of our freedoms.   But I believe that this is the wrong hill to die on.  Let me offer my opinion on the matter. 

In a growingly divided, secular, and post Christian culture winning a victory for our rights as Christians on moral grounds will become less and less likely.    But it will continue to create a division across which it will become more and more difficult to bridge separation and share the Gospel.  The moment we frame the conflict in terms of our RIGHTS we have lost both the cultural battle (it is not an even playing field) and the opportunity to be a witness of the grace of Christ.

I make a habit of reading the Gospels frequently.  It is my practice to read them at least once a year.  While I am not a scholar I am amazed at how much or rather how little Jesus talks about asserting our rights.  He talks a great deal more about face slapping than rights demanding.  He also tended not to work within the political system to accomplish His ends.  Prior to His trial you can count on one hand all of Jesus’ comments about political leaders and you will not need all your fingers. 

Paul, who is very clear of the immorality of homosexual behavior, in Colossians 3 gives some good advice for those of us who are employed: Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.  Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.  Many early Christians were slaves to pagan masters.  As such they may have been required to do things they would rather not do.  But Paul calls for sincere service toward these heathen. If I imagine that everyone who walks through the door of my shop as my earthly master then I have to take a humble attitude toward him or her.

And don’t forget that God is smart enough to know our hearts.  Remember the case of Naaman the Leper who was healed.  As a follower of the one true God he had a dilemma.  In 2 Kings 5 we see: “In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.”  He (Elisha) said to him, “Go in peace.”  To bake a cake for a gay couple doesn’t mean that I endorse gay marriage any more than Naaman’s bowing in the Temple of Rimmon means that he worshiped that snasty pagan god. 

Jesus was a friend of sinners.  Tax collectors who betrayed God’s chosen people to women with promiscuous reputations Jesus was a friend of sinners.  Who has a better chance of having the conversation with the gay person who will face the moment of crisis? The person who says, “My religion will not let me work for you,” or the person who builds a relationship with them.  It has been my experience that gay people are some of the unhappiest people I have ever known.  They tend to be hurting deeply and I believe that pain can be an opportunity to share the love of Christ, but not if I have presented myself as in some way being superior.

We all must follow our own convictions, but it is my earnest opinion that a person marked by humble grace will have a better chance of speaking truth into the life of a sinner, than a person (no matter how correct they are) that demands their rights and their convictions be respected.