What do you do if a sex club moves in next door?

A Modern Temple of Aphrodite

That was the circumstance faced by a Christian school in Nashville a few years ago.  A sex club purchased a building behind the school and began transitioning the space to meet their needs.  During the process the sex club attempted to identify itself as a church in order to use freedom of religion as a way to avoid eviction. Nevertheless the school was able to force the relocation of the sex club through the actions of the court.  We might stop here, happily with the view that the good guys won, and that the bad guys had to move on.  But that is a somewhat shallow victory.   

We need to remember that this is not the first time the church and a sex club came into conflict.  For example that conflict occurred in Corinth.  According to one report the temple of Aphrodite in Corinth was so expansive that it employed over 1,000 female companions.  But apparently some of those women working at and/or customers of the brothel came to become believers.  Paul writing to the Corinthians, “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (Emphasis added)

Perhaps in the church at Corinth were sex workers from Aphrodite’s temple.  Maybe one prostitute became a follower, found in the church a community of loving grace and acceptance, and went back to tell her friends about her new life.  We have no ideal of how all these sexually immoral people came to hear the gospel, or who witnessed to them.  But people like those at the Nashville sex club, became believers and became part of the Christian Church in Corinth.

While we can be glad when porn shops, sex clubs, strip clubs close their doors; we need to remember that is only a small victory.  Over the years of witness and ministry the gospel permeated Corinth and finally the Temple of Aphrodite closed.  Not because a court ruling, but because the gospel changed the hearts and the culture of the Corinthians.  It is a good thing to remember that the best defense is a strong offense.  When the church appeals to the courts the actions of the state is only a defensive measure.  It may protect the church property and community propriety, but it can never call a sinner to repentance, nor will it ever love the broken and wounded.  The offensive game plan of the church is evangelism and discipleship the one to one witness of a changed life that will eventually reach into the darkest places with the Gospel.  And the Gospel is the only thing that will really change the world. 

The challenge is how would we react to having strippers, hookers, gigolos, in our church?  Can we love people with a troubled past with the grace of Christ?  I am really happy that the sex club closed.  But heaven would rejoice if one of the members repented.  Let us not be satisfied with a shallow victory.

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2015/04/24/nashville-sex-club-church/