Here are my two cents regarding the Duck Dynasty situation. Specifically, how can this whole fiasco be approached from a missional perspective?
Appetizer
First of all, there are some things I like about Phil Robertson, the patriarch of Duck Dynasty. In no particular order:
- He played football back in the day. In fact, he was the starter in front of Terry Bradshaw in college!
- The man loves his family! This can be seen in the way that family forms a part of his life and his Duck Dynasty business. Kudos!
- Phil loves Jesus. And his family does too. Here’s proof: the Duck Dynasty appearance on I Am Second.
- And, as pictured here, Phil has an amazing beard and so do all the other Duck Dynasty dudes! Ever since my dad introduced me to ZZ Top, I’ve been obsessed with beards. That’s why I love having one myself!
Main Dish
Despite all that I like about Phil, I wasn’t too keen on his comments in a recent interview with the magazine GQ. Just to be clear, I believe that homosexual acts are not within the parameters set by God in the Bible. The clearest place to see this, in my opinion, is Romans 1.18-31. There Paul says that because of our rebelliousness, God gave us over to our lusts. And we have pursued them like crazy! But none of that was what God wanted; it was us giving into our own lusts. So, don’t get anything twisted — I think the Bible states that homosexual acts are outside of God’s design for human behavior.
But the Bible is even clearer about something else. Click here and read 1 Corinthians 5.9-13. Actually click that link and read the text for yourself before continuing. I can wait.
I want to present a few comments below.
v.9 — I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–
- Alright! So right from the get-go Paul is giving me carte blanche to distance myself from people who engage in sex acts that are outside of God’s original design. Got it.
v.10 — not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
- Hold on Paul! So you are saying that you aren’t telling us not to associate with people who are sinners? Why not? You imply that if we want to associate only with “holy” people then we’d have to leave this world. Well, isn’t that the goal anyway…”I’ll Fly Away”?
v.11 — But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
- Paul, I’m confused. Why would you not want us associating with a follower of Jesus (i.e., a brother or sister) who persists in behavior that doesn’t bring God glory? You go so far as to say that we should break fellowship with them! Are you crazy? They’re family. Shouldn’t we break fellowship with all those unsaved sinners and eat with the saved ones instead?
vv.12-13 — What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
- I think I understand you now Paul. You’re saying that we shouldn’t judge those on the outside by our standards of behavior because they have yet to submit to them, right? Why would folks who don’t follow Jesus give a rip about how best to follow him? I think I’m getting it now Paul. We followers of Jesus are to hold one another accountable, always with grace and always in love, and we’re to leave all the judgment of those who don’t follow Jesus yet to God. Cool! You convinced me!
Back to reality now — I’m not sure how, but Christians, myself included, have missed this passage for centuries. Paul really couldn’t be clearer here. It’s not our duty as followers of Jesus to go around pointing out bad behavior everywhere we see it. Let’s get real simple here: That’s not what Jesus did, that’s not what Paul wrote about, so why are we doing it?
To make matters worse, this judgmental attitude is killing our ability to be a witness in our world. We must develop the habits of Jesus, you know, the guy who was known as “friend of sinners.” Why is this important?
- It’s not natural. Apparently human nature dictates that we group ourselves together according to beliefs, external features, etc. and then judge those with different beliefs, different external features, etc. This is the world of the flesh, to use biblical language. However, if we’re to be people who are born of the Spirit, then we need to live counter to our flesh, since what the Spirit desires is almost always contrary to what the flesh desires (Galatians 5.17). So we’ve got to stop judging those on the outside!
- It’s not fair. Like I mentioned briefly already, it’s not fair to judge someone according to a standard that they haven’t submitted to. Of course people who make movies are going to violate Christian morals. Of course people are going to be dishonest with their money. Of course people are going to fill their sexual dance card in the way that pleases them the most. Now if these same people follow Jesus, then we can have a different conversation, in grace and love, of course. But until then, we need to take Paul’s advice and leave their judgment to God alone!
- It’s not missional. Here’s the real kicker: judging people who don’t follow Jesus yet is not helping us fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28.19-20) at all. In fact, it’s doing just the opposite. Want proof? A 2007 survey found that 87% of young, non-Christians found followers of Jesus to be judgmental. Wanna guess what their top descriptor of us was? You got it — judgmental. How are we going to reach the mission field called America if almost everyone out there thinks that we’re judgmental? I’m not sure, but I know this: It’s going to be hard. Friends, we must stop judging people who don’t follow Jesus if we want to see them come to the life-giving salvation that we’ve experienced.
Dessert
So I think that Phil Robertson was wrong for judging the behavior of those who do not follow Jesus yet. Phil has every right to say what he wants, that’s free speech. But A&E has every right to suspend him too, that’s their right as an employer.
I recently heard someone whom I greatly respect say the following: “I will flippantly refer to the sin of hatred and bigotry toward gay people; but I will never be flippant about the sin of homosexual acts.” You can see in the way this man thinks that he has a missional heart. He longs to see the love of Jesus invade everyone’s life and wants to remove unnecessary walls in order to do so.
The largest “unnecessary wall” that we must remove is our judgment on those who do not yet follow Jesus. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
What do you think? Am I way off base? Let me know in the comments below (but keep it civil)!