I had Phil Robertson preach for me when I pastored in Louisiana. He’s genuine and down to earth. He, his wife, and entourage stayed until 1:00 AM signing autographs and talking with people. After everyone else left He and I visited for about an hour. The man is on a mission to preach the gospel. He’s also someone who thinks. He has a lot of opinions. He is one who is outspoken with his wide range of opinions. The night he spoke for me he covered topics ranging from duck conservation, duck call styles, hunting methods, homosexuality, manhood, alcohol, crawfish boils and the gospel. I loved his insight and candor, but I didn’t agree with everything he said. What mattered to me was that we agreed on the main thing, Jesus. He gave a compelling and convicting presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and several men were saved. I’m grateful he and his family have been given the opportunity to preach the same message he shared that night in Milton, Louisiana to millions of Americans.
The truth is, there are a lot of Phil Robertsons out there, I am one of them. Millions
of viewers and evangelical Christians agree with what he said, maybe not the
way he said it or the magazine he said it to (I find GQ to be an incredibly
immoral and offensive magazine), but none the less, millions believe
homosexuality is a sin. The Bible is very clear on what sin is and homosexuality is one of them. There a lot of us out there, and we are not going away, nor are we changing what we believe. As a result, things like this will
happen. We should not be surprised, it's happened before. It happened to Jesus, Peter,
Paul, and in one way or another over 2000 years to every disciple of Jesus that
radically seeks be light in a dark world.
Hollywood is a tough dark place for the Christian, but I’m proud of
people like Phil and his family who still give it a shot and use the avenue
that God gives them in Hollywood to tell people about him.
Certainly
this has caused pressure and stress on this family and on Phil himself. I hope Phil and his family will stick
together, trust in God, and continue to show grace and love through this while
at the same time not back down or compromise.
I want to encourage his fans who are outraged, like myself, to pray
for him and his family. I want to
encourage you also to keep the mission and message of the gospel at the
forefront of your discussion. Protest,
boycott, rant, or whatever, but don’t forget that Jesus called us to reach the
lost with His gospel. We should stand up
for what we believe in, be salt and light, don’t back down, but don’t be
unloving as you do. Use this event to
have friendly debates but do it with the purpose of winning the lost to
Christ. Don’t treat them the way Phil Robertson has been treated. Our mission is not to
bring a TV channel down because they messed with our favorite duck
hunter. Our mission is to build the
kingdom of God by making disciples (Matthew 28:16-20).
We
are told to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Both the truth we share and the way we share
it is important. You must do both, too
many do one without the other.
All of this has reminded me of something that Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” John 15:18
I close with this:
The Bible is also very clear on this: God loves sinners. God loved us all so much He sent His own Son Jesus to die for our sin and to free us from our sin. To forgive and save people who practice the same sins I do and people who also practice the sin of homosexuality. I think that's awesome. That no matter who you are or what you do, God loves you and Jesus can save you.
