Sunday Message- To refuse or not to refuse

This week a news story was shared by a friend on FB, about a woman tax consultant in Indiana who told a lesbian couple she had filed taxes for the last 4 years she would no longer do it- because they had gotten married in the past year, and now she considered it offensive to her Christian faith.  I took some time to consider this, and the related stories of the Kentucky state official who refused to do LGBT marriage licences and of course the whole cake decorating deal.

And I decided I needed to look at this from a new point of view.  Last week, I heard Dennis Miller mention he didn't want a WWJD band- he wanted a WDJD band- What DID Jesus Do.  I have adopted that as a new tool in studying, so I prayed that God would show me the WDJD in these cases.

And God likes it when you use His tools.  I got a lot of responses.


The first place He brought to my mind was the woman at the well in Samaria.  This was A) a woman, which Jesus by Jewish law shouldn't have been talking to.  B) she was a shamed woman, having gone through husbands like Phyllis Diller without the humor.  C), she was a Samaritan.  Any of the three would have sent the Pharisees into apoplexy, and it very nearly did the Apostles when they arrived.  And He didn't start out preaching- He asked for a simple drink of water.  He didn't question her on race, religion, or sexual orientation.

That the Apostles had the reaction when they did begs the question- how many times did THEY send someone away on some pretext, only to have Jesus say, "Bring them here, and deny them not"?

Then, He reminded me of Paul- he was a tent maker.  He made tents to give himself a living in every city he visited.  Does Acts ever say, "He made tents for the Brethren"?  He made tents in Corinth, the archetypal sinful seaport.  You suppose he ever asked if the tent was going to be used at some pagan festival?

I think one reason God let me "have it", so to speak, on this request was something I myself need to remember- and a lot of these others do too.  That is:  Your JOB is NOT your MINISTRY (unless, of course, you are IN the ministry).  Your ministry AT your job is to LIVE your faith.  Where I have MY problem is, once I get past my morning "ritual" of prayer, reading, and listening to Jeremiah, Beg, and Swindoll, it's 'time to relax' and what I learn fails to translate over.

What our three examples have is a different problem, and we'll get back to them in a bit.

Next came the example of "food sacrificed to idols" from 1 Corinthians.  Here we begin to see that it is a matter of maturity.  Some people have a problem facing tasks like these once they become Christians, some don't.  I'll expand on this a little bit more later.

Then, once again back to Paul, who "withstood Peter to his face" on the subject of acting one way in front of one group, and another way in front of another.  Lesson: You TREAT EVERYONE THE SAME.

I have one final example God gave me, but first I want to look at the three jobs.  First, the cake making.  The bakers claimed they didn't want to celebrate sin- and felt making the cake was doing so.  This is where the food sacrificed to idols comes in.  To one Christian, you are just doing your job.  If you didn't come to the wedding and eat some of the cake, you probably haven't "celebrated the lifestyle".  To another, it might depend on the message they request.  Here's the thing, though- this is a world where sin and sinners are an established fact.  Being "in the world but not of it" doesn't mean you get to ACT like it doesn't exist.  If you are in business to serve the public, you will serve people who do not think the same as you.  If you can handle that, good on you.  If not, then maybe instead of being a "public" business, you should limit your baking to just those in the Church.  But which denomination?  If I was a member of a UMC church when we started baking, and have a circle of fellows in the church that patronize us, and then we move to an SBC church, do we tear up the old list and only serve the new church?  What if my customer attends the church, but isn't baptized, what then?  Once you start drawing lines, they get more numerous- and harder to defend.

So let's go to the example of the public official who refused to give out marriage licences.  Don't you think LGBT citizens' taxes help pay your salary?  If you don't feel you can serve the ENTIRE electorate according to the laws in place, you are in the wrong business and should resign.  But wait, you say, if I stay in my position, I can do this 'civil disobedience', and call attention to the issue- I can 'strike back' at the fallen morals of the world.


Here is where this last thing God shot my way comes in. "Civil disobedience'?  Jesus could have done that.  He certainly had the 'experts' to show him where and how to strike.  Simon (not Peter) wasn't called "the Zealot" because he was gung-ho.  He was a member of the Zealot Party- a group actively seeking ways to turn the Romans out of Judea.  And Judas was surnamed Iscariot because his father was a member of an even more radical anti-Roman group, the Iscarii.  And how much guerrilla type actions did Jesus have His Apostles do?


Zero.  Zip. Nada.

So my thought to the civil servant- whether Christian or just opinionated?  If you cannot do your job by the letter of the law- resign.  Stop wasting the public dime, and/or God's time.

Which brings us to the last part- the tax preparer and the lesbian couple.  I didn't read the story, though I had a few questions.  Was her conversion a recent one, too?  How did she rationalize serving them the OTHER four years?  Were they not 'official lesbians' until they married?

I didn't read it to find out because it DOESN'T MATTER.  Peter and James taught defiance IF the government was telling you to do something that wasn't WDJD.  Paul told you to obey the king, God put him there for a reason.

Tax preparation is not a SALVATIONAL ISSUE.  Refusing them the right to come into a public business and do what they reasonably expect is not good versus evil, it is one of two things:

1- You are immature and do not see how this goes against Jesus' command to love your enemies;
or 2- Your hate is showing.  You put all Christians in a bad light.

Your job is not your ministry.  Your LIFE is.  And I'm beginning to think that these are just a lot of glittering fails.  THAT SAID-  this is an occasion to keep that "food sacrificed to idols" passage in mind.  Not everyone is at the same point of spiritual development, and I can see in the cake deal, and even the goverment deal, where it might be crossing a line.  And it is true, we need to be cognizant of weaker brothers.  But get out of your mirror and see your stand as those you should hope to reach see it.