Dr. Gordon Hugenberger

Senior Minister

Park Street Church; Boston, MA

Park Street Church Pulpit

29 April 2004

Dr. Hugenberger,

Having been blessed by the life and sermons of C.H. Spurgeon it goes without saying I like the name of your church. Close anyway. I am also blessed the Lord has a witness in that area who loves God’s truth and desires to see lives changed in Him.

I’ve just recently become aware of your church and website. Based upon your Personal Statement of Faith contained in the five subsections it would appear we have a lot in common including your obvious love for the Lord and His word. I have read a fair amount of what is posted on www.parkstreet.org and thought I would accept your invitation under “NOTE TO READER.” I have never nor do I now claim to be God’s earthly repository for all truth but like you I love His word and am open to correction. I take pause to say there is so much to which I stipulate whole-heartedly and therefore will not warrant my commenting. I appreciate the kind and gentle way in which you have presented your views.

Black on white when not penned by a prolific writer places the penman at a distinct disadvantage to communicate kind inflection and grace. Not being what I like in a writer I ask that if you read what I have written and sense I am sounding less than kind and loving, presume upon my inabilities and not my heart or intentions. From what I have read thus far I get the impression you are a man of love and grace. With that said, I have some thoughts and questions regarding your February 6, 2004 “First Draft” on ISSUES RELATED TO HOMOSEXUALITY AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.

In your “Dear Puzzled” response-1: I must admit I was somewhat taken aback and will follow up personally with some of the ministries mentioned under the broad stroke of your inclusive brush. If what you say is true concerning the convictions of mainstream Evangelicalism in our country I fear we are considerably worse off than I realized. I pray, to no embarrassment for you, that you are mistaken in your assessment about their “official documents or writings” as “NOT [rejecting] homosexual orientation” even though they do view such practice as a “departure from the will of God.”

At the moment I have to say my understanding is that God is equally concerned about the orientation of homosexuality as He is the practice, unless your usage of the word “orientation” is one of which I am unfamiliar. Defining words for common understanding is important but you have written enough beyond the mere word that maybe we shouldn’t halt there.

There are three basic matters that concern me regarding your position on this particular subject:

First, do we really want to go beyond the word and tell people they are something that God says they used to be (if that is truly the case) and from which they have been washed? (1 Cor. 6:11) In particular I refer to your statement that “Park Street Church is blessed with many wonderful Christians who are now…homosexual.” (7) Earlier you speak of “our homosexual brothers and sisters.”(4) You quoted a part of 1 Cor. 6:11: “And that is what some of you were” or καὶ ταῦτά τινες ἦτε. [1] You recognize of course that ἦτε is a verb (indicative, impf, act.) communicating something quite different from your statement. It stretches the language and the imagination to think of Paul speaking of wonderful, homosexual Christian brothers and sisters in churches where he ministered. The Lord’s community has undoubtedly many who “were” homosexuals but now have been what the Spirit spells out with the next three verbs (all indicative, aorist, mid) i.e. washed, sanctified and justified. Your statement seems to go beyond the Word. May I say I am not aware of having any homosexual brothers or sisters and to borrow a modern phrase I believe the apostle Paul would turn over in his grave at such postulation.

Secondly, your emphasis on orientation vs. not practicing. I’m guessing this reasoning is based on Galatians 5:21 and the last half of Romans 7 which would make for a nice discussion sometime. It is worthwhile however to consider more of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount about which you made reference. (6) Beginning with Matt. 5:20 Jesus is clear that “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven”. A scribe or Pharisee who was endeavoring to keep the law would certainly have avoided practicing homosexuality or would have made a strong effort. What then, would surpass their “righteousness”? Would it not be dependence upon the Lord while refraining from even thought-life homosexuality and its orientation? We observe that what Jesus was teaching is more than just do ‘n don’t. He emphasized there must be a mind change, repentance, in fact a rebirth from above so that we have a new nature. Like you I am still tenting in sinful flesh, but I don’t think like a fornicator; I am neither a Christian-oriented fornicator nor a fornicating-oriented Christian who has simply decided to deny myself. At the same time I don’t go to beaches where women are scantily clad where I could more easily stumble. Like Billy Graham I have a rule not to be alone with women other than my wife. There is struggling, but that is not what I am (Rom. 7:20). I want to be above reproach and employ wisdom, but heterosexual adultery is not my orientation. I believe we must let our congregations know that what goes on in the mind is telling and of great importance. Fornication and adultery are outside of the will of God, but heterosexual thoughts and acts are not contrary to His will in the right context. Homosexuality whether in thought or practice has no righteous context under any circumstance. Heterosexuality is a God-given orientation, homosexuality is not. Paul’s word for it is παρὰ φύσιν, that is, unnatural. Would it be acceptable to speak in terms of Park Street Church being ‘blessed with Christian child molesters, wife-beaters or murderers’? Not practicing, of course, but “Christians” who are oriented in those ways, but struggling and wanting to change?

True regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit reorients the mind as well as behavior. Paul wrote, “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds”. “Καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε. . . νυνὶ δε!” [2] (Col. 1:21-22). Alienation and hostility toward God is not just resident in evil deeds, but in the mind as well. Paul speaks of these same partners – flesh and mind – in Ephesians 2:3.

You made reference to 2 Cor. 5:17 and said that what Paul is communicating about being a new creature in Christ “[means] that we can change in any way God wants”. What Paul actually said is that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature”. Καινὴ [3] is an adjective describing what kind of κτίσις [4] he is and where that has taken place - ἐν Χριστῷ [5]. The “old things” like homosexuality have “passed away”. There are no homosexuals in Christ Jesus. In fact, Paul wrote he was “conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted” (1 Cor. 4:4). Paul nowhere called himself a persecutor, a killer, adulterer, a hypocrite or anything like that after his conversion. “Wretched man” yes, but he was circumcised by the Spirit of God from the old Saul (Col. 2”11).

There is so much more to address, but in the interest and consideration of your time I’ll hurry along to a third point – implied, but not explicit – in your response to Puzzled. This concerns the church being the church. The εκκλησία [6] are the Lord-ians, the Lord-people, the called-out ones who gather together for worship, praise, hearing of the word, prayer, etc. I ask more rhetorically than anything, but where and when did the church assume authority to invite lost souls into the gathering of the saints? If we are truly worshipping the Lord in the Spirit why would the unregenerate want to attend anyway? Our Savior commissioned us to go into the world and invite them to Christ and proclaim the kingdom, but… invite the lost into the worship assembly?

Paul, when speaking of church order directed things to be done decently and orderly so that when the “church assembles together… and ungifted men or unbelievers enter… “here’s what it should be like. He continues, “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you” (1 Cor. 14:23-25). When is the last time you or I have experienced worship going on and an unbeliever walks in, falls on their face and exclaims “Of a truth God is in this place”? Unbelievers may well come, but is clearly not the anticipated norm. Church is what we are individually and when assembled, together we are the church. When assembled we have come together for purposed outlined in Holy Writ, none of which is for evangelism. When Paul was at Troas, his preaching (or rather, διελέγετο [7]) was basically incidental to the purpose for which the disciples had gathered.

I am struck by the popularity of doing wrong that right may hopefully come from it and making the gathering of the saints into a den of all sorts of things. I love Billy Graham and have been in his great crusades, but Dr. Graham is not a pastor, yet the church is adapting the Billy Graham crusade paradigm. The church today is virtually becoming a so-called “Christian Center” and even more seriously a “seeker-sensitive” something-or-other. Unlike the pattern (Acts 2:41-47) we are more willing to do the adding to our numbers based upon our own reasoning rather than waiting upon the Lord to do the adding of those being saved.

Isn’t that just like us though? We’re not willing to follow the Lord in His suffering so much (we’d rather sue), but are willing to consider sickness and disease a “cross” to bear which He did not show us to do! We are more willing to turn our gatherings into pep rallies with entertainment in the name of worship, yet not willing to take time for the Eucharist every gathering! We are more inclined to invite lost people into our worship services, but not so willing to go to our neighbors and on out into the highways and byways to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified!

I’m sure you’re acquainted with the Downgrade Controversy of Spurgeon’s day. It has yet to surface as much of a controversy, but I believe the church is itself suffering a downgrade, even a degrading episode. It is being downgraded into an entertainment experience and a social center for anything and everything we think should be allowed. ‘We gotta get the people in’ is the resounding cry. So we willingly water down the church, unwilling to exercise church discipline, unwilling to purge out the old leaven that the church might be a holy lump unto God. The church, although they cannot do it, too often are tragically too willing to make τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Θεου [8] into another court of the Gentiles.

God did not allow Noah to use his best judgment in building the ark. God have Moses no leeway in the design of the tabernacle. Yet there is a profuse adoption into the church of whatever and whenever leadership “senses the leading of the Lord” without regard to the pattern.

My final point for now is a question. Is there never a time for a pastor or a church to turn a deaf ear to silliness and such questioning as, “why” there is not an “openness to various point view about the ethics of homosexuality”? You remember that Nehemiah would not entertain the distraction of Sanballat and Tobiah when they just wanted to talk. He responded to them once knowing what was behind it all, but subsequently as they continued their efforts another five or six times Nehemiah would not waste his time to even issue a statement. As concerns the church within the church we seek wisdom among the redeemed no matter who we are (Acts 15). Could it be to some degree questions arise such as these because the church and “mainstream Evangelicalism in America today” is not sounding a clear trumpet? Is it possible that one reason just might be we are producing an “indistinct sound” both to the world and to our congregations?

Would you and I not wonder about the clarity of our lives and moral standards if, as pastors, we had women attending our church coming up to us, even one time, asking if we would consider dating someone other than our own wife? The point is, some questions should not even be asked and we should be insulted by the mere suggestions. As overseers of the church of God we must lead down the center of the Highway of Holiness – in thought, mind, intention, orientation and deed while letting it be known” if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).

If you made it this far I appreciate you having done so. If nothing else it is helpful to me and I hope it is evident that I have a great love for, but grave concerns about the church in America. I am all too aware that even a little leaven can leaven the whole lump. But we are comforted that in the final analysis the gates of Hades will not and cannot prevail against the beloved church.

In Him Who Loves Us,

Michael E. Dixon

Seaport Tabernacle

www.seaportchurch.com

[2] “And you then… but now”

[3] “new” he is a new

[4] “creation”

[5] “in Christ”

[6] “church” lit. called out ones

[7] dielegeto from which we get dialogue

[8] “the naos of God” or, the holy place, the temple of God