Bible Gateway : LUKE 3:15-22;
As a rookie preacher, I decided to preach through the lectionary for the first year or two in my first pastorate. I usually choose one text to preach from each week. Preaching the lectionary has kept me from wondering what to preach each week and has been a great time saver!

Last Sunday I preached on Luke 3:15-22, Luke's telling of the baptism of Jesus. Verses 19 and 20 have stuck with me all week long. In our postmodern times many people are wrestling with the question of sexuality and especially sex before/outside of marriage. In light of these discussions I have found John's rebuke of Herod especially challenging.

Why did John feel compelled to rebuke Herod on this issue? Many in the emerging church would say that we should not judge people on these issues. Yet John said something! He said something that led to his being jailed and eventually executed.

I am not saying that we should sit in judgement of those who come to our churches. We are all sinners and all sins are equal in God's sight. One of my churches has a young woman attending who is currently living with her man but not married. They also have a child. Some in our community see this as scandalous and she should not feel welcome at our church. I think we must welcome her! God is drawing her to himself! But will there come a point and time when her moral choices must be challenged by the church because they are not in line with the gospel? Do most of these "challenges" result from a modernist, middle-class American family values orientation? Or do they come from a growing relationship with a gracious, holy, loving, righteous Heavenly Father?

Jesus welcomed sinners. Jesus showed mercy to the woman caught in adultery. He did not condemn her. Yet he did say, "go now and leave your life of sin." What is the postmodern church called to be and do in relation to sin and the people (which is all of us!) who are entangled in it?