Fellowship Bible Church
Thinking Right About What Is Going Wrong Series
“God and Homosexuality”
08.30.2015
Dr. Crawford W. Loritts, Jr.
TEXT: I Corinthians 6:9-11
If you are visiting with us, you have come to the second installment of about five messages that we have
entitled, “Thinking Right About What’s Going Wrong.” Just to rerun a little bit here, every approach to life is
based upon a set of presuppositions. Christians get themselves into trouble and we get ourselves into trouble
when we bifurcate and compartmentalize our lives. “This is my Bible time,” and here are the issues in the
culture. We do not put “these” under “this.” So, in order to really understand where we are going with this
series, this is just not some little running commentary about the issues in society. We have decided to
approach this from how kingdom people think, how do decidedly, biblically frame-worked people, think about
the issues that confront us.
I can get on a bit of a hobby horse, but this will take us to the wrong place. One of my deepest angst is and
fears over the last twenty years of watching Christians engage the culture is that we engage the culture far too
much by clichés, by what our favorite other preacher says, by what our favorite magazine says, and this kind of
thing. We parrot those terms without pouring it through a grid of our own decidedly biblical framework; and
that means everything. So, as a result, you have Christians who are hostile and those who are so far on this
side and the cross gets lost and all of that. So, it is our approach in this series to think in terms of framework.
That is the reason why last week the entire message was, “How Do Kingdom People Think?” How do we
think? We have to decide how to think. That sounds weird, but you have to decide how to think and what is
that framework. We believe that God exists, and He has revealed Himself in 66 books of the Bible and the
Bible is not good advice to guide us in life. The Bible is the standard by and through which we live all of our
lives and all of the issues of life and all that takes place in life is seen from that perspective. So, that is where
we are going.
Today, I am going to talk about homosexuality. What does God think about homosexuality? Now having said
that let me get back and say once again, good morning Fellowship. I just forgot to tell you something earlier
on that they will get me if I do not announce it. There is an exciting opportunity this May 2016. We are going
back to Israel. You all have heard me say this before. If I had a mountain of money, I would pay for every
Christian I know to go to Israel. I think every follower of Christ ought to go to Israel before they die and go to
heaven so you can read your Bible in high definition. It is extraordinary. If you have been thinking about that
and wondering about it, this would be a great opportunity. I do not know if there is a better investment in
terms of your own walk with the LORD and biblical framework than to come and join us. You can call the
church office. Just ask for Bob Roland’s office and they will take it from there.
I do need to acknowledge something, and normally I do not say the kind of thing that I am feeling right now. I
have a cold and I cannot hear. I do not even know how loud I am talking this morning right. My wife was in
the first service, and we had a little code thing. She was over there, and if I needed to turn the volume up, she
was going to go like this; and to turn it down, she was going to go like that. She is not here in this service, so
you all just fall asleep and we will see what happens here.
Father, thank You for the grace of God. Thank You for Your love and mercy. Thank You for the fact that You
have us alive at this moment in history. This is an exciting time, Father, because you have placed us here. We
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are not here to bemoan the circumstances of society. We are not here, LORD, to beat up on people, but we are
here to represent the gospel and what the gospel has to say during our journey down here. So, Father, I pray
that You will speak to our hearts. LORD Jesus, we pray for gospel balance. We pray, LORD, for insight. We
pray that You will direct us. We need You. These folks do not need to my miscellaneous ramblings about
anything, but Father You have answers that You want us to deliver in the name of Jesus during this time. So,
help us we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.
If you have a Bible, I want you to meet me in I Corinthians chapter 6. I chose this as an anchor text because of
an interesting tension that this text has that in a way represents the delightful tension we ought to have when
we think about the issue of homosexuality, the LGBT community, and all of the other issues that flow out of
that. Listen to what the apostle Paul says here in I Corinthians, beginning at verse 9. He says,
“
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived:
neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you.
But you were washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Do you see the delightful tension here? Now if you do these things, continue to do them, you are not going to
inherit the kingdom of God; but the good news is, “such were some of you.” As I approach this issue today, I
am well aware of the fact that some of you are not going to like how I approach this today. There are some
here, perhaps, who want me to waive a flag and be a little bit more confrontational about this issue to rail on
our country and where we are going morally and that kind of thing. Certainly, we can do that. There are
prophetic words about that, but I am not going to go there today. That is not going to be my demeanor. God
has done a work in my heart and life over the last seven, eight, and nine years as I have read and studied. I
have not only just read and studied this issue, but friends of mine have, and others, studied it as well, and I
have interacted with those who are part of the lesbian and gay community. Seeing where we have come from
has forced me to go back to the Scriptures and find out what the Bible actually says about all of these issues.
Let me tell you a little story. I started not to share this, but I will. There is a bank that we do business with,
and some time ago I was at the bank and I went to the teller. There was a new teller there; and as I went to
this young man, let’s just put it this way, he had exaggerated mannerisms. He was obviously in the gay
community, and I just have to be transparent with you. I thought I did not have this issue, but when I saw him,
I just remembered the conversation in my head. I am going, “Come on, man. Really, does it have to be all of
this? What is up with this? Why do you have to exaggerate?” I am thinking all of this and just kind of giving
him my stuff and leave. This conversation is going on in my head, and maybe you all are not like that. I get in
my car and I am still thinking, “Come on. Really? Seriously?” I will never forget this. Almost immediately, and
this was unreal. It was like “that,” that tears began to fill my eyes. I felt something before I thought it
through. It was as if the Holy Spirit said to me, “Crawford, who do you think you are? Just who do you think
you are?” He is created in the image of God and he deserves to be treated with dignity, respect, and love.
So, as we approach these issues, I want to warn us of something. Don't make the denunciation your
demeanor. This is a growing segment in our society. I don't even need to say that. In fact, no one knows how
fast it is growing. I was on the internet this past week and the numbers and stats are flying all over the place.
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At the high end, the latest Gallup poll says that it is somewhere in the low 20s or 22 to 23 percent of the
population of the United States would identify themselves as a member of the LGBT community. That is a
little high. Other polls are down to 5 or 6 percent; who knows. Here is the issue. Here is the issue. Whatever
the percentages may be, the influence is picking up a tidal wave. It is moving and it is dominating our culture
and it is growing. Some of the most well-known people and prominent people in our culture have identified
themselves as gay or lesbian. Robin Roberts, and I am not going to say anything here, but she is open about
that. Anderson Cooper is open about his sexuality, and I could name other names. It is just obvious. It has
become mainstream. This is who we are. This is what we are all about. You have to embrace us, like us. This
is the norm.
What makes this message today a little bit of an “ouchy” is that all of us in here, including yours truly, have
friends, family members, associates, and people that we love deeply who identify themselves as part of the
gay and lesbian community, people that we know. Some of you would not bring some of your loved ones here
today because you are afraid of what I was going to say that might alienate them or hurt them or make it hard
for you to interact with them. So, that is where we all live. That is where we all live. What does God have to
say about this issue that demands insight? It is screaming to us. Too often, we codify our feelings and we
make how we “feel” about our relationships and how we “feel” about our gay friends and how we “feel” they
should be treated. We make a conclusion about that and then we make a foray into the Bible to see if we can
make the Bible say how we think it should say and how we feel about that; but what does it actually say?
FIVE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS
What does the Bible actually say? I want to speak to five fundamental questions. In a sense, I have been
studying this thing for about two years, but I want to speak to five fundamental questions. Don't get me
wrong, because I hate to hear speakers say the “six insights” or the “seven things;” and there are probably
more than six or seven. However, these are five fundamental questions that I think the issue from a biblical
perspective needs to be addressed.
1.
Is Homosexuality Wrong? (Genesis 19).
The first question is this, the obvious one, so let’s get it out there. Is homosexuality wrong? Is it wrong? I do
not feel like it is wrong. How could it be wrong when this person is so nice that I know and is it wrong? Is it
wrong? Hang in there with me, because some of you are not going to like what I am going to say here.
Obviously, it is wrong, and I will say that upfront to relieve the tension and not jam my inbox. There are only,
and listen to me, there are only a handful of passages in the Bible that speak directly to homosexuality. There
is only a handful. When I say handful; specifically, there are only five passages in the entire Bible that speak to
homosexuality – only five.
Now you have to understand this. The Bible has a lot more to say about lying. It has a lot more to say about
heterosexual unfaithfulness. It has a lot more to say about money and the misuse of it. It has a lot more to
say about pride. It has a lot more to say about a number of other things by sheer number of verses and
passages than it does about homosexuality. The message from that is simply this, and I want you to hear me
on this. The Bible is not fixated on homosexuality. The Bible is not fixated on homosexuality. It is not what
the Bible is all about. Now do not hear and do not blink out on me here. Don't say that Crawford said that
somehow or another it is a minor issue. No, because I am getting ready to change that in a second here; but
what I am trying to say to you is this – the Bible proportionately puts the sin where it needs to be placed. You
got out of your car and you looked at the other man’s wife and lusted after her as you walked in these front
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doors than somebody is in the gay community, excuse my frankness there, but that is the whole emphasis
here.
Now having said that, what the Bible does say, what these five passages do say, about homosexuality is
extraordinarily clear. It is extraordinarily clear. There is no room to question what is meant in these texts. If
you believe in the literal, historical, grammatical interpretation of the Scriptures, with these five passages
there is no equivocation. There is no indirectness here. It is very, very clear. Let me just click off and
summarize these five passages, and I do not have time to read all of the text.
1.
Genesis 19.
It is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The message there is that God takes sexual sin very
seriously. He takes it very seriously. Technically, they would not repent and they refused. They kept
coming after the men, and it was just rampant. So, God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah.
2.
Leviticus 18, 19.
The second passages are in Leviticus chapters 18 and 19. In those two passages, there is the
meticulous prohibition of all homosexual acts, including consensual homosexual activity – including
homosexual activity.
3.
Romans 1:18-32
The third passage is in Romans 1:18-32. This is one in which the gay community would interrupt in a
different way. I will just say it and explain it. In Romans 1:18-32, homosexuality is called “unnatural.”
So, if you have ever listened to some of the debates on this text and what the Bible says about
homosexuality, they will camp on this text and say, “Well, of course, but what I am doing is natural. I
have no desire for the opposite sex. I have same-sex attraction. I was born this way. I have desires.
God made me this way. Because God made me this way, this is “natural” way for me to express that.”
The only problem is that they highjack the word “natural” out of its context, because he is not talking
about what feels natural to us. In context, he is talking about creative order. In other words, the fixed
way of things in creation. It is “unnatural” because male and female have been created, and this was
not a part of the fixed order. He is not talking about whether or not it “feels good” for me to do this or
it “feels natural” for me to have a sexual relationship with another man or another woman and that
kind of thing. He is talking about creative order. It is “unnatural” because God did not create that.
4.
I Corinthians 6:9-10.
The fourth passage is from I Corinthians 6:9-10, which we just read. The emphasis there is that
homosexual sin is serious, but it is not unique. That is the reason why it is listed with all of these other
sins. It is serious, but it is not unique. The continued practice of all sin is an indication that there is not
an authentic relationship with Christ. That is the point that Paul is underscoring there. If you keep
lying, and there is no guilt and no sense of repentance or remorse, it is an indication that you never did
have a relationship with Christ. So, it is with homosexuality. If you keep doing this, and there is no
repentance and there is no change, it is an indication that there is no relationship with Christ.
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5.
I Timothy 1:8-10.
Paul sort of says a similar thing in I Timothy 1:8-10, which is the fifth text. That is, homosexuality does
not conform to the lives Christians are now to lead. There is a whole growing segment of churches
that would essential believe a lot of what we believe except around sexuality. There is a whole
growing segment. What Paul says here is a contradiction in terms to say that you are a believer, a
follower of Christ, and even though you can give us all the doctrinal statements and lines of
agreement, but to practice homosexual behavior. It is inconsistent with the relationship with Christ.
So, the first question is this: Is Homosexuality Wrong? Well, the answer is “yes.” Now there are only five
texts. God is not fixated on homosexuality, but what He says about it is abundantly clear and that the answer
consistently, whether it is back in Old Testament in Genesis or whether it is over in I Timothy chapter 1,
consistently, the answer is that it is wrong. The behavior is wrong.
2.
Did God Make Me This Way? (Gen. 1:26-28)
This raises the second question, “Did God make me this way?” (Genesis 1:26-28). Did God make me this way?
You are going to be surprised, perhaps, at something that I say here, but I want to read Genesis chapter 1 and
go back to the very beginning. Genesis 1 beginning at verse 26-28 says,
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens
and over the livestock and over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
[here you have it]
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
[to be emphatic God says]
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them.
And God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it,
and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens
and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
You know, when you ask me, could someone be born gay, I might surprise you. Yeah. The difference is this,
and hear me on this, inclination is not identity. When the Bible speaks of identity, it is not talking about what
we “feel” we should be, but identity in the Bible is declarative.
What do you mean by that? It is outside of ourselves. It is not who I “feel” I want to be or the temptations
that I have or my bent toward certain behavior or my desires, no matter who strong they are. In the Bible,
identity is declarative. It is comes outside of us. God declared who we should be – male or female – and
made us that way. I would even say, parenthetically, from a spiritual component, this is also true in Romans 6
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from a spiritual point of view. Identity is always declarative. God speaks in terms of what He has declared us
to be and tells us that our behavior needs to match what He declares us to be. Romans 6 says, “We are in
Christ,” that “we are complete in Him,” and that “we are to reckon ourselves to be dead, indeed, to sin but
alive to righteousness.” Do we sin? Yes, but He says, no, your identity is this. So, you behave consistent with
what has been declared. This is a huge point. This is a huge point! If you miss this point, then you will allow
the culture to highjack us. It is not the strong urges and the strong feelings and the strong inclinations that I
have or the bents that I have. Can you be born with that? Yeah. It would not even surprise me if they found a
gene. I do not think we need to have that argument any longer. At a certain point, I think it is irrelevant.
Let me quote Sam Allberry. Sam Allberry is a pastor from the U.K. who struggles with same-sex attraction. He
has written a very helpful little book entitled, “Is God Anti-Gay?” I love this guy’s transparency and honesty.
He struggles with this. He has not yielded, but he struggles with it, and he has struggled with it his entire life.
Thank God he is a blessing to all of us here. Allberry makes this observation and he says,
“Desires for things God has forbidden are a reflection of how sin has distorted me,
not how God made me to be.”
We do not have a big enough appreciation of the devastation of sin in every aspect and area of our lives in
humanity – even to our desires. It is not just the actions. It is the proclivities. It is the bents. It is all of that
that has been affected by the fall. If you don't appreciate that, you will always be managing and massaging
behavior or changing what you see based upon how you feel or where you are.
When we say we are anything other than what God has declared us to be,
we are guilty of mistaken identity.
Yes, you have those desires. Don't deny it. I will talk about that a little later. Yes, they are fierce and are
powerful.
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Did God make me that way?
Is that what God said I am?
Is that my identity or is that my struggle?
Have I sanitized my struggle to make it my identity?
We are not what we are drawn to or what has happened to us. As painful as it might be, as painful as it might
be, we are what God intended us to be and what God is calling us to be. That is who we are.
3.
What About Gay Marriage? (Gen. 2:21-25)
Now all of that leads to the third question, and I suppose I have already answered this question, because
based upon these other two foundational things, then if you see clearly those five texts of Scriptures and what
God says clearly about homosexuality and then what He says about identity and who we are, then the issue of
gay marriage is almost a mute question. Let me raise it anyway, and I will just say a few things and then move
on.
What about gay marriage? Well, let’s look at the vision from Genesis chapter 2. It is consistent with
male/female motif and what He has created in the very beginning, the height of all of His creation, “male and
female.” Adam is alone and He brings Eve to him. Beginning at verse 21, it says,
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“So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man,
and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman
and He brought her to the man.
Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”
She shall be called ‘woman’ because she was taken out of man.
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother
and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh,
and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”
It would be very easy for me to highjack this text because this is rich with implications. The very nature of
marriage is anchored in sexuality, not in desire. The very nature of marriage is defined by “male and female.”
The very nature of marriage is defined by opposite sex. Please, I am not being lurid or perverse here. The
expression “becoming one flesh,” is not an indirect reference to genitalia and how men and women are
created for each other. I will just stop there.
I think there are five implications here.
1. The nature of marriage, number one, is the union of male and female. God takes a woman and
brings her to the man and establishes that.
2. It is for procreation and multiplication. Out of the sperm of a man uniting with the seed of a
woman new life grows. That is the order of creation.
3. It models and affirms roles. There are distinct roles from the very beginning that belong to
maleness and femaleness. That is to be modeled, which kisses the fourth one.
4. It models and affirms sexuality. The definition of sexuality is to be modeled from one
generation to the next.
5. Ultimately, it is a portrait, a holy portrait, the ultimate illustration in human history of what
intimacy with God looks like and what a redemptive relationship with the Person and work of
Jesus looks like. That is why He says in Ephesians chapter 5; it is like a picture of Christ’s
relationship with His church. I would argue if I had a little bit more time here, that the very
nature of maleness and femaleness coming together says something about the holiness of God.
4.
Can I Change? (II Cor. 12:7-10)
The fourth question is, “Can I Change?” Can I change? I am going to go to an interesting text, II Corinthians
chapter 12. Paul underscores his struggle with his “thorn in the flesh.” I know that some of us here have read
this many times, but I want you to listen to what Paul says here because I think it grabs a lot more of the heart
of the issue that we are talking about right now than some of us care to acknowledge or admit. II Corinthians
12 beginning at verse 7 says,
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelation,
a thorn was given me in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to harass me.
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Don't go pass those words – “to harass me.” We are not talking about your garden variety temptation here.
We are not talking about just a little subtle urge that I can manage. We are talking about a devastating need,
an issue, a messenger from Satan “to harass me,” to keep me from becoming conceited. God used it there
three times.
“I pleaded with the Lord about this,
that it should leave me.
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you.
My power is made perfect in weakness;
therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ,
then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions and calamities,
for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
I am so glad Paul did not identify his “thorn in the flesh.” Don't spend time trying to figure out what it is. It
could be anything. Again, and I do not mean to sound perverse, but it could be that Paul struggled with samesex attraction. We do not know. We absolutely do not know. By the way, he sought it three times and he had
apostolic authority. For him to ask God to do something three times and God says, “no,” is unbelievable. Paul
never, ever, ever got away from his moment by moment need to press into the grace of God for strength, to
fight this fight, whatever it was, inside of him! It was a struggle. Yet, he found hope. He did not yield to it. He
did not give in to it. He found hope in God-sustaining and conquering grace.
About a year or so ago, I read a book entitled, “Washed in Waiting,” by Wesley Hill. Wesley Hill struggles with
not just same-sex attraction, but he struggles with powerful urges to act on those attractions, let’s just say.
He has battled with this all the way through high school and college. He has given us a wonderful book. The
book is “Washed in Waiting.” He talks about his current struggle. I could not help but think of II Corinthians
chapter 12, how he says moment by moment he has to trust the grace of God to help him not to give in. He
talks about how hard it is and how painful it is.
You see, God can deliver us just like that if He wants to. That is true. That is the reason why, and you might
get on me about this, but this reparative therapy and all of these other things that have been tried, that onedimensional approach, God does not allows use that, because God does not always take these things away,
these urges away, these desires away. He does not always do that. What He does is He eclipses them by the
power of the cross and by the presence of Jesus who walks with us in the midst of that pressure and that
temptation and that pain and those urges and those desires. Don't look at me so strangely, because some of
you struggle with pornography. Some of you struggle with other issues and you know exactly what I am
talking about -- God keeping us and God helping us.
This week Tim and I were meeting with Bill Ibsen, talking about the series, and he made this observation. This
is a very important observation. He said that our biggest need is not to be delivered from a particular sin or
desire but to be reckoned as righteous. What Bill is not saying by that observation is that we should yield to
sin. What he is saying by that is, look, our greatest need is to be reckoned as righteous in Christ so we can tap
into the power of the risen Savior, to moment by moment deal with the issues in our lives. This is the reason
why, and listen to me church, this is the reason why I have had a change in my thinking over the last four to
five years.
Be very careful that we do not lose the gospel in our social engagements.
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You can win the war. You can win the culture war. You can win the issue. You can win the battle but still not
be transformed. Again, I am not saying do not engage in culture. We should engage in culture, but we have to
hold the cross high. Listen, the greatest need that our gay neighbors have, the greatest issue that they
struggle with is not their sexuality. Their greatest issue that they struggle with is their unbelief. Again, that is
the reason why God just gave five passages. Whatever the sin du jour may be, if you do not believe and turn
to Christ for His sufficiency, we will all go to hell. If we really believe that gay people could be transformed by
Christ, we would not talk about them in such dismissive and even hurtful ways. We would not let our
language and demeanor, like I was at the teller’s window, communicate a lack of value. We cannot change or
transform people. Only God can do that, but God is relentless in His love for us. I want you to hear me on
this. I want you to hear me on this.
God’s love is a transforming love.
It identifies with who we are,
but it does not allow us to stay where we are.
Hear me. God’s love in the Scripture demands change. God’s love in the Scriptures demand transformation. It
is not a pampering love. It is not a sentimental love. Yes, it is unconditional. Yes, it is totally accepting. You
will hear me say something in a second about this. It is all of that. It is all of that, but God’s love expresses
movement and energy toward deliverance and help and redemption and change and wholeness. We do not
help people when we affirm them in behavior that is not right without speaking up and sharing what is right!
All affirmation,
without the appropriate sharing of truth,
is to solidify people in disobedience and give them a false sense of hope.
5.
What About Love and Community? (Rom. 5:8)
The fifth question is this. What about love and community? What about love and community? The book of
Hosea in the Old Testament is a fascinating book. It is not even PG-13. It has a little R stuff in that book.
Hosea married a whore, and his marriage was a portrait of the pursuant love of God for the nation of Israel.
Despite her unfaithfulness to Hosea, despite the many one-night stands and lovers that she had, he did not
give up on her. He kept pursuing her and pursuing her and pursuing her. It is a picture of God’s unfailing
redemptive love that looks past where we are and the messes that we are in and sees what we could be. I
think in principle form and in crystal-logical form, in Romans 5:8, that is what Paul says. Listen to that verse.
Listen to it. Listen to it. This is astonishing to me. He says,
“God demonstrated His love toward us”
[Hear me on this! Hear me on this!]
“God demonstrated His love toward us,
in that while we were yet and still sinners”
God did that -- while we were sleeping in a bed next to a woman was not our wife, while we were doing nasty
things in Piedmont Park, and while we were yet in the mess of our sin,
“Christ died for us.”
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So, if there is love and community, it is attached to the gospel. In other words, the message of the gospel is
that God comes to get us, makes us right with Himself, and places us in community to help us to be whole.
That is the last piece that we as Christians struggle with. What does it mean when someone is redeemed from
a sordid lifestyle, from stuff that we find not so very tasteful, from backgrounds that do not line up to where
we live and the square footage that we have? What does that mean? Yet, that is the gospel. God comes to
get us! He makes us right with Himself and places us in community. Unconditional love means that despite
our condition, God loves us and is in constant pursuit of us, so that, and here you have it, we might change.
Remember God’s love means change.
God’s love means change.
He does not just come after us that we just sit down and have a wonderful talk, go to Starbuck’s, and He
weeps with us about, “I feel your pain. I know you are struggling with this sin. I know how devastating it is,
but I have heard you.” That is not God’s love. He might do that. He wants to change that in us! So, He comes
and pursues us so we might change our minds about ourselves, about our sin, and about God, and that we will
change as He works in us. You see, don't believe this lie that is repeatedly told to us by the culture. I hear
people around here believing that nonsense. It is astonishing how we believe this in the church. That is, if you
love me and accept me, you will endorse my behavior. Where in the world do you find that? We can accept
people for who they are, but we do not have to accept what they do. You can accept people for who they are,
but you do not have to accept what they do.
Rosaria Butterfield wrote this amazing book called, “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.” I am almost
done with it. She was talking about her struggle. She was a lesbian. In fact, she was head of women studies at
Syracuse University, a brilliant woman, one of the youngest department heads of a major research university
in the country. She talks about in the early chapters of her book her struggle with Christians and the problem
that she had with Christians. Listen to what she says. This “ouches” a little bit, but I am afraid it is true all too
often. Look at this on the screen. She says,
"Here's one of the deepest ways Christians scared me:
the lesbian community was home and home felt safe and secure.
The people I knew the best and cared about were in that community;
and finally, the lesbian community was accepting
and welcoming while the Christian community appeared exclusive, judgmental, scornful and afraid."
No need in getting defensive because there is a lot of truth what she said. As the book and story goes on,
things changed. I will tell her story and be done. Here you have Rosaria Butterfield, celebrated, brilliant,
being sought after all over the country. She is a genius. She would just make it her delight to mess up these
young Christians students coming into her required classes there and just dismantle their mindset and their
worldview. That was part of the fun that she had. She was very hostile toward Christians. Well, back in the
late 90s, Promise Keepers came to Syracuse and they had this men’s rally and this kind of thing and thousands
of guys were there. She was incensed, obviously, so she decided to write this op-ed for the newspaper, and
she just blasted Promise Keepers. You can imagine – male domination all over again, condescending, and all
the garden variety nonsense that they said about that. She put it out there.
Well, it galvanized a lot of Christians in the community, so she gets this ton of mail. She says in the book that
most of the mail was bordering on hate and reaction and blasting her. Most of it did not make much
intellectual sense. It was just filled with emotional responses and they were not taking on her arguments. She
has a pile of that stuff and she took it and threw it in the trash. However, she received this one letter from a
pastor, and she did not know what to do with it. He wrote her this letter and his reasoning was compelling as
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he wrote. It dripped with kindness. It wasn’t dismissive whatsoever. It touched her heart. She could not
dismiss it. At the end of the letter, the pastor said if you would be interested in carrying on these
conversations, we would love for you to stop by our house on Sunday afternoons. My wife and I will feed you
and we would love to just interact with you. She kept that letter on her desk for weeks. She said a couple of
times she threw it in the trashcan and then she went and fished it out and put it back on her desk. So, finally
she said, “What have I got to lose? I will call them and meet with them and it will be all over.” She calls them
and comes over that Sunday afternoon, and to her surprise they were normal people. They loved her and she
kept coming back. She says that they would make her angry because he would not back away from what he
really believed, and he would justify what he believed, but they treated her with respect, dignity, and
kindness. This went on for two years. She says she would get up on Sunday morning, get up out of the bed
next to her lesbian lover, she would get in the car, go to the church, and she would drive around the parking
lot wanting to go inside the church, but knowing whether or not they would embrace her. She did that for
several Sundays. Finally, one Sunday she did, and she says to her surprise she found a community that loved
her. They did not judge her, and God began to just melt all of that away. Well, two and a half years into this,
she surrendered her heart and life to Jesus. By the way, the rest of the story is she is now married to a pastor
and has as family. God did a work in her heart and life.
I want to say something to us here. You all know me. I am who I am and believe in truth and I would die for
the truth of this book, and I do not think we need to back away from speaking truth to our culture, but we
have a way to go yet. I want you to understand, while Philip was leading the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ, the
apostle Paul was killing Christians. I want to say this to you, and please do not laugh because I do not mean
this humorously, but I intentionally thought about what is one of the strongest ways I can say this so you here
it is. I want you to hear me on this. The next Billy Graham could currently be a drag queen. The next John
Piper could be that young men, that young teller, in the bank. So, what I am saying to all of us is this. Don't let
any issue eclipse the power of the cross that transforms people and let’s have hearts of love that engage
people. You can love fearlessly and not back away from what you believe. You can do that. You can embrace
people different than you and hold the line in terms of what you believe. The gospel is not that fragile but love
them we must.
I was a little long today. Here are some suggestions.
1.
Reach out and step toward people, particularly those in the gay community. Step toward them.
Don't step away from them. Reach out.
2.
Remember your own fallenness and struggles. That helps me immensely. None of us are the fourth
member of the trinity. We have stuff in us. Let’s remember our own fallenness.
3.
Point to the transforming love and forgiveness as the sufficiency of Jesus. Hallelujah. He is able. He
has changed us.
4.
We need to nurture and disciple them when they come here and they have come to Christ. We need
to walk with them. We need to help. Somebody walked with us.
Let’s stand. Church pray for us. Pray for Fellowship. Pray for me. Pray for our leaders. We need to be more
than just talking heads when it comes to the gospel. There has to be a lot of gospel compassion heart
authenticity about us. We cannot just be celebrating the evangelical industry phase of dominance. We have
to be His hands of hope and deliverance wherever we are scattered. Amen. Amen. I am going to ask the
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elders, staff members, and Stephen Ministers who are in this service to come up, and we will be here if you
would like someone to pray with you. We will do that.
Father, thank You so very much for the grace of God. Thank You, Father, for the privilege of serving this great
people. Thank You for the journey that You have us on. LORD, we want to lovingly engage our culture and we
want to lovingly say things. We do not want to back away from what we believe, but Father we pray that You
will lead us and guide us and show us how to be salt and light and show us how to love. Show us how to give
hope. Show us, LORD Jesus, and may people who are turned off to our message, may it not be because the
package was condescending or dismissive. God, I pray that You will just set us free. Use us. Now dismiss us
we pray. May we know the joy of Your presence. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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