Christ, Christians, and a Pro-Homosexual Culture
- Posted by Tony Huy
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“Churches need to be great places for sufferers” – Tim Keller
When we think of what Keller said above, my guess is we often think of those going through hardships in life – maybe financial struggles, health problems, emotional strains. At other times, we might venture to the side of risk and broaden that circle of “sufferers” to those engulfed in the battle with sin, so that the church becomes a safe place for the man or woman dealing with the hard realities of repenting from drugs and alcoholism, maybe sexual addiction, or broken marriages from infidelity or long histories of physical and verbal abuse. Many other examples can be given, but you get the point. The church is quick to be a place that is safe for sufferers who are victims and the church is getting better at being a place that is safe for sufferers who are haunted by their victimization of others (or self). This is to be celebrated. In my short 20 years as a believer, and in my confessed small view of “the church”, I’ve been blessed to see great growth in this area (and confessedly am perplexed by those that argue otherwise). Real progress of living out grace has been made in the church by and large.
REFLECTION
Now, let me ask this question: is the church a safe place for those suffering with same sex attraction? What about those with gender identity issues? What about parents in angst over a son or daughter that has “come out”? Does the Christian who has sincerely found a friend of the LGBT persuasion find support for that ongoing relationship, or must their petition and prayer for their gay/lesbian friend be muted out of fear – fear that to speak in any other terms but “conversion” would be deemed that they are “liberal” or “compromised”. My question is this
Does the language and poster of the church speak both truth and grace into the issue of homosexuality and all of the implications surrounding it?
Is the church a safe place to tease out the complexity of this issue? Is the gospel we preach robust enough to handle the nuances of this issue that we now face in the 21st century. Will our children be equipped to navigate the cultural dynamics they will grow up in?
If our response to these questions is simply to dig our heels in and double down on the mantra – IT’S A SIN – if that’s all we can think of, then the answer is a woeful no. Our gospel is not very robust, our church is not very safe, and our children will not be equipped to handle what they will face.
Over the next four weeks, we be tackling some of these questions in a new series entitled:
“Christ, Christians, and A Pro-Homosexual Culture”
This series will not be exhaustive, it will not answer every question nor shed light in every situation. I realize that. But my prayer and my hope is that the Spirit of God, through His eternal word, would shape our mind and attitudes in such a way that as questions and situations arise, we’ll have pillars to stand upon to make the right decisions, speak the right narrative, and act with the right attitude.
INVITATION
In light of all this, how do we understand what Jesus meant when He said:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13–16, ESV)
and how does His own life and coming inform us?
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1–5, ESV)
Here’s my invitation to you to come and join us as we tackle this very difficult issue of Christ, Christians, and a pro-homosexual culture. By the grace of God, we’ll come to the end of our four weeks having grown in clarity, conviction, courage, and compassion.
Tony Huy
For His Glory Community Church
Sundays, 9:30am
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