I Am Same-Sex Attracted: Is There a Place for Me in the Church?

Is there a place for same-sex attracted Christians in the church? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. If you have a question, you can call us at 833-THE-CORE. You can also go on social media and post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts.

You can also check us out right now on YouTube and message us that way, and you can send us your question by email at this address. It's questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Beverly calling in from Illinois. Beverly, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? No, we're not supposed to be judged for any of our sins because Christ paid for that, but evidently in 2 Corinthians 5, 10, it's talking about our works being judged. It scares me.

Yeah, Beverly, this is a great question. What does the final judgment look like? In particular, what does the final judgment look like for believers in Jesus Christ?

There are some people who say, well, believers, our works are not going to be judged, that kind of a thing. But it does seem like when you read the New Testament, you mentioned that one passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians 5, that yeah, we are going to be judged, and oftentimes this is called the judgment according to works. Another passage of scripture that we could go to is Revelation 20, beginning in verse 11. Listen to what John the apostle said, what he saw in this vision.

Revelation 20, verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it, from his presence the earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened.

And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Now, it sounds to me like the question then is, and this is a great question.

You're not the only one with this question, Beverly. Well, if we're judged according to our works, well, I thought we were judged at the cross when Jesus died for us. So how could any of us be confident before the Lord if I'm judged on the basis of my works? Does that mean if I don't have enough good works, God is not going to let me into heaven, that kind of a thing?

Well, no. I think that this is going to be more of a commendation for believers. Believers are going to be vindicated on the last day. Certainly, we know that we can be confident on the day of judgment because of the work of Jesus for us, Beverly, and that's what I want to comfort you with. And it's not just my word to you, it's the word of the apostles. Listen to what John said in another place.

So he wrote that passage there in Revelation chapter 20, but in 1 John chapter 4 verse 17, listen to what he said. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. You don't have to be afraid.

You can have confidence because as he is, so also are we in the world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. Do you know what gives you confidence, what gives us confidence for the day of judgment?

It's the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's why you don't have to be afraid, Beverly, if you believe in Jesus Christ. And because this is such an important issue and one that I think a lot of Christians struggle with, another passage that I think we can go to referring to the final judgment and the confidence that we can have as Christians is what Jesus himself said in the Gospel of John in John chapter 5 verse 24. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. Right now, if you hear the voice of Jesus, if you believe his word, that word of the Gospel, you don't enter into judgment, which is to say you are not condemned on that day. You've already passed from death to life, and that's why the apostle Paul can say in Romans chapter 8 verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So we will stand before God on the day of judgment.

There will be this judgment according to works, but it will be a vindication for believers, and the confidence that we can have, that you can have, is the confidence of the Gospel. That God loves you and that you have passed from death to life in Jesus. God bless you, sister.

Some comforting words there, Adriel, thanks for that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question for us, you can call us 24 hours a day and leave a voicemail, and we will find your question there. You can call us at 833-THE-CORE. You can also email us at questions at corechristianity.com.

Here's an email we received from one of our listeners named Christopher. He says, I'm a middle-aged Christian man who has struggled with homosexual attraction, although I am not engaging in relations with men due to my faith and my convictions. I'm not sexually attracted to women. I want to be an active member of a church community, as in the past, but I can't handle the bombardment about getting married. I wonder if I should now get married in order to annihilate completely the homosexual desire in me, even though that I can imagine that marriage ending up in divorce.

I think I'm prepared and would be okay living alone until death or until my heart has changed miraculously. Am I disobeying God by nursing these feelings? Well, friend, I don't think that the feelings are meant...

If you're talking about the sort of disordered desires, disordered sexual desires, those feelings are not meant to be nursed. We confess those things to the Lord. We say, God, I'm broken. I sin. I need your mercy. And there is mercy for you, brother. There is forgiveness for you.

God is gracious. But I don't know that the answer is going off and getting married. You mentioned eradicating your desires by going off and getting married. We don't eradicate our sinful desires. I can't sanctify myself. You can't sanctify yourself. Sanctification is the work of God's Holy Spirit in your life. The apostle Paul talks about this very clearly in Romans chapters six through eight. In particular, in chapter eight, he says that it's by the spirit that we put to death the sinful deeds of the body. And so I think one, recognizing the sinful desires.

Two, confessing them. And three, trusting in the grace and the forgiveness that is yours through the gospel and the fact that God is at work in your life. Now, I hope, brother, that you are able to get plugged into a good church where you feel welcomed and a part of the family as you continue to press forward in the Lord, to grow in grace.

I think it is so important that you have that kind of community. And part of that might include just transparency, talking to the leadership there, being honest about the feelings, the struggles, and getting the accountability and brotherhood really that you need to continue to fight sin and to walk with the Lord. But don't put your trust in yourself, in your own ability to change your desires. The fact of the matter is many of the sins that we struggle with, the feelings that we struggle with even, we will struggle with for our entire lives. And so we lean on the Lord, we look to the Lord, we trust in Him, and we link arms with the body of Christ pressing forward and fighting against our sin, trusting in Christ and in the gospel. And so may the Lord bless you in that fight, the fight that we're in together in different ways. And may the Lord open the doors for you to get plugged into a solid Christian community that, again, will welcome you and where you can feel at home and a part of the family.

God bless you. You know, Adriel, one of the things that I find so troubling in our culture today is that people will define themselves by their sexuality. They'll say, you know, whether I'm gay, I'm lesbian, transgender, what it is, that's who I am, that's my definition of my personhood. But that's not what God calls us to. It's something very different, isn't it?

Yeah. It's a great point that you bring up, Bill, because we are not defined by our sexual desires first and foremost. That's not the core of our identity. We are, as human beings, made in the imago Dei, the image of God. That's who we are, called to reflect God and his glory and his goodness. And because each and every one of us, even regardless of whether or not we have faith in Jesus Christ, are made in the image of God, we're worthy of dignity, of respect, of love.

God made us in his image. That's at the core of who we are. Now, our desires, our sexuality, that's a part of that, but it doesn't exhaust our identity. And that's one of the problems that we see today in the world is this sense that our sexual desires define who we are.

No, we're made in the image of God. And if we're united to Jesus Christ, that's the main thing about us. That's first and foremost who we are, children of the living God.

Amen. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. One of the things we often talk about on this program is praying for our family members. How can you best pray for your parents?

Well, we have a book that will help you explore just that. Yeah, Bill, it's this book, Five Things to Pray for Your Parents. And the fifth commandment says that we are to honor our father and our mother. And I think that sometimes we just sort of assume that that's a commandment for children, for little kids growing up in the household. And as we get older, as we get into adulthood, that the commandment doesn't apply anymore.

Well, that's not the case at all. Jesus made it clear that it does apply very much so to all of us to honor our parents. And one of the ways you can do that is by praying for them.

And so get a hold of this resource. It's going to inspire you and encourage you to pray for your parents. Chelsea Stanley's book, Five Things to Pray for Your Parents. You can learn more about that offer by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offer. Look for Five Things to Pray for Your Parents. You can also call us for that offer or any one of our offers at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 833-843-2673. Well, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our callers earlier this week. Hey, Pastor Adriel, I just have a question about Matthew 7 21 to 23, where Jesus is talking about not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. How can we be sure that we aren't in that group of people who think we're following Christ and doing the will of the Father? And how can we be sure of our salvation if this is what Jesus himself says that many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy your name and drive out demons and perform miracles and help tell them he never knew them?

How do we know we're not one of those people? Thank you, Pastor Adriel, your ministry is just one of the biggest blessings in my life, so I thank you and I pray for you in Jesus' name. Well, thank you. I appreciate your prayers. We definitely need them as we answer questions about the faith every day, God's wisdom in opening up the Scriptures, and I appreciate that encouragement there. Let me read Matthew 7 21-23 because they're the words of Jesus, they're powerful words that I think we all need to hear, and then I'll get to your answer. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Now that last section there of Jesus' words really indicate two things. One, these people never had a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. I never knew you. It's not that these are people who at one point in their lives were walking with Jesus, believed in Jesus, experienced the forgiveness of their sins. They knew Jesus, he knew them, and then they departed. No, Jesus says, at no point have I known you.

I never knew you. And of course, the word no throughout scripture, it's often used differently than the way we use it today. We oftentimes today use it as sort of this cognitive understanding.

I know about this or that. It's a much more intimate word in the scriptures. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, it speaks of intimacy, of relationship.

There was no relationship there. And that was also evidenced by the fact, in Jesus' second part there in verse 23, Jesus says, you are workers of lawlessness. And so despite the fact that maybe externally you might look very religious and it looks like you're doing great things for God, the truth is you have nothing to do with God and his law.

You work lawlessness. Who in particular are in the crosshairs of Jesus here in Matthew chapter 7? I think he's focusing on the religious leaders, on folks like the scribes and the Pharisees who thought that they were righteous, thought that they were doing all sorts of mighty works in the name of God. And yet Jesus says about them, the reality is inside they're full of dead men's bones.

It's hypocrisy. And so the question is, do you know Jesus? Do you have a relationship with Christ?

Have you trusted in him for your salvation? That's precisely what the religious leaders were not willing to do. And the fact of the matter is, is there are even people today, I think you see them sometimes on television, making all sorts of bold claims, talking about how God wants people to be healthy and wealthy, and he's going to bless you with success and this, that, and the other, claiming to do many mighty works in the name of Jesus. And yet, and yet it seems as if they're so far from the gospel, from the message of the forgiveness of sins, from calling people to repentance. And folks persist in this sort of lawlessness, all the while thinking that God exists for them to serve them.

And so this is a real problem. And there are people, brother, who are genuinely deceived. And that's why I think we need to ask ourselves the question, have I embraced the gospel? Have I embraced Jesus Christ for myself? Am I trusting in him for my salvation?

Can I say I know him and can I say he knows me? That's the key here. And so I appreciate this question.

Let me just add this. We can, as believers in Jesus, have confidence. God wants us to have confidence. And John says in 1 John 5, to a group of Christians that he writes to, I'm writing these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life. To you who believe, to you who truly confess that Jesus is Lord, you can have the confidence that you have passed from death to life, Jesus says in John 5, that you have eternal life, that the Spirit of God is working in you.

And so we can have great confidence, even when we look at passages like this, but they are sobering, and they're passages of scripture that we need to hear. And so thank you for that question. May the Lord bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We love getting your questions. You can always email us at this address, questionsatcorechristianity.com. If you write to us, make sure to tell us your name and where you are writing from. Again, the email address is questionsatcorechristianity.com.

Let's go to Christina, who's calling in from Nashville, Tennessee. Christina, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yeah, so I am a new believer in Christ, and of course wanting to be obedient to the Word and just really trying to find a good church home, and I haven't yet. So I want to be obedient to the tithe, and my question is, is it okay to give your tithe to a ministry that has been feeding you, whether it be online or television or whatever, that is helping you in your growth, even though it's not a local ministry? Well, Christina, that's an excellent question, and I'm just stoked to hear that you have recently come to the faith and are walking with Jesus, and not just that you've come to faith, but that you really want to honor the Lord with how you live your life, with how you spend your money.

And as you look for a church to go to right now, I'm going to pray for you that the Lord would guide you and be with you in that search. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9 that when it comes to giving, we don't give out of compulsion. It's not that we're getting our arms twisted, and that's why we give. We give with cheerful hearts. And so I think if there are gospel ministries that you want to give to, that you want to give to generously, because they're committed to the work of the Great Commission, they're committed to bolstering, building up the local church through Bible teaching resources, that kind of a thing, I think that there's nothing wrong with that. And I think you can give with joy knowing that those resources are going to the advancement of the gospel, and I would encourage that. And then I'd also say when you get plugged into a local church, to make sure that you're supporting that church, where you're hearing the word of God preached week in and week out, where you're being nourished and cared for by the ministry of the word and the pastors and elders who are there in that church. I don't think you need to feel bad about giving to a parachurch ministry during this time.

I think, though, that really the big priority should be getting plugged into a solid Bible teaching church, and we have resources about how to find a good church which we want to get to you. But I also just want to pray for you right now, because I'm so grateful that you're in the Lord and walking with the Lord on this journey, and so let's pray for Christina. Gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we are so grateful for your mercy to us and your son Jesus, that you every day are bringing people to yourself, that they might know you and your love, and walk in a manner that is pleasing to you. And I can tell, Lord, just through that question, Lord, that Christina wants to honor you with her life and with the way she spends her money, I pray, God, would you bless her?

Would you be with her? And especially, Lord, would you guide her to the right church, a place where she is going to hear your word faithfully proclaimed, a place where the worship of Jesus is done according to the Scriptures, a place, Lord God, where there is fellowship, life-giving fellowship that takes place, where she can continue to be nourished as she grows in her faith in your son Jesus? Would you be with her, Lord, protect her from the evil one, and cause her to grow more and more into the image of the Lord Jesus throughout her entire life? Bless her, we pray, in Jesus' name.

Amen. We'd love to send you a complimentary copy of our book, Core Christianity. So if you'll hang on the line, we'll get your address and send that to you. And by the way, Adriel mentioned some of the resources that we have on finding a church. We have a great core question on that topic. It's called, How Do I Choose a Church? For any of our listeners who maybe have moved recently or are looking for a new church, go to our website corechristianity.com forward slash questions and look for How Do I Choose a Church? It will really help you make a wise, discerning decision there in finding a new church. Well, Adriel, here's an email question we received, and it has to do with the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament.

This is from Olivia. She says, in Proverbs 19, 3, it says, When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. How should we interpret this? I don't think it brings God glory to be angry with him when he lovingly disciplines and chastises us for foolish or sinful choices we've made, and we should repent when we do. But if that's true, what does this verse actually say? Yeah, Proverbs 19, 3. I think the focus here is this individual, this man in his folly, instead of taking responsibility for his actions, is blaming God for his, quote, unquote, lot in life for the reason of his ruin. When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. This does happen. Tragically, people do things. They make decisions.

I've heard it said before. You can choose your sin, but you can't choose your consequences. We experience the bitter consequences of our folly, of our sin. And if we're not careful, what will happen is our heart will rage against the Lord. We'll blame God. We'll be angry because of what has happened to us, when in reality, oftentimes, and this is what we see so often in the book of Proverbs, it's this sort of cause and effect.

It's, hey, you reap what you sow. Instead, when we're caught in folly, when we're caught in sin, instead of our hearts raging against the Lord, you know what we need to do? We need to confess our sins.

We need to say, God, you were right. I have sinned. I need your mercy. I need your grace. And the good news is, God is gracious towards repentant sinners. When we look to him in faith, boy, there's an ocean of mercy for you, and he showers it on you. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.