A Word for LGBTQ+ Affirming Pastors and Churches

So I don't know if you know this, but back in May, the United Methodist Church voted to lift a ban on same-sex clergy and clergy performing same-sex weddings. Seems like there's a growing movement within the church, we might say, of questioning those passages in the Bible and the Old Testament and the New Testament that seem to prohibit homosexuality, or to call it a sin.

And so this is a debate. This is something that many Christians, many churches, many denominations are wrestling with. What does the Bible have to say about homosexuality?

And more importantly, for you, if you consider yourself to be gay, or if you have a loved one who's gay or lesbian, does the Bible say that you can go to heaven and be gay? Years ago, I had an encounter with another pastor in the neighborhood where I minister, who had just written a book arguing essentially that the Bible doesn't prohibit homosexuality. He was using the Bible. He was making biblical arguments and saying, the way in which the church has interpreted these passages in the Old Testament and in the New Testament is wrong. We've abused those passages, or we've used those passages to abuse people who are in loving gay and lesbian relationships. And so I, because this was another pastor in my neighborhood, got a copy of the book, and I read it, and I disagreed with it. I thought that the way in which he was approaching the scriptures was incorrect, that rather than just letting them speak for themselves and understanding them in their context, he was twisting them and allowing essentially the current cultural social ethic to drive his interpretation of the Bible, which I think is not a good thing for us to do. And so I read the book, and I wanted to have a conversation with him.

I sent him an email hoping to hear back, didn't hear anything back. And then in God's providence, one day I'm at a coffee shop working on my sermon. I'm the only guy in the coffee shop, and he happens to sit down right by me. I presume to work on his sermon or some meetings that he had as a pastor that week, but he sits right by me, and we struck up a conversation. Now I was hoping to get into the text of scripture. I introduced myself. I told him, and I read your book, and was curious to talk with you about these things, would love your perspective on some of these things. And in particular, we talked about some of the pastoral implications of our understanding of what the Bible teaches related to this topic. And I asked him a question that I've honestly always had for people who take this view. I said, do you think that for me, as a minister of the gospel who holds to the traditional view of the church, the historic view of the church with regard to these texts of scripture, that they do indeed prohibit same-sex relationships, same-sex attraction even, as sinful, do you think that I could really love a gay person? And he looked at me and he said, well, I don't think that you could, but even more importantly, he said, if you disagree with them on this, or if you come against them in this way, they won't feel loved.

Now, I think that there's a lot to unpack there. I responded to him and I said, okay, the question just grew in my mind. As a pastor, when you have someone in your church, I said, who you believe is doing something that you do think is sinful.

Maybe they're abusive towards their spouse, or maybe they're stealing or whatever it might be. How do you confront them lovingly as a pastor while challenging the sinful behavior? And what he did next shocked me. He sort of looked at me for a second and he said, I can't believe you asked me that question. That was an offensive question to ask me. And essentially you should be ashamed of yourself. And when I try to sort of backpedal and say, no, I wasn't, I mean, I'm honestly curious here and really do want to understand your position and how you approach this really important topic. And I was being sincere. He said, no, actually you need to understand that you are offensive and you need to accept that. And this conversation is over.

And unfortunately the conversation did end there. I wished we could have gotten into more of the substance of some of the things that he was arguing in his book, but we didn't get the chance to. But it was just an illustration of how many within the church, even so-called pastors are beginning to shift their views on this important topic. And it is a very important topic.

In fact, so important that it has to do with our eternal destiny. And so it's a topic that we can't get wrong as pastors. The whole situation broke my heart because as pastors, we represent God and the primary way that God speaks is through his word. Now, if I twist God's word as a minister, I'm harming not just myself, but also my heroes, the people that listen to me.

On this issue in particular, many churches are beginning to twist God's word and it's not loving toward our gay and lesbian neighbors. Note what the apostle Paul said in first Corinthians chapter six, verses nine through 11. 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. The word homosexuality in verse nine is actually a translation of two Greek words. The first word is malakoi and the second word is arsenokoitai. The first word probably refers to the passive partner in the same sex relationship. The second word probably refers to the active male participant in gay sex. To be crude, Paul is speaking about the top and the bottom partners in gay relationships.

In other words, he's being pretty explicit here and he's saying, don't let anyone deceive you. People will tell you, hey, what you're doing is totally fine. It isn't a sin.

It's totally natural. And Paul's point is those people are leading you by the hand to hell with a smile on their face. Now note that homosexuality isn't the only sin that Paul mentions here.

He lists different kinds of sexual immorality, be it hetero or homosexual, but also things like greed and drunkenness. And the reason he does this is because in some sense, the Corinthians to whom he's writing were acting more like the world than they were like Christians. He's saying, those outside of Christ, those who practice these things, who self-identify in these ways, they aren't inheriting the kingdom of God.

But here's the good news. Note again verse 11, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of Jesus. Being gay is not an unpardonable sin, neither is being a drunkard or a greedy fool. But if you don't repent of those sins, in other words, if instead of confessing your sinful desires and actions, you cling to them and reject God's grace, you will perish.

We need pastors who will tell us the truth. And the truth is homosexuality is a sin, but it isn't a sin that Jesus can't forgive. Your sin is not stronger than Jesus's love, nor is it so dark that it can't be washed away by his blood.

Such were some of you, Paul said. I know that you too might know the cleansing power of Jesus and be able to say, that's not my identity anymore. This month at Sola, we're offering our listeners the booklet Law and Gospel by Michael Horton and Bob Hiller. This booklet offers a much needed exploration of the two distinct words God speaks, his law, which commands and reveals human sin, and his gospel, which proclaims Christ's saving work. This booklet explains how confusing these two leads to spiritual harm, causing either pride or despair. This resource is designed to guide readers through what many have called the heart of Reformation theology and its practical implications for faith in the Christian life. The best part is you can get a copy of Law and Gospel completely free. Simply go to solamedia.org forward slash offers and request your copy today. That's solamedia.org forward slash offers.