LGBTQ – A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS
1. The village blacksmith finally found an apprentice willing to work long, hard hours. The blacksmith instructed the boy, “When I take the horse shoe out of the fire, I’ll lay it on the anvil. And when I nod my head, you hit it with this hammer.”
2. The apprentice did just what he was told. Now he’s the village blacksmith.
B. THESIS & TITLE
1. We are Christians and have a Biblical worldview. In this country we are faced with a very immoral society which is trying to alter the boundaries and definitions of morality and what a family is.
2. Our children are also faced with these contradictions. It’s hard for parents to explain to their children the lifestyles of these people and how we should treat them.
3. So a simple groundwork of Biblical pattern should be laid before them, followed by the Christian response Jesus would have us give to those involved with such deviant practices. That is the purpose of this message.
4. The title of this message is: “LGBTQ – A Christian Response.”
I. GOD’S CREATED ORDER
1. Have you ever been outside at night and looked at the vast expanse of stars? You can even see a big part of the Milky Way Galaxy our planet lives in. There are laws of Physics, that God set in place, that govern the universe.
2. Then you look at the tiny creatures moving along the ground. Mankind didn’t make any of it. It was all here when we arrived. All biological life has a design to it; creation is designed by a vast intelligence. It’s orderly and complex. Those two things are not the result of chance, but the results of an Engineer.
3. The way God designed things is the way He intends for them to work. Paul termed altering God’s design as going “against nature” (Rom. 1:26, KJV).
II. GENDER ASSIGNMENT
1. God, in the beginning, made humans male and female. The Lord Jesus said, “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female?’” (Matt. 19:4). This distinction is more than surface; it’s defined in the genes (DNA).
2. Those who are males are designed to be husbands and fathers to children. Females are designed to be wives and mothers. God intends for us to accept our assignment in life. And God doesn’t make mistakes.
III. GENDER CONFUSION (dysphoria)
1. Less than 1% of people, often in adolescence, experience gender confusion. Paul R. McHugh, M.D., Former Johns Hopkins Hospital psychiatrist-in-chief says that 'Gender confusion' is a temporary mental disorder. If left alone, 70%-80% of children who reported transgender feelings spontaneously lost those feelings later (Vanderbilt University and London's Portman Clinic).
2. A 30-year Swedish study showed that 10 years after “gender reassignment surgery,” a sizable % of patients began having mental problems and their suicide rate went up 20-fold.
3. God does not want men to act like women or women like men (Deut. 22:5). He wants us to be distinctly different.
IV. MARRIAGE
1. MARRIAGE is intended to be the life-time union between one man and one woman (it takes 22 years to raise kids to adulthood), and sex in this type relationship is the only type of sex sanctioned by God.
2. Only through the man-woman union can children be produced; this is God’s unchangeable design. Sex between two men or between two women is a perversion and is considered as sinful, just as is adultery or premarital sex (Romans 1:18–32; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10; Genesis 19:4-5).
3. Romans 1:24–27; “Therefore God gave them over [stopped hindering them] in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another….God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”
V. HUMAN IMMORAL LAWS
1. God, as the Creator and Designer, both in nature and in His revelation (the Bible), outlines right and wrong and the terrible repercussions of disobeying His laws.
2. Humans sometimes write laws that contradict God’s moral laws. Examples of this are:
a. Abortion, b. No-Fault Divorce,
c. Alcohol/Tobacco/Drug Abuse,
d. Prostitution, e. Euthanasia,
f. Pornography, and g. Sex outside Biblical Marriage.
GOD’S LAWS GOV’TS LAWS
[Here I had 2 overlapping circles. Man's laws sometimes differ from God's Laws.]
3. POINT: JUST BECAUSE A GOVERNMENT LEGALIZES SOMETHING DOESN’T MEAN IT’S MORALLY RIGHT! It’s what God thinks about it that really matters. Some laws are immoral and wrong in God’s sight, and wrong behavior, if not repented of, will be judged at the Judgment Seat of God.
VI. CHRISTIANS IN AN UNGODLY WORLD
1. It’s natural for the Christian to be revolted by the sin they see all around them. St. Peter says of Lot “for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard” 2 Pet. 2:8.
2. But we must be careful to not allow our revulsion for sin to be directed at the people involved. Saint Augustine wisely said, “Love the sinner but hate the sin.”
3. CHRISTIANS HAVE BECOME KNOWN FOR WHAT THEY’RE AGAINST RATHER THAN WHAT THEY’RE FOR. Christians have (due in some degree to media influence) become known as being judgmental, hypocritical, and insensitive to others.
4. But we must remember that Jesus loved all sinners and died for them. He told us we should be known by our love and compassion (John 13:35). This DOESN’T mean we agree with ungodly behavior or say that it’s “ok.”
5. If we’re asked if God approves of immoral behavior, we should say as tactfully as possible; “No, God says that’s wrong.” But we Christians should go out of our way to be kind, forgiving, gracious, and helpful so that others appreciate Jesus Christ and want to know the One who makes people love those with whom they strongly disagree.
VII. TREATMENT OF PEOPLE WE DISAGREE WITH
1. When the woman was caught in adultery and dragged before Jesus (John 8:1-11), she was condemned by the leaders and crowd as a sinner. But Jesus pointed out that none in that crowd was sinless, so who were they to judge her?
2. After the bad actors left, Jesus asked the lady, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (Jn. 8:10-11). Jesus didn’t stick an unchangeable LABEL on her (“adulteress”), but expressed His faith in her to be able to go forth and live differently. We too shouldn’t categorize people; God can/will change them into new people!
3. Be careful what you say and how you say it. You don’t want your attitude towards people to be the reason they choose to NOT go to church or stay away from Christians. It’s your job to show people God’s love. The Holy Spirit will do the convicting and delivering.
4. Your kindness doesn’t mean you accept or agree with someone’s sin. Your kindness is an example of God’s love. God loves everyone, and through Him and the Holy Spirit everyone can be delivered from their sinful ways. Your kindness can lead them to go to church, to pray, to see what the “Christian life” is all about. The Holy Spirit will do the work. Let’s don’t be a stumbling block to their faith.
5. If you went to church and felt like the people hated you and judged you, would you go back? No. So we need to welcome them and reach out in love so that they can sense the love of God through us. You may be the only ‘Jesus’ they’ll ever be exposed to. Don’t fail.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: The Power of Love
1. Rabbi Michael Weisser lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. And for more than 3 years, Larry Trapp, a self-proclaimed Nazi & Ku Klux Klansman, directed a torrent of hate-filled mailings & phone calls toward him.
2. Trapp promoted white supremacy, anti-Semitism, & other messages of prejudice, declaring his apartment the KKK state headquarters & himself the grand dragon. His whole purpose in life seemed to be to spew out hate-ridden racial slurs & obscene remarks against Weisser & all those like him.
3. At first, the Weissers were so afraid they locked their doors & worried themselves almost sick over the safety of their family. But one day Rabbi Weisser found out that Trapp was a 42-year-old clinically blind, double amputee. And he became convinced that Trapp’s own physical helplessness was a source of the bitterness he expressed.
4. So Rabbi Weisser decided to do the unexpected. He left a message on Trapp’s answering machine, telling him of another side of life…a life free of hatred & racism.
Rabbi Weisser said, "I probably called 10 times & left messages before he finally picked up the phone & asked me why I was harassing him. I said that I’d like to help him. I offered him a ride to the grocery store or to the mall."
5. Trapp was stunned. Disarmed by the kindness & courtesy, he started thinking. He later admitted, through tears, that he heard in the rabbi’s voice, "something I hadn’t experienced in years. It was love."
6. Slowly the bitter man began to soften. One night he called the Weissers & said he wanted out, but didn’t know how. They grabbed a bucket of fried chicken & took him dinner. Before long they made a trade: in return for their love he gave them his swastika rings, hate tracts, & Klan robes.
7. That same day Trapp gave up his Ku Klux Klan recruiting job & dumped the rest of his propaganda in the trash. "They showed me so much love that I couldn’t help but love them back," he finally confessed.
8. Folks, if that could happen in Lincoln, Nebraska, what could happen here in our community, in our neighborhoods, if we truly began to live lives that showed the love of Jesus to those around us? [source unknown]
