What is the Christ-like response to the issue of homosexuality and "gay rights"? First, it requires us to put it in a Godly perspective.

The Gay Challenge

Redefining marriage is a far bigger issue than some may realize. It is in fact an assault not only on truth, natural acts, and marriage, but an attack on the very possibility that God gave His creation a reliable standard to follow. Before there were cities or governments, there was marriage. Marriage was there at the creation. In Genesis we read, “A man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh.” As long as there have been human beings, there has been marriage. It is the foundation for every other human institution.

It is highly likely both the Congress and the courts will impose same sex marriage on the American people even though their numbers are small when compared with the total population. The general public and the church will most likely be forced to accept the practice as if the people desiring the gay identity were born with unique attraction and they must not be held responsible for their choices or desires any more than a person would be for ethnicity or skin color.

What is the proper, Christ-like response?

  • Love them while not approving the desires or practices which God clearly says are wrong.
  • Love them as though they were your own child or grandchild.
  • At no time practice or tolerate mockery or bullying.
  • Faithfully and lovingly seek to win them to Christ and the liberating power of the Gospel.

Michael Sam, the SEC’s defensive player of the year, recently announced he was gay. Since the NFL draft is approaching, the story received added coverage. The response was mixed and often inappropriate.

Dale Hansen, a popular sportscaster in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, delivered a message on his television show, “Unplugged.” It immediately went viral on YouTube. Much of what he said made perfect sense; however, it was not a completely correct assessment. He rightly pointed out that fans accept talented players who may use drugs, abuse alcohol, consort with prostitutes, and constantly set a bad example. It seems all manner of evil is accepted, but some team owners said they would not accept Sam on their team.

My close friend Dudley Hall has ministered to those trapped by homosexuality and responded with the following:

It is true that we have overlooked serious behavioral issues in the NFL because we idolize the athlete. But even then, we did not celebrate their behavior. We tolerated it with hope for liberating change. My heart aches for Sam. In an effort to support his freedom of choice, we are confirming his false identity.

Although the Bible does not address sexual orientation, it clearly reveals homosexual behavior as outside the order that God has designed for us. In the gospel we are given the power to put to death all kinds of distorted desires that long to be satisfied in our alienation from God (Col. 3:5-10). Because of our union with Christ, we have the power of death and resurrection to use against all desires coming from our old life.

Desire is poor criteria for determining identity. When we have chosen to base our identity totally on being “in Christ,” we have access to all the power that belongs to Him. That power kills the perverted and resurrects the beautiful. There is hope for those trapped in homosexual desires, adulterous desires, greedy desires, hateful desires, etc.

When we normalize all behavior under the agenda of freedom of choice, we are preparing for war (James 4:1-6). Unbridled desire inevitably produces quarrels and wars. Mankind will oppress others to gain an advantage. We will use others and prostitute every good thing we have been given. We will work for money, worship ourselves, boast in our achievements, and manipulate all governmental structures for our own advantage. The oppressed will rise up, and there will be war. It is the judgment on a society that begins to define itself by its desires.

 

To be honest with you as a reader, if we do not have a supernatural spiritual awakening within the church where Christians begin to witness in the power of unconditional love, all manner of evil is going to be spewed out on our nation. Those who really know and love God will become the most persecuted people on the planet. The stage is set for this.

God left us here as His witnesses and He commanded us to love those who are held captive by any appetite or unwholesome desire. We are to live in such a way that people witness firsthand the liberating power of the Gospel. They must see how we treat one another as all of us struggle with various distractions and unhealthy attractions, weaknesses and desires. We must never be guilty of “stoning” one another by being cruel or unkind to any person within the family of faith or outside the family. Christ is our hope. He is the hope for you and me, the hope for Michael Sam, and the hope for every person deceived into thinking they were “born gay.”

 

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