Sexuality and Identity | Sins Have Faces
At this point in the series, and by nature of this website, you are likely a person of faith. Statistically, you would vote conservative and have strong opinions about homosexuality, gender identity, and how the world should operate. By and large, these ideas and thoughts are based on doctrinal truth. Nor can it be reasonably debate that the Bible remains silent on issues of homosexuality and defying the created nature of gender. To say anything to the contrary would be biblically illiterate and a form of eisegesis, in which a persons reads what they want to read into the text, that denies proper interpretative and hermeneutical processes. Yet, to simply stand back and point a finger of judgment at another person while proclaiming loudly that they are sinners would defy all explanations of the Gospel. While in my undergraduate studies, you would often find supposed campus preachers carrying large signs whose soul purpose was to identify those that they condemned to hell.
Everyone, in their presentation of the Gospel, should consider whether the message they present to others is actually good news. I will never be one who downplays the importance of orthodoxy and right thought. Nor will I ever attempt to downplay the significance of theological truth applied to the daily life. Yet, all of the commands of God, the message of scripture, and the overarching story that God is telling throughout human history is a message of good news meant to give glory to God as we bow to Him. Condemnation from the believer to the non-believer strips the hope and love away from the person. Jesus, when He encountered sinners, while He very clearly addressed their sins, faults, and fallings short, He view them for what they were; people of worth created in the image of God. He looked beyond their flaws and offered forgiveness, not treating them as a conglomeration of sins but as people with faces in desperate need of a Savior.
The Gospel As Good News
The literal translation of the word Gospel is good news. It is meant as the good news for people that the distance between God and man, that man had brought through the rebellion of sin, could be bridged by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Yet, for many, the presentation they hear of the Gospel is one of condemnation for they have done. The message is one of needing to turn from their despicable lifestyle in order that God could even fathom extending His love to them, a message contrary to the Gospel. “And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:29-32, ESV) Jesus treated sinners as people with sin problems not sin problems themselves. Frequently, Jesus got criticized for His endearing treatment of sinners. He sought to redeem mankind and rescue them from the clutches of sin rather than beat them for their sinful behaviors.
Likewise, with issues of Christianity and homosexuality, the Gospel should be presented as good news to the person hearing it. The main point of the Gospel is not that they will burn in hell for all eternity, but that Jesus Christ, the God of the universe offers a path to eternity with Him in grace and love. The message for someone who does not know Christ, regardless of their sexuality or other qualifier, should focus on God’s desire to be in relationship with them. The love of God’s transcends a person’s inability to earn it. “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, ESV). When we ask that a person clean up their sins before approaching God, we put the value of a person’s identity on their actions, on their sexuality, and on their gender making the Gospel and the work of Jesus Christ obsolete. This type of gate-keeping of the Gospel makes a mockery of the grace that God offers to those who come to Him as Lord and Savior of their life. The Gospel looks at the face of a man and sees a person in desperate need of a Savior, ravaged by the effects of sin. Christ, in his coming, sought to rescue mankind, not condemn them. Especially for those wrestling with issues of sexuality and gender. These do not define their identity, only Jesus Christ defines identity. Therefore, we treat the one in need of a Savior with gentleness and respect, looking to love them and proclaim the good news of the Gospel to them.
The Gospel to Our Sins
Yet, we cannot fall into the opposite trap of being willing to accept everything that a person does for the sake of “loving them.” It is no act of love to look at a person who is willfully sinning and refuse to proclaim the Gospel to them that Jesus Christ rescues people out of an abundance of His love. This is not to say we should brow beat them for their life choices, but, by the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we confront sin as we would in due time as one brother or sister in Christ to another. We balance loving a person by accepting them as a person and an individual while also not condoning a sinful lifestyle. Our culture has become too attuned to think that disagreement and hatred are interchangeable. Even though this misunderstanding is bound to continue to happen, we cannot condone a person’s sinful action nor can we condemn the individual. Sin, it seems, is the only sickness that we will either mock a person mercilessly for acknowledging their sickness or exhort them to continue living in it. No other sickness is treated with the same disdain and misunderstanding that we treat sin.
The root problem of all humanity lies in the problem of sin and has infected every corner of our existence, sexuality included. For some this manifests through sexual desires and passions outside of the God ordained pattern. As a person pursues Christ, we deal with the issue of sin in the same manner that we would want someone to deal with our sin. “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1-2, ESV) As people of the faith, we must be gentle with one another, choosing to bear one another’s burdens together as a family of faith. The objective should always be restoration knowing that our identity is not in what we do but rather in what the Lord has already done on our behalf.
About The Author
Daniel Burton is the founder of The Gospel Outpost. He is passionate about discipleship and seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out more about him, check out his Author Page.
