As we think about sharing the gospel with LGBT people let us remember that they are people too. Every one of us is a sinner and every sinner needs Christ. The biggest need of every homosexual, is Christ. No matter how you share the gospel, do your best to keep the focus on Christ. There will be many distractions and many questions but we must always bring it back to Christ, the truth of who he is, and what he has done for us.
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1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel–not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
We can also say that the most important thing Christ has called us to do is to share the gospel of Christ and the cross. Let’s not make it too complicated, let’s be loving, let’s be clear, and let’s share the gospel.
Remember homosexuals didn’t start the LGBT movement.
In the US the foundation for the LGBT movement was not laid by homosexuals but rather mainly by heterosexual Christians.
“Today’s movement toward the total acceptance of homosexual behavior and relationships was only made possible because some heterosexuals first did their best to undermine marriage.”
Dr. Albert Mohler explains in his book that the sexual revolution began by the destruction of marriage and the biblical meaning of family.
“Heterosexuals did a very good job of undermining marriage before the culture forces began advocating for the normalization of same-sex relationships and the legalization of same-sex marriage. The marriage crisis is a moral crisis that did not start with same-sex marriage, nor will it end there. The logic of same-sex marriage cannot end with same-sex marriage. Once marriage can mean anything other than a heterosexual union, it can and must eventually mean everything”
We must admit the guilt of many heterosexuals who destroyed families through divorce, adultery, and sexual sin. This is what laid the foundation for the LGBT movement today. They are simply continuing what we started. As we admit our guilt it changes our attitude and approach towards the LGBT community. Rather than making this an “Us vs them” battle, we realize that we as heterosexuals are not without guilt. Thus any conversation we have with the LGBT community must began not began with a finger pointed at them but rather with the pronoun “we”
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
Humility is vital when we approach anyone with the gospel but when we share the gospel with the LGBT community it is even more vital. Why? Because often there is already the assumption by the LGBT community that we are pointing our finger down upon them. We must have the humility to show them that we are all sinners before God.
1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.
I must recognize my sin as “worse” than their sin. This is the attitude we must have when we share the gospel. We recognize our own sin as worse because we are intimately connected with our own sin. Because we see and feel the effects of our own sin. Because we know the secret sins of our heart that only God and I can see! This attitude must permeate our hearts when we share the gospel. It will often be through simple humility, openness, and service that we will win the opportunity to speak with someone about Christ. Without this humility our efforts to share the gospel will look more like someone trying to expose another’s sin and shame them before the public.
Let them know that you also struggle with sin, even sexual sin. Speak to them as a sinner who found grace in Jesus not as a finger-pointing preacher whose only remaining sin is being too long-winded on Sunday mornings!
Don’t avoid them
Sometimes straight people and especially straight Christians can feel awkward and even fear being around openly LGBT people. How are you supposed to act? What are you supposed to say? How will they respond? What if they try to make sexual advances? What if they influence my children?
Some of these questions are normal and certainly we should have wisdom in this. However, we must not avoid all contact with people from the LGBT community! Being LGBT isn’t some sort of special class of sin that is “untouchable.” LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Now they have added QA+ (Queer, Asexual, other). These are all different distortions of Biblical sexuality. When we look at the Bible we find that sexual sins are not new: polygamy (Gen 4:19), nakedness (Gen 9:21-23), adultery (Gen 16:1-4), homosexuality (Gen 19:5), incest (Gen 19:32-36), and rape (Gen 34:2). All in the first book of the Bible! Sadly, sin quickly messed up our understanding of sexuality!
If we were to distance ourselves from everyone who had committed sexual sin, then we would distance ourselves from everyone, including ourselves!
Jesus took a different approach, he spent time with people who were well known for their sexual sins.
Luke 7:37-39
37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is–that she is a sinner.”
Here Jesus was even condemned by religious leaders for allowing a prostitute to get near him and to touch him. If we want to share the gospel with sexual sinners we must allow them to get near us. We must not put up walls of condemnation, but rather open our doors to them. We can never share the gospel with those whom we do not get close enough to talk with!
Don’t try to “fix” their sexuality
As a heterosexual Christian it can be easy to lose focus when sharing the gospel with my LGBT friend and think that my main goal is to convert him to heterosexuality. I must realize that God has not called me to “fix” anyone. Whether it’s homosexuality, overeating, or a problem with anger, these are not things you or I can “fix.”
Nowhere in the Bible does God call us to fix people’s problems. God is the only one who can do that! Our job is to share God’s love, to show them where forgiveness is found, and to give them the hope of Jesus. If we can do this, then we can be sure God will do the rest!
Our goal isn’t to turn a homosexual into a heterosexual but rather to turn a sinner to faith and repentance in Christ. By leading someone to faith in Christ we have given them the only means that can truly change their sexual desires and their chosen sexual identity. This means our focus should be faith issues that will lead the person to a real and deep understanding of who Jesus is and what he has done for them.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Our goal is to turn them to the Lord and it is the Spirit who will transform them into his image. We must speak with them about sin but not only about the sin of homosexuality. We must help them to understand sin in a deeper way. They need to understand that sin isn’t limited to their sexual identity but rather that their sexuality is just one of many manifestations of their sin nature.
Look at their whole identity
Some people in the LGBT community can be very public about their sexuality, others can be very quiet about their sexuality. However, because of the nature of their sin, traditional heterosexuals tend to only see a homosexual in only one light -he is a gay man or lesbian woman. Once we know a person is gay, or lesbian, or trans, then that tends to be the only way we think of them. We fail to see that they may also have more normal aspects of their personality. We often fail to see that they may have the same problems and struggles as you and I. We need to realize that homosexuality is only one aspect of their identity.
It’s important for us to be able to look beyond that one sin in their life and see the person whom God made.
The woman caught in adultery
The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. They could only see her sin, they ignored her as a person. They didn’t as her why, they didn’t try to help her, they didn’t search for the man with whom she was caught, they only accused.
John 8:4-5
4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
Jesus, however, saw a woman who needed forgiveness!
John 8:10-11
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus didn’t ignore her sin, but he also didn’t ignore her as a person. Jesus paid attention to the whole person and not just to one particular sin.
- Zacheus
We can also see the importance of looking at the whole person in the case of Zacheus
Luke 19:5-7
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
The religious leaders called him “a sinner” but Jesus saw more! Jesus saw a man who was searching for a solution to his sin problem. Again we see that Jesus didn’t ignore Zacheus’ sin. We know this because Zacheus himself promised to give back 4x anything he had dishonestly stolen. However, it seems that Jesus hardly had to speak to Zacheus personally about his sin. The fact was that Zacheus probably knew all along that he was sinning. He didn’t need to be told because he knew already that he was living a sinful lifestyle. It was enough for Zacheus to experience the love of Jesus, the openness of Jesus, and the offer of forgiveness from Jesus.
Many in the LGBT community try to deceive themselves that their lifestyle is normal and even good. Yet, many also struggle with the morality of what they are doing. Many struggle with their conscience. Often what they need is not simply to be told they are sinning but to be shown another way, a way out of their sin through Jesus Christ.
- They still have the image and likeness of God
We must give members of the LGBT community the common respect that we give to all people because they are also made in the image and likeness of God.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…
God’s image may be distorted, God’s image may be hard to see but it is still there. We can and must give all people that general human respect knowing that they too were created in God’s image and likeness. By giving them this common respect we acknowledge that they can and should have an identity outside of homosexuality. We show them that they have value given to them by God which is far greater than any sexual identity they could choose.
By acknowledging their God given value we give them the opportunity to build a relationship, to build trust, and to converse about gospel topics without the barrier of their sexual identity.
5. Help them to understand their God-given identity
We can look at many different reasons as to why a person chooses an LGTB identity. Often it is the result of abuse in their past but not always. The more common homosexuality becomes the more reasons we will see why people choose that lifestyle. Today social media, youtube, and films play a large role in influencing people towards LGBT. Today we can easily see that many people are searching for their identity and going to all kinds of drastic measures to change their identity in the hope that with a new identity they will finally overcome their feelings of depression, anger, frustration, and lack of self-worth. Some turn to LGBT as a way to find their identity.
What we can say is that homosexuals fail to understand their God-given identity as men and women. Paul points this out in Romans 1:26-27 “exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.” The natural sexual relations are part of our god-given identity. The reason they have lost this natural god-given identity is because they have denied God in whom our identity is found!
Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
We must help them come back to a Biblical understanding of their identity and this can only happen when they begin to understand who God truly is.
If a LGBT person is religious or claims to be a Christian then they will often adhere to the following misunderstandings about God and themselves.
- God’s love is emphasized but his judgement is ignored
- They believe they are more or less good
- They believe God wants them to be happy
- If they aren’t happy then it’s the fault of others or it’s because they are not allowed to express their sexual identity
- They believe if they could freely live the LGBT lifestyle they would finally experience happiness
This logical train of thought is the result of not understanding the nature of God’s love in light of his holiness and justice. In other words they have failed to see God’s goodness and wrongly attributed God’s goodness to their own lives!
Jesus met a man with this same problem.
Luke 18:18-19
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.
One of our greatest challenges with LGBT is to help them understand God’s goodness and their sinfulness. Notice, however, how Jesus did this. He didn’t immediately say, “You terrible sinner, you haven’t kept the law, you are greedy!” No instead he carefully led this young man through questions and a story about the good Samaritan. Jesus, didn’t accuse this man but allowed the young man to see his own sin and accuse himself.
Unfortunately, most people will see themselves as victims instead of sinners.
Genesis 3:11-12 NIV – 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
This is where we need much wisdom to not excuse those who may have abused this person but also to help this person see their personal sin in light of God’s goodness.
6. Look for their deeper issues
Ultimately homosexuality is not the main problem, it is only a symptom of deeper problems. All unbelievers are seeking some sort of fulfillment, purpose, and satisfaction in life. In addition to this many struggle with issues like depression, anxiety, and anger.
These are the things of the heart! This is where we need to be speaking the truth of the gospel into their lives.
We need to show them that only Jesus can give them the ultimate satisfaction they are looking for. We need to help them understand that Jesus alone is the answer to their depression, anger, and anxiety.
We can Let them see the Jesus as a Good Shepherd and the only
8. Love them
We can defeat them in debate about homosexuality but this will not bring them to Christ. Tell them you love them. Help them when there is a need, be kind and compassionate toward them, leave them with no doubt that you genuinely love and care for them as a person. This is often what really brings a person to Christ.
9. Pray for them and with them
Make them regular in your private prayers. When you visit with them ask them if they have anything you can pray for them about. let them know you are praying for them. Pray for them in person when you have a chance. Praying with them is a powerful testimony of God’s love.
10. Share the gospel repeatedly and in various ways
Remember that the gospel takes many forms and can be communicated in many ways. We all need to hear the gospel message again and again. Find different ways to share the truth of the gospel naturally as it relates to different matters in life.
Don’t forget that it is the job of the Holy Spirit to work in the heart and bring about conviction of sin and faith in Jesus. This is a process that we don’t see, it is a process that may be happening now even though it doesn’t look like it.
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