Homosexuality: How Should Christians Respond?

This Month has Been Labeled “Pride Month”

It is to Celebrate the Freedom of Expression by the LGBTQ+ Community

I Think Christians, By and Large, Do Not Know How We Ought to Respond to Those of Homosexual Community

My Goal for this Lesson is to Help Us Start Taking a More Christ-Like Approach

What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?

Old Testament

Leviticus 18:22 (NASB)

‘You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13 (NASB)

‘If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Male Homosexuality is Labeled by God as an Abomination and a Detestable Act (Same Hebrew Word)

Female Homosexuality is Not Specifically Mentioned in the Old Testament

But We Could Assume the Same Sexual Ethics that Apply to Men Would Also Apply to Women

This will Prove to be True in the New Testament

New Testament

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 (NASB)

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

A Person can Not be a Citizen in Jesus’ Kingdom if They Practice Homosexuality

Jesus’ Kingdom is Where Salvation, Justification, Redemption, Reconciliation, and Adoption into God’s Family is Found

Homosexuality is Considered Unrighteous and Must be Repented of to be Forgiven

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NASB)

Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Some of the Christians at Corinth had Previously Been Homosexuals

But They Were No Longer

They Repented, Were Baptized into Christ, and Were Made Innocent by God

How Should Christians Respond to Practicing Homosexuals?

I Should Treat Them the Same Way I Treat Fornicators, Idolaters, Adulterers, Thieves, the Covetous, Drunkards, Slanderers/Insulters, and the Extremely Greedy

And How Should I Treat Them?

The Way Jesus Did

Love Them, Build Relationships with Them, and Tell Them the Gracious Good News

Because in Jesus, They can Receive Forgiveness and Everlasting Life

Colossians 4:5–6 (NASB)

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

How Should We Respond to Practicing Homosexuals?

With Wisdom, Making the Most of Our Opportunities to Speak with Them

With Grace, so Your Words will be so Tasteful to Them that They Want to Keep Coming Back for More

Wisdom and Grace in Our Words is How We Win People to King Jesus

If We Aren’t Willing to Love, Build Relationships, and Teach the Good News to Those Who Practice Homosexuality…

Then We are Just as Wrong as They are

And by the Way, Teaching the Gospel Doesn’t Just Consist of Telling People They are Living in Sin

Paul Didn’t Say to Walk Toward Outsiders with Judgment and Condemnation

It’s About Telling Them of the Amazing Grace, Love, and Blessings that Jesus Offers to Those Who Give Their Lives to Him

People Need to Repent (Turn Their Mind Away from) Homosexual Lust and Activity

But We Have to Make Sure We Tell Them Who to Turn Their Mind Toward…

And Why He is More than Worth it!

I Believe the Bible is Very Clear that Homosexuality is a Sin that Must be Repented of Just Like Heterosexual Fornication and Adultery

But That Can’t Be Where Our Discussion Ends

There are Many People in the World Who Don’t Practice Homosexuality…

But Still Struggle with the Temptation to Do So

And in Many Cases, the Person Doesn’t Want to Have this Attraction

How Should Christians Respond to Those With a Homosexual Attraction?

There are Many Christians Who Have Some Dangerous Ideas About Those of a Homosexual Attraction

My Hope is to Help Christians Take a More Biblical Approach to How We View Those of a Homosexual Attraction

Attraction vs. Lust

These 2 Words can Sometimes Become Hard to Differentiate from Each Other

But it is Vital to Our Christian Walk that We Understand the Difference

Attraction to Someone is Not Sinful

But Lusting After Someone is Sinful

How Do We Tell the Difference in the 2?

One Easy Distinction Deals with Intentionality

Attraction to Someone is Typically Unintentional

But Lust is Something You Must Take an Active Role in Doing

Notice How Jesus Describes it in Matthew 5:27-28

Matthew 5:27–28 (ESV)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:28 (NET)

But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

To Look at a Person Who Doesn’t Belong to You with Lustful Intent or a Longing Desire is Sinful

There is Intention Involved with the Looking

This is More than Simple Attraction

It is an Obsession and Deep Desire to Act Sexually Toward Someone Who is Not Your Spouse

This is What David Did on the Rooftop

He Saw the Very Beautiful Bathsheba Bathing

He Could Have Thought, “Wow, She is Gorgeous!”, and Turned Back Around and Went Inside

But Instead, He Started to Desire Her for Himself and this Desire Led to Her Being Taken from Her Home and Being Violated by Him

David Would Not Have Sinned had He Only Found this Woman Attractive

But Choosing to Move from Attraction to Longing/Desiring/Lusting After Her was Where Sin Entered in

I Remember the First Time I Saw Norah

I Thought She the Most Beautiful Thing I’d Ever Seen

I was Very Attracted to Her

But I Didn’t Begin Lusting After Her or Playing Out Fantasies in My Head of Being Intimate with Her

It was Innocent Attraction, Not Sinful Desire

That Attraction Wasn’t Something I Ever Intended on Having for Her

But Being Attracted to Her While We Were Dating Didn’t Make Me a Fornicator

Liking Your Fancy Car Doesn’t Make Me Covetous or a Thief

And Being Attracted to the Same-Sex Doesn’t Make Someone Homosexual

As Long as They Aren’t Taking an Active Role in Longing for or Participating in Homosexual Activities, They are Not Sinning

By Me Saying that Some People Have an Unintentional Attraction Toward the Same-Sex…

Some May Think I’m Saying People are Born with this Homosexual Temptation

That’s Not at All What I’m Saying

No One is Born a Sinner

And I Don’t Believe Anyone is Born into Immediate Temptations to Sin

Homosexual Attraction Seems to be Rooted in a Variety of Psychological, Biological, Social, and Spiritual Factors

There are Many Factors that May Play a Part in Why Someone has this Specific Temptation

I’m by No Means an Expert, but the Research that has Been Done by Actual Experts is Very Eye-Opening

How a Person is Raised Seems to Play a Large Role in Why Many People Struggle with Same-Sex Attraction

Especially When There is a Breakdown of the Relationship with a Same-Sex Parent,

This Creates a Loss in the Child’s Sense of Identity and Feelings of Being Loved

Male Homosexual Attraction can Stem from an Absent or Detached Father and an Overinvolved, Controlling Mother

This can Lead the Child to Overidentify with His Mother and Crave the Attention and Affection of a Male Figure

Female Homosexual Attraction can Stem from an Emotionally or Physically Absent Mother

This can Lead the Child to Overidentify with Her Father and Crave the Attention and Affection of a Female Figure

Parents, Love, Be Gracious, Be Understanding, and Be There for You’re Children!

Because There are So Many Children Who are Starving for Love and Affection

And Satan has Been Using Those Opportunities to Lead Them to Sin

Some Other Correlations are:

Sexual Abuse

Sexual Experiences in Adolescent Years

Exposure to Pornography

Negative Reactions to Gender Non-Conformity

Some Choose to Practice Homosexuality Willingly or Out of Rebellion

Some Because of Moral Relativism (Belief that There is No Objective Right or Wrong)

There are Millions of People in the World Who Have Same-Sex Attraction

But I’m Convinced that Many Have this Attraction Due to No Fault/Choice of Their Own

Not Because They are Born that Way, but Because Our Enemy has an Unlimited Amount of Tactics that He Uses to Tempt Us

The Fact is, We All Suffer with Different Temptations

But Thankfully, We Know that Jesus was Tempted in Every Way Like We are, but He Didn’t Sin

Temptations are Not Sinful

That Includes the Temptation to Lust After or Practice Homosexual Behavior

How Should We Respond to Those Who Struggle with Same-Sex Attraction?

Remember Jesus’ Golden Rule

If I Knew the Temptations You Struggle with on a Daily Basis, How Would You Want Me to Respond to You?

With Judgment, Condemnation, and Discouragement?

You‘d Want Me to Respond with Grace, Mercy, and Encouragement

Having a Homosexual Attraction is Not the Same as Being a Homosexual

Therefore, We Should Stop Making Them Feel as if They are Wrong for Feeling this Way

They are in Need of Help with Their Temptations, Not Judgement.

If the World Only Sees Jesus’ People as Negative, Judgmental, and Discouraging…

We are the Last People They will Come Running to for Help

People Flocked to Jesus and the People Looked with Favor at the 1st Century Church

We Need to Learn from Them

Romans 1

Romans 1 has Been Used Many Times to Condemn Homosexuality

And it is One of the Clearest Passages that Does that Very Thing

But Beware!

Those Who Go into Romans 1 to Condemn the Sins of Others Better Take Jesus’ Advice Before They Do

Matthew 7:1–5 (NASB)

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

In the Context of Romans 1, Paul Begins with the Topic of God’s Wrath Against Those Who Refuse to Acknowledge Him and Instead Choose Idolatry

God will “Give Them Over” or Allow Them to Walk that Destructive Path

And that Destructive Path Leads to Sexual Perversions (Idolatry had A LOT to Do with Sexual Immorality)

And One of Those Forms of Sexual Immorality was Homosexual Practices (26-27)

Women and Men Leaving the Natural, God-Ordained Heterosexual Practices for the Unnatural Homosexual Practices

Paul Isn’t Addressing Homosexual Attraction but Lust and Activity

But Notice that Paul Doesn’t Stop with Homosexuality

Romans 1:28–32 (NASB)

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,

slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;

and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Each of These Sins are Deserving of Death

If We are Honest, We are All Going to Find Something in this List that We are Guilty of

I’m Not Saying We Shouldn’t Condemn Homosexuality if We are Guilty of Anything on this List

I’m Saying We Need to be Consistent with Our Judgments

Condemn Sin in All of its Manifestations

Condemn the Sin that Lives Within You Before You Start Condemning it in Others

And That is Exactly What Paul is Saying

Romans 2:1–4 (NASB)

Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

God Shows Kindness, Tolerance, and Patience Toward Us in Our Sins

Kindness = To Be Considerate, Sympathetic, Gentle, Compassionate

Tolerance = To Patiently Delay Punishment

Patience = To Patiently Endure Pain and Suffering

How Should Christians Respond to Homosexuality?

The Way God Responds to Us in Our Sins

Be Kind, Considerate, Sympathetic, Gentle, and Compassionate

Don’t Jump Straight to Condemnation, but Give Them Time to Change

Suffer with Them as They Struggle to Seek a Christ-Centered Life

This Approach is the Only Way to Bring about True Repentance

Review

How Christians Should Respond to Homosexuality?

Realize that Jesus Loves and is Willing to Forgive Them

Conduct Yourself with Wisdom and Grace Toward Them

Understand that Their Attraction May be Something They are Struggling with and Do Not Wish to Have

Treat Them with Kindness, Tolerance/Forbearance, and Patience

If We Do this, We May Begin to See Less Arguing and More Conversions

God Leads Us to Repentance Out of Our Sins with His Loving Kindness, Tolerance, and Patience

Maybe We Should Try the Same Approach