Sermon manuscript:
When Pastor Bertram and I were discussing what we might like
to accomplish with this series on marriage, sexuality, and so on, we both
thought that it would be good to address what is known as LGBTQ concerns. LGBTQ
stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning or queer. Advocacy
for LGBTQ rights has entered the mainstream. Our laws concerning marriage have
changed. Workplaces are implementing DEI, which stands for diversity, equity,
and inclusion. No one can afford to ignore what is going on because the stakes
can be quite high.
These issues have become politicized and are being
implemented by force. There are some countries, such as Canada or some European
countries, where certain ways of speaking about these issues have been
criminalized. Criticism of LGBTQ lifestyles will likely be labeled as “hate
speech.” So it is also with workplaces. Say the wrong thing, and you might be fired.
So it is also with our families. Say the wrong thing, and you might not be
invited to family functions.
These issues have become so fraught with drastic
consequences. Therefore, we might think that we are already addressing what is
most important when we deal with laws, policy, and so forth. Although being
imprisoned, or losing your job, or being shunned are very important things,
they are not the most important thing.
The most important thing was what Jesus said in our Gospel
reading. He said, “For God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him.” Jesus is so clear. God is not scanning the earth, looking
for whom he might condemn. He wants everyone to be saved.
This is similar to another of Jesus’s statements. In John
chapter 10 he says, “I came that people may have life,
and have it more abundantly.” We might put that into simpler, more
everyday language by saying, “Jesus wants everyone to be happy.” Jesus’s giving
of happiness is what is more important than the temporary, earthly troubles we
might experience. The salvation of just one soul is infinitely precious.
So although there is much that we could talk about with this
topic, I’d like to focus on what is most important. Namely, how can those who experience
same-sex attraction or gender confusion receive Jesus’s promises of salvation
and abundant life? The answer is simple: “Repent and
believe the Gospel.” That’s what Jesus always preached. Repentance for
our sin and faith in Jesus the Savior is the only way to eternal life.
Let’s begin with the first part of Jesus’s statement, which
is, “Repent.” To know that same-sex attraction
and gender confusion is sinful is not difficult. Many people who experience
these desires already know in their own hearts that it is not good. They don’t
even need the Scriptures to tell them so. However, the Scriptures are very
clear about these things. You heard that in our first two readings.
In our reading from Leviticus it says that a man should not
lie with another man as though that other man were a woman. That is an
abomination. Men and women should not lie with animals. That is perversion. God
threatens to punish those who do these things. He threatens to punish all who
live in the land where these things are practiced. God is very clear that this
behavior is unacceptable.
In our second reading, from Romans chapter 1, Paul
identifies same sex attraction as a symptom of a decaying society where the
people are alienating themselves from God. Our alienation from God, our
worshipping of created things instead of the Creator, is the root cause. Improper
desires are but a symptom of the underlying condition.
Note how Paul doesn’t just speak about improper same-sex
relationships. He describes many other symptoms of this societal decay. The
things he mentions are so common that we might not even notice them as being
sins. He speaks against coveting, being mean, being proud, being disobedient to
parents, gossiping—these sins are just as much an indication of our alienation
from God as same-sex attraction or gender confusion.
To all of this God says, “Repent!”
The word, “repent,” is often taken to be a harsh, hate-filled word. It may be
harsh, but it isn’t hate-filled. Repent means, “Change your ways! You’re going
the wrong way!” Going the wrong way isn’t good for us! Lying, being mean,
burning with covetousness, indulging whatever emotion or desire that comes over
us—none of these things are good for us. They don’t promote life; they hamper
life. God would have you turn away from these things, be forgiven in Jesus, be
given abundant life.
A common problem, however—not just among those who experience
same-sex attraction or gender confusion, but among all sinners—is that a person
doesn’t want to repent. They don’t want to change their ways. They’ve enjoyed
the sins they have been committing. They don’t want anyone to tell them to live
otherwise.
This is something that is eternally decisive for each one of
us. Jesus speaks to this also in our Gospel reading. He says: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world,
and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were
evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to
the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true
comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been
carried out in God.”
What is eternally decisive for each of us is the question of
what you are going to do when the light comes? The light of God shows us what’s
right and wrong. It gives us a knowledge of our sin. What are we going to do
about that? One option is to ignore the light. Another option is to fight
against the light as being truthful. You can reject what is said about right
and wrong. This can be done with same-sex attraction, with divorce, with living
together without being married. It can be done with other sins too. The angry
person might want to continue to be angry. The gossiper might want to continue
to gossip.
Whenever we do this, however, we are making a decision. That
decision might get to be so automatic for us that it is no longer even a
conscious decision, but it is a decision nevertheless. We are stating our
preference. We prefer the darkness in which we can continue to live as we see
fit instead of embracing the light—the righteousness and healing that Jesus the
Christ is bringing into this world.
“God sent his Son into the world,
not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through
him.” The light certainly teaches us what’s right and wrong, but that is
not the only thing that Jesus does. The Son of God lays down his life for sinners.
He suffers and dies. He is punished with the punishment we deserve. In him and
in his sacrifice is the only way for all the wrongs that we commit to be made
right.
Many of you have long heard this Gospel preaching, and are
well aware of it. I would like to emphasize how this is true for all people and
for all kinds of sin. The good news of salvation in Jesus is for those who experience
same-sex attraction or gender confusion. The good news of salvation is also for
those who have acted on their desires. Jesus died to pay for the sins of those
who have lived as homosexual couples, those who have lain with animals, those
who have fully transitioned.
The word that Jesus has for them is the same word that he
has for everyone: “Repent, and believe the Good News of
salvation.” Jesus’s salvation is stronger than anyone’s sins. The grace
of God is so powerful and abundant that all the world’s sin, taken altogether,
is like a spark that falls into an ocean. That ocean has more than enough to
extinguish that little spark and more. Jesus forgives those who repent of their
sinful desires, including same-sex attraction or gender confusion. He forgives
them lavishly and completely.
Forgiveness and salvation are in Jesus. This is the main
thing. It is only natural, however, to wonder about what life is like after
hearing the word of forgiveness as we live in this world. We know that God will
bring about the final healing at our death and resurrection. That is when God
will finish his work of making us holy. In the meantime what should those who
suffer from unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion do?
The answer here is, again, not very original. It’s the same
as we’ve been saying all along. Those who experience same-sex attraction or
gender confusion must fight against their sinful desires just as all Christians
must fight against their sinful desires. All Christians have unwanted desires.
Some are proud, some are greedy, some are unruly. Unwanted desires cannot hurt
us Christians so long as we do not give ourselves over to them. Day in and day
out, week in and week out, we confess our sins and receive absolution. That’s
the life of the baptized.
Would it be easier if all our unwanted desires were taken
away from us? Seemingly so. But God very often allows these desires to remain.
They keep us humble. They keep us from relying upon ourselves and our own
righteousness. They force us to live only by faith in Jesus, who is the only
Savior. So our unwanted desires might not be taken away from us in this life. That’s
alright. We will one day experience the truthfulness of Jesus’s promise about
life, abundant life.
However, God might remove unwanted desires too. We should
not make hard and fast rules about these things. Don’t demand of God signs and
wonders. That’s on the on hand. On the other, don’t reject his healing if he
should give it either. It might be that God makes it so that a person who at
one time was afflicted by these desires can marry and have a family of his or
her own. If that happens, thank God! But even with this happy outcome, it is
still not the main thing. The main thing is continuing to believe in the Son of
God.
In summary and in conclusion, Christians who experience
same-sex attraction or gender confusion are not different from their fellow
brothers and sisters in Christ. The way to live as Christians is the same for
one and for all. We all must continually repent and believe in Jesus. The way
that unwanted, sinful desires are handled isn’t different either. May God have
mercy and take these sinful desires away from all of us in this life! But God very
likely will allow many of them to remain. As Paul says, “It is only through many troubles that we may enter into the
kingdom of God.” They keep us humble. They keep us hungry for the new
heavens and the new earth when our abundant life will begin in earnest.
The politicization that has occurred regarding LGBTQ rights
is unlikely to go away. However difficult or frightening various changes might
be, they remain earthly and temporary. We have something much greater—the good
news of Jesus’s light and life. The Son of God came, not to condemn the world,
but to save the world. Jesus came so that we may have life, and have it more
abundantly. Hope in him!
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