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As we start this afternoon I’d like to do a little poll. Our topic is ‘LGBTQ+ or Jesus’ and I want to do a little show of hands. This poll is not to find out where you stand on these issues. I am just trying to get a sense of our familiarity with this topic. Here is the first question. I have about 8. We will fly through these really fast. How many of you think you could define lesbian (the L in LGBTQ)? How many could define what it is to be gay (or homosexual)? How about bisexuality? Okay, transgender? How many could define what it is to be Queer? Now some of you are aware that the term LGBTQ has expanded to include Intersex and Ally (Intersex and Asexual)? Could you define those? Now let me ask a little different question. How many of us could define ‘Expressive Individualism’?
That’s a lot harder. Now I will tell you right now that one of the goals of this talk is to convince you that this unfamiliar term is very important. You see underneath the flourishing of the LGBTQ movement is a worldview that is shared by almost everyone in our culture. This way of looking at life is often called, “Expressive Individualism.” You may not have heard of it before, but as Trevin Wax points out, you have heard it in comments like, “you do you,” “be true to yourself,” “follow your heart,” “find yourself,” “be yourself.” That is what expressive individualism sounds like in daily life. Because ‘expressive individualism’ is the air we breathe, if someone says to you ‘be true to yourself that’s just common sense today. Can you imagine saying to you, “now it’s really importnat that don’t be yourself!” The reason that feels wrong about is because ‘expressive individualism’ is the water we swim in every day.
Now let’s stop for a minute and think about what is behind the “you do you” philosophy of expressive individualism. There are several features. We will mention three. First, your true self is located in your feelings. I’ll give a transgender example. Do you feel like a female (even though your birth certificate & biology says you are a male) then you are one? Do you feel attracted to people of the same sex? Then that is what you are. It’s your identity. We are defined by our desires. We are what we feel ourselves to be. Second feature, the highest goal of expressive individualism is to express ourselves. In fact, freedom is getting to express yourself, and be yourself. Third point, the ultimate authority in who you ought to be is you, not tradition, or religion, or custom, or government, not biology, just the inner you. If any outside authority gets in the way of our self expression like a Church, a Synagogue, a Mosque, a Government, a family member, a kid at school that’s oppression. If anyone says you should be ashamed of who you are, or says “you can’t be who you feel you are” that’s abusive. So expressive individualism says you are what you feel, freedom is expressing what’s inside of you and not letting anything outside of you get in the way. And the ultimate authority in the world is me and what I feel is true about me. That’s expressive individualism in a nutshell.
Wasn’t this talk supposed to be about LGBTQ issues? Yes, and what I am trying to say is that if you are going to understand the LGBTQ movement then you need to understand ‘expressive individualism.’ You see L/G/B/T/Q movement are just like floors of a house, ‘expressive individualism is the foundation. Let me illustrate. Have you ever noticed that the LGBTQ list is getting longer? When I was younger it was just LGBT, then Questioning or Queer was added later, now Intersex and Ally have been added, and a plus sign has been added because more will surely come. You might be tempted to see the letters of LGBTQ as individual flowers in a bouquet (one is a rose, another is a daffodil - each letter in LGBTQ is different and all they have in common is that they are not traditional straight sexuality). But if you think like that, you might miss that these different sexual identities are actually linked together, not like different flowers in a bouquet, but like the honey mushroom in Malheur (MAL-HERE) National Forest in Oregon. What’s the honey mushroom? Well, this mushroom is quite possibly the largest living organism on our planet, it covers over 3 square miles. Now when you see it ,you would just see a few little classic mushrooms here and there, but these mushrooms are all interconnected underground. What looks like many mushrooms is actually one. The constantly growing letters of the LGBTQ+ movement are actually united by something deeper, something underground, they are united by ‘expressive individualism. The idea that the highest goal in life is me expressing myself. The idea is that what I desire defines me so I am gay, or I feel like a man trapped in woman’s body so I am a man. This ‘expressive individualism’ unites our whole culture, it’s why even though a small minority of our culture is L, G, B, T, or Q, the majority of our culture are allies. Most people affirm that a person ought to be who they feel they are with no shame and no one calling them to be something else.
Now the title I was given for this talk is ‘LGBTQ or Jesus?’ And the reason the title is an either-or question is because the claims of the LGBTQ movement and the claims of Jesus are diametrically opposed. Or to put it another way, the claims of expressive individualism which are underneath the claims of the LGBTQ movement are diametrically opposed to the claims of Jesus. They are set for a head-on collision. Just listen to these words from Jesus to see if you can’t feel collision coming. “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mk 8:34–38).
Notice that Jesus sums up what it means to come after him in three ways, self denial, cross bearing, and following Him. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” These words are not the air we breathe. These words are not the water we swim in. These words are counter cultural words from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Notice what they call us to. These words are a life-giving antidote to the poison of expressive individualism.
Lord, let your Word ring out. Lord, let your truth ring out. Father, let the most powerful thing I say be the reading of your Word. Lord, create in every heart a sense of being ‘sold’ on everything your Word says.
First we are called to deny ourselves - or to put it another way - to flee sin. When Jesus says,”deny yourself” he is not saying deny your own existence. Pretend you don’t exist, commit mental suicide. No, denying yourself does not lead to non-existence it leads to following, denying yourself goes hand in hand with a new way of living (not dying) which Jesus sums up as following him. Denying yourself also does not mean deny all your desires for goodness and happiness. Jesus is not calling us to be stoics who turn off our emotions and block out our desires. No, this whole passage speaks to those who don’t want to lose their lives, to people who want to keep their souls, and who do not want to feel the shame of Jesus being ashamed of them. Jesus never tells us to kill our desires for joy and pleasure, actually, he is always trying to get us to fix those desires on him, the bread of life, the water of life, the joyful wine of the soul. So what is the self-denial Jesus is talking about? It is denying our deep personal desires for sin. He says to deny yourself because we identify so closely with our sins. He wants us to put away all sinful ways of finding joy in life, all earthly hopes of enjoying the good life. He wants us to deny all sinful impulses, temptations, and desires and instead to follow Jesus. To deny yourself is to flee your own desires for sin so you can follow the Savior.
Second, we are called to our take up our Cross - or to put it another way - to embrace the shame that comes with following Jesus. Many people talk about Cross bearing in ways that have very little to do with Jesus and his actual Cross. They get a sore back and they say, “this is my Cross to bear.” That is not the central idea here. When Jesus took up the Cross he was embracing public shame. Hebrews 12:2 says he did it, “for the joy that was set before him (he) endured the cross, despising the shame.” Think of the things that make you ashamed. No one wants to be naked in public, but on the Cross Jesus was splayed out naked in public with no ability to cover himself. He did not die dressed in style, he died shamefully covered in blood, spit, and tattered flesh. None of us want people to see us when we are sniffling and sneezing and feeling terrible (we fell ashamed), Jesus died in public panting for breath. None of us like to have a bad reputation for something we have not done. We don’t want to be slut shamed, or called a racist if we are not one. But Jesus the righteous man was hanging naked on a Cross as a common criminal. The godliest man the world has ever known was hung on a Cross for being a blasphemer. He was shamed. To follow Christ you and I are called to embrace a life of being shamed. We are to follow the one who had shame heaped upon him but we are not to be ashamed of him. His death on the Cross for us is so precious to the believer, that even though the world says, “what are you doing being associated with such a rigid, restrictive God with such backward ideas’, we embrace that shame and take up our Cross to follow Him. Taking up your Cross means embracing the shame of being identified with Jesus.
Finally, we follow Him. Notice that believers don’t look inwards to find their marching orders. They are coming after him, they are pursuing another. They are following him. In verse 35 we are called to lose our lives for the sake of Him and His gospel. Everything we do is for him even if it costs us everything. Did you hear him call us to be unashamed of him and his words. We are following the one who serves others, washes feet, submits to God’s natural world, and God’s Biblical commands. If believers have an orientation it is outward and it towards Christ. We follow Him.
Lord bring your people to happily follow him. Help us to see this in distinction to the ways of the world.
So just briefly let me just set ‘Expressive Individualism’ and Christian Discipleship side by side and then we will look at a number of ways we ought to respond to the LGBTQ movement. Expressive individualism says express yourself no matter what desires you have within you express them, you do you. Christian Discipleship says, whatever desires you have that are contrary to God’s word must be denied. Deny yourself. ((Not that you pretend the desires of the temptation, but you deny gratifying those desires. You deny yourself and flee sin.)) Expressive Individualism says do not let anyone make you ashamed of the inner you, your inner desires. Christian Discipleship says do not be ashamed of following Jesus. His words, his standards, his good news that exposes sin and saves sinners, do not be ashamed of that. Expressive Individualism says follow your heart, you do you. Christian Discipleship doesn’t say “you do you” it says “no, you follow me.” You do me. This is the most merciful call in the world. Our own choices lead us to all kinds of misery, but mercy or mercy Jesus calls us to follow Him, the most loving, holy, human, divine, person who ever lived. What compassionate grace!
So with the contrast and the clash clearly in our minds let me walk through four ways we should respond to the LGBTQ movement. As believers who have been called to flee sin, embrace shame, and follow Christ we should compassionately expose LGBTQ sins, wisely reject an LGBTQ identity, lovingly resist LGBTQ oppression, and eagerly show LGBTQ people love.
First, we should compassionately expose LGBTQ sins. We live in a world where many are believing that LGBTQ lifestyles will bring them satisfaction. In fact, what all LGBTQ sexual activity does is it goes painfully against the grain of nature. This is actually one of the central truths the Bible brings up, specifically when it deals with homosexual and/transgender sins. It raises the issue that these sins are unnatural. Speaking of God’s wrath on humanity Paul says, “God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Rom 1:26). Notice Paul called sexual relations between a man and a woman natural, while lesbian and homosexual passions unnatural, and like all things that go against the grain of nature, they bring their own consequences in this life. They receive the due penalty in themselves for their error. Jude strikes the same note when he says, “Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desires” (Jude 7) When Paul speaks of men looking like men, and women looking like women he brings up nature again, “Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? (1 Co 11:14–15). It is interesting when issues of sexual identity and gender identity come up in the Bible nature is invoked. We know instinctively that men should dress and identify as men. We know instinctively that a man and a woman’s genitals fit together. I am going to be graphic for a moment, but the reason I am doing this is that when we talk about LGBTQ issues we often do so under the vague umbrella of love, we neglect to spell out what is actually going on in nature. When a man has anal intercourse with a man it rips, it tears, it bleeds, and it increases the chance of disease and it makes your bum leak. When a man and a woman come together in vaginal intercourse it is safe, naturally lubricated, and life creating. When a man and a man come together the seed of life that comes out of a man is swallowed up in the bowels of defecation and death (J. Bud.). It is not a natural action or desire. And the results of these unnatural desires being acted on are severe. The Vanderbilt University Medical Center reports, “Men who have sex with men and gay men are at increased risk for certain types of chronic diseases, cancers, and mental health problems.” Gay men are at risk for HIV, HPV, Drug Abuse, Depression and Anxiety, Body Image Issues like anorexia, and bulimia. Transgender people are susceptible to these same diseases (James) and that there suicide rates among very high as well. Now, someone could say that all this depression, drug abuse, and body image issues are because preachers like me keep telling people these desires are unnatural? That would be one explanation. The other would be that when you go against nature there are predictable results. If you fill your lungs with carbon dioxide instead of oxygen there will be some predictable results. If you eat gravel for breakfast instead of granola there will be some predictable results. And if you use your body unnaturally there will be some predictable results. Isn’t it the height of compassion to share these truths with the world? We lovingly warn people about cigarettes and lung cancer but not about all the disease and depression that goes with sexual sin. Friends, (and especially those of you attracted to an LGBTQ lifestyle) if you are starting to see that going down unnatural and harmful ways have hurt you, then maybe you could see it as a mercy/ a compassionate mercy/ for the God of creation come down and say to you follow me, deny yourself, take up your Cross, and follow me. Brothers and sisters, we should compassionately talk about LGBTQ issues as the unnatural sins that they are and we should invite unbelievers (and Christians who struggle) into the joy of denying self and following Jesus.
We Should Wisely Reject LGBTQ identity. There is a group in the Church today who are saying gay people should embrace a traditional Christian sexual ethic but also embrace a gay identity. These men and women would say sexual activity should only be within a heterosexual marriage. So far so good. However, they add something. They think it is important that Christians who feel gay should identify as gay or lesbian. They argue that how you feel oriented inside should define your identity. I have two responses to that. First, I think that inclination to identify your real self with your internal desires is shaped more by ‘Expressive Individualism’ than by Biblical faith. Labeling your ultimate identity by your sexual desires is not the way the Bible speaks about us. Second, we would not do this with any other sin. I’ve struggled with anger as a Christian. Should I self-identify as an angry Christian? One preacher pointed out that we would not walk around, after we are Christians and say (I am a liar Christian, I am porn-loving Christian), “I am a racist. I mean do not get me wrong, I do not practice racism, but in terms of my orientation, I prefer the company of white people. I feel white culture is better.” It sucks the wind out of me to say that. And saying, “I’m a gay Christian should do the same to you.” As Christians, our ultimate identity comes through who God made us (we are his creatures), who we are in Christ (we are new creatures in Christ). The roles God gives us (parents, children, brothers and sisters in the Church). We can still fight many temptations. Real Christians can be tempted by homosexual desires, transgender confusion. We are not above any kinds of temptations but we do not label ourselves with those temptations, we do not define ourselves by our sinful and unnatural desires. Our primary identity is that we are Christ, we come to Him, follow Him, are not ashamed of Him.
Lovingly oppose LGBTQ oppression - You know it is easy to see oppression in the past. It’s easy looking back to see the evil of American slavery and human traffiking. It’s also easy to see oppression far away. The reports that come out of North Korea remind us that we have many brothers and sisters who are imprisoned and being tortured in our time. It’s harder to see oppression up close, but make no mistake the LGBTQ agenda is deeply oppressive. For example, many Christians have come to the conviction that we should not call someone by their preferred pronouns. To call a ‘she a he’ or a ‘he a she’ breaks the ninth commandment which tells us not to bear false witness. But a Christian in New York today could be fined 250000$ for not using someone’s preferred pronouns. In 2017 Ohio a couple lost custody of their own child when they refused to help them transition to the opposite sex. Across America, women are losing in women’s sports as mediocre men declare themselves women and use their superior masculine speed, athleticism, and strength to dominate women’s sports. Now maybe losing a gold medal is not oppression, but losing athletic scholarships to men means fewer women who can afford to go to college. In Canada (Bill C-4) a law was recently passed that makes conversion therapy illegal. What is conversion therapy? Well the law states that, “conversion therapy means a practice, treatment or service designed to (a) change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual; (c)change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth;(d) repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behavior.” My friend like that makes offering people the hope of the gospel illegal. Will this mean that a Christian preacher or Christian counselor who try to help people reject unnatural desires will be fined or imprisioned? It remains to be seen, but in Sweden in 2005 a Pastor was sentenced to a month in prison for preaching on homosexuality. We should be vocal like Jesus against this kind of evil. ((But I want you to realize that resisting this oppression will probably not happen in some dramatic speech, it will come when you say no to the pride pin they are handing out at work, refuse to put your pronouns on your nametag because you won’t play that game)) In just a moment I am going to speak about personally loving LGBTQ people, but I want it to be clear speaking the gospel to public issues so that people are not bankrupted, robbed of scholarships, or imprisoned for speaking the truth, or hindered from preaching the gospel is loving and compassionate as well.
Eagerly love LGBTQ people with the gospel- As Christians, we do not determine people’s ultimate identity by what they desire. We understand that all people, no matter how sinful their desires may be, are made in the image of God. On top of that, the example of our Savior is that he draws near to sinful people. He was a friend of sinners. LGBTQ friends are sinners (like all of us) so we should show kindness to LGBTQ friends and neighbors. We should have them into our homes, invite them to our Churches, hold Bible Studies with LGBTQ co-workers. We should find ways to show mercy to those suffering from AIDS, Depression, Drug Abuse. My old Pastor in Toronto, Canada used to walk into an area of town where many gay men lived and express to them how much he longed for them to visit his Church. We need more of that. Many of you will know the story of Rosaria Butterfield who was a lesbian University professor who was befriended by a Pastor and his wife and over time led to the Lord. More of that, please. Now, I know that in many situations your compassionate love and sharing of the good news will not be met with open arms. Calling people to repentance can be called abusive these days. Speaking about God’s standards can be called oppressive. Telling people that their only hope is in the Cross of Christ has always seemed foolish to the world. But the world is terribly deceived. The world thinks cutting off a transgendered child’s genitals is liberating. No, that’s abuse. The world may not love us but we can love them even if they slander and misunderstand us. But if you are maligned, reviled, or even persecuted you are in good company. They did that to Jesus and the prophets. Our job is not to control people’s reactions to us, our job is to love them. To show the love of Christ to sinners.
Conclusion - The world we are in is dominated by ‘expressive individualism’ this is just the latest version of human rebellion and sin. Expressive individualism says my identity and my authority come from my desires. Anything that gets in the way must go. Jesus presents another way, one that does not go against the grain of nature or the character of God. The call of Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. This call to flee sin and to embrace the shame the world will heap upon us as we follow him is countercultural but loving. When it comes to the LGBTQ movement it means we must compassionately expose sin, wisely reject an LGBTQ identity, lovingly resist LGBTQ oppression, and show love and compassion for LGBTQ people. I hope that clarifies the calling on our lives and shows us how to chose Jesus in a very LGBTQ world. I imagine there are questions, so I will pray and then we can address those.