Last year my wife shared a hospital room with a girl who was about to start detox. We got to know her pretty well over those few days, learning about what brought her to Iowa, why she was in the hospital, and even the toxic relationships she’d had with past girlfriends. When I shared the gospel with her, the fact that she lived a gay lifestyle never entered into the conversation. Here’s why.
Her biggest problem
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins… Among [the sons of disobedience] we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:1, 3)
In our current culture, it’s easy to treat homosexuality as a special sin. All sins are hated by God, but that one is a real problem. We often hold the idea that if someone is gay, it’s their biggest issue. In fact, we love to throw up a handful of Bible verses to really prove that gays are going to Hell.
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. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
However, thinking that way requires us to believe that someone who is gay is under more judgment because of that one sin. Yet look at this popular passage and notice that it doesn’t say “gays can’t go to Heaven.” Really, it says no one is going to Heaven under their own merit.
Just remove “homosexuals” from the passage and run someone through these lists. Are all of us not idolators? Do many people not have a wandering eye, committing adultery in their hearts? Let’s not forget that the bulk of our culture is centered around covetousness and over-indulgence.
A person’s greatest problem isn’t that they’re a homosexual any more than someone else’s greatest problem is that they look at pornography. Those things are just expressions of a far deeper issue.
Their problem is that their lifetime of sin has made them an enemy of God. Every lie ever told has added a death sentence to their record. Romans 1-2 tells us that everyone chooses not to worship God as He deserves, instead making themselves their own gods. Everyone is dead in their trespasses and sins, and a gay person isn’t somehow more dead because of how they choose to live in rebellion against God. Without the life-giving power of Christ, we’re nothing but corpses.
Not by works
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
It’s critical that we, as Christians, get a firm understanding of how gross and damning all sin is. When we treat homosexuality as a unique sin, we create a works-based salvation. How?
Often, we tell people they need to repent of homosexuality. We either subtly or directly tell them “Clean up your life, get rid of being gay, then come to Christ.” By telling people that they need to stop being gay so they can come to Christ, we commit blasphemy by believing that His death wasn’t effective enough to forgive all sin. We silently make the claim that Christ can take on their current level of lying, thieving, hateful, drunken hearts… just as long as they aren’t attracted to the same gender.
In other words, they have to do something to earn their salvation. They have to get rid of one sin so Christ can handle the rest. We would never tell someone they need to stop being angry before Christ can save them, nor would we tell a drug addict to get cleaned up so they can enter into the kingdom. That’s not the good news of Jesus Christ.
The good news is that Christ saves sinners. All sinners. From serial killers to the pastor’s kid who has only told one lie, all of us are completely incapable of doing anything to earn mercy, making all of us fully and desperately dependent on Christ for our salvation.
Life comes before death
for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13)
No amount of cleaning up our lives can make us more pleasing to God. Even getting rid of certain sins doesn’t please Him if it’s done apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. Before we can begin to truly kill sin at the root, we must first be raised to life by Jesus Christ. Just as Zaccheus repented of His sin after realizing who Christ truly was, none of us can kill sin in our lives without Him.
Why didn’t I talk to a lesbian about homosexuality? Because she had far bigger issues to worry about than any single sin.
Even without that sin, she still stood condemned as an enemy of God for lying to her parents, getting angry with her brother, and illegally downloading music. She could deal with things like her sexual desires through the conviction and power of the Holy Spirit once He dwelled in her heart. She didn’t need to know why one particular sin was a problem, only that without sorrow over her sin and faith in Jesus Christ she would pay for all her crimes against God.
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7)
Well said!