“LGBTQIA, etc.” sermon by Noel Anderson at First Presbyterian Church of Upland September 22, 2019
It used to be that polite society was characterized by nice people who would not talk about sex, politics, or religion in public—perhaps not even at a dinner party. I’m going to do all three at once, with only an added suggestion that America might be well improved were it to reinvent the virtue of modesty for itself. Some things should only be discussed by adults behind closed doors(children in another room). Some things don’t need public airing at all, but we are living at the opposite pole for now.
Romans 1: 20-23; 26-27
20 Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; 21 for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools; 23 and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.
26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.
What the text does/not mean
Romans 1 suffers abuse. To be brief I’ll say it has been used by otherwise well-meaning preachers to say that because of sexual sin, God is judging the world. Or because of homosexuality, God allows nations to decline into ruin. But this is putting the cart before the horse.
The sin addressed in Romans 1 is the same sin addressed throughout the Bible; namely, the failure to acknowledge the Lord as God. Idolatry—both literal and ideological—is the mother of all other sins. Because we fail to acknowledge God and fail to serve him, our world is broken.
To make very short work of it, Scripture is clear and unequivocal in calling homosexuality and other sexual variations “sin.” There’s no reasonable doubt to this, though scholars have sought to lawyer-out the wording in the past fifty years or so. The Jews despised nudity and called the Gentiles “dogs” (not the good kind, like mine) for their ways. The early church fathers—most of them Greek or Roman—were explicit in condemning homosexual behavior, which was part and parcel of their cultural background.
There is no way to shoehorn something like a blessing or condonation into Scripture, but it hardly matters: we are all sinners, all broken.
I. BROKENNESS
My first point is an easy one to miss and it is most important: we are all broken. We live in a fallen world—a sin-stained cosmos that slides toward death—and we are all so deep in the brokenness that none should dare to say, “I am perfectly whole and well.” To say that is to say, “I am righteous and beyond flaw.”
To claim righteousness is to side with the Pharisees against Jesus. We don’t want that; we are honest about our brokenness and confess it freely. In sin, we are all more alike than different.
This extends to sexuality as well. Inside, you may think, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with me! I’m straight—been straight all my life—no problems here!” but I think this is less than honest—it is reduced and oversimplified. If you give a bit more thought to your inner life and your…reproductive instincts, you know that you are less than perfect. Brokenness manifests itself in every model marriage and every human body.
We live in a unique time. The so-called Sexual Revolution of the 60s and 70s initiated an unprecedented explosion of self-expression, particularly in regard to sexuality. Although last 100 years has seen more scientific research into sexuality than ever, it is still in its infancy, historically speaking. There is still much we don’t know and understand. Human sexuality still contains an enormous amount of mystery and we should approach all our discussions about it with humility.
The Sexual Revolution, at its cutting edge, has given us a cultural movement which adapts the acronym LGBTQIA: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual.
This is meant to cover the panoply of sexualities, particularly “queer” which includes dozens of variations on sexual attraction and gratification.
My personal take: I don’t think God cares what excites or arouses a person. Our brokenness runs deeper than we know, and I don’t think most people on the rainbow spectrum have any idea why they feel the way they do. Let’s be clear here: we do not and cannot hold people responsible for what they feel. The brokenness of this world means we all experience bumps, bruises, blessings, and abuses such that none of us can absolutely say why we are the way we are.
We cannot and must not judge feelings or longings whose origins are beyond our knowledge. Yes, we can and do judge sexual behaviors—we’re culturally unanimous about rape, pederasty, and incest—but it is only shooting the wounded to attack people for having those longings.
I was not married until I was 45 years old. In my singleness, I was chaste (or chased, but not too much) until marriage. Though resolutely heterosexual (whatever that means), my church received a fairly steady stream of gay men. I’m sure many just presumed: “40 and single? Definitely gay!” I came to know several gay men who love Jesus and who sought to make him first and foremost in their lives. Not one of these gay men would say—as many straights do—“I am whole, complete, and perfectly healthy just as I am!” in fact, every one of them acknowledged their lives were chock-full of brokenness.
We all live with differing degrees of brokenness and that makes us all more alike than different. We are all like the Island of Misfit Toys from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.
We have much to agree upon. We are all against violence, abuse, and mistreatment of anyone because of their sexual orientation. We all defend one another’s right to pursue wholeness as we follow Christ. And we should be agreed that the Body of Christ receives all who trust in Him, no matter what particular brand of brokenness they bring to the table.
The issue is difficult to talk about for many reasons, but this is nothing new. It has always been a touchy subject.
II. SILENCE-SILENCE
25 years ago, the gay liberation group ACT UP made “Silence means death” their motto. The idea was that if you did not come out and “speak your truth,” you are enabling the oppression of other lgbtqia people..
How the world has changed! Today, there is little of that silence, but another silence
That silence has ended, but led to another; namely, the right to dissent and/or disagree. How the pendulum has swung!
If you are not rallying for the cause and utterly supportive, you are on the verge of being accused of homophobia, which can vilify you, even cause you to lose your job, etc.
It’s like Nebuchadnezzar’s statue: when they strike up the band and raise the rainbow flag, we are expected to bow down and show every respect. We may feel afraid to speak an opposing word—even one that is reasonable and well-grounded in our faith or Scripture—for fear of being labelled “hateful.” Is there anything more…well, offensive to a Christian than to call her hateful? When love is our central virtue and highest calling, doesn’t it smart terribly to hear that word hateful?
Part of the problem is that the Church has been slow on the uptake. The Sexual Revolution careened forward and American Culture has fallen in line. Meanwhile, the Church remained mostly silent (because we are either shy or modest), and, in effect, found solace in burying our heads in the sand hoping the libertine world would somehow get over it.
I wonder how history may have been different if the Church had led the way in discussing sexuality openly and pastorally?
What happened instead is unfortunate: sexuality became fiercely politicized.
III. politicized
It has become difficult to have conversations about sexuality without immediate polarization. Most of the mainline Protestant denominations have split over sexuality.
It has become so politicized the rational discourse fails before the juggernaut ideology of progressive activism. It is even hard to gather information, since most sources are affected by the polarization. As we other things we’ve mentioned in this series, it is easy to find whatever information you like to suit your present biases.
Politics have favored sexuality as an identity issue. Sexuality is not just one of very many facets of humanity, but it becomes the center of one’s self, selfhood, and place in society. This, too, is difficult to work with, because it disallows certain questions being asked and expects public alignment beyond any right of dissent.
There are aspects that are most difficult for many people because they violate common sense (I don’t mean the people are not to be taken most seriously, but under the immunity of their cause/identity, they can get away with ideological murder).
I am 6’5”, but you need to know, I’m really a short guy inside. Understand me (don’t laugh!): I was the youngest in a family of six by six years, which means my parents and siblings all towered over me during all my significant, formative years. My family is tall anyway—the runt is 5’9”, which I wasn’t until fourteen-year-old—so I grew up like Jack the Giant Killer, surrounded by far taller people. So: I am really a short guy and expect everyone else to treat me accordingly. In fact, I have come to self-identify as Napoleon Bonaparte, so if you don’t mind, from now on, you shall all speak only French to me—anything else constitutes an unforgivable offense.
Forgive me for slipping into snark mode.
The politicization only increases tension among differing opinions. As for Christians, we’ve long been seen as the judgmental ones with pointy fingers shouting: “You’re wrong, wrong, wrong!” It never does any good.
It kills me to say this, but the Church has lost all moral authority in America. Moral authority in our time is established by some level of victimization or oppression. If you have such mark you have access to the moral high ground. But if you’re a God-fearing Christian and churchgoer—you are the enemy.
The Church is back on its heels in a defensive posture, desperately and ineffectively trying to say that we are the loving ones, the followers and witnesses of a loving God.
We have become the enemy. We are self-righteous repressives with judgmental hearts and bellies full of Chick-fil-a.
What we need to do, my sisters and brothers, is become much better enemies.
IV. Beyond SNARK
Scripture is our authority. Many things constitute sin, but—hear me on this—we don’t have to be the ones who point out the sins of others! It doesn’t work anyway. It is no good.
The problem is that we love “speck picking.” 85-90% of what we call journalism and the media are forms of professional speck-picking. I confess, I love speck picking, and have for too many years. I confess as well that I want to grow beyond speck picking, cynicism, and editorial snarky-ness. I need to get beyond the need to be right, and I suspect a lot of you are with me.
Christians all would do well to evolve out of the need to be right in order that we focus on what helps and heals. We need to move from being right to being helpful.
Yes, you’re free to disagree with pop culture. Yes, you’re free to dissent from the progressive newspeak if you like, but being a Christian is not about self-establishment; it is about lowliness and service.
V. A BETTER CODE
I recommend a simple prescription to guide our acts and attitudes in our changed world. Two words:
HUMILITY
KINDNESS
No, we’re not saying “everything goes,” but it is neither your job nor mine to be picking specks out of the eyes of our LGBTQIA, etc., brothers and sisters and others.
We want LGBTQIA people here, in this congregation, around us and with us—all who are willing to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and all who are willing to place the trust of their heart and soul in Him belong with us.
We all, in the midst of different kinds of brokenness, seek to be remade by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ.
The specific kind of brokenness does not matter. What does matter is our willful brokenness—our utter submission—before His rule, His reign, and His kingdom—which is our Heaven.
None of us gets in on our own terms, but only on Christ’s terms, which is grace. We all need and want to be helped and equipped in our spiritual walk. We are all alike—more alike than different.
Let’s not call out one another’s brokenness. Neither do we celebrate anyone’s PRIDE, for pride is that which keeps us from admitting our brokenness before God and one another.
Sexuality is a “century problem”—it won’t be worked out in our lifetime. It will take 100 years or more.
As pride and error go hand in hand, so should truth and humility. We need to be seen as humble and kind. We need to trust in God to reveal his truth in his time. We must seek to be useful and helpful rather than right.
Finally, I want to challenge all the identity movements across the board. Before we were in Christ, we did not truly know who we were—specifically, Whose we were—and so we needed to construct identities for ourselves that enable us to cope, function, and empower ourselves. Christianity is beyond that.
At that baptismal font, not only do we die to ourselves and self-service, but anything we are or think ourselves to be—all of the clever self-identifications we have constructed—all dissolve in that font.
All “identities” are dissolved in the waters of baptism. We are simply “Christ’s” and nothing else matters. There is no other identity. We are not straight Christians, black or white Christians, gay or straight Christians—we are simply Christians. We belong to Christ and find our identity in belonging to him and serving—in humility and kindness—in his name. †