THE CHRISTIAN AND HOMOSEXUALITY: Gender Awareness and Refocusing

I. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY?

 Same-sex desires and same-sex orientation are part of our broken and disordered sexuality due
to man’s original sinfulness and indwelling sin. (Rom. 1:21-28)
 Cultivating homosexual desires and pursuing homosexual activity disqualifies a person from
entering the kingdom of heaven. (1Cor. 6:9-10)
 God’s primary design for human sexuality is binary—only male and female, for the purpose of
procreation (Gen. 1:27-28) and social balance (Eph. 5:24-32), in order to reflect His glory.

II. IS IT SIN TO EXPERIENCE SAME-SEX ATTRACTION?

3 BIBLICAL OBSERVATIONS:
1. Impenitent homosexual acts, not homosexual desires by themselves alone, keep a person from
inheriting the kingdom of God. (1Cor. 6:9-10)
2. Same-sex attraction is not necessarily mentioned as sin in the Bible, although it may be
categorized as a “dishonorable passion.” (Rom. 1:26)
3. Our feelings and inclinations may have been distorted by our sinful nature, but this is different
from actively and willfully sinning. (Rom. 8:20-21, 23)

Same-sex attraction is the result of our sinful nature. If we surrender these feelings to God and
resist acting according to them, we cannot yet say that we are sinning against God.

Our willful and persistent acts of choosing and giving in to our homosexual desires make us
sin. When we insist on following our desires, we knowingly disobey God’s plan for us.

III. WHY DO WE GET ATTRACTED TO PEOPLE OF THE SAME GENDER?

 Same-sex desires are cravings for what we want to see in ourselves, but lack. Often a powerful
emotional dependency, and a profound need to be around someone to gain their approval and
affirmation, arise in the heart as a result.
 A lack of intimacy and satisfaction with God causes Christians to give in to their feelings and
pursue same-sex relationships. The focus for Christians with same-sex attraction is not primarily
healing, but to know more of Christ.
 The victory of a Christian against same-sex attraction is not just the shift of attraction from the
same sex to opposite. The greatest victory of the Christian is having a greater love for Christ, and
to have a deeper knowledge of the all-sufficiency of His grace.
 “Life is far, far better when Jesus is at the center, and far, far worse when anyone else is.” (Sam
Alberry)

IV. HOW DOES THE BIBLE DESCRIBE CHRISTIANS WHO STRUGGLE WITH SAME-SEX
ATTRACTION?

“In the past some of you were like that. But you were washed clean, you were made holy, and you
were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
(1Cor. 6:11)

1. YOU ARE FREE FROM THE PUNISHMENT OF SAME-SEX ATTRACTION

 Jesus has already carried the guilt of your desires to the Cross. God will not use your feelings
against you because Christ has already nailed it to the Cross. All you need to do is accept and live
in this truth.
 Rom. 8:1 – There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

2. YOU ARE FREE FROM THE POWER OF SAME-SEX ATTRACTION

 Because of the accomplished work of Christ on the cross, your same-sex attractions do not have
any dominion over you. (Rom. 6:14)
 You were crucified with Christ and no longer enslaved by your attractions (Gal. 2:20)
 You are fully free to reject them and render them powerless in your life (Rom. 6:6–7, 11)

3. YOU ARE FREE FROM THE PLEASURE OF SAME-SEX ATTRACTION

 Because of the accomplished work of Christ on the cross, your same-sex attractions do not have
any dominion over you. (Rom. 6:14)
 You were crucified with Christ and no longer enslaved by your attractions (Gal. 2:20)
 You are fully free to reject them and render them powerless in your life (Rom. 6:6–7, 11)

4. YOU ARE FREE FROM THE PRESENCE OF SAME-SEX ATTRACTION

 God promises that Christ himself is more pleasurable and satisfying than anything this world has
to offer, especially the fleeting joys of a same-sex experience. (Ps. 16:11; 107:9)
 Your God-given longings for deep, intimate satisfaction can be fulfilled only in Jesus Christ. (Jn.
6:35; Ps. 22:26)

V. HOW DO WE BATTLE OUR HOMOSEXUAL DESIRES?

1. Do not define yourself according to your feelings.
2. Define yourself as a new creation in Christ.

VI. WHAT IF THE FEELINGS DON’T GO AWAY NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE WANT THEM
TO?

WE HAVE CERTAIN VICTORY OVER OUR FEELINGS

 Killing sin by the Spirit is the Christian’s daily work (Galatians 5:17). Therefore, we must beat our
temptations to sin down to nothing (Romans 8:12–13), and relentlessly pray for them to cease,
never assuming they’re ours to battle for life.
 And if it persists, as you fight daily against your desires, do so with the hope that, because of
Christ, your victory is certain. “Though sin wars, it shall not reign; and though it breaks our peace,
it cannot separate us from his love”
 Your lingering attractions may tempt you and distress you, but if you make war on them by the
Spirit, they cannot separate you from the love of God.

VII. HOW DO WE TREAT THE CONSTANT BATTLE OVER OUR FEELINGS?

1. AS A WAY TO SENSE GOD’S SUSTAINING GRACE

 Only after we feel the intensity of our temptations can we truly feel the superior strength of
His sustaining grace that will keep us till the end (1Cor. 1:8).
 God is saving us in a way that allows us to sense the strength and stubbornness of sin so
that we would marvel as sustaining grace proves to be stronger still (Jude 24).
 2. AS A WAY TO FEEL THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS
 Through Christ’s accomplished work on the cross, our desires no longer are a binding force
(Rom. 6:6–7), but a bouncing force — an opportunity to go Godward, clinging to and
worshiping Christ.
 God wants our struggles to create a palpable appreciation of Christ’s victory on the cross.

3. AS A WAY TO BE HUMBLED
 God intends that our fight against our desires will cultivate true humility and reliance upon
Christ.
 “If a sailor escapes with his life in a storm on the open sea, he will be grateful but soon
forget his deliverance. However, if a sailor escapes storm after storm, swell after swell,
near-death experience after near-death experience, he will be much more thankful and
humbled when he makes it safe to harbor.”

4. AS A WAY TO EXPERIENCE THE SWEETNESS OF CHRIST

 God has purposed our struggle to help us feel the absolute necessity for a Savior, and
thus, help us better taste the sweetness of the Savior as He satisfies all our longings and
desires (Psalm 107:9).
 The presence and love of Christ in spite of all our struggles with sin is one of the sweetest
experiences with grace we could ever have.

5. AS A WAY TO SET OUR HOPES BEYOND THIS WORLD

 Our indwelling sin “sets our hope on this future day, prevents us from storing up treasures
on earth, readies us for death, and keeps us in eager anticipation of our ‘glorious liberty’ to
come.” (Reinke)
 Because we know all sinful inclinations will one day be forever removed from us (1Jn. 3:2),
our struggle helps us long for that day.

“No temptation has taken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, who will not allow
you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape,
that you may be able to endure it.”
(1Cor. 10:13)

“It is God’s kindness, that He does not do for us the things only we can do for ourselves.”