Many churches are grappling with how to relate to those who practice homosexual and transgender behavior in a culture that embraces and celebrates this lifestyle. How do we show the love of Christ without compromising on God’s Word or condoning sinful behavior?
Well, sadly, many Christians and churches are seemingly unable to find a middle ground. We frequently see judgmental Christians who understand that homosexual behavior is a sin (1 Cor. 6:9) but forget that God’s Word says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals. … Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11, emphasis added). Those who are unloving toward the lost and unsaved will not attract anyone to Christ—all they are showing is that they’ve forgotten that every believer has been saved and forgiven from their sin! Christians are no better than anyone else; we’ve simply been saved and redeemed by the blood of Christ. We need to remember that when we’re addressing sin. Sin is utterly wrong, and we need to call it what it is. But we need to do so in a humble, loving way that doesn’t forget what we’ve been forgiven of ourselves.
Of course, the other tendency that we’re seeing more and more frequently (including in the church) is the total acceptance of homosexual and transgender behavior. Instead of recognizing sin for what it is, many Christians and churches, in the name of tolerance and love, openly embrace the LGBT community without ever exposing their sin and pointing them toward the one who forgives all sin—Jesus Christ. This is a compromise on Scripture’s clear teachings about marriage and gender (Gen. 1:27; Matt. 19:4–5).
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