Mission: Make Disciples, Not Heterosexuals

What I am about to talk about will probably go against the way you think right now. I may not win a popularity vote with this blog post, but I believe God has been moving in my heart to preach this truth to myself. Since I have been drilling this into my own heart and mind the past few months, I thought I would share it with you.

I think here in America, we have become like the Jews during the time Jesus walked the earth. They were oppressed by the Romans and they wanted a Savior from that. Some of them thought Jesus was it; they thought that Jesus was there as the Messiah to overthrow the Romans and establish His Kingdom. They believed that God cared about them enough to remove them from that oppression they were experiencing. The lie they believed was that the real problem was their oppression, not their sin.

The Jews were looking for a Savior from the Romans, not a Savior from their sin. I believe that American Christians want a Savior from the oppression of the world, not a Savior of the world. Let me get to the heart of what I'm talking about: we would rather Jesus prove that we are right about the sanctity of marriage than for Him to save the homosexuals. Read that last line again. Our message has become a very moralistic one; we proclaim the commandments of Scripture well, but we never point people to the One who has fulfilled them all and offers us that righteousness of His.

I have to be honest; I'm tired of the rants on homosexuality. I'm tired of Christians whining about the propaganda that homosexuals push. I expect the LBGT community to rant and spread propaganda. That's not going to stop until Jesus captures their hearts. But there are way too many Christians who have made it their life's goal to turn homosexuals straight. They would say that they want them to trust Christ, but their words and actions say something entirely different.

We believe that we should tell people 'come as you are' unless you're gay, then you have some work to do before you can become a Christian.

Do we really not believe that it's possible for a homosexual to receive God's grace and have Him work on their hearts over time just like He does with my lying, anger, gossip, etc? Why do we require of them anything more than we require of the rest of the world?

Our mission is to make disciples, not heterosexuals.

By the way, I believe with all my heart that homosexuality is a sin and I am not a supporter of marriage equality. I just don't understand why we would rather argue with them about who is right than to tell them about Jesus and live out His love toward them. I don't understand how we think that God will save them and turn them straight in the same moment. Sanctification is a process and there are gay Christians just the same as their are lying Christians and angry Christians. That does not make it right, but it should change our perspective.

I am not asking that we do not stand up for what is right or condone sin. That's the problem actually; we believe that we should show justice sometimes and love at others. Perfect love and perfect justice were in perfect harmony on the cross and should also be that way in our lives. It's not either/or, it's both/and.

Besides all of that, we are fighting a losing battle trying to change the world; only Jesus can do that. So if our focus is to "know nothing except Jesus and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2) then we will see change, because He makes all things new! Which means even if I do convince someone that marriage is one man and one woman, I've done so much less than Jesus can do. Jesus changes EVERYTHING; why are we only striving to change sexual orientations?

Again, I am not asking that we stop addressing the issue, and we should most definitely call out our Christian brothers and sisters who twist God's Word on this issue. I'm asking that we keep the gospel at the center of everything. I beg of you to place gay propaganda aside and proclaim Christ in everything. Let Him first save their souls because He loves them. Then watch, rejoice and be amazed as He changes everything about their lives; including their sexual orientation.

Calling people to a biblical view of marriage alone will not change the world, but the gospel will and that's our message. So build relationships with homosexuals. Seek to show them the same love that Jesus showed you when you were His enemy. Answer their questions and be sure to have your answers grounded in the truth of God's Word. But make your campaign Christ and nothing else.

We seem to more concerned with Jesus overthrowing Obama and the gays than the salvation that He has extended to them.

As I stated in the beginning, I am sure that some will read this and over react. I will probably be mocked by brothers and sisters in Christ who still don't really understand the harmony of holiness and love. They will probably say that I am wrong. And no matter how many times, I affirm that homosexuality is a sin and we should call it that, they will not hear it because they are infuriated by the fact that I don't think our mission is to straighten out the world on their marriage views.

But when I look at Jesus, I see a man who did not come to satisfy the injustice that the Jews were experiencing from the Romans. He came to solve the real problem: the oppression of sin on this world. He came to deliver the captives. He celebrates the freedom of those captives, not their realization that they are captives.

I have a feeling that we are angry with Jesus in the same way that the Jews were: we want deliverance from the oppression that we are experiencing, but all He keeps doing is teaching us to love like He does. I also have a feeling that we get more satisfaction from winning an argument with a gay person than we do extending grace to them when it's hard.

Ask yourself this question: if a gay person walked in my door right now and asked me to lead them to Jesus, would I talk about Jesus or homosexuality? Would I be okay with leading them to Jesus without trying to convince them that being gay is a sin first. Do I trust Jesus enough to reveal their sin to them?

No matter how loud my fellow Christians shout against homosexuals, I know that Jesus died for them too and wants to offer them freedom from sin. No matter how hard they shake their heads in disgust at the LBGT community, Jesus still desires that none should perish. And most importantly, Jesus wins souls, not arguments.

I don't know about you, but I want to be like Jesus.