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Ask FGBC #26: How to witness to homosexual neighbours?

Jim Butler · 2024-11-20 · 1,435 words · 9 min

Ask FGBC Anything

So this question, now somebody 
gave to me verbally, so I know the context, from a young lady 
in our church, a question around how to witness to homosexual 
neighbours. So how can we as believers love those around us 
while still being strong witnesses to the truth and hope of the 
Gospel? How to offer friendship without condoning a sinful lifestyle? So context is her neighbors are 
expecting babies, expecting with air quotes, babies via IVF. This 
is something that my generation is facing more and more. We need 
to be equipped to navigate this well in the communities, universities, 
et cetera. I can start with the homosexual 
question. I do have a bit of experience 
with family members who are homosexual, and it's something that my wife 
and I have had to think through quite a bit. Obviously, we don't 
agree with the sins that they're committing, but we still have 
to recognize that they're still image bearers. And Paul does 
say in 1 Corinthians 5, He says, I wrote to you in my epistle 
not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly 
did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world 
or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters. Since then you 
would need to go out of the world. So the implication is that we 
need to be in the world. And obviously the main issue 
there is dealing with those who claim to be Christians, but are 
living in such a way. But he's not saying we shouldn't 
interact with tax collectors and sinners as Jesus said, or 
did. And so, you know, with our family 
members, we've had to set certain boundaries, recognizing their 
image bearers, but still talking to them and treating them like 
they're a human being, still being interested in their life 
and praying for opportunity for those moments to come when we 
can share the gospel with them. and being able to preach Christ 
and share the truth with them in a way, hopefully that can 
become organic to build rapport in many ways, because I think 
a lot of homosexuals will assume Christians won't want to talk 
to them or interact with them. And so maybe it puts them off 
guard a little bit if we're willing to interact and talk with them. And so, yeah, I do think we should 
interact, but how we do that, I think there needs to be some 
wisdom. And so for us, as we've thought through the issue, there's 
just some boundaries that we've set that we will not cross. I 
know a more famous person than I said that it's okay for someone 
to go to a homosexual wedding. We will not do that. We will 
not do that. It goes against nature and it goes against the 
word of God. And so we're not going to do that. We also probably 
wouldn't allow our children in a home at a young age. If they're 
just going over to play, we probably wouldn't do that. Anecdotally, 
for years, I was invited to a house growing up, and my parents always 
said no, and they never told me why until I was older, and 
so it made sense why when they were older. So we probably wouldn't 
do that, but we're still willing to have people in our, have family 
in our home, and we're still willing to, you know, if someone 
has someone over, we're still willing to go there, possibly, 
within reason. But I still think there needs 
to be some sort of interaction and kindness shown, and, you 
know, love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does 
not, all those things, it does not rejoice in iniquity. you 
know, but rejoices in the truth. So I think there are ways to 
be kind and gracious without condoning the relationship. And, 
you know, there isn't, you know, Proverbs 32 on how to interact 
in this way, which we would like, but I think God will give us 
the wisdom we need as we try to be kind and gracious and share 
the gospel, but without condoning the situation. Yeah, I think 
that is a very good question. I think it's a great question. 
And I think what the questioner puts in there is true as well 
with all the things going on this younger generation has some 
challenges to be sure it's openly promoted it's old openly you 
know bandied about so yeah good question i would say you know 
as well friendship kindness you know neighborly actions you see 
your neighbor flat tire you can help them change the tire And 
without though, now I can preach the gospel to them. I think sinners 
are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for. If I'm 
a dirty rotten sinner and I'm sitting on my porch and somebody 
comes along, I think I'd know if they're just trying to get 
me in or if they actually care. I think friendship with sinners 
is a good thing. In light of 1 Corinthians 5, 
you know, we'd have to fly to the moon to not be friends with 
sinners. And you know, realizing that 
homosexuality is one sin among many, you know, the next-door 
neighbors to your other side that are heterosexual fornicators, 
they're in hot water, too. So, they've got, you know, lots 
of issues. So, you know, on the one hand, 
we don't condone homosexuality, for sure. We take a scriptural 
position, but it is one sin out of many, many sins. And I think 
Paul's argument in Romans 1 is that the big thing is man is 
estranged from God. He doesn't glorify God, he's 
not thankful to God. So, from that vantage point, 
We see all of this depravity in society. The primary issue 
for the heterosexual fornicator, the homosexual fornicator, the 
blue-collar crime, the white-collar crime, whoever lives in your 
neighborhood, They need to be right with Jesus. So, by building 
friendships, being neighborly, not having a mercenary spirit, 
I've got to lead five of my neighbors to Jesus because I've got Bible 
study tonight and I want to tell everybody about it. You know, 
no mercenary spirit, but just loving people and then as you 
have opportunity, you share the truth. And, you know, sometimes 
personal testimony is good. Yeah, I didn't fall out of the 
womb going to Reformed Baptist Sunday School. We all have a 
past, we all have sin, we all have, you know, various things 
that are true of us, and yet we find hope and forgiveness 
and blessing in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And of 
course, if there are people that, sometimes people do want to talk, 
too, and even debate. And, you know, why does the Bible 
say, you know, homosexuality is wrong? If somebody asks that, 
be ready to answer. Be ready to give them a reasoned 
defense for what the truth of Scripture says. I mean, as Mike 
says, or I think he intimated earlier, it's against nature. 
The natural world is not sympathetic to that lifestyle. If that was 
the lifestyle, there'd be no perpetuity, there'd be no, I was gonna say seed, I guess 
that's right. I'm just thinking it's everywhere in society, like 
your garden hose has a male end and a female end. That's right. 
And, you know, the created order, God in creation made it this 
way. And He made it this way for a 
purpose and for a reason. And whatever they tell us nowadays 
that, you know, a child really doesn't need both, yeah, they 
do. They need both parents in the home. They need stability. They need order. They need all 
the things that are afforded, typically, through a two-parent 
home, and what we call or think are old-fashioned, antiquated 
notions of how to do society. They served us well for, you 
know, 20 centuries. It seems like there is something 
good about it. So, if your neighbor wants to 
talk, sometimes they do. We just assume that they're going 
to be, you know, militant and upset. Well, you can even hit 
them with that. You probably think, I don't hate 
you. Everyone's in sin, whether it's 
pride, or arrogance, or bitterness, or idolatry, or sexual things. And there's hope in the Savior. 
It's really person-specific, the approach. Oh yeah. It's not 
formulaic. Sometimes, some people are very 
sensitive. Other times, they're not so sensitive. 
You change it up. You don't have a one approach 
fits all. You deal with people as people.