Every once in a while, I hear something that absolutely shocks me. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it did happen recently. Some of you have heard of or are familiar with a pastor by the name of Alistair Begg. He’s been the pastor at Parkside Church in Cleveland. I’ve been a fan of his since I discovered him in college as part of an assignment that required listening to sermons on Old Testament prophets. He’s a great preacher and teacher, and knows the Bible incredibly well. I recently heard that he was affirming homosexual/transgender marriages. I thought that was odd, so I investigated it, and found an interview from September where these ideas were coming from.
In the interview, he was talking about a grandmother who had a grandchild marrying someone who was transgender. The grandmother didn’t know what to do, and Begg advised her to attend the wedding and take a gift. That simple piece of advice brought a lot of backlash, and perhaps you can see why. People equated this advice with the idea that Begg was saying these kinds of marriages are okay, which is completely counter to what the Bible teaches. But Begg argued that was not the intent of the advice. Instead, he was trying to help this grandmother connect with her grandchild in a meaningful way that may one day lead to his/her salvation.
While this may not be a popular opinion, I think Alistair Begg was right in his advice. He did say that he wouldn’t always give that advice, but given the situation, he felt it was the right thing to do as this grandmother seeks to reach her grandchild with the gospel. There’s a lot of factors to this situation, but it all goes back to Jesus, and how we portray him to others. The church as a whole has a really bad image of most LGBTQ+ individuals. Our beliefs, and what the Bible says, does not line up with that kind of lifestyle. Because of that, there is tension and even hatred between the church and the LGBTQ+ community. For a Christian to show love in a meaningful way to someone who identifies as LGBTQ+ is rare, so such an action may open their eyes to what else the Bible says and gives a Christian an opportunity to plant a seed that God can work to grow.
This is exactly what Jesus did. He surrounded himself with people that most religious leaders would not. He was accused multiple times of welcoming sinners and eating with them. To eat with someone basically meant that you had welcomed them into your circle of friends, much like when Jesus called Matthew, and then had dinner at his house in Mark 2. Jesus was constantly surrounded by people who didn’t live as God would want. But it was to them that he came to serve and love and ultimately save. As Jesus says in the Mark 2 story, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17 NIV). To show love to the outcast was what Jesus did. It’s how he lived. It wasn’t always popular, but he showed us that it was right.
When Jesus died, he passed the mantle on to us, his church. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:12, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (NIV). We are to live good lives so that we have a good reputation among nonbelievers, just like Jesus did. Now, I want us to be careful, because sometimes to have a good reputation to some people may mean living contrary to the Bible, so be careful in that. We don’t want to compromise our faith or God’s word, but we can still have a good reputation by showing non-Christians God’s love in ways that aren’t sin-affirming. It may be controversial, but so was Jesus’ love for sinners.
At a youth group back in January, we were talking about love and sex. Not exactly the most fun topic in the world, but still one that needs discussing from a biblical worldview, particularly for young people. One thing I tried to communicate is that we all have faults. We all struggle with sin in some way. So just because one person struggles with homosexuality, or other sexual sins, doesn’t mean that they deserve less of God’s love. As Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (NIV). We all have messed up the connection between God and man. It’s why Jesus came. It’s why we celebrate Easter at the end of this month. Only through Jesus’ sacrifice can that connection be fixed, and it’s only through our acts of kindness to those living outside God’s kingdom that they can start seeing a glimpse of their need for Jesus’ saving blood, and perhaps one day they will enter into God’s eternal kingdom, all because of our radical love towards them.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 NIV
