For your prayerful consideration … here’s another thoughtful message from Reverend Mark Adams, Senior Pastor of Redland Baptist Church in Rockville, Maryland:
In an article entitled, “Leaving it All, Gaining it All,” based on a chapel message he gave at Wheaton College a few years back, Wesley Hill writes movingly about growing up in a Christian home and being taught Biblical views on sexuality. And yet, Hill writes, “Confusingly, I found myself, just when all my friends were beginning to notice girls and become interested in dating, having longings to be in that kind of relationship with a member of my own sex.”
After receiving wise and loving guidance from Christian mentors, Hill writes: “As I discovered more about Christianity’s historic teaching, I found myself convinced of the [Biblical] position which the church has held with almost total unanimity throughout the ages—that although many people find themselves, through no fault of their own, to have sexual desires for members of their own sex, this is not something to be affirmed and celebrated but is, rather, a sign that we are broken, in need of redemption and re-creation. Gay people are not uniquely broken—that’s a position we share with every other human who has ever lived, or will live—but we are, nonetheless, broken. And following Jesus means turning our backs on a life of sexual sin, just as it does for every other Christian.
“As I think about my life of saying ‘No’ to gay sex and a gay partnership, I find myself thinking of Peter’s impetuous outburst to Jesus, ‘See, I have left everything and followed You!’ I second Peter’s sentiment. There have been times when I felt that I was turning my back on what would make me happiest and most fulfilled in life. Now that I’m about to turn 30 and many of my married friends are having children, I feel the ache of being without a partner. ‘Do you see, Lord,’ I pray, ‘all that I am giving up to follow you?’
And it’s at this point that I hear Jesus’ answer to Peter as a word spoken to me, too: ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for My sake and for the Gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.’
In the years since as I have begun to tell the story of my sexuality to my fellow Christians in the churches I have been a part of, I have found Jesus’ words to be true. Jesus has given me brothers and sisters and mothers and children. Knowing my celibate lifestyle, the Christians I’ve befriended have committed themselves, through the unity secured by the Holy Spirit rather than through biological ties, to being my family, whether or not I ever experience marriage myself. They have invited me into their homes, taken me on vacation with them, and encouraged me to consider myself an older sibling to their children.”
Wesley offers this advice to others who struggle with same-sex attraction: “If you’re someone living with homosexual feelings, I do believe that discipleship to Jesus entails giving up gay sex and gay relationships. And that may be more painful than you can imagine right now—but, ultimately, Jesus is offering you the kingdom. He is offering you eternal life. He is offering you Himself in the Gospel. Sacrificing your sexual freedom—may seem like a high price to pay—but Jesus promises you a joy so stunningly great that if you felt the full weight of it now, you would literally come undone.”
As I read Wesley’s testimony I can’t help but think of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 6: “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you WERE. But you were washed—you were sanctified—you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Will you join me in praying for Wesley and others like him?
(c) 2015 Mark Adams
