This post is a sequel to one posted two weeks ago, looking at Alex Montoya’s article in the Fall 2008 issue of The Master’s Seminary Journal, “The Church’s Response to Homosexuality.”

In the previous post in this series, I wrote that “Too often we are zealous to know what is right, but fail to follow through to the application. A biblical understanding of what homosexuality is and what God thinks of it is good and necessary, but useless — and perhaps even harmful — without an equally biblical answer to the question of so what?” Today we’ll consider the most important part of the answer to that question.

As I said last time, Montoya presents four ways in which the church must respond to homosexuality, two of which I am covering here:

1. The Church Must Expose Homosexuality as a Sin against God
2. The Church Must Extend the Grace of God to Homosexuals

That homosexuality is a sin against God must never be forgotten. But we must also remember that every New Testament condemnation is followed by the offer of redemption. If we are genuine disciples of Christ and ministers of the gospel, we can do no less.

   If the church is to be involved in bringing homosexuals into the fold of Christ it must be prepared to do the following. The church must first learn to show compassion to the homosexual. . . .
   The church can be guilty of the attitude of the Pharisees towards the sinners of their day. The Pharisees displayed an absolute lack of concern and compassion for those who were lost (cp. Luke 15:1–32). Christ taught compassion for the lost, and this includes the homosexual:

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt 9:10–13).

R. Albert Mohler writes, “Homosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say after we declare that homosexuality is a sin.” Homosexuals are hurting people and need more than condemnation; they also need compassion.
   In the second place, the church must be willing to associate with homosexuals. Here is where the church displays its ignorance and its arrogance when it comes to reaching out to homosexuals. The church can misunderstand what it means to be in the world but not of it. We may think that it means for Christians to have absolutely nothing to do with homosexuals. The Bible speaks of the opposite. It shows that it is unavoidable and in many ways necessary to associate with homosexuals if we are to present the gospel to them. Paul corrected the Corinthians when he said,

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world (1 Cor 5:9–10).

Clearly we must dispel the label of being “homophobic” by not refusing to befriend and associate with homosexuals. We have nothing to fear and everything to gain for the gospel’s sake.
   Thirdly, the church must have the conviction of the power of the gospel to convert the homosexual. That homosexuals are such by nature and therefore cannot change nor should society try to change them into heterosexuals has been exposed as utterly false. The power of the gospel has been rendered ineffective by the deception placed upon the church that homosexuals cannot be changed. Prior to the “sexual revolution,” no question existed about homosexuals being able to change. . . .
   The Christian church has . . . always believed the gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16). It is a truth in Scripture that wherever the sinfulness of sin is mentioned, the power of the gospel is also mentioned as that force which counteracts the power of sin to enslave and to condemn.
   After the condemnation of homosexuality in Romans 1, Paul wrote, “ all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:23–24).
   After the condemnation of homosexuality in 1 Cor 6:9, Paul adds, “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11). The homosexual can experience regeneration through the Holy Spirit, the power to triumph over indwelling sin as described in Romans 6, and the assurance offered to all believers in the justifying work of Christ (cf. Romans 8) . . .
   After the condemnation of homosexuality in 1 Tim 1:10, Paul magnifies his own sin above all sins and says, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Tim 1:15). If God can save the worst, then He can obviously save a homosexual.
   Wherever man’s depravity and sinfulness are magnified, so also is the grace of God magnified so as to more than make up for man’s fallen nature. Consider the testimony of Eph 2:1–10 and Titus 3:3–7. These promises apply to homosexuals as well.
   The fourth way that the church can extend the grace of God to homosexuals is for the church to provide special discipleship for homosexuals. The New Testament testifies to the possibility and frequency of a believer’s relapse into their former way of life. The convert from a homosexual lifestyle is no exception. Christians should not be surprised by the difficulties encountered by some in overcoming their former lusts, nor should they give up in their efforts to disciple them into the new life in Christ.
   The rise of numerous support groups for homosexuals is testimony to the necessity of the church to focus on those who desire Christ and who desire to live a victorious life in Christ. . . . Andy Comiskey of Desert Stream Ministry writes, “We must renounce the unbelief prevalent in certain evangelical circles that resigns homosexual strugglers to little if any release from their tendencies. That perception of God is too small.”
   . . .
   Finally, if the church is to extend the grace of God to homosexuals, the church must effectively incorporate converted homosexuals into the Body of Christ. At times the church has allowed the stigma of homosexuality to follow the converted homosexual into his new life in Christ. . . . The Corinthian church serves as a model in the way it was composed of all sorts of sinners. Note how Paul addresses the church: “Such were some of you; but you were washed . . .” (1 Cor 6:11). The “some” refers to the fact that the church contained some ex-fornicators, some ex-idolaters, some ex-adulterers, ex-effeminates, ex-homosexuals, some ex-thieves, etc. The phrase “such were some” indicates the conversion from a life of sin to a new relationship with Christ, and acceptance into the fellowship of believers in Corinth. The church cannot adopt an arrogant attitude toward converted homosexuals, but instead deal biblically with their conversion, and in fact, rejoice that God saved has “some.”

—Alex Montoya, “The Church’s Response to Homosexuality,” The Master’s Seminary Journal (Fall 2008), 238–241.