Most everyone in the church has an interest, or has been involved in, the homosexuality debate. The term heard most often is "inclusiveness," used mostly by the pro-homosexual advocates and the gay Chrisitan movement. They say that since Jesus loves us unconditionally, those who would truly follow Him will not allow exclusions in the church. True Christianity, they say, is a religion of inclusion, so inclusiveness must be the primary virtue of the church.
Any proper discussion of Christian sexual ethics in the church must be founded upon biblical orthodoxy. Whether we in the church believe homosexual behavior is right or wrong, we must not be unloving nor judgmental when dealing with the issues. We are bound by Scripture to love as Jesus loved, offering grace and mercy to all people, including gays and lesbians.
There are certain questions that must be addressed to have a true and adequate understanding of Christian inclusion in the church. Was Jesus inclusive and, if so, in what sense? What does it mean, and what doesn't it mean, for the church to be inclusive? Is inclusiveness the real meaning of Christianity? Does God's love include absolute inclusiveness? How should we, as members of God's church, be inclusive today as we continue to deal with the issue of homosexuality in the church?
At the root of the crisis in the church is theological disagreement over biblical authority and interpretation, especially with respect to fitness for church leadership. Some say the church should exclude from leadership those with questionable sexual ethics, and others argue that the church must be inclusive of all people in its leadership, especially gays and lesbians, because this follows Jesus' example. But is this an accurate description of Jesus' religion? Do we find inclusiveness, even absolute inclusiveness, in Jesus' teaching and example?
Jesus lived in a religious and cultural environment where exclusion was common. First century Jews emphasized the exclusion of Gentiles from God's blessings. Exclusion of non-Jews was associated with true piety. The Pharisees looked down on the common Jew as unspiritual, and the Essenes only accepted males who practiced certain rites of purity. In contrast we see that Jesus mixed with social and religious outcasts, such as tax collectors and sinners. He included among His followers those who were excluded by the Jewish religious leaders. Why did Jesus associate with the outcasts and include them among His followers? Because His mission was to seek and save all people and draw them to God, especially those which the Pharisees and religious elite ignored and excluded from their groups.
Jesus broke with the conventional social and religious practices of the time. For example, He not only healed lepers, but also touched them in the process. Lepers were cursed with a terrible disease and exclusion from society. Jesus touched them, not only to heal them but to indicate the beginning of their inclusion within society. He told them to show themselves to the priests. Why? Because only the priest had authority to pronounce them ceremonially clean so they could once again participate in social and religious activities. Jesus' concern was not only for their physical healing, but for their social healing and return to human community.
The temptation here is to conclude that Jesus' inclusiveness extended to all people, even lepers. But Jesus didn't include them among His followers as lepers. Rather, He healed them that they might be fully whole and restored to fellowship. To say Jesus' followers included lepers misses the point. After Jesus healed them, they weren't lepers anymore. Jesus didn't include lepers, but former lepers. From this we see that Jesus' inclusiveness wasn't of the "come as you are and stay as you are" variety. It was more like "come as you are, be healed and transformed, then stay as a whole person."
Also contrary to the male-dominated Jewish religion and culture, Jesus interacted with and had fellowship with women, even those with bad reputations. Though Jesus had a core group of male disciples, He also had women as some of His closest followers. Many of the women had been delivered from evil spirits and cured of physical infirmities. Jesus first healed them and freed them, then as free and whole individuals they were included in the fellowship of His followers.
Once Jewish leaders brought a woman caught in the act of adultery. They reminded Jesus that according to the biblical law, she (and her lover) should be stoned to death. After Jesus confronted them with their own sins, they all left her alone with Him. He sent her on her way without condemnation but warned her not to sin again. Jesus extended forgiveness to the woman, but didn't bless her adultery, nor did He release her to return to her lover. Rather, as He forgave her, He also told her not to commit adultery anymore. Jesus accepted the woman as a child of God who was worthy of forgiveness, but He didn't accept her sinful activity. The grace of God which Jesus offered Her was meant to lead her into a new life of holiness and fellowship with God and His people.
Sometimes advocates of "inclusiveness" in the church seem to interpret Jesus' actions as implying the acceptance of behavior contrary to God's biblically revealed will. The need for all of us is to sort out the difference between reaching out in love to all people, no matter their state or condition, and including people in the fellowship of the church when they wish to persist in their sinful behaviors. Inclusiveness cannot be separated from the promise of wholeness for the sinner and the priority of holiness for the Christian.
Jesus was also exclusive. We would be hard pressed to say that Jesus' inclusiveness extended to the majority of the Jewish religious leaders of His time. He rather excluded them (or noted that they excluded themselves) from the kingdom of God. They could still be included in the kingdom of God, but only if they repented of their sins and were born of God's Spirit. The New Testament Gospels also show that Jesus was less than inclusive of Gentiles. Why? Because His earthly ministry was focused on the Jews. Only later did He instruct His followers to carry His good news throughout the world.
On occasions some sought to follow Jesus with stipulations. One asked permission to first bury the dead. Another wanted to first say "goodbye" to relatives. In both incidents Jesus rejected their requests. The kingdom of God had to be the top priority for the seekers' lives. Once again, this is not a "come as you are and stay as you are" kind of inclusiveness. Not all who want to enter into God's kingdom find the only way, which is through saving faith in Christ.
Jesus says we are to do away with anything we love more than the kingdom of God. He is certainly more exclusive than inclusive here. Jesus will not accept us as we are if our hearts are sold out to anything before Him. To do so would not be a loving action. How different from the cultural notions of today! Excluding anybody for any reason is said by many well-meaning Christians to be unloving. Yet, Jesus knew there were more important things than being included, things like having a pure heart and putting the kingdom of God first in one's life. If Jesus is our model for life, then we must admit that it's unloving to accept people as they are with their sinful hearts, without calling them to repent. Unconditional inclusiveness is both unloving and contrary to Jesus' example.
Jesus encourages people to believe in God and also in Him. He claims to be "the way, the truth and the life." According to Jesus, there are not many ways to God, because no one can come to our heavenly Father except through Him. This is the exclusiveness of Jesus in its most blunt and extreme form. The kingdom of God is available to everyone, but only through Jesus Himself. Jesus doesn't send His disciples into the world with the message that all people are a part of God's kingdom, no matter their response to Him. No! Jesus sends His disciples into the world with the message that the kingdom of God is open to all, but only on His terms. Only by saving grace through faith in Jesus Christ, can one enter the kingdom of God.
The exclusive claims of Jesus are hard to accept in our "anything goes," relativistic culture. Because Jesus' exclusiveness doesn't fit our cultural assumptions, many Christians have downplayed or rejected His exclusiveness and have tried instead to refashion His inclusiveness to fit the culture. Those who do so would be well served to refresh their knowledge of Jesus' inclusiveness, as revealed in the biblical record, rather than their culturally molded perceptions.
So, Jesus was both inclusive and exclusive. He included in His fellowship those who were repentant sinners, including tax collectors, lepers, women, and children. He excluded from His fellowship the prideful religious leaders and others who refused to receive the kingdom of God like a little child. Though He lovingly accepted those who were broken and sinful, he did not allow them to remain in their broken condition. Rather, He called them to return to God and fully surrender to Him by grace through faith in His Word. When they did, then they entered into His community, the church, and began the lifelong journey toward full restoration and wholeness by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the early church the inclusiveness of Jesus was easier said than done. The Apostles called the church to unity. The church included those who had no social status, wealth, nor education. That was good. The church also had those who overvalued their own importance, even to the point of excluding those who lacked spiritual experience, wealth, or status. That was not good. They were missing the point that inclusion in the church was the work of the Holy Spirit. Inclusion into the church was the result of one's repentance of their sins, confessing Jesus as Savior and Lord, and being baptized into the body of Christ - all the work of the Holy Spirit. And continued inclusion in the church was dependent upon living in a way that was consistent with God's standards for Christian disciples.
There was concern for Christian inclusiveness by leaders of the early church. At times the church was counseled to exclude a member of their community, but instead would turn their eyes the other way. Instead, the church should have removed the member from their congregation with the hope that the member would repent and be saved. Exclusion wasn't merely punishment; it was discipline for restoring those who had fallen out of God's will for their lives.
So, from the biblical record of experiences in the early church we learn that Christians are to reach out to all people, excluding none from their evangelistic efforts. The church is not to exclude those from our church who lack worldly status, wealth, education, or certain spiritual experiences. The church must strive to include all individuals in the body of Christ, especially those who are different from us. At the same time, the church is not to tolerate persistent sin in those who are unrepentant. Such individuals are to be excluded from the fellowship of the church with the hope that such exclusion will be redemptive in their lives. In particular, Christians are not to associate with believers who persist in sexual immorality.
This might be confusing to some, especially those who believe that absolute inclusiveness is essential in the church. On the other hand, some believe it would be better to simply avoid all contact with sinners or, conversely, to accept all people no matter their behavior. Yet, according to the biblical record, we are to reach out to all, no matter their sinful condition. At the same time, if someone in the church continues to sin and will not repent, the church is to exclude that member from the church in the hope that the individual will repent and become, once again, a member of the church community.
The biblical record is clear, Jesus and the early church were and were not inclusive. In some ways Jesus and His disciples were radically inclusive, while in other ways they were surprisingly exclusive. Those who argue from the inclusiveness of Jesus to include practicing gays and lesbians in the fellowship of the church today, even as leaders, assume that practicing gays and lesbians are not engaging in sinful behavior from which they must repent to enter the kingdom of God. If this assumption turns out to be wrong, their argument for inclusion falls apart. To be faithful to Jesus and the Scripture, the church cannot simply assume that homosexual activity under any circumstance is right. Rather, the church needs to look at what the Bible actually says about homosexual behavior in the light of the broader biblical teaching on human sexuality.
For Christians who believe the Bible is God's Word, there are reasonable conclusions about the biblical teaching on homosexuality. Whenever the Bible speaks positively about human sexuality, it's always in the context of male and female sexuality. God created sex to be shared only between a man and a woman. The Bible always speaks of same sex behavior negatively. There are no pro-homosexual biblical texts. There is no compelling argument from the Scriptures for the rightness of any homosexual practice. Homosexual activity is always sinful, no matter the context. Two people of the same sex are not to engage in sexual intimacy of any kind. Christians are to love all people, even those practicing homosexual behavior. It is tragic when Christians behave in hateful ways towards gays and lesbians. Yet because some Christians have been unloving towards gays and lesbians does not mean the church should love them by affirming their sexual behavior. Jesus never said sin is okay. Biblical love means telling those engaging in sexual immorality the truth, even if it's difficult to say and hear.
To be inclusive of gay and lesbian people in a way that is modeled after Jesus, the church's inclusiveness cannot be absolute. The church cannot say to gays and lesbians, "Come and be a part of the church and you'll be affirmed in your sexual choices. You can be in leadership. Your sexual activity isn't a problem." That would be inconsistent with the actual inclusiveness of Jesus.
To be like Jesus, the church as biblically revealed must reach out in love to all broken and sinful people, welcoming all into the church. Is a gay man welcome to worship in the church? Yes! Will the church affirm his sexual behavior? No! Will the church encourage a lesbian woman to seek God's will for her entire life, including her sexuality? Yes! Will we condemn her and single her out in her sin? No! Will the church call a gay man or lesbian woman to repent and experience God's forgiveness? Yes! Will the church elect him or her to church office, if he or she continues to practice homosexual behavior? No! Will they be free to bring their lovers to church with them? Yes! Will they be free to be physically expressive at church, as a husband and wife would be in a public place? No! Will the church pray for them and seek to love then as Christ has loved us? Yes! Will we bless their union in some kind of civil or marriage ceremony? No!
Many gays and lesbians will say that one cannot love them without affirming their homosexual behavior. This is not true! Jesus loved sinners, yet still called them to repent of their sin. The church should follow Jesus. This means the church should include gays and lesbians in their outreach. It does not mean the church should include gays and lesbians by affirming their sexual choices. Some gays and lesbians, and their advocates, would object that homosexual behavior isn't wrong. That's the ultimate issue. If the biblically revealed church believed homosexual behavior was right, then they would have an altogether different position. However, the church of God as revealed in the Scriptures has decided to stand on the authority of God's Word.
This is an explanation of how Christians who believe homosexual behavior is wrong can be inclusive of gays and lesbians in the church. Having done this, the church's zeal to exclude gay and lesbian people in many churches has outstripped their commitment to Christian love. Many practice a double standard, where homosexual sin is counted worse than heterosexual sin - the one unforgiveable, the other overlooked. And, of course, that isn't the truth.
May all in the church seek to love as Jesus loved, offering His grace and mercy to all people, including gays and lesbians. This way is not only right but is also possible. God help us to do the truth as it is in Jesus.
