Summary of Taboo: Gender
Preamble
Brent wishes everyone a great mother’s day. He says he’s taking a risk and not speaking on mother’s day and instead he’s going to speak about gendre confusion. Brent then reads a passage from a book that speaks about showing grace to those who don’t hold the same views. The examples that were given in the book were hilariously out of date. The book was from the 1990s and it surprised the audience. The point Brent made was that our society’s perspective has shifted so dramatically. Brent also provided a dramatic story about two women who were partners had just had a child together. The woman who had given birth to the new child has started gender transition therapy (from woman to man) and the other woman is now undergoing hormone therapy to have the ability to breastfeed. These stories bring into focus how confused our society has become.
LGBTQIP2SA and LGBTQ+ and SOGI
SOGI stands for Sexual orientation gender identity. This is the term being taught in our public schools.
Sexual orientation vs. Gender Identity
SO is the attraction to a certain gendre. Whereas GI is a person’s perspective on what they are: male, female, or other. Wait, what? “Other?” Brent explains that our society believes gender is fluid and that gender isn’t constant.
How are Christians to understand this? What are we to do?
We must understand: we are in a spiritual battle
Eph 6:12 – “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood…”. This verse reminds us that there is a battle going on. We cannot be lulled into thinking that our country – that once was based on Christian values – will remain “Christian”. The shift has already started and it has been so dramatic. This passage reminds us that the struggle we face isn’t actually the person we find hard to understand (or accept), it isn’t that person, but instead it is against the evilness of the devil. Satan is the master of lies. Our battle is a spiritual battle.
God’s plan for his creation
In Genesis, God set up a plan for the genders. Women were designed to be mothers and men were designed for fathers. As Christians, we believe that both genders have value and meaning. We believe we have been created in His image. He understand God has done this on purpose. This is termed a Christian view.
Christian Worldview vs. Natural Worldview
A natural world view believes there is no God, no purpose, and no deeper meaning. Under this ideology abortion makes sense: the embryo is just a clump of cells. Under this ideology gender is fluid: because it is up to the individual to determine their own purpose
Natural Worldview leads to idolatry
When a person gives himself or herself the right to be “the boss” and determine his or her own purpose, he or she has essentially removed God’s role in his or her life. He or she has set themselves up as their own God. This is idolatry.
Col 3:10-11 – our identity comes from Jesus
Instead of fighting for the sacredness of the genders, we need to fight for our identity in Christ. And we need to reject GINBE (God Is Not Big Enough). We need to remember God can and will easily handle these challenges. God and his church has always been under attack from it’s surrounding society.
Teaching our children a Christian worldview and an identity in Jesus
As mothers (and fathers) it is our responsibility to teach our children about God, his plans and desires to for us, and his love for us. We cannot rely on the school system to do it. We cannot even rely on the church to do this. It is up to parents.
Col 3:12 – how to react to our society
We aren’t not meant to have a lynching and mob mentality. Instead, we must approach our society with love and follow Jesus’ example: to clothe ourselves with compassion, humility, and patience. This means this is our identity in Christ. We show this “wardrobe” to everyone – not just “normal people” who don’t challenge our views. Our job isn’t to convince them of their confusion. Instead, our job is to start them on a path towards Jesus through simple conversation without judgement.
About this Message Series
This is the second message in a series called “Taboo 2017”. This series was started in April 2017, with the purpose to bring to light all the topics we like to hide in the dark. This is the third Taboo series of messages that covers the most awkward topics in church culture.
About the Speaker
Brent is the lead pastor here at SouthRidge. He and his wife Pam were part of the original church plant.