The LGBTQ+ Pride Month is gradually becoming one of the most celebrated months in the year. What is worrisome is not the carnivals and celebrations that we have to expect every year, it’s the schools’ curriculum that are changing to integrate LGBTQ+ language and lifestyle, gender neutral bathrooms in public areas, inclusion of transgenders in sports and a host of other demands that are increasingly lobbied into society. This agenda has morphed into a more aggressive one. The conversations and advocacy have shifted over the years from demanding visibility as a social group to demanding that Christians affirm their choices or be punished for it.
I recently saw a post on Instagram that read “My wife’s employer has given her a deadline until the end of April to add pronouns to her email signature.” Since 2014, there has been an increase in the number of people who were either fired or threatened with jail time for refusing to participate or affirm activities that are clearly against their religious beliefs. Jack Philips, the Colorado baker who won his case against a gay couple in 2014, lost the case against the family of a transgender child who wanted a cake depicting his “transition” in 2021.
Last month, Rogue Direct, an LGBTQ+ Advocacy Group, called on Paris Saint Germain (P.S.G), a soccer team in the French League 1, to find out why one of their players, Idrissa Gueye, missed the Pride game two years in a row. They even tweeted “The LFP League and PSG must ask Gueye to explain himself very quickly or punish him if necessary.”
Employers are not only actively pushing LGBTQ+ programs with total disregard to their religious-believing employees, but they are also becoming aggressive. The question is, if a Christian cannot affirm the LGBTQ+ behavior (any more than affirming anything that goes against the word of God), how do we navigate the work environment as believers?
PRAY FOR YOUR COWORKERS WHO IDENTIFY AS LGBTQ+
Our hope, to see the Gospel spread and penetrate the hearts of those who reject the Lord, will not come by conservative judges and politicians drafting policies and passing laws. There is a place for good and righteous laws, however, we know that laws ultimately do not work on un-regenerated hearts. It is the regenerated heart that loves to obey the Lord (Psalm 19).
Jesus did not only teach His disciples to pray, he also encouraged them to pray. (Matthew. 5:44-45; 6:5-15; 7:7-11; 18:19-20). In Mark 9:28-29, Jesus tells His disciples who couldn’t help a boy possessed by a demon, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” Clearly, there is no indication in scripture that believers get everything they ask for in prayer. Nevertheless, there is strong indication that Jesus’ emphasis on prayer was to get His disciples to learn to rely on God. In a society that is increasingly evil, our only hope is to pray for God’s intervention. “To treasure the Lord, to pray ‘Your kingdom come…is to pray for the end of evil, to desire God’s justice to reign.” (Pastor Aaron Menikoff)
The current state of affairs in our society is dire and perhaps believers are taking for granted the direction the LGBTQ+ community is steering the culture. Paul refers to this as warfare, not one fought with just laws and apologetics, but with prayer: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” Ephesians 6:12-13.
When the gospel and Paul’s authority as an apostle was opposed in the city of Corinth, he wrote, “…for the weapons of our warfare are not canal, but mighty through God, for the pulling down of strongholds…” 2 Corinthians 10:4. Read how Benson’s commentary sheds light on this scripture:
“The word of God and prayer, attended with the influence of the Divine Spirit, in his various gifts and graces, giving efficacy to their preaching in public, their converse in private, and their holy, exemplary, and beneficent lives. The means they used to enlighten, reform, regenerate, and save the world, were effectual, because the Lord wrought with them, and confirmed their word with signs following, Mark 16:20. Pulling down strong holds — Ignorance, prejudice, unbelief, fleshly lusts, worldly affections, desires of wealth, honor, pleasure, errors and vices of all sorts, and whatever was opposed by the wit, or wisdom, or power, or malice, or cruelty of men or devils, against the progress of the gospel in the world, and the influence of divine grace in the souls of men.”
We cannot win the battlefield of the souls of the LGBTQ+ community in our workplaces unless we go on our knees in fervent prayers.
REALIZE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW TRUE LOVE BY THE SCRIPTURES
Showing love by the scriptures will be the most beautiful opportunity we might ever have to share the gospel. We must show them the depravity of the human heart. We must show them that it is not about just opposing their choice of life, but the depraved condition of the human heart that rejects his Creator. That no one seeks God (Romans 1, 3:9-18). All are not only sinners just by their deeds, but from birth too (Romans 3:23). We have made idols out of our sinful desires and we are in danger of eternal damnation (Romans 1).
We must tell them the solution lies in the meaning and beginning of true love. For us even to understand the meaning of true love between a husband and wife, a parent and child, or among friends, require us to understand what the Creator did in relation to us - sinners (John 3:16).
Sharing the pure gospel might sound unsophisticated. However, the unbeliever, “whose eyes the god of this world has blinded so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” cannot be won by the sophistry of philosophical argument or bending the truth of God’s word to accommodate his sinful desires.
None of us think or talk about love in a vacuum. It is always talked about or expressed in a relationship. When people in the LGBTQ+ talk to you about love, help them understand they are not talking about the same love in John 13:35, Romans 5:8, Romans 12:9 ,1 Corinthians 13, or any kind of love God approves.
When the believer talks about love - by definition - he does not affirm anything the word of God calls sin, whether homosexuality, transgenderism, adultery, bearing false witness, etc. True love is not a feeling or attraction; it is rooted in the knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on the cross for sinners who justly deserve eternal damnation.
SEE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW THAT CHRIST SAVES AND GIVES TRUE FULFILLMENT
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15.
One of the arguments the LGBTQ+ community have against most Christians is that we are hypocrites and self-righteous bigots who preach morality we cannot live by. It is true that some Christians have done things that are morally shameful and moral failures among Christians can be expected. However, the true Christian does not continue in a life of sin. He acknowledges his moral failings and, like the Apostle Paul, does not boast in the strides that he makes in overcoming them. The Christian life and experience is one experienced in the grace of God who sanctifies and makes him live a Holy life unto Him. Its relying on God the whole way.
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
ALWAYS PRAY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT’S GUIDANCE AND BOLDNESS
“Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” Ephesian 6:19-20.
Since the birth of the Church, the children of God have always been under attack for standing by their faith. The forces we are up against cannot be confronted without the Holy spirit empowering us to boldness. There was one event recently, for example, in which a group of us were sharing the gospel at the park. While there, we met two gentlemen who agreed to talk to us about the gospel. The first question they asked, before we even had the chance to present the gospel, caught us off guard. Nevertheless, it could only be the providence of God as it became a beautiful entrance into the conversation that ensued. The first gentleman asked (pointing to a group of men playing volleyball) “What do you think of those homosexual men?”
I became apprehensive as I pondered the question. We shared with them that what we think about the homosexual men would not matter, as it might be taken as just our opinion. It is what God thinks about them that will matter in an eternal perspective. The Bible says we are all under God’s wrath, heading towards eternal damnation. Like those men, all adulterers, liars, fornicators, will not be saved from God’s righteous judgment if they do not repent and accept the gift of salvation. The men sought a debate that would have made us stray from the gospel but, by God’s grace, we kept it simple.
Our mission is not to debate our co-workers. It is to show them, by our confession and witness, that it is not that we see ourselves morally better than them but rather, as said by John Newton, we confess the amazing grace that saved us from our moral depravity. – We sing,“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” – we are saved by God’s grace.
If we stop craving idols and identities from people and other things and look for an identity in Jesus Christ, we will find the only satisfaction that exceeds all satisfactions.
SEEK WISDOM FROM GOD
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7
Finally, we must seek wisdom and be prepared before these conversations come up at work. Some people will be open to have a conversation about the gospel; others will be hostile when they realize you are, not just a professing Christian, but one who believes in the unadulterated word of God. The Oxford Dictionary defines a fool as “a person who thinks, behaves or speaks in a way that lacks intelligence or good judgment.” However, the scriptures define him as more. The Bible describes the fool as one who denies and reject God’s word. As mentioned earlier, some co-workers will try to draw you into the activities of Pride Month. Politely decline. Some will try to shame or blacklist you. Use wisdom and ignore them. “There is a time to speak, and a time to refrain from speaking.” Do not speak when not ready.
“Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.” Proverbs 9:7-8; (1:7; 12:15; 29:9, 11).
We should never force the gospel on those who are not ready to listen, or vehemently decline to have the conversation.
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