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Simon Benham
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29th Jan 2017
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Headlines: Sex & Identity – Gender Identity
You may or may not be familiar with the
acronym LGBTI – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex. We’ve spoken about a Christian view on
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual minorities before, so this sermon will focus on the ‘T’ and ‘I’
-transgender and Intersex.
What do they mean? Here are some dictionary
definitions:
·
Transgender: denoting or
relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not
correspond with birth sex.
·
Intersex: relating to or
denoting a person or animal that has both male and female sex organs or other
sexual characteristics (i.e. it is not clear whether a person is biologically
male or female).
Gender identity makes the headlines on a
regular basis, and sometimes the people questioning or changing their identity
are not at all whom we might expect. For
example, two who we would think of as real “men’s men”:
·
Bruce Jenner, an American
television personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete has
undergone surgery and is now Kaitlyn Jenner.
· Boxing promoter Frank Maloney
underwent gender reassignment and now lives as a woman called Kellie Maloney
In the US there have been recent disputes triggered
by the policy of a national retailer called Target. Target said it would allow transgender
visitors to its stores to use the bathroom and fitting room that best aligned
with that person's gender identity. Others were not happy with that policy; in
reaction to it, several states legislated to enforce restroom use according to
birth sex, which in turn led to celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen refusing
to perform in these states.
Teachers in some US schools now encourage
students to think of sexuality as a spectrum: where are you on the arc from
male to female?
For some, particularly the older generation,
this is a difficult topic to face – comments such as “yuk” “unclean”, "won’t come to
church if this topic is mentioned"; youngsters may be more ‘cool’ with it – “so what” “live out who
you are”. Why are we talking about
this in church? Because the issues we
see in the US will come here, and if the church does not teach on it then the
world will.
In a recent inter-church leaders meeting that
Simon was part of, these issues have already started to emerge:
·
Should a person who
cross-dresses be allowed to use the ladies loo?
The person in question wants to, other ladies at the church are less
happy.
·
How does one counsel someone
going for gender reconstruction surgery?
For a Biblical view, let’s pull back
to the big picture – the story of humankind in four acts – Creation, Fall,
Rescue and Glory
Creation
Then God said, “Let us make
mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in
the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in
his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created
them. (Gen 1:26-27)
From this we understand that:
·
Everyone is a masterpiece, made
in the image of God. Everyone has worth
and value.
·
Gods pattern is binary –
male/female. Why?
o
Because we’re
incomplete on our own
o
We were created for community
o God is only fully represented when both male- and female-ness is
present. Ephesians 5:23 makes the
comparison most directly: “For the
husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body,
of which he is the Saviour”.
Fall
Genesis 3:6-7. The disobedience -putting
SELF at the centre rather than God. The Fall has affected everything – letting sin
in. Sin is a force polluting the whole
of the world.
Simon was entrusted with control of the
washing machine, when Zak was born, under strict instructions to separate the
whites from the colours. And he did -
except for one tiny red sock. Unfortunately,
the white shirts couldn’t purge the red sock of its colour; instead, that one sock coloured
everything pink in the wash.
Just like that sock, sin corrupts
everything. Bodies age, wear out, get
diseased. Relationships are broken. The
distinction between male and female is not what it was. Consider Jesus’ words in
Matthew 19. He is discussing divorce,
but along the way he says “there are
eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made
eunuchs by others—and there
are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (v12). In the beginning, there
was just male and female – but now there are eunuchs, some born, some made, some by choice – and there
is a tension between God’s intent in creation, and the present reality which we have to live
with. This is really how it is.
Rescue
God saw the mess, the pollution caused by
sin, and he knew it needed to be corrected by an external intervention – a saviour. Jesus
came to rescue all people – male, female, and eunuchs too.
“In him we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the
riches of God’s grace” (Eph 1:7). He made a way for
the power of sin to be eradicated, and for people to be able to start a new
life – and we all need to be rescued.
As part of the rescue, Jesus, the Son of
God, became something he was not – for us.
“And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-- even
death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).
We live, and sometimes struggle, with that
disconnect too. The Bible assures us we
are “more than conquerors” – but we don’t always feel that way.
Glory
Our hope is truly glorious:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new
earth,” for the first heaven and
the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the
new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride
beautifully dressed for her husband. And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now
among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He
will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or
pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:1-4)
These tensions, these disconnects will pass. We look forward to a time when we are truly
as God intended. Resurrection bodies, all restored to Gods original plan.
Practicalities
How can we apply this big picture to our
situation?
There are books which offer a wise
perspective:
·
“Transgender”, by Vaughan Roberts
·
“Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a
Changing Culture” by Mark Yarhouse.
And there is wisdom to offer.
·
Are you directly affected?
o
Don’t let it be a lonely
struggle. We love you, and we want to
help.
o
Don’t let it define you.
Your identity in Christ makes you you.
·
Beware an assumption that the
mind is superior to the body (a viewpoint something that finds its roots in the
rationalism of the enlightenment, not in the Bible). In the US, there is a tendency to rush to
change the body to match what the mind says, even for children – but 80% of
potential transgender youths change their mind about themselves before
adulthood.
·
The principle of a ‘peachy
community’ soft on the outside, easy to enter. All are welcome here. Remember that one of the earliest converts
was a eunuch, and he became a Christian through God’s direct
intervention (see Acts 8:26-40).
·
Everyone is a masterpiece, but
in this fallen world, everyone is flawed.
The big question for each of us is “what does God want
me to be?” The Bible doesn’t say ‘follow your
heart’, it says ‘guard your heart”. We are called to be in Gods
image, and called to follow Him even when it is hard.
·
There is a huge range of
expectations between what we think of as male/female. Parents – don’t panic if
you have a budding male ballet dancer/Billy Elliot or a footy mad daughter – embrace
differences and teach them a Christian perspective of love and goodness
Finally, beware
of a world agenda that considers the traditional thoughts of what male/female
really are as being old fashioned. This is not what the Bible teaches – we need to
hold onto this.
God loves each of
us, whatever our gender identity. We all need to receive his love and to be
rescued.
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