What God is interested in is fruit of the Spirit.
For some it's going to be the fruit of the Spirit in a female
body, For others it's going to be in a male body, and for
others it's going to be in an intersex body.
But it's going to be the fruit of the Spirit no matter what
your body is. 1.8 million LGBTQ youth
seriously consider suicide each year, and one attempts suicide
every 45 seconds. Even worse for trans youth, they
are 2 1/2 times more likely to attempt suicide than their queer
classmates. But here's the really good news.
Acceptance from just one adult decreases the risk of LGBTQ
youth attempting suicide by 40%. One adult, one safe, loving,
caring, listening adult cut suicide rates in almost half.
We are in episode 2 of a four part series originally delivered
as a single sermon by Pastor Zach W Lambert at Restore
Austin. Here is Part 2 which I have
called Trans Cisgender or intersex.
Now, I'm a big believer in common language helping to
facilitate discussion. So we're going to start by
defining some terms. These are from Merriam Webster
heterosexual, a person who is sexually or romantically
attracted to people of the opposite sex, and then
cisgender, a person whose gender identity corresponds with the
sex that person had or was identified as having at birth.
So heterosexual and cisgender people, sometimes called CIS het
for short, make up most of the population.
I am CIS het, and CIS het people are the sexual and gender
majority in the world now. There are also a few terms used
to describe people who are not CIS, het, LGBTQ plus, or LGBTQIA
plus. There's actually some kind of
controversy inside of the community about whether to
include IA, so I'm going to just use LGBTQ plus for the remainder
of the message. Queer or sexual and gender
minority. These are all terms used to
describe people who are not heterosexual or cisgender.
Now, most of us know what it means generally to be gay,
lesbian or bisexual, but there's a lot more confusion, right,
about what being transgender or intersex means.
And we see this, like, a lot right now, right?
It's playing itself out in public discourse and in
politics, where trans people are constantly being weaponized for
political gain. So because of the complexity and
the prevalence of this conversation, I'm actually going
to spend a few minutes right now talking about sex and gender.
So the first thing that you need to know is that biological sex
is not a binary. Biological sex is not a binary.
Now that is not a political statement.
That is a scientific 1. You see, biologically there are
three major categories of sex male, female, and intersex.
Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of
variations that affect genitals, hormones, chromosomes, or
reproductive organs. Now sometimes these
characteristics are visible at birth, sometimes they appear at
puberty, and sometimes they are not physically apparent at all.
Now biological males and females make up the majority of people,
but intersex folks do account for a significant percentage of
the population. Now studies are like way all
over the place on this, some saying intersex people make up
as little as .02% of the population, others as many as 4%
of the population. But the American Journal of
Human Biology estimates that 1.7% of the population would fit
under the umbrella term intersex, which is roughly the
same number of people who have red hair, 1.7%.
From both a biological and linguistic perspective, sex and
gender are not the same thing. You see, sex is rooted in the
things I listed above Genitals, hormones, chromosomes,
reproductive organs, secondary characteristics which usually
develop during puberty. But while gender is influenced
by Physiology and brain structure, it is impacted by and
expressed according to social and cultural patterns.
Meaning what characteristics define masculinity or femininity
vary significantly depending on time and place and context.
We all intuitively understand this.
We see it all the time, right? Masculinity in Paris might look
like wearing high heels, but in the Deep South it might look
like wearing cowboy boots. Femininity in some African
communities means fixing the roof of your cottage, but in
Austin it might be meal prepping for your family.
My favorite modern example of this is pastors preaching about
the decline of biblical masculinity while wearing tight
leather pants and earrings that they would not have been caught
dead in a year ago or decade ago because that outfit would have
been considered feminine. But now things have changed and
so they're comfortable wearing it, still preaching the same
message. Unfortunately.
Now, the degree to which gender is or should be influenced by
someone's sex at birth is debated, and the degree to which
gender should be influenced by God's biological design is also
debated. But what we do know is that the
call for all Christians, regardless of sex or gender, is
Christ likeness defined by the fruit of the Spirit.
It is Christ likeness defined by the fruit of the Spirit.
Dallas Theological Seminary professor and gender studies
expert Doctor Sandra Glenn said it like this on our summer
mixtape back in 2020. What God is interested in is
fruit of the Spirit. For some it's going to be the
fruit of the spirit in a female body.
For others it's going to be in a male body and for others it's
going to be in an intersex body, but it's going to be the fruit
of the Spirit no matter what your body is.
This is very important. The call to Christ likeness is
never gendered in Scripture, right?
So there are no verses that say here's what it means to be a
Christ like male, here's what it means to be a Christ like
female. And in much the same way,
there's nothing in the Bible that talks about being
transgender or gender non conforming.
So then how do transgender folks fit into all this?
Well, first a definition. Transgender means a person who
feels a sense of disconnection between their sex and their
gender identity. Now, the 5th edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, commonly called the DSM
5, calls this sense of disconnection gender dysphoria.
Now, gender dysphoria is a clinically significant distress
or impairment related to a strong desire to be of another
gender, which may include the desire to change primary and or
secondary sex characteristics. Now, there is overwhelming
consensus in the medical field that gender dysphoria is real.
It's not up for debate. It is like settled science and
psychology. And the vast majority of people
who identify as transgender, whether they have begun
transitioning or not, have gender dysphoria, and they
usually begin experiencing it as children.
According to a recent study published in the American
Medical Association Journal, 73% of transgender women and 78% of
transgender men first experience gender dysphoria on or before
age 7. On or before age 7.
Now, there are plenty of debates around transgender issues and
the questions being asked are important.
Things like is medical transition and ethical treatment
for gender dysphoria? And if it is, what age is
appropriate and who decides if and when it's appropriate?
Is that children? Is it parents?
Is it doctors? Is it consenting adults?
Is it legislatures? Questions like should trans
athletes be allowed to compete in sports with their identifying
gender and if So, what transition steps must be taken
before that is OK? Now answering these questions
isn't easy and like anyone else, I have views that are informed
by my faith. But honestly, I've never been a
decision maker in any of those situations.
What we must remember above all else is that these questions are
more than issues. Transgender people are people
first and foremost. They are made in the image of
God and loved by Jesus. See, I often come across 2
unhelpful and polarized responses when it comes to
transgender questions. People who think it's gross and
people who think it's glamorous. As someone in relationship with
a number of transgender folks and parents of transgender kids,
I can tell you it is neither of those things.
Gender dysphoria is real. It's not gross or inherently
sinful, and dealing with it, whether through transitioning or
not, is not glamorous. It is hard.
Like really hard. So be kind to transgender folks,
listen to them, learn from them, and also be kind and patient
with people struggling to understand this stuff.
Don't condemn people just because they ask a question,
because they voice some confusion.
Here are a few pieces of advice I've gotten from trans friends
and parents of trans youth that I've been told I can pass along
to fellow cisgender people. Regardless of how we feel about
any of the complex questions we've been talking about #1
don't post hot takes about trans people online, don't do it #2
don't go up to trans people and tell them how awesome it is that
they're trans. It's not helpful.
Don't rush to judge families of trans kids.
You have no idea what they are going through.
Have compassion on parents who are doing the best that they can
for their kids while working through their own struggles and
experiencing tremendous external pressure from conflicting places
#4. Don't tokenize or stereotype
trans people for the purpose of virtue signalling #5 Don't share
or tolerate disrespectful jokes about trans people.
If someone is being a jerk, someone is saying something
mean, call it out, confront it. Number six, don't associate
LGBTQ plus people with higher rates of things like abuse or
pedophilia by calling them groomers or predators or
anything like that, because it's simply not true #1 and #2 it
leads to violence. It leads to violence.
In fact, transgender adults are actually four times as likely to
be the victim of violent crime than cisgender people are.
And Texas leads the nation in transgender murders.
And lastly, do not purposefully misgender people.
You are not going to get it right every time.
And that is so OK. If you don't know, ask.
If you make a mistake, apologize.
Do your best, though, to use people's preferred pronouns just
like you'd use someone's preferred name.
Think about it like this. If you had a friend named Dave
and one day Dave came up to you and he said, hey, I've decided
to start going by the name Tim. So could you please start
calling me Tim? You wouldn't say heck no, Dave,
get out of here and listen. I'm never going to do that.
And if I see you trying to write Tim on a name tag, I'm going to
come up. I'm going to RIP it off of you.
I'm going to write Dave in all caps and I'm going to put it on
your chest because you are Dave. I don't care what anyone says
who would never do that, right? Using someone's preferred name
and pronouns is not political. It's not theological.
It's basic human dignity and it saves lives, especially for
young people. I want you to really listen to
this. 1.8 million LGBTQ youth seriously consider suicide each
year, and one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.
An LGBTQ youth attempts suicide every 45 seconds.
Even worse for trans youth, they are 2 1/2 times more likely to
attempt suicide than their queer classmates.
But here's the really good news. Acceptance from just one adult
decreases the risk of LGBTQ youth attempting suicide by 40%.
One adult, one safe, loving, caring, listening adult cut
suicide rates in almost half. There's nothing remotely Christ
like about treating trans people or anyone in the LGBTQ plus
community as anything less than a sibling made in the image of
God. And as we'll see in just a
minute, that's exactly how Jesus and the first church treated
sexual and gender minorities. But before we look at scripture,
we need to define our central topic for today, which is
homophobia and transphobia. It's a fear of aversion to and
or discrimination against sexual and gender minorities.
Now this is really important because phobias are not the same
as believing something is not God's best.
Like, for instance, I can believe Christians should
abstain from alcohol without discriminating against people
who drink. At their core, homophobia and
transphobia are discrimination against sexual and gender
minorities in ways that restrict them from participating in
society with the same freedoms as cisgender and heterosexual
people have now in Christian spaces, this discrimination
plays itself out in a myriad of ways based on a specific church
or organization. So sometimes it looks like
completely barring LGBTQ plus people from attending at all.
Sometimes it's a denial of membership.
Other times it's being barred from serving or leading or
sacraments like communion, baptism, or marriage.
But regardless of where that line is, there is a restriction
from full participation because of someone's sexual orientation
or gender identity, and that is discrimination.
Someone can claim that it's God ordained discrimination, but it
is discrimination nonetheless. And here at Restore, we believe
that homophobia and transphobia are wrong, which is to say that
we believe any kind of discrimination based on sexual
orientation or gender identity is wrong.
We don't believe that because it's cool or popular.
As I've already said, it's a position so unpopular that it's
gotten us kicked out of a bunch of things.
But we think LGBTQ plus people should be fully embraced and
included in the church because we see it in Scripture.
Actually, we believe the words and actions of both Jesus and
the First Church amount to a complete rejection of homophobia
and transphobia, as well as a complete acceptance of sexual
and gender minority. Let me repeat that we believe
the words and actions of both Jesus and the 1st century church
amount to a complete acceptance of sexual and gender minorities
and a complete rejection of homophobia and transphobia.
Wow. Next episode, episode 3 of this
four part series, Pastor Lambert goes through two of the most
affirming, most pro sexual minority, most pro LGBTQIA plus
passages in scripture. But before we close, I want to
replay a short clip from Pastor Lambert that we heard today.
Acceptance from just one adult decreases the risk of LGBTQ
youth attempting suicide by 40%. One adult, one safe, loving,
caring, listening adult cut suicide rates in almost half.
One adult, one safe, loving, caring, listening adult cut
suicide rates almost in half. So here is my challenge to you.
Do all of the LGBTQ young people in your life know that you
accept and love them exactly as they are?
Whether you're attending an affirming church or a non
affirming church or maybe no church at all, do the LGBTQ
young people in your life know that you accept them, that
you're listening to them and love them exactly as they are?
In the next part, Part 3 of this four part series from Pastor
Lambert, Jesus affirming words. Until then, remember that God
created you exactly as you are because he wants the world to be
blessed by you. I'm Elton Sherwin, stay safe, be
brave, and God bless.