Taboo | Transgender: Letting Jesus Speak Into the Tension (Romans 8)

How do Christians participate in the transgender conversation? How does God want Christians to feel about the topic, and more importantly, the people? Too often, the topic of transgender makes us think about ideologies, progressive societal trends, and angry debates. But what about people? How can we help people who struggle with transgender feelings? How does the gospel apply to this issue? God’s Word will be our guide as we see how God gives us hope amidst the brokenness of our bodies and minds.

Transcript

Baring my soul to you, this may be the most difficult sermon I’ve ever written. Why? Because there’s just so much to say, and so much at stake. I honestly wish I could get to know you all far more deeply before going “there,” into the tension-filled waters of transgenderism. For some of you, this struggle known as gender dysphoria is more than a social issue, it’s an everyday battle, maybe known only by you and Jesus. For some of you, you see faces of people you love struggling to know the identity that’s theirs in Jesus, people you eat supper with and celebrate Christmas with. And maybe for most of us, all we think of when we hear “transgender” is Caitlyn Jenner, or a Bud Light commercial, yet along with that is an emotion…and it may be taboo to say this, but it’s likely an emotion that leans into anger, and dare I say disgust?

If there’s one takeaway I pray you have from our conversation today, it’s that you see people not just a culture war issue when you hear the word “transgender” and even more that you see Jesus and his compassion that crossed over every form of brokenness sin brought into our world, and that includes transgenderism. This is why Romans 7 and 8 are so precious and critical to this identity battle. But before we marvel at the wisdom of God’s Word, and the unbounded power of God’s grace, it’s necessary that we seek to understand and actively listen to those dear people around us who are filled with tension, confusion, and pain every time they look in the mirror.

People who battle gender dysphoria, put more simply, are people who feel dissatisfied or uneasy with their biological gender. Now, to be “transgender” means to cross over genders. It means that the brain isn’t agreeing with the body, you feel disconnected biologically and out of place, and this struggle is becoming more and more common. In 2016, it was estimated that 0.6% of the US population identified as trans. Now, that number is estimated by the Pew Research Center to be 1.6% of Americans 13 and older (about 3 million people), showing a substantial growth in less than a decade. This “issue” is becoming closer and closer to home. But that’s not the most concerning number in this. Studies have shown that 82% of transgender individuals have considered suicide, and 40% have attempted it. What especially breaks my heart is talking with the teens of our church family and how devastating it can be to watch a classmate battle this disconnect between mind and body. Studies have shown that 56% of teens who battle gender dysphoria will attempt suicide. 56% of these precious kids, dearly loved by our heavenly Father, have grabbed pills or a blade because the pain they suffer runs that deep.

Hearing these numbers, how can they not affect you? How can they not put an end to all the internet memes, the humor said at the expense of such intensive psychological and spiritual suffering, this is not a laughing matter at all. So how has our culture decided to fix this problem? One word: Affirmation. It’s why the World Health Organization removed gender dysphoria as a mental illness. The thought is that if we do nothing but affirm, that tension, that struggle will go away. But that’s just not true. Not even physically changing your appearance to fit the gender you feel turns dysphoria into euphoria. Ryan T. Anderson in his best-selling book “When Harry Became Sally” says it exactly right: “People who have had sex reassignment surgery are nineteen times more likely than average to die by suicide. This is not evidence that society has failed to accept them, but that transitioning does not address the deeper conflicts in their lives.” 
It begs the question, what is real love? And this is where American Christianity has often failed miserably. We’re presented with two approaches: The first is affirmation, to say it’s all okay which is so heartless because that approach doesn’t truly help, but just gives an empty smile while a human being like us, a broken sinner dearly loved by Jesus like us, hurts and hurts. Or the second approach we so often witness, Christians who shove them away, even using the Bible as the defense for why we need to avoid people like them. Yes, the Bible is clear that God created two genders. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” And we lovingly hold out that truth to the world, not bashing people, but guiding them to know the truth that is Jesus Christ, to be set free. That is the often unknown third approach! The gospel approach! A way in which we can both love the truth and clarity of God’s Word while also loving people unconditionally with the sole intent to bring them to Jesus. It exists! But how does it work?

It starts with understanding that as sinners we all live on the same level: Just as broken, just as in need of the Savior. You ask the vast majority of people battling gender dysphoria and they would readily tell you they didn’t choose this fight. If they could have this taken away in a second, they would! And psychological tools, while extremely useful, don’t have all the answers. There are European studies that have shown that in the vast majority of cases, if a person has intensive psychological counseling it can greatly alleviate their gender dysphoria. But you and I know that psychology is not the answer for sin, and even more so, the struggle with transgenderism is not so far removed from you as you may think. How many of you look in a mirror and feel tension? Tension, maybe not with your gender, but with your weight? Maybe anorexia or bulimia is a part of your story, or an eating disorder, or watching the effects of getting older change how your body functions, losing the ability to do things physically you used to do without even consciously thinking about it. Going even further and far more deeply, we all know what it’s like to battle a sin that feels like it has mastery over us. It’s why Romans 7 cuts to our hearts whether your foe is gender dysphoria, or battles with body image, or a sin you and Jesus battle against every day.

Can’t you relate to what Paul says here, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” When you feel so defeated, so alone, so disconnected, isolated, and hope is nowhere. This is where we have Christians have been given the gift of gifts, that we know the hope we have. In the deepest darkness, faith shines forth as it did for Paul, “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” 

And who is this Jesus, our Deliverer? This is who he is, “Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” No one. Battles against gender dysphoria will not separate us from God, struggles with our physical bodies, will not hold back Jesus from delivering you. Think of how much Jesus knows you, and what you’ve been through. If there’s anyone who knows disconnect, it’s Jesus. He left perfection in heaven, wholeness, harmony, everything in order, everything in joy, to enter brokenness, including the brokenness of our bodies. Jesus is fully God, yet don’t forget he’s fully human too. He experienced the struggles of the human body affected by the fall. He knows physical pain. He knows exhaustion. He knows every variety of life’s burdens. Yet, he endured all of those things without sin! All for you! And he has promised you something, something that will take our breath away and give it back to us all in the same second. 

We tend to focus on the fact that Jesus has saved our souls for obvious reasons, but don’t forget he has saved your bodies too. God created mind, soul, and body. One holistic being, crafted by his own hands in your mother’s womb. He too has a body just like you. He too suffered physical and psychological pain, just like you. But now…it’s more wonderful than you can bear to hear. He has a glorified, resurrected body…and he’s going to transform your bodies to be like his one day. Look at what Paul writes, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” Paul says it even more clearly in Philippians 3:20-21, connecting what we talked about last week, our citizenship in heaven, to the body that awaits, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Jesus will take whatever remains of your body when he comes back, and you will be fully you, truly you, no more sinful nature, no more battles with sin, but living the greatest identity the world will ever know to the full, a redeemed, transformed, child of God. No more gender dysphoria, no more anorexia, no more eating disorders, no more sins snatching your joy, but everything finally as it’s supposed to be. Doesn’t it bring tears to your eyes? The wonder of a grace-given identity. To know by faith that the ultimate identity is not about how you feel about yourself, that changes constantly. It’s not about what others think of you, that’s an impossible burden and expectation. It’s about the opinion of the only One who truly knows you and the only One who has proven his love will never fail you. 

Yet, this side of heaven the struggles remain. But don’t forget why they do: To keep you near Jesus, to see his face when you confront your brokenness, and remembering all the while that your sufferings as difficult, as dark, and debilitating as they are, can’t even come close to what your brother Jesus is getting ready for you! We say fearlessly with Paul, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
It’s this certain joy and future that changes how you see people engaged in that battle for identity. It leads you not to avoid someone struggling with gender dysphoria but to listen empathetically to them, opening the door for them into your favorite restaurant, asking them about their story, and giving them compassion, so that when the inevitable question comes, “What do you think about people like me?” You already know what to say: “Here’s what I think about people like you. You and I are much more the same than we are different. We are both broken sinners in desperate need of God’s grace. We both would do well not to hide our struggles but to bring them to God, and because I love you I want to be in the Word with you and to stand next to you with Jesus one day.”

It’s acknowledging that just like with any other sin, this battle with gender dysphoria may last a person’s entire lifetime, and yet that thorn in the flesh, that cross, is not permanent, nor does it compare to the glory that is coming, and we as Christians are dedicated to bear up our crosses together, not shaming, not merely affirming, but truly loving with self-sacrificing love, with the unchangeable and clear truths of the Bible, and always in hope, knowing how the Lord through his Word has given us the greatest identity in the world, one that no confusion, or mental illness, or even death can take from us. So let’s speak into the tension, let’s share God’s truth, and by his grace let’s boldly love, boldly take more and more to the cross, and boldly look ahead to the redemption of our bodies to come. Amen.