The Identity in Christ conference hosted by Living Out on 21 June in London’s Emmanuel Centre, was attended by around 600 people who heard Dr Tim and Kathy Keller engage with complex issues of gender and sexual identity.
In the first two sessions of the day, Dr Keller outlined two key questions: firstly, where do we derive our sense of ‘self’?; and secondly, where do we get our sense of worth? In today’s postmodern culture, the individual is encouraged to completely disregard external moral values and instead embrace only ‘what’s true for me’ – finding one’s identity only in one’s own values.
Fragile individualism
There are, however, significant problems with this individualistic sense of identity. It’s incredibly fragile, as only the individual can decide if he or she is validated. And this is troubling because, as Tim Keller said: ‘We are irreducible relational beings, we can’t validate ourselves.’
Our sense of self-worth must be rooted in something, someone, outside of us. Indeed, only Christ himself can provide a secure foundation for true validation.
Christ and identity
In contrast to this individualistic understanding is the ‘gospel identity,’ which releases us from the crushing burden of having to constantly validate ourselves. This is because Jesus is the one who earns salvation, not us. ‘The Christian identity,’ Dr Keller explained, ‘is the only identity that is received, not achieved’. We derive our sense of self and worth from the ultimate validator – the God of the universe, who loves us so much that he sacrificed his own Son to buy us back from the power of sin and death. Tim Keller went on to show how the Bible gives us abundant resources for understanding our identity in Christ: we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1.27); we are known by God (Galatians 4.9); we are adopted as children of God (Ephesians 1.5).
Church and identity
But how does this help us when we’re discussing gender identity or same-sex relationships with our non-Christians friends? Kathy Keller shared some great pieces of practical advice, especially the counsel that when having a conversation about gender or sexual identity with non-Christians, we must first discuss their need for salvation before any other issues are focused on. There was also an awareness that only the love of Jesus is able to displace the temptations of sin. ‘When the love of Christ seizes you,’ Kathy said, quoting Thomas Chalmers, ‘everything else is demoted and ultimately destroyed.’ She also helpfully encouraged the church to see that homosexual sex is not isolated in the Bible: it is almost always discussed in the context of other kinds of forbidden sexual activity, such as sex outside of marriage or pornography.
Big decision
A particular highlight of the conference was the sharing of testimonies by members of the Living Out team. Anne shared her testimony as a woman whose decision to follow Jesus meant breaking up with her girlfriend and letting go of her gay identity. The rewards more than made up for the cost. ‘I have something far more precious as I’m a daughter of the King.’ These personal stories emphasised the fact that the questions concerning gender or sexual orientation are not mere ‘issues’ for the church to discuss, but represent a daily struggle that many godly people must faithfully endure.
