Question: Is promoting same sex romance in the church a primary issue or a secondary issue? In other words, shall we break fellowship with churches that promote this or shall we treat them as brothers?
Answer: This is a primary issue, because it is a gospel issue. Those who embrace these practices in the church are withholding the gospel from an entire group of men and women who are created in the image of God. While you and I appeal to Jesus to save us from our greed, our idolatry, our sexual immorality, and a multitude of other sins for which we are guilty and justly deserve the wrath of God, incredulously, this one sin is somehow being made exempt. Thus, in order to be popular with the spirit of the age, they sacrifice the precious lives an entire group.
While calling traditionalists homophobic, the Bible makes it crystal clear (Ezek 3:18, 33:1-9) that it is those who keep back the gospel from certain groups who are ultimately murdering their souls. It will be revealed in the last day that it was the Scripture-affirming confessional Christians who loved them and were willing daily to be insulted and slurred that some among them might be saved. Like everyone else, we are sinners and, with God's help, we daily struggle to overcome of our own grievous sins - putting them to death by the Spirit, until the Lord comes. The practice of same-sex romance is just one among many sins that we all combat. I consider often that if the Lord had not saved me, no amount of behavior modification or morality could have saved me. In fact, we all woefully fall short of God's holy standard. So we cannot make a savior of our morality. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, owns the office of Savior, and He alone. So our goal is not to make homosexuals straight but to bring people to Christ who brings dead people to life (Eph 2:5) -- and we were all among the dead, no exceptions.
On any given Lord's Day sitting next to me in the pews are those who have been captive to many sins such as greed, idolatry, sexual immorality, thievery, drunkenness, reviling, homosexuality, adultery. But there is little doubt that I am the worst sinner among them. I am only saved because God scrapped me off the bottom of the barrel. It certainly wasn't because I was more deserving than others. I can count on two hands those at my own church who were practicing homosexuals. But now that we are in Christ we make no differentiation. We are all brothers and sisters in the Lord. None of us are there because we are better then others; none of us deserve God's favor more then others. None of us is righteous in ourselves. We are all ill-deserving sinners. Christ is our righteousness and we have all been forgiven of our sins in Him. Thanks be to God, He has broken the chains that bound us, He has washed us and renewed our hearts that we might love what is good and break free from what formerly held us. Do we still struggle with sin. You bet. But to assign traditional Christianity the term bigotry, is to profoundly misapprehend what Christianity is about. By Christ's blood He ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation --- all of them sinners deserving of death, but granted mercy instead. No sins are singled out as being unforgivable and unworthy of Christ's forgiveness. The fountain of Christ's mercy is open to all for who come to him ...all those He calls to Himself.
Therefore, any church which withholds the love of God from those caught in same sex romance (or any) sin is practicing hatred for their souls and we ought to consider such churches apostate. Let us pray the Lord be merciful and bring many who are being deceived into this false theology back to the loving arms of Christ.