Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
Lady Gaga’s 2011 song, Born This Way, was a hit because not only does it have a catchy tune, it has a catchy message: God accepts you the way you are because He makes no mistakes. Messages like these are a dime a dozen in the culture we’re in. But what if they come from those in the church? Shanda discusses the catchy phrases that have made their way into the church but are accepted by Christians because God is sprinkled in there somewhere. She takes you through passages of Scripture that show the correct response to sin and why no one likes the message of original sin. In fact, some pastors avoid it all together. You’ll learn why the message of original sin is a must when sharing the gospel.
Quotables:
Recommended Resources:
Cross Examined Article: Is Teaching Your Kids About God Child Abuse?
Website: shandafulbright.com
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Email: hello@shandafulbright.com
YouTube: Shanda Fulbright
Lady Gaga came out with a song titled Born This Way in 2011 and just the chorus itself was enough to cue me into what the gist of the song was about. I’ll get into some of the lyrics here in a bit but her song is not what this episode is about. What I want to get into today is when the church sounds like the world but we don’t see it because we slap God on it and dismiss things we would otherwise call out if it weren’t painted with God talk.
What do I mean by that?
Recently, I’ve noticed several people talk about their struggles with what we would call small sins – gossip, anger, saying bad words – and the excuse is, “This is just the way I am, I can’t help it.” When Christians dismiss some of the inherent traits of sinfulness and bad character because quote unquote, “This is the way I am” or, “I was made like this” – it sounds a lot like Lady Gaga’s “Born this way” song. Should we accept some of those things just because they are difficult to conquer and we will forever be a work in progress?
Let’s talk about that today, but before we do, this is the last call for the Anchored in Truth Conference at the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Ellerslie, Ga on February 23 and 24th. Get the tickets for this weekend at shandafulbright.com/events because it is going to be a great time and a weekend of learning how to love God with our minds.
Human Nature
Ok, so today we are talking about being born with a human nature and using the excuse of, “Well, you know how I am. This is just me” as an excuse. Is that any different than Lady Gaga’s Born This Way song? I am going to make the claim today that it’s not. I believe Christians realize how difficult it is to war against the human nature at times and instead of continuing to take up our cross daily and follow Christ and be crucified to the flesh, we give up and succumb to the fact that this is just the way we are. So how do we deal with that?
C.S. Lewis said a man only realizes how bad he is when he tries to be good. Ain’t that the truth? But it’s what we do when we come to that realization that matters. So here’s what we’re going to talk about today:
- Are we really born this way? And is that an excuse for sin?
- What should our response be when we realize our need for a Savior?
- Why the church cannot sound like the world.
Let’s visit the “born this way” excuse.
In Laday Gaga’s 2011 hit, she says:
“No matter gay, straight, or bi,
Lesbian, transgendered life,
I’m on the right track baby,
I was born to survive.
No matter black, white or beige
Chola or orient made,
I’m on the right track baby,
I was born to be brave.
I’m beautiful in my way
‘Cause God makes no mistakes
I’m on the right track, baby
I was born this way
Don’t hide yourself in regret
Just love yourself and you’re set
I’m on the right track, baby
I was born this way”
She says a lot of other things about being born this way and she talks about loving yourself, God makes no mistakes, you are who you are so celebrate.
Now, biblical Christians hear this and know it’s not true.
God doesn’t make mistakes but that does’t mean He makes people gay, lesbian, or bi. She also compares this to ethnicity – black, white, or beige – which is something that you are born with – skin color. So she’s talking about separate issues – being born a sinner and being born with your skin color. Those two things are incomparable but this is Lady Gaga, so take it for what it’s worth. She doesn’t care about being theologically sound, she just wants to slap God’s name in her song and say you should feel good about being who you are, no matter what. There’s nothing wrong with you.
And many Christians who hold to the Bible will disagree with the lyrics and that’ll be that.
But one thing I’ve heard several times lately and noticed about Christians is that we might not agree with the lyrics in the song but we say similar things. Here’s what I mean: a Christian who struggles with their mouth and says bad words might say, “This is just how I am. I try and conquer this mouth but this is me.” We succumb to the things that are hard to conquer, not keeping in mind that the sanctification process is just that – a process.
This is just the way I am.
I’ve even heard someone say, “You know how I am” as if that makes their behavior permissible. Isn’t this kind of passive response to our own sin the same as the world claiming they were born a certain way?
I think as Christians, we have to be careful not to be passive about sin in our lives and chalk it up to – this is just the way I am, and excuse it away. That’s dangerous and sometimes we call those things permissible sins. What is a permissible sin? Something that is so common to human nature that we don’t really treat these as serious sins.
What are some of those permissible sins?
*Complaining
*Envy
*Jealousy
*Gossiping
*crude language
Yes, we are born sinners. That is something many Christians deny and they claim that humans are mostly good. But that is not what the Bible teaches. David said in Psalm 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” That’s difficult to wrap our heads around, especially when we see a beautiful little baby and wonder how can it be that this cute little thing is born with a sin nature. But we have to understand that we all have a sinful nature inherited by Adam that must be redeemed. Again, Romans is a great book that discusses this.
But no sin is permissible.
Even though we are born in sin that is not an excuse for our sin. When we come to that conclusion and allow that to be where it ends, we are no different than the world.
In fact, if you look at what the Bible says: you are born with a sinful nature. And look at what the culture says: you are born perfect because God makes no mistakes, one message is telling you God will save you because of your sin nature and the other message says you don’t need saving because God already made you perfect and what you’re doing is not sin.
In essence, when you say, “This is just the way I am” you are following the message of the culture instead of the message of the Bible. How do I know? Because of your response to the message.
What is the Appropriate Response to the Gospel?
I saw a post from Wrath and Grace the other day that I reposted because it perfectly explains the correct response to our sin. It’s a quote by John Bunyan and it says, “The difference between true and false repentance lies in this: the man who truly repents cries out against his heart; but the other, as Eve, against the serpent or something else.”
We see this in Genesis 3 when God questioned Adam about hiding in the bush and Adam said, “The woman you gave to be with me gave me the fruit and I ate.” Adam blamed God and Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. This is the wrong response for our sin because no one can make you do anything. The devil can’t even make you do anything. He can influence you, tempt you, try and deceive you (notice that he can’t necessarily deceive you if you know the truth) but he can try and deceive you because he’s the deceiver. But the only person to blame for sin is the person who commits it – AKA – the person looking back at you in the mirror.
When we blame someone else for our sin, even the devil, we are not off the hook and we are not repentant. When we’re repentant, we take ownership for our sin and instead of saying “Well, I was born this way so it’s just the way I am” we say, “God I hate the way I am and I don’t want to be this way anymore.”
Let me warn you though, that this is a tough place to be in.
It’s the right place to be in when it comes to our sin and let me add this – only our sin. We should only hate our sin, not ourselves. We can separate those two things but we must do it in light of the cross of Christ. That is what Christ died for – to rescue us from our sin. That’s why the doctrine of sin is not a popular doctrine for many who call themselves Christians. It does not feel good.
And I have several passages of Scripture to share with you that will show you the right response to our sin is not the popular response but again, it’s the right one.
Luke 18:9-14 says, “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Here we have two men and Jesus begins by saying one was confident in his righteousness.
One was a religious man, a Pharisee, teacher of the law. Pharisees were highly regarded in the 1st century. But the other man was a tax collector and he was not highly regarded during that time. He was a known sinner. They went to the temple to pray before God and instead of being humble, the Pharisee thanked God because he thought he was righteous because he “kept” the laws -which no one could do because Jesus came and died on the cross, fulfilling the law in His sinless and perfect life. But the response by the tax collector was that he could not even look up to heaven but bowed his head and beat his breast.
From what I’ve read about how people prayed in the first century, they did not close their eyes and bow their heads but they kept their eyes opened and looked up toward heaven. So we might not think anything of the tax collector bowing his head but the significance is great – the tax collector owned his sin and therefore, humbled himself before God because of it. The Pharisee did not blame anyone, but he also did not acknowledge that he too was a sinful man, and therefore, did not repent. This is the same result as someone who blames someone else because in both examples, Adam and the Pharisee, they did not own their sin so they were not repentant.
There’s one more example I want to read to you and that is in Romans.
Ok, so heads up – this is about 20 verses long but I HAVE to read it all and I pray you will go back and read it yourself today. Circle every time you see the word law. Understand that the law was impossible to keep. CS Lewis said (and I mentioned this on my last solo episode) that a man knows he is bad when he tries to be good. Think of that in light of this passage in Romans 7. A man realizes how bad he is when he tries to be good. When men and women tried to keep the law, they realized they could not. Knowledge of the law stirred up the desire to do the thing the law said not to do (sin). And this is what Paul says:
“So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
The Law and Sin
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b] 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
The Law
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 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. 20 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.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 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. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.
If you had to give this passage an emotion, what would you describe it as?
I would say Paul understood the wrestling, the stirring, and the struggle between wanting to keep the law and not being able to do it. He weaned to please God but he was failing. His law breaking was a constant reminder that he was not a good man, although he tried really hard to be good. Remember, Paul was a Pharisee and he was trained well in the law. He described himself as a Pharisee among Pharisees. He knew the law well. But he also understood that in human nature, he was bent toward breaking the law. He would never be able to fulfill it.
He, as the tax collector, beat his breast and said, “Oh, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?” He understood his sin and the depravity that came with it. And with that response, repentance followed. Paul blamed no one but himself. He understood the human condition and he knew he needed a savior. That is why he left Judaism and no longer spoke of the law but of grace. He said, “Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
What a beautiful picture of repentance.
And I haven’t meant to linger around Romans lately but I keep mentioning it the last several times on my podcast to go back and study it. In fact, I think it’s going to be the next book of the Bible I study again because it’s calling me. I love the message in Romans.
There are other examples in the Bible that show the correct and painful response to the realization of our sin and humanity. Peter, when he meets Jesus and Jesus calls him to be a fisher of men, first realizes something is different about this Man when Jesus asks, “have you caught anything?” Peter responds, “Nothing, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Let down your nestt on the other side of the boat for a catch.” Peter does and the net is full and almost breaking. Peter, at the realization that Jesus is not just an ordinary man but this is a miraculous catch of fish falls at Jesus’ feet and says, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord.” He, like Paul, like the tax collector, beat his breast because of his sin nature. Peter did not blame anyone for who he was or excuse it by saying. “This is just the way that I am.”
The right response.
The appropriate response to our sin is the painful response – beating our breast and saying “It’s me and me only Lord. Have mercy on me, a sinner.” The problem in the American church is that this message of sin can run people out of the church so a lot of pastors don’t want to preach it. Some will say that Christianity is mean and judgmental because the essential doctrine – the human condition, that we are all born with a sin nature – is mean. But it’s not mean if you understand what Paul said in Romans 7 – that God has delivered us through Jesus Christ. It’s the gospel message and there is no need for the gospel if you’re not a sinner. So the answer isn’t: This is just the way that I am. The answer is thank God I don’t have to stay this way because Christ saved me.
Why the church cannot sound like the world.
As I said at the start, the church often says things that sound a lot like the world but with a Jesus spin.
I’m speaking at a women’s conference next week and so I complied some mantras from the culture and compared them to some of the things I see women’s ministries claim, and I think I need to make a reel or post of this at some point.
But here’s what the culture says:
Follow your heart.
Love yourself.
Chase your dreams.
Be your authentic self.
We know the self-love, self-centered culture is in opposition to what God has called us to do, right? But then I see women’s ministries on social media with very similar messages but they sprinkle God in it.
Instead of saying follow your heart, they say: God will give you the desires of your heart.
Rather than saying love yourself they say you have to love yourself first in order to love others well.
Instead of saying chase your dreams, they say you have a God sized dream you need to fulfill.
They might not say be your authentic self but they say there’s only one you and God wants to use you for big things.
The messaging is the same except they insert God into the message somewhere and think that makes it “Christian.”
It’s just meology and it sounds like the culture.
It’s the same with the “I guess this is just the way I am” message. We should never accept sin, large or small. That means you are a slave to sin because it has conquered you.
Close:
As we close up this episode, there are a few things I want to clear up because I just did a podcast on legalism a few weeks ago and some might think this is a complete 180 from that. But it’s not. As I said before, we are not to hate ourselves when we sin. We ought to recognize it and hate the sin we do and understand our need for a Savior. Self-loathing is never the point of the gospel.
I had someone email me a few weeks ago and she was doubting her salvation because there are things she struggles with that she thought she should be past by now and her testimony is not as great as other peoples. I told her that that is not an indication of salvation.
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