This is a transcript of Episode 8 of the WAK Talk podcast. Listen on your favorite podcast platform by clicking here. Watch on YouTube by clicking here.
I know this is a large topic, but this is the question everyone should be asking. Are the “solutions” presented by the woke ideology actually helping society? Is racism really the biggest problem right now in our country? Does promoting and celebrating a man transitioning to a woman helpful for generations to come? Is influencing children to mutilate their bodies beneficial to them becoming healthy functioning adults? Does taking away consequences from people who steal, murder, rape, and vandalize create a thriving and safe community for all? How is poking fun at marriage between a man and a woman benefiting our families and communities?
Are you asking these questions? Or are you just jumping on board with what’s popular?
Does this kind of thinking work when we live it out? In your opinion, has it been working in our schools, in the work place, in our homes? Really think about it.
Again, I’m not here to tell you what to think or to force ideas on you. I’m simply here to challenge you to think. I’m also here to share a biblical worldview. And I want to invite you to get to know Jesus because He’s the only solution to this messed up world.
Here’s what the Bible says about the world in 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 4: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Lovers of Self
Does that not describe the current cultural ideology? I want to highlight the first thing in this list: “People will be lovers of themselves.” This is really the only thing that needs to be said because it envelopes the rest of this list. When we love ourselves more than anything else, we don’t care about anything else. And that’s what these ideologies breed. They are telling people that you be and do what you want and don’t let anyone stop you. You be you. Do whatever makes you happy. We won’t tell you about all the side effects you’ll face when you make these choices—the addiction, guilt, shame, pain, depression, loneliness, suicidal thoughts, emptiness, and all the hurt you’ll cause to the people around you. But, go ahead, just be you. Is that really loving?
You know why I love Jesus and not the world? Because the world will let you walk into a pit celebrating you as if it’s a journey to discover yourself. But Jesus warns us about the pit we’re about to walk into. He calls the pit what it is and invites us to follow Him instead, in order to avoid the pit. And even when we still choose to go into the pit, He’s ready and willing to rescue us and pull us out of the pit. That’s who Jesus is.
The world and Jesus are both after our hearts, but only one can truly satisfy. Only one provides clarity and stability while the other produces confusion and shaky ground. Only one brings light to the darkness. Only one can truly save us and set us free.
Love Yourself or Deny Yourself
Jesus said: “‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?’” (Matthew 16:24-26)
The world says love yourself. Jesus says deny yourself. What does deny yourself mean? A quick internet search will tell you that “to deny” means “to declare untrue” or “to refuse to believe.”
When we choose to deny ourselves, we are declaring that we are wrong. That our way of thinking and living is wrong. And we don’t want to listen or believe ourselves anymore. Instead, we want to take up our cross (leaving the lies, pain, shame, regret, lust, greed, and all other sin to die on the cross) and we want to instead follow Jesus, believing He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life.
Again, unlike the common thinking in the world, there is only one way to salvation. The world says pick and choose the parts you like from each religion because they all pretty much mean the same thing. You be you. But Jesus says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And Romans 10, verses 9 and 10 tell us: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Jesus is Lord
What does it mean to declare Jesus is Lord? It means you deny yourself. You declare that you are not lord of your life. The way is not found in you. You do not decide what is true. And you do not create or build your own life. You lay everything at Jesus’ feet, declaring Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. He reigns supremely over all the heavens and the earth. And He reigns personally in your heart. Jesus is after your heart. He’s not some high and mighty impersonal and distant being. He’s relational and personal. If He were a distant and impersonal god, why would He create men and women to be relational beings? That wouldn’t make any sense. It makes more sense that a personal and relational God would create relational human beings.
But when the culture celebrates and joins in with the things that God calls sin, it is cultivating a community of impersonal and distant human beings. When we choose to go against God, we are choosing to love ourselves more than anything else. And when we do this, we become distant and impersonal.
What do you see in the people who are embracing the current cultural ideology? The obvious thing is that I see broken people. I see people who want to be loved, but they choose to look in the wrong places. They choose to look in themselves or fight for the attention from others or from a movement. And they may get the attention they want in the moment, but then they have to keep performing to get more. It’s an endless cycle. In the end, they are left isolated and alone.
Follow Jesus
But there is hope. Jesus doesn’t need you to perform for Him. He doesn’t ask you to be someone or something that you aren’t. He meets you right where you are with open arms. And He invites you to follow Him and find new life. He knows where you’ve been and He knows what you need. Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10 explain: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind.’” The first part of this sounds pretty hopeless. You may be thinking: “I always heard people say: ‘follow your heart.’” How can we follow our heart if we don’t understand it? But the next part of this passage brings hope. The Lord searches the heart and examines the mind. There is someone who understands our hearts. He can discern the good from the bad in our hearts. He knows exactly what our hearts truly long for. So, instead of following our hearts, we should be following Jesus. When we don’t understand something, it only makes sense to follow someone who does understand. That someone is Jesus.
To follow Jesus means that we leave behind our old lives. We repent. We admit that we were living against God and now we want to leave that life behind us.
So, going back to today’s hard question: Is the current cultural ideology helpful to society? The answer is “NO” because Jesus isn’t in it! The idea of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion may sound good, but when applied to society, it’s intended to favor certain races and people groups over others. It’s only creating a new form of racism. Jesus bled and died for all! And Jesus wouldn’t be about celebrating people claiming that they were created in the wrong body. He wouldn’t agree with confusing children, especially to the point of mutilating their bodies. Jesus is for justice, discipline, and correction when a crime is committed. He’s against evil. And Jesus is the author of marriage. He designed marriage for one man and one woman. He created sex only for marriage. Sex is His idea, not the world’s. Simply put, the current cultural ideology is against Jesus.
Proverbs 16, verse 25 explains that: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” This is what happens when we listen to ourselves and the world. We fall into the pit. We need to listen to Jesus telling us what the pit is and avoid it.
The world needs Jesus. You and I need Jesus.
Maybe you’re tired of being confused by yourself and the culture. Maybe you’re discouraged trying to find answers on your own. Maybe you feel lost. Maybe you’ve been hurt by the culture and the direction it’s going. Maybe you participated and celebrated the current culture only to be left unsatisfied.
Wherever you’re at, Jesus has open arms, inviting you to follow Him. He wants to take away the confusion, discouragement, the hurt, and anything else you’re struggling with. You can lay them at His feet. Leave the old life behind you. Admit that your way is the wrong way. And believe that Jesus knows the way, He is the way. He proved it by dying on the cross for your sins and being raised to life again to save you from sin and death—to save you from yourself.
