Scripture: Isaiah 5:20
Sermon Series: Dealing with Toxic People – Sermon 08
So, is this milk? (Hold up Soy Milk). Is this milk? (Hold up Almond Milk). What about this? Is this milk? (Milk of Magnesia).
A recent Wall Street Journal (2-05-24) had this headline, “America’s Frothy Milk Wars Pit Team Cow Against Team Oat” with the subtitle: “Dairy Producers Want to Scrub Milk From the Labels of Plant-Based Alternatives.”
These days, just about anything is called “milk.” It’s not just soy, almond or oat. There’s even algae milk. That’s right, pond scum milk.
Today there’s a flood of plant-based milk alternatives. Nearly anything can be called “milk.” And that’s problematic for dairy farmers. Real milk comes mostly from cows.
So, the dairy industry is launching a legal offensive against the abuse of the word “milk.” Milk producers are trying to scrub milk off the labels of plant-based substitutes. Their position is if it doesn’t come from a lactating animal, it’s not milk. Telling consumers that it’s the same thing is a bit crazy and could be a form of cultural Gaslighting.
Gaslighting, what’s gaslighting? The term has been around for many years. Since the 1980s, gaslighting is “manipulating another person so that they question their sanity.” Perpetrators use various methods. It can be intentional or unintentional. Gaslight (picture) was originally a 1944 movie where a husband attempts to deceive his wife into thinking she’s crazy to cover up a murder. While he uses several tactics, the gas lights in the home were his primary means. He cleverly causes them to flicker. When his wife notices the flickering lights, he denies that they’re flickering. He wants to convince her that she can’t believe her eyes. And if she can’t believe her eyes, maybe she can’t believe her senses or trust her thoughts. Once he has her confused, the husband can hide his crime of murdering her aunt.
It’s the intentional deception of someone with the intention of making the victim believe they’re crazy. Smart homes and technology make it even easier to gaslight someone by starting cars, locking or unlocking doors, turning lights on and off, etc.
Gaslighting is a manipulation tactic used to gain control over others by distorting their perception of reality. While it happens relationally, today we want to unpack how it’s happening culturally. As our culture has moved from a Judeo-Christian worldview, Bible-believers are being told either subtly or blatantly that what we believe is crazy. It began with postmodernism and relativism – “what’s true for you isn’t true for me.” It’s devolved into Bible-believers being told that what they believe is not just on the wrong side of history, it’s irrational. It’s cultural gaslighting.
We are the people of truth but it’s not our truth. It’s God’s infallible truth. It’s important for Christ-followers to recognize and resist gaslighting, and instead promote truth, love, and justice. Our children in schools and especially on college campuses are being taught cultural lies as truth and that biblical truth is insane. We live in the spiritually dangerous world of Isaiah 5:20: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
This morning, we want to work through some of the more common cultural gaslights. Because of time constraints we can’t go in-depth, yet I hope that if you’ve been “Culturally Gaslighted,” you’ll study things out for yourself.
Nietzsche(picture) said, “Truth doesn’t mind being questioned. A lie does not like being challenged.” Being a Christian doesn’t mean we park our brains at the door. We must know what we believe and why. It’s essential that we have a biblical base for our lives. If you’re taking notes…
1. Reproductive Rights
At a concert last week (March 12th), rock musician Olivia Rodrigo (picture), passed out “morning after” pills, all in the name of “reproductive rights.” The term “pro-choice” was more accurate. “Reproductive rights” is cultural gaslighting. There’s no reproduction. It’s the termination of a life. Yet, “reproductive rights” are used to refer to the right to terminate a pregnancy at any stage for any reason.
As far back as the Garden, God has been involved in the reproduction of humanity. He instructed Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:27-28). Reproduction is not just a “right,” it’s a command. This command to multiply immediately follows the statement that God created humans “in His own image.” God’s directive to our first parents was to fill the earth with others who bore His image.
God continued exercising His authority over reproduction at Mt. Sinai when He gave the Israelites His Law. The Mosaic Law included many commands pertaining to reproduction, all of which validate the life of an unborn child.
“Reproductive rights” don’t trump God’s authority. God is the sole giver of life, and He alone has the right to take it. “Reproductive rights” are a cover for sinful behavior, an excuse to destroy the innocent.
The Bible teaches that sexual relations are reserved exclusively for married couples (Hebrews 13:4). Sex outside of the bond of heterosexual marriage is sin and doesn’t entitle one to “rights” to terminate the life of another human.
Is a fetus a human? Biologically speaking, human life begins at conception. When a mother’s egg and a father’s sperm come together, they combine and create a new string of DNA that’s personalized and unique. The difference between a fetus and any one of us is only one of age, location, and level of dependence. When a fetus is aborted, it’s the destroying of a unique life.
The Bible teaches that conception is the beginning of human life. Samson said, “I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb” (Judges 16:7). He refers to his unborn self as having already been what God planned him to be. David says, “You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). He refers to himself as a person in the womb. The Bible considers a fetus to be an unborn human being from the moment of conception. God’s law takes precedence before “reproductive rights” or a woman’s right to choose. While God’s grace is enough for any sin, it’s a sin to choose to terminate the unborn.
2. Love is love
The phrase love is love seems self-explanatory. Obviously, love is love; what else would it be? This phrase is most often heard from activists of the LGBTQ+ community. Those who use the phrase are trying to make the point that all that’s called “love” are equally valid, no matter the object or the way it’s expressed.
According to this view, all people should be allowed to “love” (often equated with “have sex with”) whomever they want, however they want, and whenever they want. As long as someone is feeling valued, experiencing happiness, and finding sexual satisfaction, it doesn’t matter if the relationship is gay, straight, bi, couple, throuple, or anything else. “Love is love.”
But “love is love” is not what Scripture teaches. C. S. Lewis (picture) points out in The Four Loves, there are various types of love expressed by four Greek words in the New Testament. The words are affection (storge), friendship (philia), romance (eros), and charity (agape). Each of these loves is distinct and applied differently. You do not love your favorite food in the same way that you love your best friend. You don’t love a pet in the same way that you love your spouse. God’s love for us, agape, is the purest, most unconditional form of love. So, one kind of love isn’t equal to another kind.
Then, the type of love inferred by love is love contradicts biblical teaching. It’s often accompanied by assertions that people can’t help who they fall in love with, so they shouldn’t be judged; love is only natural. That very wording “falling in love” highlights a perceived involuntary nature of love. But true love is a choice and a decision. Love is love isn’t real love. It’s often nothing more than infatuation or eroticism.
The true love of Scripture isn’t just emotional. It’s a continual choice and a series of selfless actions. 1 Corinthians 13 lists out qualities of love. Nothing on the list—patience, kindness, perseverance, etc.—happens without conscious choice and effort. Biblical love requires work and commitment. It isn’t always accompanied by gooey sweetness that many associate with love. Jesus didn’t experience warm, happy feelings as He carried out the ultimate display of love on Calvary’s Cross.
1 John 4:16 says, “God is love.” The phrase love is love removes God from the equation, replacing Him with “love.” But God is the source of love and the only reason we know what love is. Removing Him leads to selfishness and living for what’s called love rather than for God and real love.
Chasing some emotional rush and viewing that as the goal of existence has led to record-high divorce rates, LGBTQ+ relationships, a hookup culture, and much more. Replacing God with an idol of self-defined love pulls humanity down a slippery slope, opening doors for them to pursue any manner of sin and debauchery if those involved are “in love.”
Christians are commanded to “love your neighbor as yourself.” This means loving each other with intentional, self-sacrificial love. It’s a love originating in and defined by the character of God Himself.
In a short time, we’ve come a long way from Lady Gaga’s (picture) “Born this way.” Letters being added to LGBTQ+ relationships are endless. Sexual choice is not the same as “born this way” of race or ethnicity. Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?”
No one is born gay, nor is there some gay gene. Millions have been spent in research to determine if there’s an “alcoholic gene.” While there are genetic predispositions, the fact one can choose to not do certain behaviors, or change if involved in those behaviors, prove that one is not “born this way.”
My wonderful Asian daughter-in law, Jiayu (picture) can’t choose to stop being Asian. She was born that way. That’s ethnic, not behavioral.
We’re being gaslighted that gender isn’t about anatomy, it’s about who you “know” yourself to be. At last count there are supposedly 72 genders. These include male, female, transgender, gender neutral, non-binary, agender, pangender, genderqueer, two-spirit, third gender, and all, none or a combination of these. So, what is gender? Is it malleable? How should Bible-believers think about this? Scripture makes two key points.
First, Scripture teaches that God made human beings in only two sexes: male and female (Genesis 1:27; 2:23-24). The creation account is predicated on the duality (only two) and the complementarity (different, but function together) of the two sexes.
Second, Scripture teaches that our gender identity (our psychological belief about what gender we are) should follow our biological sex. Since there are only two sexes, there are only two options. If you’re born biologically male, you should identify as male. If born biologically female, you should identify as female.
Remember “trust the science”? A hundred years from now if an archaeologist discovered a corpse would they have to work through 72 genders or 2? We know the answer. The gaslighting of sexual confusion is a lost world looking for love in all the wrong places. The only place for satisfaction isn’t in bed, it’s in the loving arms of the Savior. Blaise Pascal (picture) wrote, “There is a God-shaped hole in the life of every man.”
3. The Bible is full of myths. It’s just a nice fairy tale
If you state in a college classroom that you believe the Bible is true, you may be laughed out of the room. That the Bible is full of myths is a common charge leveled by critics. Why do they suggest the Bible is full of myths? Because of the numerous accounts of miracles in the Bible. They have a presupposition that miracles are impossible. To believe something is true without examining the evidence is ignorant. Yet, you’ll find that most who say the Bible is full of myths never check the evidence for themselves. They assume the Bible is full of myths because they believe that miracles are impossible.
But the stories of Scripture are not myths. They’re divinely inspired accounts of what actually occurred. When the Bible says that a serpent spoke, it means that a snake actually spoke. When the Bible says that God parted the waters of the Red Sea, that’s what happened. God has given these stories as historical accounts of His divine redemptive actions. Miracles in Scripture are always presented as historical events.
The Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” All of Scripture is God’s inspired Word. As such, it is without error and infallible. Jesus states in John 10:35 that “Scripture cannot be broken.” This means that the Bible can never be said to be false or incorrect in any way.
It’s become popular to accept parts of the Bible and to reject others. Events like Creation, Jonah’s being swallowed by a sea creature, and the Noahic Flood are brushed aside as myth, while more “credible” things such as the teachings of Jesus are accepted as fact. Though this line of reasoning appeals to our “enlightened” society that rejects miracles, it has a major flaw. When the teachings of Jesus are studied, it’s apparent Jesus believed and taught the Old Testament accounts that some label as myth. You can’t accept Jesus and reject the Bible’s teaching on Creation, the flood or the account of Jonah. Jesus uses them as historical illustrations – that they actually happened.
Why should you trust the Bible? You should trust the Bible because the Bible has been proven trustworthy. Read it for yourself. Our faith and the Church’s faith in the infallibility of Scripture is established on the basis of Christ’s view of Scripture.
4. It’s up to Christians to save America
With the presidential election months away, there will be a lot of rhetoric that Christians must act to save America. Sadly, many Christian media outlets use sensationalism and crisis to raise financial support.
As Christ-followers, our allegiance is to God, not the United States. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m deeply patriotic and grateful to the men and women who gave their lives for our freedoms. I also believe we should seek to hold on to them as long as we can. But for the most part, they are American rights not biblical ones. For example, churches are tax exempt. That’s an American right, not a biblical one.
The mission of the Church is to promote and pursue the Kingdom of God. Christianity doesn’t save nations. Christianity saves people, individuals. Christians have important obligations to do whatever they can (including through political means) to help our neighbors, but we’ve forgotten what the fight is really about. We’re in a spiritual battle, not a political one. Political victories are transitory. Our fight needs to be for God’s eternal kingdom.
The New Testament world was much worse than ours. It had slavery, crucifixion for minor crimes, infanticide, barbaric coliseum fighting, sexual immorality beyond anything of today. The New Testament doesn’t address the evil outside in the world seeking to reform it. The focus is on the mission, on evangelism and the gospel, on seeing the lost come to Christ and churches established. The focus is on the holiness of the Church. It’s only when people come to Christ that there is transformation and cultural change.
The New Testament focuses on Christians living as Christians, not on reforming a dying world. The gospel is our world’s only hope. It’s America’s only hope. Changing our lost neighbor’s politics or lifestyle doesn’t solve their greatest problem. Their greatest problem is: Do they know Jesus? Our focus must be on eternity. So, do they see Jesus in us? God has not called us to be a Christian Nation, but He’s called believers to be a Christian Church.
I’m not telling you to be uninvolved in politics. Just know that apart from Christ, it’s rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. If you want to make a true difference, live as a Christ-follower and not just at church on Sunday. Pray for your family, neighbors and co-workers. Pray they come to know Jesus. Build gospel bridges and share the gospel with them.
Maybe you’re thinking that’s so small and slow. One of my favorite stories is about starfish. It started when a young girl was walking along a beach where thousands of starfish (picture) had washed up during a terrible storm. As she came to each starfish, she’d pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. She’d been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”
The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference for that one!”
The man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she’d done and said. Inspired, he joined her in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined and many starfish were saved. That’s what we must do. We must join together as a church family in reaching our community for Christ. It’s why our theme is focusing on our neighbors this year.
5. In the end everyone goes to heaven
A funeral was underway for a fellow who’d been a profligate. But the preacher, hoping to comfort the family, was doing his best to focus on the man’s positive side. “He was an honest man, a loving husband and a kind and generous father,” the preacher said.
That’s when the widow leaned over to one of her kids and said: “Go up there and take a look in that coffin and made sure that’s your dad in there.”
Have you ever been to a funeral where the preacher had Jesus’ honesty? Jesus told this account in Luke 16. “The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hell, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes…” (Luke 16:22).
Does everyone go to heaven? This idea, known as universalism, teaches that everyone goes to heaven. It’s not what the Bible teaches.
Have you ever attended a funeral and knew that the person was a mess? But it doesn’t matter how they lived; everyone talks about them being in heaven.
We can’t judge where someone ends up. That’s God’s responsibility. Yet when there’s been little or no interest in spiritual things, it seems foolish to conclude that someone is in heaven.
Think about this. If everyone goes to heaven in the end, why did God send Jesus to this world? And why did He have to die on the cross?
The Bible teaches that not everyone goes to heaven. John 3:16 gives us the clear words of Jesus on this: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” In other words, those with faith in Jesus as God’s Son, those who have committed their lives to Him, have eternal life.
Every person sins (Romans 3:10). No one is good enough to achieve entrance into God’s perfect presence in heaven by works or human goodness. Going to church, being moral, doing good things won’t get you into heaven. Romans 3:23 teaches that we all have sinned and have fallen short of God’s glory or perfect standard.
Instead, through God’s grace people believe in Christ by faith and receive salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Salvation only comes through Jesus. Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
After this life, there won’t be another opportunity to choose Jesus or change one’s eternal destiny. There’s no second chance after death, only eternity with God or apart from Him. The Bible teaches that after this life there will be judgment and an accounting to God (Hebrews 9:27).
So, what is salvation?
Salvation is a personal experience. You decide. You respond to God. No one can do this for you. The third chapter of John records that Jesus said to Nicodemus “YOU must be born again!” Salvation is a personal experience. Your parents can’t do this for you. Your pastor can’t. You have to respond to Jesus Christ personally!
Salvation is a transforming experience. Becoming a Christian makes a new person out of you! The word “conversion” literally means “a turned-around life.” You turn from going one way and go the opposite. Your life is transformed. You become a new person. 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If any one is in Christ he is a new creation….old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Becoming a Christian demands repentance and results in a transformation. You’re transformed from within through the power of God.
Salvation is an act of God’s grace. Grace means that salvation is something we’re given that we could never hope to deserve or earn. Maybe that’s the hardest part for us. We’d expect to have to do something to make ourselves worthy of God’s love. That’s a religious gaslight. Salvation is a free gift. God’s gift of salvation is God-given, God-driven, God-empowered, and God-originated. The gift is not from man to God. It’s from God to man.
Only Christianity proclaims a free forgiveness and a new life to those who’ve done nothing to deserve it. All of us are bankrupt before God. Out of His gracious love, He sent His only Son to die for us on the cross and pay our sin debt. He took our sin upon Himself. When we confess our sin and ask for God’s forgiveness we’re saved. It’s that simple! Becoming a Christian is so simple that even a child can trust Christ as their Savior.
Conclusion
On June 7, 2004, President Ronald Reagan (pictures) was laid to rest at his presidential library in California. While waiting for the hearse to arrive for the burial, a military band and chorus performed a number of gospel songs that were favorites of Reagan. Included on the list was the old hymn, “Softly and Tenderly.” One of the verses goes like this:
O for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.
Then the chorus makes the appeal:
Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home.
But my friend, that invitation isn’t just for presidents. It’s for all of us. “Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon. Pardon for you and for me.” God has done everything necessary for you to be forgiven. All you have to do is come home to God. Come by way of the cross and you’ll be forgiven. That’s not gaslighting, it’s biblical truth. It’s God’s truth!
As we tie this up today, may I suggest a simple prayer for you to pray if you’ve never done that? Even while I encourage you to pray this prayer, I caution you that saying words alone won’t save you. Prayer doesn’t save. Only Jesus can save. Prayer though is a means of reaching out to the Lord in saving faith. If you pray these words in faith, Christ will save you.
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. And I know that I cannot save myself. No longer will I trust in my good works or in my religion for salvation. By faith I gratefully receive Your gift of salvation. I am ready to trust You as my Lord and Savior. Thank You for dying for me. Thank You for taking my sins away. With all my heart I confess You as Lord and Savior both now and for eternity. Amen.
Did you pray the prayer? If you prayed it and really meant it, welcome to God’s forever family.
One final word. Sometimes Christians hear a message like this and wonder how to apply it. If you already know the Lord, here’s how to apply it. In your heart say, “Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving me of all my sins!” Don’t ever take your forgiveness for granted.
And then share God’s love and His good news with others about how they too can be forgiven and have their lives transformed. That’s the good news of the gospel. It’s the truth this world needs!
We’re not crazy. But we must share the truth and hope that this world needs even if they think we’re a bunch of religious nuts.