Most of the time, it’s rather easy to know not to mess with a wolf. But if a wolf shows up clothed as a sheep, it may take a bit more wisdom and knowledge to protect oneself. In this day and age as a follower of Christ it’s rather easy to know not to pay attention to the satanic bible and to avoid hanging out at strip clubs. However, when a song is played on Christian radio it can be much more deceptive as to whether or not to embrace what a song’s lyrics are saying.
Such is the case with today’s example of a song. To be honest, I’m going to try my best to treat it with love and humility (how do we ever know if we are really doing THAT?) I’m sure that the artist (Mikeschair) has good intentions and is hopefully a true follower of Jesus. That does not excuse unbiblical lyrics. Here they are:
You might be the wife, waiting up at night
You might be the man, struggling to provide
Feeling like it’s hopeless
Maybe you’re the son, who chose a broken road
Maybe you’re the girl, thinking you’ll end up alone
Praying God can you hear me?
Oh God are you listening?
Am I more than flesh and bone?
Am I really something beautiful?
Yeah I wanna believe, I wanna believe that
I’m not just some wandering soul
That you don’t see and you don’t know
Yeah I wanna believe, Jesus help me believe that I
Am someone worth dying for
I know you’ve heard the truth that God has set you free
But you think you’re the one that grace could never reach
So you just keep asking, oh what everybody’s asking
Am I more than flesh and bone?
Am I really something beautiful?
Yeah I wanna believe, I wanna believe that
I’m not just some wandering soul
That you don’t see and you don’t know
Yeah I wanna believe, Jesus help me believe that I
Am someone worth dying for?
You’re worth it, you can’t earn it
yeah the cross has proven
That you’re sacred and blameless
Your life has purpose
You are more than flesh and bone
Can’t you see you’re something beautiful
Yeah you gotta believe, you gotta believe
He wants you to see, He wants you to see
That you’re not just some wandering soul
That can’t be seen and can’t be known
Yeah you gotta believe, you gotta believe that you
Are someone worth dying for
You can hear and watch the song here
I hope these guys are not wolves
.
I like how the song reaches out to everyone. Jesus certainly did that (Matt. 11:28). His gospel call is for anyone who will come (and we know that if one comes it is God Who caused them to come (John 6:44)— an antinomy). But this song also says something else. It supposes that Christ went to the cross because you and I had inherent worth and value. When did Jesus ever say that?
In fact, the scriptures say the opposite. It says that we are enemies and hostile towards God (Romans 8:7). It says that Jesus came not to do His own will but the Father’s (John 5:30; 6:40). The cross proves that we were without worth (Isaiah 64:6) and needed someone of infinite worth to be our substitute. It does nothing to prove that we had any worth (Phil. 3:8);. If we had inherent worth, we could redeem ourselves. We wouldn’t need Jesus. God forbid!
The point of the gospel is to display God’s great love to people who were the most unlikely objects of grace. If a sermon or a song appeals to the listener to look within and find worth then it minimizes the cross and the matchless worth and beauty of God’s Savior.
I challenge anyone to find a scene in the scriptures where Jesus interacted with an individual and showed them their need for a Savior by building up their own value and worth. You won’t be able to find it. If you can, I stand corrected. In fact, He shows us our need for a Savior by illuminating our sinfulness and lack of any worth—not because He likes to beat us down but because it is the truth—and then points us to His saving work by which we become objects of grace (rather than objects of wrath).
The truth is, my main problem before I was born-again was that I thought I had LOTS of worth. I loved myself to the point of hating everyone else. I’m so grateful that the gospel worked mightily in me and Jesus showed me that the only value I had was an infinite account of debt towards a holy God Who was standing ready to make me pay forever and ever in eternal punishment. He then enabled me to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and I now have lost my life and value in Him!
On another note, this song doesn’t seem to be reaching out to the lost. It seems to be speaking more to folks who have professed Jesus, have failed God, and don’t see how God could forgive them (who doesn’t identify with that?) So you may say “You’re talking apples and oranges”. No I’m not. The Apostle Paul would say from Galatians that if we were saved by no merit of our own, why would we look to our own merit to continue in our walk with Jesus? (Gal. 3:3) If you are a professing believer, your source of victory is to continue to look to the limitless love and grace of Jesus and not your own value. Our worth is found in the Alpha and Omega not in our first and last name.
This song is correct in that it says that we “can’t earn it”. Amen! It is correct in saying that we are “sacred and blameless”. Absolutely. But it is only through Jesus and His merit. We will never find a place of rest by looking to ourselves. We must always and forever focus on Christ to find hope and to know that God truly is listening (Heb. 12:2). This song seems to de-value God’s Champion. I don’t believe, from the overwhelming evidence of scripture, that He would like that.
Brother Music Minister, please know your bible and please don’t use this song in your church.
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Tom,
I couldn’t disagree with you more about this song. I have heard these guys talk about this song and they say everything that you just said. They say it has nothing to do with us but everything to do with what Christ has done for us. These guys are definitely not “wolves” and you should check yourself and motives for even hinting at that.
Jake
Jake,
I’m glad to hear that testimony. I would suggest that they absolutely need to change their lyrics to reflect what I said in my post. If you will re-read my post, I think you will see that I tried to give them every benefit of the doubt and was hoping that they truly are followers of Jesus. Forgive any offense. I still stand my assertions that their lyrics border on heresy.
Tom,
Perhaps a different read/take on the song:
http://billmartinblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/someone-worth-dying-for.html
We are one of the Christian stations that is playing the song. Like Jake. I could NOT disagree with you more. You absolutely miss the whole point of the song. But we can agree to disagree. And the good news is …. we’re both still followers of Christ.
I must confess, tho, 2 things greatly offend me about your blog. I will assume good motives and that you did earnestly attempt to share your thoughts about MIKESCHAIR (as a band) and “Someone Worth Dying For” (their current single) with love and humility. But here’s why I think you fell short:
1. To open your post and suggest that MIKESCHAIR (or the song) is dressed up in sheeps clothing is outrageous. You are 100% off base. There are a thousand different ways to open a blog that says, “I strongly disagree theologically with this song.” This is not loving. And this is not giving the band the benefit of the doubt.
which brings me to my second objection:
2. To say that you are giving them the benefit of the doubt by stating “hopefully they are true followers of Christ…” comes off as a thinly disguised layer of contempt. It’s backhanded. It is not loving, at all.
I want to allay your fears and let you know the guys in MIKESCHAR are followers of Christ. You don’t have to “hope”. You can know for sure. I have had them on my show countless times as they profess their faith in Jesus. I have watched them minister to thousands from stage, explaining there is only one name by which we are saved…. Jesus. I have heard them share that it is because of grace that we have saved; not by anything we could ever do. I have been on multiple missions trips with the boys. (we board a plane to Honduras in 6 weeks) I have knelt beside them as they put new shoes on orphans’ feet, play on the playground with the fatherless, lead worship in a government-run Guatemalan home for teen mothers who have been sexually violated by their dads, brothers and uncles. I have witnessed them love the least of these; the ones in the margins. I have stood inside the barbed wire fences when Jesse told the girls (through an interpreter) that God has seen every single hurt and wounding that has ever been done to them, and assuring them that one day, He will right the wrongs they have endured. They/we go because we believe God thinks they are worth it. In the sense that His grace covers even them. They can and will be made new. Because of Jesus. And what He did on the cross.
I’m completely OK with you not agreeing theologically with the song. I am not ok with you calling my brothers in Christ sheeps dressed in wolves clothing.
carmen
Carmen, I appreciate your reading my blog and your concern for the band. I praise God for their service to Christ. Maybe I should have been clearer in suggesting that false doctrine in song lyrics is the “wolf” of which I speak. Again, forgive any offense I may have caused you. They may not be wolves in sheep’s clothing but some of the lines (the song title in particular) IS a wolf preying on unsuspecting Christians and contributing to the propagation of false doctrine. I am a pastor first and I will contend for the faith once entrusted to the brethren. That’s all I’m trying to do. If you see them again, please encourage them to change their lyrics to be true to scripture.
Agreed, that is a totally unbiblical line. No way I am worthy of God’s death.
But I am also pretty sure this is an error of oversight by the songwriters and if they realised the mistake, they’d probably correct it.
I honestly do not think the band will change the lyrics. The whole song would need to be scrapped. The song is and will become more popular BECAUSE of the error in theology it promotes. The whole concept of the sinner (all of us) being lost without the saving work of the cross is becoming less and less popular. It is being replaced with and easy believism that says “you are loved!” “Jesus died for you because he loves you” ….but never explains why Christ HAD to die….because the truth about sin is offensive and might “hurt” someone to hear it. So, while I do believe they are Christians, I also believe they and others will defend the song with the idea that they are “loving” and “reaching out to” the hurting. Its time for us as the body of Christ to re-examine the doctrines of grace and the BIBLICAL truth of what Love is. Love is not false hope or platitudes or permissiveness. Indeed we cannot grasp the truth of what Grace even is unless we understand how bereft we are of worth. We don’t deserve God’s love. We don’t deserve His grace-we are NOT worth dying for-THAT is what makes His grace amazing.
Yes we can and should learn to see ourselves as God sees us and live IN the identity or the new creation…but that comes AFTER regeneration. And even then we must remember that without God…we are dust.
“live IN the identity or the new creation”
should read
“live IN the identity of the new creation”