Lecrae - A Case Study In ‘Deconstructing’ Your Faith!

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Hey guys, Collin here, and welcome back to the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter.

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In today's video, we're going to be talking about some comments made by Lecrae. But before we begin, as always, let me establish this is not meant as a sinful attack, but rather as a biblical critique.

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For those of you who don't know, Lecrae is an extremely popular Christian rapper. He's sort of a clean alternative to the dreadfully unbiblical music that can be found on any modern rap or hip -hop radio station today.

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Now, just to be clear, this video is not supposed to be an indictment on Lecrae's personal decisions regarding church attendance, though I disagree with them, and I'm going to say that.

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It's really meant to be a video about deconstruction, not Lecrae specifically. This is a case study in deconstructing your faith.

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So as you watch this video, please remember that. Now, deconstruction, if you don't know, it's a modern idea in sort of the neo -Christian, liberal, evangelical churches that are flirting with a lot of worldly ideas.

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The idea is that you're breaking down your faith into a set of doctrines, and then you analyze those doctrines to determine their truth value or lack thereof.

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In layman's terms, the concept here is that you are analyzing your faith point by point and asking the question at each point, should

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I really believe this? Why do I believe this? That is deconstruction, at least on paper it is.

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But in practice, deconstruction can be a lot different, and there's an important caveat here. So this is where we take a look at the specific comments of Christian rapper

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Lecrae against this backdrop of deconstruction. Lecrae recently said the following statement, quote, we're not saying that you take away the foundation, which for us, as followers of Christ, is

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Jesus himself. We're not saying that you remove him, but we're saying that we've built a lot of things on the foundation of Jesus that should have never been.

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They're more cultural, they're more political, they're more economical than they are biblical or Christian, end quote.

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Again, if that's all deconstruction is, then that's probably fine. In Matthew 15, 3,

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Jesus says, quote, and why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

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End quote. It is good to analyze which of your doctrines come from Scripture and which doctrines might be nullifying

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Scripture, taking it away for the sake of your tradition. If deconstruction is just analyzing your beliefs and keeping what is biblical while jettisoning or rejecting what is not biblical, that's okay.

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In fact, we should encourage that. But I think deconstruction is much more than this. Lecrae goes on to say in the interview this, quote, so I'm okay with a healthy deconstruction, which is one where the goal is to build back up.

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So I know you guys think I hate church because I'm not going for a season, but I don't know if that's where I'm being triggered.

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So for a season, I'm not going to go there. I need to figure out what this means and process it, end quote.

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So here's a sleight of hand trick that you need to pay attention to, and it might even be unintentional. He starts out saying that the goal of deconstructing your beliefs is removing the bad beliefs and strengthening the biblical beliefs that remain.

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And that's all well and good. But then he says that he's not going to church for a season because he doesn't know if that's where he's being triggered or not.

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Pause right there. Notice how the deconstruction here has already failed to accomplish its goal.

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The goal, if you remember, was to keep the biblical beliefs and remove the unbiblical beliefs, right?

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Well, here's a question. Is going to church a biblical practice and belief? Well, of course it is.

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Hebrews 10 .25 talks about, quote, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, end quote.

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More than this, church is normatively where you receive teaching from the word of God, from an experienced man of God, a pastor.

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Acts 20 .7 says, quote, on the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread,

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Paul talked with them, end quote. And there's the same idea in 1 Corinthians 16 .2, when it says, quote, on the first day of each week, each of you put something aside and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when

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I come, end quote. So there was this early church practice in scripture of gathering together on the first day of the week.

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And this, of course, refers to Sunday, which is why we go to church weekly on Sundays. There's an excellent article about this, which

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I will link in the description. But the point is this. Biblically, we ought to go to church.

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We know that out of love for Christ, of course, and not out of legalistic grumbling and complaining. So Lecrae says that he's stepping away from church for a season, but the

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Bible specifically says not to do that. Again, this isn't about Lecrae specifically. It's about the general concept of deconstruction and what it leads to.

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You see, the point of deconstruction apparently is to keep your Christian values and dispense with unbiblical traditions.

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So again, I will say the purpose of this deconstruction is not being accomplished. This deconstruction has brought and countless other people away from the body of Christ, that is the church, and not towards it.

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If this deconstruction movement is so good for people's faith, then why is it resulting in so many people rebelling against core doctrines of the faith?

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If deconstruction is so great for Christianity, then why is it resulting in so many people leaving

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Christianity? I think that's a question we really need to ask now. And more than this, Lecrae's comment reveals an inherent problem in the deconstruction world.

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Namely, they forget that everything must be done according to a standard. For Christians, our standard is the word of God.

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Psalm 119 verse 105 says, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

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You see, God's word is our standard as Christians. It is what we walk in the light of.

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For unbelievers, though, there's a different standard. Ephesians 2 .1 says, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air and the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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So Christians have a standard, the Bible. Unbelievers also have a standard that they live by.

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They follow the enemy, their flesh, their passions, their sin. But everyone has a standard.

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It's not a matter of whether you have one, but which one you have. So the question with all of this deconstruction stuff is really simple.

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What is the standard by which we will deconstruct? Which beliefs will we keep and which will we dispense with?

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Who tells us which ones to do what thing with? Will we deconstruct according to God's word or will we deconstruct

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God's word itself? Will the questions be asked about our opinions and will they be answered with the word of God or will the questions be asked about the word of God and answered by our opinions?

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You see, 99 % of the time, folks, deconstruction is a system by which people are leaving

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God's word as their standard and setting up themselves as the ultimate arbiters of truth and morality.

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Instead, most of the time, deconstruction is not an act of humble seeking, but instead an act of prideful rebellion.

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Jesus says in John 17, quote, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth, end quote.

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You see, the word of God is perfect, holy, true, and effective. As Christians, we must believe this wholeheartedly.

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The construction of our faith in the first place depends on it. When it comes to deconstruction, you see, people are not leaving the faith because the

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Bible is not true. No, they're leaving the faith because they have judged the Bible by a standard of truth that they made up.

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The core issue with deconstruction then is that it's not being done on the foundation of scripture, but is instead undermining the foundation of scripture and attempting to rebuild on a foundation of human wisdom.

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This will not work for Lecrae and it will not work for you. Again, this video isn't meant to hate on Lecrae.

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We should all encourage him to move in a different direction, a better direction. Please stop deconstructing

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God's word with your opinions and instead deconstruct your opinions with God's word.

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Just as the Lord says in Isaiah 55 verse 9, quote, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts, end quote.

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And please know this, I do not offer any of this correction from some high and mighty position. I am nothing but a wretched sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ.

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So let's pray for earnestly that he would turn away from this and by God's grace that he would turn to the truth of God's word.

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