As I was driving to work this morning I took in my weekly dose of contemporary Christian music. The CD in the player was Casting Crown’s new album, Lifesong. Don’t get me wrong — I enjoy listening to some contemporary Christian music. Lord knows my wife and I have plenty of albums in our library, including the whole Jars of Clay, Mercy Me, and Caedmon’s Call collections. Most of the time I can’t stand the music on the Christian radio stations so I don’t even listen to them at all. I resign myself to playing the same albums over and over again on my iPod or in the car. This leads to more frustrations than the mere monotony of repeated tracks. It leads to a deeper frustration at the content of the lyrics.

This morning in particular I listened as Casting Crowns went from one song talking about how judgmental Christians are to how hypocritical and fake they are in another. The message was actually kind of a downer. I thought this was supposed to be inspirational music? Granted, there is definitely some truth in these lyrics. Yes there is judgmentalism and hypocrisy in the church, and often the two go hand-in-hand. But according to the lyricist that’s all we could ever expect from the church. The solution to hypocrisy? Admitting it. That’s the sole solution to the problem of hypocrisy in the church, just confessing that we’re hypocrites. Is that all the gospel of Jesus Christ has to offer? How sad.

What if we were to apply that same logic to AA meetings. “Hello, my name is Sean Scribner, and I’m an alcoholic.” Well, that’s it! Congratulations, you are on your way to recovery! In fact, you have already recovered! The only thing that was wrong with you is that you weren’t willing to admit that you had a problem! But now that you are, it’s ok that you are addicted to alcohol, just so long as you don’t forget you are an addict and that’s all you’ll ever be. Just be sure to never tell others who are addicted that it’s wrong, because that would make you a judgmental hypocrite…

Is acknowledgment the gospel’s solution to the problem of sin? Not by itself, that’s for sure. It may be the gateway insofar as it is an essential component to repentance. But that’s not all there is to our salvation.

Imagine if this were all that there was to the gospel: “Hello, my name is Sean Scribner, and I’m a sinner.” Well, that’s it! Congratulations, you are on your way to recovery! In fact, you have already recovered! The only thing that was wrong with you is that you weren’t willing to admit that you had a problem! But now that you are, it’s ok that you sin every day in thought, word, and deed, just so long as you don’t forget you are a sinner and that’s all you’ll ever be. Just be sure to never tell others who are sinners that sinning is wrong, because that would make you a judgmental hypocrite…

John Wesley believed that acknowledgement of guilt was an important component in Christian experience. In sermon #3, Awake Thou That Sleepest, he described the condition of the sinner who is “asleep” in sin. This person is ignorant of his condition ["He knows not that he is a fallen spirit" (I.2)], fancying himself in perfect health (I.3), blindly apathetic and satisfied in the midst of “misery and iron” (I.3), and is “content to remain in his fallen state” (I.4). What is this state? He is “dead in trespasses and sins” (I.8), which is to be separated from God’s life and happiness (I.8) – sin that cuts men from the very sustaining life of God. He is utterly and inexorably helpless, for “his heart is ‘past feeling’” (I.10) and he has no spiritual sensations or inlets of spiritual knowledge (I.11). Certainly the first step in “recovery” for this person is acknowledgement of his condition. He must awake and know himself to be a sinner. He must not harden his heart or resist the Holy Spirit (I.9; II.12). Instead he must be found poor in spirit (II.12). He must heed the words of Ephesians 5:14, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Then he will receive the gift of God: “The Spirit of Christ” who will “dwell in thy heart by faith” (III.2); the “true religion” of “participation in the divine nature; the life of God in the soul of man, Christ formed in the heart” (II.10); and love for God and neighbor (III.11). This light is the light of justification and sanctification by faith in Jesus (III.5), the freedom from all outward sin (III.10) and inward sin (III.11), and the light of assurance – to “know that I am in My Father, and you in me, and I in you” (III.6). It is a message of full salvation.

The problem with the popular message of most contemporary Christian music is not that it’s lacking truth. The problem is that it usually only offers half truth. It declares a prognosis without prescribing a cure. Why is it that our churches are judgmental and hypocritical? It’s because we tell them that to be that way is all they can ever aspire to be! We will not see any real transformation in our churches until the full gospel message is proclaimed in truthfulness, boldness, and love.