Crash Course: Human Nature

Hey, what's up everybody?

Welcome to another episode of Crash Course.

This is a little mini podcast we do under the umbrella of our church's podcast, His Hands Church.

And uh and every single episode, really simple, it's designed to be a little bite-sized piece, or Scott sometimes likes to say a little bite-sized pizza.

Pizza.

Little toastino pizza roll of knowledge.

No, the reality is sometimes we become Christians, we're starting to follow Jesus, and we just feel like we're kind of behind.

We don't understand some of the concepts.

We're confused.

We've tried to read the Bible, it doesn't really make sense to us.

Um and as a church, we try really hard to make everything about God relatable and understandable.

But the reality is there's just concepts and terms that are important, and you need someone sometimes just to say, hey, here's what this means.

So we're trying to give you a little crash course where every episode is a topic, a concept in our faith, and hopefully in 15 minutes or so we can just give you enough information so you feel like, yeah, I get that.

I can I can move forward now.

Um today we're gonna talk about human nature.

Human nature.

Right?

Uh, you know, there's a lot of songs that talk about human nature.

Um there there is a song I'm trying to think, I I said that and then I blanked.

I'm only human.

There's a song in the 80s called I'm Only Human, I'm pretty sure.

Yeah.

Is there?

There's even a song right now, I'm Only Human After All.

Is there?

Yeah.

Who sings it?

I don't know.

I hear it in the gym every morning though.

Well, so apparently it's pretty current.

Yeah.

So human nature is is obviously a thing we all understand that this the way that we are naturally as people, whether you're getting this from a song in the 80s, a song at the gym, or just you know, the world we live in, um, we have a nature.

As people, there we are a certain way.

And the reason I want to talk about this, Scott, is because I think understanding the Bible's view of human nature, Christianity's view of human nature, and how it's different than the culture that we're part of as Americans in the United States, you know, in the United States, that's where Americans live.

Um that uh that understanding that there's a difference between the way the Bible describes human nature and the way our world describes human nature.

And I think if you don't understand that, you're kind of confused about the whole point of Jesus and what he's accomplishing and why we need him.

And so, Scott, let's start here.

How would you describe, you know, kind of sum it up rather quickly, how would you describe the Bible's understanding of human nature?

All right.

And let's take it even more basic than that.

What is human nature?

What, you know, what does that mean to say we have a human nature?

And I think human nature is this we all have this driving force in us that causes us to act in a certain way, that causes us to think in a certain way.

And basically, you think about it, apart from God, people are selfish.

People think about themselves.

And a lot of people think, well, you know, people are basically good.

No, they're not.

People are basically bad.

Um, you know, I'm a financial advisor, economics is a big part of what I do.

And you think about free enterprise is based on the whole concept that people will act in their best interest.

So, how do we harness that to do what's you know good for everybody?

But it's all based on everybody acting in their own interest.

And that's what it is.

The Bible says that before we met Jesus, it says we were by nature children of wrath, children of violence.

And you think about it, we don't have to be trained to be evil.

You and I have talked about this a lot of times.

We both have lots of kids.

I'm still winning the race here, but we both have lots of kids.

Number four is on the way, man.

We're we're closing in on the gap.

You're gonna have to start adopting pretty soon.

You're done?

How many do you guys have?

Six.

I don't know if we're gonna get there, I'll be honest with you.

Yeah.

I'm throwing the gauntlet down, but we'll see.

But you know, you think about it, I didn't have to teach my children how to lie.

I didn't have to teach my children how to be selfish, how to want with what they wanted, how to scream if they didn't get it.

They're just born that way.

It's the way kids are.

You never sit your couch child down and say, hey, if you think you're gonna get in trouble, here's a great strategy.

Make something up that is somewhat believable, uh, and you'll just get out of it.

Yeah.

That's how that's that's called a lie.

And man, no, it's like they they figure out how to lie on their own, fast.

And there's this idea in our world that no, everything is just everything's nurture, right?

The opposite of nature would be like nurture, what what you what you're taught, what you learn.

And it's definitely, you know, not a popular idea in our culture to say that children have a sin nature.

Children are no, children are beautiful and innocent, and says everyone without children.

Um but like okay, so I'll give you an example where where that sort of falls apart.

The whole idea that anything bad is just nurture.

They just pick that up from the environment.

Our youngest son, Judah, is about to be two.

Um, our oldest son, Liam, is the sweetest kid.

He is compassionate almost to a fault.

I know that sounds impossible, but sometimes another child at our house will get hurt and Liam will cry.

Oh, okay.

And they might not even be crying.

The idea that they're hurt hurts Liam's feelings, and he is crying, and I'll be like, Liam, why are you crying?

He's like, Because I think they're hurt.

And I'm like, wow, okay, that's great that you're so compassionate.

They're okay, you're okay.

Um, he so Liam, because he's so compassionate and kind, he's really sweet to his his younger sister Lily.

He is, he's not, he's not, he doesn't beat her up, he doesn't like push her around, he's incredibly accommodating and kind.

Judah, our youngest, many times a day just punches Lily for no reason.

No reason.

Sometimes in the back seat of the car, you know, we'll look and we've got these three car, you know, car seats right next to each other, and I'll just see a hand, which is Judah, just reach up for no reason, and Lily's just sitting there minding her own business, she hasn't done a thing, and Judah will just punch her or scratch her, and then she cries.

He has never seen he's never seen us hit Lily, because we don't do that.

He's never seen his older brother do that before.

We don't watch shows with with Violet.

He he basically watches Disney movies, um, and that's about it, you know, and and I can't think of any scene he's seen that's been like, oh, every once in a while, you know, just just punch someone or scratch him.

Right.

So there's no nurture that has taught him to do this.

It's his nature that he sometimes looks at her and says, I I want I want to make her feel bad.

I'll get some pleasure out of that.

And he'll do it and he'll laugh.

You know what I mean?

I didn't teach him that.

So here's where I think this is really important and and and and important for us as Christians to understand.

Because if if if if we don't get this, I think a lot of a lot of the the point of Jesus falls flat.

Our culture believes in a very different kind of human nature than than the Bible teaches.

So the Bible teaches that we are born with a sin nature, that we at our core are not good, that we're broken.

And by the way, pretty much all of human history, most worldviews have have adhered to that, that there's something about humanity that's off.

And then different worldviews, different religions, faiths they have different ways of addressing that problem, but they pretty much all agree that there's a problem with us.

We're not as we ought to be.

We live in a culture right now that's dominated by a worldview called secular humanism.

It's a fairly new worldview in human history, and you may not know the term, but it's definitely you're familiar with what it teaches because it's what's taught in schools, it's what we see in the lyrics of Disney songs and children's books and all this kind of stuff.

And secular humanism says that we at our core are good, that we are basically good, that we we have everything inside of us necessary apart from God.

We don't need God, that's why it's secular, secular humanism.

We don't need a God to teach us how to live.

We we can do fine on our own, that we are we are good.

And that's why some of the core, you know, the core teachings of secular humanism about us as people are things like be yourself, be true to yourself, follow your heart, practice your truth, because you are good, you are the the authority on you, and you just be you.

And that's not what the Bible teaches.

No.

And so if and I think what's what's hard for us as Christians in America is that we've grown up with this worldview really beat into us that just be yourself, you just be you, you know, and you're great.

Everything about you is awesome.

And so sometimes we'll we'll start following Jesus and we'll kind of blend that worldview with the view of the Bible, and it's like Jesus, I'm awesome, and Jesus loves me and he accepts me.

And that's there's truth to that, true-ish, but the reality is the Bible teaches us that no, no, no, your nature is in is in bad shape and it's broken.

It it cannot it cannot exist.

It keeps you from having a relationship with God.

It's so it's so broken.

That you will not choose God, you'll choose yourself, you will choose your own way, you'll choose what you want over what God wants.

And you have a and that's where Jesus comes in, and Jesus pays the price for our our mistakes, our sins that are the result of our broken nature.

He pays that price, he covers that, and then in doing so, he restores our relationship with God because our our our own we couldn't naturally have that relationship.

And part of what's involved in that is he changes our nature.

Right.

He changes who we are.

So you're right.

Not only does he pay the price for the sins that we committed, but it's interesting, the Bible says that he became sin on our behalf.

So not only did he forgive us our sins, but on the cross, he became sin for us so that we could be made.

Now here's a religious word, the righteousness of God in Christ.

And what that means is Jesus took upon himself, he was sinless, he did not have a sin nature.

We did.

He took that sin nature upon himself so that he could pass his righteousness on to us and change our nature.

And so, you know, I'll make a couple of comments here that I think are important.

One, this this worldview of what is you know man's nature like plays out at every level of life.

And I'll just give you one example government policy.

Everyone's favorite topic.

Yeah.

So terrorists, how do we deal with terrorists?

Well, some people say, you know something?

They're basically good people.

And we've just done something that was wrong, that bothered them, and that's why they killed thousands of us, you know, on 9-11.

They're basically good people.

Well, if you believe that, then you're gonna respond one way to terrorism.

If you believe, no, what happened on 9-11 was evil personified, that is the nature of the fact is there is just evil in the world, you're gonna respond completely differently.

And that happens at every level of life, and that's why it's so important to understand there really is a battle going on here for our minds, and why it's so important to understand the truth of the Bible.

Now, another question is okay, so I have committed my life to Jesus, my nature has changed.

Guess what?

I still do things wrong, right?

I still cuss sometimes.

I still I don't.

I don't, I really don't.

Really?

But I do sometimes.

But I do other things just as bad, okay?

Why do I do these things?

And here's the answer that people have to understand.

Your nature changes, but guess what?

When you come to Jesus, your mind doesn't totally change.

So let's say you come to Jesus at the age of 20.

Your mind has been trained by a sinful nature for 20 years how to react.

Right.

Somebody cuts you off in traffic, you give them the one-finger wave, you shout out them.

Uh you just respond with anger, and you've been taught for 20 years this is how you respond.

Suddenly, your nature legitimately changes on the inside, but guess what?

Your mind doesn't change overnight.

Certainly, your body doesn't change.

And so you don't get a six-pack the second you give your life to Jesus?

Nope.

Takes at least a year.

It takes at least a year.

But you spend the rest of your life trying to conform your mind to who you have become on the inside.

And I will tell you this, uh, and you'll say the same thing.

You know, obviously, neither one of us are perfect, but there's a lot of things that I used to deal with.

I'm just a different person now.

I don't deal with those things.

Right.

I don't have the outburst of anger like I used to.

I don't cuss like I used to.

I used to cuss a lot all the time.

Um, I was known for my cussing, in fact.

Um, and I just a renowned cuss.

I was a like, you know, world champion putt-putt at the same time.

That's where I learned to cuss, buddy.

That makes me cuss.

I mean I I can see that now.

I'm teasing.

But you know, so what happens?

The Bible says that we can be transformed by changing our minds and getting our minds to think like the new person we've really become on the inside.

Yeah, I heard it explained this way once, and it was really good.

And so, you know, and I'll kind of back up and so I want to make sure that this is clear.

It's important it's vital for us to understand what the Bible's view of human nature is, because if if I am basically good, what why do I need Jesus?

Bingo.

If I'm basically good, and I don't I why do we even need God?

I definitely don't need a savior to save me from myself, and we'll talk about salvation in in in another episode.

Um but but if I'm basically good, I don't need God.

And I definitely don't need saved.

If I'm basically broken, well, I need help, right?

Because it's really hard to fix yourself.

Right.

It's really hard to be broken, especially it's really hard to be a broken person trying to help other people and fixing yourself.

And again, I know this isn't a popular idea because we are conditioned in our culture to say, no, no, people are good.

What's wrong with you?

Like, people are good.

Okay, well, here's the reality.

Like, test it.

I believe in testing things.

And by the Bible, by the way, says in 1 Thessalonians, test everything, hold on to the good.

So test this.

Go, go.

If if you have a lot of money, if you're listening to this and you have a lot of money and you want to lose it and waste it potentially, well, it's not wasting it to give it away.

I'm not saying that.

But if you want to do a little social experiment and you're okay losing a lot of money, go give a hundred people a hundred dollars, no strings attached, random people.

Just walk up to them on the street and be like, here's a hundred bucks, here's a hundred bucks, here's a hundred bucks.

Then find out how many of those hundred people gave their hundred dollars to someone else.

Right.

Find out how many of those hundred people, I just ask you, how many of those hundred people would immediately go, wow, I I did nothing to deserve this?

I didn't work for this, I didn't earn this.

There's probably someone in the world that needs it more than me.

I'm gonna go give this away.

How many people would give a percentage of it away?

Or how many people would immediately go do something for themselves?

Right.

Is it wrong to like, I'll be honest, my human nature, I get$100, I'm buying a new pair of basketball shoes.

I love basketball shoes.

Go buy cheese with it?

No, it'd be a lot of cheese.

Um, I do love cheese, though.

That's a different topic.

Okay, so uh that that's a little throwback to the uh the Trinity podcast.

Um but but no, I like that's what would immediately pop into my mind would be, you know, ooh, what what can I do for me?

And you'd mentioned earlier the entire concept of our society is built on the fact that people are gonna do what's best for them, and that's how our economy works, all that stuff.

So that's our human nature.

If we're so good, why are we so self-focused?

Because you know what?

There's plenty of food in the world to feed every person.

We don't have a food food shortage in the world.

It's that some people eat way more than they need, and they could give it to someone else, but they don't, and that's because of human nature.

And our our society just tells us that it's like trying to you know close your eyes and plug your ears and pretend like there's no problem.

We're fine, we're all good, we're all good.

It's just the environments that make us bad.

Well, secular humanism, I would be like, who creates the environments?

We do.

So if we're so good, but the environments that we live in are bad and they make us bad, well, why do we why if we're so good do we keep creating so many bad environments?

Right.

Right?

The Bible, I believe it just makes sense that you just gotta have to look at a two-year-old and every human being that that operates in their normal way.

We are naturally selfish and broken.

And we're we're broken ourselves, and when you're broken, you're gonna break other things.

When we give our lives to Jesus, we receive a new nature.

And and it's like a new heart, right?

A new core part of us that that but I heard a person explain it this way, and this is what I was saying a second ago before I went back and rehashed all this.

Is is picture like someone gives you a new computer, a new iPad or something, like new f new smartphone.

It's new hardware.

It still needs a software update.

Yeah.

And I think what happens a lot of the reasons we go, well, why don't why don't so many Christians seem like they're any different?

Well, when you've got your phone out, and I have an iPhone, so this happens a lot.

Yours might say something different if it's an Android.

But about every five days, I feel like there's a little thing that'll pop up on my iPhone that says, and this is not, by the way, for me, I I heard this from a pastor, uh teacher, really thought it was a really great analogy.

But about every five or six days, a new little thing will pop up on my iPhone that says, new software update available, and I have a choice.

Download now, update now, wait till later.

And how often, when you get those, do you go like later?

Right.

And then it pops up again, like, remind me tomorrow, later, later, and you just keep putting it off.

Well, when you give your life to Jesus, you're gonna receive a new nature.

God's gonna begin to change who you are.

You're gonna begin to desire selfless things.

You're gonna begin to have a heart for people that you didn't have before.

You're gonna begin to certain things that you used to do that you were great with, you're gonna be like, I don't like this.

This isn't what I want to do anymore.

But you have to update the software.

That's the renewing of your mind.

Yep.

You have to, you, you have to say yes to those experiences, to the to spending time in God's Word, to obeying God.

Because when you do those types of things, that's you hitting yes to that software update.

And over time, you got new hardware, you had a new heart, new nature, and you update the software with the renewing of your mind, you will actually be an entirely different person and function than you were.

Absolutely.

Your nature is changed, but you have to start kind of live that out.

So understanding human nature is really important because what the Bible teaches is that we're born broken, we're born with with mistakes that we make very, very naturally.

And that's why when the world uh has certain behaviors and says, Well, I was just born this way, I'm like, Yeah, okay.

But the Bible says the way we're born has some issues, that's why we need to be born again.

Right.

Get a new nature.

And uh and understanding that is helpful to understand why Jesus came in the first place, because there's something about us that needs to change.

Our biggest issue is us.

We need to be saved.

Um, I think that's gonna do it for this episode.

And uh, we'll talk to you guys soon.

Hope you all are having an amazing day, year, life, all of the above.

Alright, bye.