This week I am going to begin a study of the importance of having a biblical worldview. The reason for this is simply because so many do not have one even though they call themselves believers. That is not a judgmental remark that I am making here, but is in fact validated through confirmed studies taken from surveys that asked specific questions about what Christians believed. As a Christian, we are to base our beliefs solely on what the bible teaches regardless of what our culture promotes or despite the big governmental push that we are to be a politically correct society in order that all people can be equally respected (and in their minds peace can be obtained if we do this). Now, I have no problem with all people being respected, but not at the expense that I betray what I believe, so they can live around me without feeling bad about their accepted lifestyles that go against what God's Word teaches.
One thing that has been glaringly clear is that the most intolerant people on earth are not Christians, but those who hold to very strong liberal ideas that they want everyone else to adopt. These folks are quick to rally upon statements of how everyone one must accept their fellow man and his beliefs without any prejudice. Yet, for these liberal thinkers if they shall hear a Christian proclaim what they believe from the bible and what it teaches in truth, they will defiantly call these Christians nothing but narrow-minded bigots and bible bashers. Where is their tolerance and respect now? In other words, they don't mind at all that people can have various beliefs...but they sure have a problem with Christianity when it becomes a light in their darkness. Why? It's because Christianity declares absolute truths that gives no hedge room for free-lancers who love to sin. I'm going to bring forward some ideas from the Ten Commandments within this teaching and over the next few weeks in this series that will help us get a better picture of how our worldview should be established.
Before I draw out from the Ten Commandments in order to use it for this teaching I want to establish some important facts so as not to lose the interest of some of my wonderful grace friends here. First, it must be understood that the Ten Commandments were not given in order to make a man righteous; but rather to reveal just how guilty he is when placed next to the holy God and Creator of all things. Let God's absolute truth speak this more firmly to you.
Romans 3:19-22 (NLT)
19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.
20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.
22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
So, as we can see the Ten Commandments cannot make us right with God, period! Does this mean that the Ten Commandments are no longer of any use for us as believers? Absolutely not! God wrote these commands on tablets of stone with His own finger and gave them to His people (Israel) and these commandments are very important to Him. They incase the moral standards of God's character in all holiness. This is the kind of God that He is! He is never changing; He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. As carnal people, we change our positions in life as often as day changes into night. The Scriptures are God's holy Word that becomes useful as an example for us to know what His will is for our lives.
1 Corinthians 10:5-14 (KJV)
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
Our worldview will essentially affect every thing we see and experience within it. Without a clear understanding that comes from a source of absolute truths there can be nothing but chaos left in its wake. It's much like all of us going to bed one evening and while we all slept someone removed every traffic light, every stop sign, and all street signs and washed out all stripes from off of our roads. That next morning going to work would be shear chaos to say the least. Well, it's no different when we change the character and the principles and meaning of God's Word to our own liking along with everyone else doing the same thing; we can only imagine the mess the world would be in. That is exactly what has happened to this world. Jesus did in fact fulfill the Law, but He did not do away with it.
Matthew 5:17-20 (KJV)
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
John 14:15 (KJV)
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Jesus was approached by a lawyer right after He had shut the mouths of the Pharisees in one of their attempted entrapments and asked the question, "Which is the greatest commandment?" Jesus replied, "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and with all of your mind. And the second one is like it; love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets"
I believe biblical illiteracy has become the Achilles heel that is crippling the church's influence within this world. As a matter of fact, I believe it is the greatest problem this world has ever experienced well above economic woes, health woes, political woes, educational woes and any other crisis that we could mention. George Barna conducted a survey that pointed out this crisis within the church. He pointed out in this study, "How could we ever expect the church to be effective when most Christian adults attending church today reject the accuracy of the bible; reject the existence of Satan; many claim that Jesus sinned at some point or another; the majority do not believe the importance of evangelism; and most all believers surveyed believed that good works is one of the key things that persuades God to forgive them of their sins." Then Barna goes on to make this startling discovery of those surveyed which included adults and teens and found that the most quoted verse in the bible was: "God helps those who help themselves." Yeah, that's my favorite verse that's NOT in the bible! The study went on to reveal that only one out of every ten believer possessed a biblical worldview for the basis of his or her decision making and behavior. Wow!
The Christian philosopher Francis Schafer said and I quote: "As Christians we are not to only know the right worldview, the worldview that tells us the truth of what is but consciously to activate upon that worldview so we can influence a society in all of its parts and facets across the whole spectrum of life as much as we can to the extent of our individual and collective ability." (End quote).
A worldview really matters and everybody has one. The question becomes what kind of worldview do you have? Our worldview is formed in us by many things. For instance, our culture we are raised in affects our worldview as much as anything. We are affected by our upbringing, the books that we read, our education, and even the media that we expose ourselves too. Therefore, it's not really an issue if I have a worldview, but rather the kind of worldview I have...that is most important of all. Our worldview is comprehensive and affects everything that we do: from your personal morality; to the way you spend your money; to the way that you vote just to name a few. But what is a biblical worldview? First, we must realize there is a living God and He has revealed Himself in Scripture; therefore as Christians, we must believe that we will find absolute truth from the Word of God. Regardless of what our culture says...regardless of what is politically correct...regardless of what we feel is right or not right...we must base our beliefs on what the bible teaches. That is what it is to have a biblical worldview.
C.S. Lewis said and I quote: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else." (End quote).
Allow me to test your worldview here if I may. If anything you are about to read in the next two statements makes you very uncomfortable; it would indicate that there is something wrong with your worldview. Are you ready?
Statement #1 "Jesus Christ is the only true way to God."
Statement #2 "The Bible is the inspired and infallible word given to us by God."
If you are a true Christian and you have a biblical worldview you must believe that Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone saves us from our sins. I point this out because I have heard a number of Christians that say something like this: "Jesus is my way and He has changed my life indeed, but who am I to say He is the way for everyone...someone may find their own way in a different manner." Wrong! That is moral relativism. The bible teaches that Jesus is the way, the Truth and the life and without Him no one can come to the Father (John 14:6). Our departure from our nations Judeo-Christian principles has brought us to where we are today here in America and that is not a good thing:
- Abortion on demand is at an epidemic proportion.
- Marriages collapsing at a record rate.
- The very definition of the family which is the foundation for any societies health is being changed from one man and one woman to accepting same sex partners.
- Violence among our children within their schools are slaughtering one another in massive numbers.
- Our society is increased with suicide, drug addictions, and sexual immorality of all kinds.
This shouldn't surprise us as Christians with a biblical worldview though. The bible says in Hosea 8:7 "If you sow to the wind, you shall reap a whirlwind..." The biblical illiteracy in our day has greatly affected the world along with all of its societies. We are in an age where our technology has the iPod, iPhone, and recently the iPad just came out. Why not have an iGod? Where we can download the apps that suit our lifestyles and delete those we dislike. That is a great idea, don't you think? Howbeit, the Ten Commandments are still a BIG deal to God. Why do I say that? These commandments starting with the first one brings out into the open the importance of having no other god before the only true and living God. Secondly, we are not to have any graven image fill our hearts that pushes God out of His rightful place. God does not like it when we worship other gods, period! Therefore, everything must begin here. Consider what the bible teaches us regarding how God feels about changing His description of what's good and what's evil.
Isaiah 5:20 (AMP)
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!
You see this passage spotlights this moral relativism problem that we have been pointing out where people make up their own god and the rules that they choose to serve that god through. Isn't it amazing that God made man in His own image and man returned the favor! Look at the wording in Exodus 20:2 (AMP) 2 I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. The Lord is reminding us that hey, I am the one who has delivered you and led you out of captivity. In other words, Jesus purchased us by His own blood and that we are no longer our own, but bought with a price, the blood of Christ. Yet, many Christians resist this absolute truth for a more favorable way of thinking that convinces them that they can do whatever they feel like doing...it's their right, so they think. Every person has a god simply because we were all born idolaters; we may have an object or a person to which we are devoted to serve. It can either be in heaven, on a shelf, or in the mirror...but everyone will serve somebody or some thing. It's been said and I believe its true... "The things we own sooner or later seem to start owning us if we are not careful to keep things in their right perspective."
That new car we purchase and had to have...we now wash it every weekend, put gas in it constantly, repair it, pay insurance on it, inspect it, and register it. Seems like the car is getting all the attention, don't you think? That bigger house that you felt you needed to move up too is now requiring more of your time and energy to keep clean and keep up with all the maintenance and not to mention the financial obligations that it places on you to make more money to pay for it. Now, I am not implying that these material things are necessarily an evil, but I did want to show just how things start owning us and our time and our resources before we know it. The old phrase "out of sight, out of mind" comes into focus here as to what happens when our time and resources gravitate towards stuff because it has our attention, whereas God seems to be forgotten because He is not our focus.
In 2009 a survey was taken that revealed Americans were more interested in faith and spirituality rather than Christianity. One author said that people want to shape their own spiritual experiences by concocting their own personal brand of faith. What these tend to do is put together a whole series of things that fit their personal wants in a religion that serves their purpose rather than God's. It's like creating a customized brand of spirituality. Look at how hard the church works to be relative to the world rather than relative to the truth. In other words, if you believe in a god of love and forgiveness and mercy (you can keep that); but if you are offended by a god who declares He is holy and righteous and commands that we be also, you can delete that portion to suit your liking. Moral relativism is that there are no absolute truths! In other words, there is no wrong or right; good or evil. Moral relativism is that we all evolved from some evolutionary process and there is no real God who created things. There is no purpose or plan for our lives outside of what we make it. There is no devil nor good and evil. That is mere religious weak-minded people living in a non-reality place by moral relativisms definition.
They say things like, I have my truth and you have yours. Let's all just hold hands and sing happy songs and just get along. Whenever we worship anything other than God, it's like sticking it in His face and saying I don't need you, I have my own version. Most of us assume idol worship is lying prostrate before some statute or image; and I would certainly agree that would be the case in that situation, but it's much broader than that. We find that without an absolute standard of truth for our lives that there can be no real standard. It becomes a free-for-all world. Believers can have idols in their life and many actually do without ever realizing it. We may not name them with names such as Dagon, Zeus, or maybe Thor; but our trinkets, toys, careers, sexual preferences, our bodies, education, families, spouses, parents, and even religion to name a few, can and often do become little gods that we serve faithfully with our time, and resources. Look what the Word of God addresses regarding believers.
1 John 5:21 (AMP)
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods)-[from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life]. Amen (so let it be).
1 John 5:21 (Phillips NT)
21 But be on your guard, my dear children, against every false god!
An idol or a false god is anything or anyone who takes the place of God in your life. Everyone has a god and some have many gods; even atheists have a god in that they worship the intellect. Believe it or not idolatry comes naturally to all of us. Why? It is because we must worship and we will worship. The human soul will always find an object of worship. But why would we ever worship anything in our hearts besides the true and living God? It is because in our minds we can have control. The idol can be used at our disposal when and where we want it. It's subject to us, rather than us being subject to it. We devise our own worship because we have devised our own god. It gives us control to believe how and what we want. It's much like this: "Well, I don't believe in a God who will judge someone and condemn them to hell; my god is merciful and compassionate who would never judge anyone." Wrong! You are making up your own god here. That's an idol. Remember a biblical worldview is believing that there is a god as revealed in Scripture; and the Scriptures alone is the source of all truth!
2 Corinthians 11:4 (NLT)
4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.
An idol or false god is whatever you get excited about or whatever you are passionate about above God Himself. You may not call it your god, but in actual fact these are idols when they stand between you and the true God of the Bible. There are many today in this health seeking society that we live in that has made their bodies an idol. Every waking hour is focused on exercise, certain diets, and certain beauty products. You can't even talk to these folks without it always being about the latest health products available. We can become so obsessive in our pursuits that we eventually make them into an idol by our devotion and commitments to them. Oscar Wild says, "To love oneself is the beginning of a life long romance." Perfectly spoken wouldn't you say? We love ourselves. Many will point out that Jesus taught that we were to love ourselves; and I agree that He in fact did say this regarding to love our neighbor as ourselves. Yet, our love for ourselves should be rooted in the pure love of God who dwells in us; not the sensual loves that we have developed our lusts from and often become enticed to pursue recklessly. We all truly love ourselves, even the people who say they don't. Their reasons are proof enough that they do love themselves because that is why they feel like they do. It's because they are not getting out of life what they wanted; whatever that may actually be from one person to the next. Here's the absolute truth on that.
Ephesians 5:29 (NLT)
29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.
What I can tell you, is that Jesus did not teach that we were to learn to love ourselves...we already do! The sin is not loving yourself...but loving yourself more than you love God. Some folks worship themselves evidenced by the motivation of their commitment to serve themselves. The problem with creating your own god will come when you need that god to help you in a crisis of life. That man-made god will not be there for you. Worse still is that those kinds of gods cannot save you from your sins, ever! The young rich ruler should have been honest instead of telling Jesus how he had kept the commands of God from his youth. No one has ever been able to do that but Jesus. This is why Jesus told him to go sell all he had and come follow Him. He knew the young man was not being honest and that command to sell all he had...had exposed him.
The Law condemns what it can't convert. It is able to shut every mouth and reveal the intents of the heart. It is able to point a finger of judgment without apology, yet it cannot show mercy, it's a perfect standard. It leaves every person without an excuse and because of that it drives us to see our need for Jesus Christ. The Ten Commandments without transformation is like looking into a mirror and when you see yourself as you really are without an intimate relationship with Christ...you don't like what you see. Which by the way, is why I think so many work so hard to make the commandments non-relative for today while they major on the things they have been freed from and by ignoring the things that God said to do or not to do in His Word. Is God's Word absolute truth to you? Then why do we change it to fit our iGod mentality when it challenges an area of our life? Don't get me wrong, focusing on the finished work of Christ is not a wrong approach at all, it's the right approach...but be careful that you don't use that freedom to start sinning again or allow some idol that starts demanding your worship and devotion to it above your God. We (our duty) must dress up every day in the clothing supplied to us by God in Jesus Christ, and that is our responsibility to activate willfully, it is not God's job. Be sure to note that there is no moral relativism that can stand and argue whenever the absolute truth comes onto the scene. Which is why of all religions, Christianity is the most hated. It declares absolute truth and the world doesn't like that.
Colossians 3:12-17 (NLT)
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
13 Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
My pray as we continue together through this study in the coming weeks is that you will arrange your life around the will of God and refuse to identify with anything that is not derived from God's purposes and the absolute truths from His Word. Blessings!
