Class: Biblical Worldview Series

Pursue School of Ministry: Teaching - Biblical Worldview

Putty last week did a teaching on worldviews and today I want to follow up on that teaching focusing more on forming and having a Biblical worldview.

Worldviews – we all have one whether we know it or not – but we need to evaluate and discern what our worldview is.

Look around at society today – all the tension and propaganda, fights, arguments etc: This is what happens when worldviews collide – so the questions come charging at us - What do we do compromise? Be tolerant? Be silent? What happens to a society or a culture when conflicting worldviews fight for power and influence? What happens to a society where the Biblical worldview is dismissed as ancient or out of date and irrelevant? Just look around at our own society today – this is what happens. But we do have the Spirit of the Lord to even change the culture and worldviews around us with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit!

Introduction:

Charles Colson stated, “How do we redeem a culture? ...The answer is simple: from the inside out. From the Individual to the family to the community, and then outward in ever widening ripples. We must begin by understanding what it means to live by (Biblical) Christian worldview principles in our own behavior and choices. Unless we do, we will interpret the biblical commands according to the spirit of the age and will therefore be conformed to the world rather than to God’s Word (Colson, How Shall We Live page 307)

Charles Colson also goes on to add insight into what is wrong with our culture today – “…Polls consistently show that Americans worry most about social and moral decay-crime, family breakdown, drug abuse, sex and violence in the entertainment media -all results of moral choices made ultimately by individuals. Given these facts, one might expect the nation’s bully pulpits would be devoted to encouraging people to take responsibility for their lives, to exert the self-discipline needed to change behavior. Instead, for the past few decades, the dominant (non-biblical) cultural voices have argued that individuals have a right to live in any way they choose and that society has a responsibility to pick up the tab for any negative consequences that result…The attitude is not confined to the government. It’s amazing how many ordinary Americans have fallen into the trap of expecting someone else to pick up the costs of their own irresponsibility…Where did this idea of value-free lifestyles come from? What are its worldview roots? How do the categories of creation, fall and redemption help us to diagnose what’s wrong with the predominant secular view – and see how a (Biblical) Christian worldview leads to better, healthier, and more rational way of living? (Colson, page 308-309)

These questions Charles proposes I will seek to answer today in our class.

But first I want to challenge you to “Renew your minds!” In other word’s open your minds to doing your life differently: We do this by being willing to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by praying differently, by learning to hear the voice of the Lord, by studying His Word – all for the purpose to minister to people in need and crisis in a fallen culture. Why do this? So, we can impact a fallen culture with the Kingdom of God and see lives changed! So, we can see society changed from the inside out one life at a time! One divine encounter at a time!

Romans 12: 1-2 (CEV) “Dear friends, God is good. So, I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.”

So, I want to dig deeper into your mindset and help you see other mindsets that are around you each day – so let’s discover what a worldview is.

Question: What is a Worldview? Summary of Putty’s teaching!

The truth is every one of us whether we know it or not have a worldview. There are no exceptions here everyone has one whether they admit it or not.

The authors of biblicalworldview.com state, “Our worldview is the set of presuppositions and beliefs that we use to interpret and form opinions and values concerning life, humanity, family, authority, justice, truth, duty, etc. Our worldview is the “big picture” and culmination of all our beliefs. It is the way we understand reality. It is the basis from which we make daily decisions.”

So, our worldview makes a huge difference in the way we approach and live our life! We see through politics and elections how different people’s worldviews are – and many of us say “They are so blind – how can they think that way!” The truth is that person has a different starting point than you do as a Christian. We always start with the foundation of the Bible but others do not and this is why they think differently than we do about serious societal and political issues.