Warped World Views
Genesis 1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24,26
Intro: In a wealthy suburb of Indianapolis, a group of Christian High School students were asked, "Was Adolf Hitler wrong in murdering millions of Jews?" They said yes. The interviewer then asked them why. They did not realize that their response was chilling. "Well, you see," they said, "Hitler was defeated by the Allies. And in war, like everything else, the victor gets to define reality. The Allies determined that what Hitler had done was wrong. Therefore, he was wrong."
These students all came from fine Christian homes, so there was no excuse for them to be ignorant of the moral implications of that reply. Only one student differed. "I think Hitler would have been wrong, even if he had won the war and brainwashed everyone into believing he was right." This lone student could articulate moral absolute.
We are engaged today in a battle between worldviews. Ultimately our battle is not against flesh and blood. At stake are the hearts and souls of the world and especially the Youth here in America.
They are leaving the faith at an unprecedented rate. (Statistics tell us that we retain only around 3-7% of young people in our churches after they graduate high school.) Our involvement as Christians must go beyond political action. We (Christians) must understand and defend a Biblical worldview in all of life. Furthermore, we must impart this Biblical worldview to the youth who will lead the next generation.
. We must Understand and believe what the Bible tells us in order to have a biblical or Monotheistic World View.
. There are five different world views today folks.
. I did some research and decided not to bore you with all the details about all of them but I do want to hit the highlights real quick this morning.
. If you have any questions, see Clay after the service. He will hold a Masters of Divinity degree here in a few months specializing in apologetics which is the study of things like this.
. Naturalism: No Soul, No Spirit: Man is a chance product of evolution: The only proof is scientific proof: Values and morals don’t exist, only preferences.
Atheists and Agnostics
.Pantheism: There is only a spiritual dimension, everything else is just an illusion. Man is spiritual, eternal and impersonal. No individualism, all is an illusion. There is no rational thought. No real distinction between good and evil.
Hinduism, Buddism, the NewAge Movement
.Polytheism: The world is populted by spirit beings or many gods and demons. The god’s created us. Our morals are based on trying to please or appease the gods.
Thousands of religions: Wicca, Voodoo
. Postmodernism: Reality is socially constructed. People are products of their societies. Truth is relative to the culture that you live in. No absolute answers for anything.
Strange People
. Theism: God exists and He is personal. Man is the creation of God. Truth about God is known through revelation from and by that God. Morals are absolutes coming from a moral God.
Christians, Islam, Judaism
. A Christian World View is Monotheistic or belief in one God who has made himself known through his acts and his word.
. He is the creator God.
. All Christians should have this world view.
. Sadly there is confusion in Christendom because we have allowed our worldview to become warped.
. Our scripture this morning takes us back to the beginning of where our worldview must start.
. To have the proper biblical monotheistic world view, we must understand the beginnings.
. I’ve got eight verses of scripture in Genesis 1 that I want to look at this morning.
. Genesis 1 starting in verse 3:
. 3Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
. 9Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened.
. 11Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened.
. 14Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years.
. 20Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.
. 24Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened.
. 26Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
. Notice anything consistent within these verses?
. God said something and that is what happened.
. God’s word is consistent in all of this.
. If we as Christians are to have the proper world view, we must believe in God’s word. If we don’t believe in the word of God, then we have a warped world view of things.
. I want to spend the rest of my time this morning focusing on God’s word and the power that it has.
. The first we see here is that God’s word is:
. Creative
. Gods word creates. Christians need to believe that we are created beings. We are created by God.
. In reading our scripture we saw that “God said”, “and it happened.”
. We were created by and through God’s word.
. A little girl asked her mother, "How did the human race start?"
The mother answered, "God made Adam and Eve and they had children, and so all mankind was made."
Two days later, the girl asked her father the same question. The father answered, "Many years ago, there were monkeys from which the human race evolved."
The confused girl returned to her mother and said, "Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?
.The mother answered, "Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his."
. God’s word is creative.
. The average human heart pumps over 1,000 gallons a day, over 55 million gallons in a lifetime. This is enough to fill 13 super tankers. It never sleeps, beating 2.5 billion times in a lifetime. You can’t tell me that’s an accident
The lungs contain 1,000 miles of capillaries. The process of exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide is so complicated that "it is more difficult to exchange O2 for CO2 than for a man shot out of a cannon to carve the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin as he passes by." You can’t tell me that’s an accident
DNA contains about 2,000 genes per chromosome—1.8 meters of DNA are folded into each cell nucleus. A nucleus is 6 microns long. This is like putting 30 miles of fishing line into a cherry pit. And it isn’t simply stuffed in. It is folded in. If folded one way, the cell becomes a skin cell. If another way, a liver cell, and so forth. You can’t tell me that’s an accident
To write out the information in one cell would take 300 volumes, each volume 500 pages thick. The human body contains enough DNA that if it were stretched out, it would circle the sun 260 times. You can’t tell me that’s an accident
The body uses energy efficiently. If an average adult rides a bike for 1 hour at 10 mph, it uses the amount of energy contained in 3 ounces of carbohydrate. If a car were this efficient with gasoline, it would get 900 miles to the gallon.... You can’t tell me that’s an accident
. We were created by the Word of God.
. Not only does Gods word Create, it also:
. Convicts.
. You see, that’s how we become Christians, we are convicted of our sin by the word of God.
.Look at Hebrews 4:12&13:
. 12For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
. Only the word of God can convict mankind of their sin.
. The writer of Hebrews writes that it is alive and powerful and that it exposes who we are deep down inside.
. All the way to the joints and marrow of our bones.
. Look back at the biblical world view. Only God has an absolute morality. Only the being that is in essence truth, can convict you of your wrong.
. There was a man who was talking to his elderly pastor and said that he had read through the Bible several times and that he had received neither conviction nor inspiration from it.
. The pastor looked at him and said” instead of you going through God’s word, let it go through you just once and you will understand the conviction of God’s word.
. Do you remember the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Where the people on the ship mutinied against Captain Bligh.
. Following their rebellion against the notorious Captain Bligh, nine mutineers, along with the Tahitian men and women, found their way to Pitcairn Island, a tiny dot in the South Pacific only two miles long and a mile wide.
Ten years later, drink and fighting had left only one man alive John Adams. Eleven women and 23 children made up the rest of the Island’s population.
About this time, Adams came across the Bounty’s Bible in the bottom of an old chest.
He began to read it, and the divine power of God’s Word .... reached into the heart of that hardened man on a tiny volcanic speck in the vast Pacific Ocean .... and changed his life forever.
The peace and love that Adams found in the Scriptures entirely replaced the old life of quarreling, brawling, and liquor.
He began to teach the children from the Bible until every person on the island had experienced the same amazing change that he had found.
. Folks, Gods word is living and active and it penetrates our hearts and convicts us of our sin.
. If we claim to have a biblical monotheistic world view, we must believe that God’s word convicts people of their sin.
. There are absolutes in this world and they emanate from the creator God.
. Lastly we see that God’s word:
. Saves
. Look with me at John 1: 1-4 & 12,13
. 1In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He existed in the beginning with God.
3God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
4The Word gave life to everything that was created, his life brought light to everyone.
. John calls Jesus the word, and that He existed from before time.
. Jesus is God’s word and He is what saves us.
. Look at 12&14
. 12But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
13They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
. We are saved, born again as Jesus told Nicodemus by the Word of God.
. Jesus Christ.
.If we claim Christianity by any other way, we have a warped world view.
. The future of our faith depends upon the world view that we as Christians live and teach to our children and those that come into our churches.
. They must be taught that there is no other way to Salvation than through the Word of God. Jesus Christ.
. What is your world view this morning folks.
. Do you believe in God’s word?
. You can’t just take part of it.
. God’s word is all or nothing.
. Have you experienced the conviction of God’s word by acknowledging that you are a sinner.
. Have you accepted his saving Word, Jesus Christ.
. God’s word Creates, Convicts and Saves.
. Invitation.
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Illustrations from sermon central
The Word Of God/It’s Alive, J. Jeffrey Smead
Strategy For A Biblical World View, Wayde Wilson
