Sermon Tone Analysis

"Developing a Biblical Worldview in 2004" -- A Series in Eleven Parts

by Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts          January 2004

Copyright © 2004 by Mark D. Roberts

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*Part 1: Introduction *

A recent survey by the Barna Research Group discovered that only 4% of American adults have a biblical worldview.

This worldview centers around belief that absolute truth exists, and this truth can be found in the Bible.

Why is our worldview important?

Because it shapes how we think and act every moment.

If, for example, my worldview includes belief in a sovereign God, then I'll be more inclined to seek and to obey the will of that God than to follow the whims of my own intuition.

Our worldview tells us what is real, what is important, what is right, and what is wrong.

Thus it comes as no surprise that Barna found those with a biblical worldview to live according to a much higher moral standard than those without such a worldview.

In the past decade many Christians have rallied around the slogan, "What would Jesus do?"

This is a fine question to ask.

Unfortunately, it can't really be answered effectively by people who don't share Jesus' worldview.

George Barna explains: "If Jesus Christ came to this planet as a model of how we ought to live, then our goal should be to act like Jesus.

Sadly, few people consistently demonstrate the love, obedience and priorities of Jesus.

The primary reason that people do not act like Jesus is because they do not think like Jesus."

Perhaps the most unsettling finding of Barna's study was that only 9% of born again Christians have a biblical worldview.

That is to say, only 9% of those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior and committed their life to him have learned to think as he thought.

As a pastor, I take this both as an indictment of the church and as a call to action.

After all, where else will people learn to adopt a biblical worldview, if not in church?

As you think about the year ahead, why not set a goal of learning to think like Jesus, so that you might learn to act like him?

Investing your time an energy in developing a biblical worldview will pay rich dividends, both for you and for the kingdom of God.

George Barna has written a book that helps Christians learn to think like Jesus.

It is entitled, appropriately enough, Think Like Jesus.

My book Dare to Be True will also help you to adopt and live out a biblical worldview, especially when it comes to the central role of truth.

I argue that truthfulness begins with the God of truth, and touches every part of our life.

It is something to be spoken, felt, and lived each day.

*Part 2: Biblical Ignorance and the Biblical Worldview *

In my last post I cited a survey by the Barna Research Group which found that only 4% of American adults have a biblical worldview.

Part of the problem is that even those who hold the Bible in high esteem don't know it well.

Today's news offers a striking example.

I hesitate to cite this case, however, because it involves a prominent political figure.

My intent in this blog is to avoid partisan political discourse.

There are plenty of others who can handle this far better than I.

Moreover, I believe that my pastoral effectiveness is augmented by my political neutrality in public.

I've got prominent Republicans and Democrats in my church, and I don't want my political views getting in the way of my pastoral care for them.

But I can't help but comment on a story that appears in today's Los Angeles Times :" Dean Wrestles With the Question of Faith," by Matea Gold.

According to this article, presidential candidate Howard Dean, who claims to be a Christian, has been reticent to talk about his faith.

But in order to campaign effectively in the South, he is trying to be more open about religious matters.

Dean claims to pray every day and to be biblically-informed.

After a recent visit to Galilee, the place of Jesus' early ministry, Dean said, "If you know much about the Bible -- which I do -- to see and be in the place where Christ was and understand the intimate history of what was going on 2,000 years ago is an exceptional experience."

But then when he was asked about his favorite book of the New Testament, Dean cited the book of Job.

Well, nice try.

Job is a fine book, of the Old Testament .

Now it would be easy to make fun of Howard Dean at this point.

I'll leave that to others.

My concern is that Dean isn't the least unusual among Americans.

Over the last decade the Barna Research Group did several surveys of biblical knowledge.

They found that:

38% of American adults believe the whole Bible, including the Old Testament, was written decades after Jesus' death.

(Much was in fact written centuries earlier.)

38% didn't know that Isaiah was in the Old Testament.

49% believe the Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil.

(It says the love of money is root of all evil, in 1 Timothy 6:10.)

12% believe that Joan of Arc is Noah's wife (must be the ark~/Arc connection!).

Before we wag our finger at Howard Dean, we should examine ourselves.

How well do we know the Bible?

Could it be that we don't have a biblical worldview because we really don't know what the Bible teaches?

Most of us will be spared the embarrassment of displaying our biblical ignorance in public because we won't run for President in the southern U.S.

But all of us need to know the Bible better so that we might understand its truth and be changed by it.

*Part 3: The Benefits of a Biblical Worldview *

So, you might wonder, why would anyone want to have a biblical worldview?

After all, the Bible was written a long time ago, when people saw the world in pre-scientific terms.

Why would we want to think in terms that seem so antique?

The best reason for adopting a biblical worldview is that it reflects the truth about what is.

If we believe in a Sovereign God, for example, our belief system reflects reality.

(Or at least it does to the extent that we have the ability to conceive of God truthfully.)

But there's a very practical reason for adopting a biblical worldview, one that has appeal even in this pragmatic generation.

To put it simply, if you have a biblical worldview, you will live better.

You'll tend to make better choices.

And you won't embarrass yourself by being blown around by the latest trend or fad.

And you won't marry your childhood friend in Las Vegas, only to annul your marriage a few hours later.

As you probably know by now, that's what Britney Spears did to usher in the new year.

Why did she do such a silly thing - as if we should expect more from Ms. Spears?

Some press reports say it was all a joke; others insist that she was drunk.

But the strangest report of all comes from The Jerusalem Post.

This paper suggests that Britney married because she has become a devotee of the Kabbala, a form of classic Jewish mysticism.

The Kabbala encourages marriage, and this, we are told, may be what led Britney to marry.

Of course the Kabbala doesn't encourage immediate annulment, so its influence upon Britney may not be terribly deep at this point.

Okay, this is all good for a laugh, but a sad laugh.

Like it or not, Britney represents millions of people in our day who live rootless, confused, and ultimately silly lives.

She is the classic seeker, looking hither and yon, taking a bit of this and a bit of that, yet ending up with nothing trustworthy to guide her life.

If reports are true that Britney has actually visited the Kabbala Center in Los Angeles, it reveals her longing for something deeper, something truer, something significant - and something that would keep her from making a fool of herself.

I believe that what Britney really seeks is the God who is already seeking her.

Knowing this God and adopting a worldview in which he is the primary being would help her to do more than stop embarrassing herself.

It would give her the meaning, purpose, and moral framework that makes life worth living: her life, my life, and your life.

The more we embrace a biblical worldview, the more we will experience what the Bible calls eternal life: the rich life of the future beginning even now.

*Part 4: Let's Start at the Beginning *

If we want to develop a biblical worldview, where do we begin?

I suggest we take a clue from Maria in The Sound of Music, who sings: "Let's start at the beginning, a very good place to start."

"In the beginning God created . . .

."

So begins the Bible, at the beginning, or one might say, the Beginning.

We're talking about the theological Big Bang, the start of all things.

So what do we learn from the first five words (four in Hebrew) of the Bible?

First, everything starts with God.