What Is a Worldview? (part 1)
Notes
Transcript
THINK LIKE JESUS—Part 1 What Is a Worldview?
Chuck Swindoll tells the story about the small town of Itasca, TX:
Before WW2, the town had a major fire at the elementary school that killed many of the students. There was not a family in the town that was not touched by the disaster. Along came WW2, but after the war the townspeople decided to build a new and better elementary school. And it would have a sprinkler system that would be the best in the world. And so they did. They bragged about their sprinkler system & how safe it made them feel about their children. Never again would they have a disaster like the last time.
As the town grew after the war, they needed to add on to the existing elementary school. As they were doing so, and were going to hook up the new part of the sprinkler system to the existing part, they found no one had ever hooked up the “best in the world” system to the water source in the first place.
· What’s my point?
o Believers have the best “system” in the world to help us live a life pleasing to God
o It’s called following the example of Jesus
o But if we don’t hook up to the source of power available to us, we’re no better off than the Itasca Elementary School and we are headed for disaster
§ We may talk like we got everything under control, but we are as out of control as the school with no sprinkler system
· We are proud to be called Christians
o We’re fairly sure we know where we are going when we die
o We live a pretty decent life
o We go to church
o We may even be a leader at “the church”
· But is being a Christian changing me on the inside?
o Over time, am I becoming more like Christ?
o Does my faith make any difference in the way I live?
· And when I get squeezed, when something goes wrong, when life gets hard, or when the crowd decides to do something I’m not comfortable with, what comes out?
o Does it reflect Jesus, or is it something totally different that even I don’t recognize?
o Why do I do some of the things I do?
· How about our everyday decisions?
o What TV shows we watch, Facebook posts, how we spend our free time, what we check out on the internet, all those type things, and do they affect the way I live?
§ Of course, they do!
o But do they reflect the fact that I am a Christian?
· As believers, we are called to follow biblical teachings in making decisions in our lives
o But in reality, let’s face it, there seems to be very little difference in how you and I act compared to how the average lost person acts
· According to researcher George Barna, examples of what Christians say they believe:
o 27% say the Bible is not accurate in all its teachings
o 46% believe Jesus sinned while He lived here on earth
o 59% do not believe in Satan, while only 9% believe strongly he is real
o 60% believe the Holy Spirit is not a real person, compared to only 25% who do
o 41% said there is little difference between the Bible, the Koran, or the Book of Mormon
o 38% say their faith makes little or no difference in the way they live
· What does all that mean?
o While we may say we believe in Jesus, our actions don’t show it
o The old saying “actions speak louder than words”
§ Our actions show what we really believe much more than our words do
· I want us to spend my time here with you over the next 3 months as a time to get to the point where we Think Like Jesus
o I want to take you through a spiritual bootcamp to get you prepared for your next pastor
o This interim time is not a coasting period; we are going to work hard to get ourselves spiritually fit & be ready for when you call a pastor
o Topics like the importance of the Bible, Who does the Bible say God is, Who Jesus is, is the HS a real person, what does it mean to be saved, what we need to be doing until we go to heaven, good & evil, how to study your Bible, how to pray, how to share your faith
o If you want to get a good pastor, you are going to have to be a good church
· But we are going to start with something very basic: how you and I make decisions
o How do we process information to decide what we choose to do or do not do?
o This is called your worldview
o That may be a new word for you, or you may not be sure what it means
o Some examples
§ A 2-year-old believes he is the center of his world—you are here to serve him
· There are many adults who think the same thing!
§ Why do many people think this world is all that exists?
§ What is true for you may not be true for me—no absolute truth
§ “It’s my body, it’s my choice” is a result of some people’s worldview
§ As are topics like homosexual marriage…choosing your gender
§ Evolution
o Whether you realize it or not, YOU have a worldview
· Your worldview determines how you look at everything, how you interpret things that happen to you, news events, what is important (or not important) to you
o Think of it like this: your glasses are how you view your world
§ Good prescription & everything is clear
§ Wrong prescription, wrong view
· The Bible has a lot to say about how you should view the world
o Romans 12:2
o Colossians 2:8 & 3:17
o 1 Peter 1:14
o 1 John 2:15-17 & 4:1
o 1 Corinthians 2:12
o Many more
· So what is a worldview? 3 questions
o How did we get here?
o What happened?
o How do we fix it?
· We’re going to look at some different worldviews in more detail next week, but today let’s ask these questions and answer them from a Christian worldview
o How did we get here?
§ Genesis 1:1
o What happened?
§ Genesis 3—The Fall
§ Romans 5:12
o How do we fix it?
§ John 3:16
o How you and I answer those questions determine how we look at world events & how we make decisions
o Sounds pretty simple, right? Not so fast!
§ Remember all those statistics I threw at you a minute ago?
§ Survey after survey shows that only around 9% of people who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ have a solid Christian worldview! One in eleven!
§ And we wonder why the world is in the mess it’s in!
§ It’s because we may say our faith makes a difference, but in reality, it makes little or no impact in our lives, much less the world around us
o Someone with a Christian worldview believes his primary reason for existence is to love & serve God—in everything he/she does
· There are other worldviews
o Other religious groups—Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others
o Even more—atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, environmentalists, pro-choice, BLM, Antifa, Neo-Nazis, communism, socialism
o There are so many
· Chances are if you are in the 10 out of 11 Christians who do not have a strict Christian worldview, yours is a combination of several of these
o Our worldview develops through TV shows, music, newspapers, 24-hour news, movies, magazines, Facebook, twitter, school (especially colleges)—we are bombarded with opinions
o We see things that used to upset us, but over time, we get used to seeing it and may actually embrace that idea now—ex., extra-marital sex (I love Lucy; Flintstones)
o Most of us go through life not recognizing that our personal worldviews have been deeply affected by the world
o Through all these influences, the secularized view of history, law, politics, science, and their view of God and man affect our thinking more than we realize
§ Amy Coney Barrett attacked because of her faith
§ To be pro-life, you must be ignorant & barefoot
§ Military chaplains are told to not talk about Jesus
§ Coaches & students suspended for praying at football games
§ Pandemic shutdown of churches while not applied to other gatherings
§ A Marine court-martialed for putting a Bible verse above her desk
§ To not believe in evolution, you don’t believe science
o Colossians 2:8—We’ve been taken “captive through hollow & deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition & the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ”
· This cannot continue!
o If you profess Christ as your Savior & the leader of your life, this must stop!
o By working on learning, applying, & trusting God’s truths in every area of our lives, we can turn this around
o We cannot remove ourselves from the world, we just cannot become part of it (Romans 12:2)
o Whether it is a movie, a TV show, a joke you hear at work, an injustice to someone that you see happen but do nothing to stop it, you are compromising your faith
· If I asked you one of these questions, would you be able to give a biblical answer…
o How do you know God exists?
o What is God like?
o Why are we here?
o What happens after we die?
o Is there absolute truth?
· My goal is that after the next 3 months, you will be able to answer these questions and more
· And it starts today
o I’ve been praying for you all week—that some of this will cause you to think about how you make decisions
§ Hopefully it will confirm you have a solid Christian worldview
§ But if the statistics are anywhere correct, most all of us, me included, have some choices to make
· Do we continue to make decisions on what we think best?
· Or do we make decisions based on what God says is best?
o As a follower of Jesus Christ, we submit ourselves to follow Him
§ We must understand, His ways are higher than our ways
§ He has our best interest at heart—always!
o To not submit myself to His leadership in my life says that I think I know more than God knows
§ There is only one God—and you ain’t Him!
· So we have a choice
o No matter what we have done to this point, you need to choose this day whom you will serve
o That may mean you are realizing you have never made that commitment of your life to Him
§ I’ve sinned & I need forgiveness
§ I know Jesus is God’s Son & He paid for my sins by His death on a cross
§ He rose from the dead & lives today
§ I need Jesus to lead my life, because I can’t do it—I keep messing it up
§ That’s how you start your journey as a follower of Jesus Christ
o Or your choice may mean that you have been calling the shots for too long and you need Jesus to start leading again
§ You can do that by asking for forgiveness for not letting Jesus lead
§ With His help, you will strive to follow His leadership from this point on with your entire life—including the decisions you make
· Pray
o Lord, we need our worldview to reflect the fact that you are Lord of our life. We have all messed up more times than we can count, but we are committing our lives to you. Help us to follow you no matter what. Amen.