Undivided Worldview

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

Colossians 1:15-23

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Why would I start off our time together with these two passages? I’m starting there because if we start any other place, it will be impossible to have an undivided worldview. The foundation of an undivided worldview is to have an undivided devotion to God. If you don’t remind yourself of the greatest and glory of God and his sovereignty and rule over all things then we will always fall back to exalting ourselves and dividing our worldviews to living for ourselves along with our attempts at living for God. In the end, the best way to live for yourself is to live for God. We’ll talk more about what that means over the course of our two sessions together, but I want to put that out there so you can begin chewing on it. For some of you, you will discover the truth of that fact for the first time this week. For others who are Christ followers, it’s a fact you’ve realized before but have slowly forgotten over the years and it’s evident in your life. When you discover or rediscover that fact it’s a glorious thing. My prayer is that this seminar would be part of what God uses to awaken or further that in you.

In the Old Testament, the job of the Israelites was to be so God entranced that they looked radically different in how they lived their lives that people were forced to ask the question what was different about them. This is where the Israelites could point people to God. Our job is essentially the same on the other side of the cross. A quick aside on this note, don't let anyone tell you there is any incompatibility between the Old and New Testaments. We are to be the image of God to the world and represent Christ to the world. People should be able to look at our lives and see that there is something different about us. Think about the godliest people you know. There is something beautiful and attractive about how they live their lives that makes you want to be like them. That's a beautiful picture of what we're supposed to be. Every moment you live you are representing God to the world. What would people learn about God from the way we live our lives? Would they learn that he is beautiful, merciful, good, holy, righteous, and loving? Would they learn that He was in control, powerful, sovereign, and King by the way we trust him and submit to Him? Or would they learn that he is a power monger that wants to lord his power over us and force us to unnecessarily live out his laws? Would they learn that he was irrelevant, tyrannical, distant, not powerful, and not worthy of worship by the way we live our lives. You wouldn't believe how many people I talk to that leave the church or refuse to come to the church because the way Christians (or supposed "Christians") have treated them. How you live your life matters.

There is no such thing as a sacred-secular divide

Undivided King

In order to enter into a discussion about having an undivided worldview, we have to talk about what it means that Jesus is king. At the cross, Jesus sent a powerful message to thr world. J.L. Reynolds put it this way:

"When Christ uttered, in the judgment hall of Pilate, the remarkable words—“I am a king,” he pronounced a sentiment fraught with unspeak- able dignity and power. His enemies might deride his pretensions and express their mockery of his claim, by presenting him with a crown of thorns, a reed and a purple robe, and nailing him to the cross; but in the eyes of unfallen intelligences, he was a king. A higher power presided over that derisive ceremony, and converted it into a real coronation. That crown of thorns was indeed the diadem of empire; that purple robe was the badge of royalty; that fragile reed was the symbol of unbounded power; and that cross the throne of dominion which shall never end."- J.L. Reynolds, The Kingdom of Christ in its Internal and External Development (1849)

Reynolds is showing us that when Jesus is being raised up to the cross, He is being raised up to His throne. When Jesus dies on the cross, He is initiating the ceremony where He will claim authority, sovereignty, and victory over sin, Satan and death.

When Jesus rises from the grave, He has officially finished His coronation ceremony as the king of the universe. When Jesus stepped out of the grave, He defeated the greatest and the final enemy to His throne, the only enemy to reign supreme over ever other king in history: death. By defeating death once and for all, Jesus made a deafening and unmistakable declaration to all of the universe: He is king forevermore. No one or no thing could ever, would ever, or will ever take him off His throne. By rising from the dead, Jesus is declaring complete authority over all of the universe, including your life.

Abraham Kuyper famously said, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which [the risen] Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!”

That means you and I are to follow Him and trust Him. But also, by walking out of the tomb, Jesus is not only securing the hope of new life, but also that there would be a infinitely good, powerful, joyful, and holy king on the throne forever. This means that the one who has authority over all things, including your life, is an even better ruler than you or I could ever be. That’s good news!

We can submit to Christ as king, living an undivided life for Him because we know that he is a good king who loves us and want the best for us.

Undivided Life: How to Glorify God

Sometimes we throw around the phrase “glorify God” without any explanation and the definition can be lost in a shuffle of assumption.

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

-1 Corinthians 10:31

We talk a lot about the glory of God and what it means to

Group Question 1: What does it mean to glorify God?

Talk about it at your tables and then we will discuss it as a group

God’s glory is the radiation of His holiness and perfections. We glorify Him by reflecting that Glory back to Him. That means that we glorify God by living holy lives waging war against sin as we seek to see and savor Christ over sin. We glorify God by singing the praise of His name that He is due. We also glorify God, in part, by reflecting the beauty of His attributes back to Him, and to greater level when done to the praise of His name. You can do this in a near infinite number of ways. God has specially made you in His image and bestowed upon you spiritual and physical gifts and talents. By using those for the spread of the Gospel and the fame of God’s name, you glorify God in a mighty way.

If you are a graphic designer, architect, photographer, or even just creating some craft in your spare time you can glorify God by reflecting His creativity and craftsmanship back to Him by striving with all of your might at the task at hand. You can glorify God as a banker or stock broker by maximizing the money you’ve been given to steward with integrity which reflects God’s integrity and stewardship back to Him. You can glorify God as a student by loving God with your mind and learning more about what is true which reflects the very truth that comes from God Himself and the incredible mind of God who created all that you are studying.

You can glorify God in any task you are doing. Any task completed well glorifies God as it reflects the way God has gloriously finished (or will gloriously finish) any task He has ever stated (creation, redemption, salvation, etc.). You don’t have to be a pastor or church leader to glorify God. We all can do it. The beautiful thing about glorifying God is that it is the best and chief means to joy. God made you to glorify Him by enjoying Him forever. When God commands us to glorify Him He is commanding us to enjoy Him. What a beautiful and incredible purpose for our lives!

"Happiness is the end of the creation ... because the end of the creation is that the creation might glorify [the Creator]. Now what is glorifying God, but a rejoicing at that glory he has displayed? An understanding of the perfections of God, merely, cannot be the end of the creation; for he had as good not understand it, as see it and not be at all moved with joy at the sight.- Jonathan Edwards, Miscellanies #3

This thought is to whet our palettes for tomorrow because I will argue, like Edwards does here that joy, found in glorifying God is the end of creation.

One last note: as Edwards says, merely knowing things about God is not good enough or God-glorifying. Satan and the demons know far more about God than we ever will.. The difference is that they are not moved by God and they don’t worship Him. For some of you, your next step this week is to be moved by God. You may know a great deal about Him and may be able to put on the Christian charade, but you’re not moved by God. Pray that God would soften your heart that you may be moved by Him.

Undivided Communication

I could do a whole break out on this topic alone. I wish I could spend more time talking about this and thinking about this topic with you. If you have any questions at all about any of this or just want to know more about how to hear from God, ask me about it in the Q&A session or come talk to me afterwards

A Note on the Audible Voice of God

Many of us

Bible

The easiest and best way to hear from God is in His word.

If you want to hear God’s audible voice, open up your bible and read it out loud.

God Speaks Through Others

Preaching

One of the ways God will speak to you this week is by Jason Curry and by your break out leaders in so far as they say things that are true from the Scriptures.

Accountability Partners

Friends

Parents

Jason Ellsworth Summerfest story

Meditation/Through Our Everyday Experiences and Circumstances

My Plan

Pray

Read

Reflect

What did I see in these verses that I can praise God for?

What is the greatest truth that God has revealed to me in this passage?

How would my life be different if this truth was explosively obvious in my life?

What harmful behaviors, sins, and wrong attitudes are present in my life that cause me to forget the truth of this passage?

How is Jesus Christ or what he’s done the key to helping me overcome the hindering sins that I just confessed?

What do I need to do or become in light of this?

What is going on in my life today, this week, last week, this month, last month, etc.?

In light of what’s been going on in my life, why might God be showing me in this passage today?

How I have seen God work in my life through various circumstances, conversations, events, blessings, trials, sermons, songs, and prayers answered recently?

Personal examples

Titus and Valley of Vision passage of late

Anna example?

A Note on Prayer and How God Answers Prayers

Often times, if God doesn’t answer our prayers exactly as we were expecting, we assume that God didn’t answer our prayer. But this is the wrong way to look at prayer.

God has not answered the vast majority of my prayers in the way I expected Him to.

If you knew what God knew, you would answer your prayers exactly as He has.

God is gracious for not answering our many of our prayers as we want or expect Him to. I can look back on the things I’ve prayer and reflect on the ways god has answered those prayers and be so thankful that He answered my prayers in a way that I would have never have expected.

For example, I regularly prayer for God to draw me close to Him and help me love Him more. Recently he answered that prayer in a way I never would have excepted or wanted on first hearing it. I’ve just come out of an 8 month storm that ended up being one of the darkest times of my life. I would have never prayed for that. But God used that time to draw me to Himself. It forced me to cling to Him in a way I hadn’t had to when things were easy and light hearted before that. He made me fight for joy and taste the bitterness of pain so that I could better sense the joy that comes only from Him. Sometimes, the greatest thing God can do for you is give you pain to endure so that you are forced cling to nothing else for joy and satisfaction but God. Some of you are experiencing that right now. Use this time away at camp to lean in and listen for God voice.

Undivided School

Group Question 2:

What does it mean to have an undivided faith at school?

Talk about it at your tables and then we will discuss it as a group

With Your Classmates

Live as a consistent Christian

Don’t just hang in your holy huddle. If you don’t have any non-Christian friends then you’re not actually living out your faith very well in school. Obviously if you are at a Christian school this looks a little bit different, but for most of you, you’re in public schools. To be clear, I don’t mean just having non-Christian people who are your acquaintances or that you see from time to time. I man non-Christian friends that you are closely involved with, that you hang out with. You should know what’s going on in their lives. It should not be a secret that you’re a Christian. Not that you flaunt your Christianity in front of them, but that just by the way you speak and act it should be evident that there is something different about you.

Know the culture of your school and use it to your advantage. Apply the Gospel in conversations and situations to the cultural moment of your school. We’re not called as Christians to avoid culture. At the same time, we’re not called to be of it. Jesus and Paul knew their cultures well and applied the Gospel to their culture without being over taken by culture and totally changed by it.

Give the example with Michael Sam, Anthony, and talking with him about Christianity.

In the Classroom

It can be really easy to blow classwork off. That’s an incredibly unchristian thing to do. Christians founded the modern science movement. Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, and others did

It can also be really easy to blow off non-Christian teachers and believe that they have nothing of substance to say to you because they’re not Christians. Don’t fall into that.

Explain

Know the assumptions of your professors

Miracles in the new testament class example

If God is real, science cannot disprove Him.

Use class to get into the mind of God and be even more amazed at Him and His works and creativity.

“I have a confession to make. Ranger Rick is one of my favorite magazines. When it used to arrive in our house with the address, ‘Piper Boys,’ I was one of the first Piper boys to take it to the couch. The reason is simple… it inspires more praise in me than most other journals. It is a monthly record of man’s discovery of incredible phenomena in nature that up till recently have only been enjoyed by God for thousands of years.

For example, I read about the European water spider that lives at the bottom of a lake, but breathes air. It comes to the top of the water, does a somersault on the surface and catches a bubble of air. Then it holds the bubble over the breathing holes in the middle of its body while it swims to the bottom of the lake and spins a silk web among the seaweed. It goes up and brings down bubble after bubble until a little balloon of air is formed under its silk web where it can live and eat and mate. When I read that, there was a moment of worship on our living-room couch. Doesn’t that make you want to shout, LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures” (Psalm 104:24)?

I sat there with my mouth open, and I think God smiled and said, ‘Yes, John, and I have been enjoying that little piece of art since before the days of Abraham. And if you only knew how many millions of other wonders there are beyond your sight that I behold with gladness every day!’”

John Piper, The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God, Rev. and expanded. (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2000), 89–90.

You will have the chance to study and learn things about the world and the universe that most people will never know. You are getting a chance to rejoice in the wonders of creation that God has been rejoicing in since creation began. What a cool opportunity!

English class, Bible as a story, Tolkien “On Fairy Stories”

Undivided Politics

Preface by saying that you’re not going into detail at this point, but that you think there are a few points worth making.

The Gospel is an inherently political statement. Risen king proclaiming authority over all of the universe. Explain

Our culture tells us to only people active religion in private but that it’s not for the public square. This is a lame message because you can be sure that the person telling you not to practice your worldview in public is going to practice their worldview in public.

If you believe that Christianity leads to human flourishing, then why would you not want to further it’s cause in the world?

One way to practice your Christianity in politics is be really respectful of other. Christians sometimes say the most unchristian things when the conversation turns to politics. Another way to practice your Christianity in public is to help the poor, stand for truth, get involved in racial reconciliation, etc.

Separation of church and state does not mean keep your Christianity in private. Explain that you did your senior thesis on this. People just fundamentally misunderstand this. It is to keep the church and state from getting into bed with one another and birthing children of oppression. Explain a little history with the catholic church and the state and the English government switching between religions with every king and how this marred the Gospel. We don't want the state to be a part of the church. Baptists have always stressed this.

I won’t go into detail here, but if you have more questions, see me after the class.

Undivided Hope

No matter the circumstances that come up in your life, remember this profound fact. The worst thing that could possibly happen to you (receiving the just wrath of God for your sins for all of eternity) has already happened in Christ, and the best thing that could possibly happen to you (an eternity of infinite joy, satisfaction, and love with God) is already secured for you in Christ. There is an immeasurable amount of hope for Christians.

Conclusion

Q&A. I have left I free time open to meet and talk with people.

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