Developing A Biblical Worldview

What Is a Worldview?

Beginning a new series on developing a biblical worldview over next several weeks.

You may have never heard of a worldview?

Just what is it?

Most definitions of worldview start here:

A worldview is a set of basic beliefs, a more or less organized (and most people’s worldviews are less organized) system of assumptions and values.

People’s thoughts tend to develop patterns and fit into systems.

Even if they are content with numerous inconsistencies, their thoughts are never completely random—none of us can bear to live in total mental chaos.

God made us to be like Himself; that’s what it means to be made in God’s own image (Gen. 1:27).

God thinks logically, and we can’t help but want to as well.

You don’t realize it but every day you are affected and influenced by the worldviews of other people, the people all around you.

You’re not even aware of it.

The worldviews of your friends.

The worldviews of people you work with.

The worldviews of your parents, co-workers, of the media, celebrities, the people you listen to in school, teachers.

They have influenced your life in ways that you’re not even aware of.

Not only that everyday you’re influenced by your own worldview.

The fact is it determines your happiness, it determines your success in life.

It determines what you feel about life.

It determines your peace of mind, your stress level, your confidence level all come from your worldview.

For our purposes a good definition is: My worldview is the beliefs that I build my life on.

My worldview includes my thoughts about life, about death, about the past, the present and the future.

It includes what you feel about pain and about suffering and about problems and about good and about evil.

Your worldview includes what you think about relationships, about time, about money.

Everything you think about life is included in what we call your worldview.

Everybody has a worldview!

From the pigmy tribes in the Congo to the cuff link staffer in the White House, everybody has a philosophy of how they view the world.

Simply put, a worldview is simply the way that a human being looks at life—the way we perceive things.

Everyone has a lens that they look at the world through.

And the way we look at the world makes all the difference in the world. It determines how we define reality, as well as how we relate to each other.

You and I as Christians must choose to have a biblical worldview, which means that we view life through the lens of God’s Word.

We believe the Bible is inspired of God, inerrant, and infallible.

But sadly, few believers can put their hands on what they believe as their worldview, because we really do not know what the Bible teaches.

This series will cover the basic truths needed to build a biblical worldview.

Before that, let’s look at some unbiblical worldviews prevalent in the US today.

False Worldviews

“The one with most toys wins” MATERIALISM

Materialism says that the only thing that really matters in life is the acquisition of things.

Materialists believe in life, liberty and the purchase of happiness.

The theme of the materialist is, “The one with the most toys wins.”

Jesus challenged the conventional wisdom of the materialist.

He said this in Luke 12: “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” In other words do not judge your life by how much you’ve got.

The greatest things in life aren’t things.

He challenged the view of materialism.

I’ve got to think of me first. INDIVIDUALISM

We live in a Me First mentality world, a serve-yourself world that says it’s all about you.

All of the commercials cater to this viewpoint of it’s all about you.

What is this view of I’ve got to think of me first.

It’s called individualism.

Individualism says I don’t really care what it does to the children or what it does to you, I’m walking out of this marriage.

I don’t really care what it does to the people at work, I’m not going to be responsible. I’ve got to think of me.

Me first

Again Jesus taught a totally different worldview.

“If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.” Matthew 16:25 (NLT)

Jesus says you only begin to live when you begin to give it a way.

Significance in life does not come from serving yourself. It comes from serving God and others.

Significance does not come from status, from salary, from success.

It comes from serving.

“Do whatever feels good” HEDONISM

Hedonism is simply the desire that says the most important thing in life is how I feel.

If I feel good, then it’s good.

If I feel bad, then it’s bad.

If the goal in life is simply to make enough money so eventually I don’t have to do anything, I can just have fun, have pleasure.

Then you’re a hedonist.

That is not the goal of your life.

It’s the by-product of life.

You weren’t created to do nothing.

The Bible says this in Proverbs 21.

I love this in the Message paraphrase.

“Are you addicted to thrills? What an empty life. The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied.”

Mick Jagger’s been singing “I can’t get no satisfaction,” for forty years.

Why?

The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied.

“Whatever works for you” PRAGMATISM

The next worldview is summed up by the theme - whatever works for you.

In our multi cultured world, in our pluralistic world, this one is a real popular view.

Because nobody wants to say, what you’re doing is not right.

The only thing that’s wrong in our society today, a lot of people believe, is when you tell somebody something’s wrong.

Then you’re wrong.

This idea of, whatever works for you.

The problem with pragmatism is things that work that are evil.

You irritate me, I’ll shoot you and you’d be out of my life.

The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)

It seems right but in the end it leads to death.

You break God’s universal laws, they break you.

Like gravity, jump still get hurt or die.

All ideas have consequences.

“God doesn’t exist or matter” NATURALISM

Naturalism – it’s also called atheism.

But most atheists don’t even want to admit they’re atheists.

It says I just believe that everything in life is a result of random chance.

We’re all accidents of nature.

There is no grand creator or grand design.

There is no God. God does not exist. God doesn’t matter.

Let me let you in on a little secret.

If God doesn’t exist and God doesn’t matter, you don’t matter.

That’s the logical, rational conclusion of that worldview.

Because if there is no God and God doesn’t matter then you don’t matter.

Because then you’re just educated slime.

You’re just a freak accident you’re born.

It’s a freak accident you die.

Yet, the Bible says this in Romans 1: “From the beginning of creation God has shown what He is like by all He has made.”

In other words, we look at nature and we see a lot of things about God.

We know God is creative, powerful, likes diversity, and is organized.

There’s a lot of things we know about God just by looking at nature.

Without even reading the Bible we can see what our creator is like.

“From the beginning of creation, God has shown what he is like by all he has made. That's why those people don't have any excuse. They know about God, but they don't honor him or even thank him... They claim to be wise, but they are fools.” Romans 1:20-22 (CEV)

“You are you own god” HUMANISM

If we don’t worship God we worship something.

A lot of times we just make it ourselves.

This idea of you’re your own God is very popular in America.

This worldview which says I am the master of my fate.

I am my own God. I am in charge. I am at the center of the universe.

Not God, but I am at the center of the universe.

This is the view of the New Age movement.

It’s ironic that, God wired us to worship something.

And if we don’t worship God we end up worshipping ourselves.

The self-made man usually worships his maker.

Or we start worshipping something that God created.

It’s amazing to me that a lot of people would rather worship something that God created or that they created instead of something who is the creator.

The Bible says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped created things rather than the Creator.” Romans 1:25 (NIV)

They’re worshipping something that they themselves created or somebody else created.

Or you come to America and we worship our own idols.

They’re called cars.

And homes.

And status symbols

“God made ME for his purposes” THEISM

Theism comes from Theo, the Greek word for God.

Judaism and Christianity are theistic worldviews.

God made us for a purpose.

“For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible...everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.” Colossians 1:16 (MSG)

Recently in a couple of national surveys suggested that a large share of the nation’s problems are directly attributable to the absence of a biblical worldview among Americans.

Another one showed that only ten percent of adults in America have a biblical worldview.

Using that as a basis of decision making.

The summary was the primary reason people don’t act like Jesus is they don’t think like Jesus. Duh!

You’re beliefs determine your behavior.

This is why we going through this series.

Why Does It Matter What I Believe?

“Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” Proverbs 4:23 (TEV)

The first reason why you need to know what you believe and why you believe it you need to know it, is because it shapes your life.

You change from the inside out not the other way around.

If you have a faulty worldview it’s causing all kinds of problems in your life unnecessarily.

“If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.” Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)

When we don’t have a revelation from God, we don’t have God’s truth, we don’t see what God’s doing, we don’t have a worldview that’s correct, we don’t see where history is headed we stumble all over ourselves.

When you don’t know the purpose of life you just drift through it.

But when you attend to what He reveals, you pay attention to God’s revelation, then you’re blessed.

The third reason is found in 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be ready to give a logical defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you, but do it courteously and respectfully.”

Did you know that God expects you to not only know what you believe and not only know what you believe and why you believe it and then be able to explain it to other people?

Our world needs people who know what they believe, why they believe it and can explain it to others.

Because most of the people in the world don’t have a clue as to what they really believe.

They’re a mish mash, a hodge-podge of all these different worldviews all thrown in together.

God says, No, this is what matters. So God says I want you to be able to explain your worldview.

How Can I Strengthen My Worldview?

LEARN WHAT IS TRUE

You must learn the truth.

Remember the story of the two houses built - on sand and one on rock.

You must build your life on a strong foundation.

“Learn the truth and never reject it. Get wisdom, self-control, and understanding.” Proverbs 23:23 (NCV)

DISCERN WHAT IS FALSE

“Don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying teachers loose in the world.” 1 John 4:1 (MSG)

TURN FROM THE WORLD TO THE WORD

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)

“A wise person is hungry for truth, while the fool feeds on trash.” Proverbs 15:14 (NLT)

CONCERN YOURSELF WITH GOD’S AGENDA

“God will give you all you need from day to day if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” Luke 12:31 (NLT)

“Stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.” 1 Corinthians 14:20 (NIV)

Prayer: Dear God, I thank You that You have given us truth on which to build our lives. Truth that will never change. When everything else changes in our lives here’s a rock of stability we can find our anchor in. We can grab on to when the storms of life come.

Now you pray, Dear God, I want to know the truth. I want to learn the truth. I want to discern what is false. I want to turn from the world to the word. I want to concern myself with Your agenda and what You’re doing in the world. Help me to know what I believe and then help me to live what I believe. In Jesus’ name. Amen.