Stones Hill Community Church
Welcome to Biblical Worldview!
Every Sunday in October, we will be unpacking all the exciting things pertaining to a Biblical Worldview and the Bible's larger story.
A worldview is that overarching explanation of all we know and understand, so that we can make sense of life. Many components and experiences have formed your worldview. So a key question is: "Are those things that you believe trustworthy?" And furthermore, is there a source of truth that can always be operating in the background of our minds that will guide us through the maze of options and decisions that we have to navigate today?
There is. We champion it here. It's called a Bible. When we're confronted with a cultural issue or event or experience, how would God have us respond? How does God want us to see the world? And how does the Bible answer the fundamental questions of life?
Unfortunately, the Biblical Worldview is pretty much a minority view in the culture at large, so we’ve all been impacted by non-biblical views of life, and to one degree or another, have adopted a "Secular Worldview" - viewpoints that lie outside of the Bible. But here's the tremendous news: worldviews can be changed, modified, or enhanced, even though, humanely speaking, people are resistant to change, especially in how we think.
Why? Why do we resist changing how we think? Because changing our worldview would require a wholesale reorientation of one's entire life. And embracing a Biblical worldview would also mean embracing the One who is at the very center of it - the Lord Jesus Christ. So, it really matters what your worldview is and who is at the center of it.
Your worldview is concerned with what you believe, and what you believe influences how you behave – and I don’t think anyone would say that it doesn’t matter how you behave. So in the end, what we truly believe gets lived out and that's why worldviews matter.
Welcome to Stone's Hill and Biblical Worldview!
We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!
A typical Stone's Hill service has:
* music (so feel free to sing out);
* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);
* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);
* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)
So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!
Why a series on “A Biblical Worldview Church”?
Three important reasons:
1. Personal: Christ-followers must measure our involvement and activities, our use of time and money against one yardstick, not as a burden, but as a gateway into total life flourishing: Is it consistent with a biblical view of life, and does it bring glory to God? Your beliefs about reality will impact your personal life and moral choices – who you marry, what you do, and how you raise your kids. People function on the basis of their worldview. We are inundated with worldview ideas daily. Worldviews are important because they get lived out.
2. Apologetics: What will you do when your kids come home from high school or college biology class where their confidence in truth has been shaken? What hope will you offer when your neighbor buries a 12-year-old? What story can you share when someone has already written the suicide note? We are all faced with a smorgasbord of worldviews every day, all of which make truth claims about life and about our place in this universe. Enjoy people, but you have to be discerning about ideas and beliefs.
3. Evangelism: We are champions of the Larger Story which orients all of life. This series allows us to have meaningful conversations with people and really get at the root of our differences. We can stay away from surface level disagreements and focus on how people answer the questions on the cards. When we are familiar with worldviews, it enables us to love our neighbor with the Good News of the Gospel by helping them understand their worldview, how they came to it, and what shaped it. And just maybe, a friendship will be born out of all of this. You have the message that our fragmented world needs.
Revelation 21:1-8 NIV
Biblical Worldview
The story of the world can be told with FOUR WORDS representing four plot moves. All worldviews must deal with the questions that are raised in these four plot moves.
Plot Move #1
Creation. This tells us how things began, where everything came from (including us). Who made the world? Where did we come from?
Plot Move #2
Rebellion. This describes the problem. What went wrong with the world? What is wrong with us?
Plot Move #3
Redemption. This gives us the solution, the way to fix what went wrong. What is God doing to fix our world? What is God doing to fix us?
Plot Move #4
Restoration. This explains what the world will look like once the repair takes place. How does it all resolve eventually? Will we become what God intended?
Two Major Worldviews Summarized
Biblical Worldview: A Biblical Worldview says that God is the Author of our universe, that we are accountable to Him, and that we have hope of being a part of His grand story to triumph over all evil in our world through Jesus. You see, Christians believe that there’s a larger story going on in human history; that there is a God and He made all that we see and know, including human-beings and it was perfect; that something went wrong in the world because of our rebellion prompted by the Evil One; that God has initiated a plan to fix this mess and that Jesus’ coming was promised way back in Genesis 3:15; that I am part of His plan to restore this world to all that He intended for it; that as I live a life He endorsed and as I struggle to make sense of all the suffering in this fallen world, somehow Christ’s takes shape in me and uses me to give hope to the broken. That’s a Christian Biblical worldview in summary form.
Secular Worldview: A Secular Worldview says that we have no Author, that we are not accountable to anyone, and there are no ideals or grand story's of redemption. The prevailing post-modern story is this: “Once upon a time, there were no big stories, only local ones. So don’t pretend you know the big story of the world because you might start to believe yourself and therefore begin oppressing people who disagree with your story.” Since we are on our own, we should seek all the gratification and satisfaction we can now. Each individual is free to create a belief system that works for them. And then at death – full stop. Life is over. We cease to exist. So, in this worldview, we are marooned on a pale blue dot in a possibly endless cosmos. We are unnoticed, insignificant, and on our own. Humans have huge problems and may not be able to ever overcome them. And there is no hope beyond the grave.
Which worldview do you want to shape your life and the lives of your children and grandchildren? What you believe about yourself and your worth and value ties directly to your worldview.
Would you like to have Jesus in the center of your life and worldview? Welcome Him into your life today!
The Secular Worldview and the Four Plot Moves
A Secular Worldview aggressively opposes the FOUR PLOT MOVES of a Biblical Worldview. A Secular Worldview replaces God’s big story with four pillars of their own – with their version of a meta-narrative. We love those who espouse a Secular Worldview but we vigorously confront their ideas.
Instead of Creation, what is offered is Naturalism with Darwinism as it’s religion. Darwin’s Black Box, cellular DNA, has been opened. A single strand of DNA has complex coding. And if there is coding, there’s a code writer.
Instead of Rebellion, what is offered is Evolution. Man is getting better and is basically good rather than depraved in our hearts. In a Secular Worldview, morality is determined by community consensus. There are no moral absolutes. And there’s no such thing as a devil or Satan.
Instead of Redemption, what is offered is Therapy and Self Help without Jesus in it, and / or Systems of Government like Socialism. So, lets get together, make everybody equal, and create our own little piece of heaven with everyone thinking the same things. Problem: Our sin nature won’t allow it. If God doesn’t exist and Jesus isn’t God, then man is the center of all things. And mankind has no purpose other than our own happiness. So rather than deal with our sin and deception in all of its ugliness, we deny it and then turn to self-help to talk us into how right we are to feel the way we do. That’s what all the sexual and gender confusion is about – everybody has to accept everyone’s self-diagnosis.
Instead of Restoration, what is offered is Materialism or Utopia. This world is all there is and death is the end of all existence. Make things as good as you can, but it’s got to be my definition of good.
Restoration - A World Reborn (Revelation 21:1-8)
Heaven is the great reversal! Death into life. Sorrow into song. Crying into the consolation of Christ. And pain into pleasure. The amazing end of one age and the beginning of a new age. The people of God are called a new creation, a city, and a bride. And it's almost beyond description.
The FOUR THINGS that heaven offers come to us in familiar ways - Add, Multiply, Subtract, Divide...
ADD – new dimensions and no more shadowy half-tone image of an original
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
MULTIPLY – many believers together forever
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
SUBTRACT – the tears that no one else can dry
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
DIVIDE - some take their thirsts to things besides the water of life and this creates a great division
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
The Invitation
We don’t have to wait for all these new things. We can be made new from within. Our hearts can be made ready for this day. God is a God of new beginnings. His drama of renewal stretches from creation to apocalypse. God always extends an invitation to the human race to join the drama of renewal – to become a new creation and sing a new song. And it all begins when you tire of drinking the muddy water of the world.
God has placed a homing device deeply embedded inside your heart that longs for home. There’s a restlessness that we feel. Paul called it a “groaning” for the time and place when our questions will be answered, we will no longer be alone, and we will be released to live up to our fullest potential as redeemed human-beings without the results of the Fall. By blessing us with a deep dissatisfaction, God holds our attention.
God gives us many pleasant inns to stay in, but does not want us to mistake them for home. It would be a tragedy to be satisfied prematurely, to settle for earth only as it presently is and simply live for the now. We’re not totally happy here. Why? Because we’re not supposed to be. This longing for happiness and home leads us to so many places: geographical places, vocational places, relational places. But even the best of them, leave us longing for something more. Our longings leave us restless because the place they are looking to find rest is not here. It’s OK to hurt and feel sad and feel unmet longings.
We can deny “homesickness at home”; we can cover it over with busyness and pleasures, but we cannot get rid of it. In Jesus, a great door has been swung open in the cosmos which can never be shut by man. It’s a door to the prison where we’ve been kept, chained from our original design. It will one day swing open, and the broken and dying ones will be liberated. The long years in exile are winding down and we are approaching home. One day soon, you will round a bend in the road and all your restoration dreams will come true. “The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last (C.S. Lewis).”
No more shadowy, halftone image of the original. We will see unhindered the life God intended. You will not be a shadow of what you were meant to be. You’ll be fully alive.