Church & Culture

1. 005 Sanctification and Worldview Church & Culture 005 Sanctification and Worldview

2. Biblical truth is not only a message about salvation; biblical truth is the truth about all reality. 005 Sanctification and Worldview

3. Introduction • The focus of the Twentieth Century Evangelical church has been on justification • Getting right with God - better known as salvation or ‘new birth” • Little has been done about sanctification, or how to live in a fallen world after you have been saved or converted • Justification is necessary and we need to be remind about God’s saving grace, but most Christians don’t know where to go from there or if we know where to go then we don’t know how to get there • A new-born’s birth is initially the most important event in his or her life – if they aren’t born then nothing else matters • Yet our birth is just a beginning if we focused on our births at the expense of our growth and maturity, where would we be? • It is the same in our spiritual lives in the church - if we only focus on our birth what happens to our spiritual development? 005 Sanctification and Worldview

4. Our Cultural Mandate • The role of the church is not only to make believers out of non-believers but to grow and develop disciples • “It is crucial for churches to lead people forward into spiritual maturity, equipping the saints to carry out the mission that God has given us in the cultural mandate.” • Each of us are given a role to play in developing the creation and in working out God’s laws to establish a just and proper society • Today many Christians feel that their work is an obstacle to being able to “work” for God • Many Christians do not grasp the fact that we are God’s agents and that through our work under common grace we are doing God’s work in the world 005 Sanctification and Worldview

5. God’s Masks • Martin Luther understood man’s occupations as God’s “masks” – “God’s ways of caring for creation in a hidden manner through human means” • Through our work we become God’s hands, eyes, and feet • God feeds us through the hands of others – farmers, truck drivers, shop keepers, stock boys, checkout people • God provides for our health through the hands of others - doctors, nurses, x-ray techs, lab techs • God provides for our protection through the hands of others -our police, firemen, and soldiers • God raises His children through the hands of others - parents, family, teachers, church, coaches • “Even non-believers can be “masks” of God, avenues of His providential love and care” 005 Sanctification and Worldview

6. Participating in God’s Work • Our work is not something we can just choose to do for God • It is the way God allows us to participate in His work, it is our calling – Ro 1.14-15 • God is not just engaged in the work of salvation but He is also at work in preserving and maintaining His creation • We have a role to play in it • Our role may come with a price tag • Never forget that the means of salvation was the cross • Christ came in humility and human weakness • He allowed His death at the hands of sinners to fulfill His role, to complete His work • Those who follow after Christ may be called to share in His suffering 005 Sanctification and Worldview

7. Begin by Denying Self • “By God’s grace, we can make a significant difference within our sphere of influence – but only as we ‘crucify’ our cravings for success, power and public acclaim • Lk 9.23 • Standing against injustice maybe a career killer, doing what is right may be unpopular and impact how much we can earn • Suffering is part of the theme of the “theology of the cross” of Luther • This helps us from becoming to prideful or self-righteous • Developing a Christian worldview is a painful struggle • Inwardly we must remove the idols that we have held onto all of our lives • Outwardly we must deal with a sinful, unbelieving world • Suffering is most often the way of being conformed to, and remade into, being like Christ 005 Sanctification and Worldview

8. Developing Our Personal Worldview • A worldview is intensely personal • Our worldview is the way we answer life’s questions that we all wrestle with • What are we here for? • What is the ultimate truth? • Is life worth living? • How did we get here? • As Christians we wrestle with questions like: • How do I know that Christianity is true? • Why should I believe in Christianity over any other belief system? 005 Sanctification and Worldview

9. Biblical Worldview and Truth • If we do not realize the truth of Christianity, we will either walk away from the faith or we will just take everything on faith • This effectively neuters us from engaging with others in the arena of ideas • With a biblical worldview Christians are able to give reasons and arguments for the truth of Christianity instead of just having faith • Can there be an intellectual conversion to Christianity? • Man cannot live without a sense of purpose, direction and significance • A biblical worldview is not only a message of salvation but it provides us with the truth about reality, the truth about the world we live in • “God’s Word becomes a light to all of our paths, providing the foundational principles for bring every part of our lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, to glorify Him and to cultivate His creation” 005 Sanctification and Worldview

10. Results of a Biblical Worldview • With a biblical worldview Christians can “appreciate works of art and culture as products of human creativity expressing the image of God” • A biblical worldview exposes the false and dangerous messages embedded in secular culture by providing the tools to analyze and critique them • With a biblical worldview we can apply a distinctly biblical perspective to whatever we are reading: a newspaper, magazine, book; watching: TV, or a movie; listening: to music or the radio • A biblical worldview allows Christians to offer cultural commentary that goes beyond just “moral condemnation” • Our initial response to the “great works of human culture” should be to see them as a reflection God’s creativity 005 Sanctification and Worldview

11. Correct Our Failings • It is easy for us to condemn the world for its immorality, its pessimism or nihilism, but where is our concern for the individuals that demonstrate their lostness through their art or expression? • Are we providing answers to their questions? • Are we standing in gap for them by crying out in prayer to God for them? • Are we offering them something else to fill the emptiness of their lives – if we indeed have the answer? • Believers “need to move beyond criticizing culture to creating culture • “The best way to drive out a bad worldview is by offering a good one” • We were created to be culture creators • All of our work, in every calling, is designed to create culture • It is offering up to God our work as service to Him 005 Sanctification and Worldview

12. Success in Philosophy and Health • Christian philosophers • Philosophy is being de-secularized • Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga - “God and Other Minds” • Demonstrates that theists could stand at the intellectual table with their humanist/naturalistic peers • Religion is good for your health • Freud declared that belief in God a “universal obsessional neurosis” – religion is harmful to your mental health • Now accepted that religious people have lower rates of depression, suicide, family instability, drug and alcohol abuse, and other social pathologies • The late David Larson turns around the medical community’s view of religion and mental health with his studies • Herbert Benson – “Our bodies simply function better when we believe in God” – he goes on to say that we are all “wired for God” 005 Sanctification and Worldview

13. Worldview Impacts Welfare • Marvin Olasky provides an illustration for the proper approach to welfare by using the example of the church in America in the 19th century • Church helps people change their lives, not just hand out money, by focusing on education and job training • Church helps people build a social network to connect with the family and church for ongoing support and accountability • Church corrects the moral and spiritual needs that lays at the heart of dysfunctional behavior – this goes beyond what any government can do • Olasky’s book “The Tragedy of American Compassion” was the genesis of what has become a decisive change to how America deals with welfare – “faith based initiatives • If Christianity is true it should always yield a better result in every discipline • “How can we come to the realization that Christianity is not only religious truth but total truth?” - the subject for our next series of classes 005 Sanctification and Worldview