Christian Worldview & Education

1. Christian Worldview & Education FSC 501 February 2011

2. God is eternally a Creator!

3. Our Calling • What is our calling?It is to be a divine image-bearer in the midst of creation.

4. Our Calling • What is our calling?It is to be a divine image-bearer in the midst of creation. • What does that mean? It means to govern creation on God’s behalf and as his representative, to mediate the rule of God in respect of the rest of creation, to be “like God” in respect to the rest of creation. • Source: Iain Provan, “Holistic Ministry: Genesis 1:1—2: 3. In CRUX, 37:2, 22-30, p.27.

5. IN but not OF:an incarnational model • Jesus identified with the world; • Jesus was separate from the ideologies that rule it; • By his death, resurrection, and second coming assured its transformation. • Source: Hwa Yung, 1998 • “Christian Ethical Thinking in the Asian Context” • Christian Reflections.

6. The Kingdom of GodThe Central Message of Jesus • If it is true, and I know of no reason to dispute it, I cannot help wondering out loud why I haven’t heard more about it [the kingdom] in the thirty years I have been a Christian. I certainly have read about it enough in the Bible. Matthew mentions the Kingdom 52 times, Mark 19 times, Luke 44 times and John 4. But I honestly cannot remember any pastor whose ministry I have been under actually preaching a sermon on the Kingdom of God. As I rummage through my sermon barrel, I now realize that I myself have never preached a sermon on it. Where has the Kingdom been? • Source: Peter Wagner • Church Growth and the Whole Gospel • Cited in Anthony F. Buzzard’s • The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah • Restoration Fellowship, 2002, p. 14.

7. BIDDEN OR NOT BIDDEN, GOD IS PRESENT. • Source: Psychologist Carl Jung • Jung found these words inspiring and had • them carved in Latin over the front door • of his home in Zurich. • They are also on his tombstone.

9. EVERYTHING • God’s redemptive work in Christ embraces everything--my life, family, work, and the whole created order.

11. Today I am giving you a choice between a blessing and a curse—a blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord our God; but a curse if you disobey and turn away… Deut. 11: 26-28 (Today’s English Version)

12. …the placing of the gospel in the total context of a culture at a particular moment, a moment that is shaped by the past and looks to the future. Source: Lesslie Newbigin Foolishness to the Greeks Eerdmans, 1986, p.2.

13. Heading More North • “Christian good is always redemptive and other-serving. This puts them [Christians] out of step with the world’s agenda.” Source: Charles Ringma, Resist the Powers, 2000, Oct. 11.

14. The Christian has an absolute responsibility to choose the relatively better. R. Niebuhr …toward greater biblical faithfulness

15. “A first class mind”F. Scott Fitzgerald • [T]he ability to hold two opposing ideas in the head at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. • Source: Cited in Charles Handy, p. 18. • The Empty Raincoat • London: Hutchinson, 1994.

16. Gospel Priorities for TodayNewbigin 1. Recovery of nerve in the Church as a whole. 2. Equipping of Christians to bring their secular employments under obedience to Christ. 3.The local congregation—more than just leaders—of believing Christians nurtured in courage that will enable them to challenge our culture with the gospel.

17. Be flexible, • Firmly committed.

18. God Acts: We respond in faithfulness • …we are never enjoined [in the Scriptures] to accomplish anything. The recurring theme of the psalmist, who summarizes as only poets can the sweep of God’s covenanting with his people, is that we are to recount—often and loudly—God’s accomplishments, his great deeds on our behalf. We are asked to be faithful—as he is faithful…We take action not because it is effective, but simply because it is faithful. • Source: Adapted from Stanley Hauerwas • The Peaceable Kingdom • NotreDame, 1983, p.151.

19. Eschatology is not a projection into the distant future; it bursts forth into our present existence, and structures life today in the light of the last days. Source: G.C. Berkouwer The Return of Christ Eerdmans, 1972, p. 19. THE END & NOW • Eschatology is not a projection into the distant future; it bursts forth into our present existence, and structures life today in the light of the last days. • Source: G.C. Berkouwer • The Return of Christ • Eerdmans, 1972, p. 19.

20. The New Jerusalem • 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. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 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.” • 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.” • Revelation 21: 1-5

21. ACTIVITY • Wrap Up Activity

22. Step of Faith OR Stick Your Toe into the Water “It’s time to walk into the water!” Get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. Joshua 1:2b Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ Joshua 3 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Joshua 3:11

24. LOOKING UP!

25. FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS….

26. THE STORY The biblical story begins with the creation of all things and ends with the renewal of all things as originally intended by God.Source: David Lawrence, Heaven: it’s not the end of the world, Scripture Union Press, 1995. God begins. And God begins again. HIS STORY ENDS HIS WAY!!