Everybody has a worldview! From the pigmy tribes in the Congo to the cufflink 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.
Everybody has a lens through which they interpret where life came from, and why bad things happen, and what their purpose of existence is really all about. Everybody has a worldview.
You and I as Christians 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.
Not everybody you live around today has the same worldview as you do. In fact, thanks to seventy-five years of public education, most of those living around you have an opposing worldview! There are also those who have a confused worldview, because they attempt to mix a Biblical worldview with a humanistic worldview and then wonder why everything seems so mixed up in this world!
A Person’s Worldview Is Formed in Many Ways
1. Culture—The civilization that he lives in, his society, value system, customs, arts, and his heritage with all of its traditions, traits, and ideals.
2. Education—What he has been taught as truth. Please understand that you and I are a product of what we read, watch, and subject our minds to.
3. Religious beliefs—What he has been taught as matters of faith.
4. Emotions—How he feels about a matter can be so strong that it outweighs any other logic or truth!
5. The Bible—Belief in God’s written Word and adherence to its teachings!
How you and I look at the world is largely shaped by the culture around us, and our culture is largely shaped by the worldview that is accepted by the majority of those you live with. For example, if you work a job in which you are the only Christian present or if you attend a liberal college you are probably subject to a pretty rough environment.
The same is true when you live in a society that is dominated by a media that is anti-God—the culture is ordinarily shaped by the majority, and you and I have to be careful that we do not let this anti-God worldview shape or change our worldview.
Culture around us is made up of the sum of everything that is out there and it is not neutral. The danger for us is that we can become so attached and so enamored with the culture around us that we actually become captive to it. When that happens, the first thing that we begin to question is our worldview. We begin to question the absolutes of God and trust the theories of the world!
When Paul delivered the sermon on Mars Hill to a humanistic society in Acts chapter seventeen, he did not even remotely question his worldview! He was so confident in his belief system (his faith) that he took his biblical worldview and engaged a pagan society that was very sincere in what they believed! He did not back down as he boldly proclaimed his God as true and their gods as false.
I will give you important components of a biblical worldview below and follow them with some dangers facing a biblical worldview.
Six Important Components of a Biblical Worldview
1. God is the Creator of the world and rules this universe! (Genesis 1:1)
2. The Bible is God’s Word for mankind and is completely accurate including matters of life and its origin. (2 Timothy 3:16)
3. Because of God and His Word, absolute moral truth exists! (Psalms 102:25–27; Malachi 3:6)
4. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and He lived a sinless life, died for our sins, was buried, and rose again from the grave three days later! (1 Corinthians 15:3–4; 1 John 4:9–10)
5. Satan is a real being (not symbolic) and seeks to defeat God’s plan for man! (1 Peter 5:8)
6. Salvation is obtained solely by individual faith in Christ’s work on the Cross and cannot be earned! (Ephesians 2:8–9)
Three Dangers Facing a Biblical Worldview
1. Not viewing all of life through the Bible. You can’t just take bits and pieces of God’s Word and form a philosophy of life! This is the biggest crime today among Christians. They say, “We will only believe those things about God that allow us to still be accepted by society!”
Jesus did not live like that. Paul did not live life like that and neither can you. You and I must run everything about life through the lens of God’s view of the world—the Bible.
2. Viewing opposing worldviews as enemies rather than opportunities. This is one of the hardest things for me to do, but that is exactly what Paul did on Mars Hill. He stood among them armed with nothing but the Scriptures burning in his heart and spoke to them of repentance and judgment.
Mars Hill is a mission field not a battlefield! Our apathetic, sensual, arrogant, and sometimes perverted culture is not the enemy! Satan is the enemy. People are an opportunity for evangelism.
We must get off the defensive and get on the offensive. The Bible says that those around us who have an opposing worldview have their minds blinded by Satan! “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
3. Not believing your worldview is absolute. Not just right, but absolutely right.
Paul preached to pantheists—who believe in many gods, not one God.
Paul preached to the elitists of his day—poets, historians, educators, culture-shapers.
Paul preached to idol-worshippers.
Paul preached to mockers.
Paul preached to unbelievers.
Paul preached to evolutionists (Acts 17:24).
Paul preached to racists (Acts 17:26).
Though we live in a liberal society that is fast being overtaken by other religions, we do not immerse ourselves as fish in the fishbowl of the world; rather we immerse ourselves in the truth of the Bible. This is the only way we can live a victorious, God-honoring life.
What you believe means nothing until you put it into action!
