Worldview

Welcome to Insights with Pastor John.

Today we're going to talk about

worldview. But before we do, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you and

praise you, Lord, for this opportunity

to take a look at your word and at your

truth. Help us, Lord, to understand this

and apply it to ourselves so that we can

grow in you and become closer to you in

all that we do.

So today, we're going to be looking at

worldview. And what world view is is how

you look at and relate to the world. So

I'm going to give you a definition of a

worldview is a a perspective that seeks

to answer life's questions based on the

teachings of the Bible. It integrates

profound theological truths such as

God's creation, human dignity, the

reality of sin and salvation through

Christ with practical applications in

everyday life. This worldview emphasizes

that God has revealed himself through

trustworthy scriptures which guide

believers in understanding and

interacting with the world around them.

So what a world view is is your

uh the way that you

interact with the world based on your

belief system. is. And so how you

perceive the world, how you interact

with the world, how you approach the

world is all based on your understanding

of what God's word says. That's why it's

so important. 2 Timothy 2:15 says,

"Study to show yourself approved unto

God, a workman needing not to be

ashamed, rightly dividing the word of

truth." And this is so key in

establishing a correct worldview. So

when you're looking at the world view of

a Christian as compared to the worldview

of a non-Christian or a non-believer,

uh you have this distinct

difference between what motivates people

and what doesn't, what their perspective

uh how their perspective determines what

they believe. And so when you're looking

at your worldview and you're looking at

the world through a biblical

perspective, you begin to see things.

And you know, the Apostle Paul, he was

very um he was very pointed about things

that a Christian can't do and still be

able to maintain their salvation. And uh

in Galatians chapter 5 before he talks

about the fruit of the spirit which are

things that should be self-evident in a

Christian's life he talked about things

that can separate you from eternity. And

so he went through them and these are

the works of the flesh. It starts in

verse 19. He said uh the very first one

he said is adultery. And if you look it

up, the word is moia in Greek and it

means sex outside of marriage. In other

words, you're h in you're having sex

with someone you're not married to. Uh

and it can only be adultery if one of

the two partners or both of the partners

are married to somebody else, but

they're engaging in in sexual

relationships.

The second one he goes to is

fornication.

And the Greek word for p fornication is

pornia which is the word that we get

pornography from. And he defines

fornication like this. It's acts of

caratry,

prostitution,

adultery, and incest. And you know in 1

Corinthians chapter 5, Paul had to deal

with this. If you go in there and read

it, there were believers in the church

in the city of Corenth where a man was

having sex with his father's wife and it

was being generally accepted by the

people in the church of Corenth. The

next one, there's actually 17 of these

and these are things that we need to be

aware of because there a lot of these

are acceptable to the world, but the

Bible teaches strictly against in doing

any of these things.

uncleanness. Uh, aaristia,

which means impurity, both physical or

moral impurity, not being dirty, as in

physically dirty, but doing acts or

committing acts that are physically or

uh morally impure.

Uh, lasciviousness, man, this is this is

one a lot. Aselgia is the word. It means

wantingness

or or filthy lasciviousness or seeking

after things that are uh completely

about the flesh. Idolatry,

image worship, witchcraft. Now, this one

this one is is something you should

listen to. Witchcraft. The word for

witchcraft is pharmarmacia

and it includes mindaltering drugs,

uh, medications, includes acts of magic,

sorcery, and witchcraft. So when you

that includes things like reading

horoscopes,

uh, going and visiting palm readers, uh,

seeking psychics online. This is all

forms of witchcraft, and the Bible

teaches against it. In fact, not only

does Paul talk about it in the New

Testament, but it was it was such an

abomination to God in the Old Testament

that he said not to suffer a witch to

live amongst you. Um,

hatred,

hatred, uh, the word is ecra and it

means hostility.

It means immunity, hatred and

opposition. In fact, it was such an

egregious thing that Jesus said if you

hate someone, you have as in your heart,

you have already committed murder.

The next one is variance. It's errors.

It's quarreling, being contentious,

having uh hostile debates, creating

strife. This is what the word variance

is about. Uh you see this a lot with

people that get into political

arguments.

um

because they're they're so right,

they're wrong. You can come to a place

where you are so so indignant

that you cannot uh help but argue with

any person who has a different point of

view than you. Uh emulations. Now, this

one is un a little bit unusual because

I've heard a lot of different

interpretations of what that word means,

but emulations is zalos. That's the

Greek word, and it literally means zeal.

And if you want a a true definition of

what he's talking about here, remember

when Paul

had his uh road to Damascus

conversion,

he was a a Jewish zealot and he was on

his way to Damascus to put Christians in

chains and take them back to Jerusalem

to be executed.

So the word means zeal or envying or

indignation, righteous indignation. Uh

fervent uh having a fervent mind, a mind

that's totally constantly focused on on

how much you need to get rid of these

people you disagree with. Jealousy.

Um and then the next one is wrath. The

word in Greek is stumos and it means

fierceness ind fierce indignation.

Wrath is where you're going to

uh extract judgment on someone and none

of us are are capable of jud of

judgment. The next one he talks about is

strife.

Strife means contention. It means

arguing. It means getting into heated

arguments with people over things.

seditions, dustia.

It means disunion, division,

uh, or causing people to separate. You

ever been to a church that's gone

through a split or is in the middle of

going through a split and you've got two

factions going on in the church and

they're a constant uh, disagreement with

each other. These are seditions. These

are things that cause people to separate

and we're called to unity.

Heresies.

Heresies are actually

when someone makes a choice

that causes division.

Envying.

Uh the word is uh fthonos and it's ill

will

or jealousy or spite towards someone

else.

murders. Phonos it means to literally to

murder or slaughter someone.

Drunkenness. Meth

is to get drunk or be intoxicated.

And the last one he talks about is

revelings. And reings is actually

tumultuous rioting. So when you have

people

uh like right now there's a lot going on

riots and people having violent

outbursts towards different factions in

government and those kind of things.

Paul talks about that as not being that

is not the way a Christian is supposed

to to act. You shouldn't be part of that

group. You shouldn't be there in any

way. So if the Christian worldview is to

be interpreted correctly,

then you should be looking at John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave

his only begotten son that whosoever

believeth in him should not perish but

have everlasting life.

And then John 3:17 says, for God did not

send his son into the world to condemn

the world, but that the world through

him might be saved. So we have this we

have this uh

com this real distinction between how

the world looks at things and how

Christians should look at things. And if

you have a if you have a uh correct

worldview and you're looking at the

world from God's point of view, then

what you have there is you have an

opportunity to share

uh God's word, to share God's life. Uh

James put it this way. He said, "You can

show you can tell me of your works o of

your faith by your words and I will show

you my faith by my works." In other

words, I'm going to go out here and I'm

going to tell people about Jesus and I'm

going to do it in a way where the

actions I take, i.e. my world view,

reflect what I believe. And that's a

that is a proper world view. And u so I

want to encourage you this week. Take a

look at yourself. Look at what you stand

for and then compare it to what the

Bible says you should stand for. And at

the end of the day, what you're looking

for is for the fruits of the spirit to

be evident in your life. And that your

world view is based on those things. So,

we'll see you guys next week. Have a

great week and remember that Jesus loves

you and he came here for you. He came to

make a difference in your life and

everybody else's life. And so, he loved

the world so much. He came here. He gave

his life. His death, burial,

resurrection

changed the world. And

that is the most important thing that we

can focus on. How can I share what Jesus

did on the cross with someone who does

not know or does not believe? I'll see

you guys next week.