Grace Thoughts

Guest (Male): Hello friends, welcome to Grace Thoughts, the radio ministry of Grace Connection Church with Pastor Tim Kelley. Grace Thoughts has been dedicated to preaching a clear gospel of grace for over 20 years. Here is Pastor Kelley.

Tim Kelley: Second Timothy chapter three. We start a new series today, "How to be a Christian in a Non-Christian World." Usually, we have our series reduced to three or four weeks, two weeks sometimes. This series is going to be a little open-ended. This is the kickoff of the series. There is a lot to be said about this subject as we live in this post-Christian world. We want to look at what it means, how do I live a Christian life in this post-Christian world. It is going to be, I believe in some ways, a hard-hitting message, and some messages will be very convicting. The new backdrop behind us was put up this morning as a reflection of really the world, the world as we know it.

Most of us have heard the term worldview. A worldview is the lens or the filter in which we see the world through, or I should say we should see the world through. We have a particular worldview. It should be the guiding light of our life. It determines our values. It influences our decisions and impacts how we relate to our environment, not mother nature, our life environment, our workplace, etc., and our everyday life. That is what our worldview is supposed to do.

There are different worldviews. You have heard me use the term many times through the years of the world system or the cosmic system that we know of. For me, the cosmic system, the world system, creates the worldview. My worldview in America is probably very different than a worldview in the third world. I perceive the world differently if I am living in the Sudan, fearing for my life, than I do living in Pinellas County, Florida, where I have no fear for my life except for driving on US-19.

There are different worldviews. This system, in itself, does not have a personality attached to it, but the programmer of this system does. It is like Windows. Somebody programmed Windows, a person with a brain programmed that. There is a brain behind the world system. We know in First John 5:19, the whole world lies in wickedness. The word wickedness in the Greek New Testament is "poneros" and not "kakos," which is the other word that is used. This particular word means a world system that infects. It has a goal to infect other people and to enlist other people in.

We live in this present evil age. Same word, evil: "poneros." This evil infectious age that we live in. Second Corinthians 4:4, Satan is the god of this cosmos, of this world system. He's the god of the air that we are breathing, the political climate, the entertainment climate of our particular place where we live. He is the prince of this age in John 12:31. This world system is an anti-Christ system. It will do anything to keep one from a freedom of the life found in Christ. It is geared, it is wired, it is rigged to keep you from a biblical mindset and a freedom. These microphones cost a lot of money, about $800 for this microphone. To replace this little cord costs about $400. To put the little clip on the back of your collar to keep it in one place costs about 22 cents. I have no clip. So it is just like pulling and tugging and whacking and my ear is coming off and everything here.

Romans 12:2 says don't copy the behavior and customs of this cosmos, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think. Let him transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think. I can almost say here, by giving you a different worldview, a different lens in which to filter your life through and see your life through, and to see life, not just your life, but all life through. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

First Corinthians 7:31 says those who use the things of the world system, cosmos, shall not be attached to them. We live here. I have a radio, I have a TV, I live in this society. I cannot run away from it. I cannot build a little cabin in the woods and pretend like the world is not going on around me. It is going on around me and God's called me to live in it, really as a light to the world that is in darkness. But those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. Do not embrace its worldview.

There are seven basic worldviews with many variations. There is Atheism, that is no God exists. Pantheism, that is sort of the New Age movement. God is impersonal, he is nature. Naturalism is Pantheism. Panentheism, similar to Pantheism, but God could be bigger than the universe and could actually encompass it. Deism, reason and observation of the natural world without the need for organized religion. In other words, there is a natural course of design for everything. It rejects supernatural events such as prophecy and miracles.

Polytheism, the belief in multiple deities. Finite Godism, God exists but is limited in influence, power, and control. Then we have Theism, that is you and I. Theism believes in one supreme being. There are three religions in the world that are theists. That is Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. We are theists, we are Christian theists. If you were to ask the average person on the street what their worldview is and if you converse with them, you will find that most really never articulate what their worldview is. In fact, you will find a little of everything mashed in there. You will find Christian, theistic, you will find a little of everything. It is shocking how undefined people's worldviews are.

They are walking through life never really defining what they believe and why they believe it and how it impacts their life. Remember the title of the message: "Being a Christian in a Non-Christian World." I introduced another worldview just a moment ago. It is called a mongrel worldview. It is a little mix of everything. You throw everything into the pot and you just pick what you like and leave the rest behind. It is a little bit academically dishonest or hypocritical, to say the least. Now for a new worldview. Created here today for Grace Connection Church at Pasadena, especially in today's American culture, the narcissistic worldview.

Narcissism is people that are self-centered. A narcissistic person. A narcissistic worldview is simply somebody who views the world through the lens of self. I filter the world through my needs, my desires, my wounds, my pain, my loss, my lust, my desire for certain sin, whatever that is. It is going to be different for all of us, but I create my own filter. I create, in a sense, my own worldview. This is how I'm going to approach life, and I'm going to be the center of my own universe. You would be shocked how much this worldview has replaced the Christian worldview in the church.

In fact, I would venture to say this is the predominant worldview in America today, maybe the world. Of course, we made this up. The Bible would be a little bit more simple about it. It is called sin. We are going to look at how some of the subtleties of this have crept into the church. Second Timothy chapter three verses one and two, King James Bible: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy." Unthankful, what a word.

Lovers of their own selves is a Greek word where we get the word hedonism from. It comes from "hedone," pleasure, means sweet, the Greek means sweet. The doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life. In other words, that is it. The ultimate of everything is happiness and pleasure. One of the videos I viewed, they were man-on-the-street video and they were asking people, what do you want from life? The average answer was, happiness. That was their perception. I guess I want happiness. That would be the ultimate goal of happiness.

Then the next question the interviewer said was, what will make you happy? They did not know what to say. They have never really thought through life. They have never really developed a coherent worldview and determined what it is that is going to actually satisfy them. Most are not aware that they even have this worldview, or a worldview, or at least as Christians, sometimes we are aware we have somewhat of a worldview. We know what we believe, but has that worldview really impacted our life? Has it directed our life? Has it influenced our decisions? Has it influenced our relationships? Has it influenced our money?

Narcissistic worldview is my comfort becomes the centerpiece of my goals. Comfort meaning physical, emotional, and psychological comfort. I have physical comfort, emotional comfort, and psychological comfort. That is my goal. If I can find comfort in those three realms, I am good. In a narcissistic worldview, happiness becomes my goal and anything that causes me discomfort, anything that causes me stress, anything that causes me boredom, or even a high level of accountability, must be removed or avoided.

As a Christian, what should be in the center of our worldview? Not an iPad, but the Bible that's on the iPad. Shouldn't that be the thing that dictates our worldview? How do I get a Christian worldview? Well, it's in the word of God. The word of God tells us how to think. The word of God gives us values. The word of God tells me how to be a Christian and what a Christian is. The word of God tells me how to relate to life, and the word of God becomes my lens in which I can interpret life, if I want it to be.

Second Timothy chapter three verse 14: "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them." Paul's last written record to his protege Timothy. Paul will be dead soon. He is going to be martyred soon. Second Timothy was his last book he wrote. Shortly after this, his head was taken off and he bequeathed his ministry to Timothy. This is his last exhortation to his protege. "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

Then he says this: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." I would interpret "in righteousness" there in how to live a godly life. That is how I would interpret that word, how it would apply in this verse. Scripture is given to me, it's profitable for reproof, it fixes me, it corrects me, helps me think right, and teaches me how to live with a Christian worldview. That sort of makes my life easy. I don't have to be that smart, I just have to know how to read.