Developing A Biblical World View (Part 1)

Title: Developing A Biblical World View

Text: Col 2:6-8

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Introduction:

- What is a Biblical World View?

- It’s when you see the world and live out your morals around the Word of God.

- My morals are dictated by the Word of God and what it says.

- Every church needs to establish itself on issues and where they stand.

- Every individual needs to establish in there lives where they stand on issues.

- Why? Because our world is heading in a direction that would have been unheard of 10, 20 years ago.

- As Christians we need to take a stand on issues that our facing our nation today or we will lose our freedoms that we are presently enjoying.

- Christians today don’t know what a world view is, nor do they live by it.

- Pastor’s today don’t preach on it because they themselves don’t live by that standard.

- We should always go back and find out what the Word says concerning everything from the Great Commission (Evangelism) to how we live (Morals).

In his recently released book and a subsequent research report on world views, author and researcher George Barna made waves by citing statistics showing just 9% of all born again adults and just 7% of Protestants possess a biblical world view. That information pricked people’s curiosity regarding the world views of the nation’s religious leaders, prompting Barna Research to conduct a national survey on that topic among Protestant pastors. The numbers are now in – and the outcome may again shock many people.

Based on interviews with 601 Senior Pastors nationwide, representing a random cross-section of Protestant churches, Barna reports that only half of the country’s Protestant pastors – 51% - have a biblical world view. Defining such a world view as believing that absolute moral truth exists, that it is based upon the Bible, and having a biblical view on six core beliefs (the accuracy of biblical teaching, the sinless nature of Jesus, the literal existence of Satan, the omnipotence and omniscience of God, salvation by grace alone, and the personal responsibility to evangelize), the researcher produced data showing that there are significant variations by denominational affiliation and other demographics.

- The reason why churches today our struggling with morals and the Word of God is because half of the leaders and religious teachers don’t have one either.

- You can’t give something that you don’t have yourself.

The Denomination Gap:

(Note this is American Stats but Canada I believe is the same)

An example of the gap among churches is reflected in the outcomes related to the nation’s two largest denominations, the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church. (Of the nation’s 320,000 Protestant churches, more than 42,000 of them are Southern Baptist and more than 35,000 are United Methodist; these two denominations alone account for roughly one-quarter of all Protestant churches in the U.S.) The Southern Baptists had the highest percentage of pastors with a biblical world view (71%) while the Methodists were lowest among the seven segments evaluated (27%).

Among the other segments examined, 57% of the pastors of Baptist churches (other than Southern Baptist) had a biblical world view, as did 51% of non-denominational Protestant pastors, 44% of pastors of charismatic or Pentecostal churches, 35% of pastors of black churches, and 28% of those leading mainline congregations.

- So out of the 51 percent of Pastor’s who have a world view, in most of these church the congregations do not.

- Barna says that 6 out of the 7 congregations where there pastor has a Biblical World view, the congregation don’t share the same thoughts or world views.

- Church whether it’s a lack of respect for the office of the Pastor, or they don’t care, if there is somehow churches can come together with there Pastor and share the same Biblical world views, the impart on our society would be powerful.

- If all of the 51 percent of churches where to follow the leadership of the Pastor concerning the Biblical world views of the 6 that Barna mentioned earlier, the churches would be a force to be reckoned with.

- Governments would be coming to us for advice, and revival would sweep across the land.

Interpretation Of Our Text (Col 2:6-8):

- Paul emphasizes that receiving Jesus is not enough. The challenge is to continue to live in Him.

- How do you do that without having a standard or a Biblical World View to follow?

- The distinction between “beginning” and then “continuing” in the relationship with Christ is critical.

- The Evangelism techniques today can overemphasize the decision to believe in Jesus and become a Christian.

- When this happens to little attention is given to being or living the Christian experience.