Dr Greg Bahnsen - Interface with the World: Christianity as a Worldview (Part 1)

About 15 years ago, Dr. Greg Bonson published his Theonomy in Christian Ethics, a seminal work underscoring the authority of God's Word and the need to apply it to every area of life. His subsequent work has reiterated this theme. His A Biblical View is an excellent work applying biblical precepts to a current social issue. His by this standard is the simplest, clearest work available emphasizing the abiding validity of Scripture. And anytime now, his new work, no other standard will be available. A work talking about the importance of God's Word and God's standards in response to a recent publication from faculty of Westminster Seminary. Dr. Bonson holds theological degree degrees from Westminster Seminary and holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Southern California, a school made notorious recently by losing a football game to Memphis State. In all of this, in all of this, Dr. Bonson has established himself as the premier reformed apologist of this generation. Join me in giving an East Tennessee welcome to Dr. Greg Bonson.

Makes a great deal of difference how you look upon things, doesn't it? Now you see me as a person from Southern California and you're thinking, well, we stayed up late last night, we saw the game, Dr. Bonson, so now you've introduced my graduate school days as days of defeat. Here's a guy who's a loser. I'm from Southern California and so you watch the baseball game, say this guy is a loser. Makes a big difference how you look at things. I kind of wish you wouldn't see me in that light. It'll probably take a day or two for the Dodgers to recover and then maybe you'll take me seriously. What I have to say today, it does make a difference how you see people. You know the well known Boys Town line, he had this one brother who was carrying his injured brother and the well known line is, he ain't heavy, he's my brother. How do you look upon that weight that is on you? If you see it as your brother, then it's of little concern to you. If you see him as heavy, then it's something you bitch and complain about. We look at the same thing different ways many times. Bertrand Russell once had occasion to comment on the way in which people parse irregular verbs. You all know what an irregular verb is, one that takes a different form and usually all of the different persons that it speaks of we talk about I am and you are and he is, and that's an irregular verb. And Russell once said that you could look upon the very same thing taking place and you will say of yourself I am firm. And you will say of someone else, you are belligerent. And of a third person, he is positively pigheaded. Very same thing seen in different light. Optimist and the pessimist. You know, you can really tell the difference between the two if you send two boys out to clean a stall that's full of manure. The pessimist, you see, is just really down on it. Can't imagine the horrible smell and what a wretched thing he has to do here and how he'd like to get away from it and just there'd be anything better in this world to do than to clean out this stall. The other boy, who's an optimist, goes out there and he just works. He's so happy and so forth. You ask him, how can you be so happy about this wretched job? He goes, well, with all this manure, there's got to be a pony in there somewhere. Makes a lot of difference, the light in which you see things. And I want to ask you this morning, in what light do you see Christianity? Many years ago, I realized after I became a Christian that not everyone uses the word Christian in the same way. It is common parlance in our culture to use the designation Christian for someone or something which really has very little to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ or with those who affirm the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all their hearts. We speak of the Christian west, and we have no consideration at all there when we speak of the Christian west of whether people actually have read the Bible or believe the Bible. We talk about people being Christians because they are citizens of the United States. You've heard that many times. I'm afraid, however, that the way in which we look upon Christianity is not various, is not diverse, just because there are unbelievers or political movements or geographical regions that are designated as Christian. But there's a great deal of difference, even within the professed Christian church as to what a Christian is. Recently in Time magazine, the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, was interviewed and he was asked the specific question, what does being a Christian mean to you? The way in which you look upon Christianity is going to affect how you respond in this world to the various circumstances that confront you, how you respond to other people who are not Christians, and of course, obviously how you're going to stand related to the Lord Jesus Christ on the Day of Judgment. Here's what the Archbishop of Canterbury said. He said, first of all, it is a personal allegiance to a historical figure, Jesus Christ. It means believing in him and following his lifestyle, his person. For me, Christianity is a way of life. It is to be holy, a spiritual person for whom that spirituality takes a primary role. In anything I do, anything I say, I think that is authentic Christianity. It's the kind of thing that led the first Christians to the stake. You know, when I read that, I was very concerned because although I believe that Christianity is a lifestyle as well, I don't hear anything definitive here, anything clear, anything challenging having to do with the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ to be the son of God and the mediator between God and men. I see nothing about the shed blood of Jesus Christ and about the grace of the Gospel. I only hear about allegiance to a historical figure and trying to have a lifestyle that is befitting someone who has that. But then I got to thinking, well, Dr. Bonson, you tend to be just a little too critical. And so go back and look at it again. Maybe, you know, you could make something out of this that isn't quite that bad. But then I read on in the article and we come to another question, and I thought this one really told me what the Archbishop's definition of Christianity was all about. The question is this. You have said that Christians should not proselytize adherents of other religions. How do you reconcile that with your statement that Christians are under a historic mandate to proclaim their faith to all people? And this is the answer that we get from the Archbishop. I think there is a great difference between proselytizing and evangelizing. Evangelizing is a portrayal of the person of Jesus Christ while sensitively listening to the views of other people, taking into account where other people are at affirming where they are. Proselytizing is the arrogant assumption that the other person has nothing to offer to a debate. There's no dialogue in proselytizing. It is a kind of cowboys and Indians approach to another person that robs him of his dignity. And here's the kicker. Responsible evangelism always listens to the culture of the person. And after I read that, I said no, I think I understood his definition of being a Christian accurately. This man does not understand what it means to be a Christian. And one of the ways in which you can tell that is that he doesn't understand the way Christianity interfaces with the world. We wouldn't ever want to have. This cowboy is an Indian mentality that doesn't respect and take account of the culture of the other person. This man does not understand, you see, that Christianity is more than just allegiance to a person. And trying to have a. I don't know what kind of distinctive lifestyle it's going to be under these circumstances. It's not just that kind of allegiance. It is something which is world encompassing. To be a Christian is to be the follower of someone who claimed to be the Lord over heaven and earth, and therefore to be committed not simply to some kind of distinctive lifestyle as you respect all other cultures, but it's to be someone who wants to see all cultures changed and brought into conformity to the word of God. I'm going to talk to you about what it means to be a Christian today and that will obviously seem rather fundamental. I doubt there are very few, I doubt that there are very many of you who will have come to a conference like this without already have thought through exactly what it means to be a Christian. It's because you profess to be a Christian that you're interested in Christian renewal in the rebuilding of America. Nevertheless, there are two ways out of many that we can look at being a Christian in the Bible, which I think will show us how the Archbishop of Canterbury has really got it quite wrong. I'd like to present to you this morning the notion of a Christian as a disciple of Christ and a person who participates in Christ's reconciling work. And if we just look at this in a biblical perspective, I think we're going to see a much different image of Christianity than what has been presented in the quote given to you this morning. Again, whether you're an optimist or a pessimist sometimes depends on how you look at the material that you're dealing with. And as we look at the definition of what it means to be a Christian, I suggest to you that if you agree with what I want to present to you this morning, it'll make a great deal of practical difference how you live in this world. In Acts 11:26 we first encounter this term Christian in the New Testament. You may want to look at it in your Bibles. Acts 11:26. And it came to pass that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church and taught much people and that the disciples were called Christians first. In Antioch, the disciples in Antioch were first called Christians. This kind of expression in Greek is found elsewhere outside the Bible. And when we add what is in English, this I A n ending, what we are doing is talking about someone being a follower of another person. And so they were called followers of Christ. Christians first here. Notice, however, that those who are now designated Christians were up to this point called disciples. And that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. In order to be a Christian, to be a follower of Christ, one must be a disciple of Christ. What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? Two things stand out as I look at the New Testament in answering that question. A disciple of Christ is, first of all someone who's taken his cross to follow Christ. And secondly, someone who abides in the word of Christ. This, I think, is well supported in the New Testament. In your Bibles, look at Matthew 10:38,39. Jesus says, and he that doth not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it. He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it to be a disciple. To be a follower of Christ, to be a Christian is going to require such an attitude toward your life and your relationship to Christ that you'll sacrifice anything for him. He has just said in the verse preceding that anyone who doesn't hate his mother and father for my sake is not worthy of me. He says, anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. For you see, if you're looking to find your life, if you're looking to satisfy your desires, if you're just in this for yourself, Jesus says, you will end up losing your life. But if you are willing to lose your life now, taken it in a different sense, willing to give up everything for my sake, then you will end up finding your life. Now, Luke's version of this same demand of discipleship is found in Luke 14, and I think it's worthy of comparison. Luke 14. Look at verse 27. Jesus says, Whosoever doth not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. To be a disciple is to bear your cross after the Savior. And then in verse 33 of this same paragraph, Jesus says, so therefore, whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt, therefore, is good. But if even the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned. It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill men, cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Do you hear Jesus this morning? He's saying that if you are a Christian, you're not simply showing some kind of allegiance to a historical figure and then respecting all other cultures. If you're a Christian, you are sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, you are willing to renounce everything for his sake, to Be a Christian doesn't mean simply to change, in some narrow sense your religious convictions. It means to change your entire life and now be sold out for Jesus. And if you will not take up your cross, if you will not renounce all that you have, you can't be his disciple. Boy, now there's something that ought to be preached in the pulpits of our land. Jesus is not interested in you coming after him if all you want is some kind of fire insurance policy. Jesus is not interested in those who are simply selfishly looking out for themselves, saying, well, I'd like to live like hell, but may I please go to heaven. Jesus says, you must be willing to follow me, take up a cross, renounce everything, even father and mother, and be faithful to me. And the alternative to that, he says, is salt that has lost its savor and is good for nothing. I'll suggest to you this morning, even though I'm no prophet, I will suggest to you that the Christian church in America is good for nothing and will be cast out like salt that has lost its savor if we don't get back to understanding what it means truly to be a disciple and of Jesus Christ, to take up a cross, to renounce your life, to be sold out and make him your highest priority in everything that you do and say. So first of all, to be a Christian, to be a disciple means that kind of revolutionary, all encompassing change of lifestyle, change of direction, so that you're willing to sacrifice anything for the Lord. Secondly, to be a disciple of Christ, Jesus says you must abide in His Word. Please turn with me in your Bibles to John the eighth chapter at verse 31. John has just informed us that as Jesus spoke, the things that he was teaching, many believed on Him. Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed on him, if you abide in My Word, then are you truly My disciples? And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Jesus says that those who abide in His Word are His disciples. To abide in His Word doesn't simply mean to sniff it out. It doesn't simply mean to look at it every once in a while. It doesn't mean simply that you have this book that gathers dust on your table at home or on your bookshelf. But every once in a while you'll allude to it when you need some encouragement. He talks about living in His Word. Abiding in His Word, he goes, and if that is the environment of your life, if that is where you live, if that is, to use our vernacular, where you're coming from, then you are my disciple. Then you are truly my disciple. This suggests that there are those who are not truly disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those that are not the genuine article, and they are the ones who do not live in the atmosphere of His Word. If we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we are taking up our cross and following him, and therefore renouncing everything in this life for his sake, and if we are abiding in His Word, living in the atmosphere of his teaching, he tells us that we are going to be liberated by the truth that is found there. We will know the truth that sets us free. Let's jump ahead in John's gospel to the 17th chapter, where now we find the Lord Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, preparing to go to trouble, trial, and finally to the cross for our sins. This 17th chapter of John is a very tender chapter, because here we see our Savior praying for us, praying for those who follow Him. And in John 17:17, Jesus in prayer speaks these well known words. He prays, sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. As Jesus prepares to go to the cross, he asked that His Father and our Heavenly Father would sanctify us in the truth. He's already said that we'll know the truth if we abide in His Word. Now he asked that we be set apart by that Word, that we be sanctified. The word to sanctify means to make holy or to consecrate. More literally to set something aside. And Jesus says, set them aside from the world. Make them distinctive. Consecrate them to your purposes. Purify them of any desire or worldliness. Sanctify them by the truth. And of course, thy word is truth. To be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is to live in a distinctive way in this world, and a way which is guided by the Word of God. That Word of God which liberates us from the bondage of sin, liberates us from the penalty of sin, and liberates us now to be able to live new lives to God's glory. And how is that new life directed? What makes the life of the Christian different, consecrated, set apart from the world? It is the Word of God, the sanctifying word of God. Another word about sanctification in First Peter, chapter 1, verse 15 Peter lets us know the scope. Sanctification by the Word of God. In verse 14 he has already mentioned that we should be children of obedience who do not fashion ourselves according to our former desires in the time of our ignorance. We are to be those who are set apart from the lifestyle of the unbelieving world. No longer do we follow the desires that we once had when we were not Christians, he says, but rather we are to be children of obedience. Then verse 15 says, but like as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all manner of living. Where are we to be set aside? I'm afraid that we have a very misguided doctrine of sanctification in the Church today. Often when you pick up books on the subject, even those which are very good in addressing what they do address, the fact of the matter is sanctification is looked upon as an improvement of one's internal and personal piety. And sanctification is that it must be, that it must begin there. We must have hearts which are clean before God. We must want to renounce worldliness in the sense of that which is displeasing to God and is in hostility to God. We must be sanctified people. We must be people of prayer. We must be people who worship. We must be people who engage in the sacraments and have an active role in our churches. We must be sanctified people. But Peter tells us that sanctification, being made holy, means being made holy in all manner of living, to use our expression in all areas of life, to be sanctified, to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to be set apart, consecrated, made distinctive by the truth that is in his word. It is to abide in His Word and truly be his disciple, and to renounce all things, taking your cross to follow him. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, that all Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable. We often focus upon the fact that Scripture is profitable for our doctrine. Paul tells us that as well, Scripture is profitable for instruction in righteousness. And then he adds this, that the man of God may be perfectly furnished to all good works. There is no good work in this world, whether it has to do with your church life or your family life, or your private devotions, or the way in which you engage in the arts or the sciences or education, or the way you use your money, or the way you function as a citizen in this land, or the way you relate to your neighbors. There is no good work whatsoever that is not defined by the word of God. That's how all encompassing it is. And if we will study the Scriptures, Paul tells us, we'll be equipped to every good work. Now it makes a great deal of difference then how you look at things, doesn't it? I started out with that. How do we look upon being a Christian now? What difference will it make whether you see yourself as a Christian in the light of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ abiding in his work, which sets you apart in all areas of life with God's distinctive and holy truth? Does that make any difference? If we had a nation full of professed Christians who thought of themselves in that way, do you think it would make a difference than if we had a nation that has all of these people professing to be Christians? And what they mean by that is, I want to go to heaven when I die. Now I want to go to heaven when I die. The Gospel tells us about eternal life. Those who wish to be right with God must be right through the Lord Jesus Christ. However, when Jesus bids us to follow him and enjoy that life which lasts forever with him, he does not ask us to hold on to our faith, former life, our former outlook, to be just like everybody else in the world except this one little when you die, you go to heaven. That narrow, spiritualistic, pietistic version of Christianity has its own fruit, just as the more biblical, broad understanding of being a Christian as a disciple of Christ will bear its fruit. And don't you think there's going to be a difference between the two types of fruit that are born? It makes a great deal of difference what you think being a Christian is. I suggested that being a Christian is being a disciple of Christ. Let me suggest now that being a Christian is one who participates in the reconciling work of Jesus Christ the Savior. Being a Christian, secondly, is someone who participates in the reconciling work of Jesus Christ as the Savior. Turn in your Bibles to Colossians, the first chapter, Colossians chapter one. I'm going to be focusing on verses 16 and 20. But just to set the stage for you here, notice that in verse 13 Paul is speaking of Jesus Christ, who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. Now this is very close to the heart of any true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what all genuine believers throughout the world are going to believe, of course, that the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood for our redemption. We have the forgiveness of our sins, and therefore we have been delivered out of the power of darkness. And so you know what note Paul is striking here. He's talking about a notion of being a Christian, being saved, which just any child of God is going to recognize, whether they've understood the broad dimensions of discipleship or not. But notice that Paul doesn't stop there. What does he go on to say about the work of Jesus Christ that brings us the forgiveness of our sins? Verse 16. For in him were all things created in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and unto him. And then in verse 20, notice Paul says, and through him, through Christ to reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace, peace through the blood of his cross, through him I say whether things upon the earth are things in the heavens twice. Paul talks about these all things in the heavens and on the earth. And he says with respect to Jesus Christ, in the first place, Jesus created all things through him were all these things made, whether thrones or dominions, visible things, invisible things? He's the Creator of all, and therefore all things exist for Him. Because Christ is Lord over heaven and earth. As Creator, everything in heaven and earth is to serve his purposes. Everything has been made by him and unto Him. Now if we turn to the work of Jesus Christ as Savior, not simply as creator. In verse 20, we see the same thing. That the work of His Cross brought reconciliation for all things through him, to reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Paul tells us that all things have been created and all things have been reconciled through the work of Jesus Christ. And because these things have been made and remade for the sake of Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ, they have been so for the sake of Jesus Christ as well. Everything exists for Him. And that's why you see in this context, verse 17 says, he is before all things and in him all things consist. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord over all. And he is the Head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. And why is that? This is what you want to underline in your Bibles. In order that in all things he might have the preeminence. In order that in all things he might have the preeminence. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ engage in his reconciling work? So that he would be Lord over all. Not simply Lord over some narrow domain of life. Not simply Lord in terms of our private feelings, not simply Lord in terms of our family relationships, but Lord overall, He's to be preeminent in the way we engage in our recreations, the way in which we do, our industries, the way we educate our children. He is to be preeminent in our arts. He's to be preeminent in our schools. He's to be preeminent in all of the sciences. He's to be preeminent in the economic realm, in the political realm. He is to be lord over all. To be a Christian is to be one who engages and enjoys and has been brought into the reconciling ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that reconciliation is not simply for your simple, selfish benefit that you might go to heaven when you die, but that reconciling work is so that all of creation might be brought back to its proper order and its proper function in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul tells us that we are to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Jesus is not satisfied to reconcile us just so that we'll think about eternal, eternal life properly. Jesus is not satisfied to reconcile us just so that we'll think about our private prayer life and devotions and relationship to him properly. When Jesus reconciles us, he reconciles everything that we have, everything that we do, all of our functions in this world. He reconciles us because all of life has been brought back through his redemptive work. To put it very simply, if you enjoy the reconciling work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are someone who's going to have a Christian worldview. You're not going to simply be someone that has his hope or her hope set on going to heaven after you die, regardless of how you live now, regardless of how you think now. But you're going to be somebody who sees things differently, who has made a change of direction. What do I mean by a worldview? Well, it turns out that everybody has a worldview. Not everyone knows they have a worldview. Not everybody stops to think about having a worldview, but everyone has one. Some of you will know the illustration that I like to use. I have a next door neighbor who kind of like the person in the beer commercial, you know, he just. He knows he's only going around once in life and so he lives for all the gusto he can get. He's not a well educated person. If I were to go to talk to him about the subtleties of Plato, of Aristotle, Hegel or Kant, he'd probably say, why don't you come back later? He's not interested in these sorts of things. And yet he, just as much as myself, has a worldview. He has an outlook on life. That gives him some direction and by which he evaluates all of his experience. He has a way of looking at things that tells him what is really real, what exists, what he can count on to be genuine. He has an outlook that in philosophy we call metaphysical. He'll tell you what is real. Usually it's something like this. You know, you can touch it. If you can see it, you can kick it. It's real. He has a view of reality. He also has a view of knowledge. He has some idea of what it means to know something. For him, ordinarily, to know something means to experience it. So we're back to this right here. If you can touch it, you can kick it. If you can taste it, then it's something you can know. It's something observable. He has a view of man's place in this universe. He has a view of man's nature. He has a view of man's function. He has a view of value. He says, grab for all the gusto you can get. He doesn't know the term, but he's a hedonist. He's living for pleasure. He says that's the highest good. He has an ethical outlook. He thinks he knows what is right and wrong. And he can evaluate all of the experiences of life or what he sees on the tv. And he can tell us whether it's right or wrong. In terms of this fundamental outlook on life. What is man? What is his place in the universe? What is real? How do we know what we know? What are genuine values? How should we live our lives? Everyone has answers to those questions. That isn't to say everyone has thought about it and can self consciously give you the answer. But everyone lives out of a perspective that encompasses these items. What is real? How do I know? How should I live my life? And this worldview that everyone has is going to guide them in terms of how they understand their experiences. It's going to guide them in terms of how they reason. It's going to guide them as to how they live their lives. Now, what is it to be a Christian? I've said that it is to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and to be a participant in his reconciling ministry. If we put these two things together, I think we could say to be a Christian is to have a particular worldview that the most fundamental, less level of your existence, of your thinking, of your feeling and of your behavior. You see the world differently than other men. You know how, you know what it is, you know differently than other Men, you have different values than other men. And this outlook on life that you have that tells you about the world and man and his place and his function and his conduct. This outlook you have on all of life has been given to you in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, in the revelation of God himself. To be a Christian is to be sold out to that worldview and it sets you apart from other men. Obviously, the way a naturalistic evolutionist looks at things in this world is going to be different than the way you look upon them. Now we notice that in this world there are things like very ugly things like child molestation. Someone who is consistent with the outlook of naturalistic evolutionary thought would not be able to say of child molestation that it is immoral, that it is something reprehensible, that is something contrary to true value. For you see, a naturalistic evolutionist thinks that in this world nature just tends to develop different kinds of organisms. We live in a world where what is is all there is. And so when you find someone who's a child molester, what you found is just a different. Who's to say whether it's more advanced or less advanced version of the human species. Naturalistic evolution looks upon death differently than Christians do. Naturalistic evolution looks upon sexual perversion differently than Christians do. It looks upon the function of government differently than Christians. It looks upon the function of education differently than Christians. It has a different sociological outlook for the family than Christians do. Don't think that being a Christian somehow makes it possible to blend in with everybody else, except you've got the icing on the cake that you're going to heaven. When you see things in the light of Christianity, you see things differently. Certainly as differently, as significantly different as the person who says, he's not heavy, he's my brother. The way in which we look at the world, the way in which we respond to the world, will be greatly affected by what we think is real, by how we know what we know and how we should live our lives. In Deuteronomy the 6:8, I think you find biblical warrant for what I'm calling a Christian worldview in that God told his people that they were to reveal, write his law, they were to write his revelation upon their foreheads and upon their hands. And of course, the Jews, not willing to follow after the righteousness of faith, not understanding the grace of God, being very petty and trite and legalistic, didn't understand God's demand here. And you find such a silly things as those who wear the phylacteries and so forth, in a little writings out of a portion of the Torah, then put on a leather band around the head, as though somehow that fulfilled the commandment. What was God asking of his people when he said, write my law upon your forehead and upon your hand? He was saying, first of all, the way in which you think and see the world should be structured by and guided by my word. God didn't say, when it comes to thinking about life after death and going to heaven, then you make sure you think about my word. He said, no, in everything that you do, the way in which you see the things that you see in this world, the way in which you think about anything you think should be governed by my law. And it should be written upon our hands as well, because it is God's word, Word that controls our activity in this world. To have a Christian world and life view is to have the Word of God written on your forehead and upon your hand. It is to be thinking God's thoughts after him and obeying him in everything that you do. That's what it is to be a Christian, to have a worldview like that, to abide in Christ's word, to renounce everything, to follow him and to be true to what he has taught. In Colossians 2, 3, we are told that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are deposited in Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Jesus doesn't say, if you want to know about pious things, if you want to know about narrowly religious things, if you want to know about going to heaven when you die, then you need to know what I have taught. We are told by Paul that anything that someone would know is going to be dependent upon knowing what the Lord Jesus Christ has to say about it. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And then in verse 8 of that same chapter, Paul says is be careful then that someone not rob you, not spoil you, literally in the Greek, not mug you. Be careful that someone not rob you by means of a philosophy that is not after Christ. To rob you of what? Well, obviously he's just been talking about treasures, treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And what he says is, if your philosophy, if you're outlawed, is not after Christ, you're going to get robbed. We're talking here about a philosophy that is all encompassing because it deals with all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And so Paul says, be careful that you're not robbed by philosophy and vain deceit, that is after the rudimentary principles of this world, that is after the traditions of Men and is not after Christ. Paul does not say that we shouldn't study philosophy. I have to keep telling people that because there are still fundamentalists in this world who tell me, Dr. Bonson, if you were a good Christian, you wouldn't have gotten a PhD in philosophy because the Bible says don't study philosophy. Well, that isn't what my Bible says. My Bible says don't fall for that philosophy to be sure. Don't be tempted by that philosophy to be sure. But you see, if I'm going to know the difference between philosophy that is after the world and philosophy that is after Christ, I'm going to have to study the issue, isn't that right? Just like a doctor who wants to bring health and wholeness to people's bodies is going to spend a great deal of time studying what not just health and wholeness, but disease and broken bones. He's going to have to study, you see, that which he doesn't approve of or want in order that he knows how to avoid it, how he can correct it and bring health to people. Likewise, as Christians, we do need to know about worldly philosophies. We do need to know about those perspectives which are contrary to Christ, but we need to know about them so that we won't fall for them. What happens when a Christian doesn't think self consciously about his or her view of reality? What happens when a Christian doesn't think self consciously about his or her view of reality, his or her view of how we know what we know, his or her view of how we should live our lives in this world? When you don't think about these things self consciously, then you're blown about by every wind of doctrine that comes along. You'll have people coming along telling you things and you say, well, that sounds okay to me. You know, that's fine. And then as a Christian, you can be brought over to the idea of say, well, I wouldn't want to get an abortion, but who am I to tell other people they can't, right? I mean, that wind of doctrine has decimated the Christian church, has emasculated it. It's just taken away its strength and potency. And we think, well, that's because as Christians we're supposed to love everybody. And if you love everybody, that means you respect them. That means you let them do whatever they want to do. I want you to think about that the next time you're being mugged and say, well, if I love this person, I got to let him do anything he wants to do. I wouldn't go around mugging people. I wouldn't want to take people's money and beat them up and so forth. But who am I? I mean, it's preposterous thinking. It's utterly ridiculous thinking, and yet Christians fall for it. And the reason they do is because they don't think self consciously as followers of Jesus Christ. They don't think in terms of the word of God. They don't make that the benchmark, the final standard and the starting point of all their thinking. What we need is a Christian world and life view, so that we think, think God's thoughts after him. And the way we act in this world is governed by His Word, the law written upon the forehead and upon the hand, recognizing that Christ has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and that we'll be robbed of them if we don't pay attention to worldly philosophy, worldly ways of thinking, the traditions of men, and avoid them. In Romans 11:36, Paul gives us an insight, I think, to the perspective of Christians when he says, for of him and through him, and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever and ever. Where you see everything came from God, everything is through him, and everything is unto him. You'll notice often in the New Testament this emphasis upon all things. 1st Peter 4, 11. Peter says that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion forever and ever. A Christian world and life view that in all things the Lord Jesus Christ, that God is glorified through the Lord Jesus Christ, who has all dominion. Our first Corinthians 10:31. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Everything for the Christian has been sold out for Jesus. That's what it is to be a Christian. It's to see things as Jesus would see them. For we have the mind of Christ. It is to do things the way Jesus would do things, because we follow in his steps. It is to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ who abide in His Word and want to see all things serve his purposes as creator and Redeemer of the entire world. Time magazine has a different version of religion than what I presented to you in this first presentation this morning. Time magazine. Well, maybe it's worth reading, maybe it isn't worth reading, but it's certainly significant in that the way it categorizes things makes religion just one more department of life. You read Time magazine and you read about politics and you read about education and you Read about arts and you read about science. And then there's this category, religion. And I'm afraid that the reason why the Church of Jesus Christ has lost its potency in this world today is because it's allowed itself to see things like Time magazine does. You have all these different areas of life, and we have religion. Whereas the Lord Jesus Christ says, if you're going to follow me, religion is not going to be a department of life. It's going to be life itself. Religion is going to be the world in which you see everything, the way in which you do everything. To be a disciple of the Lord Jesus means you're going to renounce all of life, define true life in being his follower and abiding in His Word. I love that vision of Zechariah 14 verses 20 and 21. Perhaps I can leave that with you this morning as you consider these words about what it means to be a Christian Christian. It means to have a Christian world and life view. Zechariah, the 14th chapter, talks about the coming days of the Messiah, the days of the Messianic age. And we read, in that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses holy unto Jehovah. And the pots in Jehovah's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy unto Jehovah of hosts. Think about that. Zechariah says, in the days of the Messiah, I'll tell you what it'll be like. You take the least significant flourish on life, the bells on the horses. Any of you who use horses for constructive tasks like farming or riding and so forth forth, will know that bells are not real important for all of that. You see the bells on the horses when you dress them up right, when you take them to parade. And we all know how superfluous that is. We make these beasts of burden to look, you know, so beautiful. And we brush them and make them look nice and put beautiful bridles and blankets on them and saddles and so forth. And then. And then, after we've done all that superfluous stuff, then we have just the final touch, a few bells. The horse. Zachariah says, I'll tell you what it'll be like when the Messiah comes and when he reconciles all things in heaven and earth in that day, the least significant flourish, the bells on the horses, will read, sanctified to Jehovah, set apart for God and his service. What is it to be a Christian? It is to have a comprehensive reorientation of life and thinking, so that you look for the day when even the bells on the horses are going to serve the purposes of God and bring glory to him. We live in a day where there are many Christians who will not like what I have presented to you in this first talk this morning who will tell you that somehow we are legalists, that we've really lost out on what the gospel is all about. Many of these people who stand opposed to the kind of teaching I presented to you in this hour are those who follow the views of evangelism, the views of Christianity and a revival that were presented in last century by Charles Finney. Finney is popularly taken as a theologian who denies the relationship between the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the reform of all of life. And so I think it would be appropriate to close by reading from Finney's lectures on revivals of religion, because here this man who was supposed to be something of a seminal thinker, for those who tell us, no, we just want to evangelize. We want to follow the Lord Jesus and rescue a few brands from the burning so that people can go to heaven when they die or be raptured when the Lord Jesus comes. They look to Finney. And yet this is what Finney had to say. And on this point anyway, it's one of few, but on this point anyway, I have to agree with him. Charles Finney said the great business of the church is to reform the world. The Church of Christ was originally organized to be a body of reformers. The very profession of Christianity implies the profession and virtually an oath to do all that can be done for the universal reformation of the world. And with that kind of revivalism, we can certainly agree. Thank you.