Wisdom: The Art of Living Well...Pastor Phil Strong

Jesus: The Wisdom of God (Part 4)

10-17-10

● We have spoken often about this idea of everyone possessing a “worldview” and how influential it is in ordering the way in which we actually live our lives. A “worldview” being, essentially, what you believe to be true; what you believe to be real --- whether or not you are able to articulate it.

For obvious reasons, our worldview, then, must be thoughtful and reasonable, because the stakes are too high. Maybe if it’s not thought-provoking, that, too, says something about your worldview.

● Although we might identify variations, we might generally reduce this idea of worldviews to (2) essential approaches:

1)   “secular”- a way of interpreting life “without” God.

2)   “sacred”- seeing life “with” God.

● The secular worldview says, in essence, “this” is all there is. Although there is no such thing as a ‘textbook-definition’, it basically presumes that the essence of human existence- what’s most real about us, is our own experiences. Life is “self-determined” and “self-explanatory” [the philosophical label for this approach being “existentialism”].

● It basically says that we find ourselves in this vast and unexplainable universe with no resources (no guidance, no sense of certainty) except our own experiences and our own interpretations of what’s real, what’s right and what’s good based on those experiences.

● In this worldview, God is glaringly absent; nowhere to be found. The universe is a cosmic accident, therefore, it has no purpose. Human life is a biological accident, therefore, it has no significance/value. Any form of our existence ends at death… existence is pointless and useless. “Have a nice day!”

● The sacred worldview says “this” is, but there’s “more than this”, but, since life is not ‘self-explanatory’, we need revelation (have it revealed to us).  It finds trace-evidences of God everywhere in the world. God’s fingerprints are all over this place! The caveat for the Biblical worldview (as opposed to just ‘sacred’) is that it has given this God a name… “Yahweh”… “Jehovah”… “Lord”.

● It sees the world as the “word” (intentions/expression) of a good Creator-God who has remained involved and invested in all that he has made. It sees all of creation as ‘good’, but ‘defaced’. It sees the world as present and available to God at all times: a place where interaction with him is not viewed as “interference”, but as “caring-involvement”.

● The Biblical worldview offers us the mechanisms of our struggle… the (3) great opponents of wisdom, as “the world” (the evil around), “the flesh” (the evil within) and “the devil” (the evil beyond).

The world… (the evil around us) 1 John 2:15-17, 4:1-6)

            It’s a multi-faceted word meaning “system, order or arrangement”. It can be used to refer to creation, to humanity in general or to systems of human culture (ways in which we organize ourselves).

● 1 John 2 , as well as other texts, utilizes the word to describe systems or ways of organizing ourselves that intentionally train (inform/form, educate) us to live as if God does not exist--- or, at the very least, as if he is irrelevant (typically a ‘negative connotation’ attached).

● It says, “You can find life apart from God”, which is diametrically opposed to Jesus’ declaration that life (the means and the reality: John 14:6)) was only available through our experience of him.

● John warns us decisively… “Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love of the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world--- wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important--- has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him” (1 John 2:15-17)

James 1:27 warns us against being “polluted by the world”.

2 Peter 1:4 says, “Keep yourselves from being corrupted by the world.”

● The Scriptures fix the story within the context of this ‘system’ or ‘arrangement’. We cannot ignore the powerful influences and ideals which are informing and forming us in very profound, yet very subtle ways.

● Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, is famous for his “drooling dog”. When a dog encounters food, saliva starts to pour from the glands in the back of its mouth, making the food easier to swallow and digest. Pavlov noticed that even when no food was in sight, the dog still salivated. The dogs, it turns out, were responding to the lab coats, because each time the dogs were fed, the people were wearing lab coats.

            He eventually conducted an experiment where he ‘struck a bell’ when the dogs were fed. The dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell with food, so that, even when there was no food around, the sound of the bell would cause them to salivate.

● Simply stated, if I do something that brings me pleasure… I’m likely to do it again. If I keep doing it…it will likely become habitual. If it is taken away, I suddenly become aware (conscious) of how important that ‘thing’ or ‘experience’ is to me.         

So, just as we find the dog salivating over the mere sound of a bell, because it has become associated with satisfaction, there we are, ‘drooling over’ what we have become convinced will satisfy us, even though it’s a delusion.

● There appears to be almost a learning process, a “conditioning”, involved; probably best described as “conformity” (Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the patterns of this world…”). The word “conform” literally means, ‘to fashion yourself according to another’s pattern’.

            We are created “image-bearers”… “icons” of God. To fashion ourselves according to another pattern is to produce a cheap imitation; a caricature (false impression) of who we were meant to be.

The flesh… (the evil within us) 1 John 2:16; James 4:1-2

            Designates humanity as self-absorbed… self-centered rather than God-centered. It characterizes an inward-compulsion to satisfy ourselves apart from God (and what God has deemed ‘good’ for us).

The world will always support/reinforce the flesh and seek to create systems which allow us to indulge ourselves without interference from God.

            The world will always give us permission to put ourselves “first”; to be the “center” of life. The world will always appeal to our desires and offer us a means of satisfying them apart from God.

The world refers to it as “self-fulfillment”. The Scriptures refer to it as “self-deception”.

I am coming to realize that, most often, the “flesh” is the most significant enemy because without its propensities toward self, the other (2) are rendered powerless.

                To, first, recognize the propensities that are resident within me is to prepare me for rightly responding to the ‘world’ and the devil.

“…God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding” (Jeremiah 10:12).

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:2) [“The Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne”… the response in verse 3]

● Foundations don’t usually suddenly collapse, they “erode” (e.g. hillsides around the Plain Valley).

            It is usually more of a gradual process which eventually exposes the weaknesses not readily recognizable.

                Most often, instead of attempting to deal with the causes of the erosion, we simply attempt to minimize the damages.

When the foundation is compromised, it puts everything else resting upon on at risk.

The cultural erosion of our world might be understood with these (3) concepts which I offer for your consideration: (ponder them)

“reduction”- to offer something as ‘less than’.

● What I mean is that the Scriptures repeatedly declare that all things were created for God’s ‘glory’ (Isaiah 6:3), meaning, everything is really ‘more than’.

            “degradation” (de-grade: ‘lessen the honor’, ‘to bring it to low esteem’, ‘to wear it down by erosion’)- once something is detached from its ‘glory’ (worth, value, weight, significance), we are free to exploit it for our own self-indulgent purposes without the messy and uncomfortable notions of conscience or responsibility (e.g. Holocaust/genocide, slavery, abortion).

“They traded the glory of God, who holds the whole world in his hands, for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. So, God said, ‘If that’s what you want, that’s what you get’” (Romans 1:23-24, Message)

            “entertainment”- the word literally means, ‘to hold the attention of’. We need a diversion; something to distract us from noticing what’s going on within us and what’s going on around us. One cannot handle too much reality.

 But, so many of the things we pursue as entertainment (capture/hold our attention), are actually promoting the degradation (money, sex, power).

The frequent admonition of the Scriptures is to ‘wake up from your sleep’ (Ephesians 5:16-17). “Dead-to-the-world”… an interesting way of describing someone who is asleep. When we are sleeping, we are both “unaware of” and “unresponsive to” what’s happening around us.

I’m just sayin’.