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Dear Father, I just pray now
that you would use this time, Lord, that your word would be
known, that truth would be known, Lord, that freedom would come.
Lord, we just ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Kath, did you have something
to do before I started? No? I was told she was going to come
up and do a cheer for me this morning. But now she's backed
out, I guess. Along those lines, one of the
blessings of being called upon to fill the pulpit, I learned
this week, was all the goodwill that is passed on to the person
that has the responsibility. Got text message this morning,
had any number of people this morning said praying for you.
It's always been a blessing to have a reason to spend so much
time in the Word and mull it over and mull it over and mull
it over, but it's great to also have the support of the congregation. The little country schoolhouse
was heated by an old-fashioned potbelly stove. An eight-year-old
boy named Glenn Cunningham had the job of coming to school early
each day so that he could use kerosene to start the fire and
warm the room before his classmates and teachers showed up. One cold
morning, someone mistakenly filled the kerosene container he used
with gasoline, and disaster struck. Cunningham's legs were very badly
burned in the explosion, and his 13-year-old brother Floyd
died in the fire. When the doctors realized that
he was going to live, they recommended that his legs be amputated. But
he was so distressed, his parents would not allow it. The doctors
predicted he might never walk normally again. He had lost all
the flesh on his knees and shins and all the toes on his left
foot. It was early summer of 1919 when he first tried to walk
again, roughly two years after the accident. On that sunny day,
his mother wheeled him out in the yard to get some fresh air.
This day, instead of sitting there, he threw himself from
the chair. He pulled himself across the
grass, dragging his legs behind him. He worked his way to the
white picket fence bordering their lot. With great effort,
he raced himself up on the fence. Then, stake by stake, he began
dragging himself around the fence, resolved that he would walk.
He started to do this every day until he wore his path around
the inside of their fence. This great determination, a positive
attitude, and a strong religious faith, coupled with hours upon
hours of a new type of therapy, enabled him to gradually regain
the ability to walk and eventually to run. His favorite Bible verse
was Isaiah 40, 31. But those who wait on the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles, They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk
and not faint." And run, he could. In 1932, in the 1932 Olympics,
he took fourth place in the 1500 meter. In 1934, he set the world
record for the mile run at 406, which stood for three years.
In 1938, he set a world record in the indoor mile of 404. It would be another 16 years
before Roger Bannister would be the first to break the four
minute mile. Once told he would not live, let alone walk, Glenn
Cunningham became perhaps the best American miler in U.S. history. The life of Glenn Cunningham
is a tremendous story of overcoming a particular obstacle. His story
contains the three essential requirements of a good story,
as lined out by Tim Keller's book, Every Good Endeavor. According to Keller, there are
three things that make a good story. And that's all I'm asking
you to remember today, is three things. The first thing is, having
a good story has understood environment. Everyone understands
what should be. The second thing it has is some
conflict that keeps things being from what they should be. And
lastly, there is a resolution to that conflict. Keller has
a point. Would you and I even know the
story of Glen Canningham if it were not for that fire? I doubt
it. The devastation to his legs and
the eventual victory over it are not only what forged the
character in Cunningham that propelled him to his remarkable
achievements, but they also highlight the key essentials for a great
story. Not only do stories or narratives
inform and inspire us, and you can think of any number of people
that you've known the stories of, incredible people that have
overcome very much But they're not just stories. They actually
form the stories we know, form the way we think, and consequently,
the way we live. We make sense out of life by
the way we view the big picture. This narrative of story that
is the framework by which we organize reality is called our
worldview. Individuals and cultures alike
require worldviews in order to function. Individuals and cultures
must both answer three questions. How should the world be? Why
is it not as it should be? And what is the solution? Let's
think about the answers to these questions as proposed by the
world. Question number one, how should
the world be? If you are a naturalist, a natural
Darwinist, you would balk at that question. Because if we
believe for a moment that everything is by chance and just happens
to be what it is, then there is no should in what the world
should be. It was what it was, it is what
it is, it will be what it will be. There's no purpose, there's
no direction, there's no plan. It simply is. So the world does
not offer an answer to what the world should be. The problem with that worldview
is that you'll find very few people, if any, that would look
you straight in the eye and say the world is as it should be.
Everyone knows that there's got to be something different. There has to be some change,
that they would want some change to the world. And so although
it is the The typical answer, that the world is what it is,
so few are actually willing to admit that it needs to change. And how is it that they get these
ideas about the fact it should change? Why aren't they satisfied
with the fact it is what it is? So as far as the way the world
should be, the world does not have much of an answer for that.
Question two. Even though they don't, they
would say that they want some changes, when you ask them what
should change or why isn't the world what it should be, what
is the main problem, you're going to have a variety of answers. Some answers to the main problem
have grown great, a great following and have shaped societies and
cultures. In Leslie Stevenson's book, Seven
Theories of Human Nature, he points to the following influential
thinkers. and what they saw as the biggest
problem facing humanity. Plato saw the problem as being
our physical body and its weaknesses. Marx saw the problem as unjust
economic systems. Freud's issue was with inner
unconscious conflicts. Skinner, B.F. Skinner, says it
was a failure of us to realize we are completely the product
of our environment. And Lorenz, For him, it was our
innate aggression because of our evolutionary past. So many
problems to choose from. Are they the problem? Do any
of them account for the mess, any one of them account for the
mess this world is in? Not all worldviews are so dominant
that they form cultures and societies. Most worldviews are very unique
and private. An individual can focus themselves
exclusively on a cause like saving the environment or a quest for
true love or finding success by overcoming social origins
or expectations. In every case, individuals are
living out a story which they become the protagonist and are
overcoming what they see as the biggest obstacle. So neither, question number three,
what is the solution? Well, if society and individuals
can't agree about what the problem is, obviously we can't agree
about what the solution is. As Christians, our gospel is
our worldview. It, more than any alternative
worldview, has specific answers to all three questions. Question
one, how should the world be? You need only to turn to Genesis
1 and begin reading and you understand what God's initial plan was for
this planet and this universe. and think about what Adam and
Eve had in their environment. In fact, take a moment just as
an aside, for the first time I really thought about, you've
been around young children, and when their wheels, their mental
wheels really get turning, and they start thinking things through
and start asking questions, and you hear their thoughts and hear
their questions, and just how that one question leads to another
question, leads to another question, And there's just no end to the
questions. You tire of answering questions.
For the first time, I really thought about, with all that
was new, and all that Adam and Eve were experiencing, I suppose
they had some questions. And the beauty of the whole thing
is not only they had questions, but they had the all-knowing
God to answer them, and they had all the time in the world.
Just that one was for free. When you think about the specific
characteristics of Eden, I want to just point out a few of them.
Obviously, there was bountiful provision, and that provision
was all-encompassing. It was for body, mind, and soul. So there was bountiful provision
in Eden. Secondly, there was intimacy
that had never known fear or conflict, only peace, unity,
and love. Think in your own mind what a
different person you would be if you had never been afraid
to be vulnerable. Because there had never been
a reason to be vulnerable. You had never known anyone that
thought ill or wished you harm. That had never occurred in the
history of man and was not a reality in the minds of Adam and Eve.
So the intimacy, provision and intimacy. Also think about that
their days were full of meaningful, fruitful, and accomplishable
tasks. That book I mentioned by Keller
is actually a book, his book about how the gospel view affects
your work. Excellent book, I'd recommend
it. And of course, he elaborates on all that the gospel does to
change our work, the way we view it, the way we do it. But think
about Adam and Eve. They had things to do. They were
able to do them. There wasn't anyone standing
in the way of them doing them. They got things done. They enjoyed
what they were doing. Days full of meaningful, fruitful,
and accomplishable tasks. It also included the Garden of
Eden, the security, significance, satisfaction, and beauty that
is only found in God. Security, significance, satisfaction,
and beauty that is only found in God. Man was, in that environment,
able to completely love God and love his neighbor. The world
should be, according to Genesis, a perfect human existence. More accurately, perfect coexistence
between mankind and God. We are to love God and love our
neighbor. That is how it should be. Question
number two. Answer to question number one
is Eden, by the way. Question number two, why is the
world not as it should be? Well, in his finite wisdom, man
thought and still thinks he can improve upon perfection. Adam
and Eve chose to believe that a departure from obedience and
their perfect existence could give them something more desirable. They chose to act in a direct,
indirect defiance of what God had asked of them. As a consequence,
the relationship they had with God was severed. All that they
had was gone, the security, significance, satisfaction, and beauty. all
of the perfection they had enjoyed was gone. And sad as that is,
that's not the worst of it. That heart of defiance and the
resulting consequences have been passed down to us. Sin affects every part of our
life, especially our attempts to gain back perfection. Romans
3.23 says, For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of
God. Many of you know that verse very
well, but I want you to think about it again. What difference
does it make that all have sinned, the reality that each of us has
sinned? Well, unlike the problems that the world would say are
the problem, when I understand that all have sinned, it's no
longer that group of people staying in the way of what the world
should be. It's no longer this society or that society that
is the main problem. When we understand that all have
sinned, it's no longer an external problem. It's no longer pointing
the finger and saying, if they would act differently, the world
would be as it should be. When I understand that all have
sinned, that includes me. I'm part of all. I'm part of
the problem. the problem is in and among all
of us. And that is the big hindrance
to most of the world's seeking at to solve its problems is not
admitting that the problem is internal instead of external. As long as we accept that the
problem with the world and with us is something other than sin,
it usually means that there is something out there we need to
avoid and rail against. Sin, in this verse, is described
as falling short or missing the mark. I want you to think about
that. Whether you're describing it
as falling short or missing the mark, understand that there is
a path being taken, whether it's towards a target and it comes
up short, or it's towards a target and it just misses. But either
way, there is an attempt at a target. There is something being done.
There are so many things out there that can be a target. One
of the effects of sin is that we aim at the wrong target. Some
targets are obviously foolish and detrimental, and so we don't
shoot for those. Some may not be as obviously
bad choices. Is it easy for us to find something
that is good and make it a target, the ultimate goal? This elevating
a good thing to an ultimate thing, the ultimate thing, was what
God addressed in the very first commandment. God says that nothing
should be put above him. You shall have no idols, is what
he said. Well, what is an idol? Well,
I've found several good descriptions of what an idol is. One said,
good things, as I said, made to be ultimate things. Calvin
said that evil in most things is not in what we want, but that
we want them too much. Someone else says an idol is
to more love, serve, and derive meaning from anything other than
God. Someone else says making an idol
is imagining and trusting anything to deliver control, security,
significance, and satisfaction, and beauty that only God can
give. Here's a list of things that,
just from my own mind, I thought about that are made idols. And the order of these is significant,
because what you're going to find is, as I mentioned before,
there are some of these that are not a temptation to us, that
they're obviously detrimental and we don't have any interest.
but I'd ask you to hang with me as I go through the list.
Wealth. Again, none of these things are
in and of themselves evil. These are all good things that
people try to make the ultimate meaning in their lives. Power,
fame, influence. material possessions, talent,
staying young, sex, hobbies, recreation, leisure, being healthy,
education, work, reputation. And here's where I want you to
really stop and think, because this is where I think it hits
the majority of us, when you realize that there is a difference
between having a reputation of being generous and kind and thoughtful
and making that my pursuit rather than it being a benefit of having
known and walked with God. How often do we pursue those
things that we know to be of God or godly instead of allowing
the Spirit to create those things in ourselves? So reputation,
however you want to frame that, can easily become an idol and
become something that falls short of seeking the glory of God.
Even things like family can be an idol. We all have the best
desires and best hopes for our families. And we know that what
Christ gives in the way of us being able to relate to each
other is a blessing and that families can be strong and families
can prosper. But it's not the ultimate thing.
As soon as I make my family my ultimate goal, I'm going to begin
to destroy what I'm trying to do. Because family is not meant
to be the ultimate thing. Marriage, same boat. We all want
strong marriages. We want intimate marriages. We
want someone to stand by us, to be strong with us. And yet
when I seek that marriage above God, it becomes an idol. Having
a church that you can be proud of can be an idol. It's been
said many times, not even last Sunday, just how much this church
is appreciated by so many people. And yet if my goal is to just
simply find a church that I can be proud of, that's not the main
thing. In fact, if that's my goal, then
I need to be listening to what's coming from the pulpit and not
be worrying about what anyone else might think about the place
I attend to worship. Even our ministry, even the things
I do for God can be an idol. I can begin to set those things
as the way I judge how I'm doing with God. You know, I can begin
to make those things the priority. how much I judge my ability to
minister the gospel, how much I pride myself in what I've done
for Christ. Why do we create idols? Are not
all idols some attempt to circumvent the plan of God in order to have
something that comes naturally from God? When you think about
these different things that can become idols, they're all attempts
to recapture, to get back what was in Eden. Whether it's close
communion, you know, whether it's the security, the significance,
the satisfaction, just the sheer beauty. Any one of these things,
when you think about it, are some attempt to just grab a part
of what God is and try to manufacture that without having to answer
to God. without wanting to say that God
has within himself everything that I could ever desire. Think
of all these things that are used to just create a sense of
security. Armies, weapons, life insurance
policies, alarm systems, superstitions, and religious rituals. Add to
those things that are done just for security all the ways that
people attempt to create significance, satisfaction, and beauty. The
number of ways we try to recreate Eden is only surpassed by the
degree of devotion we will give to maintain those idols. I want
you to think about the scenario at Mount Carmel as we think about
how earnestly people will hang on to their idols. 1 Kings 18
says, Then Elijah said to the prophet Baal, Choose for yourselves
one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon
the name of your God, but put no fire to it. And they took
the bull that was given them, and they prepared it, and called
upon the name of Baal from morning until noon. saying, O Baal, answer
us. But there was no voice, and no
one answered. They limped around the altar
they had made, and at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, Cry aloud,
for he is a god. Is he a god? He is either musing,
or he's relieving himself, or he's on a journey, or perhaps
he's just fallen asleep and must be awakened. And the prophets
cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords
and lances until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday
passed, they raved on until the time of the offering, but there
was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention." Now we
would stand and we'd say, how foolish, and yet there are people
that never have the luxury of having a prophet of God stand
before them and say, try your idol out. Let's see what this
idol can do. There are people that will spend
their whole lives in pursuit of their idols and never have
that challenge. They assume that when it comes
time, they can call on their idol and they will answer. So question number two, what
is the main problem? The main problem is sin. and
our ability and our desire to perpetuate sin. And that's what
our reading in Romans 1 was about, is how we able and willing and
desirous we are to follow our own desires and the fallout therewith. Question number one, what should
the world be? Eden is the answer. Question
number two, what is the solution to the problem? Sorry, what is
the main problem? The main problem is sin. Question
number three, what is the solution to the main problem? If you would
turn to 2 Corinthians 5, we will read from there. What is the solution to the problem
of sin? 2 Corinthians 5, starting in verse
16. Again, verse 16, "...from now
on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even
though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard
Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold,
the new has come. All of this is from God, who
through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry
of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling
the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them,
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through
us. We implore you, on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to
be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God." This is the answer to the problem of sin. God is reconciling
sinners to himself. If the problem is that sin has
caused us to lose relationship with God, then the answer is
a solution for our sin. More accurately, the forgiveness
of our sin leading to reconciliation with God. That is exactly what
the gospel or good news is about. We stood guilty before God because
of our sin. The sentence for that sin was
death. But for every true believer,
there is an unthinkable transfer that has taken place. Jesus,
who himself never sinned, took on our sin and died. Think just
a minute about the contrast between Christ and those prophets of
Baal. The prophets did everything they
could think of to generate some infinitesimal amount of divine
presence. You know they generally wanted
their faith to be validated. They would have given anything
to have created a rival to God. But it says no one paid attention. Then you have Christ, who for
all eternity past had known equality with God. The prophet Baal would
have given anything just to have a sliver of the divine, and Christ
had known equality with God. And yet Philippians 2 says, he
did not regard that equality with God as something to be grasped
or to be clung to, but he emptied himself. So he became man. He humbled himself, submitting
himself to obedience, even obedience to the point of death on the
cross. In addition to our sin being
paid for by Christ, the perfect record of sinlessness that Jesus
had lived was given to us and restored us to a right stand
with God. The end of that passage I just
read says, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that we
might become the righteousness of God. Having been restored to relationship
with God, many of the things that were part of Eden have also
been restored, because they are found in God, namely security,
significance, satisfaction, and beauty, all from God. And let me just remind you again,
those things in and of themselves can serve as idols, Whether it's security, significance,
satisfaction, or beauty, those things also can serve as idols
that we can pursue and give our lives to instead of a relationship
to God. As Daniel Madison reminded us
last week, in Christ, our trials are only for our good. The good we know is for eternity,
and it only gets better. So although we do not yet see
all that we will be or even all that the creation will be, the
restoration has begun. The worldview of the gospel changes
everything. Instead of trying to manufacture
a piece of the perfect existence apart from or even in defiance
of God, we can have God and we can have those things that are
of God. Without the gospel we have two
choices. We have to believe something other than sin is the problem,
or that something other than Christ is the solution. By believing
something other than sin is the problem, we only end up demonizing
things that are not bad enough to explain the mess we're in,
and thereby we become cynical and disillusioned. We can't name
a problem that's bad enough to represent everything that we
see around us. By believing in a solution other
than Christ, we de-idolize things that are not powerful enough
to get us out of the mess. Your life will be determined
by the way you answer three questions. Is your life what it should be? Are you able to admit that the
real problem is not outside of you, but that it's in your own
heart? And lastly, are you able to believe
that Christ is the only answer? Let's pray. Dear Lord, the gospel is not
complicated. Lord, I just pray that you would help us to have
a framework by which we operate day in and day out. Help us to
not lose track of the fact that you have Eden planned. Not only
does the scripture start with Genesis, but it ends with Revelation
and restoration of the things that were destroyed by the fall.
Lord, help us to know that. Help us to long for that. Thank
you for the things we have in us that are glimpses of the glory
to come. Lord, help us to endure. Lord,
help us to confess. that the problem lies within
us, that we don't have to look any further, or that we don't
have to find an enemy. outside of ourselves. We can
spend our time, our efforts pursuing a solution to that problem. And lastly, help us to see Christ.
Help us to see that he has paid the price. Lord, that I don't
have to walk in darkness or that I don't have to wonder where
I'm going to find the things that I most long for. Lord, I
won't have to wonder how I find my way back to you. Lord, I just
pray the realization of Christ in our hearts would be clear
today. Lord, we'd understand Eden, we'd
understand sin, and we'd understand Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.
The Gospel Worldview
| Sermon ID | 9415211723 |
| Duration | 34:33 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Romans 1:18-32 |
| Language | English |
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