“Encouragement from the Christian worldview”
By Matthew Seymour
CS Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe
the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it, I see
everything else.”
A worldview is a
particular philosophy of life or conception
of the world. Our
worldview influences how we live and how we see the world.
A person’s worldview is how they perceive the world, and
life itself. The Christian worldview has
answers to questions about sin, God, humanity, life itself, and the life after.
What is our worldview as Christians?
And how do we, as a Christian people, and as a Church, make
the world a better place? One way is to
reduce human suffering, another is to increase society’s awareness of God and
His character – including both His love and holiness.
A concept from “Love Thy Body” is that we need a balanced
view of the Biblical worldview. If we
focus entirely on the “fall”, we might lose sight of the good stuff. God’s creation was created good, and ordained
by God as such. And the final chapter of
our story is Redemption. We must come to
realize that we are sinners in need of a Savior – that’s an important element
in a person’s faith journey. But it
doesn’t end there! God created everything
good. Mankind fell away by sin. And God has been redeeming and rescuing
mankind since the Fall. And of course
the culmination of God’s intervention is a New Heavens and a New Earth. Jesus will return and make all things
new! So, humility is good, and
important, even necessary – to realize that we are indeed sinners. We are not God. Rather, we need God. We need humility but we ought not to live in
a defeated mindset or despair. As the
song goes, “'Twas grace that taught my
heart to fear And grace my fears relieved”.
Humility is a foundational mindset or mode of thought for the
believer. It is by God’s grace that we
realize our brokenness, and by God’s grace that we are healed.
People
in today’s society are interested in reducing stress and increasing happiness. Throughout history, Happiness is and has been
a common goal for people. Many people
may become interested in religion in order to increase happiness or well-being.
Many
people would like to amplify their happiness.
People
who struggle in the area of depression want to see their lives become more
meaningful and joyful. Part of this path
is reducing suffering. One way to reduce
our suffering is to do more of what we love.
Identify what you love to do, and do more of that.
One
very important point is also to realize God’s love for you as a person. Feeling the love of God and even from other
people can greatly reduce suffering and increase our feelings of well-being.
If you’re feeling down and out, a joyful heart is good medicine.
The joy of another can positively influence and affect our
own heart – our own spirit. Prayer from
others is good for us. If you need
prayer, reach out to your fellow brothers or sisters in Christ. Reach out to loved ones. We are called to pray for ourselves and each
other. Share your concerns with your
pastor or someone else who loves you.
Prayer directly to God through Christ is also a good thing. Take your prayer requests to Jesus! He is here for us! God can restore a broken life and mend our
hearts. He wants to be in communion with
us! As Christ believers, we look forward
to being in communion with Him! Of
course in the afterlife, we will experience paradise with Jesus. But we can experience joy, happiness, and
blessing on this side of eternity as well.
Jesus wants us to bring our petitions to Him. He wants us to seek Him.
Here’s an experiment: see if you can do something for Jesus
once a month, or if you’re up for it, even once a week. If you miss a week, that’s ok. Be kind to yourself. Try to find a creative way to glorify God or
share the truth of God’s love with someone else. Perhaps one of the best ways to do this is to
read good Christian books and gift or lend a good one to a family member, a
friend, a neighbor, or an acquaintance.
These days we also have social media and the internet at our
disposal. Use these! Email an old friend a Bible story, or a modern
Christian music video, or a recommended book.
What is the best way to reach a certain someone with the gospel? Do they enjoy music? Gift them a CD. Do they like to read? Gift them a book. You can even pray about methods or finding
good ways to reach people. Bring the
desires of your heart to God. Take
delight in Him, and He will delight in you.
Music – listening to and singling along with Christian songs
or worship songs
Sing along at church, or even at home. Bring up a good Christian music video or song
on YouTube and sing in sync with the music.
This has the ability to lift our spirits and make us feel better. Find people at church that you can talk
to. Develop and nurture
friendships. Meet with friends or
pastors from church. Get to know each
other. If you feel like you belong at
church – if you have friends there, people who care about you, you’re way more
likely to attend church and feel good about it.
If you haven’t been to church in awhile, try again. Befriend people at church and spend time
together. Ask yourself what the reason
is that you stopped going. If you are a
believer in Jesus – I highly recommend attending church. Not all believers can or do, but if you can
make it – try. From my point of view,
you should feel encouraged and uplifted by going to church. The life of a believer should be
characterized by joy. And if we – as
believers – are joyful – if we are grateful to be believers – we can reach the
lost more effectively.
One of the most important things that we can do as believers
is to reflect the light of Christ by being joyful. If we truly know, believe, and even feel that
God is love – well, then, the church certainly has something that the world
needs. If we’re joyful and believe in
the one true God – the God who loves us, other people might take notice and
even begin to pursue this God, the God we believe in, the God of Israel.
This brings us to another topic. The God of Israel. What is unique about the Christian
perspective? How is it different from
other religions?
For one thing, Christians
are unique in their understanding of the personhood of Jesus Christ. We believe the Messiah – the Savior –
has already come. But of course we believe also in the
second coming. But this second coming is
not another person born of woman. The
second coming is precisely the same Messiah, the same Christ Jesus. In His second coming, however, he will return
in glory. As brother Doug pointed out in
a sermon, the first coming of Christ was to prepare the world for His second
coming. In other words, the world – and
the people – sinners like us would not be ready for His return in full glory if
it hadn’t been for his first coming. As
Savior, Jesus saves us from our sins.
His salvation is firstly spiritual.
He began bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth during His first
coming, and offers forgiveness and salvation to us. In that way, we can be ready for His second
coming.
Another unique point about Christianity is that we believe
we are saved by grace. God’s grace. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the
Ephesians, wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and
this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” If you want to look that up, it’s in the New
Testament in Ephesians, 2:8.
The Christian concept of salvation is that we are saved by
God’s grace. Salvation – that is,
eternity in Heaven (and the new, perfect earth after the bodily resurrection),
is provided for us by Christ Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross and His
resurrection from the dead. By placing
your faith in Jesus Christ, you are assured of eternal salvation – living with
God and the saints in paradise forever.
Salvation is through God’s grace, and verified by our belief in
Jesus. We do not earn our way into
Heaven based on our own merit or works.
We are saved by Jesus. Jesus is
the Savior, not us! If you are unsure
about Jesus – but you believe there is the possibility that Jesus could
actually be the Messiah, try praying about it!
Ask God to reveal His Son Jesus to you.
Talk to God in prayer. Ask God if
Jesus is the Messiah and to reveal this to you.
Seek answers also through reading good Christian literature. As you begin to seek Jesus, God will get you
on the right path.
Jesus being the only Way to God appears to be a major hurdle
for many non-believers. But that’s
exactly my point. Pursue the truth of
Jesus by praying to God and researching Christian literature. But why do Christians believe that Jesus is
the only Way to Heaven? Because Jesus
Himself said, “I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me.” That quote is from the Gospel of
John, a beloved disciple of Jesus.
Again, I say, if you have doubt about this, pray to God to reveal
Himself or His truth to you.
Another place in Scripture that points to this concept is in
the book of Acts. The book of Acts is
about the Apostles – early disciples of Christ selected by Him to give the
Gospel. Acts is about what they
accomplished after Jesus ascended into Heaven.
The book of Acts (written by Luke) states that salvation is found only
in Jesus. Look this up in Acts 4:12.
The Bible claims that Jesus is the only Way to God. We should not put others down. We are called to care, to love human
beings. I don’t think we should degrade
people. Instead, we ought to pray for
one another. Pray for each other. The Christian claim (as found in the Bible)
that Jesus is the only Way to God and salvation may be hard to swallow for
some. But Jesus backed up His claim as
God’s unique Son by doing things that nobody else could do. I’m referring to His amazing miracles. He raised the dead, healed the sick, and even
walked on the sea. His miraculous feats
confirmed that He is the Messiah. If
Jesus could do all that – and more – then His claims are worth looking into!
It seems to me that most religions
in the world have something in them that resonates with the human heart or
mind. I believe that many of the
religions have been influenced (partly) by good angelic powers. But, Christianity stands alone as the one
true religion – because Christianity alone has the Messiah and His revelation
through faith and God’s grace. If Jesus
is truly God and truly man – if He is indeed God’s only begotten Son (as the
Bible claims), then His path must be the true path.
As a Christian, have you ever heard a non-Christian saying
or teaching something that is compatible with the Christian faith? They may not even be aware of that fact, but
it somehow matches something that our faith confirms? This would indicate to me that, at least in
some examples, good angelic forces have been able to influence other parts of
the world. Some non-Christians have
advocated such teachings as compassion or kindness. Perhaps even parallels to specific teachings
such as the Golden Rule. For example,
I’m a fan of the so-called “Silver Rule”.
This precept implies that one should NOT to do others what they would
not want done to themselves. This is not
the same as the Golden Rule, but is based in compassion and consideration for
others. Perhaps it is called the silver
rule because it is secondary or lesser to the Golden Rule. But it is, in my estimation, a solid core
teaching or belief that doesn’t contradict the principles of Christianity. The Golden Rule, as given by Jesus, takes the
concept up a notch.
Jesus claimed, before He was crucified, while having supper
with His disciples, that He was the Way and the Truth and the Life. Then He said – And no one comes to the Father
except through Him (Jesus). I believe
the gateway to Heaven is made available through Jesus. Jesus was not saying that He was A way to
God, or A chosen teacher or an option to get to Heaven. He was emphatically stating that HE IS the
way to God. Why would anyone believe
such a statement? A vast number of lives
throughout history have been impacted and dramatically improved through God’s
grace to believers in Jesus. Jesus takes
sinners and gives them new life.
Countless lives have been made anew – souls reborn – people going from
lives of sin to lives of goodness. This
is made possible through the life, teachings, and grace of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said that He came not for the
righteous, but for sinners. Are you a
sinner? Have you ever done something
that might offend God? If so, I commend
you to seek Jesus Christ. Jesus can
grant the sinner hope. Through Him, a
life can be redeemed.
How? How do we seek
Jesus? The first step is to look into
His Word. When Christians speak of God’s
word, they are usually referring to the Bible.
We believe that the Bible contains messages and teachings from God. Of course, these teachings and stories were
recorded or written by humans – by people.
But we believe that these people were inspired by God. So if you want to learn about Jesus – I
recommend reading the Gospel of John – which is found in any Bible containing
the New Testament. This Gospel contains
quotes by Jesus and was written by one of His disciples. That’s the first step. Something that can impact your seeking of
Jesus or your faith walk is to read other books – written by believers. There are many. Of course another step you could take is to
attend a church. Again, there are many.
Christians are sometimes misunderstood to be arrogant
because of our belief that Jesus is the One Way. We believe that Jesus is the Way to God. We do not believe in the theory that every
religion is equal. We believe that Jesus
is unique. We believe what He said. He claimed to be the Way to God and we take
Him at His word. Paul states that we are
saved by God’s grace – not our works.
Most religions try to get people to do good things, and in doing good
things, maybe they earn their way to heaven.
What we believe, though, is that Jesus earned our Way into heaven. He did the work for us. We are called to believe in Him. If you find that a Christian person or people
rub you the wrong way or are not perfect – don’t let that be a reason to avoid
faith in Jesus. We as Christians are NOT
a perfect people – but Jesus is.
Jesus responded to a question about what we should do to do
the works of God. He stated simply, to
believe in the One God sent. So if we
believe in Jesus, we are doing the work of God.
This faith can also lead to other good works, or fruit as it is
sometimes called. Coming to faith in
Jesus can give hope to a person who has none.
Hope and faith give people a sense of Joy and purpose, and
the world could use more joy. The world
could use more hope.
There are many stories of people coming to faith in Jesus
and their lives being made anew. If
you’re looking for a better life – a better hope in the life to come – both in
the afterlife and this side of eternity – seek Jesus
Coming to faith in Jesus Christ shifts your perspective and
renews your mind. A mind oppressed by
darkness is saved and a person begins to desire what is good.
What if your life is already considered to be “good”, or
successful or happy? What if things are
going your way? Why would you want to
seek Jesus? Because Jesus provides a
sure path to Heaven – eternal salvation.
Jesus claimed to be the Way to God.
If Jesus was telling the truth – His message of faith in God’s Son is
the most important message of all time.
The message is this: through faith in Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to
God and inherit everlasting life. We are
saved by grace. We do not earn our
eternal salvation. Christ did that on
the cross. As John 3:16 states: “For God
so loved the world that He gave His only Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in
Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
And this is the Gospel summary as written by the Apostle Paul in the
book of Romans (10:9), “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved.”
I recommend looking up Lee Strobel if you’re interested in
seeking Jesus or if you’re curious about Jesus.
Lee is a former atheist turned Christian. Lee has several best selling books
available. I read Lee Strobel’s book,
“The Case for Miracles” and I recommend this book if you’re a believer or if
you’re interested in Christianity, it’s claims, or especially if you wonder
about miracles or about if God is still working in the world
supernaturally. Miracles point to the
reality of God’s power, grace, and love.
I find the topic of miracles fascinating.
There’s a good YouTube video of Lee giving a talk on
miracles (based on his book), that can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y57VUN2TO5M
The video is about an hour and 40 minutes. I highly recommend watching it.
