Pleasing God Podcast
Pleasing God Podcast
Biblical Worldview: Seeing Life Through Scripture's Lens
What does it truly mean to have a biblical worldview? This question strikes at the heart of authentic Christian living in a world filled with competing perspectives. The framework through which we interpret reality—our worldview—shapes everything from our daily decisions to our deepest beliefs. Yet many believers unknowingly view life through lenses tainted by secular humanism, materialism, or postmodernism rather than Scripture.
A genuine biblical worldview begins with recognizing God as Creator and Sovereign Lord. It acknowledges truth as objective and found in Scripture. It understands that humans, while created in God's image, are fundamentally fallen and in need of redemption that comes exclusively through Jesus Christ. These foundational beliefs shape how we interpret everything around us—from current events to personal relationships.
The culture constantly pressures us to adopt alternative worldviews. Secular humanism places mankind at the center of all things. Materialism reduces life's purpose to acquiring possessions and success. Postmodernism denies absolute truth, while moral relativism suggests right and wrong are merely personal constructs. Christians must recognize these competing perspectives and intentionally choose to see life through Scripture's lens instead.
When properly applied, a biblical worldview transforms every aspect of life. It guides our decision-making, shapes our work ethic, strengthens our relationships, establishes our moral standards, and directs our cultural engagement. We become salt and light in a changing world while remaining anchored to God's timeless truth. This doesn't happen accidentally—it requires regular Bible study, careful evaluation of cultural influences, and the commitment to view all of life through Scripture first. How might your perspective change if you truly saw everything through the lens of God's Word?
Stock Music provided by wolfgangwoehrle, from Pond5
Hi and welcome back to the Pleasing God podcast, a show focused on helping Christians to think biblically, engage practically and live faithfully for the glory of God. I'm your host, jonathan Soule, and on this episode I want to talk about worldview, biblical worldview, and the overarching question that I'm asking is what does it mean to have a biblical worldview? I think an important question that we can, even you know to follow up with that is how do you view the world? Through what lens do you interpret life? And how you answer this question will reveal your worldview. Is it a biblical worldview? And so when we define what a worldview is, it's the framework through which we interpret reality, lens that we wear, how we understand the things that are going on in our world and how we relate to those things. All of that is influenced by our worldview, and this matters tremendously because every single person alive, thinking, cognitive person has a worldview, but not all worldviews are the same. Not all worldviews are equal and not all worldviews are based on truth. So the goal here of this episode is to help Christians see all of life through the lens of Scripture, so that our worldview is interpreted or our lens goes through Scripture, instead of kind of interpreting the world and then looking to Scripture. We look to Scripture to interpret the world. And so what is a biblical worldview? I think, simply put, it means seeing life through the truth of God's word. So what does this look like then? What are some key aspects of a biblical worldview that helps us to understand reality as we know it?
Speaker 1:Well, I think, foundationally, biblical worldview starts in the first book, in the first chapter, in the first verse, and there's an assumption there by the author, moses, concerning his biblical worldview, and his worldview presupposes the existence of God Genesis 1.1,. In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. Foundational to every Christian biblical worldview is that God is eternal and God is the creator. God is the creator of all things, but this isn't only mentioned in the beginning of the Bible. Also, in Colossians 1, verse 16, paul leans into this as well, talking about Jesus, and he says For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Okay, so there are kind of two things going on here Genesis 1.1 and Colossians 1.16 and 17 establish that God in Christ is the creator of all things, visible and invisible, but also that God is the sovereign Lord of all things. As creator, he is over all things and he controls and rules all things, and so this is foundational. As we would understand, everything around us is under the creator's sovereign rule. He is Lord of all.
Speaker 1:Here's another key aspect of a biblical worldview Truth is objective. Truth is truth. Again, it's not based off of one's feelings, it's not subjective, it's not, well you know, relative. It's objectively true. And that statement itself is an objective truth claim. And truth not only is objective, but it is found in Scripture, john 17, 17. Jesus says, as His high priestly prayer to the Father Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Truth is not what you think it is. Truth is not necessarily how you define it. Truth is objective. Truth is defined as God defines it, as God speaks. That is truth. His word is truth and we also recognize that when we say his word, his spoken word, his written word. 2 Timothy 3, his spoken word, his written word. Second Timothy, chapter three, verse 16, reads all scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness. So when you put John 17, 17, and you, you attach that to 2 Timothy 3.16, we can see that God's word is truth and because all scripture is breathed out by God, therefore all scripture is truth.
Speaker 1:Another key aspect to a biblical worldview is our anthropology, which means the study of man, or we can also say, the truth of man. And the Bible is very clear concerning humanity and mankind. Mankind is created in the image of God on the sixth day of creation. It is the pinnacle of his creation in that it is very good, but mankind falls. Mankind sins and does that which is displeasing to God, to where we find in Romans, chapter 3,. This again helps shape our understanding of humanity. Romans 3, verse 23,. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I want you to note all. Now it does not say for some have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but all have sinned, all have gone against God's law, all have broken God's commands, all have sinned, all are sinners. This is extremely important because if we ask the question, why do people do the things that they do? Well, if we don't have a Christian biblical worldview. We can have all kinds of crazy answers that are all over the place, but at the very essence, at the very core of why bad things happen, why people act the way they do, especially on the negative side, is because they are sinful, because they have in Adam. All have sinned, all have received the sin nature and all commit sins. Truly. When we start to explore this, when it comes to creation, when it comes to objective truth and the truth of man and man is sinful, it's only the Christian biblical worldview that actually helps to make sense of all the world around us.
Speaker 1:Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 1 through 5. Speaking of humanity, paul says and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air. The course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were, by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Paul's not painting a pretty picture here All humanity acting true to their nature, that which is that comes from the internal desires, desires of the body, desires of the flesh, desires of the mind. And he says that we are sons of disobedience, we are following our own way, we're following what guides us, what we think is right in our own eyes, left to our natural self. And this also shows and demonstrates the need for mankind to be redeemed. Something has to occur in human experience that can change the course here. Because again, as he says, we all were dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead people aren't changing course, they're going to continue in that state that they're in. And so mankind is sinful. And it tells us the need for redemption.
Speaker 1:Again the passage goes on into verse 4 of Ephesians 2,. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love in which he has loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. We need God to work in the lives of dead people to make them alive in Christ. And that again goes to kind of the culmination, the pinnacle of the Bible that shapes our worldview.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Mankind is hopeless apart from the person in work of Jesus Christ. But that's stated in the negative. Here's the positive. There is hope for all of mankind in the person and work of Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. There's hope in Christ, and Jesus himself says I am the way.
Speaker 1:In John 14, 6, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So Jesus claims exclusivity. To get to the Father, to get to heaven, to experience eternal life in the presence of God, goes through the second member of the Trinity, god in the flesh, jesus Christ. The second member of the Trinity, god in the flesh, jesus Christ. This is foundational to the Christian biblical worldview.
Speaker 1:You can't have a Christian worldview apart from understanding. Jesus is the only way to salvation. The apostles at the beginning of Acts recognize this as well. In Acts, chapter 4, verse 12, peter proclaims there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. We must, as Christians in our biblical worldview, stand on the exclusivity of Jesus alone for salvation. And it's not Jesus plus the church, it's not Jesus plus something else. It's not Jesus and it's Jesus alone. There's salvation in no one else. Another way. There's salvation in nothing else. All religions do not lead to God. Nothing else, all religions do not lead to God. Christ himself is the path to the Father, as he himself claims.
Speaker 1:And then again, think about our purpose. What is our purpose? Why are we here? I mean, this is one of the great existential questions. Why am I alive? What is my purpose in this world?
Speaker 1:The Bible helps to shape our worldview and understanding our purpose. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, we are told whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. So here, from the smallest of things to eating a meal or having a sip of water or something, from the lowest to the greatest, whatever the thing is that you do, do it to the glory of God. This means your purpose. My purpose for being is to glorify the God who created me, who is the sovereign Lord, who has spoken objective truth, who has revealed this truth in his word, who has given the means of redemption through Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation. My job is to glorify him for who he is and what he has done.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 22, verse 37. Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment? And he said you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. There's our purpose to love God and to love our neighbor.
Speaker 1:This comes to a biblical worldview. Well, if it was that simple, we all would just adopt this. But we have competing worldviews that affect us even as Christians. As we try to think biblically, engage practically and live faithfully, we recognize there are competing worldviews. And so let me just kind of shed some light on some of the various worldviews that are alive and well in our culture today. And again, by identifying them, we can try to isolate them and push them aside and not let them kind of mix within our Christianity.
Speaker 1:And the first is secular humanism. Secular humanism believes that man is at the center of all things, believes that man is at the center of all things, so that the core of everything is that man is happy, that mankind, that all things exist and were created and serve man, I am at the center of my life. Everything that happens revolves around me. Now, that is certainly true when you're living a life contrary to the scriptures. It's certainly true when you're living according to Ephesians 1, our own desires, the passions of our flesh, our mind carrying out the desires of the body. That sounds very much like secular humanism. In the natural state of mankind, the unredeemed person, this is their natural way of life and it's terrible. Truth becomes relative when man becomes the measure of all things. We must ask where is God? God then becomes the servant of mankind. Now you mix that with Christianity, then the gospel message, mixed with secular humanism, sounds something like the gospel is for you so that you don't go to hell when you die. The gospel is for you so that your life will have greater purpose on earth. And while those things are true, it still makes the gospel about humanity when we have to understand. The gospel is about the glory of God in Jesus Christ and we receive benefits of the righteousness and the obedience and the sacrifice of the Son to the Father and the obedience and the sacrifice of the Son to the Father.
Speaker 1:Here's another worldview that's alive and well in our culture, competing with the biblical worldview that's materialism. Life is about possessions and success. Well, I don't think we have to look far to see where this worldview has collided with a biblical worldview and actually has then kind of morphed together as the prosperity gospel. God wants you to have those possessions, god wants you to have all this success, and so we try to bring these two things together and it creates a false worldview. But materialism as a secular thing is challenging. Life is about possessions and success.
Speaker 1:I'm reminded of Jesus's conversation with the rich young ruler, which goes completely against this. He comes to Jesus and he says what must I do to inherit eternal life? He's coming from a materialistic worldview. He's got to do something else. He's got to acquire something else to get eternal life. Jesus says go. You know, looking at him, loved him says go, sell all that you have and give to the poor and come follow me. Now what Jesus is doing here is he's attacking his idol. He recognizes and knows that this rich young man has spent his life acquiring for himself possessions, success, status. And Jesus says materialism and Christianity will not mix, they will not do. If you want to follow me, you must sacrifice your idols, your worldview, and become my disciple. Materialism is all over, especially in the West, the accumulation of stuff, the drive for success, and it becomes cutthroat. We don't love our neighbor, we want to get past our neighbor, we want to crush our neighbor so that we can rise in the corporate ladder, and it goes against the biblical worldview. Here's another one. And it goes against the biblical worldview. Here's another one postmodernism.
Speaker 1:Postmodernism is a difficult and large term to define. Let me just simply say, at its very core, at its tenets, the belief is that there is no absolute truth. Even that statement kind of frustrates me, because that's an absolute statement, but everybody has their own truth. So speak your truth, or? Well, that can be true for you. And this is now seen as the worldview of tolerance. We, as it's, reaching a higher ideal than Christianity, because now we become tolerant. You can believe what you need to believe. Just don't impose your beliefs on me. That's my truth, that's your truth. Again, this view that there is no absolute truth, I mean it's a fallacy and we do recognize that again, this goes against the Christian biblical worldview. So how does this mix with Christianity and create a tainted worldview? We bring postmodernism into our understanding of Christianity and we say well, this is true for me. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that this is the way that I'm supposed to live, but who am I to tell that to someone else? This is my truth and it's their truth if they believe it. But if it's not, that's a mixture, that's not a biblical worldview, and so we need to fight against this kind of speak your truth, I have my truth.
Speaker 1:Postmodernism mixing with Christianity, also moral relativism, which goes hand in hand. It's probably almost a subcategory of postmodernism that right and wrong are based on one's personal or cultural beliefs. You can't tell me what's right and wrong. This is moral relativism. And we look as Christians and say the Ten Commandments tells us what's right and wrong. I don't get to define what's true, I don't get to define what's right and I don't get to define what's wrong. There are morals and they're not relative. They've been given by God, and we also need to understand again in our life and in our world today that Christianity is itself its own worldview and again, this worldview states that truth comes from God and our purpose is to know and to glorify him.
Speaker 1:And so I want to caution you and I want you to think about how you view the world, whether it be how you think about and see other people, your reason for why they do the things they do, your religious and political views, how they come together. There's a danger that many Christians unknowingly adopt non-biblical worldviews. So I want to challenge you to think carefully about how you understand life. Is there secular humanism, materialism, postmodernism, moral relativism mixed with a form of Christian worldview? And so let's think carefully how, then, biblical worldview can transform everyday life for us as Christians, and I want to give you a few points here.
Speaker 1:First, a biblical worldview helps transform our life through decision-making. Psalm 119, 105 says your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Here God's word helps guide our life, to shape our life in the decisions that we make. But more than just our decision making, biblical worldview transforms everyday life through our work and our vocation. Writing to the Colossians in chapter 3, verse 23, paul says Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Our work and our vocation is unto God, not to just simply our employer, and I want to encourage you with this If you are working unto God, you will be the perpetual employee of the month. You will be the best worker in your workplace. Biblical worldview shapes and transforms everyday life.
Speaker 1:Through our relationships and our families we show biblical love. Our marriages are shaped by Ephesians, chapter 5. Husbands loving their wives, laying down their lives for their wives 1 Peter, chapter 3, wives respecting their husbands and again, in that whole relationship, complimenting one another and honoring and glorifying God in the home. Parenting Paul addresses this in Ephesians, chapter 6. Fathers are not to provoke their children but to discipline them in love, to raise them up as they should.
Speaker 1:Our ethics and morality we stand for biblical truth in a compromised culture. This is important to us because we stand against all the worldviews that are present in our world today. We're not conformed to this world, paul says, but we're transformed by the renewal of our mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect. So we are to stand for biblical ethics and morality, not based off of what's going on in the social political world, but what is contained in the word of God, and in doing so we engage our culture faithfully. Matthew, chapter 5, verse 13,.
Speaker 1:Jesus says you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house In the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Be salt and light in our world. Engage our culture through and with a Christian biblical worldview. So let me encourage you A biblical worldview must be intentional.
Speaker 1:It does not happen by accident. You do not stumble into a Christian biblical worldview. So let me encourage you Be in the Bible. It's hard to develop a biblical worldview apart from the Bible. Regular study of scripture is key 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 15. Paul tells Timothy to study, to show himself approved, rightly handling the word of truth, cutting it straight. So let me challenge you to evaluate your own worldview. Where has it and is it shaped by culture instead of Scripture? And I pray for you and all of us that we would have wisdom and discernment to live according to God's truth, the timeless truth, a worldview that never changes, although our world is constantly changing. This is the constant God's truth and God's word abides forever. I want to thank you for listening to the Pleasing God podcast. If you have any questions, I'd love to hear from you. You could reach out at questions at pleasinggodpodcastorg. And remember 1 Thessalonians 4.3,. This is the will of God for sanctification.
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