Seeing the World through God-shaped Glasses

Genesis 1-11

 

Introduction:

 

1.                  We watched through three-dimensional glasses....but we found that the movie was wearing glasses, too.

 

2.                  One of the great purposes of the early chapters of the Bible is to provide us with the perspective necessary to grasp reality and make sense of it.

 

Discussion:

 

 

1.                  Understanding the concept of a worldview

 

a.                   A worldview is a set of beliefs and practices that shape a person’s approach to the most important issues of life.

 

b.                  A worldview is a conceptual scheme by which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality.

 

c.                   A worldview is an interpretive framework through which or by which one makes sense out of the data of life and the world.

 

d.                  Through our worldview, we determine priorities, explain our relationship to God and fellow human beings, assess the meaning of events, and justify our actions.

 

e.                   Every person has a worldview, and it supplies the general context for his life.

 

2.                  Identifying the Biblical worldview

 

a.                   A God independent of the universe created it and is involved in it

i.                    Genesis 1:1

ii.                  Psalm 90:2

iii.                Isaiah 45:18

iv.                Isaiah 42:5

v.                  Psalm 102:25-27

 

b.                  What he has made possesses an order, a regularity and a goodness which makes his own nature known and makes it useful to us.

i.                    Genesis 1:31

ii.                  Genesis 1:11

iii.                Genesis 8:22

 

 

c.                   Human beings share in his communicable attributes and have been granted the privilege of making good use of what he has made.

i.                    Genesis 1:26

ii.                  Genesis 1:28

 

d.                  Useful and responsible work is necessary, not only to provide for our needs, but also in order to enjoy fulfillment..

i.                    Genesis 2:15

ii.                  Genesis 3:23

 

e.                   Mankind is created male and female to correspond to one another within the commitment of marriage and to bring up children together.

i.                    Genesis 1:27

ii.                  Genesis 2:18, 24

 

f.                   God maintains sovereignty over what he has made and has the right to say what is appropriate within it.

i.                    Genesis 1:22

ii.                  Genesis 2:17

 

g.                  Evil is in the world, but not of his doing or by his will.

i.                    Genesis 2:9

ii.                  Genesis 3:1, 4

 

h.                  When his nature is contradicted and his will is ignored, the resulting estrangement from him moves the creation toward chaos and back to the dust.

i.                    Genesis 3:8, 19

ii.                  Genesis 6; 11

 

i.                    God, however, does not give up on his creation and remains providentially at work to redeem it to himself.

i.                    Genesis 3:15

ii.                  Genesis 3:21

 

j.                    He is at work moving history toward the goal of his new creation.

i.                    Genesis 9:13, 16

ii.                  Genesis 11:27

 

 

Conclusion:

 

1.                  This view of the world prepares us to take in the story of the Bible and to make sense of life.

2.         But, like any pair of glasses, this one has to be put on.