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Janury/February 1997 Is there a God? Are there absolute standards of right and wrong? What kinds of forces are shaping our culture? Our answers will reflect our perspective on reality-- our WORLD VIEW. Some are quite aware that they live by the dictates of a particular world view. Most have never thought about it. Some are able to articulate the specifics of their world view. Most would not even try. Some have a world view that sounds rather noble. Others look at life in a way that seems naive, nebulous, or even nonsensical. But regardless, "Every person carries in his head a mental model of the world, or a subjective representation of external reality" (Future Shock, Alvin Toffler). The most pervasive philosophy of life on secular university campuses is NATURALISTIC HUMANISM. According to such a world view, God is irrelevant to the public realm. Human reason and scientific innovation serve as the final authority for what a person thinks and how a person lives. Others march to the message of a mystical world view known as NEW AGE. New Agers believe, "The problem is that we have forgotten who we are-- that we are divine" (Racing Toward 2001, Russell Chandler, Harper Publishers, San Francisco and Zondervan Publishers, Grand Rapids, 1992). This philosophy promote the idea that God is simply an impersonal force, a kind of reservoir that holds everything together. In fact, in this way of thinking, God is not only an impersonal force; He is an amoral force in which we all participate. As a consequence, supernatural revelation is considered to be unnecessary (The Power Of Myth, Joseph Cambell and Bill Moyers, Doubleday Publishers, New York, 1988). In utter contrast to such opinions, those who champion a REFORMED WORLD VIEW hold to a totally different set of presuppositions. They insist that this is God’s world. He is both its Maker and Monarch. "The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1). At creation it was a perfect world, but it is perfect no longer! Sin and the fall of man have flawed God’s world. Out of this world God has called ". . .a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that they should show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into His marvelous light" (I Peter 2:9). These people have a mission in life: to work toward that day when ". . .the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our God and of His Christ" (Revelation 11:15). THEY ARE CALLED TO ENGAGE THE WORLD, NOT RUN FROM IT They have a God-given mandate to "subdue" and ". . .have dominion over" every area and every aspect of life (Genesis 1:28). They have a duty to make a difference in this world by bringing the truths of God’s Word to bear on the issues of their day. They are to challenge the false suppositions of secular life and to make a bold witness to the unchanging commandments of God. Because they serve a just God, they are to work for justice. Because they serve a God of mercy and compassion, they are to give themselves to a ministry of caring for the poor. Because they serve a God of utter righteousness, they are to speak out against evil of all kinds. Those with a Reformed World View believe that the mandates of Scripture ". . .must never be reduced to a playbook for social action, but neither should its clear call to aid the poor and the oppressed be overlooked" (Christians Involved In The Political Process, John Whitehead, Moody Press, Chicago, 1994). Those with a Reformed World View have a responsibility to address, with relentless zeal, the tolerated evils of society. But they also have every bit as great a responsibility to incarnate the love and grace of God in all that they say and do. Their words and actions are not to reflect a kind of harsh activism that is poorly conceived and stridently promoted. They have been called to be the salt and the light of the world. But fallen human nature being what it is, a word of caution is appropriate:
The redeemed of the Lord must engage the world. They must ". . .shine like the stars in the universe, as they hold out the word of life" (Philippians 2:15,16). But for that to occur, they must be a people who think deeply, pray fervently, and act lovingly. They must be a winsome people who both graciously and fearlessly proclaim the whole counsel of God. THE BIBLE’S PRINCIPLES APPLY NOT JUST TO THE CHURCH, BUT TO THE WORLD For those with a Reformed World View the message of the Bible is a message with implications for all of life. There is a critical commitment to SOLA SCRIPTURA (Scripture alone) and SOLA TOTA (Scripture in its totality) as the only infallible rule of faith and practice. It is the message of the Bible that confronts man’s condition, reveals moral absolutes, displays God’s grace and lifts up God’s sovereignty. It is the authoritative message of the Bible that most effectively communicates to the strident skepticism of our age. It is that same message that provides the way out of society’s dense forest of subjectivism and speculation. It is the Bible that sharpens man’s dull sense of justice and moral poverty. And it is the Bible that exposes a collective conscience that has become numb to the brutal violence all around it. In a day when fierce moral relativity is encompassing our culture, it is the Bible that reminds us that moral absolutes are not in flux. There are normative principles for all of life; principles that never change. They are contained in the law of God. It is this law that defines right from wrong. It is this law that preserves order in God’s creation. And it is this law that drives men to see their need of God’s grace. It is a message this hurting world needs to hear. God’s grace to us in Christ Jesus is invincible. The Son of God came to ". . .seek and to save that which was lost" (Matthew 18:11). He came ". . .not to judge but to save" (John 12:47). It is the trustworthy message of the Bible that assures us of how God’s grace forgives and transforms. It is God’s grace that brings good out of evil. It is God’s grace that restrains wickedness. Without question, there is nothing more important to this fallen world than what B. B. Warfield describes as ". . .the free sovereign favor of God to the ill-deserving." And it is the Bible that also lifts up the message of God’s sovereignty. Those with a Reformed World View certainly cannot perfectly understand all the dimensions of what God is doing in His world, but they do bow down before the majesty and perfection of His providential power. God acts according to His will. None can stay His hand, defeat His counsels or thwart His purpose. In the face of a deteriorating contemporary culture the temptation can be strong to think that Christians can reverse the process of deterioration. The temptation can be strong to believe that by getting involved in the political process Christians can bring about a more ideal society. But it is not necessarily so! There are limits to what man can do. Only God can turn around His world. That is why Charles Colson makes the comment:
But at the same time, the sovereign God of the Bible does call upon His people to so live by the light of His Word that their influence can be detected in all areas of life. This too is part of what it means to look at all of life with a Reformed world perspective. THE REFORMATION IS NOT JUST OUR HERITAGE, BUT THE WORLD’S HOPE Unlike those who embrace a monastic view of life, men of the Reformation preached a message that said God is pleased even with man’s ordinary activity in this world. He does not call His people to give every moment to what some might describe as spiritual activity.
In education, the arts, science, politics and law Christians were encouraged to be disciplined, creative people living their lives by the light of God’s Word so that their influence could be felt in the wider culture. Luther, Melanchthon, and Calvin vigorously urged Christians to enter the vocation of public education with the same discipline and zeal that they would enter the service of God in the church. John Knox had the same burden. In 1560 he wrote The First Book Of Discipline, in which he called for a national system of education in Scotland. The Reformers were not fearful of "secular" learning. They were not anti-intellectual. In fact, they believed the Christian faith would prosper only if an intellectual curiosity were encouraged in the lives of God’s covenant children. The Reformers sought to insure that these children had a sense of moral direction, that they understood what it meant to think and to act as responsible citizens. The men of the Reformation refused to separate from the world under the mistaken notion that they were separating from that which is sinful. In the arts, for example, Martin Luther wrote: "I am not of the opinion that the arts are to be overthrown and cast aside by the Gospel, as some super spiritual people protest" (What Luther Says, Ewald M. Plass, Concordia Press, St. Louis). And in the sciences, Stanford University professor Lewis Spitz reminds us that no one labored for the good of man and the glory of God more than those who were impacted by the Reformation. He writes, "No one can deny the preponderance of Protestants among scientists after the 1640’s. Lutherans, Anglicans, and preeminently Calvinists made more scientific discoveries than Catholics and appeared to be more flexible in putting them to use" (The Renaissance And Reformation Movements, Lewis Spitz, Rand McNally Publishers, Chicago, 1971). To have a Reformed World View of life is to live by Biblical convictions that impact all of life. It is to believe that ". . .this is my Father’s world." It is the world Christ died for and the world He calls us to shape and claim for Him. In fact, if we do not obey this mandate the consequences will be devastating. IF WE AREN’T EQUIPPED TO SHAPE THE WORLD, THE WORLD WILL SHAPE US When Christians refuse to be what their Lord has called them to be, they become the opposite of what He desires. They become self-absorbed and empty. When that happens they become a people who may increase in knowledge but not in wisdom. They become a people more enamored by gold than by goodness. They become a people to whom things are more important than people. They become a people for whom the desires of God and the dictates of a Reformed World View are of very little consequence. That is tragic! Listen to the doom that awaits such indifference. Jesus describes it in Matthew 5:13: "If the salt has lost its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is good for nothing any more except to be thrown out and trampled under foot of men." The intent of King Jesus is not marginal. His intent is not a luxury to be added as a kind of "enrichment" to our lives. Citizens of the heavenly kingdom cannot change what they are, but they can waste what they are. They can become so indistinguishable from those around them that they lose all power to "salt," all ability to "give light." They become ". . .good for nothing any more, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot of men." Such is the tragic testimony of church history. We search in vain for the once fruitful churches of Asia Minor, churches like Corinth and Ephesus. They are all but non-existent. We look in vain for the once thriving churches of North Africa where the great Augustine once ministered. Once more we see how salt that lost its saltiness was cast out. If God’s people do not impact the darkness, the darkness will impact them. Dr. Robert Palmer
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