Christ and the Culture

What is a definition of a "Christian Worldview?"  As a Bible teacher, I need to clearly understand this ... from it will flow the message that God has for me and for those to whom I have the privilege of teaching.

The "Christian Worldview" as I understand it is this:

* God (Elohim/Yahweh) is the Creator and we with all that exists, on the earth and in the heavens, are His creation.

* God is triune - Father/Son (Jesus)/Holy Spirit

* All creation is filled with Sin brought on my man's/my disobedience to God and separation from God became the punishment

* A redeemer was prophesied from the very beginning in the garden of Eden and Jesus is the complete fulfillment of all these prophecies

* God the Son (Jesus) became a man to pay the price as that redeemer ... the price that only a perfect/pure sacrifice could be accepted

* Jesus (the God/Man) was unjustly condemned to die and He took "all" sin with Him when He died on a cruel Roman cross (unregenerant man put Him their) by the pre-plan of God (John 3:16)

* On the third day, Jesus was resurrected from the grave where He left the Sin of the world.

* Seven weeks later Jesus returned to heaven to sit on His throne at the right hand of the Father from where He directs the events of the world and reigns as King

* To spend eternity with Jesus one need only believe, confess sin in one's life and ask Him to be Lord and Savior.

* Soon Jesus will return for His Bride, the Church, and will reign forever.

* Finally for those who reject Him, there will be a Judgment by God and a sentence to the Devil's hell.

As I let this Worldview direct my life, I also need to understand the opposing view of a secular society.  Dr. Albert Mohler's timely examination of these two very different worldviews in his weekly online essays line these views out:

1) "the prevailing view that everything that is has happened by chance and that there is no absolute authority...that each individual is the final arbiter of his own existence and, that no one else may tread upon that choice. This is most often referred to as 'toleration.'”

2) and, the rapidly diminishing view, even in the so-called evangelical churches, that the creator God of the Bible has absolute sovereignty, that His written Word is completely trustworthy, and that obedience to Him is unwaveringly essential.  If this view is lost, as Carl F.H. Henry writes and as quoted by Mohler, 'we (will) perish in the pit of lawlessness.'”

Thus, an understanding of what the Christian, or Biblical, worldview encompasses helps me to live my life in this world with clarity as I seek to follow in the footsteps of Jesus

Part 1: http://www.albertmohler.com/2016/02/03/secularization-and-the-sexual-revolution-evangelical-theology-and-the-cultural-crisis-part-1/
 

​Part 2: http://www.albertmohler.com/2016/02/22/the-secularization-of-the-west-and-the-rise-of-a-new-morality/

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Part 3: http://www.albertmohler.com/2016/03/03/everything-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-the-new-secular-worldview/

Part 4: http://www.albertmohler.com/2016/03/15/the-withering-of-vice-and-the-sexual-revolution/

Crying Out to God in Anguish

I recently was introduced to the concept of "ze'akah" or crying out in anguish.  This is a Hebrew word that is more of a concept which is not easily translated.  It is more than crying out...rather it is a groaning not unlike the groaning of Romans 8:26 where we learn that "the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with "groaning" too deep for words.

In Genesis 4:1-12, we see the narrative of Cain killing his brother Abel.  In verse 10, God confronts Cain and uses the term ze'akah to describe the blood of Abel "crying out" from the ground to God in anguish over the heinous sin of his brother Cain having slain him. 

It seems that ze'akah is a cry with such pathos inherent in it, a cry which God cannot seem to ignore.

See again, in Exodus how the children of Israel are crying out to God with groaning from the midst of their devastating circumstances (Exodus 2:23-26).  Pharaoh and the Egyptians were practicing "genocide" and extremely harsh tactics on their slaves, the Israelites.  It is out of this pain that God's own people began to cry out to Him and we read that "their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.  And God heard their groaning."  This is ze'akah!

And, it also is ze'akah that Rachel cries out to God.  Originally, from her grave near Bethel that she looks out over Ramah and weeps that her children are being taken into captivity (Jeremiah 31:15) and over the slaughter of boy babies in the region of Bethlehem by Herod in Matthew 2:18.  It is her cry (ze'akah) from the grave that causes the stirring of the heart of our compassionate God as He gives us His Son to deliver us from the ravages of sin.  Galatians 4:4 tells us that the response came "when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son...to redeem us."

In extra-biblical history, the 20th century saw Hitler and the Nazis do their very best to wipe out from the face of the earth forever the Israelites.  Hitler's hatred of the Jews, carried out in the gas chambers and ovens of Dachau and Auschwitz, brought forth ze'akah once again wherein God used the Americans and Allies to defeat the Nazis and deliver His people.

Has Ze'akah's time come once again when the people of God, under the ravages of sin and darkness, should be crying out to Him.  Notice, however, this concept of ze'akah is not something which can be evoked at will.  It seems from history that it comes out of a sense of hopelessness and a desire for God to take revenge on the evil taking place. For those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, the hopelessness comes not from a concern of our salvation, for that cannot be taken from us (Romans 8:39) but rather from a sense of frustration with the worldview which seeks to eradicate God from any significance and condemns us for trying to keep Him first and foremost.  It comes from a sense of "unless God rends the heavens and comes down" (Isaiah 64:1-2) there will be nothing left to cry out but our blood from the grave.

How long, O God, will you wait?  "Maranatha, Lord Jesus, even so come!"

A song which I find very moving:
Ze'akah - A Cry for Help by Rick Astley