GOD’S WORLD VIEW
Embrace the Vision

 So, what is your world view?  “My what?” you might ask.  Whether you are aware of it or not, you do have a world view.  A world view is a core philosophy.  You have a particular way you see yourself, the world, others, and relate to the world and others.  What is your world view?  Can you even describe it?

 Let me help you out a little.  I will briefly outline some popular world views, and you reflect upon which fits you the best.  Remember, these are rather broad generalizations and there are varying expressions within each one.  But here goes.

 The first popular world view is what might be called the Modern-Techno World View.  The core concept of this view asserts that life mainly consists of acquiring enough knowledge, technology and stuff to control and shape our world and our personal lives. This world view is built upon competition, performance and reward. This world view believes that self-worth is linked to one’s ability to be useful and productive.  This world view would say something like, “I have value through what I accomplish and achieve, or I have value through what I possess.”   This world view has been the predominant world view that has shaped American culture and institutions for a long time.  This world view prizes private ownership, personal initiative and pragmatic solutions and approaches.

 A second popular world view is what might be called the Existential World View.  The core concept of this view places supreme emphasis on the individual and individual experience.  In this world view the individual defines everything.  The only meaning found in life, according to this world view, is in the decisions and choices made by the individual in the moment.  This world view minimizes the value of community and devalues tradition.  In this world view each individual defines his/her own reality.  I am convinced that almost every adolescent in our culture goes through an existential stage.  You parents know it only too well.  You may not have known what to call it, but you know what it looks like and feels like: rejection of your values; rebellious attitudes; unwillingness to go along with family decisions, insistence on “doing my own thing,” and the like.  As adolescents come of age and bridge into adulthood this existential world view seems to be a stage of the journey.

 A third popular world view is what might be called the Transcendental World View.  The core concept of this view is that life is simply too complicated to endure and too difficult to be a place of ultimate meaning and purpose.  This world view finds ways to escape the pain and complexity of the present moment.  This world view looks for another sphere of reality within which to sequester or connect oneself: emotionally, physically or spiritually.  This view is expressed in romantic notions of love and marriage that envision idealistic settings and escapes where we won’t be bothered by the harsh realities of life or intruded upon.  Those of us growing up in the 50’s and 60’s saw this world view expressed in the idyllic worlds of Father Knows Best or Leave It to Beaver.  Marcia and I intermittently adopt this world view when we escape to our house in the mountains.  Well, not completely because we do have a phone that has a habit of ringing and intruding into our tranquility.  This world view has a special appeal to many religious and spiritual expressions, Christian and otherwise, who use religion and spirituality to escape reality, minimize the problems and troubles of life, or insulate oneself from life’s undesirable circumstances.  The religious and spiritual expression of this world view can range from cold logic, to new age mysticism, to pious language, to simple answers, to a stained-glass window mentality that screens out the cries of hunger and groans of injustice inn the outside world. 

 None of us lives exclusively within any one of these world views, but they exert their influence upon us, and we adopt parts of them creating a basis for the way we see ourselves and relate to the world and others around us.

 “Which one of these world views is most like your operating world view?  Which one resembles you the most the majority of the time?”  What does your world view look like?  Most of us take elements from each view and combine them in a unique fashion in our own lives. 

 There is one more world view that I have yet to mention.  This view could be called the Biblical World View or the World View of God.  The Biblical World View stand in stark contrast with each one of the previous mentioned world views at key points.  The core concept of the Biblical View is that your view of self, others and the world arises from your relationship with God – a relationship that God first established with you – in your baptism. 

 Our first scripture reading from Exodus 19 is a small part of the larger story of the giving of the Ten Commandments.  Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai and ultimately received the Ten Commandments from God.  The commandments were given to Moses and the people as a directive of how they were to live and conduct themselves in response, and this is the key to understanding the Ten Commandments, in response to God’s saving them from Egyptian slavery and oppression.   The commandments we not given as a vehicle leading to salvation, as some people make them out to be, but as a response to salvation.  “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  Therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples.” (Exodus 19:4-5)

 Because God took the initiative to save them, God expected them to adopt a certain kind of world view, a certain way of seeing themselves, relating to others and the world as expressed in the Ten Commandments.

 The New Testament Gospel message is very similar in that regard.  In Jesus Christ, God has done the saving; God has already provided salvation; God has taken the initiative.  Paul said it in our Romans scripture, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (5:8) And, we are “justified by faith.” (5:1) God has already done the saving in Jesus Christ.  By faith we appropriate the gift of salvation into our lives and allow it to begin to shape our world view – a world view that I’ve already hinted stands in contrast, in many ways, to the popular world views.

 In contrast to the Modern-Techno World View the Biblical World View says that meaning and self-worth is not found in acquiring, controlling, competing or producing.   The Biblical World View says that meaning is found in serving others, and self-esteem is rooted in being loved and cherished by God for just who we are, before we do anything at all.  “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us,” which is the awesome gospel truth first declared to you personally in your baptism.

 In contrast to the Existentialist World View the Biblical World View says that our lives are never exclusively private, but always communal – found within a community. In our gospel for today we see Jesus calling the twelve disciples and sending them out as a community, not individuals. In contrast to the Existentialist World View we are set free, not to do anything we want, but set free from sin and fear to do what God wills for us to do.  Look at what he commanded the disciples to do:  “…cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.” They were given a very specific mission as a community. (Matthew 10:8) 

 In contrast to the Transcendental World View the Biblical World View does not remove us from  life and provide insulation to the pain and suffering of the world, but rather moves us into the world to embrace whatever happens to come our way, no matter how difficult it may be or vulnerable we may feel.  “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves…” he told his twelve disciples.   In our Romans scripture Paul was so secure in trusting the gift of his salvation won for him in Jesus Christ he was able to boldly declare, “…and we boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us…” (Romans 5:3)  The Biblical World View puts us smack in the middle of life in all of its brokenness, in all of its sorrow, in all of its despair - rather than escaping from it. 

 In a few moments we will receive the simple elements of the World View of God, the tangible expressions of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  They are powerful reminders that, “while we yet sinners Christ died for us.”  As you take these tokens of his body and blood into your being allow his suffering and forgiving love to begin to shape and reshape your world view.  

See yourself, before anything else, as a beloved child of God. 

See others as God’s children for whom Christ died, even your enemies, for whom Christ commanded us to love and pray. 

See that your salvation is secure and that you have been set free from sin and fear to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in the world.

See yourself not merely as an individual disconnected from others, but an individual placed in a very special community called the church, the body of Christ, that has been given a purpose and mission in the world.

 See yourself as a part of a very specific community called Holy Love Church that has been commissioned by God with a mission and a vision.

 “The body of Christ given for you.”  “The blood of Christ shed for you.”  Embrace it!  Embrace the World View of God.  Embrace the vision!