You’ve probably heard a reference to someone not being able to rise above his worldview. Well, it’s even more true about our God-view, or how we view God. This will not only affect how we see the world, but also how we read Scripture, and interact with other people. I agree with MacArthur here when he points out that our view of God and what He has said in the Bible filters down to every area of our lives. How could it not?
There are some professing Christians who don’t care about doctrine that much. I didn’t always care about it. I was wrong and Christians who don’t care about doctrine are wrong to think in this way. It’s a sign of immaturity and shows we have too low a view of God and His truth. That’s a pretty strong statement to make, so I’ll probably be accused of being ‘too judgmental’. Don’t worry, I can take it. More importantly, I can back it up with Scripture and some examples. I’m going to borrow an excerpt from a Voddie Baucham in a sermon on apologetics. He makes a humorous illustration about someone talking about him and referring to him as a ‘little white guy from Mississippi’. For those who don’t know Voddie Baucham, he is a not so little black guy, originally from California, and has done most of his ministry work in places that aren’t Mississippi. It would obviously be a case of mistaken identity if someone described him that way. Here’s what he said —
We laugh, but that’s exactly what people do with Jesus. They start defining Him as someone completely other than whom we find in Scripture. And instead of saying ‘That’s NOT Jesus,’ we say ‘Well, that’s your interpretation.’ What’s the problem with that? If we leave people with the wrong picture of Jesus, with the wrong interpretation of Jesus, we leave them lost. Because here’s the thing, if someone runs up on a little white guy from Mississippi that they think is me, it won’t matter how sincere they are, they’ll be wrong. Sincerity is not enough. You can be sincerely wrong. This is why we engage in apologetics. Isn’t it ironic? It’s because we love people, and more importantly because we love the gospel and we love the Lord — they’re denying their only master and Lord, Jesus Christ. This is a problem in two different directions. Number one, this is a problem because we desire for Christ to have the fullness of the reward for which He died. I want you to know Jesus. I want you to know the real Jesus. I want Christ to have the fullness of His reward. Amen? But then here’s the second problem — I love Jesus. I can’t just sit around and allow you to blaspheme Him. Do you think I’d allow you to just sit around and badmouth my Bridget (his wife)? No, we’re not doing that. That’s my wife, you can’t do that. I love her. I’m not going to sit around with you badmouthing my wife, but I want us to be friends, you know so I just ignore while you badmouth my wife. No, can’t do that. How much more with the One who bled and died on the cross to save my soul? My vertical love (between God and man) won’t allow that and my horizontal love (human to human) won’t allow that…
—Voddie Baucham, from Christian Apologetics sermon
If we aren’t even willing to make a defense of who God is and stand on sound doctrine, then it’s unlikely we will be firm when it comes to other things. If we’ll compromise when it comes to God, which we claim is our most important relationship, then we’ll certainly compromise on everything else. If you claim to know a different Jesus, or think a simple choice that you ‘accept Him’ means you know Him, then you don’t know Jesus. You are putting your faith in a version of Jesus which YOU created, which is contrary to what the Bible says about Jesus. Here is what Scripture says about who Jesus is and what He has done for us…
Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Col 1:16 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.
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Col 1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
Col 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
Col 1:22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
Col 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
—Colossians 1:15-23
Please, read through this passage a few times. I don’t care how familiar you think you are with it. We can never know enough of Christ. No matter how hard we try, we’ll always have too low a view of Christ. Since we love to think about ourselves as well, I included verses 21-23. We don’t get ‘right with God’ by our own free will or ‘making the right choice.’ Rather, when we were alienated and hostile from God, busy doing evil deeds HE reconciled us by His death. He is the One who did something, not us. He makes us holy and blameless before God. There’s nothing we can do to make ourselves that way. That’s the hope of the gospel. If we don’t believe Jesus is who the Bible says He is (EVERYTHING!) and/or we don’t believe we’re as bad as the Bible says we are, then what’s our worldview and God-view going to be? Wrong! If we’re off on truths like who God is, the gospel, and the nature of man because we simply won’t accept the Bible as our authority, then we are going to be wrong on most other major truths in Scripture as well. It also says that instead of the Bible acting as the authority over us, we are acting as if we’re the authority over the Bible. We have things completely backwards. It’s not surprising we would then believe a man-centered gospel, which doesn’t save us. The ‘good news’ we then share is not the actual good news of the gospel. Is God still bigger than all of this? Absolutely! He’ll still save us and others when we’ve had it completely wrong. In fact, before He intervened and regenerated us, we could only get it wrong. However, if we’re still getting it completely wrong when we claim to know Him, then there’s clearly something wrong with our view of God. Since He can’t be wrong, it MUST be us who are in the wrong. As both Baucham and MacArthur expressed clearly. Doctrine matters! It’s the loving thing to do (towards both God and man) to teach sound doctrine and correct others when needed. Nobody rises above their worldview or God-view. Nor can we rise above God Himself. To desire to do so, or live in that way, is to follow Satan’s path. We need to be humbled and submit to God. The words ‘God, I am wrong’ are always a good start…