Good morning! Welcome to Philosophy 101. Philosophy simply means the love of wisdom. Let’s start with a question. Is there a difference between wisdom and knowledge? Absolutely. Simply knowing how to drive a car, doesn’t make me a good driver.

 

Agree or disagree - the difference between a good driver and a bad driver is wisdom! Wisdom involves knowing the right way to use my knowledge.  “Wisdom comes from God” Proverbs 2:6

 

Prov 8 says “wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her”.  What is the opposite of wisdom?  Foolishness!  Can you be well educated, knowledgeable and be foolish? Wisdom can’t be separated from truth; truth can’t be separated from God.

 

Are you with me?  This is important if we are to discern the difference between truth and deception.  I hope you viewed the first Truth Project lesson and attended one of the discussion groups this week.  The subject was veritology.   The root of the word is verify. And it means to the science of discovering or verifying the truth. We need God’s wisdom to discern truth.

 

This isn’t a new battle. It’s been going on since the Garden of Eden.  Remember how satan said to Eve, “Did God say…”  His purpose was to deceive her, to put a lie between her and the truth. Why would he do that?   Was he trying to enlighten her or destroy her?  Did he want to set her free or enslave her? 

 

I think he hated her because he hated God and God loved her and Adam above all else he had created. He pretended to care about her – but his purpose was to destroy her.  Has he ever pretended to be your best friend in order to pull you down?

 

How do we keep from falling into the same deception?  Last week we looked at what Jesus said when he was on the witness stand before Pontius Pilate; “…For this I was born, and for this reason came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18:37

 

Adam and Eve decided that God’s truth was a lie and that Satan’s lie was truth. Have you ever made the same mistake?  Paul wrote to the Colossians, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”  Col. 2:8

The Bible begins with these words, “In the beginning God…”  It goes on to say God created the universe and everything in it. It says that human beings were created in the image of God; as a result every human life has been endowed with incredible dignity and worth. We have been given responsibility to be good stewards of creation, to manage it with care and wisdom.

 

The Westminster Catechism answers the question “what is the chief end of man” this way: “We are created to love God and enjoy him forever”.   This philosophy is called a Biblical world view and it has critical implications for the way we think about ourselves, those around us, and the creation.

 

There is another philosophy or world view that either denies God’s existence or considers God  irrelevant. Carl Sagan puts it this way. “The cosmos is all there is, all there ever was, all there ever will be.”  Behind his words is an assumption, a world view that assumes everything that exists, including ourselves, is a product of blind chance.  We are nothing more than animated mud.

 

We have no free will; we are simply machines responding to stimuli. We have no accountability to a higher authority. There is no meaning to our existence, we came from nothing, we return to nothing. We have no more intrinsic value than a glob of slime mold on the forest floor. There is no right and wrong, no truth, no lie; no basis for ethics or morality other than survival.

 

Let’s look again at what Paul wrote to the Colossians, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”  Col. 2:8

 

I’ve heard believers say, “I’m a Christian because it just seems to work for me.”  What’s wrong with that statement?  It makes Jesus sound like just one more truth among many. If every truth claim is equally valid, even though they stand in opposition to each other, then there is no such thing as a truth.  We’ve bought hook, line, and sinker into a pagan world view.

 

Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock.”  Mt 7:24-25

The wise man finds the firm place, the rock, the truth on which to erect his house. David wrote in Psalm 62, “My soul finds rest in God alone, my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 62:1-2 

 

The foolish man isn’t so discerning. Psalm 14:1 puts it this way, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Ps 14:1 David goes on to say the reason the fool does this is he doesn’t want to be accountable. He wants to do as he pleases. He follows the same lie that trapped Adam and Eve. God doesn’t know what’s best for me. God isn’t on my side. My way is better than his way. And he attempts to build his house on the shifting sands of the culture around him.

 

Jesus says when the storms come, and they will, storms of temptation, addiction, tragedy, calamity, the house build on the rock, on the words of God that called the world into existence, that house will stand. But the house build on the imaginations and deceptions of the world will collapse. 

 

Over the next few weeks we are going to look at the differences between a Biblical world view and a pagan world view in a variety of areas.  We’ll look at the truth claims of both sides.

We will look at theology – who is God?  How do we know what we know about God? How do we know somebody didn’t just make it all up!  How has God revealed himself to us?

 

We’ll examine anthropology.  Who is man? Are we different from the other critters in the universe and if we are, how are we different.  What does it mean to be created in the image of God?  What about evil? Is it real?  Where did it come from?  What can we do about it?

 

 How about science?  How do science and faith relate? Is there room in a Biblical world view for science? Should Christians be afraid of what science might discover about the universe?

 

We’re going to examine if the way we live matches up what we say we believe.  How has a pagan world view infiltrated our lives and our behaviors?  Obviously, it has, if that were not true, Jesus would never have had to die on the cross to set us free. But free from what? 

 

We know we are bombarded everyday with messages that are simply not true.  Some of these we’ve learned to filter. “If you buy the right kind of shampoo, everyone will fall in love with you.  Buy this kind of breakfast cereal and it will change your life forever!”  Right?

 

Even though we know these messages are false, some of them get through. But there are even more subtle messages, lies that are far more deadly, pernicious, that we aren’t even aware of.  How do we bring them to light so we can see them for what they are?

 

How do we become more discerning about what is true and what is not? What is real and what is not?  What is from God and what is not? I hope you will attend a small group this week.

 

Paul puts it this way in Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

 

The Greek word is metamorphose. It’s the same word we use for the change that happens to a caterpillar.  It isn’t easy; something about the caterpillar has to die before the butterfly can emerge. Are you willing to be stretched and changed by the Spirit of God?

 

Are you willing to grow into a new wisdom and a new knowledge of the truth, to let go of the world’s lies that have become far too comfortable? If you need a group, call Jerry Slatter or the office and we’ll get you connected!