The Necessity of a Christian Worldview

Perhaps the biggest Achilles heel of evangelicalism is the lack of a robust Christian worldview. This is true for many Christians from the pulpit to the pews, and it isn’t a new problem. Francis Schaeffer’s words ring true, “The basic problem of the Christians in this country in the last eighty years or so . . . is that they have seen things in bits and pieces instead of totals.” Christians are not good at looking at the big picture with a Christian worldview. That was 1981, and it has only gotten worse.

Those cracking the whips of the chariot of secularism have ravaged our country, and part of their success is that they did see the big picture. Our inability to think with a wider scope has allowed secularists to outmaneuver us again and again. Christians spend so much time putting out fires and we never get around to playing offense.

Nancy Pearcey identifies the problem as the secular/sacred divide. What is this divide? It is the tactic secularists use to exile religion, especially Christianity, to the private realm of life. Secularists assert there are secular and sacred areas of life. The sacred area, where religion is allowed (for now), is the private realm. The public realm is to be free from religion. Christians have unwittingly adopted this dichotomy in much of our thinking. For many believers, the faith has shrunk to only private spiritual disciplines. The problem is, such a miniature religion is not found in Scripture. In Scripture, all of the world is under the lordship of Christ (Col. 1:15–20).

To free us from these secular chains, we need to reclaim a robust Christian worldview. Christians must examine every facet of life through the lens of Christ’s lordship because he currently rules over everything (Eph. 1:21–22).

As secularism decays and spins out of control, there has been a renewed interest in the Christian worldview. People are searching for a comprehensive way of life, but the problem is many sub-Christian ideas have infiltrated the faith. The Christian worldview is not just talking about all the spheres of life. Plenty of Christians talk about the world but sound eerily like the world. Christians must think, speak, and act distinctively as Christians throughout all of life.

The infiltration of secular ideologies under the guise of Christianity is troubling because ideas have consequences. We reap what we sow. A Christian worldview that gets many things correct, but which still sows the seeds of progressivism will lead to a weak and eventual heretical Christianity. This drift has happened many times throughout church history. How many more denominations, schools, churches, and families must we lose? Christians should have learned their lesson by now.

Francis Schaeffer’s work has shaped me in many ways. I have learned much from reading his books, and among the most important things is that ideas have consequences. I’ve been amazed when reading his predictions from 40–50 years ago.  These predictions were surely shocking for his time, and many in his day likely thought he was merely a Chicken Little. But here we are, his predictions were not only correct, but he may have underestimated the severity of our problems. How did Schaeffer know things like the worship of homosexuality was coming? He understood that ideas have consequences, and he understood the ideas of his opponents. To put it simply, Schaeffer didn’t think in bits and pieces, but he saw the whole picture. He filtered the world through the Christian worldview. We desperately need more men like Schaeffer. Honestly, many of the fiercest disagreements within the church today rage between those who insist on a comprehensive Christian worldview and those who prefer to think in bits and pieces (i.e., secularism).

In our decaying society, we must recover a robust Christian worldview. Not a fake Christian worldview which is nothing more than a halfway house for the latest progressive doctrine, but one which seeks to submit to Christ alone in every area of life.  This is a tall task, but it is imperative for Christians as we reach out to this dying world. We must build families, churches, schools, and institutions upon the Christian truth of reality. Christians must declare Christ in all of life. We must see life not in pieces, but in the fullness of the Christian worldview with the lordship of Christ over everything.  

Pastor Levi Secord

Christ Bible Church