Learn to Reach Your World - S2 Episode 2

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Learning to reach your world podcast. My name is Patrick Bicknell. We are thankful you're tuning in again to episode two of season two, where we are looking at worldviews, the biblical worldview, the lens through which we see our world, hoping to give you some tools to be able to share the gospel effectively with the world around you. And again, just to recap and to look at what is the gospel?

It's the good news of Jesus Christ that he came to the world to die for our sins, goes to a cross, is buried, and rose again, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. The good news that the world needs. In last episode, we talked about the Bible, right? What is the Bible? The authority of the Bible, the reliability of the Bible.

And I would encourage you go back and listen to episode one if you have not yet. It was a great episode. And in this episode, we're gonna be looking at who is God? Discussing the nature of God, what's he like? What's the Bible say God is?

And how does that play into our worldview and how we can share the gospel? So joined with me again is our resident scholar, our theologian, Joshua Combs. Thank you for being with us. I will not do this anymore if you keep saying resident scholar every time. It's just so much fun to see you squirm over there.

So terrible. And also misleading because I'm not a schol$, but it's our residence, so it doesn't mean how good it is. It's just, this is all we have. This is who we're stuck with, everybody. This is who we're giving to you, and you're gonna deal with it.

So, Josh, do you want to dive into this topic real quick? Explain to us who is God? What's the Bible say about God? And take it away from there. Who is God?

I think we have to start with what does God say about himself? What does God say about God? There is a really pivotal verse in Exodus 34 where Moses is going back up to Mount Sinai to meet with God again to receive the law again. He had broken the law when he had came down from Mount Sinai. The Bible says in verse six, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord.

The Lord, a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clean the guilty or clear the Guilty. Excuse me. Visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. So here's God introducing himself to Moses. And what God says about himself, he identifies as merciful, gracious, abounding in steadfast love, faithful, slow to anger, and keeping his covenant.

Verse 7. Keeping steadfast love to thousands. So to the thousandth generation, but who is very serious about sin, so who will by no means clear the rebellious. We would say we understand that from the Bible more that that is those who refuse to come to him for salvation, those who refuse to submit to Him. And there's a generational cost of that.

So this is who God is. He's outside of time. He is merciful. This is his way of relating to us. That verse is quoted many, many times, or portions of that verse are quoted many times throughout the Old Testament.

So when I think about who God is, I come back to that verse. I come back to that because I think it corrects the. I think it corrects the errors that we all have formed about how we view God, whether it's from our childhood. I think a lot of our. Our formation of how we view God, our theology, the ology of God is shaped in childhood.

I think it is also shaped by pop culture. So, you know, when we pray, do we view God as, you know, Morgan Freeman, like, is, you know, God's going to talk back and it's going to be in Morgan Freeman's voice, right? Or James Earl Jones or something. You know, there's all these. These things in movies or television that shape kind of our imagery of God or even.

We talked about this before the chosen. So when we think about Jesus, Well, Jonathan Roumie is not Jesus, right? We don't know what Jesus looked like. He was Jewish in the ancient near east, but I don't know, was he tall? Was he short?

Was he thicker? Like, I don't know, he was a carpenter. So maybe you can extrapolate some things from there. But when we think about God, it's shaped by so much. I think it has.

Our worldview has to be shaped by what the Bible says, what God says about himself, what God reveals about himself. So three big characteristics about God when you think about him in the Bible is he is all powerful. So this idea that God has all power, that God is all knowing and that God is all present. So God is everywhere at once. So omnipresent is the way that I grew up learning, but he's present everywhere at once, and he is omnipotent and omniscient.

So he's all knowing and he's all present and he's all powerful. That seems to be what the Bible lays out for who God is in more of an academic or a little bit of a, I don't want to say cold sense, but just in factual sense. But I love Exodus 34 because it reminds me that, yeah, God does get angry, but he's slow to anger. So that's what those, that's what I would say the Bible gives us, is kind of the core of who God is. So I wanted to focus on a little bit what you said a minute ago of these images we make of God, right.

How we think of God in our mind. What do we go to? You know, you were talking before we started this podcast of some of these caricatures. Could you dive into that a little bit? Like, what's, what's some common ways people do that?

What's the danger in that too? Yeah, I actually wrote about it in a book because struck me that all of us have these, Christians have these, non Christians have these. So as we're sharing the gospel with someone, depending on their religious background, how do they view God? And I, I think it's shaped sometimes by parents or parents and, or like a authority in our life as, as children or a religious influence in our life. So, you know, to me, I, I, yeah, I wrote about a few of them that I think a lot of people think God is just perpetually angry at them and they live in not a healthy fear of the Lord.

I think they live in just an avoidance of God because they think they don't look at the balance of he is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Like he extends to them forgiveness and compassion, but they avoid God or they ignore God. They don't want to be held accountable to God for whatever the reason might be. But, but they view God as just always, always, always angry with them. And then I think there's the character that we feel like God is this, that God is the, like Santa Claus.

I've often thought about God as people view God as Santa Claus. Like he's there and he sees when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He. He knows if you've been bad or good.

So be good for goodness sake. You know, like, you better watch out because he's checking that list twice. He's checking the list. And you, and you don't want coal from God. You want you know, gifts from God.

And I think, honestly, I think a lot of adults play that, have that dynamic or play that game with God. I didn't do the bad things. God bail me out of this, you know, or God, not just Santa. But then God becomes like the 91 1. A lot of people make that deal with God in crisis.

God, if you get me out of this crisis. We were actually, the other night, growth. We were talking about that. That idea of just kind of the. To bail us out and when things are hard, like, we talk about prayer.

How often we just go to God in prayer because there's some issue in our life and we just want him to fix it, which, again, isn't a bad thing. But, like, that's the only way we view God. Like you're saying this Santa Claus, God, it's just a distortion of who God truly is. There's a. There's a couple more.

One of them that I. I'll actually just read it straight out of the book because to me, this is the one. As I was working through these caricatures, this is what I think is becoming more and more common, at least from my vantage point, is like, God is like the old war veteran. So here we are, you know, recording in 2025. I think this comes out in 2026.

It's very rare now to meet a World War II veteran. Many of them have passed away. When I was a kid, I actually met World War I veterans.

Now we're seeing Vietnam veterans come of age where they're. They're older men and you're able to have conversations about war. I think a lot of people view God as like this old war veteran. And here's why I say that. I'm just going to read it.

Every year in towns across America, military veterans march down Main street in their local parades. People stand and applaud. I do it every year at our little local parade. Communities remember the sacrifice of these brave men and women. Many times veterans are old and frail, and it may be hard to imagine them young and full of life.

God, the old war veteran is somebody who did some great and awesome things back in the day. Where and what exactly we. What exactly he did, we don't know. But there are some monuments and statues somewhere. He was useful and important, but those days have passed.

As a courtesy, we'll stand and applaud for him on a holiday, usually Christmas or Easter. I think that's how people view God. Like he was. He was great. Back in the day, there were some tough things, but but it's a modern day, times have changed and I think that is the invasion of the humanistic worldview where it all rests upon us.

Where we talk about existential threats that we are now responsible for solving for future generations. And I'm not implying that creation, caring for creation isn't real, but, but we start to talk about these existential threats and, and people feel that stress of oh my gosh, I'm responsible for that. And if I don't do something like the world is going to fall apart.

God is just this thing from the past. And I think we see that in Europe as well. We see in Europe God was in history, so the great cathedrals. And maybe he helped bring down the slave trade and maybe like in the case of Martin Luther in Germany. Right.

Codified the German language. And so it served a utilitarian religion. God served a utilitarian function back in the day. But now we have progressed so much. We're good, we're good without God.

But you know, we should probably nod to him once in a while because he was pretty fabulous back then. So I, I think that is a caricature. The other one with that real quick. I think you mentioned this in the last episode. You were talking about the story of Noah's Ark.

I think we can subtly do make this character our guy when we say these stories that God did rather than actual accounts that God did. You know, Yeah, I, I use story, not, I try to not use it to imply this is fiction or the Bible becomes the Christian fairy tales, Grimm's Fairy tales, Mother Goose type stuff. More moral stories. But true historical accounts. And obviously Jesus tells some fictional stories, the parables.

Yep. So, you know, that has. But like, yeah, the account, the historical account, we believe it was a true story, something that really happened, but that was like ancient. Right. The world wasn't sophisticated.

You know, we did a different time now. Yeah. We didn't have electricity. We didn't have. We are the intelligent.

We've ascended. We have. And I think in, in, in our Western mindset, especially since the Industrial Revolution, we think we are just advancing and people are still people.

Yeah. I'm thankful for electricity and I'm thankful for hot water. Hot water and government, you know, like road infrastructure. I'm thankful for all those things. Trash pickup, little things.

Don't even think about. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm thankful for the automobile. Right. There are many things, but the heart of man is still the same.

Still in need of a merciful, gracious, loving savior to forgive our Sins. But yeah, I'm thankful I don't live in, you know, even in the world today, there'd be some terrible places to live. Oh, and we're super blessed. We're sitting here in a warm room. We're going to eat a nice lunch in a little bit.

Like we're. We're super blessed. Anyways, I know it's off topic, but anyways, I think. Yeah, the other character. Character you have.

Yeah, the last one I think is the, the idea of the Bible is very monotheistic, not polytheistic. So I think it was Steve Jobs I read at one point described religion and he seemed to go vacillate between maybe believing and not believing at all that it's like a house and all the religions are doors just into the house. I think a lot of people will view that. So in our evangelistic efforts, it's understanding someone might be polytheistic, meaning believing in many gods. So in Rome and in the ancient Greek, Greco Roman culture, they were polytheistic to the nth degree.

I mean, even having, what's it, Acts 17, altar to the unknown God, just in case we miss. Case we miss somebody. So I think Jesus is kind of wrapped into the, the pantheon of gods. And sure Jesus can be God, that's great. But he's one of, one of many where Jesus claims exclusivity to deity.

The God, the Godhead as we would call them, the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three and yet one. So a bit of a mystery there. But that is not like, you know, one door into the, the house. It is the only door. I mean, Jesus says that right, I am the door.

So he's. He's the only way to fellowship with God as we know it, or you know, God as, as is true. But I think some people look and are just like very gracious, ecumenical, if I can use that word, that every. Muslims are coming in this way. It's the mountain analogy.

Everyone's just climbing up the mountain a different direction. We'll all end up in the same spot. Whereas Christianity claims exclusivity, saying there is only one God and there is only one way to be made right before him, and that is through Christ and his death on the cross, his resurrection. Everything else is not true. Well, that's, that's.

I think that's why Christianity has been.

I think even if you go back, even Judaism, I think that's even why Judaism was persecuted so much because they claim there's only one God and all of Caesar is not God. And all of these other pagan religions that are, you know, swirling around us from Egypt and in the Roman society are false, aren't. Aren't real. Well, that sparks persecution because you're saying something true and you're confronting the gods small G that everyone else is depending on that everyone else is worshiping and everyone else is vested in.

But we create all these caricatures and I think in evangelism, back to the listening idea, we have to understand where is someone coming from? What type of background are they coming from? Maybe there are. Maybe they just. They hate God.

They're angry at God because someone that they love died or their child died or their parent died young or something terrible happened to them and they're just very furious at God. To me, that's actually not a bad place to start because they actually know which direction to bring their complaint. We don't need to talk them out of. Talk them out of that. So I think that there's this discernment in our conversations with people.

We have the worldview that there is one God. He is in three persons, in three, three, and yet one. And that's our worldview. And we take that from the scripture. And then who is that God?

Well, he is not furious.

He's not the punisher God. He will punish sin. And he is righteous and he is holy and he did create hell.

But I think it's seeing God in his totality. The other character, sorry to add one more, is that God is love. So it's just like he's just this soft, cushiony, you know, let you do what you want. Let you do what you want. He's the perpetual grandparent, you know, so, you know, no rules, whatever you want.

Little old lady at the end of the street. That's exactly right. You know, it's so sweet. It's so comforting. I had a bad day, so I stopped by to say hi to God.

It's like God is comforting and God is, you know, the God of peace the Bible talks about. But yeah, the little old lady at the end of the road, like, that's. That's not God. Yeah. So with on that thought, then why is it so important for us to not just focus on one attribute of God, you say?

I think a lot of people make that mistake. God is love and that's it. There's no anger towards sin. You know, there's no justice. Even in the description you gave in Exodus, he says, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, but will not clear the iniquity.

So why is it important to not just focus on one of these attributes, but the totality of who God is? Well, I think if we focus on one part of it, we come up with a false God. I don't think it is. It ceases to be God. I think there are parts of who God is that we need at different times.

If I can say it that way. I don't know. I'm trying to process it through my brain. Like the. The book that I wrote, why God?

So the four truths. God is in complete control. All things exist for God's glory. God's ways are not our ways. And God loves me at different points of my day or different points of my week or month.

I need to remember one of those four truths more than the other. Things seem chaotic. I have to go, okay, God's in complete control. I don't have to be. I don't have to grasp at control.

God is in control. He's sovereign, as we would say. Well, then sometimes things happen and I'm like, I don't like this. I feel like God made a bad call here. I think those are the psalms, the lament psalms that we see.

The poems of the book of psalms, the songs where we can go to God and wrestle with. I don't like what you did here. It's frustrating to me. To me, that's faith. That's faith.

And I have to focus on the truth. Okay? God's ways are not my ways. The way I visualize it is God is the one who is writing my story, and I have to trust him with the pen. And then there's other times where I have to remember that all things exist for God's glory, that it's truly his story.

History is his story. He's writing that it is about his glory. I'm not the center. I'm not the star of the stage of the universe. It's who he is.

And then I. Sometimes those are just so hard for me. I just have to sit back and go, okay, I am loved by God. God so loved the world. That's me.

He loves me. He knows. He knows the hairs that are on my head. He knows the tears that I have shed. Okay, okay.

He loves me. So I think if we focus singularly on one, like, for example, if you go to the end and be like, he will visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation, like, that is a horror movie right there. Well, that's True, that's true. Of who God is. There is generational sin and generational punishment and national punishment.

That's. That's true. That's a, That's a warning for fathers. That's a warning for breaking generational curses habits through the power of the gospel. But I think if we just focus on that, which I've heard people do, it's like, well, you've, you've turned God into this monster.

And that's not great either. I love the phrase slow to anger. If we say that God's never angry, that's not true either. He's slow to anger. But I would encourage you to repent before he reaches the anger point.

And I think with that, the unfortunate thing is when we focus on just one of those attributes, what will happen is we lose another aspect that. Right. And so. Yeah. Is he still angry?

Well, then if he's never angry, then he's no longer a just God. And now the God of the Bible actually falls apart. Caricature. Exactly. Yeah.

I really like how you, how you said that with your book. I think one of the challenges that I know I've experienced, and I'm sure you have too, that people are going to have as we evangelize and reach the world is in our culture now. The God has become self. Right. People have made themselves God.

So how can the biblical picture of God, who God is, help us to challenge that belief and address that issue as we try and reach people with the gospel? Well, I like how you said that people have made themselves God. As we'll talk about the fall in a few episodes, not the fall in the season, but Genesis 3, the account there. The original temptation was you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

That ruined everything. So we live in a culture where we, we also deal with idolatry, meaning that is looking to something or someone else for something that only God can give you.

People are chasing money to be their God and they find it. It's just. It doesn't fulfill. It leaves them. You know, there may be a momentary pleasure as the Bible talks about with sin gives us a momentary pleasure.

There might be this momentary thrill, but then it's fleeting. And you see this with guys who make millions and billions of dollars though they're still searching for meaning. You see, you see Hollywood stars reach the top only to just. I mean, in some horrible cases, so sad die. They're searching for meaning.

They're. They're searching for something that will can. They're searching for the things that only God can give Them, forgiveness, peace in their heart. Meaning when Jesus talks about, if you want to find your life, lose it for my sake, and you'll find it. But there's so many people who spend their whole life trying to find it, and they lose their life.

There's nothing. So it's. We. Look, we have this idolatry of money or success or being known or sex or marriage or, you know, relationship or kids. Me.

People turn their kids into little gods, and it crushes them. So when we do that to ourselves, when we. We feel like we are the.

There's this poem that I love and hate all at the same time. Mostly hate, but it's really powerful words. But the Invictus poem, and I am the. I think it's a master of my fate. I'm the captain of my soul, or something like that, well, that is just a direct defiance against God to say, I am the captain of my soul.

And people are crushed every day under the weight of that burden. And Jesus just says, come to me, all you who are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And people are looking for rest. I mean, they're looking for basically a good night's sleep. Really.

Yeah, because they're just exhausted. They're exhausted chasing it. They're exhausted trying to find meaning and purpose and value. And God is saying, I will give you all that.

And that is part of the temptation that we fell into in Genesis 3, that we were now responsible for, that my counselor talks about. It's the way of us not wanting to entrust our needs. It's okay to have needs, trust our needs and our soul to the care of God. We won't do it. So we hold on to it.

We won't give it to him. And when we look at who God is. I love how you said it, Pat. When we look at who God reveals himself to be in the Bible, and we keep all of the characteristics there that we see, we realize He's. So.

He's trustworthy. We can. We can entrust ourselves to him. Yeah. Yeah.

A quote I was actually thinking about as we wrap up this episode. Charles Spurgeon says it. I believe it was him. Carnal men love the God that they make, but not the God that made them. You know, and so you said, they're.

They're looking for purpose, identity, and the one being God who can give it. They refuse to acknowledge. People want to be known. People want to be known. They want to be seen.

And in the world that we live in, that is increasingly cold and people aren't seen. This is a way for them. God who sees you. Right. The Bible talks about that.

The God who sees, the God who knows. A God who loves us like, oh my goodness. But we reject that. Yeah. Yeah.

So as fallen people. Yep. All right. That's, that's this episode for us. So, so cool looking at who God is, what the Bible says about him.

In the next episode we'll be looking at creation. It'll be a, I think a doozy of an episode, so we'll see how that goes. But just very encouraged to just look at the word for a little bit and see who God is. So please tune into us next episode as we look at creation, how that fits into our worldview. Thank you for listening to the Learning to Reach your World podcast Season two Christian Worldview.

We're grateful for the opportunity to share real practical truth that will help you preach the gospel in your world. If you don't yet know Christ, we invite you to listen to to the gospel message we share at the beginning of each episode. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. If you have questions, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at questionsheriverchurchcc and we'll do our best to answer them.

If you would like to get connected or hear more about the River Church, you can text the Word River Church to 97,000. Thank you for listening. We hope you will tune back in soon. It.