Christians in the western world have been shaped by its ungodly values, and therefore, have great obstacles to overcome to find the biblical way to heaven.
What kinds of obstacles?
Citizens of the western world are incessantly bombarded, from birth, with propaganda that is aimed at making them consumers who will keep the wheels of materialism turning.
In other words, we are conditioned to love material things, to long for the status, comforts, etc., those things can bring us. We are taught to be proud of our aspirations, accomplishments, possessions, influence…and to rest from all that via a rich diversity of leisurely pursuits, early retirement…at which time we put the capstone of sensual gratification on our self-indulgent lives as we ride the American dream into the great eternal unknown.
That is the “American Dream” of which, even the poorest people of the world hope to partake, in arriving on our shores.
The American dream worldview is in direct contradiction to the Christian worldview set forth on the pages of scripture.
Unlearning our social conditioning, our cultural brainwashing, is not an easy task and seemingly will not happen without the truth of the Bible piercing holes in such an ungodly worldview that we all had, to some extent, before our conversion.
Our hopes, as citizens of this world, rested on acquiring the things held out by our society as worthy, and thereby to achieve blessedness.
Those that Christ is saving from the WAY of destruction, citizens of His kingdom, must walk in another way: the way of holiness; acquiring the things that the Bible holds out as worthy.
The Way of the gospel: the Way of holiness, Isaiah 35:8 is explained in the following 35 minute Jonathan Edwards sermon.
Edwards clarifies the way of holiness; the gospel way; the beatitude way; knowing the criteria of that way can enable you to discern wherein your own worldview misses the mark and hinders your progress in God’s way.
You may not count on the mainstream 21st century church to guide you onto the way of holiness ; this postmodern church is so worldly that the gospel way of holiness is considered to be the way of wealth, health and happiness; and / or euphoric feelings and experiences…the same goals held in esteem by our worldly mindset.
If you are not a Bible student, then you will likely never be able to articulate the biblical way of blessedness.
If you are a Bible student, then you are likely aware that you have to fight daily against those old lies you have believed all your life; beliefs that prescribed and described the way of blessedness as the way of materialism and sensuality.
I have found by self-examination, that the motives underlying most of my sinning derive from believing the lies of my worldly conditioning. That I must have or experience _______ to be blessed. Experiencing _______ usually requires transgressing God’s laws; because as was already stated, the two worldviews are in opposition.
The psalmist was crying to God for assistance to quit believing such things, in the following verse:
Psa 119:29 Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
[Psalm 119 speaks much about our earthly pilgrimage: things we must value, must be taught, must shun….]
The way of lying includes the mindset of a false worldview, “the American dream” worldview, for example.
The following sermon clarifies that walking in the way of holiness is the only way one will arrive in heaven.
This is the kind of sermon we need to hear again and again that we might have the correct orientation, a biblical worldview, to aid us in our daily Christian walk.
If you should want more information about social conditioning, the worldly mindset…then the following mp3 sermon, by Albert N. Martin, from his Psalm 1 series, explains it very well.
His focus is on materialism, but in introducing that topic, he says a lot of things about how we were taught worldliness as we grew up in this culture.
It is a 60 minute sermon, but is thoroughly worth the time if you desire to understand the kind of brainwashing you have to unlearn during your Christian life on this earth.
His series on Psalm 1 clearly explains the way of blessedness set forth in the Bible, by contrasting it with the counsel of ungodliness that we all know so intimately.
Pastor Martin is preaching on Psalm 1, and the value of meditating on the word of God because it is the only path to true blessedness. So, his message ties in perfectly with the Edwards sermon above.
If you should desire to hear more of Martin’s Psalm one series, 8 of the 14 sermons from that series are in one post in this blog: see, Archives, July 2019: The Counsel of Ungodliness….
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
***I found the Edwards’ sermon this morning as I listened to Dr. Mayfields recent post on a Jonathan Edwards sermon titled East of Eden (I subscribe to his YouTube site and receive notifications of his recent posts).
Consider subscribing to the YouTube site from which the Edwards sermon came: Christian Sermons and Audio Books. They post many such godly sermons for the edification of the church.
***I also highly recommend subscribing to Dr. Mayfield’s site: Knowing to Love, Dr. Jeff Mayfield (add his name to your search or the site doesn’t come up). Dr. Mayfield’s site has many 5 minute videos about various aspects of the Christian life. In this age of the unbiblical church, pastors like Dr. Mayfield are great helps via which one can find the biblical way of blessedness: one must battle sin as he strives to walk in holiness with the Lord; Dr. Mayfield has provided many videos about dealing with sin and much more.
To sample Dr. Mayfield’s sermons in this blog, see, Categories: John Owen; Jonathan Edwards; Thomas Brooks; and Calvin’s Institutes.
***To learn much about the worldview of the western world, see, Ligonier.org and purchase a copy of the late Dr. R. C. Sproul’s dvd series called The Christian Worldview. Therein, he defines, via 22 minute lectures, the following philosophical beliefs held by people in our culture: Secularism; Humanism; Existentialism; Hedonism; Pragmatism; Pluralism / Relativism; and Positivism; he also examines how those philosophies reveal themselves in the arts, science, media, etc.
Sproul’s series will also help you to see how your worldview is influenced by these philosophies: for example, the core tenet of secularism is that one must have immediate gratification; i.e., right now counts for right now (in the Christian worldview, right now counts for eternity). Secularism is a deeply conditioned belief we all have to fight against. Being able to define it, helps one see it operating in his own life and thereafter he may pray and strive against it.
Sproul’s rationale for the series is that of a missionary: he believed that those doing missionary work needed to acquaint themselves with the beliefs and worldviews of the culture to which they are taking the gospel; and he explained the worldviews of the American culture such that one might be able to take those things into consideration when presenting the gospel in that context. Not to mention, that knowing these philosophies might enable one to identify and root out such beliefs in his own worldview.