Think Biblically, Discover Globally, Impact Eternally

Think Biblically, Discover Globally, Impact Eternally

Dr. Paul Dean

One of the exhortations that can never be issued to the evangelical
world too often is that Christians must learn to think, and to think
biblically. Of course, not only is such a dynamic demanded by virtue of
our allegiance to Christ, but right thinking produces right living,
gives weight to our witness, and glorifies God. And yet, the sad truth
is that too many who name the Name of Christ are not only failing to
think biblically in connection with their own spiritual walk before
God, but they are failing to do so in such a way that not only are they
unable to engage our pluralistic culture for Christ, but they are
actually given to embracing cultural, worldly, wisdom. How can we
expect to impact not only our culture but the nations if we cannot or
will not think biblically? How can we have eternal impact in the lives
of others if we fail at this very point?

These issues are on my mind almost constantly and God’s providence
is not lost on me as they’ve been brought to my attention once again in
the context of some work our church is doing at Boston Baptist College
in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has more universities than any other
city in the United States and is a world renowned cultural center for
that reason and many others. In the midst of the Boston culture of
liberalism, multi-cuturalism, elitism, and worldly power, I was once
again confronted with my (and indeed all Christians) raison d’etre:
to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. How to live it out is always the
question and that question takes on new dimensions in the midst of a
pluralistic and powerful culture. The mission statement of the
aforementioned college provides a properly oriented guide: "Think
Biblically, Discover Globally, and Impact Eternally." Let me offer some
brief observations under each of these headings.

First, Christians must think biblically. We live in
a culture committed to thinking that is independent from God. The
reality is that all knowledge and thinking is dependent on God for in
Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3).
But this fact did not stop Satan from deceiving Eve into believing that
she could “know good and evil” and “be as God.” She believed that she
could know truth apart from God even as do all lost people.

A practical upshot of such a dynamic is what Michael Kissel, student
at Boston Baptist and church planter, points out in regard to the
mindset of our culture: it is committed to thinking about self.
Further, the focal point of our thinking must not be ourselves but God
if we are to see the world rightly. He goes on to note that the first
question to ask in terms of this world and our service in it is not
“What would Jesus do” but “How does God see this?” Only when we are
committed to thinking that is dependent on God and to getting His
perspective will we glorify Him and truly serve others.

Second, Christians must discover globally. God has
given us a special and potentially saving revelation of Himself through
the Scriptures. He has also given us a general revelation of Himself
though creation, conscience, history, culture, etc. The believer can
see the glory of God on display in these things to a certain degree by
virtue of a renewed mind. Part of what it means to think biblically is
not only to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ (2 Cor.
10:5) by virtue of a submission to God’s special revelation, but to
investigate God’s ways in the world through the lens of that special
revelation.

Christians who are committed to discovering globally are world
Christians. As Joe Sawyer, Financial Aid Officer and Communications
Director at Boston Baptist points out, through world study via travel
or other means, one obtains a world perspective. Kissel explains that
one gets a sense of the world, oneself in the larger world, and what
God is doing in His world. He avers that misconceptions of the world
are stripped away as one experiences it first hand in light of God’s
redemptive purpose. Misconceptions about self are stripped away as the
larger issue of human sin is highlighted in the historical context of
suffering, war, and brutality. That dynamic is brought to bear upon
one’s own sinfulness and the result is a fresh recognition that each
one of us needs the Redeemer.

Standing in front of the Holocaust Memorial in Boston,
my thought was that we must not let the scourge of abortion in America
horrify us any less than the scourge of Nazi tyranny in Germany.
Talking with Kissel and Sawyer about global discovery before God, my
thought was that I must not let the scourge of my own sinful heart
horrify me any less than the referenced brutality in our world. There
but for the grace of God go I.

In the wake of such discovery combined with a fresh understanding of
the apostle Paul’s world, for example, as one visits Ephesus, Corinth,
or Rome, etc., there is new boldness for Christian witness. As Sawyer
noted, one cannot help but be impacted for the better when he comes
face to face with the Roman or Greek pantheon, the cultural and power
centers, the urban settings, and indeed the kings in the midst of which
Paul stood to proclaim Christ as the only way to salvation. He further
noted that we need not be so intimidated by Boston any more knowing
that we have the truth.

Third, Christians must impact eternally. The
faithful would agree with that assertion, but the real question is,
“what does it mean to have eternal impact?” As Sawyer and Kissel point
out, it means living for God’s glory. It means being ministers of God’s
grace in every moment. One can minister grace to the waitress who does
not deserve it because she had a rough night and rendered poor service.
A tip and a thank you in the name of Christ can go a long way to open
the door for future conversation about the things of God. Kissel cited
Francis Schaeffer who noted that we are always having an eternal
impact: we are either sowing life or we are sowing death. We are
impacting someone somehow for eternity with each exchange. Which will
it be for you?

Pluralism is alive and well in Boston. Pluralism is alive and well
in your city. Are you thinking biblically, that you might discover
globally, that you might impact eternally? Be God-centered, be a
world-Christian, and be one who has eternal impact in every moment.

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