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Searching for Truth: Worldview and Belief

By Joe Boot/ March 23, 2014

Series  Searching for Truth

Context  Westminster Chapel Toronto

Topic  Apologetics

Scripture  Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

Our culture is characterized by ignorance and indifference about the most important matters of truth. But the truth matters and it deserves our careful attention and consideration.

Scripture:  Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

Sermon Notes:

  1. As we lead up to Easter, this sermon series will examine the key questions of the meaning of life.
  2. In exploring the meaning of life under the sun, the writer of Ecclesiastes identifies that life accomplishments are futile when pursued without reference to God.
  3. In chapter 12, the author outlines the problems of aging;  the time to search for truth is while you are young.
  4. Our culture is characterized by ignorance and indifference about the most important matters of truth.
  5. Our mental view, or worldview, is the way we reason about life and dying, meaning and purpose.
  6. Many people hold to an incoherent worldview and accept absurd beliefs.  Prejudice, fear, and ignorance all play a part in what beliefs we accept or reject.
  7. There are people who will stare the evidence in the face and yet reject the truth.
  8. The truth matters and it deserves our attention and consideration.  If there is no truth, there is no objective context for life, and we can have no true knowledge; we are all swimming in a sea of illusions.
  9. Truth requires a god and the self-revelation of God Himself as a foundation for knowledge.
  10. Our view of life (worldview) gives meaning, purpose and value to all we do.   Our beliefs govern how we behave.
  11. If the ultimate context for your life is just chance and matter, you cannot make valid truth claims at all.
  12. The four ultimate issues are: origin, meaning, morality, and destiny.
  13. In the end worldview perspectives boil down to idolatry or true worship, an impersonal or a personal universe.
  14. If God is the author of creation, only His meaning matters.
  15. To choose our own meaning is at best wishful thinking and at worst willful self-deception.
  16. Our autonomous culture rejects the authority of God.
  17. Rejecting God’s authority has lead to rampant family breakdown, sex trafficking, pornography, crime, etc.
  18. Believing the Word of God is the opposite of escapism; it is total realism.
  19. Biblical faith is not afraid of thinking and reasoning; God says, “Come, let us reason together.”
  20. The Christian church and early Christian apologists took the claims of Christ boldly into the public square.
  21. Jesus’ claims were ultimate and exclusive: “I am the truth”, and “he who is on the side of truth hears My voice.”
  22. It is impossible to be neutral about the claims of Christ. 
  23. The message of Christ stands unique among all other messages.  If it is false, it is of no importance.  If it is true, it is of infinite importance.

Application Questions

  1. Why is it so urgent to find truth while still young?
  2. Why do people spend almost no time answering the most important questions of life?
  3. How can so many reject the truth in the face of plain evidence?
  4. Discuss the claim that the Christian faith is escapism.
  5. What are the two ultimate perspectives on life?
  6. Is it possible to be neutral toward Christ?  Do our lives reflect total acceptance of Christ’s absolute claims?

Sermon Notes