In you, Lord, I have taken refuge - Back to the Bible

Back to the Bible Radio Transcript
Series: Sharing the Gospel in the 21st Century
Program Title: Seeing the World as Jesus Saw It
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
June 20, 2011
Woodrow Kroll: Do you see the world as dark and scary, something to hide
from?
Tami Weissert: Or do you see life as good and all is rosy?
Woodrow Kroll: More importantly, do you see the world as Jesus saw it?
That's the question we'll consider today. Hello, I'm Woodrow Kroll.
Tami Weissert: I'm Tami Weissert.
Woodrow Kroll: And this is Back to the Bible.
Tami Weissert: Welcome to our study today. We are so glad you could join
us.
Wood, last week we wrapped up our series on the Book of Acts. A lot of that
was focused on the Gospel being taught and shared through the empowering
of the early believers. This week, we want to apply what we learned from
Acts.
Woodrow Kroll: That's true, Tami. We can draw on the experience and
examples of people like Peter and Paul and others. We want to see the
urgency and the power of the Gospel. But this week, we want to bring that
into our lives. What does it take to do in the 21st century what they did back
in the 1st century? What are the keys to sharing Jesus Christ today? What
kind of mindset or perspective do we need? That's what we're going to
consider starting today and all week here on Back to the Bible.
Tami Weissert: So the first step is what?
Woodrow Kroll: The first step is to adjust our perspective, to see the world
as Jesus saw it.
Tami Weissert: Maybe a little vision check?
Woodrow Kroll: Yes, you could say that.
1

Tami Weissert: All right, then, it's time to adjust our focus with today's
Back to the Bible study. Here's Dr Kroll.
Woodrow Kroll: One of the things we want to do today is see how Jesus
views the world around us, because the way Jesus views the world is exactly
the same way we want to view the world.
The world view that we have is really the way we see the world around us
and the lenses through which we view everything that happens in the world.
If you take a look at how people view the world today, their lens is really
different.
Let me give you some examples: How do politicians see the world? It
depends on what their frame of reference is. It depends on what country
they come from.
For example: If a man had two cows, a socialist would say, "Give one of
those cows to the neighbor who has none." That's the way he views the
world. A Communist would say, "Give milk from the cows to a neighbor;
keep the cows yourself." A Nazi would say, "Kill one of the cows. Use the
money to buy a guard to watch over the other cow." A Fascist would say,
"Kill both cows; take the money and run." A Capitalist would say, "Sell one
cow and buy a bull." It's the way you view the world that determines how
you are going to get along in the world.
That's true in religion too. Just think about the way various religions view
the world around them. A Hindu sees the world as us all being a part of
God's creation. Everything is sacred. Don't step on a bug, because it's a part
of God's creation.
A Humanist would say, "No, no, no. We're all products of evolution, and no
one is any more special than anyone else."
A Muslim would say, "It's part of our responsibility to be true to Allah, the
one faithful god. Infidels must die because they are not true to the one god."
That's a world view.
New Age people would say, "Now, there is no true one god. I am the true
one god. I, myself, am the sum total of all that the world is."
Hollywood would look at the world and say, "Well, all we need to do is be
entertained."
2

But how does Jesus view the world? That's the question we want to address
today. And we want to go exactly to Matthew 10:16 to see the answer to
that.
Matthew 10:16-18 (Jesus says to his disciples now): "Behold, I send you out
as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless
as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and
scourge you in their synagogues. And you will be brought before governors
and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles."
Let me stop there, because I think that's sufficient for us to understand that
the view Jesus has of the world is not looking through rose-colored glasses.
Jesus doesn't look out at the world and say, "You know what? This is a
beautiful world. My Father did such a wonderful job in creating this world
and it's just such a wonderful place to live." You can almost hear Jesus
singing with Louie Armstrong about how wonderful this world is.
It is a wonderful world. But Jesus was not naïve in the way He approached
this world. So He says to His disciples, "I'm going to send you out as sheep
in the midst of wolves." His take on the world was that the world was filled
with wolves and you and I are sheep. And you say, "How could a loving God
send you out as sheep among the wolves?" The answer to that is: He goes
with us as the Shepherd among the wolves.
So it's possible for you and me to take what Jesus has done in our lives, take
it out to the world, tell the whole world about our salvation, sharing our
experience with our neighbors, our families, our friends, people around us,
learning what the world is like and not being like the world but sharing the
Lord Jesus with the world.
So how did Jesus view the world? First of all, He did not view it as a
wonderful place in which to live in which there are no problems. He didn't
look at this world through rose-colored glasses. He recognizes that the world
is made up of wolves. But isn't it interesting that He says that you, then, as
sheep, have to be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove? You have
to be smart in the way you approach the world. You have to be insightful in
the way you see taking your message of salvation to the world around you.
And at the same time, I think you have to be pure. You have to be guileless.
You have to be like the dove, harmless like the dove. And when you and I do
that, we find ourselves taking our message to a world that isn't all that
happy with our message. But we can take it, because that's the world for
whom Jesus died.
3

So here's the key word. When you think about Jesus going out to the world,
you think about Jesus taking the message to a world filled with wolves, but
He does it because of His significant compassion for the world.
This is the thing I want us to think about as we study this passage today.
The key word here is compassion. Jesus has compassion on the world, and
that's why He sends us out into the world. It would be so easy for you and
me, once we come to know the Lord as Savior, just to hang out with others
who know the Lord, spend time in the aquarium with the other fish, and be
fed by our pastor week after week as he drops a few flakes into our
aquarium.
But the Bible says that Jesus had such compassion for those who were
outside of the aquarium, He told us we need to leave our comfort zones and
go out to them. But when we go, don't be misled into the fact that
everything will be fine for you. Everything won't be fine. This world is filled
with wolves. But compassion is the key. You even have to love wolves. You
have to love those who do not love you, and that's a hard thing to do.
According to Webster's Dictionary, the word compassion means "to suffer
with." Compassion—"with suffering, to suffer with." So basically, if I'm going
to have compassion to the world around me, I'm going to see their needs
and suffer with them in their needs. Their needs are going to become my
needs, and my answer is going to become their answer to their needs. That
only happens, though, if I'm willing to go out into this world and to suffer
with them.
Tami Weissert: Compassion. That's the key to seeing the world as Jesus
sees it. We'll hear more in just a moment. This is Back to the Bible with
Woodrow Kroll.
Wood, some people are naturally compassionate. It's part of their makeup.
But as you talked about compassion, it sounds like something we can
develop.
Woodrow Kroll: I do think there are some people who are more
compassionate than others by their very nature. Perhaps they just have a
softer heart, or maybe a more tender heart. But the more we allow the Spirit
of God to work through us, the more we are vessels in God's hand. The
more comfort and consolation we are able to bring to those who are hurting,
I think the more compassionate we become. So we can develop more
compassion. The way we do that is not to stay aloof from people who need
us. We should ask God to use us as His conduit of compassion. The more
4

that happens, Tami, the more we come to crave opportunities to become
compassionate.
Tami Weissert: You talked about getting "out there" to engage the world.
But for some of us, that world is right where we live each day. We have
family members who don't yet know or understand what Jesus came to
offer. Isn't that enough of a place to start?
Woodrow Kroll: You can always begin; in fact, you should always begin at
the closest concentric circle in your life—the center of your life. Usually, that
means your friends and your family. Look, this doesn't have to be an
either/or situation. We don't have to look close or distant. We can do both.
But often we have a tendency to overlook those who are closest to us. I
think that's a huge mistake. Just ask Jesus to give you eyes to see the hurt,
and then to show compassion to whomever you see.
Tami Weissert: Wood, the longer I'm a Christian, the bigger this challenge
gets. I have fewer non-Christian friends. My activities and interests center
around my church. I don't have the same desire to do the things that non-
Christians do. So how do we, practically then, get out and engage the world?
Woodrow Kroll: First of all, let me say, Tami, I think there is a certain
legitimacy to building Christian relationships and friendships. After all, once
we become a follower of Jesus, we are naturally going to discover the joy of
brothers and sisters in Christ. But as you say, that can be a danger too, if
we shrink wrap ourselves in our Christian subculture and we don't have
outlets for compassion or witness to the world. We shouldn't shun neighbors
or coworkers, people in class with us, or people wherever we find them.
Perhaps they need to see the compassion of Christ even more than our
church family does.
Tami Weissert: So we're to show compassion, to see the world as Jesus
saw it. But if we want to see things the way He did, we have to be as
realistic as Jesus was. Here again is Dr. Kroll with more of our Back to the
Bible study, looking at Matthew 10.
Woodrow Kroll: Our key verse today in our study is Matthew 10:16. Jesus
says to His disciples, "Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of
wolves."
Don't think of these as literal wolves wandering around the neighborhood
about to eat you up. He's talking about the world as it is. And Satan has a
great deal of influence on the world as it is. Let's remember that sin does
not come from God. Sin comes from rebellion against God. That's the
5

original sin. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, that was mankind's
original sin.
If you want to trace sin, don't trace it back to your grandparents, although
they were sinners. Don't trace it back to generations in the past. Trace it
back to rebellion against God. That's where sin always originates.
In our rebellion against God, suddenly we're paying a hefty penalty for
rebelling against God. What you see in the world today that is all messed up,
everything that is wrong in the world today. All the evil that we see around
us today can be traced not to God and His compassion, but to Satan and his
rebellion.
Let me give you some examples of the kind of world that you and I will go
into. This is a world that is filled with poverty. While you may not experience
that poverty personally, a lot of the world does. And Jesus told us to take
the Gospel into all the world, not just our comfortable, suburban, middleclass
society.
For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty rose from 41% in 1981 to 46%
in 2001. Poverty is on the rise in a lot of places in the world. If we're going
to take the Gospel to people, the Gospel in itself has to address some of the
issues these people are facing. Poverty is one of those.
In September 2000, 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration. There
was great hope in 2000 because the Millennium Declaration was designed to
reduce by half the proportion of people living in poverty in the world. They
wanted to do that by the year 2015. We're getting close to 2015. And as you
can see, poverty is still one of the hallmarks of the world into which we take
the Gospel.
Beyond that, there's increased population. The more people there are, the
more people we have to take the message of the Gospel to. Currently, the
world's population is almost seven billion people. That's billion with a "b."
And the growth rate is the equivalent of four new babies born every second.
This presents believers with an incredible task, and it's getting more and
more difficult each day.
Even with the decline of fertility rates, the United Nations projects that there
will be no stabilization in the growth rate of the world's population until the
year 2080! Chances are pretty good I won't be around by that time, and you
won't either. But nonetheless, that's how difficult the problem is in the world
today. One-tenth—are you ready for this? One-tenth of all people who have
ever lived on the earth are alive on the earth today.
6

So we have a world that's filled with poverty. We have a world that's filled
with people. You put poverty and people together, you have a world that's
filled with crime. We have about an 89% probability here in the United
States (and it may be different in your country) of being a victim of a crime
sometime during our life. In this country, in the United States, someone is
murdered every 21 minutes. There's a forcible rape every five minutes in
this country, aggravated assault every 28 seconds, motor vehicle theft every
20 seconds. So, the society that is supposed to be wealthy and send people
out to regions of the world in order to help them understand the Gospel is a
society that's crumbling from within. And our desire to be sheep among
wolves is disintegrating more and more all the time.
Owen Hanson was right. He said, "After thousands of years, western
civilization has advanced to where we bolt our doors and windows at night
while jungle natives sleep in open huts." That's how the world is today.
Jesus said, "Look, I want you to see the world the way I see the world." This
world is not a pretty place. It's a very needy place. It's a place in which you
and I, though, are charged to take the message of the Gospel.
OK. This is the way the world is. How do we change this world? What is the
technology we use to change this world? What is my plan for tomorrow to
impact the teenagers who live across the fence from me today?
That's having keen insight. It's having shrewdness. It's not just saying,
"Let's just take the Gospel message and throw it out and see where it
sticks." That's the intentionality I was talking about earlier. We have to be as
harmless as a dove; but we have to be as shrewd as a snake.
Here's the thing I want you to notice, though, about the world. We've talked
about poverty and about population and about crime. But when you think
about this world spiritually, you and I are going out into a world filled with
spiritual wolves. I mean, literally, spiritual wolves. We have kind of a
fractured Christianity in the world today.
In the year 1963, Anthony Hoekema wrote a book entitled The Four Major
Cults. I bought that book as soon as it came out. And I thought, You know
what? I can handle all the wacky theology in Christianity if I master these
four major cults. That was 1963.
A few years ago, J. Gordon Melton came out with a book entitled
Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, and he had 700 different cults in
America. From four to 700!
7

What that shows me is this: This world is not only filled with wolves. They
are breeding rapidly in this world. Our task is more difficult today than it was
in 1963. Besides that, non-Christian religions are making in-roads into
Christian places like they have never made before. Most of us here in the
United States and Canada think of the U.S. and Canada as Christian nations.
But in the Encyclopedia of American Religions, 1600 denominations are
listed, of which 44% are non-Christian. So I think it would be foolish for us
to say that the world is a wonderful place in which to live, that all we have to
do is go out there and everyone's going to accept our message of salvation
and they'll be happy that we've told them that they were sinners. It's just
not going to happen. That's why Jesus says, "You have to be as wise as a
serpent." You have to have the desire to make a difference.
But at the same time, you have to be unadulterated. You have to be pure.
You have to be gentle. You have to be compassionate. And everything we
know about Jesus, in going to His world of wolves, was that He had keen
insight about what the world was. He wasn't fooled at all by this world. But
at the same time, He was very, very loving toward them.
Tami Weissert: Thanks for joining us for Back to the Bible. Our Bible
teacher is Woodrow Kroll.
Wood, Jesus' view of the world was very realistic. He saw the need, the
challenge, and that it would be hard. He saw the wolves for what they were.
When we look at things that realistically, many times our response is fear.
We retreat or feel defeated before we even begin.
Woodrow Kroll: That's true. You know what? I think the problem is that
that's our natural response. We tend to focus on the hugeness of our
challenge instead of the hugeness of our God and His ability to help us meet
that challenge. But let's face it, our first, our natural response to the world
around us is fear. Fear of failure. And that's why it's so important to
remember that we do have a secret weapon, something the world doesn't
have or doesn't even know about. And that's the power of God's Holy Spirit.
Never forget, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."
Tami Weissert: Very true. A moment ago, you gave a lot of statistics on
the growth of cults and different types of churches in the last 40 to 50 years.
How do we handle those without developing a sort of spiritual quarantine to
protect our theology or practice?
Woodrow Kroll: The last thing we want to do is quarantine our faith. Jesus
calls us to share our faith, not to seal it up and protect it. That's why it's so
8

important (I think vitally important) that we build a strong faith so we have
the strength necessary to handle the cults and the aberrations of true
Christianity. That strong faith comes through getting to know God better.
Tami, you have to admit, the best way to get to know God better and build
your faith is to meaningfully engage Him, daily engage Him in His Word.
Bible engagement isn't just a slogan around here at Back to the Bible. It's
the key to living the Christian life successfully.
Tami Weissert: Wood, our whole week is focused on sharing the Gospel in
the 21st Century. And it's an uncomfortable challenge for many of us. But
changing our focus or perspective is the first step. What else will we look at
changing?
Woodrow Kroll: Tomorrow, we want to build on what we have learned
today and focus more clearly on changing how we see the need of the world
around us. Tami, it's one thing to assess the difficulties we face. That in
itself could discourage us so much that we just give up. We just climb back
in our Christian cave and let the world go by. But if we assess the need of
the people outside of our cave, along with the difficulties we face, I think we
will be more likely to have our heart enlarged by that need to the point that
we will no longer fear the difficulties.
Tomorrow, we want to focus on seeing the need of our world the way Jesus
saw the need. It's really a convicting thing to see the world as Jesus does. I
hope you'll plan to join us.
Thanks so much for being here today. God bless you. I'm Woodrow Kroll.
Have a good and godly day, for of what lasting value is a good day if it's not
also a godly day?
Scripture used in today's program was based on the New King James Version
of the Bible.
Copyright © 2011 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. All rights reserved
Back to the Bible | P.O. Box 82808, Lincoln, NE 68501 | 1-800-759-2425 | backtothebible.org
9