In this lesson on Biblical Worldview, we examine God's designed structure for this world and the directions to which sin has bent it. God's created design for sex (heterosexual marriage), tools (such as technology), and language (cursing) and the directions sin has twisted these are examined.

1. STRUCTURE AND
DIRECTION
Based on BiblicalWorldview: Creation, Fall,
Redemption by Dr. Mark L. Ward, et. al.

2. Ephesians 5:8-11
■ Everything in the world is moving in one of two directions: it’s either bending back
towards its intended order or bending away from it.
■ One of the ways we “walk as children of light” is by “proving what is acceptable unto
the Lord.”
■ In any given situation, look for the things that are going in the right direction, the
things that please God.
■ V.11 means we should point out where the world’s going wrong.
■ AlWolters uses two labels to help Christians do this discerning of good and evil –
Structure and Direction.
■ Direction is the bending, whether good or bad.
■ Structure is the way things are supposed to be before they get bent, the way things
are supposed to be when they get bent back.

3. ■ Structure is good because God created everything good. Direction can be good or
bad.
■ Metal poles can get bent in any direction – just like sin can twist God’s good creation in
numerous ways.
■ Just like a metal pole that is cemented in place will always stay connected to the
ground, fallen humanity can bend creation only so far in sin.
■ You can only know a pole is bent if you have some idea of what it looked like when it
was straight. That is why the Creation-Fall-Redemption metanarrative of Scripture is
so important. It tells us that every created thing was originally good, and shows us
what good looks like (creation norms).
■ The Bible gives us the power to make moral judgments because the world has a
structure, and it’s a good one. ITimothy 4:4-5
■ Mere stuff can be good.
■ C. S. Lewis said, “There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every
split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.”

4. ■ There is a spiritual battle going on in the world, and it’s going on FOR the world.
■ Because of this tug-of-war over creation, you cannot assume anything in creation is
amoral or neutral. Music, sports, cartoons, novels, and so on are all going somewhere
or even two somewheres.
■ Your basketball team could be increasing players’ skills while emphasizing the
importance of family and church over sports. Or it could become an idol that makes
players goad each other into being arrogant and obnoxious.
■ How do the labels “structure” and “direction” help us discern the good and evil in real
life situations?
■ Let’s look at the fallen direction of a topic that most churches avoid, but shouldn’t:
sex. (And no, there won’t be anything weird. We’re looking at how sin has twisted it.)

5. The situation we’re in….
■ When you look at the moral landscape ofWestern society, what do you see?
■ America has degraded into a hook-up culture with no relationship or commitment in
place of dating and courting.
■ According to the world, sex is just a bodily function, not a moral issue at all. The only
moral issue is ensuring consent beforehand.
■ The world has everything backwards when it comes to sex. I Peter 4:3-4
■ So what is structural about sex, and how is it being bent in a fallen direction?
■ God created sex, so sex is good when done the way it was intended: within the bonds
of an exclusive, one-on-one, heterosexual marriage.
■ Exodus 20:14
■ I Corinthians 7:1-6

6. ■ Paul clearly states that sex has incredible spiritual power for husband and wife in that
it unites them on a deep level.
■ Genesis 2:24
■ In fact, the entire book of Song of Solomon celebrates this aspect of marriage.
■ This purpose doesn’t go away in the hookup culture around us; it’s still there.
■ Neither gender can escape the emotions that always arise afterward.
■ Solomon asked this question in Proverbs 6:27.
■ Remember, both man and woman are created in the image of God, and using each
other in this way is to insult your Maker and violating the picture of Christ’s
relationship with the church in Ephesians 5:31-32.
■ Sex gets twisted in a lot of other ways, but we’re going to leave that for you to discuss
with your parents. Luke 17:1-2, Ephesians 5:12

7. Sin is a caricature.
■ It is a distorted image of the way things are supposed to be, but the image is still
recognizable.
■ Broken families are still families. Cussing is still language. Sinners are still people.
■ Materialism is the tendency to treat material possessions and physical comfort as
more important or desirable than spiritual values; a way of life based on material
interests.
■ One attorney trying to get his client acquitted referred to this as “affluenza.”
■ “He who dies with the most toys, wins.”
■ Mathew 6:19-20
■ Matter is intrinsically good because God created it. God put us into a material world,
and you’re going to have to gather some of those materials if you hope to do God’s
will.

8. TwistedTechnology
■ Technology is a broad term for the tools humans develop to aid them in the work of
dominion.
■ God structured the world to require tools. When technology gets bent, we become
the tools of our tools.
■ Our tools become our gods, and we become their devoted servants.
■ For example,TV assumes that people need constant entertainment and make nonstop
diversion possible. It also makes it possible to tell certain rich stories that don’t fit well
in books or movies.
■ The average child spends more time with theTV by age six than they will with their
dad in their lifetime.

9. Corrupted Communication
■ All of the many languages were developed at Babel in Genesis 11. Animals can
communicate but do not have language.
■ Words exist for the love of God and neighbor, ,and they have great power to
accomplish these purposes.
■ Words can praise God, sing to God, describe God, and pray to God. They can edify,
encourage, and instruct people. Words don’t just transmit information, they change
the world.
■ The internet has made it possible to be slow to hear and quick to speak on a global
scale. People talk too much and say too little of value.
■ Ecclesiastes 5:2
■ James 1:19

10. ■ Why are cuss words bad?
■ Bad words are bad, generally speaking, because they take some of the most personal
and sacred things in the universe and twist them in the wrong direction, out of the
structures they belong to.
■ Damnation is one of the most terrible realities we know, and the love and authority of
Jesus Christ is the most glorious reality we know. Using these as curse words throw
these realities in the dirt.
■ It is similar for words that describe sexual and excretory functions.
■ James 3:8
■ Your goal in language isn’t merely negative – to avoid talking too much or saying the
wrong thing. It should be positive using the right words to bless God and your
neighbor.
■ The existence of corrupt politicians doesn’t eliminate the goodness of government.
The existence of hatred doesn’t eliminate the goodness of emotion.