At a Glance
Our lives can feel divided between the sacred Sundays and our secular jobs. This divide not only impacts how we go about our week, but how we think about the world and educate our children. In this episode, Christian Overman, author of Eliminating the Sacred/Secular Divide, joins us to discuss the history of the sacred/secular divide. Most importantly, we discuss how to cross the divide and live our lives for Jesus in a practical way every day of the week.
For more on the sacred/secular divide, listen to our episode on How The Bible Impacts The Workplace with special guest John Beckett.
What You'll Hear
Chapter 1: Meeting Christian Overman (1:12)
- Christian is the founder of the ministry Worldview Matters.
- He helped start the movement to integrate biblical truth into our jobs.
- He was very influenced by Francis Schaeffer.
Chapter 2: The Sacred/Secular Divide (15:06)
- Many people view spiritual things as more important or special than the ordinary jobs of our lives.
- Jesus is Lord of both the temporal and eternal.
- God made us to take care of His creation.
Chapter 3: History (26:21)
- Martin Luther talked about applying the Bible in all areas of our lives.
- John Amos Comenius addressed the sacred/secular divide in education.
- Puritans saw that their work was glorifying God by working with his creation.
- The founders of America wanted Christianity to be a part of the culture of the country.
- The sacred/secular divide was a problem even in Paul’s age with Gnosticism, derived from Platonism.
- Descartes created the cartesian compromise, separating the scientific and spiritual realms, after Galileo was imprisoned by the church for his work in science.
Chapter 4: Education (50:23)
- In the later 1800s, education changed from church-led to public education.
- Schools stopped teaching biblical worldview in the curriculum, leaving it to the church.
- Children did not learn to connect what they learned in school to the Bible, so as adults they do not connect what they do at their jobs to the Bible either.
- Christian’s book offers tools on how to put education in a Biblical context.
Chapter 5: How to Cross the Sacred/Secular Divide (1:05:56)
- The first record of a human being filled with the Holy Spirit was for a craftsman to build the tabernacle.
- Doing good work that you were hired to do is a way of expressing love.
- Creating something beautiful is another way to glorify God, who made a beautiful world.
- Paul says to work as if you are working for God, not just for human masters.
Chapter 6: Final Thoughts (1:14:22)
- God is letting us face the consequences of having a culture without him in it.
- Pastors are afraid to speak out on issues that the culture disagrees with.
- The church has neglected cultural impact because of the sacred/secular divide.
- But there is still hope in God.
Using the link above, you can read the transcript, listen along, and adjust the speed of the podcast while you listen.
The real split in Scripture is not sacred/secular, it is good and evil.
Christian (23:08)
Special Guest
After serving as a Christian school principal for 14 years, Dr. Overman began giving workshops for training teachers on how the Christian worldview uniquely informs and guides the learning process from the earliest years through high school.
While a school principal, Overman wrote his first book, Assumptions that Affect Our Lives, which was published by Tyndale House in 1989, under the title, Different Windows.
Several years after establishing Worldview Matters®, Christian went back to school, at Bakke Graduate University, to study Theology of Work. At BGU, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree, but more importantly, Christian became increasingly motivated to bridge the gaps between biblical worldview, theology of work and education.
Eliminating the Sacred/Secular Divide: Biblical Worldview Approach for Pastors, CEOs, Employees, Teachers, Parents, and Students is an in-depth course for serious-minded followers of Christ who want to more fully grasp God’s purpose for creating human beings and who want to engage more effectively in the First Commission of Genesis 1:26-28, wherein humans were given the awesome responsibility to govern over all the earth. Doing this effectively involves eliminating the “Sacred/Secular Divide.” This course is suitable for CEOs, pastors, teachers, parents, trades people, artists and high school students. Access the book for free at the link.
Go Deeper
RenewaNation
RenewaNation helps parents, educators, and churches give children a biblical worldview by sharing about the need for biblical education, advising educators in homeschooling and traditional education, and offering training to pastors, teachers, and administrators.
Worldview Matters
Worldview Matters is Christian Overman’s ministry that helps equip Christians to do the work of God in the everyday work of their lives. They offer books, videos, training workshops, and personal counseling to help people realize how to work for God and teach the next generation to do the same.
Quotes
“I soaked in this idea, somehow, that there were certain things, tasks, work that was spiritual, and therefore important to God, such as being a pastor or a missionary. And then there’s other things that just weren’t all that important, like what you did Monday through Friday to make ends meet to pay your bills.” Christian (15:51)
“Jesus is Lord of all. He’s the sustainer. He’s the sovereign. He’s literally holding the molecules of my fingers together. Where’s the secular world? It doesn’t exist.” Christian (22:38)
“Whether we’re selling cars or being a mechanic, we can do that either in a way that brings honor to God… or we can do it in a way that ignores Him and brings lack of credit to Him and an evil way. The real split in Scripture is not sacred/secular, it is good and evil.” Christian (23:08)
“What would happen if a whole bunch of mature Christians saw work in the field of the arts, education, politics, mechanics, trades and everything, as the work of God?” Christian (26:21)
“Atheists have eliminated half of reality. They only see half the universe, the natural universe. And it’s like Christians have eliminated the other half. What we see is the spiritual reality, and have virtually eliminated anything that’s not spiritual.” Darrow (42:36)
“You know why God made trees? The Bible tells us in Genesis why God made trees. There are two stated reasons. One was for food to eat. And the other was for pleasure to the eye. What? Pleasure to the eye—I thought I thought pleasure was a sin. But God made trees to give us pleasure. It gives us pleasure and there’s something aesthetic there that tells us about the nature of God.” Christian (1:10:20)
“Paul says, look, recognize this, that whatever you do, if you’re digging ditches or whatever, do it as unto the Lord. In other words, if you’re fixing your master’s chariot, fix that chariot as though it belongs to Christ. And so if you’re a car mechanic, and you’re coming in on Monday morning to fix more cars, every car that comes in, you think in your head, I am going to fix this car as though it belongs to Christ.” Christian (1:12:30)
“I have hope because I know how the story ends.” Darrow (1:26:35)
