1 John 2:15. LOVE not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
It’s Tuesday friends, and sadly, the early ray of sunshine that began the day is now gone, obviously to be replaced by cloud cover, with the computer forecasting rain for later this afternoon. But we’ll take rain over snow every time, (smile) although we can handle anything that comes against us through Christ who strengthens us. All glory and honour to our great Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! And all God’s people said a loud and grateful ‘Amen!’
Now, today we will keep on looking at some key scriptures about being in the world but not of the world. And this commentary simply explains it as keeping our ‘focus on living with heavenly values while present on Earth, emphasizing separation from worldly corruption, transformation, and being ambassadors for Christ.’
Yesterday we had some revealing scriptures from Jesus, today we will begin with more of His revealing words, as He explains to the disciples, the world’s hatred for them. ‘If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would LOVE his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I spoke unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.’ (John 15:18-21)
Yes friends, because the world hated Jesus, and we belong to him, the world will automatically hate us also. That’s a tough cross to bear sometimes, but we know that with Christ’s help we can handle it. With the awesome power of the Holy Spirit, God’s faithful Word, the Bible and our faith and trust, we can learn to follow Christ, and not the desires of this world, and to represent Christ’s kingdom here on earth in the best way possible.
That brings us to this very important foundational scripture from the first epistle of John, where he profoundly exhorts us: ‘LOVE not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man LOVE the world, the LOVE of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh (physical desires), and the lust of the eyes (personal desires), and the pride of life (self-interests), is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.’ (1 John 2:15-17)
And that’s the living truth my people! The world will pass away, but those who do God’s bidding will live forever! That’s what God’s Word says, and if you’re a follower of God, then you need to believe what He says, otherwise you’re just waiting your time and His. Meanwhile, in Bruh Paul‘s first epistle to the Corinthians, he writes: ‘I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company (associate) with fornicators (sexually immoral people): Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then ye must needs go out of the world.’ (1 Cor. 5:9-10)
Apparently the letter Bruh Paul is talking about is one he wrote to the Corinthians before, but now is lost. And in that letter he warned them about keeping company with sexually immoral people. But the problem is if we do not associate with any evil doers at all, we would need to leave the world completely, as Bruh Paul says in the second verse. And besides Jesus has placed us among the unbelievers so that we can show them what it is to be a true Christian, and thus have them want to be His follower. And we cannot do that if we avoid all unbelievers or evil doers. We just have to be careful that the habits of those we come into contact with don’t override our spirituality and righteousness, but that our habits transform theirs. For that’s the role of disciples and ambassadors of Christ.
Then we have this interesting verse from James, Jesus’ brother, where he declares: ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.’ (James 1:27) And keeping oneself unspotted from the world can oftentimes be a difficult task, seeing that the world is always at us with advertisements, posters, social media, etc. etc. Our world has become a very noisy place, with lots of talk but little true information or empathy.
So how are we to decide whether we’re in the world or not eh? I like how this commentary simplifies it. A policeman and his wife were watching a sitcom on their laptop, and though it was humorous and full of everyday language with which he was familiar, they eventually turned it off, because they felt it was “desensitizing our sensibilities”. ‘Watching any further only demonstrated our tacit approval and we wanted to stop before our view of the world had been permanently altered.’
It goes on to say that ‘in the world’ could be defined as our point of location, and continues: ‘Paul was right when he said that we would have to leave the world altogether if we wanted to truly separate ourselves from immoral, “worldly” people. That’s not what God is asking us to do. The fact that you might be in a location where your Christian worldview is being challenged is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, God may have placed you there so you can have a positive impact on those who don’t yet know Jesus, or at least learn more about the culture so you can influence it later. So, while my wife and I were located in front of our laptop watching the sitcom, this was not the issue that concerned me.’
Then he defines ‘of the world’ as our source of information, and continues. ‘My concern was simply that the repeated exposure to the worldview expressed in the show was having an impact on my worldview as a Christian. It was starting to change the way I think. That isn’t always the case for me, but there are definitely times when I’ve caught myself repeating some objectionable phrase (or embracing some ungodly concept) simply because I heard (or saw) it repeatedly in some movie, cable show or series of conversations at work. It’s one thing to be located in these environments; it’s another thing to draw from them as a source for information and behavior.’
Now that’s the gospel truth! And I’m sure that many of us have had similar expereinces. Let’s hope we did not allow them to corrupt us. And this piece from the commentary makes a delightful summary for our Bit today. ‘It seems that Jesus understood the tension we would experience as Christians living in a hostile ideological environment. The authors of the New Testament also encouraged us to continue our relationships with the world around us, but to be careful to live in a way that pleases God, not the culture:’
And as we endeavour to live like that, let’s go home declaring our Tuesday Mantra, letting the whole world know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. As one strong and sincere voice: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with my immediate neighbours, as well as with the whole wide world! Glory be!’
Now that means we have go out and share the amazing LOVE and friendship of Christ with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do. Much LOVE!
…only if and when Christians live like true Christians…will the world pay attention to us…
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