“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” I John 2:15-17
Did you read that correctly? Is that what this really says? How matter-of-fact can one be? (Just a reminder…these are God’s words given through the Apostle John to us!) Do you register just how judgmental this statement is by today’s standard of thinking? This statement would definitely “trigger” some folks in this day and age…but what about the people in the 1st century struggling every day for their very life? If they would only just talk like the “world” and accept “the world”…there wouldn’t be so much trouble…at least that is the temptation to compromise.
When the early Christians were told that the love of the world and the things of the world meant they did not love God, they didn’t hold any discussions on what “the world” meant in this context…or how far they could go with “the world” and still please God. No…they got out of the world…that is, they sought to separate themselves completely from everything the world stood for…“…the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life…” Why did they do this, beyond the obvious that God was not in it? The reason they did is the same reason one gets away from the edge of a cliff in a mudslide, “…the world is passing away along with its desires…” This statement is a guarantee that it is happening now! You can see it is going, so you run away as fast as you can to stay safe. What happened when they did this? Well, the church grew in numbers and in spiritual maturity. But that is not all. By separating themselves this way, they also brought down the world’s wrath on their heads.
The world that existed then still exists today. The great God has and is confirming the truth of this. Christians are ostracized, persecuted and killed by the hundreds of thousands every century for our faith. The world is no different than it was when they killed the prophets, crucified Christ Jesus and martyred the first Christians. It is the same world. “Adam is always Adam wherever you find him and he never changes.” (A. W. Tozer, The Crucified Life: How to Live Out A Deeper Christian Experience).
When we do get along with the world, it is too often because we compromise our position and allow it to dictate to us while we, in turn, are permitted to dictate very little, to nothing, to the world…with the result that very few of us are in any way embarrassed or heartbroken anymore by the world. Recognizing the world for what it truly is was never a problem for the early Christians…we need to really consider why it is so hard for us to recognize the world for what it is today and run as quickly as possible to God and His Word.
God Bless y’all.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
