Adam and Eve are the only humans who have ever lived in such a marvelous
world as was created in the beginning. They lived when and where to whom
‘the glory in the grass and splendor in the flower’ continually revealed the
diviner miracle of a Heavenly Father's munificent love and care. How would
the Savior, our Jesus, have seen the world through the lens of sinless human
experience? With a heart full of delight at the manifestation of the glory of
God in the intricately created plants, trees, animals, fish, sunsets, oceans,
seasons, minerals, gems, rocks, scents, food, and drink, it was the sinless
Son of God incarnate who knew the beauty that was intended. And yet, there
was another world that the Savior viewed from the side of sinless humanity.
These two worlds collided when the Son of God entered the world in order
to redeem men. The mystery of the incarnation is that “He was in the world,
and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him” for he
was not of the world. Jesus declared the essence of what He had come into
the world to do. In addition to coming to atone for the sins of His people, and
in addition to conquering the evil one, Jesus came to overcome the world.
He told us that in the world we will have tribulation. We must reason with
truth to know that there was nothing inherently evil about creation. We will
learn that there are two worlds – a world that God’s true people are in and a
world that God’s true people are not of. Allow me to be very emphatic with
the following statement…God’s people do not love the world or the things in
the world! It is the world under the sway of the evil one to which Jesus
referred when he spoke of overcoming it. He had come to conquer the prince
of the power of the air, the (little r) ruler of this world, and to overthrow the
dreadful results of the rebellion into which the evil one had led mankind.
It is in the world where its power and might, its knowledge and wisdom, its
commerce and industry, its culture and civilization, without God and in
opposition to Him, is the abode of Satan. The world with its pride and self-
exaltation, its trust in man and in the power and wisdom of man, its hatred
for God and of one another, its covetousness and lust for power, and for the
glory of man; the world with its lust of the flesh, its idolatry and adultery, its
profanity and deceit, its striving after pleasures and treasures, its vanities; it
is this world, with its strife and debate, its unrest and revolutions, its wars
and destruction that is “crossed” out of the heart of God’s people by what
transpired from Gethsemane to Golgatha. This world is fallen.
How then is the judgment of this world already come?
John 12:31
The answer is found in the already, but not yet, of His finished work on the
cross. In the death of Jesus, the world was put on trial. When the Son of God
was being condemned before human judges, the Judge of all the earth was
condemning this fallen, evil world. When Jesus God hung on the cross, He
was tearing away the facade of goodness with which the world masks its
idolatry, pride, foolishness, self-righteousness, and lawlessness. When we
see Christ crucified, we see the world as it really is, in all of its rebellion and
deceit. We, who are in the world, are in the day in which the verdict, which
was rendered at the cross, is being fully and openly manifested. In our day,
all of the world’s deceit and hypocrisy, falsehood and wickedness is being
laid bare and viewed in light of the righteous judgment of the Son of God. As
the sabbath is our sign, the cross is that post upon which it hangs. As we are
in the world, the cross is our meeting place. All who are drawn out of the
world must come to the cross.
The implications are magnormous for those who have been united to Christ
by faith alone. In the first place, the true believer, not any who refuse to
reason with every word to come to truth, must learn to live his or her faith in
light of the relationship that he or she now sustains to the world that is
overcome. And this done by “overcoming”. If anything of the spirit of this world is found in individual believers, or the church, then, to the same extent,
they will be incapable of seeing things in the light of God. They will judge
spiritual truth with a heart that is prejudiced by the spirit of the world that is
in them. A twice finished crucifixion must be envisioned here. I pray that you
hear this with the ear of the mind. Here stands the world, and here stand we.
And between the world and us stands the cross. The world views us as
crossed out, because of their sin they hate the cross and have no care,
concern, nor time for us. Viewed from our side, the world is crossed out, for
through our faith in all that is Christ, we have also died to the world; so that
we and the world are agreed on one thing, and one only; that through Christ
we have equally and mutually no time for each other.
Galatians 6:14
There is a promise to true faithful believers that no matter how much the
world may persecute, oppose, oppress, scoff at, and deride us, Christ is the
victory for those he has chosen out of the world and for whom He gave
himself on the cross. So, in Christ the victory is ours…already won. There is
nothing that the world can do in all of its persecuting malice to separate us
from the love of God in Christ. If we only really reasoned to come to know
the fullness of the dimensions of the cross, the mightiest of spiritual weapons.
It is the way we continually overcome.
The people of the world function apart from God. These who are of the world
are bound to sin in some degree. If they were to rightly consider the depth of
the defining sin they know nothing of, they would wonder at the opportunity
for repentance. God’s people are in this world physically. We must not have
either a social or a spiritual presence here…no part of its values…set apart,
separated unto the gospel. Let us not retain the insipid, corrupt mind that
being of the world creates. Rather, let us be conformed in our minds, to that
of Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 14:2
I Peter 2:9, 10
We must also understand that being in the world, but not of it, is necessary
if we are to be a light to those who are in spiritual darkness. We are to do life
in such a way that those who do not know how, to measure the God-given
faith, see the good He works in us and our receptive manner of all He does
and know that there is something “different” about us. We witness that being “in” the world means we can enjoy the things of the world, such as the beautiful creation God has given us, but we are not to immerse ourselves in what the world values, nor are we to chase after worldly pleasures. Pleasure
is no longer our calling in this time, but rather the true worship of God, for we
know that God so loved the world…
This is the place of intrigue and opportunity. For it shows the redeeming love
of God in the darkest of places; an orb set for occupation by the rebellious of
heaven, a place where light was brought to disrupt darkness in the mind of
God’s crowning jewel of creation. It is here that God would send the
unexpected gift of His Son. It was this act that plumbed the depths of God’s
love to show that His love is infinitely extensive.
When Jesus used the terms “in the world”, and “of the world”, he was making
exception between peoples. This is the essence of the truth he was saying.
God loves the world, and that means He loves every person, head for head.
The logic goes something like this: God loves every person; Christ died for
every person; therefore, salvation is possible for every person. However, it’s
not that God’s love is impotent, and Christ’s death is ineffectual, it is the
choice made based on which “world” one’s mind is in. God loves every
person, and Christ died for every person, and God’s love is not impotent, and
Christ’s death is not ineffectual, salvation has been secured for every person
who chooses Jesus over this world. So we come to understand that it is not
the extension of God’s love, but the intensity of how we accept His Son. For
it is God the Son who manifest God the Father and God is love.
No person, no matter how honest his intentions are, no matter how earnest
his thoughts are, no matter how much intellectual power he has, can
understand and receive God's truth any farther than the Spirit of Christ and
the Cross has expelled, or is truly sought
after, to expel the spirit of the world
in him. The Holy Spirit, when He is carefully waited on and yielded to, is the only Light that can open the eyes of the heart to see and to know what is of the world and what is of God. What is happening in our world today is
beginning to make sense to me. The world, unrepentant sinners, causes
havoc in their pretense to worship. How are we to interact with these who
are influenced and influence others by disbelief? As followers of Christ, we
are to actively engage our principles, having good intentions, without
allowing the culture’s ungodly morals, values, attitudes, and behaviors to
infiltrate our lives. Not even to the point of straddling the fence. If even one
word of God’s truth is maligned by a misguided attempt to be relevant, it is
sin. We are commissioned to go into the world, not be of the world. The truth,
the full truth of God’s word known, will keep us from the schemes of the
world...from becoming worldly minded. The world is such a great danger to
our souls that this danger caused Christ, the Son of God, to go to the cross
to deliver us from it. If you are an unbeliever in any of God’s word, you will
hate the truth when brought to you. But if you are a child of God and you
hear the evidence of reason, then you identify with Christ. Many of the elect
will be deceived when they fail to distinguish between that which is spiritual
and that which is worldly. Friendship diversions, entertainment diversions,
spiritual diversions…these are the powerful regards that defraud your
relationship with truth.
Matthew 24:24
We will come in contact with the world, yet we are to retain our distinctive
character and refuse to let the world press us into its mold. We should not
hold the world in contempt. The many who know not God are ignorant of His
redemptive grace. They know not the lines being drawn for joy or for woe.
We are to help these come to know the course of this world. They are in the
undertow to the will and way of God. We are to let them know they are
involved in a spiritual conflict. This is a battle between the forces of God and
the forces of Satan, and we and they are involved in it. All are asked to
choose sides. Our relationship with the world is to be redemptive, not social.
We are not of the world, but we are sent unto the world. As we embrace
Jesus, we embrace the souls he died for. We are summoned to advance his
cause.
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