In The World but not of it

As time marches on, it is more difficult to strike a balance between engaging our culture, and at the same time not succumbing to its evil trappings. We live in a world of tempting compromise. What I have discovered is that if you stand your ground, and stick to your moral convictions, you’re a bigot, phobic, conspiracy theorist, hypocrite, religious zealot, intolerant and unloving. You’ll get canceled on the largest social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. While free speech is our constitutional right, not everyone likes what others who have a different opinion than theirs have to say. In a lot of instances, many people hate worldviews that do not agree with their own - especially Biblical worldviews. These disagreements can degenerate to venomous shouting matches, violent fights, and worst of all some become fatal.

As a Christian, we are commanded to love all people. This is never easy since so many people are hateful. The world has love twisted though. They believe that love means accepting and celebrating their sins. We cannot do that. We MUST love them and lovingly expose their sins. Why? Because we want the world to know that God’s wrath (i.e. His anger) is abiding on them (John 3:36). We must provide a balanced gospel presentation. In order for someone to appreciate the good news, they must be aware of the bad news - they are spiritually dead because of their sins (Eph 2:1: Cols 2:13). This means they are disconnected from their Creator and are currently on their way to hell. I know it's a hard truth to deliver and for most hard to swallow, but we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

Once someone is clearly aware of their spiritual condition (provided they want to hear you), it's time to deliver the good news. They can be forgiven of all their sins by repenting and placing their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Jesus was sent by God the Father to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). This is the best way we as Christians can engage the world without compromising our commitment to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:11 commands us to not get involved in the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. This is where the tension is the hottest. Once a believer exposes the sins of the wicked, the heat is on! If the person’s heart is hardened, they will not hear you. As a matter of fact, they will harden themselves more and increase their sin to anger you. Why? Because they love their evil (John 3:19). This is a spiritual battle between light (the believer) and darkness (the non-believer). 

The Bible commands us to not love the world or the things in it. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him / her (1 John 2:15). When God commands us not to love the world He means the world system - its ungodly trappings like I said in the beginning. We are not to love the fame, fortune and carnal pleasure. It’s all passing away.

How many Christians have compromised and dimmed their light because they want to be accepted by this deceptive evil world system? Listen to the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 

Therefore

“Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

God is challenging and testing us to see if we love Him more than ourselves and others. The questions we need to constantly ask ourselves is, “Who do I want to please, God or man?” And, “Who would I rather have mad at me, God or man?”

You see if we give in to the world’s corrupt ways, then we are no good to ourselves or the kingdom of God. We destroy our witness for Christ and we will be defeated and disqualify ourselves for usefulness. Think about that! Do you really want to be defeated by the enemy? I don’t. Wayward Christians are hypocrites. Is that the way you want to represent Jesus - our blessed Savior who was humiliated, beaten beyond recognition, bloodied and died to save our souls?

Too many professing Christians want the best of both worlds. They want Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord. They want the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of carnal pleasure. The Lord requires that we submit our lives to Him. Our lives are no longer our own for we have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). I struggle with this reality everyday. Let these words be a reminder to all of us-as we know we are not being as effective for the kingdom as we could be.

At the end of the day, Jesus said that not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven. He went on to say many will come to Me and say, “Lord we prophesied in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and did mighty works in your name. Then Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Now when Jesus said He never knew someone, that doesn’t mean He does not know who they are for He knows everyone. What He is saying is that He does not have an intimate personal relationship with them. He is not their Savior. They are not one of His sheep (John 10:26). God knows everyone creationally, but He does not know everyone relationally. Simply put, everyone is NOT a child of God. Most are children of Satan (John 8:44). This should be obvious by the politics in the White House all the way down to the violence in our streets.

Concluding believers, we must inject God’s truth and love in the culture. This is not an easy thing to do. It is very easy to get discouraged and afraid when we know for the most part people are not going to listen. Remember, we are in a spirit and truth war. Souls are at stake. Once a person is regenerated by God’s Spirit, then real and lasting change will occur. Only God’s power can convert the soul. It’s our job as much as humanly possible to convince the world of this truth. So let’s keep getting the word out. God is the only one that can do the saving.