Monday, March 8, 2010

Love the world

On Sunday morning Karen Duke recited for us 1 John 2:15-16 which says, “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 in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.” The love of this world was exactly what the devil was using as temptation to get Jesus to sin, but it did not work. This is an easy verse to say, “don’t love the world”, but the application of this passage is much more difficult for us earth dwellers. We live here, we love people and places and things here. But this is not our permanent home. This is just a temporary lodging place on our journey to our permanent home: heaven. There seems to be in the call of Christ a tension between loving the world and not loving the world. Here in 1 John 2:15 the call not to love the world is a call to avoid the rebellious, God-avoiding aspects of this world; the things that pull us away from worshiping and enjoying God.

In the call in Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples, the implied assumption is that we do it out of love, first for God and then for others; others who are in the world. So how do we love the world and at the same time avoid loving the things of the world? Jeff Purswell, in the book Worldliness, gives us three tasks. The first task is to enjoy the world – God’s creation. Rejoice in all that He has made. Enjoy the creation in a way that glorifies God and does not pull you away from Him in rebellion. Now I know as the sunshine begins to increase, our tendency is to run to recreation. That is a good way to enjoy creation. However, when our recreation pulls us away from what God has commanded us to do, i.e. assemble together, we have begun to love the world in a sinful way.

The second task is to engage the world. We love the world by engaging it. Now this is where we need much improvement among the body of Christ. It seems we are either very good at engaging the world without a Christian witness or we are horrible at engaging the world for fear of being rejected. We need to learn how to ask simple questions that show we care and are truly interested in what others think and what they love to do. When we begin to engage the world, we will open the door to the third task.

The third task is to evangelize the world. Love the world by making disciples. This is not hard. Jesus has loved you so much, now share that love with those who need to know it. Tell them what He has done for you, how you have grown and changed, how you have peace with God and how He has filled you with love and joy.

Go love the world, but don’t love the things of the world.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

sola scriptura

In my reading I came a across a sermon C.H. Spurgeon once wrote from the text Hosea 8:12 where God says, “Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.” This sermon caused me to think about my own treatment of the Word of God. In this passage of Scripture the Lord, through the prophet Hosea, is rebuking Israel for its sins of idolatry and hypocrisy in the worship of Jehovah God. Verse 12 comes near the end of the chapter where God is laying out all their sins and then tells them that He could have written ten thousand laws and they would have regarded them as a strange thing. As we read the Old Testament, it is very easy to begin judging the people of Israel for their disobedience, but the reality is we are not much different in principle.

God has given us His Word. In fact, most of us have several copies of it. The people in Hosea’s day were not so fortunate, but were still held accountable to know it and live by it. They were treating the laws of God as a strange thing by simply ignoring them, as if God were asking them to do something that was abnormal.

If we are honest, we do the same in our treatment of the Word of God. We read it, or at least carry our Bibles around, and hear it preached, but when it comes to living it out there are parts and aspects we just simply ignore. We treat it as a strange thing. God could have used men to write certain passages over and over again, but we would still regard them as a strange thing. The Word of God is no strange thing. It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account (Hebrews 4:12-13).

When we come to the Word of God it is like a mirror that exposes who we really are and where we need to change and grow in the grace and love of Jesus Christ. Don’t regard the Word as a strange thing, but as a good, wonderful, and glorious treasure!