The world in the Church

The world in the Church. “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”. 1 John 2:15 Why is the Fathers love incompatible with the love of the world? Here is the answer… “You shall have no other gods before me” Exodus 20:3 Loving the world is idolatry; God will not put up with idolatry. Why is loving the world idolatry? Here is the answer… Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Matthew 4:8-11 By loving the world, you place a false god – Satan, above the one true God – Jehovah. All the kingdoms of the world belong to Satan, so if we give our allegiance to them, we give it to Satan, which is idolatry. What is the punishment for idolatry? Here is the answer… “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:22 Idolatry is a manifestation of rebellion and presumption, which cause us to reject God’s word. We presume we know better (wisdom of the world) and so we rebel against the word of God, and reject it. How does this happen? “Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.” Aristotle

The world has our children not until they are 7, but until they are 17! (or even longer if they go to university) During that time we hope that they are getting an education, but that is only a cover story. What they are really getting is an indoctrination. In Sunday school we tell them that God created the world in 6 days, and we do that for about 5 years. The world tells them that the universe made itself out of nothing 13 billion years ago, and they do that for at least 12 years! In Sunday school we tell them that Adam and Eve were the first humans created by God on the 6th day, and they were perfect until they sinned. The world tells them that inert chemicals created life, and that humans evolved from apes millions of years ago. In Sunday school we tell them that God made us male and female in His image, the world tells them that male and female is an arbitrary construct, and you can identify as either or both as you feel led. (not even apes will go there!) In Sunday school we tell them that in the beginning God instituted marriage between a man and a woman for life, and that any sexual activity outside of marriage is a sin. The world tells them that anyone can marry anyone, for as long as they feel, and that sex outside of marriage is okay as long as it is consensual and enjoyable by both parties, whatever their age. In Sunday school we tell them that we are all sinners and need Gods salvation through Jesus His Son. The world tells them that there is no such thing as sin, so we don’t need saving, except from our own bigotry and intolerance. What we need to do is embrace and affirm diversity instead! Without God on our side this would be an unequal struggle. Even with God on our side, unless we are completely faithful, we will struggle to hold on to our children. If you ask one of our 5 year olds who made the earth, she will tell you it was God. If you ask her 10 years later, she will likely tell you it was formed billions of years ago from the big bang! If you ask a 6 year old who made us, he will say God did. If you ask him 10 years later, he will say we evolved from apes millions of years ago! (Try it if you doubt me) So if we agree with the world that the earth is billions of years old, and is the result of natural processes instead of divine command, and that we evolved from apes instead of being directly created by God out of the dust of the ground in His image; how is that being completely faithful? And if we agree with the world on that issue, why would we not also agree with the world on the issue of marriage, or sexuality, or indeed original sin? If Adam

evolved, or is indeed a fictional character, then he cannot be responsible for the sin that is in the human race. The Genesis 3 story is just that, a story invented to explain humanities failings. But if it is just a story, then why did Jesus go to the cross, and why is he described by Paul as the second Adam, who has atoned for the sin of the first Adam? If Adam did not exist, or sin, then we are not sinners, and the sacrifice of Jesus was not only unnecessary, but as the atheists claim, an example of Divine child abuse! Once we set ourselves up in judgement on the Word of God, which is what we are doing when we “interpret” it to make it fit with what the world has taught us, we find ourselves in rebellion. “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:22 Unfortunately this is where many in the church who identify as Christians find themselves today. Because they have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has also rejected them, and handed them over to the enemy of their souls. Where whole churches or denominations have gone down this rebellious route, they have or are in the process of self destructing. Numbers slowly decline, and the buildings are sold off, or left empty. Jesus predicted (as recorded in Matthew 24,) that in the last days there would be a great apostasy in the church, and questioned if He would find any faith left when He returned at the end of the age. Through the pen of John He warned us to… Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:5 In ancient times a sign of subservience was to bow before a king and place his foot on your head. That signified that you were placing yourself completely under his authority in complete obedience to his word. If we are to please God, that is what we must do in faith with His word, and place it over us in complete submission to Him. We absolutely need to exercise faith in order to do this, because we are engaging in a spiritual conflict with the world the flesh and the devil. We are rejecting Satan’s dominion and submitting to Christ’s dominion. If you will not submit to Genesis in faith, there is no reason why you would submit to the Gospel in faith. Indeed, everyone who falls into unbelief with regards to the cross, has already fallen

into unbelief with regards to Genesis! If you destroy the foundation, the building will not stand. “For without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would come to Him must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him” Hebrews 11:6 By applying the intelligence God has given us, we can land a probe on a moon of Saturn, but unless we approach His word with faith, we will never understand it! “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned”. 1 Corinthians 2:14 Some people read the Bible not with the eye of faith, but with their natural understanding. Unfortunately that is inadequate, because it is corrupted by sin. Only by and through the Holy Spirit can we truly understand in our hearts what God has caused to be written. We can apply all the wisdom of man to the task of reading the Scriptures, and we will receive nothing from it of any spiritual value. What will actually happen is that we will reject those parts that our natural mind finds inconvenient or distasteful, or indeed convicting, thereby entering into rebellion, and setting ourselves up in judgement over Gods word. “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world”? 1 Cor 1:20 Our educational system, and even our seminaries are churning out very educated and knowledgeable people, who are full of the wisdom of this world, but know nothing of God. Those who do accept Christ as saviour often refuse to let go of the worlds wisdom hammered into them over 17 years, and spend their entire Christian lives dragging around a ball and chain of unbelief with them, often eventually losing their faith altogether as a result. “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw - each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the

foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” 1Corinthians 3:10-15 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him”.