Life in This World
My life began
like yours — out of 300 million some-odd
sperm cells, I was one of the first
to make it to the little egg. Somehow
I had the key and was welcomed in
even before those who had gotten
there before me. Once I got in, all
the others were locked out and died
without achieving their goal. I was
the chosen one. So, full of purpose
and destiny, I waited… as a body
was prepared for me… the vehicle
that would carry me through this
world.
I was born
into this world in 1961. As an infant,
my parents took me to the Catholic
Church to be christened, to ensure
my eternal destiny with Jesus in
Heaven. When I was five, they put
me on a bus every morning to go to
kindergarten. There I learned how
to pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America.
I also learned new and exciting ways
to go against my conscience with
the other little children in my class.
As I grew
up I spent a great deal of time with
my main tutor — the television. As
I fixed my young eyes on the screen,
a myriad thoughts, ideals, sentiments,
concepts, opinions, attitudes, persuasions,
temptations, passions and desires
imprinted themselves on the wet clay
of my eternal soul. Along with these
came millions of images of every
conceivable kind, many that I wish
I had never seen. These things formed
much of my outlook on life and the
perception I had of myself, and the
world I was being conformed to.
In fifth
grade I started playing little league
baseball. I was a pretty good player,
even though I was smaller and not
as strong as most of the other boys.
One thing I discovered early on was
that I hated to lose. My experience
with competitive sports seemed to
really strengthen something in me
to desire to have first place, not
just in games, but every area of
my life.
It’s not hard to see how this
little boy developed into a very
proud, selfish, disrespectful, opinionated,
wise-cracking, foolish, rebellious,
lustful young man. I lived exclusively
for my own pleasure and gain. I wouldn’t
let anyone tell me what to do. The
way I treated many people, especially
women, ruined their lives in certain
ways. All the while, I somehow thought
I was a pretty good guy, and if there
was a God, then surely He knew my
heart. Sometimes I could sense that
the clay was hardening, but I tried
not to think about it too much.
Then I became
a born-again Christian. Someone had
encouraged me to read the gospels
about the life of Jesus. I was very
convicted and enlightened by what
I read and decided to give my life
to the Lord, and was baptized. So
I launched into my new life as a “born-again” believer,
full of hope that my life would really
change and that I could gain some
real confidence that God had a place
for me in His eternity.
I began to
learn about how a believer is supposed
to conduct himself. But somehow a
lot of these things weren’t
so easy for me to understand. For
example, I was told, “Be in the world, but not of it.” Well,
how do you do that? I mean, I was
totally wrapped up in the world —
I was educated by the world, worked
in the world, I was entertained by
the world’s music and movies,
I kept up on all my favorite sports.
In fact, I lived my life much like
every other person I knew who wasn’t
a professing Christian, except that
I went to church on Sunday (well,
as much as I could anyways).
What I Learned…
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)
So, you know,
I could say, “I don’t
love the
world or
the things of the world,” just
like I could
say, “Oh,
I am not
of the world.” But
I really
wanted to
know what John was talking about,
because according
to him, if
I did love
the world, then God’s
love was
not really
in me. The
Greek word
translated
love in that verse means the
direction
of the will towards whomever or whatever
one finds
his joy in,[1]
which is inescapably
revealed
in how one
spends his time, money, and energy.
John goes on to
describe
things a
little more:
For all that
is in the world: the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the
Father but is of the world. (1 John
2:16)
The lust
of the flesh,
and the lust
of the eyes… This
speaks of
desire, the
longings
of the mind — the
motivating
factor of
a person’s life.
What are
the desires
that drive
this world?
Wealth, fame, position, possessions,
status, comfort,
etc. It has
to do with
what one
sets
his mind
on —
what kinds
of things
he desires.
So who is
not involved in these things? It’s
the normal life in society today
that
Christians
and everyone
else I know
indulge in. Many even claim that
material
wealth is
a sign of
God’s
blessing.
But Christ
Himself said, “No
one of you
can be My
disciple
unless he gives up all his possessions.”[2]
So how does
one give
up all of
his possessions
in the context of the lifestyle
of modern
Christianity?
The Pride of Life
The Amplified
Bible
defines
the pride of life as:
assurance
in one’s
own resources
or in the
stability of earthly things.
It says these do not
come from
the Father but are from the world
itself. As
a Christian
I was supposed
to change my thinking so that I
was no
longer
trusting in my own resources,
but in
God alone. But here
I go, investing
heavily in health, dental, home,
fire,
theft
and life
insurance, in an effort to insulate
my life
from
any potential
vulnerability.[3]
As far
as putting
my trust
in God, it’s
difficult
to know
where to turn. The Word tells
us to “be
subject
to one
another in the fear of Christ.” But
I’m
taught
in my
Church, “don’t
listen
to men,
only God.” I’m
not sure
where
that is in the Scripture. But
I guess
I can’t really
listen
to the
people who tell me that. So here
I am, left to rely
on hearing
some
kind of voice in my heart to
know what God’s
will is
for my
life. I read books by Christian
authors and listen
to Christian
radio
to get a little more insight
into living by Christian
principals,
but there
are so many different schools
of thought that
I end up
feeling
like what Paul said about “being
tossed
here and there by waves and carried
about by
every
wind of doctrine.”[4]
Foundations
of This World
The other
definition of the pride of life
is:
assurance in the stability
of earthly
things. Somehow as Christians,
we seem to be intensely interested
in preserving the foundations of
the crumbling society around us.
More and more the Christian leaders
encourage us to get out there and
vote, attend rallies, and write
letters applying political pressure
to the nation’s leaders,
all in an effort to shape society
according to “Biblical Principles.”
But then
John goes on to say:
And the
world is passing away, and the
lust of it; but he who does the
will of God abides forever. (1
John 2:17)
It seems
to me that the foundations of this
world have been eroding for a long,
long time. I remember when divorce
was a shameful thing and there
were many things we didn’t
even speak of that are now openly
flaunted in public. So then I read
what Isaiah prophesied:
The earth
is also polluted by its inhabitants,
for they transgressed laws, violated
statutes, broke the everlasting
covenant. Therefore, a curse devours
the earth, and those who live in
it are held guilty. Therefore,
the inhabitants of the earth are
burned, and few men are left. (Isaiah
24:5-6)
Well, it’s not too hard to
imagine
that this
will come upon this world. It seems
the people
of the
Earth are
clearly guilty of transgressing
laws, violating
statutes
and breaking
the everlasting covenant.[5] And
the curse is coming
upon the
Earth and
its inhabitants. I don’t
think anyone
would argue with that. But is it
our
job to
make the
world a better place to live? If
we’re striving
to make
the world
a better place to live, doesn’t
that just prove that
we’re trying to
find our
assurance
in the stability of earthly things?
Aren’t
we seeking
our comfort
in full in this life?
The Starting
Point
All this
takes me
back to
the starting point
—
my relationship
with Christ.
I either belong to Him or I don’t.
I am either
forgiven or
I’m
not. This
is important!
You know what I mean? Like the old
saying
goes, “Just because you say
it, don’t make it so.” Regardless
of what
other Christians
tell me about how to think, and
how they
assure
me that
I’m saved,
it seems
there is
some objective criteria in the
Scriptures by which
to judge
my salvation.
If I do not truly know Him, but
claim that
I do, it
would be
better if I had not been the one
that got to the
egg first.[6]
I consider
the words of Christ in John 12:25-26:
He who
loves his life will lose it, and
he who hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.
If anyone serves Me, let him follow
Me; and where I am, there My servant
will be also. If anyone serves
Me, him My Father will honor.
So if I
love my
life in
this world,
then I
will lose it. That word
love,
means
to be attached to
life in
this world
by common
interests and sentiment. But I
can
expect
to inherit
eternal
life if
I hate
my life in this world,
detaching myself
from this
world and
its fallen
agenda and its crown prince.
After all,
John said
that “the
whole world
lies under
the power
of the
evil one.”[7]
Christ
Himself
referred to Satan
as “the
ruler of
this world.”[8]
In order
to be detached from life in this
world, one must follow Him to where
He is, for it is only there, in
that place where one can serve
Him. And it is only those who serve
Him who will be honored by His
Father.
This brings
light to what He said in Luke 14:26,
If anyone
comes to Me and does not hate his
father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes, and
his own life also, he cannot be
My disciple.
We must
come to Him without any other attachments,
even to our own life in this world,
if we want to be His disciple.
The Greek says that if we don’t
forsake these things, we
won’t
be able to be His disciple. So
it’s not a matter of being
saved by doing some good deed,
but rather it’s the reality
that no one can serve two masters.
Christ spoke of this dichotomy
in Matthew 6:31-33,
31Therefore
do not worry, saying, ‘What
shall we eat?’ or ‘What
shall we drink?’ or ‘What
shall we wear?’ 32For after
all these things the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things.
33But seek first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and
all these things shall be added
to you.
So one
category — those who are
of this
world — is described in verses
31 and
32. The
other category —
His people
who serve
Him where He is — is
described
in verse 33. So where is this
place where
you can seek
first His
Kingdom and have all your needs
met? I guess
it takes
a community,
just as it did in the First Church
in Jerusalem.[9]
The Spirit
and the Bride Say, “Come!”
All things
considered,
I can only
conclude
that the
only confidence I can have that
I have
passed
out of
death and into life, is
if I am
living
a life
of love[10]
and unity[11]
with all those who have surrendered
everything
to make
Him their
only possession
and their King.
You may
have guessed
by now
that
I found
the narrow way out of this
world
and its lusts into the abundant
life of
Messiah
where we
are able
to serve Him where He is — where
He has
caused
His name
to dwell,
in His Community. He is the Chief
Cornerstone
and unshakable
Foundation
of this
house.[12] For there is
no
other way
the Church
can be
than the
way it was when it was called “the
Way.”[13]
This is
the witness
of the
truth of God’s
love to
the world
that must go to the ends of the
Earth before
the end
of this
age can come and Christ can return
and set up His
Kingdom
on the
Earth. It is necessary that there
would
be a tangible witness of
His life
before the nations
and the
clear comprehensive gospel to
give revelation and understanding
of how
one comes
into this life.[14]
So my warm
invitation
to you is to come and visit one
of our communities and
get to
know us. We were just like you,
groping to know how to serve
God in
a fallen world. But now He has
made a way for us to live
together
in peace and harmony and He has
given us a practical, down-to-earth
way to
obey His commands every
day. Please
come!
[1] Hebrews 12:2
[2] Luke 14:33
[3] Luke
6:24-26
[4] Ephesians 4:14
[5] Genesis
3:16-19; 9:1-7
[6] John 9:41; 1
John 2:4
[7] 1 John 5:19
[8] John 14:30
[9] Acts
4:32-34
[10] 1 John 3:14,16,17; John
13:34,35
[11] John 17:21-24
[12] 1
Peter 2:5,6; 3:15; 2 Timothy 2:19
[13] Acts
9:2; 2:41-47; 4:32-37; 22:4; 24:14,22
[14] Matthew 24:14; Acts 2:40; 5:20
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