Love Not the World
We are Just Passing Through Down Here
We all know that we are not going to be in this world all that much longer. The end is fast approaching and, knowing the signs, no one knows that better than Christians who walk closely with the Lord.
Many of us have emailed back and forth and talked about how we’ve had our moments of wishing life could be normal again, which we all know now will never happen. Normal isn’t ever coming back, yall. And we have to let it go. We have to let it go because we have work to do in the time we have left. Serious work. Nothing is more serious than the business of winning souls. So we have to let go of whatever part of our life that changed that we miss. Just let it go. Okay, moving on.
So part of going through this time we live in as Christians who won’t deny Christ as this continues to get worse, is going to be letting go of the world and all it has to offer us.
Martyrs Didn’t Love the World
Wednesday, 7/21/21 – while reading Foxe’s Book of Martyrs again and praying
I was reading about one of the martyrs, John Lambert, in the introduction where the person who had translated the “Middle English” of John Foxe’s book to contemporary English, was writing about how the stories of the martyrs affected him, and he wrote:
“When they burned John Lambert and held him up OUT OF THE FIRE WITH THEIR HALBERDS SO THAT HE WOULD BURN MORE SLOWLY I sat at my computer and wept. And when John Hauker raised his flaming hands over his head and clapped them together three times I rejoiced at the amazing grace of God.”
As I read his account, my own eyes filled with tears at the amazing courage of these saints of long ago whose courage and conviction was SO strong, and I said Oh Lord, So many of us are spoiled Americans who don’t even know we are spoiled! How can we ever be so strong and make You proud if we have to face death like that? Please help us to stand strong in courage and conviction like they did if it comes our turn to die for our faith -
He showed me what is in the world ISN’T of Him. Our possessions, any money we have, our careers, our education – whatever we think we own, those are not of Him. He graciously allows us to enjoy them for a time, but ONLY His Word is of Him. Our love and kindnesses to others. Encouragement of others, those are of Him. UNITY is of Him. The rest belongs in the world, to the world, and is NOT of Him.
My friend Grace is the kindest, most gracious person I think I have ever met. She is SO kind and gentle and gracious that I was praying one day recently and I said, Lord, why can’t I be more kind and gracious and patient like Grace? Her personality is SO LOVELY! Why don’t I have a personality like that? And the Lord answered.
He said “You could not do what I’ve called you to do with her personality.” LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Yeah, I guess not. Speaking hard truths takes a whole different mindset. I am a very direct, to the point person. I just don’t feel we have even a minute to waste in this time. Every day I feel an even stronger urgency to get the Word out there, to win more souls for Him. Tonight could be the night He told us about – the night the attack falls on us as we lay sleeping in our beds from the night sky when so many will be turned into Hell. We gotta get moving, yall.
WE ARE HERE TO DO A JOB AND THEN GO HOME TO HIM.
Our time here is not about our pleasure, our enjoyment or our stuff. The Disciples got to know Jesus, then did their job and went home. That’s our job, too. Let’s get busy and not disappoint the King!!
That increasing urgency, which my friends have said they also feel, is why I can’t slow down. It’s why I feel compelled to spend more and more time in study and no time for much of anything not related to the Lord. I KNOW THE TIME IS UP and souls depend on US. They don’t know Him, they are like we used to be when we were in the world – they’re just trying to be happy the only way they know how and trying to have a good time. They will be among the lost who are turned into Hell if we don’t get the message of the gospel out there!!
What Will We have to Show for Our Time on this Earth?
When I stand and give an account before the Son of God on the other side, I don’t want to have to explain why I spent all my time looking at TV or enjoying the pleasures of the world – going shopping, getting together with friends, going out to eat, going on vacations here or there! I want to have at least SOMETHING to lay at His feet – SOME WORK, SOME SOULS I helped win.
How can we stand before the greatest King of all time, OUR BRIDEGROOM…WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR ALL HE HAS DONE FOR US???? How can we offer nothing back for all His agony in dying for us and the many mercies He shows us every day ??? Every morning you wake up, that’s His mercy. Every time your child comes home from school, that’s His mercy. Every time you connect with a loved one by phone, that’s His mercy. Each time you can pay your bills or give into the Kingdom, that’s His mercy. The thought of having nothing to show for my life horrifies me.
Book by Watchman Nee
So my friend Grace was talking one day about reading a book called Love Not the World, by Watchman Nee.
And though I have quoted Watchman Nee, I had never read this particular book by him. But things she said about how he wrote about the world made me want to read it, so I got the book on my Kindle and began, slowly, to read it.
What the Bible Says About Loving the World
1 John 2:15-17 KVJer
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (Lust=Strong Desire)
17 And the world passes away, and the lust thereof but he that does the will of God abides forever.
Vs. 17 And the world passes away, and the lust thereof (so all the desire you felt for worldly things here will die with you) but he that does the will of God abides forever.
This is telling us that if we are in love with anything in the world, anything our eyes see and long for, any person our eyes see and long for, anything that is about power or prestige or promotion that is of the world, it may keep us from doing the will of God. He that does the will of God abides forever.
Romans 12:2 KJVer
2 And be not conformed to this world but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, an acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
You cannot prove God’s will while you are in the world, can you? I know I could not. My life would not look anything LIKE His will were I still out there.
And notice here that there are 3 levels of doing God’s will
1. Good
2. Acceptable
3. Perfect
That makes me wonder if there are 3 levels of reward that go with them – the Good, the Acceptable and the Perfect.
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Galatians 1:4 KJVer
4 Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present world, according to the will of God, and our Father. So it MUST BE the Lord’s will that we get delivered from this present world then.
And I don’t think He’s talking there about delivering us as in taking us to heaven, but delivering us from DESIRING the present world while we are yet in it.
Ephesians 4:22-23 KJVer
22 That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (THOSE STRONG DESIRES – THE LUST OF THE FLESH, LUST OF THE EYES AND THE PRIDE OF LIFE)
So the things you used to love and love to talk about – put that away. Put that away so the Lord can teach you to love HIM and love HOLINESS instead.
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
If we get rid of all the thoughts and conversation that used to interest us, and we are in the Word of God as we should be, spending some time in it each day – reading, listening, and also praying so we have time directly with Him, then our mind will be renewed through the washing of the water of the Word.
You know, it is a curious thing to be living IN a world and yet we are not supposed to be OF the world. Its temptations are all around us, and yet once our mind has been renewed and we are totally devoted to the King of Kings, the world holds no attraction for us. Yes, we all appreciate a comfortable home, a job we enjoy, good food to eat and nice things to wear. We enjoy fun and relaxing vacations, gifts on holidays and talking with friends. But at the end of the day, if you must choose any of THAT or Him, on which will you decide?
Revelation 12:11 KJV
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
James 4:4 KJV
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
And you know, the patriarchs and disciples had to fight their desire for the world just as we sometimes do.
Hebrews 11:24-25 KJV
24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; (So he refused both position AND prestige)
25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
2 Timothy 4:10 KJV
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
It should be noted that loving the world is not just something we can see on the outside of a person, it is their internal life – their thoughts and desires. It’s the concern about what people will think. It’s a desire to have as much this or that as someone else. It’s wanting that promotion or worldwide platform. Wanting to be more handsome, more beautiful. the best dressed, the best body … And those desires never come to an end, because the world around us is constantly changing. What’s trending today may not be trending tomorrow, but don’t worry, new fashions come out all the time. Its measuring anything in your mind by the world’s standards. It’s an internal RULER that needs to be cast out and sent far away from us.
1 John 2:16 KJV
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
What is the lust of the flesh? The lust of the flesh are your physical desires. Desires for food, sex, comfort, vacations, relaxation time, whatever. And anything you crave or have cravings for.
What is the lust of the eyes? The lust of the eyes is about materialism. It’s about desiring things and people you SEE with your eyes. Lusting after a person, or after nice clothes you see..
What is the Pride of Life? The pride of life is all about desiring position and prestige. It’s about living in the ritzy part of town, driving a Mercedes, Having an education so the right abbreviations are after your name. Going to the right college.
A person can SEEM like they are not worldly outwardly, yet their heart is fixed on all these – things - .
Not loving the world is about not loving your life unto death. The Lord wants us to let go of the world and all is enjoyments and pleasures and cling to Him, because in what is about to transpire, He is truly the only sure thing. The Lord and His Word will never pass away, but everything around us, all the people we know and love, all the things we enjoy in our lives – those will all pass away. Hopefully the people we love are saved and will only pass from this life into eternity so we can see them again.
Love Not the World by Watchman Nee speaks of three main uses by the New Testament writers of the Greek word kosmos which is translated world in our Bible.
1. The material universe, the round world or this earth.
Acts 17:24 KJV
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
Matthew 13:35
John 1:10
2. The second use is twofold,
a. The inhabitants of the world
John 1:10
John 3:16
b. An extension of this usage leads to the idea of The whole race of men who are alienated rom God and thus hostile to the cause of Christ. Which really describes our world today, doesn’t it.
Hebrews 11:38
John 15:18
3. Thirdly, we find kosmos used in scripture for worldly affairs, worldly goods, endowments, riches, advantages and pleasures, which though hollow and fleeting, we still desire sometimes and put us in danger of having our time and attention and even hearts seduced away from the Lord.
1 John 2:15
Matthew 16:26
So to sum up, the 3 definitions of the world we see are:
1. The material earth or universe
2. The people on the earth
3. The things of the earth
Worldliness
The word worldliness is defined as devoted to, directed toward, or connected with the affairs, interests, or pleasures of this world or the earth, so basically things and interests that are not spiritual in nature.
Learning to not love the world is putting these things and interests in their proper place and prioritizing them correctly in our daily lives.
It was very late Wed. Night of last week. I had only just finally gotten to relax after working on sermons all day and helping my friends a little with their move.
So my plan was, while I was working some more on my sermons, to listen to a documentary about John Foxe, the author of Foxes book of martyrs. So I turned on the TV, went to youtube and started one.
Not even 5 minutes into it, my tv malfunctioned in a wild way. It buzzed briefly, then the screen flashed white and then it began flashing one bright color after another.
As I looked at it in bewilderment I said. Lord, if you didn't want me to watch that You could have just said...lololol.
The sermon I was working on was love not the world. Lolololol I can’t make this stuff up, yall.
About Life ……Distractions Along the Journey
“I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, 200 miles from the coast. And yet our local Wal-Mart has a random smattering of seagulls that soar overhead and eat French fries and other debris from neighboring fast food restaurants. The truth is the seagulls are lost. They’ve taken a wrong turn. And instead of discovering where they went wrong, they’ve settled for an asphalt parking lot rather than the salty sea. They’ve reconciled themselves to feeding on the refuse and trash of harried shoppers rather than the fresh seafood cuisine of their feathered forefathers.” – Sharon Jaynes
“Life is a highway…” the song sings. Life is like a highway in many ways. It is a constant progression towards who we are meant to be.
Like every other journey, sometimes the scenery changes as we go along, or the weather changes, or the terrain changes. There are beautiful parts and not so beautiful parts. There are stops along the way, places where we can pull over and linger or even park if we wish. There are signs pointing us to where we need to go, and there are signs pointing us to many places we don’t need to go, advertising destinations that distract us from truly becoming all that we can be in the end.
Sometimes the distractions along our paths cause us to veer off course and we lose our focus for a little while. Some become so distracted they never find their way back on to their true path. Sidetracked by the enthrallment of temporary delights, they become lost along the way. For those who do find their way back, we have lost momentum on our journey, but hopefully there is still time enough to reach our true destiny.
One must not linger too long at the cheap attractions offered on the roadside billboards of life. The distractions peddling some enjoyment, some titillation, some bargain blast of excitement which, like the intense rush of a roller coaster ride, thrills us for a moment but ultimately keeps us from moving forward to a life of real fulfillment and true bliss.
It can be so easy to get caught up in the bright flashing lights, the sweet taste of the moment as we gaze in wonder at what appears to be an enchanted wonderland laid out before us. The brightness of the electrifying illusion gives us temporary escape from our rough and rocky path, but it is not where we ultimately belong. The shoddy prize shouted by the advertisement quickly loses its appeal if we are wise enough to realize it has blinded us with its artificial brightness. It confused us about where we wanted to go and delayed our way to our destiny.
If we spend all the days of our lives on the cheap carnival rides of instant gratification, we enjoy temporary escapes from the difficulties of our path, but we also lose our chance to build something real on our journey through life. We miss the true gifts of adversity. We will miss the diamond-hard toughness adversity can produce in us. We will miss a testimony of overcoming the obstacles of our journey.
Then as we begin to see behind the flashing lights of excitement, we will run towards the end of the road at the last minute with hopeful eyes, where we see the glistening of our true destiny radiating like an unfolding dream before us.
But we will be out of time and all we will have to show for our path are dirty, wrinkled ticket stubs for the fleeting rides we took along the journeys that should have built our lives.
“So many roads. So many detours. So many choices. So many mistakes.” – Sarah Jessica Parker
We make choices every day, every hour of how we will spend our time. We can live in the world and love the Lord or we can live in the world and love the world and keep the Lord on the sidelines. We can choose to spend time laying up treasure in heaven, or we can enjoy all the pleasures the world offers us each day.
Some of the choices are small ones. Will I watch that show or will I pray? Will I spend time in the Word or will I surf the internet and shop for something?
Will I chill out at home or will I go visit that woman on the next block who just lost her husband?
Will I give my full tithe or will I keep back a few hundred to take the family out? Choices that seem like they wouldn’t make that much difference and yet…in THIS time, these choices are huge. Will I enjoy my treasures here on earth or lay up treasures in heaven?
When that fateful night comes and death falls on us from the night sky, I hope that all of you listening will have chosen the better way, to lay up treasures in heaven, because many of us are going to heaven to give an account for how we have spent our time and our giftings on the earth much sooner than we think we are.
He told us, I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose LIFE.
Every choice is either bringing you more Life and Him or more death and the world.
