The Church - Its Turmoil, Conflict, Struggle And Endurance – Part 2. (Part 10 In The Series) Series

THE CHURCH - ITS TURMOIL, CONFLICT, STRUGGLE AND ENDURANCE – PART 2. (PART 10 IN THE SERIES)

We continue to look at some of the matters that are of concern for the Church and its problems and its conflict in the world.

[4]. FOURTH CONSIDERATION - THE WORLD ENTICES CHURCHES AND CHRISTIANS

The New Testament has a lot to say about the world and some of that is highlighting the dangers of the world. When we use that term we do not speak about this planet that is growing in wickedness, but we focus on the world system, the enticements and evil and everything that is in that world system.

Many are the scriptures we could choose and I will make selections. Here is the first one – {{2Timothy 4:10 “for Demas, HAVING LOVED THIS PRESENT WORLD, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia; Titus to Dalmatia.”}} Earlier on, back some years, Paul wrote this - {{Colossians 4:14 “Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.”}} Demas was on Paul’s team but then something happened to cause Demas to abandon Paul’s party to leave only Luke to minister to Paul. It was the allurement of the world.

What was the attraction, the lure that was so strong that it pulled Demas away from Paul? Let me say that better – “pulled Demas away from God.” Well we don’t know but the enticement was so great that he departed and left Paul in the lurch. Although we don’t know the actual cause we know broadly what was the mechanism. Was the devil behind it? Yes, in a way, but there is more to it. We will look at the well-known verses from 1John.

1John 2:15-17 “DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. All that is in the world, THE LUST OF THE FLESH and THE LUST OF THE EYES and THE BOASTFUL PRIDE OF LIFE, is not from the Father, but is from the world, and the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.”}} Here is the world again and John says, “ALL that is in the world,” and then puts that ALL into 3 groupings. I think we can conclude that everything in this world fits the three categories – lust of flesh, eyes, pride of life.

John is clear about the division here saying that if you love this world system then the Father’s love is not in you. It is one or the other. He expressly tells his readers not to love the world. I am not going to make lists about what these lusts can be. You are well aware of some of them, though I truly think Christians can be very naïve about the world and that is a good thing. Many of us are not aware of the absolute wickedness and the great temptations that are out there.

Those three devices are the same as were used on Eve and on the Lord Jesus Christ with vastly different outcomes. Let us do Eve first – {{Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”}} Lust of the flesh = tree was good for food. Lust of the eyes = a delight to the eyes. Pride of life = wanted the fruit to make one wise. Satan promised she would be like God, knowing good and evil. What Satan did not tell her was that she would know good and not have the ability to do good, and she would know evil and not have the power to resist evil.

The Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, a lonely place. Lust of the flesh – turn these stones into bread, which Jesus could have done because He was hungry but that meant surrender to Satan. Lust of the eyes – viewing all the kingdoms of the world to make Jesus desirous of owning it all, but He already did own everything, but in a moment of weakness a man can succumb to temptation especially when he has been through deep trial and hunger. Then the pride of life – throw yourself down from the heights. Everyone can notice me! See how clever I am!

In each temptation the answer was so instructive – THE WORD OF GOD. When the word abides in you, the Holy Spirit uses that word to overcome temptation, but if the word has been neglected, then Satan already has a foothold. When a man or woman is suffering injustice and battling these traumatic situations, he/she can be weakened, and if the bible does not hold top consideration, then additional distress could be likely because the demonic horde likes to take advantage.