The Enemy Part 3: The World Series

Living the Christian life in a world that is opposed to all things Christian is not easy. The morals and the values of a Christian living out their faith will stick out like a sore thumb. We are in a battle. Every day, every hour, every minute. As we had already studied:

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (all Bible quotes are from the NASB95)

Today, we will look at the battle we fight with the world around us. This world is ruled by the devil and appeals to our flesh, or rather to our sinful nature. Herein is the problem: Many Christians have been stuck with “Demas Syndrome.” What is the “Demas Syndrome?”

The Apostle Paul was in prison and in need of help. He writes in his final letter to Timothy (the last thing he wrote) at the end of his letter he appeals to Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:9–10a Make every effort to come to me soon; 10 for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica ...

Loving this present world is the Demas syndrome – and it will destroy our Christian witness, our Christian service, and our whole Christian life. What does the Bible say about loving this world?

1 John 2:15–17

The Huntington River Gorge, near Richmond, Vermont, is beautiful but deadly. In the last forty years, twenty persons (mostly young adults in their twenties and thirties) have lost their lives in the gorge. Hundreds of gorge swimmers have been injured. On the surface the water of the gorge looks calm and placid, but beneath it are strong currents that run swiftly over treacherous waterfalls and whirlpools. Public safety officials have designated the gorge “the single most deadly place in the state.” Warning signs have been posted on a side of the gorge, reading, “When the water is high due to rain or snowmelt, especially powerful currents can easily sweep you over the falls and trap you underneath the water.”. [1]

That is just like the world we live in. The attractions of the world entices us, appeals to our sinful nature, then pulls us underneath the surface, drags us along the rocks and destroys us. The Bible has placed warning signs, but with many Christians, the warnings go unheeded resulting, not in loss of salvation, but in loss of rewards, loss of our witness, and loss of our service to the Lord.

John is writing to believers. In the verses preceding our focal passage, John is addressing different people in the church, calling them children and fathers and young men, assuring them of things they already know. John warns them:

1 John 2:15a Do not love the world nor the things in the world.

Let’s stop and consider for a moment, who or what is the “world” in these verses. The word “World” in the Greek is “kosmos.” To the Greeks – this word means order, in the sense of human order, and also in the sense of order in the universe; Comic order. But biblically speaking and in Jewish though kosmos was looked at in terms of heaven and earth. The heavens is where God resides and the earth, or the world is the realm of human existence. "Komos" in the Bible, is always used in this sense – the realm of human existence. Komos/world is then used in several different senses in the Bible.

The Physical world – the planet earth.

Acts 17:24a God, who made the world and all things in it …

“Komos” also means Human-kind – mankind, the people in the world.

John 3:16a For God so loved the world …

But in context of our passage today, komos/world means the moral world – the people, culture, environment of the culture that is indifferent or opposed to God.

In the Bible, God is never spoken of as God or Lord of the “komos,” but rather as God or Lord of the heavens and earth, because the komos/world in in opposition to God. And 3 times in the gospel of John alone, Jesus plainly tell us it is this world that Satan rules. for example:

John 14:30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;

The question quickly becomes, are we part of the world that Satan rules? So John instructs us:

1 John 2:15 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.

The fact is, things in this world are opposed to God. This world competes for our love, and God alone wants our love. That last part of verse 15 says: “the love of the Father is not in him.” Does that mean our love for God or His love for us? We can either way with that. If we love the world then we do not love God, or if we love the world, then God’s love cannot be found in us. Either way, it is conditional – “if” we love something other than God, “then” our love for God or God’s love in us is missing.