SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/28/2016 8:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The World Rejects Those Who Are Not Part of It
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 15:18a-19
Message of the verses: “If the world hates you…If you were of the
world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
because of this the world hates you.”
The first
thing we need to do is understand the word “world” and in the Greek it is kosmos.
When I look up this word in my Greek/English dictionary from my Online
Bible program there are nine different items showing what this word means. I will choose just one as it is the one that
fits into what we are looking at from this verse: “6) the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of
men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.” There are other places where John uses this
word to reflect on this meaning that we have quoted (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11;
1 John 5:19; cf. Eph. 2:1-3). Satan is
behind this and because he hates God he also hates those who belong to
God. Satan is the one in control of this
world system but we must remember that he can only do what God allows him to do
and no more, but he can do much to harm those who belong to God and also to the
nation of Israel as was seen in the UN decision that was made against Israel
this past week.
When we go
back to the book of Genesis and look at the reason that Cain killed Able we can
understand why it is that the world hates believers. Cain brought the right sacrifice to the Lord
as it is believed that the Lord had told both brothers what to bring, yet Able
brought what he wanted to bring to please God which did not please God because
God told him to bring and animal sacrifice.
Able could not stand that Cain was doing right and as the world looks at
believes who are living a righteous life they do not like it and so there are
many who desire to destroy believers for this reason. This is the reason that the Jews killed
Christ because the Pharisees and also the other leading groups hated Christ
because He was perfect and would not do the things that they wanted Him to do,
things like keeping the Law in the way that they tried to do, but was against
the true Law of God, and so they hated Him.
Let us look at 1 John 3:2 “2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it
has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will
be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” Now as we go back to our story of the first
murder looking at the verse in 1 John 3:2 it helps us understand why Cain
killed Able “Cain…was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay Him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s
were righteous.” Proverbs 29:27 tells us
“he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked.” Now I want to look at Romans 1:32 “and
although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things
are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” This is the last verse in the first chapter
of Romans and Paul from verses 18-32 talks about the downfall of man, and if a
man follows these steps he will surely end up in hell. As he gets to this last verse he is saying
that not only do these men do the wrong things, things against the Lord, but
they give hearty approval to those who practice these things. The bottom line is that they all love evil
and hate good.
Now as
believers we live in the world but we are not to be a part of this world
system, we are to be different; we are to be living a life that pleases the
Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Paul charged the Philippians in Phil. 2:15 “so
that you will prove
yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world”
John
MacArthur writes “While worthy people hate those who follow Jesus Christ, they
love each other. Unbelievers are
comfortable with and supportive of other unbelievers. ‘If you were of the world,’ Jesus said, ‘the
world would love its own.’ The
conditional clauses in verse 18 (‘If the word hates you’) expresses a condition
assumed to be true. This conditional
clause, however, expresses a condition assumed to be false; the Lord’s
statement might be translated, ‘If you were of the world (and you are not)…’
Had the disciples been part of the world, they would have experienced the
imperfect love the world has for its own.
‘Love’ is the from phileco,
which referst to ‘natural affection and passion, and not [agapao], the high, intelligent, purposeful love of an ethical
state’ (R. C. H. Lenski, The
Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel.”
How is it
that true Christians are not a part of this world system as we have been
describing it? The reason is because
Jesus chose them ‘out of the world.” Now
we have going over this many times in our study of not only the gospel of John,
but also in other NT studies we have done, and although we in our finite minds
will never understand this, nevertheless the Bible teaches that God chooses
those for salvation, and when the Holy Spirit gives us the effectual call we
will always answer yes to it as that is a part of the miracle of the new birth.
John
MacArthur writes the following on this subject:
“The doctrine of election silences human pride. Paul reminded the Ephesians that God ‘chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and
blameless before Him…to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely
bestowed on us in the Beloved’ (Eph. 1:4, 6).
To the Romans he wrote, ‘Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by
faith apart from works of the Law’ (Rom. 3:27-28). In the next chapter he added, ‘If Abraham was
justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God’
(4:2).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The world can lure me, but what the world has
to offer is only temporary. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25
choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to
enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26
considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt; for he was looking to the reward (Hebrews 11:24-26).” I can say that the world has more to offer
Moses than it does me and yet Moses was looking for the reward, the city built
without hands that John writes about in Revelation.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: I was very upset when my
computer broke down and would not connect to the internet because it probably
has a virus. I was using my wife’s
computer to put my Spiritual Diaries onto the blog, but it seems to have a
virus too. God gave me a peace about
this as I realized that He is in control and so I will patiently wait until
both of them are fixed so I can continue doing what I believe the Lord wants me
to do.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “The heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).”
Today’s Bible question:
“What happened to Joseph when he refused to commit sin with his master’s
wife?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/28/2016 9:17 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment