Not of This World - Part 2

John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Continuing Pastor Obie’s message on being in the world, but not of this world, he presented 3 reasons why “the world” ( meaning the God-rejecting World System) hates Christians. (1) Because they do not know the Father. Jesus said in John 15:21, “they do not know Him who sent Me.” Many have a misinformed view of God or imagine a god in man’s image. A worldview is a framework in which society, cultures and individuals see God, life and reality through – the underlying beliefs that informs our over-aching actions. There are three dominant worldviews today: (a) Christianity/Creation – it is well documented that America was founded on the principles of Christianity, but is in steady decline due to the other two worldviews. (b) Scientific Naturalism – the belief that only that which is in the natural physical world that can be tested and proven through the scientific method exists.

(c) Post- modern Relativism – The new age movement where what’s “true” for you is true for you and what “true” for me is true for me; unless it’s Christianity, then that’s wrong. The “religiously unaffiliated” (adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”) is the growing worldview in America. The Cause: They do not know the true Creator God, their Maker and heavenly Father. The Affect: The increasingly secularization of America. Secular – meaning “pertaining to the present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to things not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly. The secular concerns of life respect making provision for the support of life, the preservation of health, the temporal prosperity of mankind, and governs the temporal affairs thereof.” But, if they come to know the true God and the goodness of God, seeing that God is good would change their mind. They hate because they do not know.

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

The second reason that the God-rejecting world system hates Christians is (2) because Jesus Christ is the light that exposes the darkness. The world does not like “the light” because it exposes their sins and unholy or unrighteous shortcomings in the eyes of God. Religion is mankind’s attempt to “get right” with God. Jesus’ purpose is to restore our relationship with God. Fallen mankind’s shortcomings do not “measure up” to God’s standard, absolute, objective truth of morality (called righteousness), and it may hurt to hear that when we fall short of that standard of righteousness in sin that separates us from God, but are necessary to hear for our correction, reconciliation and soul growth. To deny the light of God’s objective truth of morality (the quality of an action which renders it good; the conformity of an act to the divine law, or to the principles of rectitude. This conformity implies that the act must be performed by a free agent, and from a motive of obedience to the divine will. This is the strict theological and scriptural sense of morality) is darkness. Post-modernism is based on a self-defeating premise of moral relativism and no objective truth philosophy. Jesus said that there is a “wrong” an there is a “right”, exposing the dark way of thinking in the world. And "the world" hates it.

Let's continue Pastor Obie's message on being "in the world, but not of the world" in the next post.

In Christ, Brian