The Word or the World
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:14.
If you stand on the Word you do not stand in with the world. McLaren says, “The measure of our discord with the world is the measure of our accord with our Saviour.” Our Lord said the world hated Him and would hate us. “If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19).
“The world knoweth us not, because it knew him not” (I John 3:1). What has happened to all this today? The average church member courts the world’s favor and rejoices in being hail-fellow-well-met and shows off the world’s prizes and rewards. If to love the world is to be the enemy of God, we have some strange contradictions among us!
What some think is the world becoming more Christian is just Christians becoming more worldly. We can have the word or the world but not both. There is no concord between Christ and Belial. Read John 17; II Corinthians 6:14-7:1; James 4:4; I John 2:15-17. We are strangers here. Don’t make yourself at home.