The World

          Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:10-12)

          “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’” (John 15:18-25)

         You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

          Finally, in our list of relationships. Finally, changing the subject away from relationships and spiritual warfare. Generally, I suspect people think Paul’s changing the subject, and he is, but he’s not. He’s still talking about relationships, but they’re relationships with purely spiritual beings, not amphibious humans (as C.S. Lewis called us – created to live in both the physical and the spiritual realms.)

          And what Paul begins to make clear is what Jesus told His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. Folks, we are at war. I’ve read the end of the story, I know who wins, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t at war now.  It isn’t a war against people, though people are caught up in it on both sides. And, sorry to say, there are a lot of people who claim to be Christians who have been duped into believing that the world is their friend.

          Throughout history, the Church has been at its weakest when it moved closer to the world, and at its strongest when it turned its back on the world and its ways. And the world has been at its healthiest when it has moved closer to the Scriptural Church, even superficially.

          Paul tells us that this war, as I noted above, is not against people. It is against rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, and against spiritual forces of evil. It’s a spiritual battle. One thing this means is that the battlefield is first and foremost in you. And the enemy doesn’t have to kill you to win. In fact, if your enemies kill you while you resist, you win, because absence from the body is presence with God. Their goal is to separate you from God, and to you use to separate others from God. That means, if you’re friends with the world, if you accept, approve, or celebrate what is of the world, they have won. Friendship with the world is enmity against God. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much we are battered by the world, as long as we are not drawn away from God.

           Besides the battle being in us, what does the list of enemies tell us? It has suggested to me that quite often, the battles fought involve ideas, definitions, and thoughts. Think back to Satan’s temptation of Eve: “Did God really say?” No, you won’t die, in fact, it will make you like God. That’s what He’s afraid of. You’d think we’d learn, but scholars of the School of Higher Criticism still say, “Did God really say?” As an example, the Jesus Project’s scholars examined what we call “The Lord’s Prayer,” and have concluded that the only word of that prayer we can trust that Jesus said is “Father.” 

          The war we fight is one of rules, principles, and ideas. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the first of the pieces of armor that are available to use to defend ourselves.