What Did You Expect?
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Introduction
Introduction
The world hates us — Can we just start right there and just get this out of the way. There are a lot of people in the church now days who are trying to accommodate the world. A lot of people trying to “buddy up? to the world in order to be liked.
Vice President Mike Pence had a sobering message Saturday as he delivered a commencement address at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Pence warned graduating seniors of the Christian university that they needed to prepare for persecution from critics he described as “the secular left.” “Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs,” the vice president warned, according to the Washington Times. “So as you go about your daily life, just be ready.”
As an example, Pence pointed to a “bevy of Hollywood liberals” who’ve been waging a boycott effort against the state of Georgia, whose Republican governor, Brian Kemp, recently signed a strict pro-life “heartbeat” abortion bill into law.
“Throughout most of American history, it's been pretty easy to call yourself Christian,” Pence told the gathering, according to USA Today. “It didn’t even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible.” According to the Christian Post, Pence said his wife Karen was subjected to “harsh attacks by the media and the secular left” when she returned to teaching at a Christian elementary school earlier this year.
Pence warned graduating seniors of the Christian university that they needed to prepare for persecution from critics he described as “the secular left.”
According to the Christian Post, Pence said his wife Karen was subjected to “harsh attacks by the media and the secular left” when she returned to teaching at a Christian elementary school earlier this year.
“Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs,” the vice president warned, according to the Washington Times. “So as you go about your daily life, just be ready.”
The fact is that the world hated Jesus, we are His followers, and it is our highest goal to be like Him; like the very person the world hated the most and nailed to a cross.
If they nailed Jesus to a cross what do you think they are going to want to do to you the more you become like Jesus? They are going to hate you…they are going to want to slander you, make fun of you, destroy you, kill you. Some believers understand this better than others...
Some years ago, when Japan was taking over Korea, and was bitterly persecuting many of the leading Christians by carrying them off to Japanese jails, believers who were not arrested felt that by this very fact they were somehow lacking in their Christianity. A native Methodist pastor went to a missionary with the complaint: "Maksa, there must be something wrong in our Methodist church. I fear we are lacking in faith. There are thirty-seven Presbyterians in jail, and only one Methodist. I fear the Lord does not count us worthy to suffer persecution."
Did somebody tell you the Christian life was going to be easy, cost you nothing, be all love, joy and rainbows?
If the world likes you…if it likes your church…you should begin to seriously ask the question, “Why?”
The world may respond well to kindness and benevolence but they will never respond well to truth. They will never respond well to any authority championed above their own.
This is something we need to understand as believers in Christ. Jesus was so concerned we understand it that He went to great lengths to make it clear in some of His last conversations with His disciples on earth.
The Fall was all about man wanting to be his own god…to be the arbiter or final judge of what is true. When you come against that sin, the sin which led to the fall of mankind, you are going to see the kind of ugly that led to that fall. You are going to see the very worst of people.
You see there are two kinds of people in this world and they have opposing world views...
Jesus has chosen us out of the world — We have placed faith in Him and become born again. We no longer identify with Adam but Christ. We no longer find our spiritual heritage in Adam and his rebellion against God but in Christ and His work of reconciliation through the cross.
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
We were in Adam when he sinned. Our life was in him. When he sinned, we all sinned and were all condemned. But by faith many of us are made righteous…Our faith in the work of Jesus brings about an incredible exchange whereby we die to our old self and are made new. We are taken out of the body of Adam and put into Christ.
This leaves two kinds of people on earth…those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ Jesus. Those who are living as their own god and those who have placed faith in Jesus and life for Him. These two groups could not be more different from one another.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Look at this passage…by faith our life is wrapped up in Jesus…We
This does not mean we are at war with our fellow human beings. By now means!!! We simply stand in a different camp from them…opposed to their ideas…opposed to their way of looking at the world. But we love them.
Our war is against those spiritual forces of darkness which hold our fellow human beings hostage to sin. Those who would seek to blind their eyes and keep them separated from Christ.
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.
So we put on the armor of God, take up the weapons of our warfare and stand firm in our faith. Love our enemies and minister to those under the control of the spiritual forces of darkness.
And, in Jesus, we war against those spiritual forces in the heavenlies. Our heart breaks for our fellow human beings lost in darkness; we extend mercy, grace and kindness to them.
For we remember that were once just as they are now.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
We are not greater than Jesus…they persecuted Him and they will persecute us too. It is here and it is coming, it will always be a part of the experience of the Christian. We love those who persecute us and fight for them in the heavenly places.
Desire to Be Friendly
Desire to Be Friendly
So many “churches” today are simply focused on benevolence and say little or nothing of the gospel because the world loves benevolence…feed the hungry, build houses for the homeless, give money to the poor…these churches are looking to be accepted and liked by the people who reject the authority of Jesus over their life...so...they ignore the Gospel and the truth claims therein.
These are not a Christian churches but a secular ones. A place where another truth is taught…a truth which has nothing to do with Christ and Christianity. A truth where you are god and may do what is right in your own eyes…a secular, humanist organization whose is “We are our own god and the determiner of our own truth.”
The religious leaders of the day
These “churches” are in many instances either in danger of or have already gone over the side of the world. They are not a Christian church but a secular one. A place where another truth is taught…a truth which has nothing to do with Christ and Christianity. A truth where you are god and may do what is right in your own eyes…a secular, humanist organization whose is “We are our own god and the determiner of our own truth.”
There is always a danger as a church and as individual Christians of compromising the Gospel truth in order to be liked and accepted by those who have rejected it. But the price of doing so is death.
There is always a danger as a church and as individual Christians of compromising the Gospel truth in order to be liked and accepted by those who have rejected it. But the price of doing so is death.
We simply have to come to the place of understanding…the world either chooses to have faith and obey Christ or reject Him. Those who reject the word of Jesus are rejecting the truth about God and themselves…they will never have anything but enmity, war and conflict with those who follow Christ.
In 1965, the Evangelical Free Church of America had 43,851 members. In 2013, the membership was 372,321 , an increase of 749 percent. In 1965, the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod had 2,692,889 members. In 2012, the membership was 2,163,698, a decline of 20 percent. In 1965, the Southern Baptist Convention had 10,770,573 members. In 2013, the membership was 15,735,640, an increase of 46 percent.
In 1965, the CC(DoC) had 1,918,471 members. In 2012, the membership was 625,252, a decline of 67 percent.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus came to earth and spoke the truth. He did the work of the Father and revealed both our condition and the Father’s remedy for it.
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The call of Jesus is a call of sacrifice. It is a call to give your life for Christ. It is a call to warfare against darkness and love of your enemy. It is a call to lay it all down and follow Jesus.
In order to live out God’s plan for us in this way we have to accept the facts first…the lay of the land…the battle lines as they are actually drawn. The world is against our God…they are enslaved to sin and the powers of darkness.
In order to live out God’s plan for us in this way we have to accept the facts first…the lay of the land…the battle lines as they are actually drawn. The world is against our God…they are enslaved to sin and the powers of darkness.
Weapons of our warfare…
The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments;
we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.
And after you have proved your complete loyalty, we will be ready to punish any act of disloyalty.
The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments;
we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.
The word of our testimony and the blood of Christ are the means by which we overcome...fight the fight! The souls of men, women and children depend upon it!
“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
Are you in the right fight? Fighting the right battle? Are you fighting for a politician, political party or a list of preferences? Are you fighting on the side of Christ against spiritual forces of darkness which hold so many captive to sin?
Illustration: Captain America, “Avengers Assemble.” It is time for Christians to hear the same call of our Lord…He has called us to assemble…to have faith and fight for the souls of mankind…for that which matters for eternity.
Are you preparing for battle? Recently National Geographic ran an article about the Alaskan bull moose. The males of the species battle for dominance during the fall breeding season, literally going head-to-head with antlers crunching together as they collide. Often the antlers, their only weapon are broken. That ensures defeat. The heftiest moose, with the largest and strongest antlers, triumphs. Therefore, the battle fought in the fall is really won during the summer, when the moose eat continually. The one that consumes the best diet for growing antlers and gaining weight will be the heavyweight in the fight. Those that eat inadequately sport weaker antlers and less bulk. There is a lesson here for us. Spiritual battles await. Satan will choose a season to attack. Will we be victorious, or will we fall? Much depends on what we do now--before the wars begin. The bull-moose principle: Enduring faith, strength, and wisdom for trials are best developed before they're needed.
What did you expect this life to be when you accepted Christ? Roses and rainbows? It is a lot of great things…love, joy, hope and relationship with God through Christ…and it is sacrifice, war and tears for the souls of men, women and children.