Tag Archives: 1 John 2:15-16

Culture Shock? You May Be Experiencing it Right NOW

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There is a conflict going on all around you, and you may not have even noticed. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV) If you’ve ever lived in another country where English is not spoken you may have gone through culture shock. Culture shock is NOT being shocked by stuff we see in another culture– it’s the emotional impact of assimilating into a foreign society.

Culture is related (obviously) to cult, which makes sense if you think about it. In any local environment, we all listen to the same news, wear the same fashions, and somewhat slavishly follow the same celebrities and customs. When we travel to another country and are plunked down into a different language and set of customs, something starts to happen…

Culture Shock

After a brief honeymoon period where everything is exciting and new, you begin to experience frustration and alienation. You can be particularly frustrated over your inability to express yourself and to have meaningful dialog with those around you.

Culture shock is like hitting an identity wall because you feel stunted and dense. You can’t explain some of the most elemental things you feel or think. It’s hard for you to share your opinions, your humor, or your feelings as effectively as you are used to doing. Your self-worth is challenged because almost all of the things you value about yourself are locked inside, hidden away unexpressed. Peter called believers sojourners and pilgrims on this earth (1 Peter 2:11), because we are aliens in a foreign land.

The Great Divide

Jesus said “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit”, and because of that irreconcilable tension, Christians are forced to live as spiritual beings in a culture driven by flesh and the values of the world. The world adores celebrities, the kind of people who project themselves out there by any means available, who say “Don’t you know who I am?”

You receive literally thousands of messages a day celebrating the shallow and the temporary, calling your attention away from things that are actually important. But Jesus called his followers to be sanctified, to be “as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves”, and to somehow live “IN the world without being OF the world”.

In or OF?

And at this we fail. Early and often. We compromise. In churches we withdraw into holy huddles. Some church-goers reduce the amazing Christian life wherein we are forgiven and reborn to a bunch of lame “do’s” and “don’ts”. We justify ourselves, we rationalize our mistakes, and we criticize all those OTHER sinners. Believers struggle at articulating what we really feel about being a follower of Christ in a world that doesn’t always care about that.

Have you ever had spiritual culture shock? Have you felt like a hypocrite? Found yourself frustrated over being unable to express love the way you know Jesus wants you to? Ever used the usual excuses: “I’m not a speaker/evangelist/professional? I don’t like being up front, that’s not my gift, I’d rather work behind the scenes, or I’m really nobody special, God will use gifted folks for that kind of stuff…”?

culture

Who’s Who?

Ever felt like the love of Christ within you is an amazing treasure locked inside of you, but you’re just not sure how to express it? Then there is GREAT NEWS! God never intended for YOU to be accountable for that. In fact, Paul says the opposite is true. God has placed His amazing love within you so that people see it and recognize that it’s not yours, but HIS. We are only “earthen vessels”, but Paul says there is more to us than that!

The TMZ world celebrates looks, money, achievement, power, and external things. It rewards those who push their way to the front of the culture. It is designed to make us all feel like we are missing something. Paul says that it is not the obvious outer stuff that makes us amazing. It is the hidden inner treasure.

Whose Are You?

While we place tremendous value in what we can SEE, the Lord apparently says there is also great value in what is NOT seen. There is a spiritual dimension to us that enables the very Spirit of God to uplift us, inspire us, and motivate us to be different than the world. It is not so much a matter of who we are. It is more a matter of WHOSE we are…

IYKYK

You don’t have to tweet a lot, or drive a fancy car;
And You don’t have to get tattoos or try to be bizarre;
You don’t have to play guitar, or have your name on a candy bar,
Or get too far in politics, or be a senator or a czar!
You don’t have to be too rich, or be a movie star;
You don’t have to get drunk, and impress friends at the bar;
It’s not celebrity, my friends, that actually takes you far:
It’s not just who knows you that counts, but more in WHOSE you ARE.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread

Love the Father, not The World. How Are We Doing on That?

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In John’s first epistle, he talks about the world where we live, and the Kingdom where God lives. He goes on to describe two very different kingdoms, with very different standards and agendas. Have you ever really stopped to think about what John really means? If there is a heavenly father, how is he different from the world? Are His values different from the world’s values? And what exactly does “the world” refer to?

(As you answer these questions, take a moment to congratulate yourself for reaching Day 70 of Reading through the Bible; just a few books to go and you will have read passages from Genesis to Revelation!)

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Perhaps because John had heard Jesus’ descriptions of the Kingdom of God firsthand, he had a strong opinion about it. In his eyes, the world we live in is very different from what our Father has planned for us.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:15-16, NIV) The conflict between what the world has to offer against God’s promises has been going on since Esau traded his birthright for a pot of stew. (Well, actually you could go back to the Garden of Eden, when Eve traded being God’s subject for independence. She wanted to experience the world in the worst way, and she succeeded!)

John sees a dramatic contrast between the Father and the world: they have different values, priorities, and characteristics. Perhaps we should take a closer look.

father love

The world, in John’s eyes, is made up of carnal appetites, earthly ambitions, and temporal values. It is a place where human nature pursues its lusts, and where men vie for wealth and power. The world is, candidly, a place where humans are concerned primarily with self-fulfillment. Worldly people and rulers pursue selfish goals and ambitions, whether it’s on a personal level, or is based on the pursuit of power. It’s what we see around us every day.

Contrasting Domains

On the other hand , John contrasts the world and its agenda with the Father. What are the Father’s characteristics? In his Gospel and in his letters, John spells them out. God is love. He is truth. The Father is goodness. He is life. The Father’s domain includes faith and redemption, hope and transformation… It is about servant leadership and new birth.

The world, on the other hand, is characterized by self: it includes all greedy desires, lust, appetite, pride, and self-sufficiency. The world caters to the flesh and the temporary. It is about building yourself up, and salving your insecurities with temporary fixes. As a result, the world is about grasping, power-hungry leaders, and even ordinary people who can be cruel and selfish. This world, says John, is about the sin that afflicts all of us. Therefore, it is about death.

John warns us not to love the world, but we do anyway. We abandon grace for gratification and accept lust in place of love. Have you ever stopped to realize that the world mimics the Father? For every good thing the Father offers, the world offers a counterfeit replacement that is either a watered-down version of the real thing or the opposite of it. It is one of Satan’s oldest strategies, and it works with every generation.

Conflicting Agendas

The Father offers humility; the world offers pride. The Father offers peace; the world offers thrills; the Father offers Truth. The world gives us relativism with its spin, half-truths, and outright lies. With the Father, it’s all about HIM; in the world, it’s all about ME. God’s kingdom is based on unusual logic, where you have to accept another’s will to be free, give to gain, die to live, and serve to lead.

The world is based on selfish logic, where freedom means doing whatever you want, people worship shallow possessions or money (it’s all about the Benjamins in the Lifestyles of the rich and famous), they look out for number One (“nice guys finish last”), and leaders covet and capture power using sophisticated deceit. It was John who informed us that “the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Now he’s telling us there is a simple choice to make: love the Word, or love the World. John says you can’t love both.

Tell me, what choice have you made? Look at your priorities, your time, your inner thoughts, your desires… what do you love? John says, “the world passes away, and the lust of it: but he that does the will of God abides forever.”

Love, Instead

The world is full of fun and flesh, and thrills that are forever fresh:
The biggest house, the latest styles, the nicest car, the biggest smiles…
The orbit of the world, you see, revolves around the planet “Me”–
Where consequence brings no regret, and I should take what I can get!
Eat and drink today! Get High! Because tomorrow we may die!
The Father says, “Love me instead.” Don’t give the world your heart or head;
Love me, my child; remember this: the world is never all there is.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread
For the Kindle Edition, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Bo-Jackson-ebook/dp/B01K5Z0NLA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-2&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread

Worldly Wisdom Only Yields Worldly Results. Is That Enough?

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More Than One System

Since the Three Wise Men are part of the story of Jesus’ birth, you have to ask, “why were they considered wise?” (Ok, maybe it’s just ME who has to ask…) Christmas cards say, “Wise men still seek him”, but it begs the question: why don’t all men the world considers wise seek Jesus? In fact, some of them don’t care a fig for the Christ or the season in which we celebrate him. Perhaps there are different kinds of wisdom?

It’s just about time to come up with your New Year’s Resolutions, so you should probably use wisdom to determine exactly what those resolutions should be.

Most people might aspire to being “worldly-wise”, a term I heard my grandmother use about someone who was well-traveled or cosmopolitan. The dictionary echoes that by saying that worldly means “experienced and sophisticated.” Paul saw it a different way: “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3, NIV)

These verses remind us of a couple of important things. First, Paul makes a distinction between being spiritual and being worldly. You see this often in the New Testament, because “the world” is selfish, sinful and proud, whereas God’s Spirit is loving, giving, and kind. In 1 John 2:15, John reminded us that “if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

worldly

All the Wealth in the World…

Stop and think for a moment: what is celebrated by the world? A short list includes wealth, athleticism. achievement, power, beauty, notoriety, and intelligence; I’m sure you could add a couple more. These things in themselves are certainly not bad, so why does Paul teach that being worldly is not good?

Jesus taught that there was a difference between the things of God and the things of the world. He said, “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.” (John 15:19) What things in your life are worldly? What percentage of your life is attached to the carnal or the temporary as opposed to the spiritual and eternal?

That’s a hard inventory to take, isn’t it? When you consider that 1 John 2:15 says, “Love not the world, or the things of the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Strong words about what we humans can get pretty wrapped up in…

So, Which Is It?

The first place we go is probably to all of our material stuff, but Paul characterizes worldliness here as more of an internal condition or an attitude. He says that people who live by the Spirit don’t have jealousy or become contentious with one another—both of which are driven by selfishness. What are you selfish about? What makes you feel “righteous” indignation? Those are both worldly reactions, and they happen with us all the time. When they bubble to the surface we should ask ourselves, “am I being led by the Spirit or by my own emotions and desires?”

Second, Paul reminds us here that living in the Spirit is a journey. Becoming spiritually mature doesn’t happen instantly. He compares spiritual growth to that of an infant, saying that he gave the Corinthians milk because they were not ready for solid food. What about you? How grown up are you spiritually? Are you still drinking milk and being spoon-fed, or are you ready for heartier fare? What intellectual food are you eating?

Well Balanced Meals

There’s a lot of junk food out there that won’t contribute to our growth. If we start as infants, then it’s important for us to mature spiritually, “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ!” (Ephesians 4:14-15). Eat wisely, not worldly. Grow well.

Out of This World

The world is full of traits and values that are celebrated;
To worldly folks, the spiritual life is somewhat over-rated.
A worldly man is known for being quite sophisticated
With appetites for carnal things that never quite get sated…
Paul told us that worldly folks still have a ways to go,
Advising that we should drink spiritual milk to help us grow;
That we henceforth be not children tossed by doctrine to and fro,
But grow up in the spiritual truth the Lord wants us to know.
Be aware of worldly things, and do not be deceived;
But grow in faith and love, and in the Spirit you received.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread