Friendship with the World
Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Our World
We live in a society (world) that greatly influences us. Since we tend to become like those with whom we associate, it is easy to become “worldly” and become an enemy of God. Now I believe that being “worldly” in the passages above means that we are unconverted. That is we have never had our minds changed to agree with God where we disagree with Him. The carnal mind thinks the way a natural man would think and not the way a spiritual man would think. I know that carnal is used to mean immature in the passages in 1 Corinthians 3 but even there the carnal mind is thinking like an unconverted person would think. It is easy to fall into the trap of saying that society has changed and we as Christians must change with it. While it is true that our methods of teaching and evangelism can and must change to meet the needs of a changing world, the truths that we hold dear can never change.
What Kind of Commitment have we Made?
In the Old Testament we have a people that have just been redeemed from the bondage of Egypt. They had come to Mt. Sinai where God was going to establish a new covenant with them. He had already made promises to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But now He is making promises to this redeemed nation. This is what He says and this is their response:
Exodus 19:5-8 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.
ALL that the Lord has spoken we will do. But it didn’t take long to start thinking in a natural way or the way of person in the world would think. They were hungry so the Lord gave them manna, but they violated his command not to keep it until the morning. After all, what difference could that make? Then they violated his command not to gather manna on the Sabbath day. After all, what difference could that make? They complained about Moses and the lack of water and the lack of meat. And after they got into the Promised Land, they didn’t completely destroy the enemies of the Lord but spared some of them. As a result, they intermarried with them and started serving their gods. Did they do ALL that the Lord commanded them? I don’t think so.
The Greatest Enemy is often Religion
Sometimes the carnal mind is most evident in those who claim to worship God but have their minds made up as to who God is and as to how He wants to be worshiped. I could give example after example of how that plays out in the “so-called” church today. Even I have to wonder if I am really worshiping God the way He wants to be worshiped or am I being influenced by people who say they are saved but whose hearts are far from the Lord. I keep thinking about the Jewish religious leaders who cruelly crucified the Lord. The Lord was either who He claimed to be or He was mentally ill. Either way, He shouldn’t have been crucified. But He was! And it was the chief priests who led the rebellion against the Lord. So friendship with the world certainly includes the immoral world but it also includes the religious world. The religious world is a world that claims to be worshiping God but their god is the god of their choice. It is not the God who sent His son to Calvary. Religion is more concerned with controlling the behavior of others than it is concerned with controlling our own behavior.
My Prayer
My prayer is that I might be a follower Christ and not a follower of man. That I might think like He thought and have the compassion that He had and know the salvation that He provides. May I always have the desire to do ALL things that the Lord has spoken both morally and in ceremonial worship. Help me to rightly divide the word of truth. Help me to know what is Jewish and what is Christian. Help me to understand that what pleases the Lord will likely not please men. Help me to understand that what I may think is right is probably wrong and help me to change my mind where that becomes necessary (Isaiah 55: 6-9). Help me to be like Abraham, a friend of God. Let me never be His enemy.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of week of January 29, 2017