What to do in a Hostile World

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you 

from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, 

for the Son of man's sake.

Luke 6:22

The world loves its own.  What does that tell you?  We are living in a world that is openly hostile to true believers.   And yet it is our mission, as disciples of Jesus Christ to reach the world with the gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ. 

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his 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

Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.  1 John 3:13

Disciples; true followers of Jesus, will not co-sign on the world’s lifestyle.  There are some things we should absolutely not co-sign on with the world:

®     I don’t need a church, I can go to God for myself.

®     Backbiters

®     Being popular will not make you free.

Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.  Luke 6:26

The world believes we are self-righteous yet when we follow the lifestyle of the world, we are called hypocrites.  Are we guilty of doing the same things of the world?  You can’t talk against that which you yourself are doing.  There is no desire for the world to be like Christ.  If we are to win the world for Christ we must develop a way of being the church – being true and genuine disciples.  It is not enough to be saved alone.  God will hold us accountable for not being true disciples and witnesses.

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  Luke 14:23

Our lives cannot be contradictory to the word of God.  Because of the hypocrisy that has already been set, we have to come up with ways and means that our lifestyles are not contrary to the word of God.  Hypocrisy tears down the image of what God represents.

The very essence of God is love.  It should be an automatic that when we think God, we should think Love.  We cannot be holy without love.  God is love.  Believers don’t look down on anyone.   The world as a whole does not think love, but disciples should at all times because we are on display as representatives of God!

People, though they enjoy the preaching and singing, confess that the ‘church’ makes it too difficult to get to Jesus.  People cannot be made to feel that God is mad at us.  God hates the sin, not the soul.   

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.  Jeremiah 31:3

We have to have agape love of God – the love that covers a multitude of faults, love is without dissimulation,  love is without respect of person,    

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.  James 5:20

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.  1 Peter 4:8

Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Romans 12:9

But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.  James 2:9

We have put too much between man and God.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1

God wants us to come without blockage to Him.  God will teach us as we follow Him.  Man-made rules and regulations cause us to measure people from a self-righteous standpoint.  It is not for us to judge others; it is God who does the separation.  We have to use discernment when we approach people.  

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.  Matthew 25:44-46

We have to teach people the word, which is the love of God, before we teach them the don’ts.  Give people the word of God during their struggles and difficult times.  We have to teach God’s love before we present rules.  Dogmatism [inflexibility, strictness, rigidity, arrogance,] is not what saves them.  Rules cannot save them. 

How do you pull the addicts into the church?  The love of God is what will transform the lives of men and women through the transformation of your heart; if you let Him in.  Before God drew us in we were all slaves to sin, and if truth be told, some are still slaves to sinful habits.  We cannot present ourselves to others as if we are higher than we are; as if we never had a struggle or sin issue.

Dogmatism turns people away.   We ought to have a mindset that no one is going to be left behind; we have to have a love for souls.  We need to rid ourselves of all ungodly spirits in order to be able to help others.  Because of dogmatism, the world has concluded that it is too hard to give their lives to God.  Likewise, for the believer, it is not hard when your mind is made up.  God fills us with the Holy Ghost so that we can live this life and be an example for others.

However, We are dealing with people who have been suffering, hurting, burdened down and beat up by sin, wore out; so enslaved that they don’t know any other way.  Sin has become their lifestyle.  There is also church hurt that we cannot ignore.  In both instances, the proper response is never, ‘you should be over that by now?’  Every test is tailor-made by God for that individual.  We cannot rush out of it; we have to go through it the way God intends.

We, as disciples,  have to have more compassion. We cannot present ourselves to others as if  we are higher than we are.

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Ephesians 2:8

We must stop trying to make our self ‘higher’ than we are.  People that have been abused need love first, not rules and regulations.  We must show love, not just talk it.

All the principles of discipleship proclaim that when you become a disciple of Christ, there is a freedom that comes with it; a freedom from human rules and regulations.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1

There is no condemnation to those who walk in the spirit.  We acclimate the environment to us wherever we go.  We have to walk, talk, pray and declare with Godly power and authority.

A true disciple is free from burdens, worry, pressure, anxiety and torment – which shouldn’t exist in Christ.  

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

We are too caught up in giftings and callings and titles and prophecies and have forgotten what it means to be a disciple; a follower of Christ.  There is a protocol to discipleship.  We do not do whatever we want to do just because we know Jesus.  There is a lifestyle of freedom in following Jesus; a release from the hard yoke of sin, a yoke that the world has put around the neck of the lost.

When we give into our needs, know that your flesh is in control.  You have to denounce that desire.  We have watered down our faith.  We have to believe that God can change us and we can help others be changed through Jesus after we are changed.  Disciples help people change, help people emulate Jesus, help people get free because they are free. 

When you get released from the worldly system of how you are to succeed, you walk in the liberty that is found in Christ.  Our success is measured by how we follow Christ.  Choose to obey God rather than man.  Stop being swayed by the opinion of man.     

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.  Psalm 139:14

(Biblical Studies)

09/29/18
03/10/20

Excerpt taken from Word Enrichment

- Bishop Joel C. Lofton