{Evangelical Orthodoxy) 925 South Shamrock Avenue, Monrovia, California Bishop Dr. Wm. LaRue Dillard, Parish-shepherd/Soul-watcher Office (626)358-2136 * Fax (626) 303-2477 Email: sbcmon925@gmail.com www.sbcmonrovia.org
February 18, 2018
HOW DO CHRISTIANS SURVIVE IN A WORLD OF TEMPTATION? (I John 2:12-15)
Sons and Daughters in Light, God’s Grace to You!
C
hristians are guided by the Word of God in all things; God says: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15).
The word in Greek, cosmos is that organized system headed by Satan which leaves God out and is a rival to Him. Though God loves the world of mankind (John 3:16), saints are not to love the world at all, for it is that which organizes them against God (I John 5:19: John 3:19; James 1:27;4:4). One of the most difficult challenges for Christians is to live in the world without the world living in them. As we live in the world, how can we live in vital union with Christ Jesus and still please Him? How are Christians not to love the world? The whole world system (based as it is on a person’s desires, their greedy ambitions, and glamour of all that they think is splendid) is not derived from God, the Father at all, but from the world itself. God confronts us with the world---what it is in stark reality and how to live in it with Christian integrity. In the New Testament the term world has a profound moral implication. The world is any person, relationship, structure of society, circumstance or situation which has been unredeemed by God’s judgment and grace. As a spiritual kingdom of saints, we live in history and in the world. Our ultimate love and loyalty is to God. Then we can love the world creatively without needing either its accolades or affluence. When we love the world as God did in Jesus Christ, we are given marching orders to care for people and introduce them to life as it was meant to be in Christ and our perspective and ambition change. With people as the focus of our concern, we can do battle with the false values of society and anything which distorts and dehumanizes persons in their primary purpose to know and love God. Amen Until He Comes, I Am Serving Christ Joyfully,
Bishop Dr. Wm. La Rue Dillard Parish under-shepherd