Love Not The World Part 4
Let us consider how the lyrics by Helen H. Lemmel measure up to scripture. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
Love Christ More and Turn Pretentious Speech into Spiritual Power
The question about Love Christ More that must be answered is more than what? The answer is more than anything. Nothing should compete with our love for God in Christ. This choice of Christ or the world is the meat of the problem every believer in Christ faces. The scriptural reality is that the problem is exposed throughout the Bible, and the answer is also given, and it's always the same. Let us consider a few passages.
"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
The scenario painted in the portion of scripture involves a church planter or evangelist determined to fulfill Christ's command to go into the world and make followers of Jesus Christ. Paul did not come with pretentious speech, which is the temptation for anyone depending upon themselves and their abilities. Such a temptation to pride is only enlarged by attending a University and following a special calling. Take an evangelist's eyes off Jesus as the source of his ministry, and I guarantee you, his speech will lose its power. By power, I do not mean human-centered oratory but a power that can only come from the Holy Spirit of God through a humble vessel.
The church planter who spends more time in prayer to see Jesus than in study will experience the Holy Spirit's power and avoid flirting with the world.
Love Christ More, Gain Faith's Approval and the World Loses its Luster
"And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect (Complete)" (Hebrews 11:39-40; emphasis added).
The context of these verses is Hebrews chapter 11 are men whom God chose to be His own, whom He made godly men of faith, and who endured all the resistance they received from an ungodly world. When the writer says they found approval, that means through the blood sacrifice offered on Calvary by the Son of God. They took God at His word and believed God loved them enough to find a way to forgive them for their sins.
When the writer says they did not receive what was promised, that means in this life. Each person did not receive the full benefits of being with God, their savior, and the reward of reigning with God in the promised kingdom to come on earth. When the author writes, "...so that apart from us they would not be made perfect or complete," he refers to the promised earthly kingdom. Case in point: when we do not receive what is promised here and now, we can feel cheated, resulting in our wanting what we can have now. Such a perspective can never lead to more of Christ and godliness but instead to worldliness.
Love Christ More and Avoid Sin's Entanglement by Fixing Your Eyes on Jesus
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3).
The witnesses in verse one are all those who lived before the cross. The warning is to run with endurance, which can only result in laying aside everything that will weigh us down so we cannot finish. We accomplish this divine goal by focusing our attention on Jesus Christ.
It is ALWAYS seeing Jesus Christ. He despised shame. What shame? Upon Him were laid all the sins of all those for whom He died. In eternity, the Son loved the Father to perfection; His whole being as God the Son was to please God the Father. On the cross, God the Father beheld His Son as if He committed all the sins; therefore, the Son received the punishment. That was the shame He despised!!! I challenge every born-again believer to behold the eternal Son of God from that vantage point and then desire this world more than desiring Him.
Love Christ More as an Empty Receptacle and Receive From Christ
"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude" (Colossians 2:67).
The admonition is to love Christ so much more than the world, so the world and its pleasure don't matter anymore. "...as you have received Christ..." refers to eternal life from Christ and all the characteristics of God Himself, such as holiness, purity, love, patience, self-control, and endurance. It is only possible to fill an empty cup from the bottom to the top. Only broken, sinful, hopeless, helpless, wretched, empty, and repentant sinners receive Christ—now walk in Christ the same way.
My closing question: Does loving Christ more as an empty receptacle and receiving from Christ such godliness that the world has lost all its hold depict you and the church you attend?
Isaiah 6:5; emphasis added
"Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined (silenced, destroyed, undone, ceased, cut off)! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
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