Following up on yesterday’s post, I want to dive into the topic of “the world”–a phrase that Jesus uses often in opposition to “the Kingdom of God.” <\/p>\n
Jesus talks about Kingdom values and ethics–which typically center on repentance, obedience, love, humility, and service. And he contrasts those with worldly values and ethics–lust, greed, selfishness, pride, etc. <\/p>\n
This world and God’s Kingdom are opposing forces in the universe. To borrow from C.S. Lewis: “There is no neutral ground in
\nthe universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God
\nand counter-claimed by Satan”<\/b><\/p>\n
Clearly a cosmic and unseen battle rages around us, and that battle is fought between The Kingdom of God and “The World.” Now, to get more specific…<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Joe left this comment:<\/b> One minor point regarding “Most of us are not viewed well by the
\nworld…”: If the world hates us because we’re more corrupt and selfish
\nthan our non-Christian counterparts, then shame on us. But a radical
\nChrist follower will be hated, mocked, and ridiculed too — Jesus said
\nthis would be the case. <\/i><\/p>\nAnd my response: <\/b>We are not hated because we follow Christ, because we display His
\nradical love, or because we follow His teachings with the actions of our
\nlives. We are hated because we say we follow Christ, but do nothing to
\nshow that in our outward behaviors. Which, by the way, means that at our
\ncore we don’t believe it either. Actions are an expression of beliefs
\nand values that are internally held. Actions are not separate from
\nbelief. They are the barometer of what we believe.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nJesus does say the world will hate Him, and hate us. But I want to dig into the heart of what that really means. <\/p>\nOn the one hand, hundreds of thousands of Christians are martyred every year because of their faith. They are tortured and beaten and killed for the sake of Christ. That is pretty hateful stuff. And clearly this is “the world” hating the message of Christ–the Gospel. Those who perpetrate these hideous crimes draw that hate from depths of hell. Martyrdom and persecution is, I believe, what Jesus meant when he said to Peter that the church would prevail against the attacks from “the gates of hell.” <\/p>\n
On the other hand, we in the U.S. are hated not for our belief in Jesus–but because we fail to prove the belief with our actions. By my definition, this reaction from nonbelievers does not qualify as persecution. It is the response most humans have to someone whose words and actions are drastically misaligned. My post yesterday referred to this reaction from “the world,” which I meant in that context to specifically describe “nonbelievers.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
I am interested in your perception of what “the world” means? Do you feel “the world” is represents a system of beliefs and values that directly oppose God? Or, is “the world” just all non-believers? Or maybe something entirely different?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following up on yesterday’s post, I want to dive into the topic of “the world”–a phrase that Jesus uses often in opposition to “the Kingdom of God.” Jesus talks about Kingdom values and ethics–which typically center on repentance, obedience, love, humility, and service. And he contrasts those with worldly values and ethics–lust, greed, selfishness, pride,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,149,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-evangelical","category-kingdom-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\n
Jesus, Us, and "The World." - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/07\/jesus-us-and-the-world.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jesus, Us, and "The World." - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following up on yesterday’s post, I want to dive into the topic of “the world”–a phrase that Jesus uses often in opposition to “the Kingdom of God.” Jesus talks about Kingdom values and ethics–which typically center on repentance, obedience, love, humility, and service. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}