Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Living in Contrast

As I said Sunday, there is a stark contrast displayed in the bible that sets the stage for a life of tension to be lived by Christians in the last days. 2 Timothy 3:1-9 shows the self-absorbed, rebellious attitude of end-time earth dwellers and Titus 2 show the life of a believer. The believer is expected to live in this tension. But they are also encouraged that they can do it successfully. Today we look at the reality of end-time Christian existence and how we can successfully be different in this present world.

The Life of Contrast

2 Timothy 3:12 (NASB) 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Just for the record, I don't think "Rosie" is the anti-Christ! I just think she represents much of the mindset and heart that are spoken of in 2 Timothy 3. Paul wrote to Timothy and told him that a day would come when the majority of people would be selfish, greedy, proud arrogant, rebellious, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God. All of these attributes are referred to as "end-time", and would be evident inside and outside the church. Paul didn't say "brethren" would have these attributes, but "men", meaning in general "society". In fact, Paul goes on to say that if we desire to live a godly life we will be persecuted for it.

Now I don't now about you, but I don't really like the sounds of "being persecuted". Because we live in the times predicted by Paul, we don't want to do without or to sacrifice for our faith. But Paul said this would be our lot in life. Doesn't sound like a very effective recruiting method to me! It's almost as effective as Jesus saying "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me". That doesn't sound very appealing either! Not to the natural man. But Paul goes on to tell Timothy that the key to successfully navigating these perilous times lies in the Word. Paul told Timothy to know the Word, stand on the Word, live by the Word, and preach the Word. He also told Timothy that just as God had delivered Paul in every circumstance, He would deliver us if we would follow his advice.

To that end, the first and most important command that we need to "live by" is this: Love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength. Love God more than anything else in this world. Then, love your neighbor like you love yourself. This instruction from Christ will guard our hearts from the wickedness of the day in which we live and it will cause us to be different than the rest of the world.

For those who were interested, here's the link to the episode of "The View" when Rosie said that "Radical Christianity is much more of a threat to America than radical Islam".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIoDTzvEdGw

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