Put on Christ and Prepare to be Hated

Eighth Installment of the 1John study

I know that I typically use 2-4 verses per study, but I got so deep into this verse that posting more would have made this installment far too long. So, we're really going to sink our teeth into this one verse and explore some truths and concepts that branch out from it.

"Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1John 2:15

What we love and care about is made evident in the way we act and speak. If our lives are lived enjoying and promoting the things of the world (the lusts of the flesh) over the things of the Lord (the fruit of the Spirit) then we do not truly walk in Christ's love. It is impossible for us to be devoted Christians if we are devoted to the things of the world. If we are compulsive liars, we cannot love the Father because lies are not of God. If we are full of hatred, we cannot love the Father because hatred is not of God. (and so on and so forth.) If we live to gratify our flesh we are not able to live our lives to please the Lord. Let's look at some scripture to support this.

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Luke 4:13 Though this is speaking about money, the principle applies to every aspect of life. You cannot serve the Lord fully if your loyalties are split between Him and the world. It is an impossibility.

"For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:7-8. This text is in the middle of a passage about people who have faith one moment and are given over to doubt the next. If a person cannot decide between believing the Lord or doubting him...if a person cannot decide between living this way or living that way, all of his choices will be unbalanced. He will not be stable; rather he will blow about with the wind. And how can a man blown about by the wind be devoted to the Lord--or anything else for that matter? A person with split loyalties cannot appease or serve or be devoted to one thing or the other. Neither can a man with no loyalties, for he will do what gratifies him most in that moment. Both men are unstable in every action they take.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21 If we treasure the things of the world, we will be devoted to the world. But, if we treasure the things of the Lord, we will be devoted to the Lord. Another way of saying this is: "You will desire or long for the things to which you are devoted." A drug addict is devoted to feeding his addiction, therefore he longs for the drug. We, as Christians, ought to be so devoted to the Lord that we long for Him...for His presence to be continually in our lives.

"Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh." James 3:11-12. The water that naturally comes out of humanity is bitter--filled with all the sins of the world since the fall in the Garden. Only God's water is naturally sweet, and only the people that allow God to move through them are able to be fountains of fresh, sweet water.

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:18-19. This is evidence that the world hates the things of God. The world does not understand the Lord, therefore the world hates people who are of the Lord. And why? Because one is Spirit and the other is flesh. The two are diametrically opposed. They cannot peacefully exist in the same place. They will always strive and war against one another. If we are in Christ, living as we ought to live, the world will hate us because it hated Christ. But, if we live like the world we will come to despise the Lord (and those who love the Lord). Remember, we cannot please God and mammon. We cannot serve the Lord and simultaneously gratify our flesh. The two will fight until one side or the other is victorious.

"I say then: Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit aganist the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Gal 5:16-18

But how do we know if we are in the world or Christ? By our attitude. Human beings are as trees, bearing the fruit of their lives. As human trees we either bear good fruit or bad fruit. We bear either the works of the flesh (which is the bad fruit) or the fruit of the spirit (which is the good fruit). Galations 5:19-26 explains those two fruits to us.

Works of the Flesh: "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal 5:19-21

Fruit of the Spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." Gal 5:22-23

But how do we ensure that we produce the Fruit of the Spirit instead of the works of the flesh? The answer to that is in the verses following: And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." Gal 5:24-26

In Galations 2:20, Paul tells us "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." To walk in the Spirit is to crucify the flesh. To walk in the flesh is to crucify the Spirit. But if we put on Christ, put on the nature of Christ, then we are made like him and walk in his footsteps.

"And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts." Romans 13:11-14. So we see that the only way to escape the world and escape the things of the world is to put on Christ that we might take on His nature and bear the fruit of the Spirit. And the reason that Christ was able to walk on this earth untainted by its lust and sins is because He abided in the Father and loved the Father unconditionally. He was also completely submitted to the Father's will, and it was that love and submission that enabled Him to remain pure in the face of every temptation. (Heb 4:15)

So, let us crucify the flesh and put on Christ (who loved and was submitted to the Father) to escape the works of the flesh. But we must remember that in so doing, the world will grow to hate us because it hates what it does not understand, and it cannot understand the things of the Lord because the things of the Lord are contrary to the things of the world. However, if we choose to love the things of the world, we have chosen not to love the Father. And friends, that is a very scary place to be, because one day the Lord will judge those who rejected him...and that judgment will be far worse than hatred from folks who lack understanding. So, although the hatred is difficult to endure now, it is better to endure the temporary judgement of man than to endure the eternal judgment of God.

Put on Christ, friends, and prepare to be hated.