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Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:2; Rom. 12:2; Gal. 1:4; 1 John 2:15-17
In this chapter we will consider our dealing with the world. Ephesians 2:2 says, “In which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience.” To walk according to the age of this world has very much to do with the ruler of the authority of the air, that is, Satan. The world may be compared to a nation, and the ages are like the states; the world is a whole, and the ages of this world are the parts of the world.
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” Galatians 1:4 says, “Who gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us out of the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.” First John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever.” The world itself is opposed to God the Father, and the things of the world are opposed to the will of God.
The world as a whole is the satanic organized system, a systematized organization. Within this organization, this system, there are ages. The age is the part of the world we contact. Fifty years ago, women wore their hair long and high; that was according to that age. Today modern women wear their hair very short; this is another age. During the First World War, when I was about twelve years old, we would often talk about the armored tank, which was just invented. That was according to the age at that time. In the Second World War, however, other things became modern. This was another age. Therefore, the age is something modern. In Romans 12:2, to be fashioned according to this age simply means to be modernized. Galatians 1:4 tells us that the Lord died for our sins that He might rescue us not only from sins but out of the present evil age.
In order to deal with the world, we must first ask what the world is. It is difficult to give a proper, adequate definition of the world. Strictly speaking, in the first step of the fall of man there was no such problem as the world. There was only the problem of sin. The world in the sense we are speaking of was not created by God. Rather, it was invented by Satan at a certain point in human history. When Cain, the son of Adam, the second generation of the human race, was driven out of the presence of God, he lost God. It was then, in Genesis 4, that Cain and his descendants invented the first human civilization. Before that time there was no such thing on the earth.
For human beings to exist, we need to eat, drink, marry, protect ourselves, and have some kind of pleasure or amusement. Before the fall, when man was living before God, God was everything to man. God was like a parent who prepares everything and fully takes care of his children. He was the protection to safeguard man, and He Himself was man’s pleasure. When we have God, we have the real pleasure; there is no need for another kind of amusement. However, man fell in several steps. In the first step man fell into sin, and in the second step man fell into the world.
Adam fell into sin, and Cain, the second generation, fell further into the world. Because he was driven out of the presence of God, he was afraid that he would starve or be killed by others (Gen. 4:14). He was afraid that there would be no protection or safeguard for him. Moreover, because he sensed that he had lost God, he lost his pleasure and amusement. Therefore, among the descendants of Cain, one invented the way to produce food, one invented the way to amuse people with music, and one invented the way to protect himself with weapons (vv. 20-22). This became the first human civilization.
Even after all this time, human civilization is still for producing food, protecting ourselves, and amusing ourselves. Our economy is simply the means to maintain our living. In addition, we have the national defense for our safeguard and protection, and we have many amusements. Today America provides other nations with economic aid for food and with military aid for protection. Besides these, we also have amusements, such as going to the movies and the beach. If we take away economy, defense, and amusement from the world, there will be nothing left.
Food, protection, and pleasure are necessary for human existence and living, but because humans have lost God, they now care for their own living, protection, and amusement. Humans sense the need for these things, and without a doubt we do need them. The problem, however, is that the enemy of God, Satan, came in to take advantage of these needs to organize a system, a kosmos, which is the world. The world is a satanic system, an organization systematized by Satan. Satan has systematized all these needs and organized them in order to systematize people.
The world is that which is more than we need for our living. This brief definition is adequate. The enemy utilizes the needs of human life and adds something to them.
We may illustrate this with marriage. Marriage in itself is not something of the world. Rather, it is ordained by God for human existence. In all the Scriptures the best example of marriage is that of Isaac and Rebekah. In this case there was only a marriage and not a system of marriage. Isaac married Rebekah due to the need for human existence, but there was no system in that marriage. Today, however, there is a system of marriage. In China, for example, as part of the agreement of marriage, a woman may demand that fifty tables be prepared for the marriage feast in a large rented hall that can seat five hundred people. Then a veil and a long wedding gown to be borne by several small girls must be prepared. Moreover, one family may have to pay one thousand dollars, and the two families may bargain for a greater or lesser amount. Many times the families come to a deadlock until after two months they restart the arguing and bargaining. These are some of the terms and conditions of the marriage agreement. Isaac and Rebekah never talked about such matters. They simply were married without any system. Now we can see what the world is. Marriage is not the world; the system of marriage is the world. The enemy has utilized the necessity of marriage to create a certain kind of system, and many young people today, both in the West and in the East, have been systematized by marriage.
Eating is also necessary for us to live. Eating in itself is not sinful or worldly, but today a system has been added to eating. Many people prefer particular foods and drinks and certain places to eat. For some, a five-dollar meal is not good enough; their meals must cost over ten dollars. This is the system that is added to eating.
In principle, clothing is the same. A human must be clothed, which in itself is right, but today a great system has been added to clothing, and many people are systematized by it. In the Far East many women are bound by the matter of clothing. Day by day they know nothing but dressing. A woman may spend only twenty dollars for eating but five hundred or one thousand dollars for dressing. Without the system of clothing, many department stores would close.
In the same way, we need a house to live in, but a terrible system has been added to housing. In the West there is the western system, and in the East there is the eastern system. People have been very bound by the matter of housing. If someone is poor, he has nothing with which to be systematized; he is not rich enough to be systematized and bound. The richer someone is, however, the more he is bound. Many rich men have become bondservants to their house. If we ask people to serve the Lord, to have a Bible study, or to pray, they may say that they do not have the time. However, they have much time to be bondservants to their house. This is the system added to the necessities of human life.
If something that is necessary for our life — even our wife, husband, children, or parents — becomes more to us than God, it is the world. In order to exist as humans, we need to have parents, marry, have children, eat, and drink, but at a certain point all these necessities may become something more than the Lord to us; then they become the world. This is why the Lord told us to follow Him to the extent that we give up not only the surplus of the necessary things but also, at times, the necessary things themselves.
The world is something that possesses and usurps us. Man was made purposely as a vessel for God, so he must be possessed by God and used for God. But because we are used by something else, we are usurped. Anything that usurps us is the world. Even buying a Bible can be the world to us. It is possible that we are far off from God in this matter. We do not care about the will of God; we simply like collecting spiritual books, but even spiritual books can be the world to us. Anything other than God Himself that possesses and occupies us is the world.
We realize that sins are very bad, but we may not realize how serious it is that the world usurps us. To us, the world may be a more serious problem than sins. One young man may have committed some sins, but another young man is very occupied by certain good yet worldly things. Because the second young man never does sinful things, many people may admire and appreciate him. They may say that he is a fine and wonderful man. However, he may be one hundred percent usurped, occupied, and possessed by something other than God.
We Christians today often neglect many words of the Lord. We read the word of the Lord concerning forsaking the world, but we may give up nothing. It seems to some that to be a Christian is to be a happy, healthy person. They may never realize that to be a Christian we need to give up many things. The gospel preached in Christianity today is very different from that preached by the Lord. Today some preach the gospel by telling people that when they become a Christian, things will be very nice and happy. In this way the preachers simply fool people. However, the Lord never fooled us. When He preached the gospel, He told us clearly that in order to follow Him we must forsake everything and come and follow Him (Matt. 8:19-22; 19:21). What must we forsake? It is the things other than God Himself. However, it is regrettable that among Christians today there is very little forsaking and giving up.
The worldly matters differ from one person to another. Perhaps with one person a Bible is a necessity; it is something of God and not the world. However, with someone else it is entirely an item and habit of the world. To one mother her child is not the world, but to another mother her child may be the biggest world. This is because that child is everything to her. That child is number one in everything, and the Lord is number two.
A certain Christian mother and father had three sons. The mother loved the Lord very much, and she was very zealous in gospel preaching and other matters. However, one day she told the most clever of her three sons that he should study medical science. Then she told the second, less clever son that he should study commerce. To the least clever one she said, “I have offered you to the Lord. You must go study at a Bible institute.” In doing this, the mother proved herself to be very worldly. To her, all her sons were nothing but the world. If we would check ourselves in this light, from this point of view, we will find how much the world is with us.
To deal with the conscience and to deal with the world are two serious tests. Many Christians today are powerless because inwardly their conscience is full of offenses, and outwardly they have many worldly things. They are inwardly damaged in their conscience and outwardly usurped, possessed, and occupied by the world. How can such persons be powerful? Many Christians today talk about the baptism and outpouring of the Holy Spirit to be clothed with power from on high, but where is the power? If we would simply deal with our conscience and deal with and forsake the worldly things, we will have power. If we deal with our conscience and the world, there is no need to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps at the very moment that we deal with the last item of the old, worldly things, we will be clothed with power from on high. At that very moment the Holy Spirit will come upon us.
Before the day of Pentecost, the one hundred twenty believers were a group of people who gave up the world entirely. If Peter still went fishing, John still mended his nets, and the other Galileans did their jobs and took care of their worldly affairs by day and came together to pray in the evening, would the Holy Spirit have come down upon them? Because they were in the upper room with nothing of the world in their hands, the Holy Spirit was certain to come down upon them. We may appreciate the experience of the day of Pentecost, but we must pay the price that those one hundred twenty paid in their time. We appreciate the power from on high, but will we come up to the upper room? Our shortage in dealing with the world is a problem.
Many people are desirous to have power, but who will pay the price? Who will deal with the conscience, and who will deal with the world? Some may say that we need to have our living. That is right; we do need to have a living for our existence. However, we must still go to the Lord to be checked through thorough prayer, to “pray through.” If we go to the Lord to deal with the conscience within and the worldly things without, we will see what kind of Christians we are. We will see in how many things we need to be dealt with. We will realize that we have many things that are the world, things that are something other than the Lord Himself.
Two things simply put us to death: a conscience full of offenses within and the world, usurping, occupying, and possessing us without. We may not be cleansed from all the offenses in the conscience, and we may not be free from the bondage of the world. We may speak about the inner life and the outpouring of power, but as long as we do not deal with our conscience and the world, we will talk but remain the same for years. However, if we go to the Lord to deal with the conscience within and the world without, we will be powerful Christians. We will have an impact. This is not a matter of knowledge but a matter of dealing, a matter of paying the price.
There is a spiritual illness in our conscience; our conscience is not healthy. Moreover, there is something usurping, possessing, and occupying us all the time. We are not free; we are under the bondage of the world. Therefore, we need cleansing and purging in our conscience, and we need deliverance from the worldly things. There is a real battle here. The world is a strategic point to the enemy, and he does not want to give up this point. As long as the enemy can usurp us by the world, that is sufficient for him. Therefore, we must go to the Lord and pray.
I have seen many people speak in tongues, but I have not seen the real power. I have seen many people gain the so-called Pentecostal experiences for their own enjoyment, but I have not seen the real power. Where is the real power? As long as our conscience has not been purged, and as long as we have not been delivered from the world, no matter what kind of experiences we have, we will be powerless because we are damaged. We need cleansing, and we need deliverance. There is no need to speak in tongues. If we simply deal with our conscience and give up the world, we will see what kind of power we have. Then to speak in our own tongue is good enough; we will save many people for the Lord, and we will be powerful. Go and test this way.
Here we sense the need for real, prevailing prayer. We do not need more knowledge. What we need is something real and practical. This requires us to pray much concerning our dealing with the conscience and our dealing with the world.
