THIS WORLD IS A STRANGE PLACE. We live in the world, but we are not at home here. This analogy is a little worn, but it gives us a starting point for understanding what the world is, and our place in it. We will show why the world is like it is, and why it works against God and those who follow Him. We live in enemy territory, and we must be alert at all times for spiritual sniping and ambushes along the way. Spies are lurking behind every curtain and every bush, with full intention to harm us, demoralize us, and have us abandon our mission. We are targets for everything from subterfuge to outright assault, and we cannot hide. This is where we live, and we must learn what the dangers are, and how to survive them.
But this is a big subject. This writing is supposed to be a “blog”, which—I think—implies a short, pithy zinger with the aim of hitting a single point and then moving on. This particular writing, however, looks more like a topical study or an article than a blog, so if your eyes get weary reading from an electronic screen, I suggest you download and print this. There is no way to truncate this topic and do it any kind of justice. Soldier on.
William Wordsworth said it well in his well-known poem, “The World Is Too Much With Us”. The first four lines of his poem go like this:
“The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and Spending, we lay waste our powers;--
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon.”
The deeper meaning of this poem is for scholars to plumb, but on the surface we see certain notions that are worth noting. Here is what we see in this opening verse:
The world is imposing and powerful, overwhelming us as we live our lives out each day, and as we exert our energies for drives and goals that we understand very little, and from which we gain little. We strive to control and possess, but then what do we have? Nothing. There is nothing we can claim that is ours. Still, we surrender our hearts to the forces of the world, even though the only benefit we get is evil and ugliness.
SATAN RUNS THE WORLD. The world is not what it seems. It seems auspicious and promising, but it is actually destructive and disappointing. The reason for this is that the world is not the kingdom of God, at least not yet. For the present, the world belongs to the enemy, and that means Satan. Satan runs the world, as allowed by God, and it is his to administer and control. This makes life in the world precarious for believers who want to grow in grace and knowledge.
Some may object to the notion that the world belongs to Satan, but Scripture makes it clear that Satan owns the world. For starters, look at the temptation of Christ at the beginning of His earthly ministry, when Satan offered Him kingdoms on earth. Matt. 4:8 frames it this way: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me’.” Jesus, of course, countered with Scripture, thus blocking Satan’s temptation, but the point we want to see currently is that Satan offered kingdoms to Him. And Jesus did not respond by saying, “The kingdoms of the world are not yours to offer. These belong to God.” This is because God has temporarily relinquished these kingdoms to Satan for him to control...within limits. He has limited control of these kingdoms, yes, but they are his to dispose of pretty much as he pleases. He offered Jesus the world, because he CAN.
When Luke described the temptation of Christ, he added this quote from Satan: “I will give you [Christ] all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.” And he was correct, and fully within his limits to say this. He had the power to place kingdoms into the human hands of Jesus. To fully understand the reason for God’s giving Satan this power, read “The War Against God”, a chapter from my latest book, God’s Training Program for Believers: Preparation for Living. This chapter, beginning on page 55, describes what Satan is allowed to do on earth during human history, and why he is permitted to do it.
WE NEED PROTECTION FROM SATAN AND THE WORLD. The world is virtually a living organism, and its soul is the devil. His presence and influence permeate the world, because it is his kingdom of darkness. 1 John 5:19 says, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” This condition prompted Jesus to pray, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” It is because the world is Satan’s that we have to have protection from him while we are here. Christ’s kingdom, on the other hand, is not in the world, in a physical sense, although His kingdom is “within us” (Luke 17:21). In John 18:36, Jesus is quoted as saying, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” The world consists of kingdoms controlled by Satan.
We need protection in this world, because it is a hostile region. Most believers, without even knowing it, repeatedly surrender to the world. They operate from the world’s viewpoint, because they have not been trained to recognize it and counter it. 1 John 4:5 says, “They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” We understand clearly that unbelievers are “of the world”, and function exclusively in the viewpoint of the world. The surprising thing is that so many believers are right there with them. The greatest danger in associating with people in the world is that we will adopt their ideas, and with so few spiritual believers in the world, the dominant thought among Christians will easily become “worldly” in its perspective and outreach. Deception and evil will reach a critical mass, flooding Christendom with a tsunami of Satanic illusions.
WE MUST SEPARATE FROM THE IDEAS OF THE WORLD. This is why we must “separate” from the ideas and practices of the world. 2 Cor. 6:14-17 confirms this, as follows:
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you’.”
We must not integrate with the philosophies of the world, as they will undermine—and eventually destroy—our faith. God will hang on to us, but our backs will be turned to Him, if the world has its way by our espousing the world’s viewpoint. The world is a sham, a facade. It is not the “real world”...the true world exists in an eternal realm and is ruled by God. 1 John 2:17 says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” The world and its values embrace things that are temporary and fleeting, whereas God and His values incorporate the lasting and eternal. As believers, we should embrace eternal values, not temporal ones. And when we embrace eternal values, we will distinguish ourselves from the world.
WE DO NOT BELONG TO THE WORLD. We do not properly “belong” to the world, and therefore the world does not love us. John 15:19 says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” In our eternal position, we are “chosen out of the world”, but in our bodies, we are still “in the world”, and we must deal with the world’s disdain. John 15:18, preceding the passage just quoted, says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” The world will hate us because they “do not know the one who sent” Jesus Christ (John 15:21b).
We are not of this world, so the world hates us, as we see again in John 17:14: “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” A principle exists that the more we get into the word, the more we are hated. The more we get close to God and live by His Word, the more Satan will turn the fire up under the world’s hatred for us. 2 Tim. 3:12 offers corroboration for this view, saying, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” This is why we must “continue in what you have learned” (2 Tim. 3:14). We learn in order to prepare, and we prepare because we are targets.
Even family and friends can go after us, as they experience an unexplainable antipathy toward us. Being serious about your faith and digging into the deeper truths of God’s Word will have the effect of alienating family and friends, unless they are with you in your search for truth. This is painful, and part of the “persecution” we must endure, but the more we understand the world and our place in it, the more this condition makes sense to us. Luke 6:22-23 tells us that we should be “glad” that the world hates us, because we are set apart. Here is specifically what this verse says:
“Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.”
It is not pleasant to be hated and exorcised and insulted and rejected, and especially to be thought of as “evil” or “stupid” or “crazy” or “weird”. And those closest to us can hurt us the most, but that is what we will get from the world, if we decide to follow God...opposed by the devil and the world, and all the armies they bring against us.
WE ARE NOT FRIENDS OF THE WORLD. Because we are “set apart” from the world, we should “live apart” from the world. This does not mean we cannot associate with people in the world, because that would mean we could not live in the world at all, which is an absurdity (1 Cor. 5:10). We live in the world and must engage it, but not with our hearts, and this is where we get misled. We can be here without adopting the views of those around us. We can operate in the world without the stain of the world’s pervasive evil and lies. But such acuity and resistance comes only with great spirituality and maturity, so we can’t count on reaching this point by tomorrow morning. I suggest you read the chapter, “Our Spiritual Walk”, beginning on page 153 of God’s Training Program for Believers: Preparation for Living.
James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” Notice that there is choice involved in becoming friends of the world. Or perhaps this is better viewed as a process of becoming friends with God, and over time distancing ourselves from the world. This means we start out in the world and then choose to move toward God and away from the world. It begins with a single choice, followed by many choices to follow. The single choice is to accept the gift of salvation that God offers, which is done by believing in His Son. Then we must choose repeatedly, day after day, to seek more of God in our lives by growing and by accessing His power for living. By choosing to get closer to God, we will be concomitantly choosing to reject friendship with the world. This choice has a price, as we described in God’s Training Program for Believers (see pages 211-250), but what we get is well worth any cost.
WORLDLY PEOPLE CAN PROSPER. While we are living in the world, we will observe that “good things happen to bad people”. (We have seen in previous studies that “bad things happen to good people”.) The wicked may prosper in the world, even though their ultimate outcome will not be good. Eccl. 8:11-13 describe this as follows:
“When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.”
Good things may come to evil people (some among them are believers), but judgment awaits them at some point, in the form of eternal condemnation for unbelievers and divine discipline for believers. When we see people who are not living for God enjoying the privileges of prosperity, this can engender confusion, especially for true God-seekers. Ps. 73:2-28 describes what the psalmist saw as the condition of wicked people. He said they have no struggles, they are free from burdens, they are not plagued by human ills, and they drink waters in abundance. They are arrogant and unconcerned, and their lives seem easy and prosperous....carefree and often wealthy. Yet growing believers seem to be punished or tested at every turn. There is justice in the final outcome, however, for both unbelievers and “carnal” believers, and there is timely relief and comfort for spiritual believers. The key distinction between the outcome for spiritual believers and others is found, not in where they are, but in where they are headed. And this does not mean they will have to wait for “payday someday”, but that blessing can come to them while they are living on the earth.
In Ps. 37:1, David said, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.” When the tendency to observe and marvel at the prosperity of evil people manifests, we look to David, who proposed the correct treatment for this temptation: “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:2). The provision of what we want comes with growth and walking in God’s power...i.e., maturity and spirituality. Incidentally, our “wants” will change as we mature. What we receive as we mature is far greater that anything a wicked person could ever have...even if it cannot be measured in worldly or monetary terms. This is why we must “wait patiently” on the Lord (Ps. 37:7), for which we will eventually get “exaltation” (Ps. 37:34), and at that time, we will see the wicked “cut off” (also v. 34).
IT IS OUR NATURE TO LOVE THE WORLD. As we stated, we live in the world, but we should not adopt the world’s values. 1 John 2:15 admonishes, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Verse 16 adds this: “For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” Love for the world or anything in it is forbidden. But our sinful nature LOVES the world, and since this nature controls us most of the time, love for the world is persistent. That does not mean it cannot be overcome, as we shall see.
Notice the three connectors between the world and the sinful nature in verse 16: craving, lust, and pride. These are described as “everything in the world”, so this must include the exhaustive list of categories indicating all that the world has to offer. Craving involves wanting to enhance our personal environment with trappings and possessions. Lust is the longing for experiences that bring sensual pleasure to our bodies and positive stimulation to our emotions. Pride is faith in “self” (more on this later), which involves either the belief that I am the real master of my fate and destiny, or that I alone am capable of generating the character that God requires. These qualities found in the world are lies, designed to throw nets around us and keep us under the world’s control. And, most of the time, we surrender and go willingly with our captor.
Because our sinful nature operates so freely in the world, we have to move away from the practices of the world. When we embrace the world’s values, we move toward the world. When we embrace God’s Word, we move away from the world and toward God. We will not find God or true goodness in the world, because the world does not accept God. John 17:25 confirms this, saying, “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you....” Jesus revealed in this prayer that the world is clueless about the reality and centrality of God. And because the world does not know God, it is free to establish its own system for the conduct of mankind.
THE WORLD REJECTS GOD. 1 Cor. 1:21 carries further the idea that the world does not know God, and that it further blinds itself by creating its own explanations as to how things exist and work. This verse says, “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.” The world is satisfied with its own analysis of reality, truth, goodness, and beauty. And it soundly rejects the “foolishness” (tongue-in-cheek) of the gospel. Verse 20 discloses that real foolishness is seen in the world’s wisdom. Try telling this to people in the world; they have no ear for truth. If they did, they would believe in Christ and join us.
John quoted Jesus in the 14th chapter of his gospel, verse 17a, saying, “...the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.” Citizens of the world refuse to accept the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, because they cannot see Him, and therefore cannot “know” Him. John 1:10 repeats this concept, as follows: “He [Jesus Christ] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” The world has no eyes for God, including many believers who sustain the world’s viewpoint. Believers with the “world view” are part of the world.
RESISTING OR ADOPTING THE WORLD VIEW. The result of living by the world’s viewpoint (we will see this topic in more detail later in this study) is that unbelievers and carnal believers will follow the ways of the world, which will keep unbelievers frozen in their unbelief, and will bring believers down to the operational level of unbelievers. We will get more specific about the “ways” of the world as we proceed, but what we want to get at this point is that following the standards, routines, and principles of the world will have the effect of dragging believers down.
It is not impossible to resist the world’s influence...just very difficult. Maturity makes it easier. Eph. 2:1-2 says this:
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
Paul is crediting the Ephesians with a loyalty and attachment to divine principles for living, and is suggesting that they had reached a sufficient level of maturity to avoid the “ways of this world”, which they had once followed. The practices and standards of the world are hard to resist, because they are designed by the greatest genius ever created...Satan. And notice that Satan is the “ruler of the air”, meaning that anything existing in the atmosphere of the earth is ruled by him, and he is actively engaged...or “at work”...without sleep or a lunch break. His primary method of “working”, or pulling people into “worldly” practices, is making worldly activities or modes of thinking attractive, often irresistible.
Because the world is attractive, the tendency for those of us who live in it (that would be all of us) is to become “entangled” in the world’s viewpoint and methods. 2 Pet. 2:20 uses this very word...entangled...as we see here:
“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than at the beginning.”
The “worse off” part has to do with divine discipline for unconfessed sin, but that is not our focus here. What we want to highlight is the word “entangled”. The world appeals to the senses; and it feeds the mind with false ideas, passing them off as syllogistic reasoning, or the right to have fun, or the need to get ahead in life...fine-sounding pursuits and justifiable engagements, all...but all throwing ropes around the hearts of world occupants. This is where the chains of the world come to bind us, in our souls, so that even believers fall for addictions of all kinds, many of them not even seen as such. These are the believers (including most of them) who blindly plod ahead in a robotic pattern of complicity, exhibiting what has been sold as “normal” behavior...and the closer it is to the proverbial “norm”, the better. Anything in the world that excites or titillates or motivates can become an addiction, and everyone has at least one. These are also known as “areas of weakness”, which the world is happy to exploit. The world will entangle you, and you alone are helpless to prevent it.
The world will cause believers to stumble. We hardly see it coming, even though it comes every day. The objective of the world is to enslave us. Matt. 18:7a says, “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin!” The world is “woeful”, or condemned, because of the “things” it dangles to entice people to turn their backs on God. The world exudes a powerful gravity that constantly pulls and draws and drags us into sin (and, as we saw, legalism). We can’t be smug for one second, and think that just because we are believers, we “have it made”. Satan’s world is designed to take advantage of any let-down of our guard, and to drag us into a pattern of behavior that corresponds with our weaknesses. The world looks at our needs and promises to fulfill them, and when we accept this, which we do without even thinking, we are selling out to the cosmic system.
2 Tim. 3:2-4b describes the state of people who have surrendered to the world:
“People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to the parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God....”
THE WORLD IS HARD TO RESIST. These are conditions describing people in the world in the “last days”, which is NOW...the age of grace and the Holy Spirit, but also the age of the greatest Satanic campaign in history (so far), and a time when Satan’s world is overpowering and compelling. One example of a condition in these days is that people seek pleasure, rather than God. And the world delivers what is sought, because it has the products that pleasure-seekers want. These things come from the world, and 1 John 2:16, a verse we saw earlier, tells us what they include: “For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.”
The things of the world are harmful and wrong. John 16:8 tells us that the Holy Spirit shows the world that it is wrong. This verse says, “When he comes, he [the Holy Spirit] will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” The world is guilty...wrong. And because it is wrong...and aggressive...it is destructive. It urges us to join in with the rest of the world, and does so in ways that we are not naturally equipped to resist. In fact, we have a natural tendency to go along with the world, because we have a sinful NATURE! James 1:14 proves this, saying, “...but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” The first part of the next verse (v. 15) adds, “Then after the desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin....” So we join the world in its “guilt”, and become “wrong” right along with it. This is what the world will do to us...and what we do “in the world”.
When we think of “worldliness”, we may think of bar-hopping or cut-throat greed or blatant sexual promiscuity, but the world is actually much more subtle than that. We do not have to be decadent or corrupt to be participating in the world. All we have to do is USE it. When we use the world and all that is in it, we tend to rely on it. It is easy to become “engrossed” in the world when we rely on it at ground-level. In 1 Cor. 7:31, Paul said we should “use” the things of the world, but not be “engrossed” by them, as we see in the following: “...those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For the world in its present form is passing away.” The larger point that Paul is making is that we should not be attached to things in the world, including anything in the world. This is achieved by living as though the attachment did not exist. For example, those who “buy something” (1 Cor. 7:30) should know that it is not theirs forever, and they should be ready to pre-relinquish what they have acquired. This is true of all the things in the world that we use...we can be “owned” by them, or we can detach from them.
Summarizing this point: The tendency is for us to be “engrossed” by the things we use. When we use the things of the world, the world ATTACHES us to them. We must learn to avoid this attachment. “Things” can include jobs, money, friends, family, recreation, possessions, recognition, approbation, knowledge, and electronic devices. Anything that we value and use can become an attachment, and any attachment can become an idol, or a distraction from God. This is why, when we “use” things in the world, we tend to become “engrossed”, or controlled, by these things. Nothing in the world is truly safe and innocent, and everything in the world is designed to bring us down.
WE BELONG TO CHRIST. We face a serious choice. We can belong to Christ or we can belong to the world. John 8:23 shows this dichotomy, as follows: “But he continued, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world’.” We will choose whether we want to belong to Christ, or to the world. Unbelievers make this choice by believing in Christ (see v. 24). Believers make this choice by confessing their sins, praying, studying God’s Word, and enduring God’s training. When believers choose Christ in their lives, having already chosen Him for their eternity, they will commit to processes that lead to maturity and a walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, as God has prescribed in His Word. Failure to attend to maturity and spirituality is tantamount to default surrender to the world.
Rightfully, and in their eternal position, believers do not belong to the world. John 17:16 shows Jesus praying for the believers that He was leaving behind in the world, saying, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” We must remember that, in our eternal position before God, we have the righteousness of Christ forever, which is our hedge against condemnation. This means that we belong to God and not the world. On the other hand, in our temporal condition, we belong either to Christ or to the world, meaning that we are either IN or OUT OF fellowship.
PRIDE AND THE WORLD. One of the things that keeps our eyes on the things of the world, and off God, is our pride. As we stated earlier, pride is faith in “self”. This bridges over to a kind faith in the world and its resources, which then emerges as a belief in ourselves, an assumption that we can depend on ourselves (in the world) for the things we need and want. We see ourselves as capable of plotting our own course, having the ability to garner the resources needed for the “good life”. Even if we doubt ourselves, we seek to change and refine ourselves in ways that will enable us to rise up and surmount all deficiencies and limitations. But pride is bad. It is number one in the list of things that God detests, as per Prov. 6:16-17a, which says, “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes....” “Haughty eyes” is one way of saying, “a heart full of pride”. Prov. 16:5 adds, “The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.” God has no regard for pride.
Pride brings destruction, as per Deut. 8:10-20, which states clearly that we become complacent when our needs have been met, and we forget God when problems are light and few. It is easy, when we have achieved comfort or success, to survey what we have done, or what we have accumulated, and to see ourselves as the primary resource for our accomplishments. Verses 13-14a in Deut. 8 says, “...and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God...” Almost invariably, we assume that what we have is the product of own skillful hands, and did not come from God. Here’s the reality: Anytime we see good things in our lives, and ascribe our prowess and efforts as their producer, we are exercising pride. It is our nature to be proud, yet this sin will destroy us.
Pride is the most common of all sins promoted by Satan and the world. Since the world belongs to Satan, it makes sense that his own number one infraction...arrogance...would also be the sin he is most anxious to induce in humans, and he is able to use the world to do it. He persuades people to look to themselves for the development of their own happiness, meaning, success, satisfaction, security, and significance. There is no holy ground when it comes to Satan’s use or promotion of pride. It happens when we study the word, which works like this: If we do not understand the Word, it is because we did not believe the truth we heard (we like our ideas better), and Satan is standing by to snatch it away (Matt. 13:18).
Pride can also be in evidence, as we saw in Deuteronomy above, when we are blessed...since arrogance swells easily when good things come to us or happen. 1 Tim. 6:17 cautions against allowing prosperity to become a source for self-satisfaction and gloating. This verse says,
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
When God blesses us, we must recognize that He is the one Who has brought good things...they are not the result of our being cute or clever or talented. Blessings come because of God’s grace and God’s plan, and the second we start to identify boons and benefits as the fruits of our own labor, is the time when we will begin to lose what we have gained.
Pride may exalt us in the world, but not in the kingdom of righteousness. 1 Cor. 1:30 says this about the source of righteousness:
“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’.”
APART FROM GOD WE HAVE...AND ARE...NOTHING. Jesus Christ is the only reason we are cared for, both spiritually and in the world...and we are given full access to what He offers to help us live right. He is the one we acknowledge and honor for our being sustained in this life. We build ourselves up in the world with friends, possessions, positions, and so on, but what we have has no lasting value. We will say more about how short and meaningless our lives are apart from God, but for now we establish this immutable reality: WE OWN NOTHING! 1 Tim. 6:7 reports, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” And we can be content with what we are given for our use here, as we see in 1 Tim. 6:8, which says, “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”
We are nothing more than feeble, helpless men and women. Ps. 9:20 says, “Strike them with terror, O Lord; let the nations know they are but men.” We are mere men, and men are nothing! Hab. 2:6b states it well: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” There is an answer to this question, but no part of God’s recognition of man is based on the qualities of man himself. There is nothing about us that makes us worthy of God’s attention...it is all based on God’s plan, framed by God’s grace. Ps. 39:6 says, “Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.” Are we starting to get the picture that our pride is misplaced, and that we are nothing? That is the true assessment of man...nothing.
SUCCESS IN THE WORLD. There are two categories of races and contests in which man can be engaged: one is produced and staged by the world, and the other takes place in the spiritual realm. Eccl. 9:11a tells us that spiritual contests are not won in the same way as they are in the world. This verse gives us the following: “The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned...” The world’s contests require quickness, strength, money, personality, brains, skill, and luck. God’s contests require faith. 2 Tim. 4:7 says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Keeping faith strong is the key to winning the spiritual race. As we have suggested in this writing and in all previous writings, this race is won by staying clean through confession, praying, studying, trusting, and persevering through all aspects of God’s training program. These don’t work “in the world”, but they will advance us spiritually.
A lot of corruption in the world seems to revolve around money. Heb. 13:5a commands, “Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have...” Prov. 23:4-5 adds the following:
“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”
The world talks a lot about goal-setting and keeping your eyes on the prize and becoming “winners”. Unbelievers and carnal believers buy this and join the clamor for fame and fortune, without realizing how empty this pursuit can be. We are talking about FOCUS here...preoccupation. We are citing what we think about all day long. It is perfectly legitimate to conduct honest business affairs and to acquire funds to operate and enjoy life. It is NOT acceptable for believers to be consumed with money—and its possessions and privileges—and thus to leave God behind. This is the draw of the world, the place where the world gets us into trouble...even whole churches. There is an inexorable seduction surrounding money and all it buys, and worldly Christians succumb to its undertow willingly and blindly. One-up-man-ship is so rampant we have come to see Madison Avenue solicitations as absolute truth, and Wall Street as our temple. Once again, there is legitimacy in participation in these arenas...until our perspective becomes distorted, and our line-of-sight shifts away from God...to the world. To be mesmerized by money is—in effect—to be bowing in adoration before Satan. When money captures you, you become a slave of Satan and the world.
Acquiring large sums of money can be a trial for believers...a time of testing. Very few believers are able to get money and maintain spiritual commitment. Most see money as an automatically-good thing, and this naivety can work to their undoing, as it is almost impossible not to over-value its worth and benefit. 1 Tim. 6:9-10 says this:
“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Don’t ignore this warning. If you are a believer and your focus is on getting rich, then you are headed for disappointment and disillusionment...even if for a time it seems that money has solved all your problems. This is the trap...preoccupation with riches can cause many more problems than it solves, plunging many believers into “ruin and destruction”, even though they seem to be successful. This is what the Bible says. Believe it.
GOD EXALTS THE HUMBLE; RICHES MEAN NOTHING. Contrary to the world view, God chooses inconsequential people and things to bring down evil and the machinations of the cosmic system. 1 Cor. 1:26-29 clarifies this for us in the following:
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
Notice the descriptors used in this passage for the world system and its values: “human standards”, “influential”, “noble birth”, and “wise” (worldly wisdom). These are labels for things valued in the world...this set belongs to the world and not to God. His values are different, and it is His values that we want to understand and embrace. This is where the maturing believer is headed: toward the truth of what is real, what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful. Man’s view will lead us into idealism, realism, experimentalism, existentialism, and a myriad of other philosophies; God’s view will lead us into truth. And his truth values spiritual and eternal realities, not worldly riches and holdings.
James 2:5-7 gives the right perspective, saying this:
“Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?”
This warning is against those, including many church parishioners, sometimes entire churches, who extol riches and honor rich people, and virtually ignore the invisible heroes who are quietly advancing the cause of Christ. It is the “scum of the earth” that God will lift up, meaning those whose values favor Him, rather than the world. James 4:5 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” 1 Cor. 4:13 adds, “...when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.” To the world, we are garbage. There is no way around this. If we are living in God’s system, rather than the world’s, we will be seen in the world as worthless. But if we stand before God as what we really are...nothing...He will lift us up at the right time. This “lifting” may not include the world’s riches (although it may), but we will enjoy lives that are “rich in faith”, the beautiful outcome of which cannot be imagined. We will find the “life that is truly life” (1 Tim. 6:19).
As for those who embrace the world’s system, including believers, Prov. 24:19 tells us that they will be disappointed. This verse says, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.” This is the greatest danger for believers, and a typical deception coming from Satan’s world: that there is happiness in wealth, and that those with money and privilege have found “the good life”. Because of this misconception, it is important for growing believers to look away from what the world avails, and look more closely at what God offers.
PEACE IN THE WORLD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. John 14:27 gives a quote from Jesus, who said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” “Peace”, as we have described thoroughly in previous studies, is a sign of fellowship with God, which involves our being cleansed by having all our sins confessed. When a believer is in fellowship with God, he or she is fully “reconciled” with God, which is the actual meaning of the word “peace”. This is what Christ left...communion with our heavenly Father. This, we are reminded, has a dual application, in that we are saved (forever), but also that we have the communion of fellowship (intermittently). As believers, our goal is to remain in fellowship, because that is where we can live in harmony with the Holy Spirit, so He can empower us for true (divine) good in the world. The world cannot offer this. With the world, what you see is what you get. Oddly, it’s what we don’t see that is truly valuable to us.
GOD IS POWERFUL AND HE CONTROLS OUTCOMES. All things that occur are part of God’s plan (though not necessarily his will). We have free will and God works around our choices. Then there is another condition which He allows which He must work around, which is this: The world is Satan’s, wherein he has great power to control whatever happens within its systems. God masterfully works around this, too, according to His purposes. Where God’s ultimate and sovereign power comes in is in His PROVIDING OUTCOMES. Outcomes comprise God’s plan. He works all things, good or bad, toward specific objectives and results, both temporally and eternally.
God supersedes and surpasses all other realities, because He MADE it all, and HE DETERMINES THE OUTCOME for everything. This takes a BIG God, which is something we tend to ignore. Most believers acknowledge God’s existence, and see Him as an incidental convenience to be referenced on an as-needed basis. The God Who plans ALL deserves ALL our attention.
Ps. 86:10, along with many other verses throughout the Bible, tell us that God is not small, or some minor force. He is great! This verse says, “For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.” Job 26:14 shows the degree to which our view of God is understated. This verse declares, “And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who than can understand the thunder of his power?” God is big!
WHAT GOD OFFERS IS GOOD. In distinguishing our view of God from our view of the world, we see also that what God gives is good, and what the world offers is bad (or turns out that way). Our best care below...comes from above. For more on this, we turn to Job, as we continue to explore the evidence that what God gives is good, and that what the world offers is not. The outcome for what we get from the world is seen in Job 27:13-23, which we will quote in its entirety to get its full effect, as follows:
“Here is the fate God allots to the wicked, the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty: However many his children, their fate is the sword; his offspring will never have enough to eat. The plague will bury those who survive him, and their widows will not weep for them. Though he heaps up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay, what he lays up the righteous will wear, and the innocent will divide his silver. The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut made by a watchman. He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone. Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest snatches him away in the night. The east wind carries him off, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power. It claps its hands in derision and hisses him out of his place.”
Pretty convincing. The “wicked” include all who embrace and engage the cosmic system, but the outcomes seen in this passage seem to apply mostly to believers who draw life from the world, rather than God; they are under the judgment of divine discipline. When they choose the world, they accept the consequences it brings. But all any BELIEVER needs is WHAT GOD GIVES. Acts 17:24-25 says this:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”
Everything good comes from God. This is confirmed in James 1:16-17a, which says, “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father...” The really good stuff comes only from God. And it goes to those who “love God”, as per James 1:12. Believers who “love God” are those who are in fellowship, who walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, and whose faith is growing. And it comes from God alone...not from the world.
JESUS OVERCOMES THE WORLD. The good news is that Jesus has overcome the world. In John 16:33, Jesus is reported as saying, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Take heart, but don’t celebrate just yet. Christ is encouraging us with the announcement that He has triumphed over the world, but He is also telling us that, as long as we are still in the world, we will have trouble. We have trouble because of Satan and the world, and also because our training requires that we endure hardship. Perseverance in suffering will strengthen us, and enable us to demonstrate God’s goodness to men and to angels. (For more on this, see God’s Training Program, the chapter titled, “The War Against God”.)
We access God’s goodness and His rich provisions by using the methods He gives us for accessing His grace and power. Instead of frantically vying for more goods and services offered by the world, we search for God’s superior gifts. We want to LIVE in the victory that is already won. This victory is, first of all, for believers only. 1 John 5:5 says, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” By believing that Jesus is the Son of God, we become born again and saved. This qualifies us then to receive—through growth and following God’s ways for living—the resources for dealing with the world.
Jesus said, as shown in John 12:46, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” When we, as believers, “stay in darkness”, or operate “out of fellowship”, we will not be where Christ intended, and we will not participate in the victory that He has won. Our victory over the world begins with salvation, and then continues by our staying in fellowship through the confession of our sins. This is followed, as we have said many times, by prayer, Bible study, and so on. We must be clear as to our main point: Victory over the world NOW, in life, is not automatic. We have to access grace resources and follow grace methods to claim this victory.
THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD VS THE HOLY SPIRIT. There is a “spirit” in the world, consisting of the spiritual powers of Satan, greeted and welcomed by the nature of human beings. This “spirit”, allied with sinful natures, is in opposition to the Holy Spirit, Who indwells all believers. “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Cor. 2:12). A lot of truth is given here. This verse tells us that we have received the Holy Spirit, Who helps us know the truth about our Provider, and informs us that God is the giver of all good things, beginning with salvation and then continuing beyond. We have not received the spirit of the world...it does not indwell us...but the world and its spiritual underwriter Satan do not go away, just because the Holy Spirit comes to reside within us. They remain all around us. We have to live in the world, as we said before, and we will do this successfully to the degree that the indwelling Spirit controls us, enabling us to counter the spirit of the world. And the Holy Spirit will control us only when we have been cleansed and are “walking in the Spirit”, which—in essence—is “walking by faith”. And we will walk by faith increasingly as we grow. See how this works? It’s all part of God’s plan.
DEALING WITH THE WORLD. When we are “righteous” or cleansed, as per 1 John 1:9, then God will deliver us from the world and Satan. A good example for this is given in 2 Pet. 2:5, which says, “...if he [God] did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah...” A second example is seen in 2 Pet. 2:6-8, where Lot, a “righteous man” (v. 7), was “rescued” (also v. 7), when Sodom and Gomorrah were “burned to ashes” (v. 6). The principle for deliverance of the righteous is seen throughout Scripture, and here in particular, in verse 9 of 1 Pet. 2, which sums up the reason Noah and Lot were spared. This verse says, “...if this is so [that God rescued Noah and Lot], then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials...” The clear suggestion is that a righteous man will be rescued from disaster...based on God’s will and directed toward the absolutely best thing for such a man. Remember this: A righteous man is one who is clean before his God.
So righteousness is one way to avert troubles from the world and Satan. Another way is to acquire wisdom (often referred to as knowledge) from the Word. 2 Pet. 1:3-4 says this:
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
This passage is telling us that the way to escape the nefarious influence of the world, and avoid the suffering it brings, is through knowledge of God. When we know about Him and focus our attention on Him, the power of the world over our consciousness is reduced, and its influence is diminished. Escape comes through knowledge.
Knowledge suggests maturity. Until we are well underway toward growth, we will not be able to resist the world. Gal. 4:3 tells us, “So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.” An application of this verse is that “baby Christians” are unable to resist the world. Philosophies, practices, cultures, traditions, and customs bombard unprepared individuals, demanding conformity and complicity. “You must be normal, you freak!” So the world uses everything at its disposal to impose its views on believers, because they are potential resistors of the standard world viewpoint.
The only way to avoid being swept off our feet by the forces of the world is to have our hearts prepared...our minds renewed. Rom. 12:2a says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” By learning Scripture, we can understand the techniques and methods that God makes available to enable us to withstand the lure of the world and the attacks of the devil. We will know how to fulfill Col. 3:2, which says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” And then we will satisfy the requirements of Col. 3:15-17, which gives us the following:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
This passage calls on us to do these things:
When we learn the Word in fellowship, and grow through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, the word will “dwell in us richly” and we can accumulate spiritual resources that fortify us against the world. Learning the Word, then, is central, since we cannot do what we don’t know HOW to do! The world is standing by to prevent this, as we see in Luke 8:14, which says, “The seed [teaching of truth] that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.” Preoccupation with the world and its “party” prevents truth from processing into our hearts. This confines what we learn to the level of “knowledge”, preventing it from processing into our hearts as “understanding” and “wisdom”. When we study the Word, we must believe it and cherish it for it to be digested and become part of our spiritual make-up. Then we can move toward maturity.
The Word is taught to people with hearts that yearn for it, and to those whose sins are “cleansed”, thus placing them in fellowship. Eccl. 2:26 says, “To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness...” God is pleased with believers who are walking in the Spirit and maturing. These are the ones who are getting greater understanding of God’s methods and doing things God’s way. These are the ones to whom Jesus was saying, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (Luke 8: 18). We must listen, and listen carefully, so that we can learn more, which opens the way to learning much more. This is what the world wants to prevent.
As we grow, faith increases, and the victory that is ours for all eternity is realized in our earthly lives. 1 John 5:4 tells us, “...for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” The application, of course, is that only the saved will participate in the ultimate victory over Satan and the world. But there is another application that must not be missed. The book of 1 John deals with fellowship as the way to erase past sins, and as the way to strengthen oneself against future sins. (For a full discussion on the application of 1 John regarding the walk of believers, see Bible Basics on Living by God’s Standards, Pathway to Righteousness, “Fellowship in John’s First Epistle”, beginning on page 59). Believers who are “born of God” are not only those who are “born again” at salvation, but those who are “spiritually alive” through the filling and control of the Holy Spirit. Only believers who are alive can share in the victory. In other words, the only way to beat the world is to play with the team that’s winning. This involves more than just being saved; we must also be serious about our spiritual walk. If we aren’t, we will remain “losers”, even though we are ultimately “winners” in eternity.
BEING DEAD TO THE WORLD. In Gal. 6:14, we see another dual application, which tells us that we are dead to the world, and the world to us. Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The extended outlook for the world is its demise, but it is currently very much alive and active. The secondary application of this verse is that we can be dead to the world and the world to us, if we are OPERATING in God’s arena, rather than the world’s. If we are serving the world and our flesh, then the world is alive to us, and we are very much alive to the world. Please understand that resistance to the world does not come through self-effort, but through engaging the mechanics for spirituality and growth. For a full picture on this, read the blog (article), “Stop Trying”, posted just prior to this one.
Since we “died” to the world, and its evil—in our position—we must also die to it in our condition. When we follow the principles of the world, including trying to keep all the rules of the “law”, we will fail. Col. 2:20 asks this question: “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules...” In context, Paul is equating the rules of the world with the keeping of the Old Testament law, and is asking the Colossians why they are submitting to it. It’s all one package: evil and legalism. These are the chains of slavery binding us to the world. Reminder: When we are alive to the world, through sin or legalism, we are serving Satan and the world, and are standing as enemies of God.
THE WORLD AMOUNTS TO NOTHING, AS ILLUSTRATED BY SOLOMON. One of the best illustrations in Scripture for the undermining influence of the world, and the weakness of human nature, is found in the life of Solomon. Solomon, author of Proverbs, acclaimed as the wisest man that ever lived, was an absolute failure. He spent the bulk of his life serving the world, and participated in every aspect of the world’s success and pleasure. He is the perfect example of how a born-again believer can participate in every evil and wrong activity and fully adopt and live by the viewpoint of the world. (For an extended discussion on the life of Solomon, see God’s Training Program for Believers: Preparation for Living, “The World”, pp. 103-106.)
Eccl. 2:10-11 summarizes Solomon’s life in the world, as follows:
“I denied myself nothing myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achiever, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the win; nothing was gained under the sun.”
By the time we finish our discussion of Solomon’s life, you will see the parts of his life that contributed to his conclusion that life is “meaningless, a chasing after the wind”. Solomon accessed and acquired and experienced everything the world had to offer, yet concluded, over and over, that it is all “meaningless”. In Eccl. 1:2, Solomon introduces his story by describing experience in the world as being completely devoid of meaning. “’Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless’.” Nothing in the world has meaning, according to Solomon. And his story makes this crystal clear.
A quote from the book cited above gives us a good idea as to what happened in Solomon’s life, as we see in the following:
“Solomon had wisdom, pleasure, wealth, sex, exceptional achievement, romantic love, friendships, possessions, looks, education, power, fame, and intellectual stimulation. But he spent 35 to 40 years out of fellowship, during which time he relied on assets in Satan’s world to satisfy himself. These things, however, brought him no joy, and he came to see it all as meaningless...or “vanity”. Ecclesiastes is an account of Solomon’s failure to achieve happiness in the cosmic system. He drew from the world all that it offers, but did not receive and experience what the world promised. He relied on the world for provision and forgot all about God and His superior provision, because his faith was directed toward a meaningless world.” (God’s Training Program, p. 103)
All of Solomon’s efforts represented “chasing after the wind”, and proved that there is nothing to be gained “under the sun”, as we saw in Eccl. 2:11. It is pointless to chase after the wind, and everything under the sun (as opposed to “above the sun”, or within God’s domain) is meaningless. Solomon found no meaning in the world until he had exhausted its resources for providing meaning, happiness, and peace. It was not until then that he realized that the world can offer nothing good, and that everything truly worthwhile comes from God. Solomon’s response at the conclusion of his experience in the world is startling, as we see in Eccl. 2:17: “So I hated my life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” The ways of the world lead to grief and misery, and the end result is “hating one’s own life”, as Solomon did. This outcome can be contrasted with that of Paul in Phil. 4:11b, where he said, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Solomon was relying on the world; Paul was relying on God.
Solomon discovered the hard way that life on earth is short, and that most of the things that excite us, titillate us, fascinate us, and motivate us are fleeting and insignificant. We will all be dead soon, and memories of us will fade to nothing after a generation or so. All that we thought was so important during our lifetime will have no meaning, and all that we have acquired will be lost or decayed. Life in the world amounts to nothing. Zero. Emptiness. The meaningful life is the one attached to God...every day in every way. While we are here, anything in the world can become jaded over time through custom and familiarity. There is no permanence in anything in life, even the people in it, except for God. There is nothing that gives our lives significance apart from an ongoing relationship and fellowship with our Creator.
Solomon conducted eight experiments, each of which was done to find meaning and substance in the world, and all of which failed. Here are the experiments which he set up that were intended to fulfill his dreams, drives, and aspirations:
1. Anthropocentric academic speculation. This high-sounding phrase simply describes a man-centered focus and study. This attempt to rationalize man’s existence and worth sees the natural man as the center of the universe. Participating in academic education and acquiring human wisdom are seen as the way to achieve meaning and significance. Solomon concluded that these are vain pursuits.
2. Partying. This includes drinking, taking mood-altering drugs, seeking sensual pleasure, and doing virtually whatever you can think of. Solomon found out how endless, exhausting, and unsatisfying this practice can be.
3. Being overly-focused on the family. Focus on the family has a nice ring, and is usually appropriate, but when concentration on the family and its legacy reaches extremes, it easily becomes an idol that supplants God. This turned out to be a disappointing experiment for Solomon.
4. Becoming over-organized and time-oriented. Over-scheduling and obsession with time is empty apart from its connection with the eternal Father.
5. Being preoccupied with money and success and achievement. Solomon now has our attention. He believed that money made his world go around, until his life spun out of control and he found out that acquiring great wealth apart from God’s plan leads to a dead-end, and eventually a precipitous drop. He also discovered that his brilliant achievements did not bring peace to his troubled heart.
6. Building power and a reputation. Fame and absolute authority are appealing, but these almost always lead to disillusionment and even bitterness. Solomon was highly acclaimed as the wisest man in the world, and had thousands of slaves to command, yet he was miserable. All the accolades from all the sycophants in the world could not fill the hole in his soul.
7. Seeking sex. Once again, Solomon captures our notice. This one is a trap that draws us in and then throws its nets around us. Sexual lust is never satisfied and will inevitably lead to an insatiable search for the ultimate, final experience. But this will not come, and Solomon learned that the pursuit of sexual satisfaction through man’s own devices can only usher in shattered illusions and emptiness.
8. Being a hero. We are all the heroes in our own stories, and this can become a drive that motivates us to seek recognition through our own achievements. This causes us to focus on ourselves as the source for all greatness and nobility, but this drive cannot be sustained and will eventually jade, leading to frustration and foolishness.
It was only after all of Solomon’s experiments, spanning decades, that he found purpose in life, and that is when he wrote Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and part of Psalms. He could not find that purpose in the world, and had to reach the point that he saw that life in the world is empty, while life with God is full. For us to draw this conclusion, we must have the right perspective, and measure “empty” and “full” by God’s standards. Life in the world is very difficult for true seekers, yet it can be great beyond description for those who endure. And it will lead to life beyond this life that is perfect and eternal. We seek a full life today, and we wait for a fulfilled life tomorrow. This is the life that is “out of this world”.
But this is a big subject. This writing is supposed to be a “blog”, which—I think—implies a short, pithy zinger with the aim of hitting a single point and then moving on. This particular writing, however, looks more like a topical study or an article than a blog, so if your eyes get weary reading from an electronic screen, I suggest you download and print this. There is no way to truncate this topic and do it any kind of justice. Soldier on.
William Wordsworth said it well in his well-known poem, “The World Is Too Much With Us”. The first four lines of his poem go like this:
“The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and Spending, we lay waste our powers;--
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon.”
The deeper meaning of this poem is for scholars to plumb, but on the surface we see certain notions that are worth noting. Here is what we see in this opening verse:
The world is imposing and powerful, overwhelming us as we live our lives out each day, and as we exert our energies for drives and goals that we understand very little, and from which we gain little. We strive to control and possess, but then what do we have? Nothing. There is nothing we can claim that is ours. Still, we surrender our hearts to the forces of the world, even though the only benefit we get is evil and ugliness.
SATAN RUNS THE WORLD. The world is not what it seems. It seems auspicious and promising, but it is actually destructive and disappointing. The reason for this is that the world is not the kingdom of God, at least not yet. For the present, the world belongs to the enemy, and that means Satan. Satan runs the world, as allowed by God, and it is his to administer and control. This makes life in the world precarious for believers who want to grow in grace and knowledge.
Some may object to the notion that the world belongs to Satan, but Scripture makes it clear that Satan owns the world. For starters, look at the temptation of Christ at the beginning of His earthly ministry, when Satan offered Him kingdoms on earth. Matt. 4:8 frames it this way: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me’.” Jesus, of course, countered with Scripture, thus blocking Satan’s temptation, but the point we want to see currently is that Satan offered kingdoms to Him. And Jesus did not respond by saying, “The kingdoms of the world are not yours to offer. These belong to God.” This is because God has temporarily relinquished these kingdoms to Satan for him to control...within limits. He has limited control of these kingdoms, yes, but they are his to dispose of pretty much as he pleases. He offered Jesus the world, because he CAN.
When Luke described the temptation of Christ, he added this quote from Satan: “I will give you [Christ] all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.” And he was correct, and fully within his limits to say this. He had the power to place kingdoms into the human hands of Jesus. To fully understand the reason for God’s giving Satan this power, read “The War Against God”, a chapter from my latest book, God’s Training Program for Believers: Preparation for Living. This chapter, beginning on page 55, describes what Satan is allowed to do on earth during human history, and why he is permitted to do it.
WE NEED PROTECTION FROM SATAN AND THE WORLD. The world is virtually a living organism, and its soul is the devil. His presence and influence permeate the world, because it is his kingdom of darkness. 1 John 5:19 says, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” This condition prompted Jesus to pray, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” It is because the world is Satan’s that we have to have protection from him while we are here. Christ’s kingdom, on the other hand, is not in the world, in a physical sense, although His kingdom is “within us” (Luke 17:21). In John 18:36, Jesus is quoted as saying, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” The world consists of kingdoms controlled by Satan.
We need protection in this world, because it is a hostile region. Most believers, without even knowing it, repeatedly surrender to the world. They operate from the world’s viewpoint, because they have not been trained to recognize it and counter it. 1 John 4:5 says, “They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” We understand clearly that unbelievers are “of the world”, and function exclusively in the viewpoint of the world. The surprising thing is that so many believers are right there with them. The greatest danger in associating with people in the world is that we will adopt their ideas, and with so few spiritual believers in the world, the dominant thought among Christians will easily become “worldly” in its perspective and outreach. Deception and evil will reach a critical mass, flooding Christendom with a tsunami of Satanic illusions.
WE MUST SEPARATE FROM THE IDEAS OF THE WORLD. This is why we must “separate” from the ideas and practices of the world. 2 Cor. 6:14-17 confirms this, as follows:
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you’.”
We must not integrate with the philosophies of the world, as they will undermine—and eventually destroy—our faith. God will hang on to us, but our backs will be turned to Him, if the world has its way by our espousing the world’s viewpoint. The world is a sham, a facade. It is not the “real world”...the true world exists in an eternal realm and is ruled by God. 1 John 2:17 says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” The world and its values embrace things that are temporary and fleeting, whereas God and His values incorporate the lasting and eternal. As believers, we should embrace eternal values, not temporal ones. And when we embrace eternal values, we will distinguish ourselves from the world.
WE DO NOT BELONG TO THE WORLD. We do not properly “belong” to the world, and therefore the world does not love us. John 15:19 says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” In our eternal position, we are “chosen out of the world”, but in our bodies, we are still “in the world”, and we must deal with the world’s disdain. John 15:18, preceding the passage just quoted, says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” The world will hate us because they “do not know the one who sent” Jesus Christ (John 15:21b).
We are not of this world, so the world hates us, as we see again in John 17:14: “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” A principle exists that the more we get into the word, the more we are hated. The more we get close to God and live by His Word, the more Satan will turn the fire up under the world’s hatred for us. 2 Tim. 3:12 offers corroboration for this view, saying, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” This is why we must “continue in what you have learned” (2 Tim. 3:14). We learn in order to prepare, and we prepare because we are targets.
Even family and friends can go after us, as they experience an unexplainable antipathy toward us. Being serious about your faith and digging into the deeper truths of God’s Word will have the effect of alienating family and friends, unless they are with you in your search for truth. This is painful, and part of the “persecution” we must endure, but the more we understand the world and our place in it, the more this condition makes sense to us. Luke 6:22-23 tells us that we should be “glad” that the world hates us, because we are set apart. Here is specifically what this verse says:
“Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.”
It is not pleasant to be hated and exorcised and insulted and rejected, and especially to be thought of as “evil” or “stupid” or “crazy” or “weird”. And those closest to us can hurt us the most, but that is what we will get from the world, if we decide to follow God...opposed by the devil and the world, and all the armies they bring against us.
WE ARE NOT FRIENDS OF THE WORLD. Because we are “set apart” from the world, we should “live apart” from the world. This does not mean we cannot associate with people in the world, because that would mean we could not live in the world at all, which is an absurdity (1 Cor. 5:10). We live in the world and must engage it, but not with our hearts, and this is where we get misled. We can be here without adopting the views of those around us. We can operate in the world without the stain of the world’s pervasive evil and lies. But such acuity and resistance comes only with great spirituality and maturity, so we can’t count on reaching this point by tomorrow morning. I suggest you read the chapter, “Our Spiritual Walk”, beginning on page 153 of God’s Training Program for Believers: Preparation for Living.
James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” Notice that there is choice involved in becoming friends of the world. Or perhaps this is better viewed as a process of becoming friends with God, and over time distancing ourselves from the world. This means we start out in the world and then choose to move toward God and away from the world. It begins with a single choice, followed by many choices to follow. The single choice is to accept the gift of salvation that God offers, which is done by believing in His Son. Then we must choose repeatedly, day after day, to seek more of God in our lives by growing and by accessing His power for living. By choosing to get closer to God, we will be concomitantly choosing to reject friendship with the world. This choice has a price, as we described in God’s Training Program for Believers (see pages 211-250), but what we get is well worth any cost.
WORLDLY PEOPLE CAN PROSPER. While we are living in the world, we will observe that “good things happen to bad people”. (We have seen in previous studies that “bad things happen to good people”.) The wicked may prosper in the world, even though their ultimate outcome will not be good. Eccl. 8:11-13 describe this as follows:
“When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.”
Good things may come to evil people (some among them are believers), but judgment awaits them at some point, in the form of eternal condemnation for unbelievers and divine discipline for believers. When we see people who are not living for God enjoying the privileges of prosperity, this can engender confusion, especially for true God-seekers. Ps. 73:2-28 describes what the psalmist saw as the condition of wicked people. He said they have no struggles, they are free from burdens, they are not plagued by human ills, and they drink waters in abundance. They are arrogant and unconcerned, and their lives seem easy and prosperous....carefree and often wealthy. Yet growing believers seem to be punished or tested at every turn. There is justice in the final outcome, however, for both unbelievers and “carnal” believers, and there is timely relief and comfort for spiritual believers. The key distinction between the outcome for spiritual believers and others is found, not in where they are, but in where they are headed. And this does not mean they will have to wait for “payday someday”, but that blessing can come to them while they are living on the earth.
In Ps. 37:1, David said, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.” When the tendency to observe and marvel at the prosperity of evil people manifests, we look to David, who proposed the correct treatment for this temptation: “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:2). The provision of what we want comes with growth and walking in God’s power...i.e., maturity and spirituality. Incidentally, our “wants” will change as we mature. What we receive as we mature is far greater that anything a wicked person could ever have...even if it cannot be measured in worldly or monetary terms. This is why we must “wait patiently” on the Lord (Ps. 37:7), for which we will eventually get “exaltation” (Ps. 37:34), and at that time, we will see the wicked “cut off” (also v. 34).
IT IS OUR NATURE TO LOVE THE WORLD. As we stated, we live in the world, but we should not adopt the world’s values. 1 John 2:15 admonishes, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Verse 16 adds this: “For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” Love for the world or anything in it is forbidden. But our sinful nature LOVES the world, and since this nature controls us most of the time, love for the world is persistent. That does not mean it cannot be overcome, as we shall see.
Notice the three connectors between the world and the sinful nature in verse 16: craving, lust, and pride. These are described as “everything in the world”, so this must include the exhaustive list of categories indicating all that the world has to offer. Craving involves wanting to enhance our personal environment with trappings and possessions. Lust is the longing for experiences that bring sensual pleasure to our bodies and positive stimulation to our emotions. Pride is faith in “self” (more on this later), which involves either the belief that I am the real master of my fate and destiny, or that I alone am capable of generating the character that God requires. These qualities found in the world are lies, designed to throw nets around us and keep us under the world’s control. And, most of the time, we surrender and go willingly with our captor.
Because our sinful nature operates so freely in the world, we have to move away from the practices of the world. When we embrace the world’s values, we move toward the world. When we embrace God’s Word, we move away from the world and toward God. We will not find God or true goodness in the world, because the world does not accept God. John 17:25 confirms this, saying, “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you....” Jesus revealed in this prayer that the world is clueless about the reality and centrality of God. And because the world does not know God, it is free to establish its own system for the conduct of mankind.
THE WORLD REJECTS GOD. 1 Cor. 1:21 carries further the idea that the world does not know God, and that it further blinds itself by creating its own explanations as to how things exist and work. This verse says, “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.” The world is satisfied with its own analysis of reality, truth, goodness, and beauty. And it soundly rejects the “foolishness” (tongue-in-cheek) of the gospel. Verse 20 discloses that real foolishness is seen in the world’s wisdom. Try telling this to people in the world; they have no ear for truth. If they did, they would believe in Christ and join us.
John quoted Jesus in the 14th chapter of his gospel, verse 17a, saying, “...the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.” Citizens of the world refuse to accept the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, because they cannot see Him, and therefore cannot “know” Him. John 1:10 repeats this concept, as follows: “He [Jesus Christ] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” The world has no eyes for God, including many believers who sustain the world’s viewpoint. Believers with the “world view” are part of the world.
RESISTING OR ADOPTING THE WORLD VIEW. The result of living by the world’s viewpoint (we will see this topic in more detail later in this study) is that unbelievers and carnal believers will follow the ways of the world, which will keep unbelievers frozen in their unbelief, and will bring believers down to the operational level of unbelievers. We will get more specific about the “ways” of the world as we proceed, but what we want to get at this point is that following the standards, routines, and principles of the world will have the effect of dragging believers down.
It is not impossible to resist the world’s influence...just very difficult. Maturity makes it easier. Eph. 2:1-2 says this:
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
Paul is crediting the Ephesians with a loyalty and attachment to divine principles for living, and is suggesting that they had reached a sufficient level of maturity to avoid the “ways of this world”, which they had once followed. The practices and standards of the world are hard to resist, because they are designed by the greatest genius ever created...Satan. And notice that Satan is the “ruler of the air”, meaning that anything existing in the atmosphere of the earth is ruled by him, and he is actively engaged...or “at work”...without sleep or a lunch break. His primary method of “working”, or pulling people into “worldly” practices, is making worldly activities or modes of thinking attractive, often irresistible.
Because the world is attractive, the tendency for those of us who live in it (that would be all of us) is to become “entangled” in the world’s viewpoint and methods. 2 Pet. 2:20 uses this very word...entangled...as we see here:
“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than at the beginning.”
The “worse off” part has to do with divine discipline for unconfessed sin, but that is not our focus here. What we want to highlight is the word “entangled”. The world appeals to the senses; and it feeds the mind with false ideas, passing them off as syllogistic reasoning, or the right to have fun, or the need to get ahead in life...fine-sounding pursuits and justifiable engagements, all...but all throwing ropes around the hearts of world occupants. This is where the chains of the world come to bind us, in our souls, so that even believers fall for addictions of all kinds, many of them not even seen as such. These are the believers (including most of them) who blindly plod ahead in a robotic pattern of complicity, exhibiting what has been sold as “normal” behavior...and the closer it is to the proverbial “norm”, the better. Anything in the world that excites or titillates or motivates can become an addiction, and everyone has at least one. These are also known as “areas of weakness”, which the world is happy to exploit. The world will entangle you, and you alone are helpless to prevent it.
The world will cause believers to stumble. We hardly see it coming, even though it comes every day. The objective of the world is to enslave us. Matt. 18:7a says, “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin!” The world is “woeful”, or condemned, because of the “things” it dangles to entice people to turn their backs on God. The world exudes a powerful gravity that constantly pulls and draws and drags us into sin (and, as we saw, legalism). We can’t be smug for one second, and think that just because we are believers, we “have it made”. Satan’s world is designed to take advantage of any let-down of our guard, and to drag us into a pattern of behavior that corresponds with our weaknesses. The world looks at our needs and promises to fulfill them, and when we accept this, which we do without even thinking, we are selling out to the cosmic system.
2 Tim. 3:2-4b describes the state of people who have surrendered to the world:
“People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to the parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God....”
THE WORLD IS HARD TO RESIST. These are conditions describing people in the world in the “last days”, which is NOW...the age of grace and the Holy Spirit, but also the age of the greatest Satanic campaign in history (so far), and a time when Satan’s world is overpowering and compelling. One example of a condition in these days is that people seek pleasure, rather than God. And the world delivers what is sought, because it has the products that pleasure-seekers want. These things come from the world, and 1 John 2:16, a verse we saw earlier, tells us what they include: “For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.”
The things of the world are harmful and wrong. John 16:8 tells us that the Holy Spirit shows the world that it is wrong. This verse says, “When he comes, he [the Holy Spirit] will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” The world is guilty...wrong. And because it is wrong...and aggressive...it is destructive. It urges us to join in with the rest of the world, and does so in ways that we are not naturally equipped to resist. In fact, we have a natural tendency to go along with the world, because we have a sinful NATURE! James 1:14 proves this, saying, “...but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” The first part of the next verse (v. 15) adds, “Then after the desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin....” So we join the world in its “guilt”, and become “wrong” right along with it. This is what the world will do to us...and what we do “in the world”.
When we think of “worldliness”, we may think of bar-hopping or cut-throat greed or blatant sexual promiscuity, but the world is actually much more subtle than that. We do not have to be decadent or corrupt to be participating in the world. All we have to do is USE it. When we use the world and all that is in it, we tend to rely on it. It is easy to become “engrossed” in the world when we rely on it at ground-level. In 1 Cor. 7:31, Paul said we should “use” the things of the world, but not be “engrossed” by them, as we see in the following: “...those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For the world in its present form is passing away.” The larger point that Paul is making is that we should not be attached to things in the world, including anything in the world. This is achieved by living as though the attachment did not exist. For example, those who “buy something” (1 Cor. 7:30) should know that it is not theirs forever, and they should be ready to pre-relinquish what they have acquired. This is true of all the things in the world that we use...we can be “owned” by them, or we can detach from them.
Summarizing this point: The tendency is for us to be “engrossed” by the things we use. When we use the things of the world, the world ATTACHES us to them. We must learn to avoid this attachment. “Things” can include jobs, money, friends, family, recreation, possessions, recognition, approbation, knowledge, and electronic devices. Anything that we value and use can become an attachment, and any attachment can become an idol, or a distraction from God. This is why, when we “use” things in the world, we tend to become “engrossed”, or controlled, by these things. Nothing in the world is truly safe and innocent, and everything in the world is designed to bring us down.
WE BELONG TO CHRIST. We face a serious choice. We can belong to Christ or we can belong to the world. John 8:23 shows this dichotomy, as follows: “But he continued, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world’.” We will choose whether we want to belong to Christ, or to the world. Unbelievers make this choice by believing in Christ (see v. 24). Believers make this choice by confessing their sins, praying, studying God’s Word, and enduring God’s training. When believers choose Christ in their lives, having already chosen Him for their eternity, they will commit to processes that lead to maturity and a walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, as God has prescribed in His Word. Failure to attend to maturity and spirituality is tantamount to default surrender to the world.
Rightfully, and in their eternal position, believers do not belong to the world. John 17:16 shows Jesus praying for the believers that He was leaving behind in the world, saying, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” We must remember that, in our eternal position before God, we have the righteousness of Christ forever, which is our hedge against condemnation. This means that we belong to God and not the world. On the other hand, in our temporal condition, we belong either to Christ or to the world, meaning that we are either IN or OUT OF fellowship.
PRIDE AND THE WORLD. One of the things that keeps our eyes on the things of the world, and off God, is our pride. As we stated earlier, pride is faith in “self”. This bridges over to a kind faith in the world and its resources, which then emerges as a belief in ourselves, an assumption that we can depend on ourselves (in the world) for the things we need and want. We see ourselves as capable of plotting our own course, having the ability to garner the resources needed for the “good life”. Even if we doubt ourselves, we seek to change and refine ourselves in ways that will enable us to rise up and surmount all deficiencies and limitations. But pride is bad. It is number one in the list of things that God detests, as per Prov. 6:16-17a, which says, “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes....” “Haughty eyes” is one way of saying, “a heart full of pride”. Prov. 16:5 adds, “The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.” God has no regard for pride.
Pride brings destruction, as per Deut. 8:10-20, which states clearly that we become complacent when our needs have been met, and we forget God when problems are light and few. It is easy, when we have achieved comfort or success, to survey what we have done, or what we have accumulated, and to see ourselves as the primary resource for our accomplishments. Verses 13-14a in Deut. 8 says, “...and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God...” Almost invariably, we assume that what we have is the product of own skillful hands, and did not come from God. Here’s the reality: Anytime we see good things in our lives, and ascribe our prowess and efforts as their producer, we are exercising pride. It is our nature to be proud, yet this sin will destroy us.
Pride is the most common of all sins promoted by Satan and the world. Since the world belongs to Satan, it makes sense that his own number one infraction...arrogance...would also be the sin he is most anxious to induce in humans, and he is able to use the world to do it. He persuades people to look to themselves for the development of their own happiness, meaning, success, satisfaction, security, and significance. There is no holy ground when it comes to Satan’s use or promotion of pride. It happens when we study the word, which works like this: If we do not understand the Word, it is because we did not believe the truth we heard (we like our ideas better), and Satan is standing by to snatch it away (Matt. 13:18).
Pride can also be in evidence, as we saw in Deuteronomy above, when we are blessed...since arrogance swells easily when good things come to us or happen. 1 Tim. 6:17 cautions against allowing prosperity to become a source for self-satisfaction and gloating. This verse says,
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
When God blesses us, we must recognize that He is the one Who has brought good things...they are not the result of our being cute or clever or talented. Blessings come because of God’s grace and God’s plan, and the second we start to identify boons and benefits as the fruits of our own labor, is the time when we will begin to lose what we have gained.
Pride may exalt us in the world, but not in the kingdom of righteousness. 1 Cor. 1:30 says this about the source of righteousness:
“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’.”
APART FROM GOD WE HAVE...AND ARE...NOTHING. Jesus Christ is the only reason we are cared for, both spiritually and in the world...and we are given full access to what He offers to help us live right. He is the one we acknowledge and honor for our being sustained in this life. We build ourselves up in the world with friends, possessions, positions, and so on, but what we have has no lasting value. We will say more about how short and meaningless our lives are apart from God, but for now we establish this immutable reality: WE OWN NOTHING! 1 Tim. 6:7 reports, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” And we can be content with what we are given for our use here, as we see in 1 Tim. 6:8, which says, “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”
We are nothing more than feeble, helpless men and women. Ps. 9:20 says, “Strike them with terror, O Lord; let the nations know they are but men.” We are mere men, and men are nothing! Hab. 2:6b states it well: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” There is an answer to this question, but no part of God’s recognition of man is based on the qualities of man himself. There is nothing about us that makes us worthy of God’s attention...it is all based on God’s plan, framed by God’s grace. Ps. 39:6 says, “Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.” Are we starting to get the picture that our pride is misplaced, and that we are nothing? That is the true assessment of man...nothing.
SUCCESS IN THE WORLD. There are two categories of races and contests in which man can be engaged: one is produced and staged by the world, and the other takes place in the spiritual realm. Eccl. 9:11a tells us that spiritual contests are not won in the same way as they are in the world. This verse gives us the following: “The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned...” The world’s contests require quickness, strength, money, personality, brains, skill, and luck. God’s contests require faith. 2 Tim. 4:7 says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Keeping faith strong is the key to winning the spiritual race. As we have suggested in this writing and in all previous writings, this race is won by staying clean through confession, praying, studying, trusting, and persevering through all aspects of God’s training program. These don’t work “in the world”, but they will advance us spiritually.
A lot of corruption in the world seems to revolve around money. Heb. 13:5a commands, “Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have...” Prov. 23:4-5 adds the following:
“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”
The world talks a lot about goal-setting and keeping your eyes on the prize and becoming “winners”. Unbelievers and carnal believers buy this and join the clamor for fame and fortune, without realizing how empty this pursuit can be. We are talking about FOCUS here...preoccupation. We are citing what we think about all day long. It is perfectly legitimate to conduct honest business affairs and to acquire funds to operate and enjoy life. It is NOT acceptable for believers to be consumed with money—and its possessions and privileges—and thus to leave God behind. This is the draw of the world, the place where the world gets us into trouble...even whole churches. There is an inexorable seduction surrounding money and all it buys, and worldly Christians succumb to its undertow willingly and blindly. One-up-man-ship is so rampant we have come to see Madison Avenue solicitations as absolute truth, and Wall Street as our temple. Once again, there is legitimacy in participation in these arenas...until our perspective becomes distorted, and our line-of-sight shifts away from God...to the world. To be mesmerized by money is—in effect—to be bowing in adoration before Satan. When money captures you, you become a slave of Satan and the world.
Acquiring large sums of money can be a trial for believers...a time of testing. Very few believers are able to get money and maintain spiritual commitment. Most see money as an automatically-good thing, and this naivety can work to their undoing, as it is almost impossible not to over-value its worth and benefit. 1 Tim. 6:9-10 says this:
“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Don’t ignore this warning. If you are a believer and your focus is on getting rich, then you are headed for disappointment and disillusionment...even if for a time it seems that money has solved all your problems. This is the trap...preoccupation with riches can cause many more problems than it solves, plunging many believers into “ruin and destruction”, even though they seem to be successful. This is what the Bible says. Believe it.
GOD EXALTS THE HUMBLE; RICHES MEAN NOTHING. Contrary to the world view, God chooses inconsequential people and things to bring down evil and the machinations of the cosmic system. 1 Cor. 1:26-29 clarifies this for us in the following:
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
Notice the descriptors used in this passage for the world system and its values: “human standards”, “influential”, “noble birth”, and “wise” (worldly wisdom). These are labels for things valued in the world...this set belongs to the world and not to God. His values are different, and it is His values that we want to understand and embrace. This is where the maturing believer is headed: toward the truth of what is real, what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful. Man’s view will lead us into idealism, realism, experimentalism, existentialism, and a myriad of other philosophies; God’s view will lead us into truth. And his truth values spiritual and eternal realities, not worldly riches and holdings.
James 2:5-7 gives the right perspective, saying this:
“Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?”
This warning is against those, including many church parishioners, sometimes entire churches, who extol riches and honor rich people, and virtually ignore the invisible heroes who are quietly advancing the cause of Christ. It is the “scum of the earth” that God will lift up, meaning those whose values favor Him, rather than the world. James 4:5 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” 1 Cor. 4:13 adds, “...when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.” To the world, we are garbage. There is no way around this. If we are living in God’s system, rather than the world’s, we will be seen in the world as worthless. But if we stand before God as what we really are...nothing...He will lift us up at the right time. This “lifting” may not include the world’s riches (although it may), but we will enjoy lives that are “rich in faith”, the beautiful outcome of which cannot be imagined. We will find the “life that is truly life” (1 Tim. 6:19).
As for those who embrace the world’s system, including believers, Prov. 24:19 tells us that they will be disappointed. This verse says, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.” This is the greatest danger for believers, and a typical deception coming from Satan’s world: that there is happiness in wealth, and that those with money and privilege have found “the good life”. Because of this misconception, it is important for growing believers to look away from what the world avails, and look more closely at what God offers.
PEACE IN THE WORLD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. John 14:27 gives a quote from Jesus, who said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” “Peace”, as we have described thoroughly in previous studies, is a sign of fellowship with God, which involves our being cleansed by having all our sins confessed. When a believer is in fellowship with God, he or she is fully “reconciled” with God, which is the actual meaning of the word “peace”. This is what Christ left...communion with our heavenly Father. This, we are reminded, has a dual application, in that we are saved (forever), but also that we have the communion of fellowship (intermittently). As believers, our goal is to remain in fellowship, because that is where we can live in harmony with the Holy Spirit, so He can empower us for true (divine) good in the world. The world cannot offer this. With the world, what you see is what you get. Oddly, it’s what we don’t see that is truly valuable to us.
GOD IS POWERFUL AND HE CONTROLS OUTCOMES. All things that occur are part of God’s plan (though not necessarily his will). We have free will and God works around our choices. Then there is another condition which He allows which He must work around, which is this: The world is Satan’s, wherein he has great power to control whatever happens within its systems. God masterfully works around this, too, according to His purposes. Where God’s ultimate and sovereign power comes in is in His PROVIDING OUTCOMES. Outcomes comprise God’s plan. He works all things, good or bad, toward specific objectives and results, both temporally and eternally.
God supersedes and surpasses all other realities, because He MADE it all, and HE DETERMINES THE OUTCOME for everything. This takes a BIG God, which is something we tend to ignore. Most believers acknowledge God’s existence, and see Him as an incidental convenience to be referenced on an as-needed basis. The God Who plans ALL deserves ALL our attention.
Ps. 86:10, along with many other verses throughout the Bible, tell us that God is not small, or some minor force. He is great! This verse says, “For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.” Job 26:14 shows the degree to which our view of God is understated. This verse declares, “And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who than can understand the thunder of his power?” God is big!
WHAT GOD OFFERS IS GOOD. In distinguishing our view of God from our view of the world, we see also that what God gives is good, and what the world offers is bad (or turns out that way). Our best care below...comes from above. For more on this, we turn to Job, as we continue to explore the evidence that what God gives is good, and that what the world offers is not. The outcome for what we get from the world is seen in Job 27:13-23, which we will quote in its entirety to get its full effect, as follows:
“Here is the fate God allots to the wicked, the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty: However many his children, their fate is the sword; his offspring will never have enough to eat. The plague will bury those who survive him, and their widows will not weep for them. Though he heaps up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay, what he lays up the righteous will wear, and the innocent will divide his silver. The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut made by a watchman. He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone. Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest snatches him away in the night. The east wind carries him off, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power. It claps its hands in derision and hisses him out of his place.”
Pretty convincing. The “wicked” include all who embrace and engage the cosmic system, but the outcomes seen in this passage seem to apply mostly to believers who draw life from the world, rather than God; they are under the judgment of divine discipline. When they choose the world, they accept the consequences it brings. But all any BELIEVER needs is WHAT GOD GIVES. Acts 17:24-25 says this:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”
Everything good comes from God. This is confirmed in James 1:16-17a, which says, “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father...” The really good stuff comes only from God. And it goes to those who “love God”, as per James 1:12. Believers who “love God” are those who are in fellowship, who walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, and whose faith is growing. And it comes from God alone...not from the world.
JESUS OVERCOMES THE WORLD. The good news is that Jesus has overcome the world. In John 16:33, Jesus is reported as saying, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Take heart, but don’t celebrate just yet. Christ is encouraging us with the announcement that He has triumphed over the world, but He is also telling us that, as long as we are still in the world, we will have trouble. We have trouble because of Satan and the world, and also because our training requires that we endure hardship. Perseverance in suffering will strengthen us, and enable us to demonstrate God’s goodness to men and to angels. (For more on this, see God’s Training Program, the chapter titled, “The War Against God”.)
We access God’s goodness and His rich provisions by using the methods He gives us for accessing His grace and power. Instead of frantically vying for more goods and services offered by the world, we search for God’s superior gifts. We want to LIVE in the victory that is already won. This victory is, first of all, for believers only. 1 John 5:5 says, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” By believing that Jesus is the Son of God, we become born again and saved. This qualifies us then to receive—through growth and following God’s ways for living—the resources for dealing with the world.
Jesus said, as shown in John 12:46, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” When we, as believers, “stay in darkness”, or operate “out of fellowship”, we will not be where Christ intended, and we will not participate in the victory that He has won. Our victory over the world begins with salvation, and then continues by our staying in fellowship through the confession of our sins. This is followed, as we have said many times, by prayer, Bible study, and so on. We must be clear as to our main point: Victory over the world NOW, in life, is not automatic. We have to access grace resources and follow grace methods to claim this victory.
THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD VS THE HOLY SPIRIT. There is a “spirit” in the world, consisting of the spiritual powers of Satan, greeted and welcomed by the nature of human beings. This “spirit”, allied with sinful natures, is in opposition to the Holy Spirit, Who indwells all believers. “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Cor. 2:12). A lot of truth is given here. This verse tells us that we have received the Holy Spirit, Who helps us know the truth about our Provider, and informs us that God is the giver of all good things, beginning with salvation and then continuing beyond. We have not received the spirit of the world...it does not indwell us...but the world and its spiritual underwriter Satan do not go away, just because the Holy Spirit comes to reside within us. They remain all around us. We have to live in the world, as we said before, and we will do this successfully to the degree that the indwelling Spirit controls us, enabling us to counter the spirit of the world. And the Holy Spirit will control us only when we have been cleansed and are “walking in the Spirit”, which—in essence—is “walking by faith”. And we will walk by faith increasingly as we grow. See how this works? It’s all part of God’s plan.
DEALING WITH THE WORLD. When we are “righteous” or cleansed, as per 1 John 1:9, then God will deliver us from the world and Satan. A good example for this is given in 2 Pet. 2:5, which says, “...if he [God] did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah...” A second example is seen in 2 Pet. 2:6-8, where Lot, a “righteous man” (v. 7), was “rescued” (also v. 7), when Sodom and Gomorrah were “burned to ashes” (v. 6). The principle for deliverance of the righteous is seen throughout Scripture, and here in particular, in verse 9 of 1 Pet. 2, which sums up the reason Noah and Lot were spared. This verse says, “...if this is so [that God rescued Noah and Lot], then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials...” The clear suggestion is that a righteous man will be rescued from disaster...based on God’s will and directed toward the absolutely best thing for such a man. Remember this: A righteous man is one who is clean before his God.
So righteousness is one way to avert troubles from the world and Satan. Another way is to acquire wisdom (often referred to as knowledge) from the Word. 2 Pet. 1:3-4 says this:
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
This passage is telling us that the way to escape the nefarious influence of the world, and avoid the suffering it brings, is through knowledge of God. When we know about Him and focus our attention on Him, the power of the world over our consciousness is reduced, and its influence is diminished. Escape comes through knowledge.
Knowledge suggests maturity. Until we are well underway toward growth, we will not be able to resist the world. Gal. 4:3 tells us, “So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.” An application of this verse is that “baby Christians” are unable to resist the world. Philosophies, practices, cultures, traditions, and customs bombard unprepared individuals, demanding conformity and complicity. “You must be normal, you freak!” So the world uses everything at its disposal to impose its views on believers, because they are potential resistors of the standard world viewpoint.
The only way to avoid being swept off our feet by the forces of the world is to have our hearts prepared...our minds renewed. Rom. 12:2a says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” By learning Scripture, we can understand the techniques and methods that God makes available to enable us to withstand the lure of the world and the attacks of the devil. We will know how to fulfill Col. 3:2, which says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” And then we will satisfy the requirements of Col. 3:15-17, which gives us the following:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
This passage calls on us to do these things:
- Stay in fellowship. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”
- Give thanks to God. “...be thankful.”
- Learn the Word and gain wisdom. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
- Exercise our gifts through fellowship and growth. “...teach and admonish one another with all wisdom...
- ”Walk in the Spirit of Christ. “...do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
When we learn the Word in fellowship, and grow through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, the word will “dwell in us richly” and we can accumulate spiritual resources that fortify us against the world. Learning the Word, then, is central, since we cannot do what we don’t know HOW to do! The world is standing by to prevent this, as we see in Luke 8:14, which says, “The seed [teaching of truth] that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.” Preoccupation with the world and its “party” prevents truth from processing into our hearts. This confines what we learn to the level of “knowledge”, preventing it from processing into our hearts as “understanding” and “wisdom”. When we study the Word, we must believe it and cherish it for it to be digested and become part of our spiritual make-up. Then we can move toward maturity.
The Word is taught to people with hearts that yearn for it, and to those whose sins are “cleansed”, thus placing them in fellowship. Eccl. 2:26 says, “To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness...” God is pleased with believers who are walking in the Spirit and maturing. These are the ones who are getting greater understanding of God’s methods and doing things God’s way. These are the ones to whom Jesus was saying, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (Luke 8: 18). We must listen, and listen carefully, so that we can learn more, which opens the way to learning much more. This is what the world wants to prevent.
As we grow, faith increases, and the victory that is ours for all eternity is realized in our earthly lives. 1 John 5:4 tells us, “...for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” The application, of course, is that only the saved will participate in the ultimate victory over Satan and the world. But there is another application that must not be missed. The book of 1 John deals with fellowship as the way to erase past sins, and as the way to strengthen oneself against future sins. (For a full discussion on the application of 1 John regarding the walk of believers, see Bible Basics on Living by God’s Standards, Pathway to Righteousness, “Fellowship in John’s First Epistle”, beginning on page 59). Believers who are “born of God” are not only those who are “born again” at salvation, but those who are “spiritually alive” through the filling and control of the Holy Spirit. Only believers who are alive can share in the victory. In other words, the only way to beat the world is to play with the team that’s winning. This involves more than just being saved; we must also be serious about our spiritual walk. If we aren’t, we will remain “losers”, even though we are ultimately “winners” in eternity.
BEING DEAD TO THE WORLD. In Gal. 6:14, we see another dual application, which tells us that we are dead to the world, and the world to us. Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The extended outlook for the world is its demise, but it is currently very much alive and active. The secondary application of this verse is that we can be dead to the world and the world to us, if we are OPERATING in God’s arena, rather than the world’s. If we are serving the world and our flesh, then the world is alive to us, and we are very much alive to the world. Please understand that resistance to the world does not come through self-effort, but through engaging the mechanics for spirituality and growth. For a full picture on this, read the blog (article), “Stop Trying”, posted just prior to this one.
Since we “died” to the world, and its evil—in our position—we must also die to it in our condition. When we follow the principles of the world, including trying to keep all the rules of the “law”, we will fail. Col. 2:20 asks this question: “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules...” In context, Paul is equating the rules of the world with the keeping of the Old Testament law, and is asking the Colossians why they are submitting to it. It’s all one package: evil and legalism. These are the chains of slavery binding us to the world. Reminder: When we are alive to the world, through sin or legalism, we are serving Satan and the world, and are standing as enemies of God.
THE WORLD AMOUNTS TO NOTHING, AS ILLUSTRATED BY SOLOMON. One of the best illustrations in Scripture for the undermining influence of the world, and the weakness of human nature, is found in the life of Solomon. Solomon, author of Proverbs, acclaimed as the wisest man that ever lived, was an absolute failure. He spent the bulk of his life serving the world, and participated in every aspect of the world’s success and pleasure. He is the perfect example of how a born-again believer can participate in every evil and wrong activity and fully adopt and live by the viewpoint of the world. (For an extended discussion on the life of Solomon, see God’s Training Program for Believers: Preparation for Living, “The World”, pp. 103-106.)
Eccl. 2:10-11 summarizes Solomon’s life in the world, as follows:
“I denied myself nothing myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achiever, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the win; nothing was gained under the sun.”
By the time we finish our discussion of Solomon’s life, you will see the parts of his life that contributed to his conclusion that life is “meaningless, a chasing after the wind”. Solomon accessed and acquired and experienced everything the world had to offer, yet concluded, over and over, that it is all “meaningless”. In Eccl. 1:2, Solomon introduces his story by describing experience in the world as being completely devoid of meaning. “’Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless’.” Nothing in the world has meaning, according to Solomon. And his story makes this crystal clear.
A quote from the book cited above gives us a good idea as to what happened in Solomon’s life, as we see in the following:
“Solomon had wisdom, pleasure, wealth, sex, exceptional achievement, romantic love, friendships, possessions, looks, education, power, fame, and intellectual stimulation. But he spent 35 to 40 years out of fellowship, during which time he relied on assets in Satan’s world to satisfy himself. These things, however, brought him no joy, and he came to see it all as meaningless...or “vanity”. Ecclesiastes is an account of Solomon’s failure to achieve happiness in the cosmic system. He drew from the world all that it offers, but did not receive and experience what the world promised. He relied on the world for provision and forgot all about God and His superior provision, because his faith was directed toward a meaningless world.” (God’s Training Program, p. 103)
All of Solomon’s efforts represented “chasing after the wind”, and proved that there is nothing to be gained “under the sun”, as we saw in Eccl. 2:11. It is pointless to chase after the wind, and everything under the sun (as opposed to “above the sun”, or within God’s domain) is meaningless. Solomon found no meaning in the world until he had exhausted its resources for providing meaning, happiness, and peace. It was not until then that he realized that the world can offer nothing good, and that everything truly worthwhile comes from God. Solomon’s response at the conclusion of his experience in the world is startling, as we see in Eccl. 2:17: “So I hated my life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” The ways of the world lead to grief and misery, and the end result is “hating one’s own life”, as Solomon did. This outcome can be contrasted with that of Paul in Phil. 4:11b, where he said, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Solomon was relying on the world; Paul was relying on God.
Solomon discovered the hard way that life on earth is short, and that most of the things that excite us, titillate us, fascinate us, and motivate us are fleeting and insignificant. We will all be dead soon, and memories of us will fade to nothing after a generation or so. All that we thought was so important during our lifetime will have no meaning, and all that we have acquired will be lost or decayed. Life in the world amounts to nothing. Zero. Emptiness. The meaningful life is the one attached to God...every day in every way. While we are here, anything in the world can become jaded over time through custom and familiarity. There is no permanence in anything in life, even the people in it, except for God. There is nothing that gives our lives significance apart from an ongoing relationship and fellowship with our Creator.
Solomon conducted eight experiments, each of which was done to find meaning and substance in the world, and all of which failed. Here are the experiments which he set up that were intended to fulfill his dreams, drives, and aspirations:
1. Anthropocentric academic speculation. This high-sounding phrase simply describes a man-centered focus and study. This attempt to rationalize man’s existence and worth sees the natural man as the center of the universe. Participating in academic education and acquiring human wisdom are seen as the way to achieve meaning and significance. Solomon concluded that these are vain pursuits.
2. Partying. This includes drinking, taking mood-altering drugs, seeking sensual pleasure, and doing virtually whatever you can think of. Solomon found out how endless, exhausting, and unsatisfying this practice can be.
3. Being overly-focused on the family. Focus on the family has a nice ring, and is usually appropriate, but when concentration on the family and its legacy reaches extremes, it easily becomes an idol that supplants God. This turned out to be a disappointing experiment for Solomon.
4. Becoming over-organized and time-oriented. Over-scheduling and obsession with time is empty apart from its connection with the eternal Father.
5. Being preoccupied with money and success and achievement. Solomon now has our attention. He believed that money made his world go around, until his life spun out of control and he found out that acquiring great wealth apart from God’s plan leads to a dead-end, and eventually a precipitous drop. He also discovered that his brilliant achievements did not bring peace to his troubled heart.
6. Building power and a reputation. Fame and absolute authority are appealing, but these almost always lead to disillusionment and even bitterness. Solomon was highly acclaimed as the wisest man in the world, and had thousands of slaves to command, yet he was miserable. All the accolades from all the sycophants in the world could not fill the hole in his soul.
7. Seeking sex. Once again, Solomon captures our notice. This one is a trap that draws us in and then throws its nets around us. Sexual lust is never satisfied and will inevitably lead to an insatiable search for the ultimate, final experience. But this will not come, and Solomon learned that the pursuit of sexual satisfaction through man’s own devices can only usher in shattered illusions and emptiness.
8. Being a hero. We are all the heroes in our own stories, and this can become a drive that motivates us to seek recognition through our own achievements. This causes us to focus on ourselves as the source for all greatness and nobility, but this drive cannot be sustained and will eventually jade, leading to frustration and foolishness.
It was only after all of Solomon’s experiments, spanning decades, that he found purpose in life, and that is when he wrote Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and part of Psalms. He could not find that purpose in the world, and had to reach the point that he saw that life in the world is empty, while life with God is full. For us to draw this conclusion, we must have the right perspective, and measure “empty” and “full” by God’s standards. Life in the world is very difficult for true seekers, yet it can be great beyond description for those who endure. And it will lead to life beyond this life that is perfect and eternal. We seek a full life today, and we wait for a fulfilled life tomorrow. This is the life that is “out of this world”.
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