The church was never called to heal the world. It was never its mission. Yes, God loved the world, but He sent Jesus so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish. There was a conditionality placed on not sharing the same fate as the world, and that was believing in Christ. The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. We are strangers in a strange land, behind enemy lines, and on the enemy’s soil. Our mission is and always has been to preach the gospel and point the way to Christ in the hope that some who are in the world might come out of the world and some who are in darkness might come to the light.
That we could somehow restore the world by sheer will alone
or by the power of our words is an enticing fable, but a fable nonetheless. The
world isn’t getting any better, and those waiting for it to do so will be
waiting a very long time. The times will grow all the more perilous, the love
of many will wane, and those things once embraced, practiced, and celebrated by
the godless exclusively will become standard fare within the household of faith
as well.
Anyone could have told you that! We’ve been seeing it for
years now. Yes, but Paul told you two thousand years ago, so you must give
credit where credit is due.
2 Timothy 3:2-5, “For men will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self-control,
brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.
And from such people turn away!”
There is not one thing on that entire list that was not
evident in society when Paul penned these words. It’s not as though being
lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers, and the rest of
it is something new to this generation or something that materialized only with
the invention of the radio.
Men have always loved themselves, loved money, boasted of one
thing or another, and were proud even when they had no reason to, but none of
these things were as yet evident in the early church.
Their entire framework was such that selflessness was
essential for their continuity. New believers sold what they had in terms of
possessions and then pooled the money with the other believers to continue to
preach the good news of the gospel.
If Paul’s warning had been meant to alert us that the world
would be blasphemous, proud, unholy, unloving, and unforgiving, it would have
been anticlimactic and not very revelatory. The world wasn’t brimming with holy
people even back then. We’ve known for long and long that all these things
existed in the world. We’ve been witness to it throughout history, but if the
warning is specific to the last days, and the peril will be something other
than what has been common, then it’s safe to assume that all the things Paul
lists will be evident within the household of faith, the house of God, and
among those who claim to belong to Him.
That’s the stark difference between then and now. What was
once primarily on the outside is now ever present on the inside. More often
than not, you can no longer tell the difference between the two, whether in
words, actions, or appearance. Those who dare to point out the need for
sober-mindedness and pursuit of righteousness within the church are summarily
labeled a legalist. Because men refuse to acknowledge the need to walk in the
light and pursue those things pleasing to God, they accuse those who would
insist it must be thus as being judgmental, ignoring the reality that they are
quoting scripture and pointing to the Word when doing so.
Paul confirms that what he is itemizing is not something we
will have to contend with in the world but rather within the house of God
because he names a form of godliness among the things that will bring about
great peril, something that the world never possessed or will ever possess.
The first thing Paul warns us is that men will be lovers of
themselves. He’s not talking about looking in the mirror and liking what you
see. He is referring to men of the household of faith placing the self, the
flesh, and this present life above all else, including the will and Word of
God. When a man loves himself, there is no room for the love of God in his
heart. When he prioritizes something other than God in his life, it shows, and
what flows out of it is neither noble nor divine. He will always defer to and
seek after what is more pleasurable, comforting, exalting, and beneficial to
his flesh rather than the will of God.
An entire cottage industry has been built around the concept
of loving yourself. There are tutorials on how to love yourself, stickers you
can put on the back bumper of your car, and hand-stenciled signs you can hang
in your bedroom, all with the singular message that all you need to do is love
yourself. Just love yourself! In order to find your bliss, your purpose, your
joy, and your peace, all you have to do is love yourself.
I’ve even heard it said from pulpits by men who should know
better, and each time, it makes me cringe. We’re not supposed to love ourselves
or this life; we are supposed to love God. When you tell someone to love
themselves, you are encouraging them to do something contrary to what Jesus
commanded, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind. Jesus called this the first and great
commandment.
Yet, Paul said that one of the most evident characteristics
of the last days, and one that would bring about peril among the children of
God, is that men will be lovers of themselves. Those unwilling to see the
undeniable truth that his prophetic utterance is playing out in real-time can
readily chalk it up to chance, but how many times does someone have to hit the
nail on the head before we can no longer dismiss it as accidental or a fluke?
One surefire sign that we are living in the last days and
that we have entered into the perilous times the Bible warns us about is that
men will be lovers of themselves. Love of self has become a de facto doctrine
for many, and we have molded, twisted, and butchered the Word of God to suit
the self rather than insist upon the self submitting to the Word of God.
We make excuses for sins and justify rebellion, all because men have become lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God and have placed themselves at the pinnacle of the hierarchy of their existence. They sit on the thrones of their own hearts, worshipping themselves, and have left no room for God therein, all while claiming that they are His.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
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