YOU KNOW BY THE SYMPTOMS
26/09/13 22:38
When we get up in the morning and we have that sore throat, light headed, stuffed up, feverish feeling, we know we must be coming down with the flu. The stuffy nose is not the flu, nor is the fever; the sore throat is not it and the light headed feeling is not the flu: these are merely symptoms that tells us there is an issue going on in our body. There’s not much we can do for the flu, so we take drugs to cover the symptoms and help us forget we have a bad condition.
In 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul gives a depiction of the church in the end days; the days we are in today. He gives a series of symptoms: “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,...”. Paul then tells why they have these symptoms, their spiritual condition - Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
Now many admit this is the condition of the church but I’ve not ran across one person who says it is them. If we have this condition, it’s imperative that we find out now; because those who love the world will not make it to Glory (1 John 2:15-17). Is there any other symptoms that would warn us of a spiritual condition that involves us loving the world more than God?
In 1 John 2:17, we see that those who don’t have the “Lovers of the World” condition are those who do the will of the Father. This passage is a parallel with the parable of The Sower (Matt 13:1-9).
In the parable of The Sower, we see the seed that fell among the thorns has the “Lovers of the World” condition also (Matt 13:22). They too have a symptom - they “become unfruitful”. So, one will know if they love the world more than God if they do not produce fruit.
The production of fruit IS the work of God that is talked about in 1 John 2 also. The production of fruit is the sowing of seed, watering, and harvesting of souls for the Kingdom of God: it’s the witnessing that we must do (Matt 28:19).
Ok, so everyone I’ve talked to says that 2 Timothy chapter 3 does not apply to them; yet, statistics show that only two percent of church going Christians invite their close friends to church (if a person is NOT inviting, they are not witnessing of Christ). If we judge our condition based on the symptoms, and our symptoms say we are not actively witnessing of Christ to the lost, then we know we are guilty and we love the world more than God.
We need to take an honest look at our symptoms, don’t cover them over with “religious drugs” but rather cure the condition instead. This can only be done by turning off the TV, movies, sports, etc and opening up the Word of God.
In 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul gives a depiction of the church in the end days; the days we are in today. He gives a series of symptoms: “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,...”. Paul then tells why they have these symptoms, their spiritual condition - Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
Now many admit this is the condition of the church but I’ve not ran across one person who says it is them. If we have this condition, it’s imperative that we find out now; because those who love the world will not make it to Glory (1 John 2:15-17). Is there any other symptoms that would warn us of a spiritual condition that involves us loving the world more than God?
In 1 John 2:17, we see that those who don’t have the “Lovers of the World” condition are those who do the will of the Father. This passage is a parallel with the parable of The Sower (Matt 13:1-9).
In the parable of The Sower, we see the seed that fell among the thorns has the “Lovers of the World” condition also (Matt 13:22). They too have a symptom - they “become unfruitful”. So, one will know if they love the world more than God if they do not produce fruit.
The production of fruit IS the work of God that is talked about in 1 John 2 also. The production of fruit is the sowing of seed, watering, and harvesting of souls for the Kingdom of God: it’s the witnessing that we must do (Matt 28:19).
Ok, so everyone I’ve talked to says that 2 Timothy chapter 3 does not apply to them; yet, statistics show that only two percent of church going Christians invite their close friends to church (if a person is NOT inviting, they are not witnessing of Christ). If we judge our condition based on the symptoms, and our symptoms say we are not actively witnessing of Christ to the lost, then we know we are guilty and we love the world more than God.
We need to take an honest look at our symptoms, don’t cover them over with “religious drugs” but rather cure the condition instead. This can only be done by turning off the TV, movies, sports, etc and opening up the Word of God.
blog comments powered by Disqus
