PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

Politics, education, literature, science, art, law, commerce, music--such are the things that constitute the kosmos, and these are things that we meet daily. Subtract them and the world as a coherent system ceases to be....At the end, John tells us, antichrist will arise and will set up his own kingdom in this world (I John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7; Revelation 13). That is the direction of this world's advance. Satan is utilizing the material world, the men of the world, the things that are in the world, to head everything up eventually in the kingdom of antichrist. At that hour the world-system will have reached its zenith; and at that hour every unit of it will be revealed to be anti-Christian.

...In many parts of the world it has long been easy to trace an intimate relationship between idolatry and the arts of painting, sculpture, and music. No doubt the day is coming when the nature of antichrist will be disclosed more openly than ever through song and dance and the visual and dramatic arts.

But what of education? Surely, we protest, that must be harmless. Anyway, our children have to be taught. But education, no less than commerce or technology, is one of the things of the world. It has its roots in the tree of knowledge. How earnestly, as Christians, we seek to protect our children from the world's more obvious snares. And yet it is quite true that we have to provide education for them. How are we going to solve the problem of letting them touch what is essentially a thing of the world, and at the same time guarding them from the great world system and its perils?

These, then, are the matters at which we must look. Oh, I know I shall appear to some to be overstating things, but this is necessary in order to drive home my point. For "if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (I John 2:15). Ultimately, when we touch the things of the world, the question we must ask ourselves always is: "How is this thing affecting my relationship with the Father?"...

Formerly we spoke much of sin and of the natural life. We could readily see the spiritual issues there, but we little realized then what equally great spiritual issues are at stake when we touch the world. There is a spiritual force behind this world-scene which, by means of "the things that are in the world," is seeking to enmesh men in its system. It is not merely against sin therefore that the saints of God need to be on their guard, but against the ruler of this world. God is building up His Church to its consummation in the universal reign of Christ. Simultaneously His rival is building up this world-system to its vain climax in the reign of antichrist. How watchful we need to be lest at any time we be found helping Satan in the construction of that ill-fated kingdom. When we are faced with alternatives and a choice of ways confronts us, the question is not: Is this good or evil? Is this helpful or hurtful? No, the question we must ask ourselves is: Is it of this world, or of God? For since there is only this one conflict in the universe, then whenever two conflicting courses lie open to us, the choice at issue is never a lesser one than: God ... or Satan?
(Watchman Nee, Love Not the World, Chapter 1, printed by Living Stream Ministry)

APPLICATION

1. What is the scriptural meaning of "the world", and how did this world come into being?

2. Why must we be wary of the physical, cultural, political, commercial, scientific, and even educational things of the world?

3. How will you apply: "The time has passed when we need to go out into the world in order to make contact with it?"