Will you please turn to 1 Timothy 4?
We read from 1 Timothy 4:8-10:
Exercise thyself unto godliness:
for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come.
Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation.
For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe.
The letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4. We read from Ephesians 4:17-32:
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But ye did not so learn Christ;
if so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus:
that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need.
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in Whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice:
and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you.
Finally, the letter to the Colossians, chapter 4, verses 5 and 6:
Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for Thy table. We thank Thee for all that Thou hast done for us in love. Our hearts are constrained by Thy love.
We come to Thee this morning, Lord, to hear Thy word. We pray that Thou wouldst speak directly to each and every one of us.
We pray that Thy word may become living and operative in our lives, that we may live a life that will give glory unto Thyself.
We commit this time into Thy loving hand and trust Thy Holy Spirit to do His work, to the praise and glory of God.
We thank God for giving us another opportunity to hear the word. This time, we focus on spiritual exercise and our daily life.
Our spiritual life is very practical. It will affect our personal life, our family life, our church life, and our social life.
But for us to really experience the life of Christ in our daily living, we need to have spiritual exercise.
We have covered how spiritual exercise affects our personal life and our church life. Now, this morning, we look to the Lord that He will show us how spiritual exercise will affect our social life.
When we were born into this world, we were born into society. We not only have our parents; we may also have our siblings. We may have many relatives.
As we grow in life, we go to school, and we have many schoolmates. After we go into society to work, we have our colleagues.
We are all social beings. We do not live by ourselves. We live among people, with their actions and reactions.
But how do we live in our society? In the small circle of our family, among our relatives, among our friends and neighbors, or even among our enemies—how do we live our social life?
If you look back to your own experience, because we all have experience, ask yourself: How did you live your social life? By what life were you living?
Of course, we all know that before we believed in the Lord Jesus, the only life we knew was our own natural life, the life we inherited from Adam. It was a fallen life.
As a matter of fact, if you read Ephesians 2, it says:
And you did He make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,
wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience;
among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
This was the way we lived our social life. We lived according to our lusts. We lived according to the fashion of this world. Without knowing it, actually we were living under the authority of the power of darkness.
But thank God, He saved us. When He saved us, what happened?
In Colossians 1:13 we read:
Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Brothers and sisters, when you are saved, God has done something far beyond our expectation. He has not only forgiven all our sins and delivered us out of death; He has also regenerated us, given us a new life, and made Christ our life.
He quickened our dead spirit into life, that we may have a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit lives in our spirit.
All these things are personal, but what God has done when we believe in Him is more than that. When He saved us, He saved us into a family—the family of God—and He made us members of the one Body of Christ.
All these things happened to you when you believed in the Lord Jesus. But there is something more.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Bible tells us that He has delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Brothers and sisters, have you ever considered that we are not only saved from our sins? We are also saved from this world, because the world is under darkness and under the authority of the enemy of God. He is ruling over this world.
We were born into this world, but when we are born again, God has delivered us out of this authority of darkness and translated us into another kingdom. It is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
When we are saved, there is a change of position. We no longer belong to the power of darkness. We have been delivered out of it and translated into another kingdom. We belong to the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
You remember when God delivered the children of Israel. When the people of Israel were in Egypt, they were slaves. They served Pharaoh, and they were not even allowed to live.
But God had mercy upon them. He sent Moses to Egypt to deliver them. I believe you know the story of Passover.
One night, God was going to destroy all the firstborn in Egypt, whether people or animals. But in order to deliver His own people out of death, He gave them the Passover lamb. The whole family of Israel would live within the house and eat the lamb.
When midnight came and the angel of death passed over Egypt, when he saw the blood, he passed over. The firstborn of Israel was saved.
This is a type of what happened to us, because Christ is our Passover. His blood has washed us from our sins and delivered us out of eternal death.
But the children of Israel did not stay in Egypt. If they had stayed in Egypt, Pharaoh would still have had dominion over them. The problem would not really have been solved.
On that night of Passover, they marched out of Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea, and Egypt was completely behind them.
As the Bible says, they were baptized into Moses. Really, it means that they were transferred, delivered, and brought under another kingdom.
Now God was their God. They were under the rule of God and the care of God. This is the type, but the antitype is with us.
Our Lord Jesus has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His love. This is our new position. This is our position in relation to the world.
Brothers and sisters, there is a change, and whether that change is a reality in your life or not depends on your spiritual exercise.
First of all, we need to know what is meant by the word world. If you search the Scriptures, you will find that the world in the Bible has four different meanings.
First, the world is cosmos. It means that it is an organized system. There is a system being organized.
Who organized it? It is organized by the enemy of God. God created the world, but the enemy came and tried to organize it under himself.
He uses the world to try to fight against God. Whether it is religion, government, economics, society, or whatever area in this world, the enemy organizes it under his authority.
So he is called the god of this world and the prince of this world.
This is what you find in 1 John 2. In 1 John 2:14-15, we read:
I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Here you find that the world is an enemy to God because it is under the wicked one. He uses the world to fight against God and to keep people under his slavery.
So far as this world is concerned, we have already been delivered and translated out of it. Positionally speaking, we do not belong to this world. We belong to God. That is the first meaning of the world in the Bible.
But the world in the Bible has another meaning: the earth and the things God has created in the earth.
If you turn to Psalm 24:1:
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
The Hebrews use repetition. Here you find, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” and then it is repeated: “The world, and they that dwell therein.”
So the second meaning of the world is the earth and its fulness.
As far as the earth and its fulness are concerned, we know that God created them not only for man to enjoy, but also for man to take care of.
Today, you find that men try to enjoy the earth but do not take care of the earth. So it causes big problems. That is the world as God’s created earth.
Third, the world in Scripture speaks of the things of the world. Again, in 1 John 2:16-17:
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
So to us, what is the world? It is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The world uses all these things to tempt us, and if we are tempted, then we fall into sin.
What is lust? Lust is something legitimate drawn beyond its proper boundary.
There is something that is legitimate. It is something that God has made. But if you extend that legitimate thing beyond its boundary, that is lust.
There is a legitimate use of the flesh. We need to eat in order to live. The Chinese live to eat; the British eat to live. But remember: we live to eat, but eating is not the purpose of our living. If we indulge ourselves, that is lust.
You find that the enemy tries to extend what is legitimate into sin. There is nothing wrong with seeing. God created this world in such a beautiful way for us to enjoy.
But what is the lust of the eyes? If you extend it over the limit, you see it and covet it.
The same thing is true with the pride of life. As we live, we should have a certain dignity. There is nothing wrong with taking care of dignity. But when we see others having something we do not have, we lust for it. We want to be bigger, richer, or more famous. That is the pride of life.
Brothers and sisters, you find how subtle the enemy is. He tries to take what God has created for us to use legitimately and change it into something illegitimate and sinful.
For this reason, love not the world nor the things of the world. Do not set your minds upon the world and the things of the world, because if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.
But thank God, the Bible says to the young men, “Ye are strong, because ye have the word of God within you.” You have the Spirit of God with you. He will tell you what the world and the things of the world are, that you may not love them, lest your love for the Father grow cold.
Fourth, the word world in the Bible means people. John 3:16 says:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
The word there means people. So we should love the people that God has created.
Brothers and sisters, remember that there are these four different meanings of the world, and we need to know how to react to each of them.
John 17 is the Lord’s prayer. Before He went to the cross, He prayed a priestly prayer.
The purpose of His prayer was that we may be one—not only the apostles who were with Him, but all those who heard through these apostles and believed in the Lord Jesus. Our Lord prayed for all of us.
He wants us to be one, as the Father and the Son are one in the Spirit. He wants all of us who believe in Him to be one in spirit. We keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
But when you read this prayer of our Lord Jesus, you find that the world is mentioned a number of times. The Lord seems to tell us that the world has much to do with our oneness in Christ.
If we know how to deal with the world, then it will help us to be one in the Spirit.
When you read the prayer of our Lord Jesus in John 17, you find a fourfold relationship with the world. The word here speaks of the cosmos, the world under the enemy of God.
What is our relationship with this world? John 17:6 says:
I manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me; and they have kept Thy word.
Here you find the phrase, “out of the world.” We once belonged to the world, just like the rest of the people. But thank God, He has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
We are those who have been delivered out of the world. This is our position. This is our basic relationship with the world. We have been delivered out of it. We do not belong to the world; we belong to God. Our citizenship is in heaven. We belong to Him.
Second, John 17:11 says:
And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.
At that time, our Lord Jesus was going to the cross. But He would be resurrected on the third day, and after He appeared to His disciples for forty days, He would be out of the world.
The world had persecuted Him, rejected Him, and crucified Him. But He had overcome the world. He rose, and He ascended.
He said, “I am no longer in the world, but those who believe in Me are still in the world.”
Sometimes I have that kind of fancy: how good it would be if, as soon as I was saved, I were raptured to heaven. It would save me lots of problems. But God does not do that. He saves us and leaves us in the world—among temptations, suffering, and persecution.
Why does He do that? Well, He has His good reason for it. We are still in the world. Spiritually and positionally, we are out of the world, but physically, we are still in the world. That is our second relationship.
Then the third one. John 17:14 says:
I have given them Thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Not of the world. Out of the world, in the world, not of the world. Do you see where you are?
You are out of the world. You are still in the world. You are not of the world. In other words, physically speaking, you are in the world. You are still surrounded by the world. But spiritually, you are not of the world.
As far as your spiritual life is concerned, you live in heaven. You do not live in this world. That is our third relationship.
Then the fourth one. John 17:18 says:
As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.
Out of the world, in the world, not of the world—we have been sent into the world. We are sent with a purpose, that we may be a testimony to the world.
We testify of our Lord Jesus, and we try to preach the gospel to unbelievers, that they too may be saved. We have a mission concerning the world.
Brothers and sisters, these are the four relationships with the world as a system. They should govern our relationship with the world. We should ask ourselves: Is this the way that we have our relationship with the world? Is it the way that we live our social life?
I say something to the young people. We all have friends because we are social beings. We are close to those who have the same temperament, the same ideas, and perhaps the same ambition.
When you are saved, what will be your relationship with your old friends? Do you continue with your friendship?
You know what friendship is? Friendship is something that must be built up all the time. If friendship is not gradually built up, it will cool down.
God has no desire for us just to say to our old friends, “You are no longer my friend.” We are not anti-social. These old friends are still our friends.
But remember one thing: your friendship is superseded by fellowship. Friendship is based upon our natural life; fellowship is based upon the life of Christ in us.
Friendship is not as intimate or as close as fellowship. Fellowship is deeper than friendship.
So, to Christians, after we are saved, much of our social life will be superseded by our church life.
We can still keep our old friends, but there is one thing to remember: you do not try to increase the friendship, because you have a church life to live.
You cannot go where your friends go. You cannot do what your friends do. You have to take a stand for Christ, but you are still friendly with them.
You have a purpose. The Lord sent you into the world to bring them into brotherhood. How good it would be if your friends would become your brothers and sisters. That is what the Lord will do with us.
Something happened to me when I was a young man. When I was in school, I had my friends. Some were very intimate friends.
But after God saved me, I had to be faithful to my Lord. I continued to be friendly with them, and thank God, some got saved and became brothers. But unfortunately, there were still some who did not.
Nevertheless, we still had a friendly relationship. Brothers and sisters, our social life will be elevated and made better, and it will glorify the Lord.
I remember the story of Saint Augustine. He was a young man, very brilliant. When he was young, he became a professor of rhetoric.
At that time, the professor of rhetoric was a very high position. But he lived a very dissipated life. It was the tears of his mother, Monica, that brought him to the Lord.
One day he was walking on the street, and a voice from behind called him. He did not reply; he continued walking on.
Finally, the lady caught him and said, “Do you not know me?” He answered, “The Augustine that knew you is already dead.”
That is our relationship with the world.
I remember another story. During the First World War, some soldiers were on a train going to the front. They had nothing to do, so they began to play cards.
But there were only three of them, and they needed a fourth. They saw another soldier sitting nearby and said, “Come and join us.”
He said, “I am sorry. I do not have arms.”
They looked at him. He had two arms. “What do you mean?”
He said, “These arms do not belong to me. I cannot use them by myself.”
That is a testimony. That is our relationship with the world.
Do not be anti-social. We will continue to have our social life, but it will be circumscribed. Our emphasis is on fellowship, and that is what we should do.
Finally, life is composed of these four dimensions. We have our personal life, our family life, our church life, and our social life.
How do we live these four dimensions of life? The principle is the same: not self, but Christ.
You do not live your personal life by your own natural life. You live by the life of Christ.
In the family, you do not live by your own natural life. You live by the life of Christ—as parents and as children.
The same thing is true with church life and with social life. Remember, it is the life of Christ in you.
Unless we have spiritual exercise, we cannot live this way. We exercise our conscience, seeking to live a conscience without offense before God and men.
We exercise our intuition. Whatever God has revealed to us, we obey.
We exercise our communion. We have a life with the Lord every day, drawing close to Him day by day.
That is the way we live. That is the Christian life.
But you say, “We have only twenty-four hours. How can we fulfill all these four areas?”
Ecclesiastes 3 says:
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.
And Ecclesiastes 8 says:
Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing; and a wise man’s heart discerneth time and judgment.
So we need to pray. We need to put ourselves before the Lord and ask Him to show us how to divide our time. May He give us wisdom, that we may know how to distribute our time.
How much time do we live our personal life? How much time do we live our family life? How much time do we live our church life? And how much time do we live our social life?
May God give us wisdom, that we may be able to perform all these four responsibilities as He wills.
Look at our Lord Jesus when He was on earth. When He was twelve years old, He went to the temple and remained there.
When His parents found Him and asked why He had done this, He said, “I must be occupied with My Father’s business.”
But He followed His earthly parents. He went home with them and was obedient to them, because He was still a minor.
When you read the Bible, it seems that Joseph, His earthly father, was never mentioned again. He was much older than Mary; evidently, he passed away.
Who would take care of the family? As the firstborn, the Lord Jesus became a carpenter. The Bible called Him the carpenter. He must have been the best carpenter, for the glory of God.
When He was thirty, His other brothers had grown up. His duty with the family was over, and He came out to minister.
But even when He was dying on the cross, He made provision for His mother.
If we learn to live by the life of Christ and seek the Lord about how to distribute our time, He will enable us to do it wisely.
There is no rigid rule. It is flexible, according to the leading of the Spirit of God.
May the Lord bring us into such a spiritual life.
Dear Lord, we thank Thee for giving us these opportunities to be together. We thank Thee for Thy precious word.
May Thy word become reality to each and every one of us. It is all for Thy own glory. We ask in Thy name.