THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD: ENEMIES OR FRIENDS?

These 2 will always remain of divine interests until the day when Jesus comes to take His people away.

God wants the church to remain unspotted, and He wants the world to become converted and also be saved. But, even while the church strives to remain unspotted in the world while reaching out to the same world with the good news, the church must be careful not to become worldly. This is gradually becoming the case; the church has become worldly all in the name of winning over the world, and then the world is becoming churchy.

Let us know that in the beginning things were not so. In the beginning God spelt out a clear demarcation between the church and the world; between light and darkness.

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17).

“For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26)

“For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance” (1 kings 8:53).

In the beginning, God put a wall of separation between the church and the world. There was a wall of separation, and this wall was an emblem of God’s standard of holiness which has never changed.

This is the wall that separates the church from the world. It is the line of demarcation between the light and darkness; between the sons of God and the sons of the world. At some points, it was very easy to differentiate between someone who is a child of God and another who separates himself from God. This was evident in speech, dressing, attitude, character, lifestyle, etc. But today, that wall of separation and line of demarcation have been removed; the old landmark has been removed.

Today, it is very difficult in many quarters to distinct between the church and the world. The church instead of winning the world has copied the world. We are no longer different in the ways we dress, talk, and live. Secular music have been changed to look churchy; worldly dances have been brought into the church...the world has crept “unawares” into the church, and the church is filled with mixed multitudes.

There are multitudes that have entered the church not because they want to be saved but they have a satanic mandate to steal the salvation of the saints. When a congregation becomes too hot for them, they change places. They want to be pampered and not warn about sin. When you preach against sin, not only do they react angrily, they also instigate the saints to rebel against God’s word and standard of holiness. They are the mixed multitudes.

The Mixed Multitude

“And a mixed multitude went up also with them” (Exodus 12:38)

When God called the Israelites, there was a mixed multitude that went with them. One would think the mixed multitude should be given time perhaps they would repent. But it never was to be.

 “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?” (Numbers 11:4).

The mixed multitudes became the problem of the Israelites, and the same way there are strange people who have entered the church today and causing so much rebellion among God’s people.

But the time of separation will soon come.

“Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude” (Nehemiah 13:3).

“And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers” (Nehemiah 9:2).

The Time of Separation

Friends, God never intended us to mingle with the world. He wants us to reach out to the world with the word of salvation and not for us to copy the ways and styles of the world and bring them to the church. It is unfortunate that today secular and worldly musicians are invited to the church to sing all in the name of winning them over. This is like bringing strange fire to the altar and this is unacceptable to God.

Youth picnics have become secular parties in the name of maximizing the strength of the youths. There are no more retreats for revival and discipleship among us.

The wall of separation must be rebuilt now. God commands us to come out from the world and be SEPARATE! We must restore the old landmark. Our dressings, speeches, lifestyles in all facets must represent the holy kingdom we belong to.

And when the time of final separation shall come, we shall neither be ashamed or afraid. The time is coming...

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:31-34).