Pastor’s Pen Pulpit                                                                                                            Series: Spiritual Warfare

September 12, 2004

THE HUB

 

In this pen pulpit we are looking at the hub of our spiritual warfare, with ramifications spreading out into every area of life - the world system.  What is the world system?  There are several words for “world” both in the Old and in the New Testaments.  However, the one word we are interested in for this study is the word KOSMOS which is the opposite of chaos.  We get our word cosmetic from this Greek word.  The word means “order, arrangement or adornment”.  We will look at some of the different ways in which the word “world” is used in the New Testament.

 

•     The word in its most inclusive sense - the orderly universe (Matthew 25:34; John 17:5; Acts 17:24; Romans 1:20; Philippians 2:15).

 

•     The world as the earth, the planet on which we live (Mark 14:9; Luke 12:30; John  11:9,27; I Timothy 6:7).

 

•     The world as mankind in general (Matthew 18:7; John 1:29; 3:16).

 

•     The world as the sum of temporal possessions (Matthew 16:26; I Corinthians 7:31).

 

•     The world as a term expressing magnitude and variety (James 3:6 – a term to measure the extent of iniquity that the tongue can cause

 

•     The world as an ordered system of evil as contrasted to God and His plan

 

The world system is an ordered system of evil which was begun by Lucifer and introduced into the human race at the time of the fall of Adam and Eve.  It includes all of Adam’s offspring and the system of morals, ethics, pleasures, philosophies and value systems and priorities that they have established apart from God and under the direction of the prince of the world, Satan.  The world system and all that is involved in it is under divine condemnation and is being caused to pass away.

 

Jesus told His disciples “you are in the world but not of the world.”  Jesus also said “I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19).  So believers are exposed to the world system every day of our lives – but we are not controlled by or guided by the system - Praise God!

 

Jesus told his disciples in John 16:33, ”These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.”  Beloved, this is our hope in Christ.  In our next pen pulpit we will examine how this system had its beginning.  God bless.