Christian's must love the Lord not the world. So you do not follow the world over the Lord. So you do not let the world push you into its mold, but you are transformed by the renewing of your mind.

1 John 2:15-17 says "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever."

It’s always a battle between what you can see, and what you cannot. We look not at the things which are seen, but the things that are unseen, because the things that are seen are temporary, but the things unseen are eternal. We know love by this that he gave is only begotten Son for us. The sacrifice for our sins.

But we have eyes and ears and appetites, and we get really caught up in that, and the unseen gets pushed out of the picture. Like when you zoom in and can’t get it unstuck.

You think of Job and you think of David and that they went through a lot. Job, because of the Sovereignty of God, and David, because of his sin, and they both cried out to God, and poured out their hearts, and you might think well why were they saying all of that kind of stuff to God, but they were saying it to him, they were praying. They were expressing themselves to the only holy God. The Lord.

That kind of acknowledgement defies the world. Do not love the world or the things in the world, the world is passing away, and so are its lusts, but he who does the will of God of its forever.

There is one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. People are happy to add Jesus on to an already full agenda, happy to give him a cameo appearance. What people can’t stand is Jesus having preeminent centerstage vocalized rulership over someone’s life because that ruins their fun.

The way that seems right to man truly leads to death. Only in Jesus Christ is there life. If you were a Christian in the first century, you weren’t set on fire by Nero, fed to wild beasts, put in boiling oil, or drenched in hot wax because you made a little confession in the privacy of your own home, or because you thought that Jesus was a good example or helpful to you in life.

It was because you made a grand subversive defiant pronouncement in public and identified with the crucified risen, savior, and Lord Jesus Christ. And you proclaimed and lived the truth quite clearly that Jesus Christ is Lord, not Caesar or Nero, tantamount to if you stood up at the presidential inauguration and said that Jesus Christ is greater than our president. Or at an award show, you actually said that Jesus Christ is coming back, and if you don’t turn to him, you’ll spend eternity in hell. Or going to your local city council meeting and standing up and saying that Jesus is greater than the mayor.

That sounds ridiculous to you doesn’t it? But you do that, and they will cast you out for being audacious enough to make that claim. And how might that audacious, subversive, intolerant, defiant proclamation live out in your life?

How about the next time you are tempted to lie, cheat or steal you say I will not shame my Lord?

How about the next time you are attempted to waste hours not thinking about anything eternal or good, you say, my Lord redeemed the time, and so will I?

How about you decide that the next time your friends get together and they want to bash someone behind their backs you say Jesus is my Lord and I’m not going to gossip.

Or the next time you sin, and need to confess it to someone, you don’t rationalize it or justify yourself, but you say, Jesus is my Lord and I need to make things right.

How about the next time you are tempted, you say Jesus is Lord, not this addiction or pleasure.

If you truly proclaim and live the Lordship of Christ, you will set yourself at odds against every idol. You will be in the crosshairs of society, and sadly, many times, even of the professing church. Jesus Christ alone stands as supreme ruler to Whom we owe absolute allegiance. Or we do not belong to him.