Christianity Versus the World 

Memory Verse: "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4).

Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:15-29.

Introduction: "Christianity versus the World" is a central theme of the book of 1 John. The meaning of worldliness, or the "world of darkness," is: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:16). John says that if we love this kind of world, the love of the Father is not in us.
  Someone once said, "I would give the world to be able to be a Christian." And someone else replied, "That is exactly what it will cost." If one is willing to give up pride, lust, sin and selfishness, he can become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  Following Christ does not mean a painful, daily torture of letting go of worldly pleasures one by one, to live in a vacuum of piety. If one seriously desires and intends to be a Christian, he must first recognize that he desires to exchange one world for another. He must realize that he can trust God and Christ to give him a world of joy not to be compared with the world of sin and sorrow.
  Jesus illustrated that we are to come out of the world and dwell in Him: "I am the vine, ye are the branches . . . without me ye can do nothing . . . I have chosen you out of the world." We must be connected to the main vine, daily receiving food and water from the roots. A man once had a grape vine which looked healthy but yielded very little fruit. One spring he was almost ready to cut it down and then he looked under the leaves and found the developing clusters of a heavy crop of grapes. He explored beneath and found roots that had worked their way through the hard subsoil down to an underground source of water. We must be liket his cluster--fully latched onto the roots which are our source of life-giving water.

Questions:

1. What reasons did God give for taking Israel from Egypt for Himself? Leviticus 11:45; 20:7,8,26.

2. Separated from unbelievers in the habits of life, what do God's people become? 2 Corinthians 6:16,18.

3. How widespread is the evil of the world? 1 John 5:19; 2:16.

4. What is to be our relationship to the world of wickedness? James 4:4; 1 John 2:15,16.

5. Why did the world hate Christ? John 7:7.

6. What may Christ's followers expect from the world? Luke 21:17; John 15:18,19. (Note: This hatred will be manifest on the part of those who are wicked and love wickedness, and resent the honest or righteous person.)

7. What advice is given in Romans 12:1,2?

8. What is Christ to the world? John 8:12; 9:5.

9. What help does the Christian have in this world? John 15:1-8; 1 John 4:4-6.

10. How do we overcome the world of darkness? Romans 8:31; 1 John 5:4; John 16:33.