This week's episode is mostly diving into the deception of worldly love and how this has begun to infiltrate the church. Chelsey also shares at the end of the episode about who the "Godless" are and who the "Lost" is. People often blend these two sets of people together when in fact, they are different.
Deception of Worldly Love:
- People twist the meaning behind Jesus's words in Matthew 22:39, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- These same people also fail to read past Matthew 7:1. If they read the verses to follow they would see that they are told they will be held to the same standard they hold others too. "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you."
- Many get caught up in believe that "love" is something that can at times withhold truth. The love of God never sidesteps truth. Matthew 8:11 we see the example of Jesus telling the adulterous woman that He didn’t condemn her, but to sin no more. In Mark 2:17 we Jesus openly share that He came for those He was sitting with; which are the sinners.
- John also tells us in 2 John 1:6 what is means to LOVE like Jesus called us to. 2 John 1:6 what this “love” is to look like that Jesus commands of us in Matthew 22:39. “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.”
The Godless: (link here for biblical definition)
- "The principal idea lying at the root of the word is that of pollution and profanity; a condition of not merely being without God but assuming an attitude of open and blatant opposition toward God. The godless man is not merely the atheistic, unbelieving or even irreligious, but the openly impious, wicked and profane man. Indeed it can hardly be rightly claimed that the idea of hypocrisy is involved in the meaning of the word, for the "godless" man is not the one who professes one thing and lives another, but the one who openly avows not only his disbelief in, but his open opposition to, God. Doubtless the idea of pollution and defilement is also to be included in the definition of this word; see Jeremiah 3:9; Numbers 35:33; Daniel 11:31." -BibleStudyTools.com
- Scriptures: Isaiah 9:17; 10:6; Psalms 35:16
The Lost: (link here for full reading)
- "Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The Bible compares human beings to sheep (Psalm 23; John 10:11–14) because sheep are, by nature, defenseless. They are not overly bright and tend to follow a leader, regardless of where that leader is taking them. Sheep need a shepherd to survive. A shepherd protects them from attacks, guides them to good grazing, and keeps watch so that none are lost. Sheep tend to wander from the herd and can become easy targets for predators. In a spiritual sense, people are prone to wander and become easy targets for our enemy, Satan. Without Jesus, our Good Shepherd, we are spiritually lost and unable to find God on our own.
Jesus told a parable about a lost lamb to explain the Father’s heart for lost people (Luke 15:3–7). The Good Shepherd was willing to leave the ninety-nine sheep in the fold to go in search of the one lost lamb. The lamb would never have found the Shepherd on its own. This parable demonstrates God’s tender concern for every individual. He stops at nothing to find those who need Him and bring them safely into His presence. Just as lost sheep cannot find the Shepherd on their own, lost people cannot find God on their own (Psalm 53:2–3; Romans 3:11)." -GotQuestions.org