Tony Evans - Are You Pursuing the World or the Father?
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Summary
The preacher warns that Christians are redeemed for God’s kingdom, not this passing world, and we must not conform to its pressures or values, as doing so jeopardizes our intimacy with the Father. Drawing from Romans 12:2, 1 John 2:15–17, and other verses, he stresses the world’s temporary nature and the danger of loving it more than God. The key takeaway: live as representatives of God’s eternal kingdom in this temporary world, resisting conformity to avoid «sucking satanic air» and missing true intimacy with God.
Redeemed for Another Kingdom
The world is passing away; far too many of God’s children are operating in an environment we will not redeem, for we were redeemed for another kingdom. God wants us to operate out of that worldview, not this worldview. If you’re trying to operate off of this worldview when you were born again for that worldview, you’re going to be sucking satanic air.
Do Not Be Conformed to This World
Romans 12:2 says, «Be not conformed to this world.» That’s a picturesque word; it’s used of a potter who handles clay. This potter molds the clay and conforms it into an image that he has in his mind. If he wants a plate, he makes the clay into a plate or a pie or a cup or a bowl. He conforms it to an image he has. Romans 12:2 says, «Be not conformed to this world.» Now, exactly how does a potter form clay into what he wants it to look like? Pressure. He has to squeeze it here, push it there, and twist it to make it look like what he wants it to look like.
You and I live in a world that wants to pressure you into its image, pressure you into thinking like it thinks, walking like it walks, talking like it talks, acting like it acts, and accepting what is deceptive. It will make you look like a fool if you don’t abide by the pressure, and if you don’t go along with the program, it will threaten to cancel you because you aren’t going along with how it rolls now.
The pressure is greater now because we’re in a post-modern age. Post-modernity, post-modernism is where the Judeo-Christian worldview has been rejected. There used to be a time when, even if it wasn’t consistently adhered to, that there was an atmosphere where a Judeo-Christian worldview was at least respected, even by non-Christians. However, the more secular the culture has become, the more that worldview has been jettisoned. The jettisoning of that worldview has now brought in conflicting and competing worldviews that are pressuring you.
It is costing people their jobs, costing people their preferences, renaming people, and redefining institutions, and you’re under the pressure to accept it. He says don’t let the world force you into its mold, that is, to accept its values. Now, that does not mean you are without compassion, without love, without consideration, or without concern. You just have values that cannot be adjusted. Don’t let the world press you. You should be concerned about the pressure some of your kids are getting from their peers to conform to a worldview because we see today that secular society is pressing us.
Many have left the church; part of that is the church’s fault for its irrelevancy and lack of biblical authenticity. On the other side of that coin is a society that’s normalizing things. If you want to be part of the in-crowd, you’ve got to buy into the pressure. If you’re going to be serious as a Christian, then you cannot fall into the fatal trap of conforming, being pressed into a world order that leaves God out.
Love Not the World
He says, «Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,» and then he tells you why that’s not a good idea. He says at the end of verse 15, «If anyone—that means no exceptions—loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.» He’s talking to Christians. If you, I, we, us love the world, your relationship with your Daddy in heaven has been jeopardized. He’s still your Father, He’s still your Father because you’re His child if you’re a Christian, but you have jeopardized intimacy. If you love the world, He won’t hang with you.
So one of the reasons why more of us aren’t experiencing more of God is that we have too great a love affair with the world, and God is saying, «Well, if you want the world, you can’t have Me.» James 4:4 says friendship with the world is hostility with God. So it’s not even like we can be friends with the world; friendship with the world makes you God’s enemy.
God has a lot of enemies among His children, and they don’t even know they’re the Father’s enemies. Then we call on the Father to help us be closer to His enemy, the world. We’re actually calling on God to be happy that we have this intimate relationship with His enemy. He says, «No, no, no, no. The love of the Father and the intimacy with the Father—why? Because Galatians 1:4 says that Jesus came to redeem us from the world.» Paul says in Galatians 6:14, «I am crucified to the world.»
In other words, I’m in it; I participate with it, but what I don’t do is adopt the values of it. I’m not like everybody else on the job. I’m not like everybody else in the school. I’m not like everybody else in the neighborhood. I’m not like them because I don’t love that. What I love is the Father. And what you need to know about the world is when it finishes with you, it will spit you out. You may love it, and it may look like it’s loving you right now, but you and I are to be marching out of step because we’re listening to a different drumbeat.
We are unique in our spheres; imperfect as we are, we are unique because we want the Father more than we want the world.
Fish Out of Water
We’ve all seen a fish out of water. If you’ve seen a fish out of water, it’s trying to survive. It’s trying to make it; the problem is it’s trying to make it in an environment it was never created for. It’s struggling to exist, and the only reason the fish is struggling is that it’s not supposed to be there.
Once you throw the fish back in the water, it can be what it was created to be because it’s where it was created to exist. Far too many of God’s children are gills flopping and mouths open because we are operating in an environment we were not redeemed for. We were redeemed for another kingdom, and God wants us to operate out of that worldview, not this worldview. If you’re trying to operate off of this worldview when you were born again for that worldview, you’re going to be sucking satanic air, and you wonder why you’re choking.
We are operating in the wrong environment—not because we’re there. God expects you to be His representative in whatever sphere He has you, but He expects you to be His representative and not to say, «Well, God, the world doesn’t want You here, so You just stay outside.»
The Danger of Loving the Present World
Now, Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:10, «Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.» The key word is present. You know what gets us about the world? It gives us the impression this is all there is. Demas has forsaken me because he has loved this present world. He was with me in ministry, but then the world got so good to him that he forsook me. He wanted the applause of the secular crowd; he wanted the recognition of the ungodly audience; he wanted the embrace of the culture. Because he wanted that so badly, he walked away from God.
Now, Jesus did say, «If I have to say, the world hates Me.» He says when you choose Me in an arena where the world rejects Me, you’re going to have issues.
I don’t want to just talk pie-in-the-sky stuff; no, you’re going to have issues when the values of God clash with the values of this world. There’s going to be a clash, not because you’re trying to make a clash, not because you’re unloving or non-compassionate. It’s just that the values don’t agree. But the question is: do you want the world or do you want the Father?
When Adam and Eve broke away from God, the price tag of losing fellowship was awesome. So in order for us to operate now—because the whole point is to return to God, to get back in sync with Him individually, as your family and as a church—we have to understand the chronology of the world.
The World Is Passing Away
Verse 17: «The world is passing away, and also its lust; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.» He says you need to understand something: the world is passing away. It’s going to leave you, or you’re going to leave it. Don’t make permanent something that’s temporary. The world is passing away, so don’t act like it’s not going anywhere or you’re not going anywhere. Something’s going to move here; the world is passing away.
Let me ask you a question. Let’s say I have the wherewithal, and I’m going to give you 10 million dollars. Do I have any takers? If you knew I was for real, I knew I had a lot of folks who loved the world right there. Okay, I’m going to give you 10 million, and you know I have it and meant it when I said I was going to give you 10 million dollars.
We’re going to gravitate toward that; there’s just one condition. At the end of 365 days, at the end of the year, you have to commit suicide. How many would want 10 million dollars once I added the temporary nature? It changed the value system. See, that 10 million dollars sounds good until it became temporary for you to benefit from it. Once it became temporary, it changed your value system. It wasn’t all that it sounded like up front; that’s what the world does: it sounds good up front.
But He wants you to know the world is passing away, so don’t treat it like stuff’s not going anywhere. Okay, let me give you another example. As you’ve heard me say before, I consider squash an unholy vegetable. We have issues with squash; we don’t connect. But suppose somebody said to me, «Evans, okay, I want you to eat squash for breakfast, lunch, and dinner three times a day for a year.» I don’t like squash; I hate squash. But, «Evans, if you will eat squash for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I will pay all your bills for the rest of my life.»
Come on, squash! Get me a cookbook; find out different ways to cook squash. I love me some squash! Me and squash are in love with each other because what you just did was affect my view of squash. I may not prefer it, but you’ve changed my mind about it because the long-term benefit is worth the temporary inconvenience. Unless you have a long-term perspective, you will settle for the temporary passing away of the world while losing the Father in the middle of it all.