Confronting the SPIRIT of this Age

I have this growing concern for the church. It’s been a concern of mine for years, but it continues to intensify. It continues to trouble me. It continues to keep me up at night. And my concern is that the spirit of this age has crept into the church and has been slowly leading people away from truth. This spirit is sneaky. This spirit is deceptive. And this spirit has been using half-truths and seemingly biblical ideas to deceive many. And it’s alarming how many people who claim to follow Jesus are falling for its lies and deception.

1 John 4:1 NLT Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.

What is the spirit of this age? Same it’s always been. The spirit of satan. The spirit of the world.

• 1 John 2:15-17 NASB Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.

You and I are not to love the world nor the things in the world. Then John tells us three things that are in the world. He says we’re not to love the lust of the flesh. We’re not to love the lust of the eyes and we’re not to love the pride of life. John says if we love these three things the love of God is not in us. That’s a big statement, with big ramifications. 

We see these three things from the very first temptation in the garden of Eden with Eve and even in Matthew 4 when satan tempts Jesus.

• Genesis 3:6 NASB When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

She saw the fruit was good for food, this is the lust of the flesh. She saw the fruit looked good and was a delight to her eyes, this is the lust of the eyes. She thought it would make her wise. This is the pride of life. 

You could summarize these three temptations by saying it’s pursuing Pleasure, Possession, and Position. Or to say it another way it’s pursuing Sex, Salary, and Status. 

BUT DOESN’T JESUS WANT ME TO BE HAPPY? Why can’t I love pleasure?

The spirit of this age wants you to believe that if something makes you happy then God MUST want you to have it! This couldn’t be further from the truth. Jesus said if you want to follow Him you have to DENY YOURSELF, pick up YOUR CROSS DAILY, and follow Him. To follow Jesus means you follow Him, not your desires and not your heart. 

You see we’ve changed the call of JESUS from DENY yourself, pick up YOUR cross and FOLLOW me to believe in YOURSELF, pick up YOUR desires and follow YOUR heart. 

God’s highest goal is not our pleasure. God’s highest goal for our lives is His glory. God wants to use our lives to expand and extend His kingdom all over the earth. So if there is something or someone that I love that grieves God, that He calls sin, then I need to turn from it. If our fickle feelings and desires get in the way of His ultimate good and glory we are to choose Him and His will. We are to DENY ourselves.

BUT DOESN’T JESUS WANT ME BLESSED? Why can’t I love possessions?

The spirit of this age wants you to believe that pursuing possessions will truly make you happy. God absolutely wants you blessed, but we have to define what that means. He wants you to have peace, walk in joy and have your physical needs met. But nowhere does it say the will of God for all His followers is worldly success and loads of cash. 

The spirit of this age lies and says… If I had _________________ I would be happy. If I had a house I’d be happy. If I got married I’d be happy. If I got the promotion I’d be happy. If I had what they had I’d be happy. The issue is once you get what you wanted, within a few weeks or months there’s something new added to the list. Once you buy a house, you have to renovate the house. Once you renovate the house you need to upgrade the house. Once you get the raise, you are looking for a promotion. Once you get married, you need children. The cycle has no end. And that’s why the pursuit of possessions is endless. God’s not opposed to you having stuff and He’s not opposed to you pursuing things. He just wants us to know that joy and fulfillment cannot be found there. Many of us lack peace and joy and it’s because we think it’s found in our possessions. We’ve attempted to use stuff to appease our hearts and it simply won’t satisfy us. Stuff will leave you wanting more when you were designed to walk with Jesus! In Jesus, you can find contentment.

BUT DOESN’T JESUS WANT ME TO BE IMPORTANT? Why can’t I love position?

Again it depends on how you define importance. The world defines importance with titles, salaries, influence, and the size of an office. God defines success much differently. God defines success as obedience. He defines success as loving Him. He defines success as loving others. Influence and positions aren’t bad, but many times they become an idol. They take the place of God and become the most important thing in our lives. I see a large number of Christians who are elevating being liked and admired by culture above God’s word and God’s truth. They’re ashamed of the truth of scripture and instead accept all kinds of sinful behavior. I am to love everyone. But love doesn't ignore the sin that hurts and damages people. I speak the truth in love and call people to repent. I don’t applaud their sin or congratulate their immorality. If we’re pursuing the next promotion or level of influence to the point where we don’t have time for God or disagree with His word, we’ve succumbed to the spirit of this age and have let pride fill our hearts. 

WHAT NOW?

So what should I do now? First, you have to RECOGNIZE the spirit of the age. You have to see it for what it is. Ask yourself has pride crept in and gotten you to change God’s word to fit your desires? Has pursuing pleasure made you ignore God’s commands? Has the desire to be important kept you from standing for truth while loving others? Once you recognize it you have to REJECT it. Reject the lie. Reject the temptation. Repent and turn the other way. Last you have to REPLACE the lie, the belief, or the wrong pursuit, with TRUTH. 

It’s my prayer the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to the truth and that truth would set you free. John 8:36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.