The World is Wrong
Read John 16:5-10.
Everyone is right today. In the age of social media, everyone's viewpoint is considered equally valid because everyone has a platform to proclaim their latest offense. Each morning, I wake up and turn on the news to find out what the latest outrage is all about.
Jesus, as you might guess, has a different perspective. There is right and there is wrong. The ends do not justify the means. He has tried to teach his disciples these things, but now the time has come for him to depart. How will they remember? (Remember, there are no written texts as of yet.) Jesus says he will send a helper, an Advocate: the Holy Spirit. Not only will the Spirit help them remember what Jesus said and guide Jesus' followers into all truth (16:13-14), he will remind us that the world is wrong.
The world is wrong, first of all, in regard to sin. We live in a world where many would like to deny that sin exists. There is no such thing. What previous generations called "sins" are now just "lifestyle choices." We live in the "as long as it doesn't hurt me, it's okay" generation. If what you do does offend me or hurt me, however, watch out. When 9/11 happened and then-President Bush used the word "evil" to describe the actions taken on that day, the media reacted strongly. How could he call anything evil? If there is no sin, there is no evil. And if there is no wrong, there is no sin.
Jesus says this happens when people refuse to believe in him. The world is wrong about sin because people have turned their backs on their one who created them, the only one who has the right to declare what is right and what is wrong. We can't expect our world to agree with us about what sin is if they have no understanding of the one who made the world. Posting that "Jesus died for your sin" makes no sense to a world in which there is no sin. The world is wrong, but they don't know they are wrong.
Rather than raging against what is wrong, we can allow the Spirit to work within and through us by standing for what is right. Instead, God's people often spend our time yelling at the world about its sin. That's not our job, that's the work of the Holy Spirit! What if we instead stood up for what is right, lived the way Jesus calls us to live, loved one another and lived the Gospel? Then the Spirit would be free to do his work unencumbered, convicting the world of sin.
It's something to think about, but it will take a major shift in the way we operate. What are the possibilities that changing us just might change the world?
Everyone is right today. In the age of social media, everyone's viewpoint is considered equally valid because everyone has a platform to proclaim their latest offense. Each morning, I wake up and turn on the news to find out what the latest outrage is all about.
Jesus, as you might guess, has a different perspective. There is right and there is wrong. The ends do not justify the means. He has tried to teach his disciples these things, but now the time has come for him to depart. How will they remember? (Remember, there are no written texts as of yet.) Jesus says he will send a helper, an Advocate: the Holy Spirit. Not only will the Spirit help them remember what Jesus said and guide Jesus' followers into all truth (16:13-14), he will remind us that the world is wrong.
The world is wrong, first of all, in regard to sin. We live in a world where many would like to deny that sin exists. There is no such thing. What previous generations called "sins" are now just "lifestyle choices." We live in the "as long as it doesn't hurt me, it's okay" generation. If what you do does offend me or hurt me, however, watch out. When 9/11 happened and then-President Bush used the word "evil" to describe the actions taken on that day, the media reacted strongly. How could he call anything evil? If there is no sin, there is no evil. And if there is no wrong, there is no sin.
Jesus says this happens when people refuse to believe in him. The world is wrong about sin because people have turned their backs on their one who created them, the only one who has the right to declare what is right and what is wrong. We can't expect our world to agree with us about what sin is if they have no understanding of the one who made the world. Posting that "Jesus died for your sin" makes no sense to a world in which there is no sin. The world is wrong, but they don't know they are wrong.
Rather than raging against what is wrong, we can allow the Spirit to work within and through us by standing for what is right. Instead, God's people often spend our time yelling at the world about its sin. That's not our job, that's the work of the Holy Spirit! What if we instead stood up for what is right, lived the way Jesus calls us to live, loved one another and lived the Gospel? Then the Spirit would be free to do his work unencumbered, convicting the world of sin.
It's something to think about, but it will take a major shift in the way we operate. What are the possibilities that changing us just might change the world?
The Holy Spirit living in us is so life-changing. But the world is moving farther and farther away from even realizing their need for Him. As you said, they believe nothing is wrong (unless someone else is doing it to them or something they care about). But even then they're being jerks or hateful (more than likely they would call them something far worse), but it's still not sin.
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