Jesus Warred for the World's Affection

What Did Jesus Do?

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1 John 2:15b

American Greetings and Hallmark probably couldn’t sell many Valentine’s cards depicting war zones. And Russell Stover would likely be broke today if he had sought to market Kevlar body armor for February 14 rather than candy. But, the romantic trappings of Valentine’s Day aside, “Love is a battlefield,” at least according to Pat Benatar back in 1983. Actually, we don’t have to take Benatar’s word for it, all we need to do is read the Bible. Yes, the Bible is a love story, but it’s also the chronicle of a war. The hero of the Bible is, of course, Jesus, who warred for the world’s affection.

Think about it. Jesus came on a mission of love, the Father’s love (John 3:16), but the Son did not come to bring peace (Matthew 10:34). How can this be? Because, love became a battlefield as a result of the Fall. The Tempter had sought to steal the affections of man and woman away from God, and he succeeded. But God was not about to surrender—he would fight, contending against the world, the flesh, and the devil. The Father refused to lose the love of those he had created in his own image.

Now, if you know the Scriptures, you know that the contest raged for generations, with much blood spilled. Yet, ultimately, the blood of the Lamb of God settled the contest once and for all. Yes, the fighting still goes on, but the war has been won. Though defeated, the enemy still seeks to hurt and wound, even kill, as many as he can. Love remains a battlefield.

The good thing is, Satan has never changed his tactics. Yes, he’s a liar, and he’s tricky, but we know how he works. John in fact spelled it out in verse 16 in words of warning to the Church two thousand years ago: 1) Because of the Fall our fleshly desires, our physical appetites, which God himself gave us, grow insatiable, demanding that we indulge them to excess, even if it means breaking God’s law. 2) Our eyes, by which we primarily take in the beauty and good things God created in the world, grow lustful to gaze for selfish sinful pleasure on that upon which we should not look. The eye is also the primary route by which covetousness gets a hold of us. 3) Rather than joy and thankfulness for the many gifts God gives us, we take pride in possessions we ourselves acquire; we’ve seen the silly bumper sticker that says, “He who dies with the most toys, wins.” Our delight is in the material, at the cost of the spiritual.

Jesus came to show us, and to teach us, another way. The Son came to war, and to woo, and to win back our affection, that we would again give it to the Father. The Church, called to live in the love of God, cannot not do so while having an affair with the world. And, like all affairs, that with the world is doomed to end, and end badly. For the world, and all its many desires and sinful pleasures will come to an end, along with all who choose to love it rather than God. (1 John 2:17a) Not so for those who know and love God, and do his will. For, like the Son, they have eternal life by the power of the Father’s love. (1 John 2:17b) Jesus warred, and won the battle for our affection. Following the Lord’s example, and heeding the warning of John, the Church gives its love, now and forever, to the Father.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4