13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. 1 John 3:13 (NASB)
There are many ministries in our time that are run by people who have either forgotten that friendship with the world is a sin or they are deliberately overlooking it. If a ministry operates in such a way that the world loves it then there is at least one missing component in it. That of course is obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture is clear that Christians cannot be friends of the world….
Why? Satan is the one who dominates the evil world system, which is in rebellion against God (John 14:30). Therefore, the world not only hates Jesus, but also those who follow Him. This hatred is also focused toward the Father because He sent Jesus to testify against it. Now, since this is true and clearly taught in Sacred Scripture, what does this say about those ministries who work overtime to accommodate the secular and to appeal to temporal ways and means?
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. John 15:18-19 (NASB)
The word hate in this passage is the Greek word μισέω (miseō). Jesus is telling us that those who hate Christians actually “detest” them. This hatred is prone to lead to persecution. He then tells us that those who μισέω Christians hated Him first. Who hates Christians and our Lord? It is the world. This is the Greek word κόσμος (kosmos). This word refers to space not time. The κόσμος is the sum total of the material universe, the beauty in it; the sum total of persons living in the world. In other words, this is the temporal or secular. It is the world system. Jesus is saying here that those who belong to Him are no longer part of κόσμος. No, they are now new creations and have been saved out of it. This is why it is so tragic for Christians to be in love with the κόσμος to the point they take on its ways and mind set.