Confrontation With the World

You're listening to Life Path, Biblical instruction with practical application. I'm Brandon Ware and I want to welcome you to my podcast.

Today is Friday, January 22nd, 2021. And today's devotional thought comes from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, where we read about a confrontation that happened between John the Baptist and Herod the Testament. And Herod the Tetrarch. And this confrontation ultimately led to John's death. Now, John represented the last of the Old Testament prophets leading up to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. And as a prophet, John had been commissioned to boldly declare the truth of God in a world of unbelief. And his message was this, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And that word repent speaks of a change of mind that results in a change of behavior.

It's turning to God by turning away from sin. And so that message inevitably led to a clash between John and the political power of his day. King Herod had been living in open adultery. And when John spoke out against Herod's sin, Herod had John locked up in prison. He even wanted to put the prophet to death at that point, but he held out because the people respected John so much. John feared God, but Herod feared people. John wasn't afraid of being labeled politically incorrect. Instead, he was more concerned about being biblically correct. John was more concerned about having the smile of heaven on his life rather than courting the smile from this world.

Well, the time came when the daughter of Herod's adulteress requested John's head on a silver platter. And we learn from this the sobering truth that faithfulness to God will put you at odds with the world around you. Faithfulness to God's word demands that we cry out against sin in an effort to warn the world of judgment and point the world to the hope of Christ. Whenever political leaders in our day demonstrate low character, when they pursue wicked policy, the church must prophetically cry out against it. Romans 13 tells us to be submissive to governing authorities.

1 Timothy 2 tells us to pray for governing authorities. But John's life shows us how to boldly cry out against those authorities when they are in violation of God's truth. And really, there is no way for a faithful believer to avoid conflict with this world. And this is why Jesus told his disciples that they would experience tribulation in the world.

Rather than being welcomed and celebrated by the world, they would be hated and harassed. The world hates the truth, but it's the truth that sets us free from the bondage of sin. Now if you're discouraged and you feel outnumbered as a follower of Jesus, let me encourage you to remember where your true citizenship resides. The kingdom of Jesus is coming, and no amount of hostility from the world can stop it from coming to pass. Well, that's today's devotional thought. If we can minister to you in any way, please email us. connect at greenstreet.org Thanks for listening.