10 Sermon Illustrations on Worldliness

1 To be worldly is only to think horizontally and to forget about the vertical

2 Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mould

3 If someone kills your brother you would not be his friend. Given the crucifixion of Christ, why would you want to be the world’s friend?

4 When negotiating hair pin bends in the Alps, the thing to do is not to see how close to the edge you can get but to drive safely all the way

5 Keep the boat in the water and the water out of the boat

6 A characteristic of adolescents is often their eagerness to follow the latest fad - worldly Christians often behave similarly

7 A stick insect can so blend with its environment that it can’t be seen - some Christians look no different to unbelievers

8 If two live electric wires touch there will be sparks. To prevent this there are two options - isolation or insulation. It is the latter that pictures the Christian - in the world but not of it.

9 Gollum and his detrimental obsession with the ring

10 Accents People often pick up an accent from others if they spend time with others, sometimes quite quickly. Others retain their original accent even after years of living with those with a different accent

Ryle on two kinds of Christian

These words are found near the beginning of J C Ryle's booklet on The world (which must be a chapter in Practical Religion). See here.

 

And now, before I go a single step further, let me warn every reader of  this paper that he will never understand this subject unless he first understands what a true Christian is. If you are one of those unhappy people who think everybody is a Christian who goes to a place of worship, no matter how he lives, or what he believes, I fear you will care little about separation from the world.  But if you read your Bible, and are serious about your soul, you will know that there are two classes of (those who call themselves) "Christians"- converted and unconverted.  You will know that what the Jews were among the nations of the Old Testament, this the true Christian is meant to be under the New.  You will understand what I mean when I say that true Christians are meant, in like manner, to be a "peculiar people" under the Gospel, and that there must be a difference between believers and unbelievers. To you, therefore, I make a special appeal this day. While many avoid the subject of separation from the world, and many absolutely hate it, and many are puzzled by it, give me your attention while I try to show you "the thing as it is."

More on the Met Tab

I missed Wednesday but went again for some of Thursday. Again it was all fairly negative and even when one agreed with the drift of many arguments one felt uneasy about certain things. Speakers are not oblivious to the danger of being written off and were alert to the need to be nuanced but didn't quite get there for me. Few Christians would argue with John Thackway's points about the need for gracious moderation, modest deportment (plus wise abstention and healthy preventives which he had no time to elaborate). Sanctified tastes is much more of a minefield. Mendelssohn is okay apparently but not rock 'n' roll. (Here's one place to test this theory).

Anyway the whole thing left me feeling quite depressed. Chris Hand rightly pointed out the tragedy it is that John Piper has decided to give Rick Warren a platform and similar causes for concern. I also feel great sympathy for many of the points made. However, I can't entirely line up with the whole met tab package - AV, pews, no pre-19th century-style hymns, etc. I'm sure the positon I take is not unique but it does feel rather lonely sometimes.

Aber 09 5

Joel Beeke's final message was aimed especially at young people and was on contagious and consistent integrity from Daniel 1. It was one of the best of the messages I thought. He spoke of Daniel's resolution (1:8) trial (1:14) and perseverance (1:21) making several good points regarding what integrity is, how to face temptation, the need not to be Babylonised and witness (you are the Bible they read).

He said that worldliness is the opposite of the Reformed idea of living in coram deo. It is turning your back on God and living without him. It is practical atheism. It is to put profit, pleasure and position first. Worldliness is interested in going forward rather than upward, in the outward rather than the inward.

What a privilege it has been to sit under this godly man's ministry this week. He has now left for Korea where he is speaking at a large ministers conference in Seoul.

In the evening Andrew Davies gave a fine evangelistic address from Romans 10 speaking of the voice of law, of faith (in conviction, confession and the comfort of justification and regeneration) and the Word itself, which urges us to go to Christ. He passed on that statement from J C Ryle that says of Daniel Rowland "He used also often to say, that a self-righteous legal spirit in man was like his shirt, a garment which he puts on first, and puts off last."

So very quickly, it seems, another conference is over for another year. It was good to have fellowship back here with our friends Keith and Janice Hoare and with Owen Milton and his wife Dilys. Lovely meeting so many but no chance to talk to most.

52 JC No 23

In his commentary on Luke 10:38 Calvin writes:

Luke relates that, having been hospitably received by Martha, as soon as he entered the house, he began to teach and exhort. As this passage has been basely distorted into the commendation of what is called a Contemplative life, we must inquire into its true meaning, from which it will appear, that nothing was farther from the design of Christ, than to encourage his disciples to indulge in indolence, or in useless speculations. It is, no doubt, an old error, that those who withdraw from business, and devote themselves entirely to a contemplative, lead an Angelical life. For the absurdities which the Sorbonnists utter on this subject they appear to have been indebted to Aristotle, who places the highest good, and ultimate end, of human life in contemplation, which, according to him, is the enjoyment of virtue. When some men were driven by ambition to withdraw from the ordinary intercourse of life, or when peevish men gave themselves up to solitude and indolence, the resolution to adopt that course was followed by such pride, that they imagined themselves to be like the angels, because they did nothing; for they entertained as great a contempt for active life, as if it had kept them back from heaven. On the contrary, we know that men were created for the express purpose of being employed in labour of various kinds, and that no sacrifice is more pleasing to God, than when every man applies diligently to his own calling, and endeavours to live in such a manner as to contribute to the general advantage.

Two good quotations

1. C S Lewis
I am finally learning how to use Facebook and got this one from Doug McMasters of Tooting
“If you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones - bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas. For a great many of the ideas about God which are trotted out as novelties today, are simply the ones which real Theologians tried centuries ago and rejected.”
2. John Piper
The second I found in Don Carson's companion volume to the M'Cheyne readings.
"The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night."
(A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer

Book Buys February

Book buying in February included five freebies thanks to The Times who were giving away 10 Penguin paperbacks free. I didn't get the all but did get A Clockwork Orange, The Day of the Triffids, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Great Gatsby and Nineteen Eighty-Four. I was sorry to miss Out of Africa, Mrs Dalloway and Animal Farm.

I also made an impulse buy rushing through Tesco's one day and spotting Hugo Hamilton's The Sailor in the Wardrobe for just £3. I really enjoyed his The Speckled people.

I also bought 10 copies of Richard Gibson's collection of Jewish testimonies The unusual suspects to sell in church.

At the Affinity Conference I bought the first volume of Douglas Kelly's Systematic Theology, a book of essays on Worldliness edited by C J Mahaney, which I have almost finished, addresses from a previous conference The Forgotten Christ and Iain D Campbell's little book The seven wonders of the world.

Worldliness 03

3. Why must we take this attitude?

John does not leave us with bare commands. God is under no obligation to tell us why we must do a thing, of course. But he often does. Here it is so – and again the reasoning is very simple. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. Look at any aspect of worldliness and you will see that it is diametrically opposed to what the Father desires for us.
Think of the cravings of sinful man this constant desire to fulfil one’s appetite for food or sex or contentment. Does that come from the Father? It's true that God gave man certain appetites from the beginning but was it ever his intention that man should live for those things? You only have to remember what happened to Jesus in the desert when he was tempted to see that can't be so.
Remember the first temptation – for this hungry man to turn stones into bread to feed himself. And what did Jesus say – quoting Deuteronomy he said, Man does not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Life is more than clothing and food. There are higher things –things that come from God to set our hearts on.
Or think of the temptation to jump from the highest point of the Temple. Oh how grand it would have looked. How impressed everyone would be to see the angels saving Jesus from certain death. But to test God in such a way – that would not be from him would it?
And then that final temptation – to gain all the glory and honour that this world has to offer. Was that from the Father? Not at all. Rather he wants us to worship him and him alone. He will not share his glory with another.
Think of yourself on duty at a crossroads. It is your duty to let everything from one direction through but nothing coming from the other direction. That's how the Christian is to be – he is always to say ‘no’ to the world and always ‘yes’ to God the Father. There can be no compromise. What comes from the world is opposed to God. It is the very opposite of what God the Father gives.
4. What other reason does John give for saying ‘no’ to the world?

One more crucial argument against worldliness is given in 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. The very argument for self-preservation should be enough for us. It’s like a man confronted by two bottles of potion. One is a poison. If he drinks it he will poison himself and risk death. The other is an elixir of life. Drink it and you will live forever. The world’s desires will not last. They get very excited about their food and drink and all their friendship and bonhomie. None of it's going to last forever. It will all soon pass. This is the very opposite of non-worldliness, which is doing the will of God. Those who do the will of God live forever. Live like that then.
More practically. What about some of the vexed questions on this subject? Start with cars, TVs, computers, ties and buttons, all of which some think are worldly. These can't be worldly in and of themselves. It's the way we use things that is either worldly or God honouring. So what about going to the cinema, pub, disco, nightclub, rock concert or playhouse, ballet, opera for that matter? Again, a place can't be worldly in and of itself, however in those examples they are worldly places in the sense that what goes on in them revolves around gratifying the cravings of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. A Christian has to think twice before going to such a place, therefore. What affect is this going to have on me? Certainly a regular diet of such things can't be any good for anyone. As for drinking alcohol, smoking, listening to music, dancing, reading books, wearing make-up, jewellery, etc, surely I chiefly need to keep a watch on myself and make sure I'm not being lured into a love for the world. Remember that Spurgeon anecdote on smoking where Spurgeon gives up his cigars when challenged by his servant George. George, however, finds going without his pipe much more difficult.It's good to test ourselves from time to time just to be sure that we are not falling into the world's clutches. Be careful, of course, that any success doesn't go to your head and you start boasting. Above everything concentrate on doing the will of God because that's the one who will live forever.

Worldliness 02

2. What must the attitude of the Christian be towards the world?

Having established what worldliness is it can be no surprise to us what John says our attitude should be to it if we are Christians. To drive home his point he puts things in terms both of what we must not do and in terms of what will happen if we do.
A. What must we not do? The instruction itself is very straightforward and could not be put more simply. Do not love the world or anything in the world. By putting it in this form he allows for no temporising or compromise. The worldling loves to live for what will satisfy his earthly desires. He lives for what will satisfy his eyes and give him a sense of well being about himself. He loves such things. The believer is not to love this attitude or the things hat promote this attitude. This doesn't mean that he can't enjoy his food or listen to music for pleasure, that he can't enjoy watching a TV programme or seeing a pretty girl, that he can't be proud of where he comes from or celebrate when his favourite team wins at soccer or rugby. However, in comparison with his love for the Lord and for the kingdom of God it is as if he hates these things and has no love for them at all. Remember Jacob and how he loved Rachel. But when he got married after serving 7 years he was given Leah. Rachel had to be his second wife. And we are told that he hated Leah but loved Rachel. Now it wasn't that he hated Leah in the normal sense but that his love for Rachel was so great that it was as if he hated Leah in comparison. That sort of difference has to be in the life of the Christian with regard to Christ and the world. Do you love the world? Do you love the things that the world has to offer and that the world holds dear? We would be lying if we said they held no attraction for us. But we must not love them – don’t cherish those desires or those attitudes. Don’t pamper them and encourage them. Let them die.
B. What will happen if we do that? If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. These are two incompatibles says John. If you love the world, you can't have the love of the Father – you can neither love him nor will he love you, both are true, whichever John has most in mind. Many of you have mobile phones and you probably know that what makes them tick is the SIM card inside. You can take a simcard from one phone and put it in another. What you can't do on most phones (at least in the UK) is to put 2 simcards in one phone – even if they would both go in you couldn't have them both working. Now John says it's like that – it's one or the other, worldliness or God. You can't do both. What makes you tick? What do you live for and love? If it's food or sex or wine or football or your home or family how can you say you love the Father? What drives you? If it is simply seeing the next film, hearing the next single, watching the next game, going on the next trip, you don’t really know what the love of God is all about. What is your ambition? To promote yourself in some way? To cheer yourself up or be pleased with how things have gone? That's worldliness, it is not love to God the Father.

Worldliness 01

I preached today on 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, etc.
Given the Blog title I thought it might be good idea to pass on most of it here. John speaks in these verses about the world. By world he can't mean the earth itself or all the people living on it. He's clearly using the word in a specialised way, one that the NT often does. He is talking about the world system as it is opposed to God. It comes in many shapes and sizes but is always anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Christian. (Cf Jas 4:4, Rom 12:2a, etc).
1. What does John say worldliness is?

John very helpfully explains much of what worldliness is all about with what he says in 16 and I think that's where we need to start as there's a lot of confusion among Christians and others over just what worldliness is. I want us to concentrate on the three phrases John uses. The NIV has the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does. The traditional translation is ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life’. So we can say that worldliness involves

The cravings of sinful man

Literally the cravings/lusts of the flesh. We are all born with certain appetites or desires – desires for food, for drink, for sexual fulfilment. We love to hear beautiful sounds and be told wonderful stories. Beyond that we desire, more generally, excitement, human fellowship and interaction, feelings of peace and contentment. Now when these desires are put into the driving seat as it were then we have worldliness. 'Eat, drink and be merry' says the world. That's its creed. 'If it feels good, do it'. Life’s for living – and by that they mean live for eating, drinking, sexual fulfilment, what ever is exciting or makes you feel good about yourself. 'That's living alright'. So they are happy to 'eat, drink and sleep football' or to say 'I live for my holidays or my family'. Any professed Christian who lives for such things is being worldly. Are you worldly? Or are you in danger of being worldly?
The lust of his eyes

More specifically, there is a lust of the eyes – a longing to gratify the eyes with sights that we feel will satisfy us. It comes out in different ways but it basically materialism, living just for what we can see with our physical eyes. We want to be entertained, as we have already mentioned in part, to be impressed by dramas and works of art, to see wonderful sites and strange things. This why TV and film is such a constant draw. Are you living just to satisfy the desires of your eyes? Reading books, watching TV, spectating at sport, looking at people, looking at films and DVDs, gazing at the computer screen simply with the aim of satisfying your eyes? That is worldliness. Any professed Christian who lives for what he can see is being worldly. Are you worldly? Or are you in danger of being worldly?
Boasting about what he has and does

Or, more literally, the pride of life. Another characteristic of the world is pride in self. Again it comes out in different ways in different people. With some it’s just a cocksureness that they will live for many years to come, that they're bound to be going to heaven, that they're among the people who count, the people who matter. There is an arrogance, a self-sufficiency, a self-confidence that is both what attracts people to the world and what makes it such an insult to God. People have spoken of pride of face, pace, place, race and grace – ie being proud of your good looks, of your skills in sport or something else, of where you come from or of your race, or even of your religion. Pride is characteristic of the world – if is not one thing, it is another. There are proud atheists but there are also proud professing Christians. There are proud white men and proud black men, people proud of their looks, people proud of their books. It is all worldliness. Any professed Christian who depends on himself is being worldly. Are you worldly? Or are you in danger of being worldly?

Seasonal diary entry

Matthew Blair, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I was browsing through Life in Jesus: a memoir of Mrs. Mary Winslow, arranged from her correspondence, diary, and thoughts by Octavius Winslow yesterday on Google books. See here. Mary lived 1774-1856 in England and the US. It looks a fascinating read. On page 106 Winslow quotes his mother's diary for 1829. Very seasonal I guess.

Dec 26 - Was ill yesterday, and was obliged to keep my bed. The family had a happy day together. It was pleasant to them to meet so many and I am sure my kind-hearted T_______ was as happy as a prince. After all I could but reflect on the way in which Christmas-day is generally kept. It is the birthday of our blessed Lord. In general, when the world celebrates the birthday of a highly distinguished individual, they speak much of his character, ways and exploits. But on this day of carnal delight, Christ‘s name [in the social circle] is seldom mentioned. He is kept out of sight, or if any allusion should be made to him, it would be received with grave looks and sullen indifference. Oh, what a God of longsuffering is ours! How He hears with, and how much, and how much he hath to bear with, even in his children. May He keep us from the evil of the world! I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.