Enjoying Life But Not Loving The World

One of the parts in scripture that I think can often times be read over and overlooked as Christians is a line that Paul writes to Timothy.

I’m sure this was a line that Timothy as he first read the letter definitely did not just read right over.

It was probably a line that made Timothy pause, and even feel much sorrow over for a bit of time before continuing on in the letter.

2 Timothy 4:9–10 ESV

9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

This was one of Timothy’s former coworkers… who has walked away from Paul… because of the reality that Demas himself, had fallen into this pit of loving the present world.

This let’s us understand why Paul had spent time writing to Timothy things like 2 Tim. 1:13

2 Timothy 1:13–14 ESV

13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Demas had not done so. He had allowed the present world, the flesh and the devil to get the best of him.

He fell into the trap of seeking the approval and loving the approval of this world more than the approval of God.

We are in this fight parents, this fight in which so often Christians try to go out of their way to look more like the world than they do God.

ALL IN THE NAME OF TRYING TO REACH THE WORLD. WHICH BIBLICALLY, THIS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.

Parents must disciple their children to be different than the world. And to do that, we need to have a biblical view of what God has to say about the world and Christian liberty.

Disciple-Making Parents will warn their children about loving the world.

Love, Enjoy, or Resist?

Thinking about God’s Word and the word WORLD. Thinking through scripture, you see the word WORLD used in a few different ways.

The Christian is to love the world.

God loves the people of the world.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

And so should His followers.

It’s the assumption of scripture that the followers of Jesus would seek to love those in the world and of the world.

1 Corinthians 9:19 ESV

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

The Christian is to enjoy the world.

1 Timothy 6:17 ESV

17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

We have COMMON (GENERAL) GRACE. This grace given to each person who lives on this earth. We have things in this life that we all get to enjoy as those created in the image of God.

Art

Sports

Performances

Books

Marriage

God is the author of pleasure and loves pleasure. It points to Him! The christian life is not a life of drinking lemon juice!

The Christian is to resist the world.

BUT, we are also told NOT TO LOVE THIS WORLD OR BE CONFORMED TO THE WORLD.

1 John 2:15 ESV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Satan in fact is ruler of this fallen world.

A.W. Tozer said, “A whole new generation of Christians have come up believing it is possible to accept Christ without forsaking the world.

AND SO, to be able to shepherd our children well, we need to understand how to navigate our children through this dichotomy.

What does it means to love the world?

CJ Mahaney, in his book, WORLDLINESS, defines this negative sense of the world as

The organized system of human civilization that is actively hostile to God and alienated from God… Worldliness, then, is love for this fallen world. It’s the values and pursuits of the world that stand opposed to God.

Bettis says, “It’s letting the world seduce our hearts and mold us into it’s image.”

This is solely a matter of the heart, the inner man affection that we are giving something in this world. (Affection= what we value, desire, and choose).

Sanctification [at our church] begins by answering two questions. “What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ? And what robs you of those affections” Many of the things that stifle growth are morally neutral. They’re not bad things. Facebook is not bad. Television and movies are not bad. I enjoy TV, but it doesn’t take long for me to begin to find humorous on TV what the Lord finds heartbreaking.

We want our people to think beyond simply what’s right and wrong. We want them to fill their lives with things that stir their affections for Jesus Christ and, as best as they can, to walk away from things that rob those affections - even when they re not immoral. - Matt Chandler

The problem with consistent prolonged affection is that it pulls my heart away from Christ.

Can we enjoy the things of life? MOST ASSUREDLY!

But when this affection become idolatry, we have a problem.

Dare to be Different

What this means is that I want to teach my children to love the world, enjoy the world, and resist the world all at the same time.

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Holiness and Christian Freedom

This discussion of worldliness moves us into the discussion of Christian Freedom and Holiness.

This is the tension in the middle of so many disputes in the Christian World. More than we probably even know.

So often… you will have somebody who has been convicted in their lives about a certain thing, and rightly so, they listen to the convictions given to them by the Holy Spirit through a principle seen in the scriptures. This pushes them to a holiness in their lives with God because they listened to their WORD GIVEN CONVICTIONS.

They will then take that same conviction, create a law where there is no command or law given, and apply it to somebody else’s life who doesn’t have the same convictions from a principle given to us in Scripture.

Understanding this teaching given here by Bettis when thinking about this will help us raise our children WHO CARE ABOUT HOLINESS WHILE NOT BECOMING LEGALIST.

WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT PART OF THE BRILLIANCE OF THE BIBILE IS THAT IT DOES NOT SPEAK WITH DIRECT COMMAND TO EVER MORAL SITUATION. HOWEVER, JUST BECAUSE THERE ISN’T A SPECIFIC COMMAND DOESN’T MEANS THERE ISN’T A BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE THAT APPLIES.

GOD’S WORD OFTEN SPEAKS IN PRINCIPLES.

DRIVE SAFELY

Let’s illustrate using an analogy of the speed limit.

Most of the time the laws of our land are very clear. Imagine with me a road sign that reads “Speed Limit 40 mph.” In this case the standard and command are quite clear.

But at my library is another road sign that states “Drive Safely. Children Playing.” No specific speed limit is given. However, the principle is clear. Operate your vehicle safely in this area. The important point is that the driver must discern what is safe. The thoughtful driver takes in many factors like weather, presence of children, and his own experience. Using all of those factors, he or she thoughtfully seeks to drive safely.

As we comprehend this principle, it will keep us away from two enemies of the gospel: libertinism and legalism. Libertinism would say, “I am free from the law and can drive at whatever speed I want. It doesn’t matter what speed I drive.” legalism, on the other hand, says, “Thirty miles per hour is obviously the safest speed. I have to drive that speed and so must everyone else!”

Biblical Tension and Sinful Extremes

When God gives us general principles in Scripture, He is expecting that we will prayerfully develop convictions in our conscience. The conscience is the God-given ability to excuse and accuse us.

Romans 2:14–15 ESV

14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

McArthur says that our conscience is our God given instinctive or innate sense of what is right and wrong.

The conscience is the eardrum in which the Holy Spirit speaks.

This conscience comes some from God writing His law on our hearts while at the same times it’s also influences by the things around us.

For Families or Young Children

Ok, how do we apply these things to the life of a parent in discipling our children?

When our children are young, they are forming their values, beliefs, and the way they interpret the world. Their consciences are weak, and easily influenced by others. This is part of the job that God has given us as parents in aiding in the building a good foundation for their conscience for later years.

So, how do we seek to live out the convictions that we glean form God’s Word in our lives with our children?

Take seriously the biblical commands to protect the innocence of our children from those who seek to cause them to stumble. (Matthew 18:6)

Hold to your standards, realizing that whatever position you come to is not at the heart of the Gospel.

Realize, that other thoughtful families in our church will come to different standards than you. (And that’s ok)

Though these families have different standards, all of us in this covenant family should be respectful of others.

These standards you set, will and should change as your children get older.

As Children Grow Older / Discipling The Older Children / What is the tone of the Conversation? / Pursuing Holiness

In the Middle and older, life becomes a little bit more complicated than the younger… we all know this…

Become more aware of the different standards being lived by by their friends and other families.

Observing different rules set for their friends.

In this… there is a chance for children to begin to chafe under your decisions given within your family.

It’s at this point that our conversations start to shift. While still requiring obedience, now we can begin to explain the principle behind our positions…

Here is the reason we have this certain position.

When you grow older, you can apply this principle differently. That’s ok.

For now, this is how we are going to apply this passage.

As the parent, you must be able to explain the difference between the biblical principle and your family’s application of that principle.

And so as they get older and older, parents need to gradually give more freedom and encourage the young person to begin applying principles themselves to different situations.

BUT ALWAYS… our job morph’s into being more and more of a biblical counselor to our children. a biblical counselor’s job is to always get our counselee’s back to God’s word.

WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD SAY ABOUT THE METTER?

OK… HOW CAN WE APPLY THIS?

ENTRUSTING THEM WITH THE CHRISTIAN LIBERTY THAT WE HAVE IN SO MANY SITUATIONS AS THEY GET OLDER.

A great way to think about this… in guiding our children through this, Doug Wilson in his blog post called “Why Cigarette Smoking is Not a Sin for Others. Just a Sin for you.” give a great way of thinking about it.

Other Christians should let you do what you want unless the Bible forbids it. That’s how we guard against legalism. But you should use your liberty differently - you should be asking what the reasons are for doing it, and not what the reasons are for prohibiting it.

And as we ask this question is pertinent to our Christian liberty, when our children are trying to push the bounds of their Christian Liberty into heart affecting sin, our children need to be reminded in this thought process that we are a people called to holiness >>>WHICH AT TIMES CALLS FOR SELF DENIAL.

Romans 13:14 ESV

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Hebrews 12:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

This is why it’s so important for us to continue to read the Bible within our home to show them the pursuit of holiness that we are called to as God’s children.

Some Practical Questions to Ask the Older Children

So, how might we speak to the older children when that comes around…

Since the Bible speaks in principles about these things, you need to wrestle with these scriptures and come to thoughtful convictions.

What choice do you think is right for you?

Can you honor the Lord as you do this?

Would you invite the Lord along?

2. Does this activity increase you affection for Christ or decrease it?

Does it build you up into a stronger Christian?

3. You will give an account to the Lord for you choices.

What is the Spirit through your conscience telling you?

Consider fasting and praying about this to hear the Lord better.

Remember that David was conscience-stricken twice even though what he did was not directly forbidden by God. (1 Sam. 24:5, 2 Sam. 24:10)

What have you given up just because you were listening to the Holy Spirit and wanted t0 pursue being more like Jesus?

4. Are you addicted to this activity?

Has it mastered you?

Can you fast from it to prove to yourself that you have freedom?

A constantly indulging Christian will be spiritually lethargic.

>>>(Tired, sluggish, lack of enthusiasm)

5. Have you moved from enjoying the world given by God to loving the world that opposes God?

2 Timothy 2:4 ESV

4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

2 Timothy 3:1–5 ESV

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

There are dangers of this world that Paul was sure to warn Timothy and his other spiritual children about. We should be doing the same.

We can love others, we can enjoy the common grace’s of this world, but we are not to be lovers of the world.

Let us help our children guard from indulging too much in the freedoms given, but also not being people who think we are saved by the law.

Let us focus on wanting to make God proud more than anybody else.

Martin Luther wrote, “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.”

Disciple-making Parents will warn their children about loving the world.

For Thought, Discussion, & Action

What do you think about the quotation from Matt Chandler? Have you thought of what stirs your affections for Jesus and what robs you of those affections?

How does following Jesus make us different than others? What are some ways we can be different without being monkish? Is it difficult to ask your children to do things that will make them different than others? Why or why not?

What analogy did we speak about to help understand legalism and libertinism? How does thoughtfully applying the Bible to our family help us from erring on either side?