What is Worldliness

Introduction

Last week, we looked at the doctrine of holiness which I defined this morning as Holiness- the act of becoming more personally dedicated to God and his will. When our hearts, wills and lives are dedicated to God and his service, when our only heartbeat is love for God, the way we live is going to change, the way we think is going to change, the way we feel is going to change. When our heart changes our lives will follow suit. Unfortunately, much of Christianity is not consumed with holiness but with its opposite: worldliness. The word itself is not found in the bible, but the world stands as the opposite of godliness and God’s desires for our lives. Tonight, we are going to do a word study on the world; so that we can fully understand what worldliness is:

What is the World?

Tonights message will kinda give you a brief introduction into how to do a word study. If you want to know what a word means there are a couple things you can do. The first step we are going to take is to look at the dictionary definition of the word. Our bible is written in English, but the bible was originally written in Greek. The words that God inspired are the original words in Greek so we want to know what they are and what they mean. Our one English word is used to translated five basic Greek words. There are other words but they are all variations of these five. Understanding the different words that are used will help me know what the bible is talking about.

Greek words used for world

There are five base Greek words translated world:

kosmos- the word or the world system Matthew 4:8 “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;”

αιων- age or time Matthew 12:32 “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”

ουικομενοσ- the inhabited or governed world Luke 2:1 “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.”

κρονοσ- refers to time Romans 16:25 “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,”

γη- refers to the physical world

So we see that the word world can refer to this planet, time and eternity, civilization, or the organized cultural system of our world.

Uses of the word World

The problem with stopping here in a word study is that words sometimes have more than one meaning. Take for example the word love. Love can mean I have a physical attraction for you, it can be I like being around you, it can mean I enjoy something. There are different levels of love for a cake, a dog, a child, a brother and a wife. But we use one word for all of it. So the best way to determine the meaning of a word is context. In fact most of the Greek dictionaries that pastors use have determined the meanings by context or how a word was used by the person who spoke it. Some will look at how the word was used not only in the bible, but how people of the day used the word.

the realm of existence- Matthew 12:32 “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” (Age) Greek word for age

The physical world- Matthew 13:35 “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

Living life in this age- Matthew 13:22 “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.” Greek word for age

The things in the world- Matthew 16:26 “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

The people of the world- John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The lost- John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.”

Eternity- Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.”

So when we look at it this way the word world can include the physical world, the things in this world like trees, possessions, houses. I can include the people of this world usually the lost. It also includes life lived on this planet and our existence here on earth. And in a few cases, it refers to time and eternity. But let’s put that all together into a general understanding of the word world. The world is anything that exists on this planet: things, people, culture, life.

What is worldliness?

The dictionary definition of worldliness is “relating to, or devoted to, the temporal world.” Worldliness, then, is the condition of being concerned with worldly affairs, especially to the neglect of spiritual things. Keep in mind everything that is included in the definition of world in the bible. Worldliness is a life consumed with the things, people, culture and life in this world.

In our Fundamentalist circles, we have been quick to categorize things as worldly, but I feel that most of us do not understand what the word means and how to use it properly. When I was a kid, my family taught me that it was worldly to put gell in your hair, or to wear cargo pants, or to wear shorts. And at different times throughout the history of fundamentalism different things have been labelled as worldly and then over time opinions seemed to change. So was it worldly or wasn’t it?

When we say something is worldly what do we mean? The honest truth is that everything in the world is worldly. Washing your car is a worldly activity. Wearing clothes is worldly. The food you eat is worldly. This is essential to grasp because in many of these cases, these things are not inherently bad. But they are all things that relate to living life on this earth or are things that exist on this earth. Living life and having things is not wrong in and of itself.

Worldly must be slightly distinguished from sinful. A subset of things in this world are sinful because they are opposed to God’s design and will for this world. But having a car isn’t a sin, taking care of that car isn’t a sin; but it can become worldly. It is when it becomes worldly in the sense that we use it in church that it becomes a sin. So when does a normal wordly activity become sinful?

John tells us in:

1 John 2:15–17 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

The biblical terminology for worldliness is a love of the world. Love is the key. When we use the word worldly in this negative sense, this is the meaning we are ascribing to it. You see wearing the cargo pants in and of themselves were not worldly. Worldliness lies in the heart. The issue behind worldliness is the value we place on anything in this world. Worldliness as we use it refers to anything we make a priority over God in our lives or become too attached to. So almost anything can become worldly:

Worldly thinking

Worldly acting

Worldly dressing

Worldly talking

Worldly pursuits

Worldly priorities

John goes on to give us reasons not to love the world:

You cannot love god and the world at the same time

The world is opposed to God

The world passes away

Questions to ask to Determine if something is Worldly

When it comes to worldliness, we are going to have to do a deep dive into our soul. We need to self-evaluate our hearts. To help with that let me give you some questions you can ask to determine if something is worldly for you. I say for you because it may not be for someone else because they don’t have the same struggle that you do.

Is this something God says I shouldn’t be doing?

Let’s start here because we said somethings in the world are outright sin. Making out with my girlfriend before marriage would be a sinful activity called fornication and uncleaness. It is part of the world’s culture and we must flee it according to 1 Cor 6. These things are always wrong in every situation. There is not budging here.

Why do I want to do this?

Is my motivation to do this, or dress this way, or act this way because of a desire to look like ungodly men or fit in with the world and be accepted by them? I used an illustration last week about getting a green Mohawk and preaching this week. Mr. Tillman and I had a discussion about Mohawks and he was right. We think of them as an extreme hairstyle and associated with a sinful subculture. So if I am looking at a punk rocker and want to look like him, there is worldliness in my heart; but Mr. Tillman pointed out that during I believe it was WWII soldiers wore them to instill fear in the enemy. We also have to take into account native american culture . What makes it worldly is not inherently the hair style, but the why? Now there may be other biblical principles to take into account in determining this, other than worldliness; so I’m not giving a blanket approval.

How much does this thing have my heart?

We must beware of idols in our hearts. Even neutral things like caring for our car can become worldly when they control our hearts. If it consumes our time so we don’t have time for God, for our families for church. When we let other priorities slide because of it, it has become a love of the world.

If I had to give this up would it devastate me?

This is a good way to determine how much something has your heart. While we may have liberty to do certain things, God calls us not to destroy the church of god over our liberty. That means I may have to give up somethings I could do under other circumstances. But when God is asking me to give up this thing out of love for other brothers and sisters in christ and I fight tooth and nail, something is wrong with my heart. When a teenager fights with their parents over something like their clothes, or music choices, or friends; they are revealing a worldly heart because Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” is still in the bible.

5. Is this getting in the way of my time with God and other priorities?

What we dedicate time to often reveals what is most important to us? So often we let other things crowd out our time with God and family. Realigning our priorities is a constant battle, but what we truly love makes it easier.

6. Does this thing choke out my love for God?

Am I so consumed with loving this that I don’t love God? Is my worry about this thing causing me not to trust God?

Conclusion

We must reckon with the thought that the bible never presents the world’s culture as a positive thing. This world is not my home I am just passing through. We are strangers and pilgrims on this earth. There are some things that we can do because they are not in and of themselves sinful; but we must beware lest they grab ahold of our heart. James speaks in pretty drastic terms:

James 4:4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

Everyone wants a bible verse to tell them black and white what not to do, but sometimes God expects us to evaluate our hearts and make wise decisions. Its time for Christians to do a self-evaluation on this topic. Fundamentalism has tended to try to make worldliness black and white and the result is younger generations stopped caring and stopped listening because of the logical inconsistencies, but worldliness is still an important sin in our lives to watch out for. Don’t mistake me worldliness is a sin.

Tonight, I ask you to do a real self-evaluation. what is your attachment to things of the world, why do you dress the way you dress, act the way you act, talk the way you talk? Are things of this world getting in the way of your relationship with God? and are the cares chocking out your love for God?