“Ways of the World (Part 2)”

Some years ago, musicians noted that errand boys in a certain part of London all whistled out of tune as they went about their work. It was talked about and someone suggested that it was because the bells of Westminster were slightly out of tune. Something had gone wrong with the chimes and they were discordant. The boys did not know there was anything wrong with the peals, and quite unconsciously they had copied their pitch.

So we tend to copy the people with whom we associate; we borrow thoughts from the books we read and the programs to which we listen, almost without knowing it. God has given us His Word which is the absolute pitch of life and living. If we learn to sing by it, we shall easily detect the false in all of the music of the world.

The question we are really needing to honestly answer is… what is your worldview? Last week we saw the real analysis of how much the world is affecting us here in the church as a whole today. We saw that we are easily deceived by false teachers because we are still blinded and influenced by the ways of the world. Just like the Colossians were still deceived by the patterns of the world and so they were easily deceived by the false teachers of their age, we too are in need of the removal of the blinders and to be in the light as He is in the light. The deception is real and we have got to be prepared. Like I said a few weeks ago, how in the world are we supposed extinguish the darkness with light, when we have no light? How do we identify what is false if we do not know what is true? How in the world can you have a biblical worldview, if we don’t know the Bible?

The more biblically illiterate we are, the less of a Christian worldview we are gonna have. We have seen countless studies from Pew Gallup and Barna that show us without question just how biblically illiterate we are in our country. Even worse how biblically illiterate we are in the church.

“Addressing a national seminar of Southern Baptist leaders, George Gallup said, "We find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously...The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkable similar in both groups. Eight out of ten Americans consider themselves Christians, Gallup said, yet only about half of them could identify the person who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments. Only two in ten said they would be willing to suffer for their faith.”

And if this is the case… our churches are ripe and ready to host a widespread collection of false teaching leading the masses down the broad and wide road on their way to destruction. Many who will say Lord Lord… Jesus will say depart from me I never knew you. And the reality of this scripture… these people thought they were Christians. It is the reality of deception. Last week I mentioned the famous quote from Samuel Bolton, “if you would serve Christ for something, you will serve the devil for more.” People would tell me concerning this… “if I saw the devil was trying to give me a million dollars I would not take it. Of course you would not, if the devil was in his red suit with fangs with a bi-forkated tail and a pitchfork carrying a black suitcase with 10 million dollars in it, of course not. But that is not how he will appear...

2 Corinthians 11:14 NLT

But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Now if an angel in all of its glory hands you a case of 10 million dollars that’s different. We are deceived in thinking that we are doing good when we are really sinning in a major way. Deception is real… and a great way to tell that you are deceived, is for no reason at all believe that you are not deceived. That is the definition of deception. You think you are doing good, but you are not. And you don’t know it.

It is all about worldly matters, it is about human, not divine teaching, and it is not gonna change anything for the better. This is the truth about the ways of the world. Let’s continue.

Colossians 2:20–23 NLT

You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever.

Will Not Sanctify

The Word is Forever

The first thing we will look at is how the ways of the world will not bring the change we are looking for, what we are deeply needing, what we are hoping for, no matter how much we sacrifice. Second, it is only in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we will find real transformation, real life, and real hope.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to see life though the lens of a secular worldview with its passions and desires, it is the truth of scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind because of the grace and mercy of Christ and Christ alone.

I. Will Not Sanctify

- We are in the world but we are not of the world.

A. Remember from last week we saw how the false teachers were able to find their way into the church because many in the Colossian church were preoccupied with the ways of the world. And the false teaching had more in-line with the matters of the world more than the matters of God.

B. Paul and Timothy made it very clear that the world should not preoccupy us because we are in fact dead to the world and we have nothing to do with it anymore. Do not live in accordance to the pattern of this world as it you were still alive to it. Whatever you may have owed the world and what ever the world may have owed you… none of it matters anymore… you are dead to it. Though you live in the world, you are no longer of it. No no no.

C. But it is because of this preoccupation to this world we follow the false teaching that support the ways of the world. And the abundance of false teaching in our culture today finds its place because we are still of the world. The ways and priorities of the world are implanted in our hearts and this affects what we will believe.

D. Today we are heavily influenced by the philosophy of the enlightenment with more modern, Albert Camus, Sarte, Rand, Carl Jung, Richard Dawkins and of course the propositions of Dewey and James and the other Harvard proponents of pragmatism. Now we see things not in light of right and wrong, but success and failure. All things today are judged by success and failure. Remember the example I gave last week. The affect of calling someone a bad person vs. calling them a loser. Help me God… I feel like a bad person. Today, its more Help me God I feel like a failure. We are devastated when we feel like a failure, more than feeling like a bad person. We struggle when we feel like a bad person, but we are crushed when we feel like a failure. Right = Success and Wrong = Failure.

E. Where pragmatism is prevalent is our obsession with the will of God. What is very very consistent… many times when I am asked of God’s will or sermons on God’s will. The secret to the will of God for our lives, it is never about God’s will concerning right and wrong… it is about what way will succeed and to avoid the ways that will fail. When we say things like it was totally the will of God, what are basing it on? Right or wrong or success or failure. It is almost always success and failure. God is not concerned about our accomplishments, he is concerned about our heart. We should be more concerned about the will of God he has already given, then the ones we don’t know. The Bible actually warns us of what we are trying to do.

Proverbs 20:24 NLT

The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?

F. There are things that the false teachers teach in our culture today that seem super outlandish and fake. We know it is so false, but people believe it anyway. There are fake miraculous displays of false teachers who have oil flowing from their hands and you can see the oil squirting out of tubes on stage. When you walk into healing services and people are collecting information from people walking into the building. Gold glitter coming out of air vents. Pushing people down when they pray for others. Empty out your bank account today and God will bring you millions in return.

G. It is so out there, but many will believe it, because we are desperate for it to be true. It will make it all right because success is in the air. Water for Elephants - "The only really authentic miracle is success. It washes away old sins." Many people today believe this. Our world is that way… successful people are above the law. Athletes, politicians, entertainers… no good or bad people, just winners and losers. And we want it to be true so bad that we will believe anything and everything, if it brings us success. People flock to the false teaching and run away from the truth… why? Because the scriptures do not support the wisdom of this world. The scriptures do not agree with the philosophies of this world. The scriptures do not teach what we really want to hear. The scriptures teach God’s way not man’s ways. The scriptures show some thing so much different.

H. Jesus made it clear that when the disciple would go out to preach there were gonna be those who they would not win over. Stephen preached the Gospel and was stoned to death… maybe that was not God’s will for Stephen to preach. After Elijahs prophets of Baal encounter nothing changed for the better in the land, so maybe it was not God’s will for Elijah to have done His thing. Did you know that God told one of the greatest preachers in biblical history to go out and preach, but just so that you know, no one is gonna listen to you. God is not motivated by the method and systems of pragmatism, but by His Glory. He will do and accomplish His purpose always.

I. And when it comes to good and bad, we don’t wonder what God’s will is. For life and godliness … why is it that I am not asked about God’s will for that?

J. Ok but Shane… You know the saying… you are so heavenly minded you are no earthly good. First of all this is not a scripture.

- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., is attributed with the quote “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.” The same sentiment found its way into a song by Johnny Cash: “You’re shinin’ your light, and shine it you should, / But you’re so heavenly minded you’re no earthly good” (“No Earthly Good,” from The Rambler, 1977).

K. Shane we gotta focus on the things in the world. Shane we can’t just keep our minds focused in heaven. Should we not make sure we are living our best life now on earth? But this is not what the scriptures communicate.

Colossians 3:2 ESV

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

L. But in reality it is those who are so heavenly minded that they are the most good for the earth. CS Lewis wrote...

- In Mere Christianity, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” We are in the world yes, but we are not of this world.

M. We gotta break out of the world’s worldview. We have got to trust His Word and we gotta consume His Word. And the power of the Holy Spirit will transform us by renewing our minds. The Word of God will reveal His will… His good pleasing and perfect will. All that we need to know for life and godliness.

N. Many times people can become disgusted by what the Lord has done and what He has allowed in the scriptures. And they will make statements like, God is not that way, He can’t be that way, I cannot serve a God who would do such things. But when we make statements like this we are saying that we will serve a God that will uphold and meet our standards which makes God more like our servant than our God.

O. Biblical worldviews approach the scriptures as our source by which all things are judged. So when we read about God, what He says and what He does, we do not judge to see if we like it, approve it, or agree with it. We don’t think this is what God should be, we say this is the way God is and we worship Him for who He is not for what we hope that He will be. Because let me be forthright. Because whether we like it or not… He is God. And He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

II. The Word is Forever

- The Word will remain forever.

A. And we are deceived by false teaching because we have a worldly worldview and we have a worldly worldview, because of sin. The flesh is here again. When I desire to do good evil is right there with us. And Paul and Timothy tell us that there is nothing the world can offer that will transform us. Nothing that will help us to defeat our evil desires. There is nothing the world can offer us for life and godliness. Any false teaching will not help us. False teaching that is attractive is that way because it brings the values, standards, patterns, the way of the World.

B. It is the world. It is the passions. It is the desires. It is attractive because of sin. One author writes...

- The Bible defines worldliness by centering morality where we intuitively know it should be. Worldliness is the lust of the flesh (a passion for sensual satisfaction), the lust of the eyes (an inordinate desire for the finer things of life), and the pride of life (self-satisfaction in who we are, what we have, and what we have done).  Worldliness, then, is a preoccupation with ease and affluence. It elevates creature comfort to the point of idolatry; large salaries and comfortable life-styles become necessities of life.

- Worldliness is reading magazines about people who live hedonistic lives and spend too much money on themselves and wanting to be like them. But more importantly, worldliness is simply pride and selfishness in disguises. It's being resentful when someone snubs us or patronizes us or shows off. It means smarting under every slight, challenging every word spoken against us, cringing when another is preferred before us. Worldliness is harboring grudges, nursing grievance, and wallowing in self-pity. These are the ways in which we are most like the world.

C. The wages of sin is death. The punishment is eternal fire. Outer darkness. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. In hell you will face the wrath of God for eternity. But Shane why would I want to serve a God who will punish people for eternity… that is messed up and wrong. Says who? If God is doing that to bring Him glory then it is good for He is a good God and it is he who decides what is right and wrong, not us. Do you know what we are doing when we do this… we are judging with worldly human wisdom. If we are judging the scriptures, it is by worldly human wisdom. It will perish with use… and us with it.

D. Shane can we be saved from this? You bet we can. This is the Gospel of Jesus. It is the Word of God. It will last forever. All the wisdom of the world will perish.

E. Now hear this… everything the world gives, and the world has taught… is fleeting. But what I am about to tell you will last forever. It is unfleeting. When everything is gone and has passed away, what I am about to tell you will last forever. Even a million years from now while we are in heaven doing heavenly stuff, this will not ever ever fade. It will be there. It will not be gone. You ready for it. This will last for eternity.

F. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and He was buried and He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God.

G. You ready for more… A trillion years from now, when we can’t remember all the languages that we spoke, the stuff we studied at our prestigious university, or what our occupation was while on earth or how much money or possessions we had or who we were even married to. We will not even remember tall the big problems we had while we were here on earth all of it will not even be a distant memory it is all fleeting … but, you will remember this… You ready? This will be forever. This will last. It will never be gone.

H. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your hearts that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

I. Salvation is here. Christ has come. Christ has risen. We can be saved from our love of the World. We can receive power to overcome the World. Christ has overcome the World.

J. Christian today you no longer walk alive to the World... you cannot hear the world, you are dead to the world in Christ, but yet we live, not us, but Christ living in us. Christ is our world. Christ is our life. Christ is our reward.