Journey Out of Worldliness
First John 2:15-17
First John 2:15-17
Whada’ ya Mean, “Worldly”?
•
Sophisticated
or worldly-wise:
“An experienced
and worldly man who had been almost everywhere” (Willa Cather).
•
Polished
•
Knows
which fork to use… at a White House state dinner
•
Confident
Whada’ ya Mean, “Worldly”?
•
Worldliness
is drifting with the prevailing secular culture.
•
Worldliness
is living without giving thought to eternity.
•
Worldliness
is believing the lie that something in this life, on this earth – other than
God – can satisfy our innermost being.
The
Journey Out
A Portrait of Worldliness
1.
From the World
What the World has to Offer
•
1st
John 2:15-16 “…Do not love the world or
anything in the world. If anyone loves
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] 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.”
From
the World
•
The
lust of the flesh: passion
•
The
lust of the eyes: possessions
•
The
pride of life: position
From
the World
•
The lust of the flesh: a passion for sensual satisfaction
•
The lust of the eyes: an inordinate desire for the finer things of life, ease,
and affluence.
Quote - “Worldliness is reading magazines
about people who live hedonistic lives and spend too much money on themselves
and wanting to be like them.”
•
The pride of life: self-satisfaction in who we are, what we have, and what we have done.
2.
The World Under
Where the World Gets This Stuff
•
1st
John 5:19 “We know that we are children
of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
3.
By The World
What the World Can Do to Us
•
James
1:27 “Religion that God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in
their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
4.
Of the World
Those Who Belong And Those Who Don’t
•
John
15:18-19 “If the world hates you, keep
in mind that it hated me first. [19] If
you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but
I have chosen you out of the world. That
is why the world hates you.”
•
John
17:14 “I have given them your word and
the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of
the world.”
5.
In the World
Staying Safe in a Hostile Environment
•
John
17:11 “I will remain in the world no
longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of
your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.”
•
John
17:15 “My prayer is not that you take
them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”
The
Journey Out
What Doesn’t Work
•
Drawing up lists of “worldly things”
Quote - “Whenever people had difficulty with
some temptation or some particular type of recreation or some activity which
gave them trouble, they learned a lesson from it, or thought they did, and
marked that particular thing down as worldly.”
• Isolation: Surrounding yourself with other
Christians and rejecting most contact with the outside world.
Quote - “But because worldliness is a belief
system within, ‘the world’ just followed me into seclusion.”
•
Self-discipline
Quote - “Using willpower to overcome worldly
seduction is like telling a man who has gone without water for three days to control
himself.”
The
Journey Out
What Does Work
1. The New Birth
•
1st
John 5:4-5 “For everyone born of God
overcomes the world. This is the victory
that has overcome the world, even our faith. [5] Who is it that overcomes the
world? Only he who believes that Jesus
is the Son of God.”
Quote - “Why, to talk about a worldly Christian makes about as
much sense as talking about a heavenly Devil.”
2.
The Training of Grace
•
Titus
2:11-12 “For the grace of God that
brings salvation has appeared to all men. [12] It teaches us to say “No” to
ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and
godly lives in the present age.”
•
Titus
2:11-12 “For the grace of God that
brings salvation has appeared to all men. [12] It teaches us to say “No” to
ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and
godly lives in this present age.”
3. A Renewed Mind
•
Romans
12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve
what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
•
“Phillips: “Don't let the world around you
squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within”
4. Courage
•
John
16:33 “I have told you these things, so
that in me you may have peace. In this
world you will have trouble. But take
heart! I have overcome the world.”