THE WORLD AND THE BELIEVER

1John 5:4-5...."For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world.....our faith.   And who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God"

INTRODUCTION: The Shorter Catechism of the Westminister Confession says. "the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever." (The world is everything that tries to prevent our doing this.) 

1. There are basically three enemies of the believer and they are the WORLD, the FLESH and the DEVIL.

2. Here Is an Interesting observation about this Trilogy:

    a. First, they are distinct from each other....yet they act in PERPETUAL CONCERT against the believer.

    b. Second, any two of these is powerless apart from the third. [I mention this because of the folly of                     some believers who try to deal with the world ALONE or the flesh ALONE or the devil ALONE.]

1. Illustration:  Take the world and the flesh minus the Devil and there is no opposition to the believer.   Why? because there is nothing inherently evil in the flesh or in the world.

2. Illustration: Take the flesh and the Devil apart from the world and the two alone cannot successfully oppose the believer. WHY? Because the devil must have the media of the world to appeal to the flesh.

3. Illustration:  Take the devil and the world apart from the flesh and  the Devil still cannot make any real appeal to the believer. WHY? Because the world can only appeal to the flesh. Once you have the trilogy working in harmony together, then THIS EQUALS TROUBLE for the believer. 

THE WORLD: 

1. The Nonsense about the world:

    a. A great many things are called worldly that are not worldly and a great many things NEVER called worldly are of the very essence of worldliness. [The devil is a master at screwing up the minds of the saints].

    b. Illustration: I know men who denounce other men for worldliness because they play cards or go to the theater or dance. I am NOT debating about whether these things are best for a believer or even if they are worldly or not.....but I would insist that men who do NONE OF THESE THINGS may be as worldly as men who do them all. I personally do not play cards, dance or even go to the theater, but I have a constant problem with worldliness. 

2. There is an apparent contradiction:

       a. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  John 3:16

       b. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” 1 John 2:15

3. Meaning of the word WORLD.

      a. The word for world is COSMOS which simply means order. It was then used to describe the whole of the universe because of its orderliness and its beauty. Thus, the world itself does not at all suggest evil. It has in it no suspicion of ugliness, but breathes beauty.

      b. The word world stands for the facts and forces of which man is conscious in his everyday life. The world means the facts and forces of which material man is conscious...When we were children we were taught that the earth and the things therein were divided into three kingdoms...mineral,         vegetable and animal. [these things have two things in common....they are all MATERIAL and                         TEMPORAL.] The world then is the sum total of things material and temporal.

4. In what Sense then Can it be said that the world is opposed to Christianity?

    1. Let me just quote one verse in Romans 1: 25  ”they worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever”   [NOW, THAT IS WORLDLINESS] 

THE BIBLICAL APPROACH TO THE WORLD

1. Let us illustrate:

    a. Let us take an object, any object....such as the sun, moon, stars, trees or birds. Now behind that particular object is a THOUGHT, a CONCEPTION, A VISION, AN INTENTION. For example, take that glass in your hand. Behind the glass is a THOUGHT. The  glass had to be seen before it could be     constructed. Take a building, It had to be THOUGHT before it was constructed. 

2. What is the rational process?

    a. That behind the object is a thought.

    b. And behind the thought  is a thinker. [surely we agree that you cannot have a thought                   without a thinker, you cannot have a mental mood without a mind or a conception without a conceiver.]

3. What does a Believer do?   

    a.  He will look at an object, such as the sun, the star, the river, the tree then to the THOUGHT BEHIND IT, and then from the THOUGHT TO THE THINKER....and when he does this, he bows in worship and adoration to the One who made that stars, trees,  and  the sun.

4. What is the Irrational Process?

     a. The irrational process is to take the object, the sun, moon, star, animal or tree and WORSHIP IT AND SERVE IT. This is what Paul meant in Romans 1:25, when he said that instead of worshiping the Creator, they worshipped and served the creature.  [they stayed in the realm of the things seen and would not pass into the realm of the unseen.] THAT IS WORLDLINESS.

     b. Worldliness: consists in dealing with the material, without recognizing the SPIRITUAL of which the MATERIAL IS AN EXPRESSION. It is dealing with the things that are temporal without recognition of  the things that are eternal.

5. Some Examples of Worldliness: 

    A. There is Ritualistic worldliness:

        a. When a man observes so many days, so many ceremonies, and the observance being over, he turns back to all the things that are contrary to the will of God.  This is worldliness in religion.         Worldliness in religion is the idea that things that are of the world, beauty of form and color and the   fine fragrance of incense, constitute Christianity.

     B. There is Rationalism in Christianity:

          a. By this I mean anything that attempts to deal with men simply on the level of this world. The                 betterment of human conditions, pure humanitarianism, is WORLDLINESS IN RELIGION.

1. PLEASE UNDERSTAND....if a man has a relationship with God in Christ, he cannot be indifferent to the condition of his brother in proverty. I might even go further by saying that if a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit he will be grieved and angered by the injustice and suffering he sees around him..

2. BUT: when a man attempts in the name of Christianity to deal SIMPLY with these conditions, and forgets the infinite and the eternal, HIS RELIGION HAS BECOME UTTERLY WORLDLY. [when you have a slum, but then do not attempt to attach and surround that slum with the Lord Jesus Christ.....but merely stop with the slum problem, that is WORLDLINESS IN RELIGION.

     C. There is Worldliness in education:   

          a. Education which deals simply with knowledge of the material and the temporal and never                   connects these things to the infinite and the eternal is worldly education.

     D. There is Worldliness in commerce  

1. I might mention that there can and should be the spiritual in commerce. Worldliness in commerce     is based on the passion for possession of goods to the neglect of God.

    a. illustration:  Luke 12:16-21   (the Rich Fool)    "And he said my lands are increased, my wealth is  increased, what shall I do? I have no place to store these crops. And he said; This is what I will do:  I  will pull down my barns and build greater; and there will I bestow all my corn and my goods...and I will say to my soul. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink be merry."  THIS MAN FED HIS SOUL ON GOODS. NOW, THAT IS WORLDLINESS IN COMMERCE. I might mention that ultimately it means SELFISHNESS, GREED AND OPPRESSION.

   E. Conclusion: What Then is Worldliness? 

1. It is someone who comes to the church, sings the hymns, gives to the collection....but if he lives his life  as though this were the only world, HE IS WORLDLY.  If Monday, Tuesday, Wed. Thur, Friday, Saturday, in business and at home and in pleasure, HE LIVES AS THOUGH THERE WERE NO GOD IN THE UNIVERSE....THAT IS WORLDLY.

3. Worldliness is a life lived in the dust to the forgetfulness of Deity...life that has no real sense of the infinite and eternal. When you are seeking satisfaction IN, rather than THROUGH, the material world, you are worldly.

   F. How do we overcome the world?       

1. 1John 5:4-5.... We overcome the world by "faith" by believing that Jesus is the Son of God"

     a. Life becomes GOD GOVERNED [once this happens, the devil is defeated.]

     b. The flesh becomes subservient to the Spirit.

     c. Remember, “use the world as not abusing it.”

2. This means: use the world, but never imagine that IT IS ALL...and never use it  except in its relation to that larger whole of the spiritual and the eternal. What I am saying is this...DEAL WITH THE THINGS OF DUST, BUT TOUCH THEM WITH THE FORCE OF DEITY. Remember that all that in this world is of the DUST AND TREAT IT AS SUCH.

3. “love not the world, neither the things of the world” is nothing but the driving force of a new affection. When you are really in love with Him...it puts out of your heart that love of the world which makes you forget God.....and puts into your heart a new love of the world,  because you now see the world to be the handiwork of our Heavenly Father.

5. Warning to some:  there are those who think they have done with the world because they have given up certain habits and practices. They think they are not worldly because THEY NO LONGER DO CERTAIN THINGS. This does not solve the problem of worldliness.