Worldliness

Dictionary dot com defines Worldliness as: “of or pertaining to this world as contrasted with heaven, spiritual life, etc.; earthly; mundane.” Jerry on the other hand defines it like this: “It’s a preoccupation with the things of this temporal life. It’s accepting and going along with the values and practices of society around us without discerning if they are biblical”

I think I like Jerry’s better.

Do you remember in John chapter 17 when Jesus prays for the disciples? In verse twenty He says “Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, rely on,) Me through their word and teaching,”

That my friend is YOU and I.

In that chapter Jesus prayed for the disciples and US to be in the world because we are not OF it. Actually I recently read this over at Desiring God and I like the way David Mathis put it. INTO the world.

The reality is that we live in a fallen world. How did Isaiah put it?

Oh yeah… “Then I said WOE is me! For I am undone and ruined , for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts!”

But here’s what happened, God used him anyway. Isaiah went and delivered the message God told him to deliver. Was Isaiah responsible for the way the message was received? Was Isaiah supposed to shut himself up in his house because the people were heathens, or drunks, or homosexuals? No, no and no.

Our jobs, as I see it, and granted I am no theologian, are to love them like Jesus did.

Jesus went to the people right where they were, and He was familiar with their comings and their goings, and extremely familiar with their short comings.  He didn’t only hang with “church going folk” in fact the Pharisee of his day were angry that He kept company with the most vile of sinners.

When my two youngest daughters were about eight and six we were shopping at Wal-Mart, and as we shopped we came across a young-ish couple the girl wore dreadlocks and had several tattoos and smelled strongly of body odor and the boy was bald with spikes coming from his head and gauges in his ears and was also heavily tattooed. I spoke to them with a friendly greeting and we exchanged pleasantries, while my daughters hid behind my skirt. I urged them to come out and say hello, which if my memory serves me, they shyly did.

Fast forward twelve years when the older of those two daughters told me that scene made quite an impact on her. She told me that after the encounter she, shocked, asked me why I would speak to such a couple and that I admonished her to never judge someone based on their exterior. I spoke to her young eight year old heart and told her that perhaps they were wounded and trying to keep people at arm’s length and the tat’s and spikes were a type of armor. Perhaps they expected people who looked like us to walk past them in fear and loathing.

There are many stories my children have relayed to me that I thought they have forgotten or were too young to remember. My son remembers a time we were driving down Seventh Street and an older black woman was walking with her groceries and I invited her into our vehicle and gave her a ride to her home. Its little things you do that your children remember, and it shapes their hearts, and then you send them into the world. Just the other night I was talking to a woman as we loaded our groceries into our cars, I finished first, so I helped her as she told me her story of surviving three strokes and how she knew God had a plan for her life. We talked briefly for a few minutes about how He works through those things we call tragedies and I asked her if I could hug her and we went our separate ways.

I think that is how you combat worldliness.  

If you finished the book then you read where Jerry referenced the sermon by Thomas Chalmers, if you haven’t read it you should. It’s called “The Explusive Power of a NewAffection” 

It is when you love God so much that you are looking for ways to glorify Him in all that you do that you drive out worldliness. Sure I love my Saint’s football games on Sunday (and any other time they are playing) but do I get depressed if they lose? Nah, it’s just a game…and I enjoy watching it. I think they are the best, and I know that God is Sovereign, if they win, it’s because He wanted them to. ;-)

On the other hand does this mean I never sin? No of course it doesn’t because I am still trapped in this body that is at war with my inner man and no list of do’s and do not’s will make that war end. I do however have to discipline myself, that’s what Paul is talking about in I Corinthians 9; while I am here I am in training…

At the top of the sermon page if you accessed it you will have seen this awesome quote “A moralist will be unsuccessful in trying to displace his love of the world by reviewing the ills of the world. Misplaced affections need to be replaced by the far greater affection of the gospel.”

This is the problem in most churches today. The ills of this world are reviewed often enough with a withering tongue and no mercy shown towards those ‘of the world’ as David Mathis stated in his blog “the starting place of our unfortunate condition of being IN the world *sigh* our mission it appears is to not be of it.” I urge you to read the link I posted above because THAT is not what his point is, he is being tongue in cheek, but sadly, it is what you hear escaping from the lips of many Christians today, and they are not being tongue in cheek.

I recently went on mission trip and am ashamed to say that a PASTOR took to calling some of the children who were there in the park where we had all gathered to attend a bbq, little hoodlums. They were popping fireworks, and were riding their bikes, and perhaps they were up to no good; but how much MORE could have been accomplished if instead of a mean look a loving hand had been extended?

I think as a Christian community we need to do MORE of this.

The news that came out of Georgia this past week about Antoinette Tuff talking to Michael Brandon Hill and she’s being hailed a hero because she prevented the school shooting. The experts who are trained for these types of situations were surprised at how well she handled herself in this situation, but Antoinette had this to say, “Igive it all to God, I’m not the hero, I was terrified.” 

Every single one of us can learn from this…you see Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:3 that “NOTHING should be done from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each one of you regard others as more important than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do yourselves.”

If we keep that in mind when we deal with one another then we will be less apt to tolerate respectable sins in our own lives, more gracious towards others and we will have hearts willing to GO INTO the world rather than hearts that are focused on being separate from the world that He called us to fill with the knowledge of His glory.

So we started this study with an image of the woman caught in adultry surrounded by her accusers with their stones clenched firmly in their hands I'd like to leave you with a different set of images. One where they drop the stones, and one of her thankfully weeping at the feet of Jesus. We need to remember we have no reason to throw stones, and we need to remember HOW great a debt we've been forgiven...

My new tag line has become love them like Jesus…so go out today and love someone like He did…

XOXO