1021. The Problem of Worldliness

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones Sr. His intent was to make a school where the focus would be on Christ so he established daily chapel services.

Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from The University Chapel Platform. Today on The Daily Platform, Dr. Steve Pettit, President of Bob Jones University, is continuing a study series entitled Wisdom from Above, which is a study of the book of James. Let's listen to today's message where Steve will guide us through the problem of worldliness from the book of James. If you have your Bibles, I'd like you to turn please to James Chapter 4. Now, this morning I'd like us to arrive at the very heart and the very core for the primary reason why it is that there is a lack of spiritual maturity among the people of God.

We're going to look at that this morning. It is the central struggle of God's people as it is revealed in the book of James. And what is that struggle? It is the struggle with worldliness. And James has been alluding to this throughout his book. For example, in Chapter 1 in verse 8 he talks about the believer struggling with double-mindedness. The word double-minded means two souls. It means this, it means you have a heart for the world and you have a heart for God. You have a heart for your own pleasures, your own desires, and you have a heart to please the Lord. And so there's a struggle because what James is trying to get you to do is to be single-mindedly and wholeheartedly committed to the Lord.

And if we're not, why is it? Because we haven't dealt with the desires of our own heart. And then at the end of Chapter 1, we haven't really talked about it but you can read it, where James tells us that pure religion and undefiled before God is to visit the widows and the orphans in their affliction. And then he says this, to keep yourself unspotted from the world.

Just like you want to keep spots off your tie or off your blouse or off your shirt when you eat and you don't want anything to fall there. So he says you need to keep yourself unsoiled from the world. Then we come to Chapter 3, and we've already talked about this, and he talked about the fact that you cannot be wise if you're driven by the wrong desires. So he talks about a wisdom that is from a below, a worldly wisdom, where people are driven by envy and strife. And then last week, we talked about in James Chapter 4, when he talks about where all conflicts come from. And it really starts in the human heart.

The problem is not out there, the problem is in here. And James uses three words, and I mention them in the Greek because they really are very picturesque, where he talks about hedon, from which we get the word hedonism, epiphymeia, which means strong lusts, and zealous, which means to be coveting of what others have. And what James is saying is that these battles that you have with your desires on the inside is the reason why you have conflicts with people on the outside. And the end result of these desires is that the people of God are spiritually deficient and shallow. One of the great prayers I've been praying for this semester for the student body is actually a deepening of your spiritual life. But you cannot be deeper spiritually if you don't deal with the idea of your own desires and the ultimate worldliness that comes out of that.

And we ended last week where I said I couldn't continue on because of our time factor. But in James Chapter 4, in verse 3, he deals with one of the evident signs of our own, of our lack of spiritual depth, and that is we have a prayerless life. Because praying is hard, it's one of the hardest things in the Christian life to do. And either we neglect prayer, so he says you have not because you ask not, you don't really pray. Or somehow we, our prayers are rejected because we have the wrong motives. We're not really praying for God's purpose and plan and God's will to be done. Because in prayer we know we have to surrender to the Lord. And so James brings us here to verse 4, and he comes with a, he culminates with a very jarring statement.

It's almost a shock factor. And I want us to read James Chapter 4 in verse 4, and I want us to look at this verse very carefully this morning as he addresses the problem of worldliness that we all have. Notice what he says in verse 4, you adulterers and adulteresses. That's pretty strong language.

You adulterer, you adulteress. He says, 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. Now let's just stop. Let's kind of step back and say, whoa, that's pretty strong language. I mean, if somebody said to me, Steve, you know, you got a problem with pride, I'd go, yeah, I got a problem with pride.

Or whatever. But if you called me or called anybody else, you've committed adultery, you go, whoa, wait a minute. That's, that's, that's strong language. To call somebody the enemy of God? So it's, it's worth our taking the time to ask ourselves the question, does this, is he talking about me? And I'd like to answer three questions that I'd like to ask this morning as we look at this passage of scripture that the first thing is this, he talks about being a friend of the world. The first question is what is the world? Because all Christians need to understand if you're being called worldly, then what do we mean by that? And let me say, first of all, when we talk about the world, we're not talking about the physical world, the created order that God made, because the Bible says everything God makes, he makes is good.

So he's not talking about that. So what do we mean by the world? Let me say three statements. Number one, the world always refers to unbelievers in their lifestyles. The world always refers to people who are not Christians. Listen to Ephesians two verse one, and you at the quicken who are dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you walked according to the course of the world.

According to the, according to the prince of the power of the air, that Satan, the spirit, that Satan that now works in the children of disobedience. The world refers first to those, to those who are dead in their sins, to those whose lives are under the domination of the control of Satan, whose lives are structured to gratify and glorify themselves. And the world refers to those who are trying to make this life work without God. One person has said it this way, worldliness is human nature without God. So I want to be real clear. When I talk about the world, I'm not talking about Christians.

I'm talking about people who are unbelievers. Secondly, the world refers to the organized and created structures of mankind, or to put it in a term that's a little more common, we're talking about human culture. And when we talk about human culture, we're not talking about necessarily every aspect of it is wicked or in violation to the laws of God. We're just talking about the way the world works. The word for world is the Greek word cosmos. It literally means that which serves to beautify through decoration or adornment.

All right, so let me illustrate it this way. So let's say we're going to have a birthday party. How do you create the atmosphere of a birthday party? My wife is, my wife is like, it's like her spiritual gift, birthday parties.

Mine, I don't have the gift at all, but my wife does. So if you were to come to my house for a birthday party and it was your birthday party, my wife would decorate the house. She would have all kinds of banners and streamers. She would have a cake. She would have all, and she would have all kinds of gifts because my wife is really good at spending my money for other people. And so there are all kinds of gifts and they're presents and they're stacked up. And what she has done is she's created an atmosphere with birthday decorations.

Okay, that idea of creating an atmosphere and through a structure or form, that's what the idea of the word world means. For example, we have that here, we have Christmas season and we have lighting ceremonies and we have Christmas decorations and we have Christmas music. If you're from Michigan, you probably have heard of this place, it's called Bronner's. How many have ever heard of Bronner's? Okay, it's in Frankenmuth, Michigan. We used to live about five to seven miles from Frankenmuth and we would take people always over to Bronner's. Bronner's is this, this store that sells worldwide Christmas decorations. So you can walk in on the 4th of July and you feel like you're in Christmas. It's like the world of Christmas.

Okay? So when we talk about the world, we talk about this structure or we talk about this, this created organization or this atmosphere. The world therefore refers to people, unbelievers, who live their life and God is not a part of it. In the world, God is left out of their values.

What is important? So our values differ. In the world, God is left out of their morality. The basis of their morality is not the word of God, but it's their own human nature. In the world, God is left out of their pursuits. What is the pursuit of the believer?

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. But the pursuit of the unbeliever is different. God is left out of His public opinions.

We talk about the term that's not politically correct. Well, that didn't come from the church. That came from the world.

So the world includes the current fallen culture in which we live every day that is opposed to the authority of God. And by the way, let me be very clear that the world is never ashamed to declare to you who they are. They take pride in themselves. They advertise. They publicize.

They market their values. So the world is referring to unbelievers. It's the organized and created structure, their culture, in which they live their life without God. And then number three, the world is clearly defined as the enemy of God. To be a friend of the world is to be the enemy of God.

Why? Because the mindset of the world is either apathetic or they are hostile towards God. Listen to what Paul tells us in Romans chapter eight. He says that the mind that is governed by the flesh is death and the mind that is governed by the Spirit is life. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. It is not submissive to the law of God and that mind can never please God. So we're talking not about believers, we're talking about unbelievers.

That leads me then to the second question. And that is what is worldliness? So we ask, what is the world? But what do we mean by worldliness? And let me begin by saying this, that only Christians can be charged with being worldly. Paul says in Romans 12 two, don't be conformed to this world. He's writing to Christians. He says, don't let the world put pressure on you and squeeze you into their mold, into their way of thinking. Why is that?

Because you cannot charge the world for being worldly. That's like saying to somebody who's alive, you're alive. Well, what does that mean? It's like saying to someone who's an American, you're an American.

Yeah, well, duh. What else am I going to be? An unbeliever can only be what he is.

He's of the world. So worldliness is not charged to the world. It is charged to the Christian because Christians are different. You see the word for church, like we went to church yesterday, the word for church is a Greek word, ekklesia.

It literally means one who is called out from. What happens when you become a believer? When you become a believer, you're literally called out of the world and you were brought into the church. For example, Paul says that Jesus delivered us from this present evil world. We were literally delivered.

It's a world that is headed for eternal destruction. We were delivered from that. We were delivered from the kingdom of darkness and we were brought into the kingdom of God's dear son.

We were dead, but now we're alive. We were in, we were taken out of the old man and we are placed into a new man. We were in Adam, now we are in Christ and at the very core of the gospel, please don't miss this, the very core of the gospel is that we've been taken out of the world and we have been brought into the church. The very act of God in the gospel is an act of separation. It's a definitive line, light in darkness, death in life, born again, not born again.

So when you become a child of God, you are taken out of this world and you are placed into the body of Christ. So what James is addressing here is a potential. It is actually a reality and that is Christians can become worldly and so James condemns Christians for worldliness with two shocking charges. The first charge is he charges believers with having an affair with the world.

He adulterers and adulteresses. That's called Old Testament language. You see, God called the nation of Israel his bride.

But what was the problem with the nation of Israel? They always turned back to the worship of idols and in effect they committed adultery. Do you remember the strange story in the Old Testament with an Old Testament prophet named Hosea? Do you remember that story? And he was commanded by God to marry a woman named Gomer?

That's an odd name first. And he told the prophet to marry this woman and the woman was a prostitute. And it almost sounds really weird but it helps us to at least understand that that's the way God felt and that was God in the relationship with the nation of Israel because as Gomer committed adultery so did the nation of Israel. James is charging then these believers with adultery because they turned away in their affections for Christ and they started pursuing the satisfaction of their own appetites. And what he is saying to us is that worldliness is at its core is an affection problem.

Not infection but affection. Love not the world neither the things of the world. Now let me just stop here and say everybody in this room loves the world. Everybody.

I do. How do I know that? Because James has already told me what's in my heart.

Kedon, Epithymia, Zelot. It's in all of us. It's not like some of you are and some of you not. We all are. We all have those desires for this current corrupt world.

Why? Because when we got saved, our sin did not leave our hearts. And so the Bible commands us, don't love the world neither the things of the world. For if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not ending. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but of the world. And then he says the world is going to pass away but what are you to do? You're to seek and do the will of God. When you and I become worldly, then it's like, it's like a man being unfaithful or a woman being unfaithful to their spouse.

That's a, that's a serious charge. And then notice he charges the believers not only with an affair but he charges the believers with treason. He says know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. In Middle Eastern culture, friendship is taken very, very seriously. Friends always share the same values and the same loyalties. So to choose to be somebody's friend is to completely identify with them.

So what is he saying? He's saying worldliness is not only just an issue of the heart, okay, to your affections, but worldliness also means it's when Christians begin to embrace the standards, the values, the morals, the pursuits, the opinions, the priorities of this fallen, corrupt world. In essence, what happens is we begin to start to become like the world.

We think like them, we act like them, we embrace their lifestyles. And so worldliness includes the pursuit of my own fallen desires, it's in my heart, but it also includes an outward conformity to the life of unbelievers who are living their life without God. And folks, only Christians can do that. Only Christians can be worldly. And in every culture and in every society, you can be worldly or not. You can be worldly by just living the way unbelievers do. You can dress like the world, you can be involved in the entertainment of the world, you can be a part of the music of the world, and we can go down this long, long list I'm just simply trying to put before you that you and I as believers are called out from the world and therefore we are to be distinct in our pursuits.

We're to pursue God, we're to pursue His standards, we're to pursue His morals, we're to pursue His glory. Who in the Bible made a decision based on his own desires to pursue the world without seeking the Lord? Do you remember a guy like that? His name was Lot. Who was his uncle? His uncle was Abraham. And they were having problems with their herds and their herdsmen and so Abraham said, look, we've got to split up. And he said, I'm going to give you a choice, you can choose where you want to live. And the Bible tells us that Lot lifted up his eyes and he saw the Jordan Valley that was well watered everywhere.

In other words, it was going to make him prosperous. And so Lot chose for himself the Jordan Valley and Abraham settled in the land of Canaan and the Bible says something interesting, it says Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom and the men of Sodom were wicked and great sinners against the Lord. Lot made a big decision, a decision as far as we know he never sought God. Worldliness always involves making decisions for the believer based on your desires and not the pursuit of God's will. What does God want?

That should be the question of every graduating senior from Bob Jones. What does God want? It doesn't mean your desires are wrong, but your desires are to be in submission to God.

What does he want? Lot placed himself under the influence of the corrupt culture of Sodom and Gomorrah. He lost his identity as a child of God and eventually he lost his family through the influence of Sodom's culture. Every Christian has to be very careful about pursuing his own desires in such a way that he ends up identifying with the lifestyles of the ungodly. I'm always pleased, I'm always thrilled to hear of our graduating seniors go out, they get a job, they start life, they start a family. And they identify with the people of God in that community by being faithful to a local church and becoming a part of that local church.

That's the called out assembly. That's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to graduate, go out into the world and be a part of a faithful local church and be growing spiritually and maturing as Christians. And so worldliness is something that is charged to believers. And let me conclude this morning with this. How then does somebody become worldly? Let me say that to be called worldly is a very serious charge. That's why I'm very careful about it. I don't just say to a person who does this one thing, they're worldly.

They may not be. It's a big charge. What greater betrayal is there than to commit adultery in marriage and treason in a nation? To be charged as worldly is a serious offense. And therefore we need to be careful before we charge someone with being worldly.

So what is the process of becoming worldly? Well James reveals that worldliness is a choice. Notice what he says, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. The word will there and I define it this way is an intentional choice based upon an inner desire to experience something with the implication of some reason planning to accomplish the goal but God is not a part of it.

Whosoever wills to be the friend of the world. Worldliness can be broken down into stages. Number one it starts with your desires. It doesn't mean that all your desires are wrong but they have to be brought in alignment to God's will. We've already talked about the fact that we all have sinful desires and so a part of our growth is we need to surrender to the Lord. Secondly, not only are there desires but there's a deliberation. That's why I don't charge people with worldliness very quickly because often times we struggle with our desires.

God what do you want? And sometimes it's what I want and I'm not sure if this is what God wants and so there's a struggle period in there. And that's okay because we're struggling with what God wants and in this struggle period it's a period of deliberation and indecision and we have to come to a place where we surrender ourselves to God. However, the choices that we make will end up leading in the direction that we go in our life and that leads to the third point and that is there's a decision, that's a conscious decision to go in the direction to live for myself. It's to become a friend of the world, to reach a verdict, to make a choice, to take a stand, to shift my allegiance, to change my friends.

I'm going to go and pursue after my own desires and I'm going to immerse myself in the fallen corrupt culture and that's the way I'm going to live. And then finally number four is the word distance because once you make a decision you have to choose to distance yourself from godly influences because if you're worldly you don't want to hang out with the godly. Because they're different, they're different in their pursuits, they're different in their actions, they're different in their behavior and sadly you distance yourself ultimately from God. There's two characters that the Apostle Paul had a relationship with. One was Mark and the other was a guy named Demas. Mark who ended up writing the gospel of Mark started out with Paul on a missionary journey with Barnabas and Mark for whatever reason and we don't know exactly why deserted the Apostle Paul and Barnabas and left and went back home. Later on Barnabas wanted to go with Paul on another missionary journey and Barnabas said let's bring Mark again and Paul said no and it brought a rift between Paul and Barnabas.

We don't know why he didn't want to bring him, he didn't really say but obviously he recognized that there was probably unresolved issues in Mark's heart, a lack of surrender, a lack of self-denial. Then there's this guy named Demas who Paul mentions over and over about how much he served with him in various places and you can read about him in the book of Colossians in Philemon but when we come to 2 Timothy chapter 4 verses 10 and 11 it's very interesting what Paul concludes. Number one he says Demas hath forsaken me because he loved this present world.

We don't know what happened. We're not saying that Demas wasn't a believer but he was with Paul on the front line serving him and something happened in his heart and he left and Paul says he deserted me, he deserted me for this world. And then the very next verse Paul writes and he says to Timothy get Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for the ministry.

Somewhere along the way Mark got aligned in his desires and his direction and his choices and he ended up following the Lord and of course he ended up writing the second gospel, the gospel according to Saint Mark. One provides a word of warning the other a word of hope. The apostle James here is writing us. He is charging us with the concern of worldliness and I'll just lay it out.

The great issue at Bob Jones University is whether or not we're going to mature and if we don't mature and become wise people then at the core of it it's actually a worldliness of our heart that we haven't really dealt with. So my prayer is that God will be merciful to us and help us to have the affections that please him and honor him as God's people who are set apart from the world. Father thank you for your word. Thank you for those who have listened and I pray Lord that you'll help us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. Help us Lord not to choose to be worldly in Jesus name. Amen. You've been listening to a sermon from the book of James by Dr. Steve Pettit, President of Bob Jones University. Thanks for listening. Join us again tomorrow as we study God's Word together on The Daily Platform.