Nine Marks of Worldliness - I John 2:15,16 (Preoccupations that are wrong, pride, pleasures, possessions, popularity, power obsession, position oriented, people pleasing, and privilege for selfish reasons)
Illustration: That evening, the assassin John Wilks Booth stopped in a saloon near the Ford Theatre and used alcohol to nerve himself for what was to be his date with history. One drink, two drinks, three drinks and on…
Later that night Lincoln’s bodyguard John F. Parker was distracted while the president and party were comfortably enjoying the performance of “Our American Cousin” in the Ford Theatre. Charles Forbes (Lincoln’s footman) and Francis P. Burke (Lincoln’s coachman) left the Ford theatre with Parker for a drink at presumably the same saloon as John Wilks Booth had just left. While Parker was distracted in the saloon the door to the presidential box was left unguarded. John Wilks Booth went on the attack and slipped into the presidential box during the performance and shot Lincoln.
Those two saloon visits just could be the most costly drinks in American history!
It’s just like the enemy to distract us from our duties and then take advantage of the situation to wreck havoc. Happens to me all the time. Just when I am comfortable in a situation along comes Satan to mix things up. It could be relationships, ministry events or my marriage. His plan is to distract and attack.
Quote: "Too many people forget that Satan desires to sift us like wheat so he can steal, slaughter, kill and destroy us and everything that is good. Worldliness opens to the door to all forms of evil in our personal life, relationships and ministries."
Definition of Worldliness: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 not just about reading certain magazines of people who live hedonistic lives and spend too much money on themselves and but secretly wanting to be like them. But more importantly, worldliness is simply pride and selfishness in disguise. 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 some of the ways in which we evidence a love for the world.
Dave Roper, The Strength of a Man, quoted in Family Survival in the American Jungle, Steve Farrar, 1991, Multnomah Press, p. 68.
"Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see and the pride of our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world." (I John 2:15,16)
Too many people think that worldliness is something limited to external behavior. Other think worldliness is hanging out with the wrong kinds of people. Worldliness is a wrong attitude of the heart that indicates a lack of a totally consuming love for the Lord God.
It is important to remember that the Lord hates sin. God’s wrath is directed toward all forms of the sins of worldliness. Those who fail to commit themselves to the Lord Jesus will not only miss God’s blessings but experience God’s displeasure. There are many ways that worldliness dilutes, pollutes and distorts the thinking of billions to their own detriment.
The following are nine characteristics that indicate if a person is falling into the trap of worldliness. Let us focus on loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and mind so we can avoid any speck of the love of this world and have to suffer the consequences.
Be open to letting the Spirit of God help you evaluate, expose and eradicate any traces of worldliness in your life. Be careful that you may not be evidencing the love of the Father in all areas of their life, relationships and activities.
1. PREOCCUPATIONS WITH EARTHLY CONCERNS. Americans are busy people. We like to stay active but are tempted to get preoccupied with things that distract us from Christ and His kingdom priorities. Things things preoccupy our minds so there is little room left over for what is best. Paul wrote, "Set your thoughts on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." (Col. 3:1-3)
Illustration: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.
Erwin Lutzer, Pastor to Pastor, p. 76.
2. PRIDE. The one for pride is alazonia which means a boasting of one’s importance to the point of it becoming vain glory. It is pitiful to see someone who thinks they are something special when they are not. Prideful people are setting themselves up for a major disappointment.
Definition: Pride is a overbearing opinion about oneself, one’s worth or one’s indispensableness. Paul wrote to the prideful Corinthians, "If anyone thinks he stand, let him take heed lest he falls. Peter warns, "God humbles the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (I Pet. 5:5,6)
3. PLEASURES. Too often human desires incline our hearts toward things that will please our old sinful nature instead of God. Paul wrote, "The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace." (Rom. 8:6-8)
Example: A recent Barna.org poll revealed that 28% of the Pastors in the USA admitted to some type of sexual sin. With the proliferation of pornography on the internet and the indiscriminate flaunting of sexual innuendos on television many people have allowed their pleasures to choke out the fruitfulness in their lives.
Example: As a result, more and more Americans get angry when they do not get their way in traffic that road rage has become a serious problems on our roads. Nearly one-third of Americans are obese because of the problems of over-eating. These are delicate subjects, but need to be overcome if we are not to suffer from self-destructive pleasure seeking practices.
4. POSSESSIONS. Do not let the cravings to accumulate things overcome your commitment to lay up for yourself treasures in heaven instead of on the earth. Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also." (Matt 6;24)
Illustration:The course of rebellion against God may be very gradual, but it increases in rapidity as you progress in it; and if you begin to run down the hill, the ever-increasing impetus will send you down faster and faster to destruction. You Christians ought to watch against the beginning of worldly conformity. I do believe that the growth of worldliness is like strife, which is as the letting out of water. Once you begin, there is no knowing where you will stop. I sometimes get this question put to me, concerning certain worldly amusements, "May I do so-and-so?" I am very sorry whenever anyone asks me that question, because it shows that there is something wrong, or it would not be raised at all. If a person’s conscience lets him say, "Well, I can go to A," he will very soon go on to B, C, D, E, and through all the letters of the alphabet. . .
Example: When Satan cannot catch us with a big sin, he will try a little one. It does not matter to him as long as he catches his fish, what bait he uses. Beware of the beginning of evil, for many, who bade fair to go right, have turned aside and perished amongst the dark mountains in the wide field of sin.
C.H. Spurgeon.
5. POPULARITY. Some people are so fixated on how they appear to other people that they gravitate only to those leaders who are popular at the time. As a result these individuals are mercurial in who they follow and who they are influenced by. Paul wrote, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Gal. 1:10)
Quote:The world’s smiles are more dangerous that its frowns.
6. POWER OBSESSION. Some people are obsessed with being in control. They are not happy until they sense that they have dominance in every situation or with every discussion. Paul learned how to be content in every situation he said, "As pressed down but not crushed. As perplexed but not in despair. As persecuted but not abandoned. As put down but not defeated. Always bearing in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." (2 Cor. 4:4-7)
Illustration:"If I had a brother who had been murdered, what would you think of me if I ...daily consorted with the assassin who drove the dagger into my brother’s heart; surely I too must be an accomplice in the crime. Sin murdered Christ; will you be a friend to it? Sin pierced the heart of the Incarnate God; can you love it?"
C.H. Spurgeon.
7. POSITION ORIENTATION. We live in a very competitive society. From the time we are young there is an emphasis put on being the best, getting to the top of the class or seeking to be elected to the office of class president. When we become adults it is often difficult for us to be stuck in a job where we have not enjoyed a promotion to a higher position for many years.
Example: It is important to remember what God told Jeremiah, "Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh." The love of the world is often seen by those who are envious of those who have higher positions of power, influence or prestige.
Example: Paul wrote to the jealous minded Corinthians on this problem once, "You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul and another, I follow Apollos, are you not mere men? What, after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, thorugh whom you came to believe- as the Lord has assigned to each his task." (I Cor. 3:1-5)
Example: Immature people are often divisive people who argue over who gets to take the positions of power, prominence and prestige. Godly people do not mind being placed in positions of service because they know that the Lord is the one who knows the best position, task and responsibility thatis most suitable for each one.
Application: Stop resisting His will or you will fall into the worldly trap of the Corinthians and devour one another with envy, jealousy and bitterness.
8. PEOPLE PLEASING. We all enjoy being around people who appreciate us. Worldly people live in a constant state of anxiety because they are afraid important people might not like what they are doing. Performance driven people are secretly insecure because they have not completely trusted in the Lord to get their affirmation.
Example: Paul wrote, "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me." (I Cor. 4:3,4)
Application: Realize that people are fickle but God’s love for us is constant. Do you work as unto the Lord and not to men knowing that from the Lord we will receive the reward of our inheritance. It is the Lord Jesus Christ whom we serve and not men. (Col. 3:23,24)
9. PRIVILEGES SEEN AS SELF-CENTERED RIGHTS. When we first got our drivers license we all learned that driving was a privilege and not a right. Yet some of us have witness how difficult it is for an elderly person to give up their drivers license because that important lesson has been forgotten. In the same way, we have to remember that every good thing we have is a gift from God. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, as Job learned. Let us also say like Job, Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Application: Let us not begrudge the Lord for taking away things, possessions or privileges that we have assumed are our rights. Yield all of your rights and privileges to the Lord. David wrote, "He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with what is good." (Psa 107:9)
Conclusion:
Example: 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.
Application: 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 tunes of the world.
Donald Grey Barnhouse.
