1 John 2:15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
Worldliness.......it has invaded churches everywhere. People seeking their own gradification, their own glory.....whatcan God do for ME rather than what can I do for GOD? We have become a selfish people, seeking out those who would say words that are pleasant to our ears, that make us feel better about ourselves, avoiding the real truths of God that churches were to built upon.
We are doing a study on Wed nite abouit this very issue. Paul talks in 1 COR about building a solid foundation, one built on truth. 1 COR 3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. That IS the foundation that we all must build on....and anything other than the truth of God that is being built upon is doomed to failure.
I want to talk to you about worldliness and how it has penetrated our churches, our fellow christians, and finally, how we have ended up twisting the Gospel to fit our own selfish needs. Don’t forget, Satan is a master of deception, and I believe he has and continues to dupe christians into a false sense of security and that many will be surprised on judgement day! Let’s look at some falsehoods in the church today:
1.OUR CHURCHES MUST BECOME RELEVANT TO TODAYS SOCIETY IF WE ARE TO WIN SOULS FOR CHRIST.
I hear this all the time.....ministers meetings, Pastoral helps, books on church growth; IT IS A BIG LIE to tell ourselves that we need to change the Gospel to fit our lifestyles! True evangelism MUST revolve around the cross and TRUE repentance! The popular thing to do nowdays is whatever it takes to "attract" people to church. Booming numbers of people in mega-churches seem to justify using worldly methods to make the church "attractive" to people. Are we really helping to get people saved and filled with Gods Spirit or are we simply filling the seats of the churches with the "tares" that Jesus warned us about in :The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares" found in MAT 13. Actually, if you will look up "tares" in your KJV concordance, you may understand this subject better. And you may even want to ask yourself if you are seen by God as wheat or tare! Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Just because everybody else is doing, it doesn’t make it right, and just because you might believe it that way doesn’t make it true! We need the truth of Gods word, and THAT does not change just because our lifestyles do!
2. Here is another lie Satan uses on christians "I’M A GODLY PERSON"
Maybe you are. I hope and pray that you are, you should be! But if you can only say this because you are gaugeing YOUR Godliness by someone else’s, especially someone you know is that is openly living in sin, then you are letting Satan decieve you. If you look around at some of the people you know in the world and compare yourself with them, you might say to yourself "Hey....I’m really a pretty good person; look at so-and-so......I’m a lot more Godly than he is!" You’d better be examing and comparing your life to SCRIPTURE....no other comparisons will matter on the day of judgement. 2 COR 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. YOU are the best judge of wheter you are living your life as Godly as the Bible tells you to....examine it in truth!
3. WELL, OTHER CHRISTIANS DO IT THAT WAY
Because of the gradual change that has permeated our churches, we seem to feel that worldliness is OK and acceptable to God. From the BARNA update on Oct 31st, here is the headline "A New Generation of Adults Bends Moral and Sexual Rules to Their Liking." This research deals with the "Buster" generation....young adult in their 20’s and early 30’s. I found it ALARMING! Born again Busters were somewhat less likely to illegally download music, to smoke, to view pornography, to purchase a lottery ticket, or to use profanity. However, young believers were actually more likely than non-believers to try to get back at someone and to have stolen something. Moreover, on eight of the 16 behaviors, the profile of born again Busters was virtually identical to that of non-born again Busters. In terms of attitudes, the typical pattern was for born again adults over 40 to be most closely aligned with biblical perspectives, followed far behind by other segments, including younger Christians. For example, just 33% of born again pre-Busters believe that cohabitation is morally acceptable. However, among born again Busters nearly twice as many (59%) agreed, representing a majority of young Christian adults. This same response pattern was evident when it came to gambling, sexual fantasies, abortion, sex outside of marriage, profanity, pornography, same-sex marriage, and the use of illegal drugs.
I believe this shows that our churches are failing......miserably....to teach and preach God’s truth. It seems to get worse every generation! EX 23:2 tells us "You shall not follow a crowd to do evil". Just because everyone’s doing it, doesn’t make it right. Test all you do by Gods Word!
4. "I DON’T LOVE THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD"
Or do you? Think about it just for a sec.....how devoted are you to say....entertainment....or possessions.....pleasure....how about money (we all need more of that, right?) Do you sometimes miss church because you have something you’d rather be doing? You know, there is such a lack of interest in church that a lot of churches not only don’t have Wed nite services, but now don’t even do Sun PM services. "Well, Pastor.......I’ve got things to do...." I sure am glad that when they crucified my Lord and Saviour, He didn’t say "Hey......I’ve got something else to do right now.....I’ll try to fit that in my schedule later...."What you love is demonstarted by the things that you make priorities in your life everyday. You prove to yourself , everyone that knows you, and to God what you really love. MAT 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Vs 24 says “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
5. I’M IN THIS WORLD, BUT I’M SURE NOT OF THIS WORLD
Are you sure? Just because you may profess Christianity doesn’t necessarily make you "not of this world." The churches that Paul started had to be constantly reminded of this! As I said earlier, it ain’t what you say, it’s what you show! JAM 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Are you "deceiving your own self?" Think about it. Finally, the 6th lie Satan wants you to believe.....
6."WELL, GOD DOESN’T EXPECT ME TO BE AN ODDBALL!"
Well.....yeah, He kinda does! Don’t you think most people thought Jesus was a little "odd?" How about Paul.....boy, I can imagine what they thought about him.....used to persecute Christians and now "he are one"......odd behaviour! What about Peter? Now, you talk about odd.......that guy couldn’t keep his temper, always opening his mouth when he shouldn’t.....by the way, how odd do you think Jonah looked whenever he got to Nineva, after spending 3 days being digested by a whale? Nearly all accounts we see, Christians are mocked by the world! And if you aren’t being mocked by someone, maybe they are having trouble seeing your Christianity! JOHN 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Church....don’t love this world. It won’t save you. You don’t owe anything to this world. What has this world ever done for you? Did it die for you? Make sure that you don’t die for it!!! But LIVE for Christ...I’ll leave you with the words of 1 JOHN 2:18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us. 20 But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth. 21 So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies.
