Two years ago, I attended a conference meant for the youth. One thing stood out, the speaker knew some of the best secular artist, local and foreigners; Taylor Swift, Nyashinski, amongst others. He not only knew them but also knew the lyrics to these popular songs that would have any young man glued to his phone or tv late at night watching and listening to their music.

At a time when I was taking a media detox, I was surprised and at the same time impressed by how this gentleman was concerned with these young people. Wait! did he also watch that latest Netflix movie and try to fast forward the sex scene? Not mentioning the homosexuality agenda being propagated on every new film. I couldn’t imagine the battles he was waging, and the sacrifice this young pastor was trying to make to understand the needs and challenges that the young people that he definitely loved were going through.

One thing came out clear few days after the conference, the greatest challenge facing the church today is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world. Many, in pursuit of holiness, chose to walk the long, dusty, and dangerous road in service to Christ, they were the model Christians whom anyone would admire, respect and want to emulate. But just like Demas, in love with the present world deserted the Savior. (2 Tim 4:10) A life wasted, testimony ruined…how does someone go from passionate follower of Christ to a deserter?

“The seduction of the world is not immediate and obvious, it is subtle, often undetected by those succumbing to its lies.”

A love for the world begins in the soul, a dull conscience and a listless soul, passion for the savior begins to cool and growth in godliness slows to a crawl.

Unlike our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Asia, or some parts of West Africa, our peril is more secure and insidious. We are not under attack from without, but rather decaying from within. Our life as witnesses of the life changing power of the gospel hangs in the balance.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

How easy is it to ignore the verse that is strategically aimed at warning us against that which we desire most? Comfort, sex, riches, excitement, name it. The truth is, I barely hear a sermon based on this verse besides the superficial, emaciated gospel advice from a circle of people who cannot differentiate worldliness and the world that God created and declared to be very good (Gen 1:31).

The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, (Ps 24:1)

So what is this “World” that we are forbidden to love?

“The world we’re not to love is the organized system of human civilization that is actively hostile to God and is alienated from God.” The world God forbids us to love is the fallen world, humanity at enmity with God. A world of self-sufficient people seeking to exist apart from God and living in opposition to God.

Though we remain in this world, we are not to become like the world. As John Stott said, we must be “neither conformed, nor contaminated by it.”

Mention worldliness, and you’re sure to encounter opposing views among Christians. These conflicting views are either as a result of a wrong understanding of the world or the fear of sounding legalistic.

Looking closely the verse that follows, 1 John 2:16

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

The essence of worldliness is in the cravings of a sinful man, the lusting of his eyes and the boasting of what he does and has. It resides in the heart. The real location of worldliness is internal, it does not consist in outward behavior, though our actions can be certainly an evidence of worldliness, it lurks inside our hearts.

What stirs your heart? What dominates your mind? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What is your goal?

Well, majority of you do not reflect on these questions as often, so do I. We have all fallen captives to the philosophy of moving forward rather than upward, to live horizontally rather than vertically. That is what worldliness is at its core, we are fixated to the values and pursuits that are opposed to God, we yearn to gratify and exalt ourselves to the exclusion of God. Worldliness, is the love for this fallen world and all that it offers., it is departing from God, it is being man-centered, it declines to be a fool for Christ’s sake, it does not know the truth for which it is worth suffering.

As you seek to weaken the influence of the world in your life, you can take a sound advice from the great physician of the soul, John Owen :

“When someone sets his affections upon the cross and the love of Christ, he crucifies the world as a dead and undesirable thing. The baits of sin loose their attraction and disappear. Fill your affections with the cross of Christ and you will find no room for sin.”

If you want the world to lose its appeal, then crucify it as a dead undesirable thing. Gaze at the wondrous cross, as Spurgeon would urge us, “dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard.”

For it is “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal 6:14)

While resisting worldliness, our aim is not just to defeat sin but rather exalting Christ, our thoughts should be consumed by the glory and grace of God revealed at the cross.

^“whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8

Reference

Don’t waste your life ; John Piper

Money, Sex & Power ; John Piper

Respectable Sins ; Jerry Bridges

Competing Spectacles ; Tony Reinke