Many Christians even outside of fundamentalist circles tend
to have an externalized idea of worldliness. Hence, in many conservative Reformed
circles, the manner of one’s dress is a hot issue. Now I’m all for modesty in
dress, but some of these people seem to think that Victorian era dress was the
most modest in the history of the world, hence most to be emulated. One wonders
how Christians in Corinth would have done on the modern modesty scale. In some
circles, where your children are in school is a defining factor. Home school?
Thumbs up! Christian school? Maybe thumbs up, maybe thumbs down, depending on
whether it has the right curriculum. Public school? You heathen!
These rubrics of worldliness and holiness are prominent in
evangelical circles. The Bible, however, doesn't seem to have much to say on
any of them, except for modesty in dress. And even on that the Bible doesn't
say all that much, except to encourage it. I think the difference is due to the
fact that we like to be able to define godliness and worldliness and other such
concepts on the basis of what we can see. The Bible doesn't do that.
Instead, we find passages such as 1 John 2:15-17. Verse 15
says, Don’t love the world. Love of the world and love of God cannot exist
together. No man can serve two masters. But what is the world? Verse 16 tells
us: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of
life. This is a subtle allusion to the deception of Eve. She saw that the fruit
was good for food (the lust of the flesh), was a delight to the eyes (the lust
of the eyes), and was desirable to make one wise (the boastful pride of life). The
world is ever before us, drawing us away from the love of God and into love of
the world.
But what is the problem with love of the world? Verse 17
tells us that the world is passing away (and its lusts as well). The lover of
the world will pass, as will the world. But the lover of God abides. Note that
worldliness is not just a love of sin. It is a preference for the temporary
over the eternal. It is a preference for what we can see over what we cannot
see. It is a preference for sight over faith.
We can’t see worldliness. It grows in the heart. But we may
be able to see some of its fruits. And those fruits are not primarily in how we
dress or how we educate our children. Instead, worldliness shows itself in carelessness
about spiritual things. It shows itself in prayerlessness. It shows itself in
using the weapons of the world to fight the battles of faith.
Are you worldly? I don’t know. But you might want to ask yourself:
Do I prefer what I can see over what I can’t see? Am I disappointed with God
because he didn't do what I wanted him to do? Do I prefer this present life
over the life to come? Do I desire
heaven? Do I pray that his kingdom come?
It is easy to pass external tests for worldliness, because we make up those rules. It is much more difficult to mortify the root of worldliness that lies within us.
2 comments:
Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.” Isaiah 42:5-9
Hey Dr. Shaw,
I found your dissertation on the Genesis genealogies and looked at the appendix for dating the rise of ANE civilizations. Anyway, I was wondering when do you think the flood occurred? I seem to find a specific date other than maybe before 3200BC.
Thanks!
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