Along the Way

Reading about Worldliness

"Many of the distinctions separating Christian conduct from 'worldly conduct' have been challenged if not altogether undermined. Even the words worldly and worldliness have, within a generation, lost most of their traditional meaning." James Davison Hunter, Evangelicalism and the Coming Generation.

"I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church." Charles H. Spurgeon

Put your finger on any prosperous page in the church's history, and I will find a little marginal note reading thus: 'In this age men could readily see where the church began and where the world ended.' Never were there good times when the church and the world were joined in marriage with one another. The more the church is distinct from the world in her acts and in her maxims, the more true is her testimony for Christ, and the more potent is her witness against sin." Charles H. Spurgeon

"Worldliness is a love for this fallen world. It's loving the values and pursuits of the world that stand opposed to God. More specifically, it is to gratify and exalt oneself to the exclusion of God. It rejects God's rule and replaces it with our own. It exalts our opinions above God's truth. It elevates our sinful desires for the things of this fallen world above God's commands and promises." C. J. Mahaney, Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World.

"The goal of worldly people is to move forward rather than upward, to live horizontally rather than vertically. They seek after outward prosperity rather than holiness. They burst with selfish desires rather than heartfelt supplications. If they do not deny God, they ignore and forget Him, or else they use Him only for their selfish ends. Worldliness . . . is human nature without God. Joel Beeke, Overcoming the World: Grace to Win the Daily Battle.

"Worldliness is departing from God. It is a man-centered way of thinking; it proposes objectives which demand no radical breach with man's fallen nature; it judges the importance of things by the present and material results; it weighs success by numbers; it covets human esteem and wants no unpopularity; it knows no truth for which it is worth suffering; it declines to be 'a fool for Christ's sake.'" Iain Murray, Evangelicalism Divided: A Record of Crucial Change in the Years 1950 to 2000.

"[Worldliness] exists in our hearts. Worldliness does not consist in outward behavior, though our actions can certainly be an evidence of worldliness within. But the real location of worldliness is internal. . . . We see this by looking closely at [1 John 2:16]." C. J. Mahaney, Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World.

"The worldly characteristics . . . are in fact reactions going on inside of us, as we contemplate the environment outside." David Jackman, The Message of John's Letters.

"The antidote to worldliness is the cross of Jesus Christ. Only through the power of the cross of Christ can we successfully resist the seduction of the fallen world. The Savior's death on the cross is what makes possible forgiveness of sin and provides power to overcome sin. And the cross is the attraction that draws our hearts away from the empty and deadly pleasures of worldliness." C. J. Mahaney, Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World.

"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 lose their attraction and disappear. Fill your affections with the cross of Christ and you will find no room for sin." John Owen, Sin and Temptation.

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace."

Helen Howarth Lemmel, hymn published 1922.