Worldliness in church today

The Bible is not silent on the topic of worldliness. My take is that worldliness is spiritual yet a physically manifested position in human beings. Often one is worldly without knowing it, yet it is easier for such a person to point out some worldliness characteristics on someone else. For example, it is possible for a pastor to preach on worldliness when he is also a worldly person. Then the scriptures where Jesus rebuked hypocrites saying, ‘first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye’ (Matthew 7:5).

I’m sure worldliness is one reason on judgment Jesus will say to many Christians, ‘…I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’ (Matthew 7:23). How I pray that God would open my own eyes to see and do away with worldliness in my own life. This will put me in a justified position to unveiling it as I see it in churches today. For this reason, it is my request that the people that I live with should let me know if they see worldliness in me so that we can deal with it.

Let’s consider the following verses to pinpoint the worldliness in our churches today.

1. 1 John 2:15 – 16 – ‘Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world’. The temptation to lust for beautiful things of the world is real. Let alone the boastful pride of life.

I have seen people compromise their Christian faith just to have some worldly possessions. Many do not care what other Christians say about the things they lust after. It is also common to see prideful believers. These are the things that create enmity with God. They are worldly and an abomination to God.

Jesus was once tempted by the devil on the love of the world. This was when the devil led Jesus up to show Him all the kingdoms of the world. The devil wanted Jesus to worship him in exchange for the possession of worldly kingdoms. The world could never be lucrative enough for Jesus to fall into this temptation. No wonder Jesus said, ‘For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26).

2. Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. The world does things in a certain way, and Christians should not adopt those ways. There are a number of things that Christians should not do in a worldly ways and they include the following:

• Dancing – The way Christians dance before the Lord should not be the way the world dances.
• Dress code – Worldly dressing includes revealing clothes, make up of all kinds, artificial and attachments. It is not easy for me to write about this because even woman I respect, love and know, fall for this trap. Sadly, most women do not accept this reality and they would be stubborn in their response. This makes woman very much worldly than man. I would not be surprised if there are less woman in Heaven than there are man. I recommend this post ‘There is likelihood that there are less women in Heaven – Victoria Nehale’.
• Business – Money laundering should not be heard of among Christians. Robbery, cheating and back door dealings shouldn’t be part of Christian ways of doing business. Christians should not send their employees to work while they go to church. Christians should apply Christian values in all their business dealings.

Features of worldliness

The Holy Spirit has been given to us to guide us to the truth and He is the best guide for the believer. However, it is not a secret that most Christians quench the Holy Spirit, which is against the warning sent by Paul to believers in 1 Thessalonians 5:19. Whenever we quench the Spirit, He gets aggrieved and that is not at all our calling (And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption – Ephesians 4:30).

I have come up with broad pointers of what worldliness is and how one can identify it.

1. Everything faking God’s creation is worldly.
2. Everything that seeks to modify God’s creation is worldly.
3. Everything that originates from evil practices is worldly.
4. Everything that is recorded as worldly in the Bible is truly worldly.

This is not about but about what God wants from His flock. If you want to deal with worldliness in your life, I suggest you take time to prayerfully study the Bible and commit to being obedient to the Holy Spirit as He guides you. I also suggest you visit other believer’s testimonies on how God revealed to them the truth about worldliness, pastor Abraham Yakubu is one man I would recommend.

As I conclude, I want to go back to scripture and quote James 4:4, ‘You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God’. The Bible will never instruct you on something just to destroy you. It is God’s standard for making it to Heaven. Its either you comply or you lose Heaven.

May God lead us to the truth so that we may live.

Be blessed.