In Colossians 2:8 Paul warns about the dangers of the base and elementary philosophy of the world. What are those principles? He is non-specific, but the most basic philosophy of the world is this — anything must be made supreme so that God and Christ will be minimized. The base philosophy of the world it […]
Read More Jesus is the answerOne of my favorite commentaries as I have studied the book of 1 John has been David Jackman’s The Message of John’s Letters. Repeatedly, Jackman has synthesized a passage and drawn out its relevance for today’s church. This was true again this week as he related the truth about the world, its ruler Satan, and […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers: Our place in the worldThe churches in Asia Minor had been infiltrated by false teachers that were leading them astray about the relationship between the believer and sin. The result was that some who were genuine believers became unsure about their salvation. In addition, these false teachers were not only indulging in their licentious sins but they also were […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers: Don’t be surprised when the world hates youThomas Watson: Oh, meditate on the transience and brittleness of life! Think often of your tombstone. Question: What advantage will accrue to us by often thinking of our short time here? Answer 1. Meditation on the shortness of time would cool the heat of our affections for the world. [“Time’s Shortness”]
Read More Think often of your death“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.” John (1 Jn. 2:15) could not be more clear. The things that are in the world, and all that the world produces from its ungodly system are deadly for the godly man when he lives for them and not for Christ. The believer should […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers: Worldly desiresJeremy Taylor: While the Spirit of God is doing this work [of regeneration] in man, man must also be ‘a fellowworker with God;’ he must entertain the Spirit, attend his inspirations, receive his whispers, obey all his motions, invite him farther, and truly renounce all confederacy with his enemy, sin; at no hand suffering any […]
Read More Working with the Spirit of GodMartyn Lloyd-Jones: It should not be our ambition to be as much like everybody else as we can, though we happen to be Christian, but rather to be as different from everybody who is not a Christian as we can possibly be. Our ambition should be to be like Christ, the more like Him the […]
Read More Don’t be like everybody elseRecently I was asked for my favorite book titles on the topic of worldliness — how can we live in this world without being stained by the world and taking on the characteristics of the world? A few books came immediately to mind, and then I scanned my shelves and found some more helpful […]
Read More Help in the battle against worldlinessThere are multiple helpful resources available to help us think in godly ways about the world and how we should live in relation to it. Here are five that I have found particularly helpful as I have thought about this topic: Tim Challies, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment R. Kent Hughes, Set Apart: Calling a Worldly […]
Read More Combating worldlinessCommenting on this morning’s sermon, someone said, “You have to live life with your head up.” That is, you have to live life always aware that there may be an incoming attack to entice you to move away from Christ. The philosophy of the world is always attempting to delude the believer so that he […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers — Combating worldlinessIn his recent book, Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself, Joe Thorn exhorts himself (and us) to develop godly fear in place of worldly fear: What should you fear in life above a holy God who forgives the sins of unholy men like yourself? What can be taken from you? Your possessions […]
Read More Cultivate fearThose who are naive are often mocked for their innocent ignorance. Yet Scripture affirms that there are some things not worth knowing. Even more, knowing them is a detriment to our hearts. That’s why God said to Adam and Eve not to eat from that one tree in the middle of the Garden — the […]
Read More Some things are not worth knowingThinking about the putting off of sin and the world and the putting on of Christ and grace, I’ve been thinking on the following statement from J. C. Ryle: Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then you must begin with Christ. You will do just nothing at all and make no […]
Read More Would you be holy?Sometimes it is difficult to discern worldliness (either because of the complexity of the issues involved, or because of the deceitfulness of our own hearts). Are we expressing appropriate freedom and liberty that God has granted us to enjoy — or are we engaging in activity that is in fact worldly? Or perhaps the better […]
Read More Wordly or godly?Worldliness is not a battle that is unique only to the contemporary church. Every church in every age has faced the temptation to accommodate the world. As one example, take a letter written by John Newton to another pastor — …the progress of wickedness amongst the unconverted here is awful. Convictions repeatedly stifled in many, […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (6/6/10)
Words of Grace 