Sunday Leftovers (6/6/10)

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, […]

Newton’s counsel on worldliness

Today at lunch I was reading William Carson’s Letters of John Newton. You can tell by his letter to this woman that she had asked something about how to resist the temptations of the world. His counsel is wise even for our own day: You would have me tell you what are the best means […]

Sunday Leftovers (5/23/10)

Simon Stylites was a man who took seriously the call to holiness and the command to live distinctly from the world. But you have to wonder if he really understood. After several other attempts to distance himself from worldly desires, he developed a plan that he followed for the final 39 years of his life. […]

We are not made for earthly happiness

I have been thinking much in the past couple of weeks about Ephesians 4:17-19, which is the passage for this week’s sermon: So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded […]

In the world, but not of it

How the believer in Christ relates to the world is an old question. Both Christ and the apostles addressed the question. “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take […]

Saved from what?

The word “salvation” means “rescue.” And in this rescue the believer is rescued from two different objects. He is rescued from the wrath of God — in a very real sense, salvation is not just to God, but also from God — from His wrath. But the believer is also rescued from the ongoing effect […]

Today’s Quote – Worldliness (Murray)

Iain Murray, Evangelicalism Divided: 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. Worldliness covets human esteem and wants no unpopularity. It knows […]

Book Review: Worldliness

For some time, someone has been asking me a question about preaching and the church, “in previous years, you often used to hear sermons on this topic, but now you rarely even hear the word used — whatever happened to worldliness?” What has happened to verses like Romans 16:19? …I want you to be wise […]

Today’s Quote (10/22/08)

Charles Spurgeon, “Separating the Precious from the Vile:” 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 […]

Sunday Leftovers (2/11/07)

Proximity to Christ does not guarantee faith in Christ. This was the reality of the half-brothers of Jesus prior to His resurrection (though they later trusted in Him; cf. Gal. 1:19; Jude 1). It makes you wonder, doesn’t it, how they could be so close to Christ — seeing His lack of sin day after […]

Christ died . . . for prosperity?

At or near the top of the New York Times bestseller list for many months, Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Now) has a significant audience. What is his thesis? He reveals his motivation on page 1, telling the story of a man who had some success. While on vacation in Hawaii, this man saw a […]