Overcoming Worldliness
WHETHER OR NOT we are growing in the Lord can best be measured by the way we live out our lives as Christians. And in this regard, James is probably the most practical of all the epistles, in that it spells out straightforwardly the practical aspects of our faith.BY THOMAS SMITH James 4:7b; Genesis 3
For example, Paul writes in Romans 12:2, "be not conformed to this world." He tells us not to let the world put us into its mold, thereby shaping our thinking, our desires and our values. Well, James 4:4-10 shows us how we are to deal with this problem of worldliness.
The apostle James starts this passage with a provocative statement: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Anyone who seeks to divide his affection between God and the world, he warns, is engaging in spiritual adultery; he is an enemy of God; he is not saved.
James then explains in verse 5 why the natural man tends to love the world. "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" Don't you know that there's a spirit within the human that yearns towards the things of this world?
The Good News. On the positive side, he says in verse 6, "But he (God, that is) giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." To those who humble themselves before God, God gives the grace to over
come that tendency to flirt with the world.And in verses 8-10, James sets forth the logical, progressive and practical way to achieve a spirit of humility:
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
In order to take those steps, though, James says in verse 7 that you must first "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." And overcoming worldliness by resisting the devil is what I would like to talk to you about in this message.
Practical implications
Let's look first at the phrase "resist the devil" and see what truths flow out of it by way of implication.1. The reality of the devil. We are living in a day when anyone who believes in the devil is a throw back to the dark ages. But James fully expects the people to whom he is writing to realize that there is in reality a devil, which is also known as Satan.
2. The need to resist the devil. The natural man is worldly, so he is not bothered by Satan. But earlier in this verse, James has just told believers to submit themselves to God. When we do so, we are seeking godliness, which, of course, is just the opposite of worldliness. So, Satan will attack us and we need to resist him.
3. The ability to resist the devil. We can expect to be victorious. Apart from Jesus Christ, to be sure, we'd be no match for the devil; Satan will succeed in putting us into his worldly mold. But Christ defeated Satan by His death upon the cross. As a result, once we have submitted ourselves to Christ, Satan cannot touch usunless God allows it, or we allow Satan to do so.
Satan's schemes
To resist the devil effectively, it helps if we first know what he is and how he operates. Significantly, the word "devil" is translated from the Greek word diabolos, which means accuser or slanderer. Thus, Satan is an accuser or a slanderer.Before the cross, he used to slander believers before the throne of God. You can read about that in Job 1 and 2, Zechariah 3, and Revelation 12:10. But we don't have to worry about that anymore, because Revelation 12:10 also tells us that he has since been hurled down from heaven.
But while Satan can no longer accuse us, he still accuses and slanders God. To see how he does that, let's go to Genesis 3, which records for us how sin first entered into the world.
1. Questioning God's word. We read in Genesis 3:1: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
Satan caused Eve to doubt the word of God, and he is still trying to do that to us today. If we're not careful and if we don't know God's word well, then we will question God's word as well.
In I Timothy 2:12, for instance, Paul clearly forbids a woman to teach or usurp authority over the man in the corporate church. But more and more churches have been installing women as their pastors, arguing that Paul was merely acquiescing to the cultural condition of his day.
But the two reasons Paul gives in I Timothy 2 for that prohibition have nothing to do with cultural consideration; they trace all the way back to what happened in the Garden of Eden: (1) Adam was first formed and then Eve, and (2) because Eve was the one who was deceived, the man is to be the authority figure even in the church.
So, the churches that have allowed women to stand in their pulpits are effectively saying, "Hath God said?" Second guessing God's command, they have adopted the way of the world.
2. Accusing God of lying. After Eve had answered that she and Adam indeed were not to eat of that tree, the serpent said, "Ye shall not surely die." Here, the devil contradicts God, accusing Him in essence of being a liar. And again, we can easily fall victim to that subtle activity of the devil.
In Matthew 6, Jesus declares flatly that no one can serve two masters. But Satan comes along and says, "It's all right to love both God and the world as long as you love God more."
We claim that we believe every word of God, yet how many of us are in practice caught up in trying to love both the world and God? In so many Christian families today, we have both parents running out to work, chasing the almighty dollar, letting someone else raise their children. Why? Because they are trying to do just what Jesus said you cannot do.
But Satan comes along and says, "It's all right to love both God and the world as long as you Child rearing. Speaking of raising children, I frankly wish some of you parents would use your rod more than you do. Now, I don't mean beating. I am not talking about child abuse. But the word of God clearly says that sinful foolishness is bound up in that sweet little child of yours, and that the only way to drive out that foolishness is to use the rod of correction.
But Satan comes along and says, "That's wrong. If you discipline him, if you don't let him have his way, he'll grow up to be a psychological case." What happened? Many Christians buy that lie and raise their kids much as people of the world do, except perhaps they take them to church on Sunday mornings. As a result, their kids' values are hardly any different from those of the world.
Worrying. The area of worry and fear is another example. All through the Bible, God tells us not to fear because we're in His mighty hands. Nothing happens to us that He doesn't allow, and whatever trial He allows to come into our life, He will give us the grace to handle it.
Yet, Satan comes along and says, "You'd better plan for your future. You may lose your job if the economy of this nation collapses, so you had better start worrying about it now. God helps those who help them
selves!"We swallow that nonsense, hook, line and sinker, and we begin to adopt the phobias of the world. You've got a lot of Christians walking around like mental basket-cases, taking dope and worrying about the future just like the unbelievers. The fact is, failing to trust the Lord is a form of being worldly.
3. Attacking the character of God. Not only did Satan say to Eve, "Ye shall not surely die," he added, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." In other words, he's saying, "I'll tell you, Eve, God doesn't want you to eat that fruit because He's trying to hold you back. You need to get liberated."
Similarly, God says in I John 2:15,16, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love 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 pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." Such a person, in short, is unsaved.
But Satan says, "God is a killjoy. He doesn't want you to have any fun. But why be a stick-in-the-mud Christian? Enjoy what the world has to offer."
Lusts and pride. So, he tempts us with things that appeal to the lust of the fleshsex, drugs, alcohol or just plain leisure. He surrounds us with things that appeal to the lust of the eyesthe material things and worldly attractions that stir up our covetousness. And he appeals to our pride of life with all kinds of things that supposedly would give us beauty, glamour and fame.
We swallow that nonsense, hook, line and sinker, and we begin to adopt the phobias of the Notice how Satan got to Eve. Genesis 3:6: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life)..." and the entire human race was plunged into sin.
So, be alert to these practices of Satan. Recognizing the danger is the first step toward resisting the devil.
Our defense
But you need more to overcome worldliness. Do you remember how Jesus Himself resisted the devil's temptation? He quoted the word of God. For us, too, the word of God is our defense and our strength. And here are some verses that should help you overcome worldliness.II Peter 1:20,21: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
Whenever someone says, "Hath God said?", remember Satan is trying to undermine the word of God. Remember also that every word in the Bible comes from God, not Moses or Paul or James. It cannot be arbitrarily modified to suit changing customs or human desires. So, we must not allow anyone, including ourselves, to second guess what God has said. The scripture is the word of God.
II Timothy 2:3: "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life (this world); that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier."
We have to live in this life, to make a living in this world. But by the grace of God, we will not entangle ourselves with the things of the world. We are not going to get involved with worldly projects.
Whenever something stands between you and your service for the Lord Jesus Christ, you're being entangled by the world. You can be an effective lobbyist to save the environment or a zealous volunteer in your community's first aid squad; but if you become so caught up in them that you can't find time to regularly pray, study the Bible and use your spiritual gift to serve God, you are no longer a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Romans 13:14: "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
To varying degrees, we all have sinful desires that we need to overcome. Well, this verse tells us that one way to overcome the lust of the flesh is to make no provisions for it. So, if you're an alcoholic and have become saved, then you want to make sure that you don't have any booze in the house.
Likewise, if you have a problem with adultery or fornication, then you should put as much real estate between you and anyone that you are liable to be attracted to. Proverbs 6:27 says, "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" Of course, you can't. Don't play with it, run from it. Make no provision for the flesh.
God's promise
When you trust and obey the word of God, when you refuse to entangle yourself with the things of the world, and when you distant yourself from anything that might appeal to your lust, the devil will flee from you. This is a promise of God (James 4:7b).In sum, we need and are indeed able to resist the devil. As we do so with God's help, Satan will flee from us. True, he is liable to come back again to attack you later on, so you need to submit to God and resist the devil all the days of your life. But victory can be yours to keep, if you keep your guard up. Then, you will experience the unspeakable joy of having overcome worldliness. o
Rev. Thomas W. Smith is pastor of The Fellowship Church, 3rd and Cromwell Streets, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865.