What does “Worldliness” really mean anyway?

I had an enjoyable conversation with my Mama yesterday about being right before God in your own conscience. This led me to 1 Corinthians this morning when Paul says “For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgement before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”  1Cor 4:4

 

My Mama and I got to talking about obeying the Lord and letting go of other’s subjective opinions and false judgements. Because as Paul said we will be judged by the Lord and he sees whether we are obedient or not. The part that gets tricky is then making sure to keep in step with the Spirit while living in the freedom of Christ as to not become a stumbling block to others. 

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve on another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” Galatians 5:13

This is where a lot of people seem to take two different camps on this topic, where I believe there is a way that ties both the law of our obedience to God and the grace and freedom we have been given through Jesus, together. 

In camp number one, we see the “Holy” people. They are careful in how they dress and what they say in public, they have “perfect” children in church and all seems to be right. The subject of “worldliness” is taught to be any appearance of the world such as cultural, dress or the popular arts. These things are band, to keep oneself pure. Sadly, home life can tell a very different story. Where there is the appearance of perfection on the outside, there is anger, strife, dissension, and disobedience on the inside. The heart of Christ is loving, patient, self-sacrificing, willing to give everything to someone else, even those who are undeserving of love. Many times, these “Holy” people put on a good show but on the inside they are hollow or even full of decay. White washed tombs come to my mind. These people like to pronounce a false judgement on those around them who are living in the grace of our Lord. They secretly judge those people who do not dress like the “holy” people, whose children might not be as perfectly still and silent, whose hair might not be up to standards in the “holy” people’s eyes. Everything is focused on the outside show of religion. These are the “Works without faith” which we know is dead.

Then we have the second camp. We have the people that have thrown off the conservative structure of the ‘old school” Christians. We see this group of people that look nothing like the “holy” people. They have bible verse tattoos, they wear jeans to church, they want to integrate popular music into worship. They dabble in all things. claiming that all is “lawful for me”, boasting in the freedom of Christ. However, all of their interests and hobbies are secular in nature. They carry the name of Christ but in every activity and choice there is no hint of newness of life. This group is so misleading to the world, because the claim the name of our Lord yet live in public sin. This group I call “faith without works”, which we know, is also dead. You cannot have one without the other! 

When I read through the scriptures I see that the people that God has saved have this in common. They walk in the Holy Spirit. It is a very simple answer but the product of it is profound! The people that have a new heart Love the Lord. When we love Him we obey him. To obey Him is to love Him alone and serve those around us, to encourage the Saints, and to proclaim the true Gospel to everyone that will listen. There is very little said about “Worldliness” being our outside appearance but more an issue of whether our flesh is ruling or the Spirit of a Holy God. When the topic of clothing or appearance comes into the picture we are instructed to clothe ourselves in humility and other attributes of the Spirit! This clothing oneself in the Spirit and the attributes of Christ does manifests in our physical appearances. If we love our brothers, we will dress appropriately. I do think that this will look differently on each person. We are not all going to dress like the Amish, but we will evaluate our choices with a loving heart. We are each to live within our own conscience. But we are instructed to check up on each other and hold each other accountable with the war between our flesh and our Spirit. We judge ourselves with God’s standard, and then we judge with love and patience those in the same body according to God’s standard as well. 

 

 “All things are lawful for me, ’but not all things are helpful’. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.” Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”-God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.” 1 Cor 6:12-14

“And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is still jealously and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” 1 Cor 3:3

The deeds of the flesh are of the World. I think that is a good standard of worldliness. Do not be dominated by anything but the Spirit of God and the works that He has prepared for us!

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:18-21 

Those words in bold are worldliness and true stumbling blocks. We need to rid ourselves of the filth of the world, the fits of anger, envy, idolatry, sensuality etc. I think one thing that is very important is to evaluate our actions or appearance considering this list. This is the list that if we follow we will cause others to sin. If we serve money rather than God, if we serve food rather than God, if we serve our personal image other than God, these things cause others to sin.  If we are jealous, and sexually immoral, we will be a stumbling block to others. But instead of looking at the significant issues we want to judge someone for something frivolous and say “well, they may be a stumbling block if they wear such and such”. Are they REALLY causing you to sin or does it just go against your own private opinions? Before you judge you must look at the worldliness listed in Galatians and make sure you are right before God. Then if God has laid in on your heart to address a fellow believer who is exhibiting the fruits of the flesh, address the real root of worldliness in love and patience.

Worldliness begins in our heart. It is a daily struggle to confess the flesh and the natural, worldly man and put on the Spiritual man. So, let us not bite and devour one another! That is not in the Way. But armed with the Spirit of God, let us Love God more, and love ourselves less. 

“For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through Love.” Galatians 5:5-6