{"id":18701,"date":"2021-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/james-020-avoid-worldliness\/"},"modified":"2021-03-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T05:00:00","slug":"james-020-avoid-worldliness","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/james-020-avoid-worldliness\/","title":{"rendered":"James 020 – Avoid Worldliness"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[104],"series_event":[514],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18701","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-james","series_event-james","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"James 020 - Avoid Worldliness","sermon_date":"20210324","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2021","sermon_notes":8922,"sermon_slides":8923,"sermon_mp3":8926,"sermon_id":"32421192271085","series_or_event":514,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":104,"chapter_and_verse":"4:1-4","sermon_transcript":"James #20\n\nAvoid Worldliness\n\nJames 4:1-4<\/u><\/strong>\n\nIn the book of James 4:1<\/u><\/strong> and we are continuing this evening with our verse-by-verse study through the book of Jame<\/u><\/strong>s.\u00a0 James<\/u><\/strong>, as you know, is a book about how to live as a Christian.\u00a0 Francis Schaefer said, \u2018How then shall we live<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 That is what the book of James<\/u><\/strong> is about.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t a book about positional righteousness, the way much of both Romans<\/u><\/strong> and Ephesians<\/u><\/strong> are, it is a book about practical righteousness.\u00a0 As we have talked about, the first part of the book is about how a Christian continues to live by faith<\/u><\/strong> (James 1:1-3:12<\/u><\/strong>).\n\nSo, how do we continue to trust God as believers?\u00a0 We adopt God's vantage point on trials that come into our lives (1:2-18<\/u><\/strong>); we obey God's Word (1:19-27<\/u><\/strong>); we don't show favoritism in the assembly (James 2:1-13<\/u><\/strong>); we allow the faith that is in us to manifest itself in good works so that our faith becomes useful (2:14-26<\/u><\/strong>), and then we learn to control our speech (James 3:1-12<\/u><\/strong>).\n\nBy the time we get to the end of James 3<\/u><\/strong>, he is no longer dealing specifically with trusting God in the midst of life\u2019s difficulties, but he has moved into wisdom<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Wisdom<\/u><\/strong> is knowledge applied so that we learn to take God's truth and apply it to daily life.\u00a0 It is hard to do that unless we understand what wisdom<\/u><\/strong> is, so James defines it in 3:13-18<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 He says that wisdom<\/u><\/strong> is identified by her actions (3:13);<\/u><\/strong> he draws a contrast between wisdom<\/u><\/strong> from below (3:14-16<\/u><\/strong>) and wisdom<\/u><\/strong> from above (3:17-18<\/u><\/strong>).\u00a0\u00a0 He gives us a wonderful definition of what wisdom<\/u><\/strong> is and isn\u2019t.\n\nThen he says for us to take it out for a test drive and learn to apply it to every area of life.\u00a0 He is going to deal with wisdom<\/u><\/strong> related to spirituality, to commerce, to use of wealth, to waiting for the Lord\u2019s return; to prayer and to restoring the erring brother, but the first topic that he applies wisdom<\/u><\/strong> to is spirituality.\u00a0 And that is the paragraph that we began last time, and now we will try to work our way into that this evening.\n\nHow do we apply wisdom<\/u><\/strong> to spiritual life?\u00a0 We avoid wrangling<\/u><\/strong> (James 4:1-3<\/u><\/strong>) and worldliness <\/u><\/strong>(4:1-6<\/u><\/strong>).\u00a0 One of the nice things about the Bible is that it isn\u2019t merely a book of \u2018don\u2019ts\u2019<\/em> \u2014 as in don't wrangle, don't be worldly, etc., but it is also a book of betters.\u00a0 Rather than wrangling<\/u><\/strong> and worldliness<\/u><\/strong>, we learn to embrace the essence of spiritual wisdom<\/u><\/strong> which will be described in 4:7-12<\/u><\/strong>.\n\nThe first thing he talked about is to avoid wrangling<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 He addressed a problem that was occurring in this particular assembly, and he says in 4:1<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cWhat is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0 He is dealing with Christians who can't get along with each other, ie, brothers and sisters in Christ who can't get along with each other; he is also dealing with people within the same church who can't get along with each other; within the same denomination, etc. \u00a0He is dealing with something that happens in many places:\u00a0 conflict in the Body of Christ.\u00a0 That is the issue that he is bringing up, so it is amazing how practical the Bible is, amen?\n\nThen he moves from the problem to the source, ie, what causes these issues, and last time, we saw the source.\u00a0 He says into James 4:1<\/u><\/strong> and into 4:2,<\/u><\/strong> \u201cIs not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 \u2018You lust<\/em>,\u2019 now lust is something that comes out of the heart; it is desiring what God has forbidden. \u2018You lust and do not have, so you commit murder.\u00a0 You are envious,<\/em>\u2019 which is a heart issue, and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.\u00a0 So, he is talking about the fact that a lot of these conflicts that occur between believers, not necessarily every conflict, but a lot of them, are related to this problem of the sin nature.\n\nWhen Jesus was talking about the sin nature<\/u><\/strong>, mentioned relational sins coming out of the sin nature<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 In Mark 7:20-23<\/u><\/strong>, He talks about \u201c\u2026out of the man\u2026from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality<\/em>\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Here come the relational sins:\u00a0 \u201c\u2026envy, slander, pride and foolishness<\/em>\u2026\u201d\u00a0 So, when James is talking about quarrels from within, Jesus is dealing with the same subject here in Mark 7<\/u><\/strong> where He talks about envy and slander.\u00a0 In other words, you lust for something that God has given to somebody else \u2014 whether it is a career, a financial status, a reputation, academic pedigree, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 Whatever it is, they play the piano, sing better than you or I do, maybe they preach or teach better than you; have a bigger following, better liked, etc, and you see that kind of situation, and it stirs up the sin nature into envy.\u00a0 Instead of going to God with that heart issue, then the temptation becomes to start to tear down someone behind their back, because they're prettier, or more handsome, more talented than you are, etc.\u00a0 As that happens, you begin to commit murder in your heart and to destroy \u2014out of envy.\n\nJesus says that all these evils come from within and defile the man.\u00a0 James is saying that this is actually the source of so much tension within Christianity and within the church.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have anything to do with the church needing a personality profile examination to get people of similar temperaments to work together.\u00a0 You might have seen these temperament tests where they take personality types and divide them into different categories and promise that if you complete the survey and inventory and follow their advice, then church conflicts will cease because you will get people with the right temperaments and leadership styles working together.\n\nThat is what you would call a superficial humanistic psychological analysis.\u00a0 James is not dealing with it from a psychological perspective; he is dealing with it from an issue of depravity.\u00a0 Just because you got saved, doesn\u2019t mean that you're sin nature just disappeared.\u00a0 Can I get an Amen on that?\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that although the sin nature has been disabled in the sense that you don't have to go back to it, is always there to entice you to return to it.\u00a0 These different sins here are the works of the flesh that emanate from the sin nature that Jesus is describing in Mark 7<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 So, when the Christian returns back to the sin nature, which is something they do, not because they have to, but because they want to do it, what happens often, is that these relational sins come to the forefront.\u00a0 James says that is the source of conflict, I wouldn\u2019t say every conflict, but of many conflicts within the Church.\n\nJames has identified a problem, and one of the things I love about the Bible, and this convinces me more than anything that the Bible has to be from God, is that it is so honest about us.\u00a0 Look at it and you will have to say, \u2018Oh my goodness, that is true; that\u2019s me right there in that verse<\/em>.\u2019\n\nThat is the source of the problem often, so it is an internal source.\u00a0 Another reason for the problem relates to prayerlessness,<\/u><\/strong> and that is where we left off last time.\u00a0 He says here in the second part of James 4:2 <\/u><\/strong>that \u2018you do not have because you do not ask<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 What happens is that someone has something that we don't have, and instead of going to the Lord to ask Him for that particular thing, that we think we are lacking, we don't do that, \u2014 we don't go to God with this envy issue, rather we basically move into slander.\n\nIt is akin to the old proverbial crab climbing out of the bucket.\u00a0 As the crab is climbing out of the bucket, what do the rest of the crabs do?\u00a0 They pull the ascending crab back down because his or her attempt to climb out makes the playing field unlevel.\u00a0 Once the playing field is unlevel, that exposes an inadequacy in us, and that is akin to what we are like in our sinfulness.\u00a0 We really don't like it when other people are blessed more than we are.\u00a0 Let's be honest.\u00a0 \u2018It is okay if they are blessed, but not more than I am, please<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 So rather than going to the Lord, saying that \u2018I want to be blessed, too<\/em>,\u2019 we move into slander.\n\nJames says the root of the problem is the sin nature<\/u><\/strong> and prayerlessness<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that prayer seems like a pointless activity to many people, but it has tremendous power.\u00a0 We completely underestimate the power of prayer.\u00a0 In fact, in this same book, one chapter later will say, \u2018A prayer of a righteous person when it is brought about can<\/em> availeth or accomplish much<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 In other words, the prayer of a righteous man or woman is powerful and effective.\u00a0 Elijah, as we will learn in James 5<\/u><\/strong>, was able to alter the weather for 3 \u00bd years simply through prayer.\u00a0 To pray requires faith, and often, we aren\u2019t operating on the basis of faith, but on the basis of our sin nature, so rather than move into prayer, we move into murder in our hearts and to slander.\n\nIf someone is being blessed, and I think there is an inadequacy in me because they're being blessed, then if I go to the Lord asking Him for something, will the Lord hear and answer me?\u00a0 I think you would be surprised at how frequently God will answer.\u00a0 Jesus said, in Matthew 7:7-11<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cAsk and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened<\/em> to you<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 These are all verbs that are present tense verbs:\u00a0 ask, seek, and knock.\u00a0 \u2018I have asked the Lord and He hasn\u2019t opened anything up to me<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 Well, have you kept asking is what it is saying here.\u00a0 Ask and keep asking.\u00a0 Then it says to seek and keep seeking, to knock and keep knocking.\u00a0 Then Jesus says in Matthew 7:8<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cFor everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.\u00a0 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?\u00a0 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0We all know how to bless our children.\u00a0 Your daughter or son asks for something, and we know to give, as parents, to provide, to be a blessing to them; we even know how to spoil them a little bit, don't we?\u00a0 Particularly if grandparents are involved, then you get a lot more spoiling.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t mention grandparents here, but they would be included, I guess.\n\nSo, if we as human beings who are corrupted by a sin nature, know how to bless our children when they ask, then why would we think that God in heaven would be any different?\u00a0 God wants to bless us just as we want to bless our children, yet He, unlike us, doesn\u2019t even have a sin nature.\u00a0 So, the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.\u00a0 You go to the Lord because you want something, you see someone else who has something, and instead of moving into anger you just ask the Lord to be blessed in the way that He has for you.\u00a0 I don't think that there is anything wrong in asking for that because the Bible tells us to ask, and it will be given.\u00a0 In fact, James says that is the root of the problem:\u00a0 people spend so much time worrying about what someone else has that they don't spend any time in prayer petitioning God.\u00a0 Because they don't go to the Lord first, they move into envy, then envy into slander.\u00a0 James says that this is what is causing conflict within the assembly \u2014 it is coming from the sin nature<\/u><\/strong> and from prayerlessness<\/u><\/strong>.\n\nJesus, in Luke 18<\/u><\/strong>, told this very interesting parable about the unrighteous judge.\u00a0 It says, \u201cNow He was telling them a parable to show them that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, \u201cIn a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.\u201d\u00a0 There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, \u2018Give me legal protection from my opponent.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>Looks like she had a legitimate request for legal protection.\u00a0 \u201cFor a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, \u2018Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, [<\/em>it is kind of interest that the judge is now saying that about himself, not only does God say that he doesn\u2019t fear God or respect man, but he is saying of himself that he doesn\u2019t fear God or respect man.\u00a0 Not really a great guy] \u2026yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 And the Lord said, \u201cHear what the unrighteous judge said; now will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, [<\/em>so there is the continual petitioning and prayer\u2014day and night]\u2026 and will He delay long over them?\u00a0 \u201cI tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.\u00a0 However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>The point of this whole thing is that Jesus says people ought to pray and ought not to faint, and He tells the story of the judge who was moved to action even though he couldn\u2019t have cared less about this lady, he was moved to action simply because she kept petitioning him.\u00a0 If God is the judge, and He is not, because He has a perfect character, that is, He isn\u2019t like this judge at all because He isn\u2019t like one who has no fear of God or respect for man.\u00a0 This judge is limited by a sin nature that God is not limited by.\u00a0 So, it is sort of an argument from the lesser to the greater.\u00a0 If this callous judge heard this widow just because of her continual petitions, how much more will God in heaven move His hand for His children, His elect, His chosen?\u00a0 Because they also continually petition Him.\n\nHowever, when the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?\u00a0 In Greek, that verse requires a negative answer meaning that when the Son of Man comes, He won't find faith on the earth.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 Because men and women will have fainted away rather than prayed.\u00a0 That is why Jesus told this whole parable \u2014 to encourage people to pray.\u00a0 James, I think, is surfacing the same point because we don't pray and go to God with things as we should, and we try to resolve situations in our sin nature.\u00a0 So, what is the source of conflicts and quarrels among you?\u00a0 It materializes through relational sins that emanate from the sin nature, and it also materializes because we give way to those things rather than go to the Lord with repetitious, consistent prayer because we really don't have the faith to believe that God will answer us when the Bible is telling us that God wants to hear, to answer, because just as we know how to bless our children, God knows how to ask us.\u00a0 So, whatever it is you think you need or want, rather than moving into envy and slander, James is saying to take it to the Lord.\u00a0 Because we aren\u2019t taking these things to the Lord, we are trying to resolve them in our sin nature, and conflict is resulting in the Church.\n\nWhat is the problem?\u00a0 Relational conflict among Christians.\u00a0 What is the source of it?\u00a0 Sin nature<\/u><\/strong> and prayerlessness<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 In James 4:3<\/u><\/strong>, he talks about how often our prayers are misdirected.\u00a0 \u201cYou ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Often, we will go to the Lord in prayer and God doesn\u2019t answer us because we are asking for selfish reasons.\u00a0 We aren\u2019t saying, \u2018Lord, make me wealthy so I can help the poor<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 It is more like, \u2018Lord make me wealthy so I can go on more cruises on the Riviera<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Lord, make me talented so that I can be a blessing to as many people as possible<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 That isn\u2019t really our heart, our heart is \u2018Lord, give me a talent to do something so that I can attract attention to myself and become popular.<\/em>\u2019\n\nThe moment that we move out in prayer in that way, God has no obligation to answer us because 1 John 5:14<\/u><\/strong> says that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.\u00a0 This is why, so often, our prayers don't get much higher than the ceiling \u2014 because they're self-serving, narcissistic; prayers that are really more about us than God and how He does things.\u00a0 Of course, this is the error of the prosperity gospel which is the idea that you are the \u2018kid of a King<\/em>,\u2019 and because of that, you are entitled to certain things, such as a life of health, wealth and prosperity.\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t experiencing those things, then it relates to your lack of faith. So what the whole doctrine does, and they teach this around the clock, sadly on so-called Christian television, not all Christian television, but an awful lot of it \u2014 the \u2018Word of Faith Movement<\/em>,\u2019 I call it the \u2018Blab It and Grab It Movement<\/em>,\u2019 where you speak something, and God is obligated to answer because you are the \u2018kid of a King\u2019<\/em>, making you entitled to a life of health, wealth and prosperity.\u00a0 The problem is that you go into the third world, and you see Christians suffering who are very spiritual, and they don't have an awful lot by American standards.\u00a0 It is interesting that this health and wealth gospel has the tendency to run out of steam once you get beyond the borders of the US.\u00a0 The US has an economy that can support this type of doctrine; other nations do not.\n\nBut the error of the prosperity gospel is that it turns God into your servant.\u00a0\u00a0 What did Jesus say repeatedly in His relationship to the Father?\u00a0 \u2018Not My will be done, but Thy will\u2019<\/em>\u2026. Prosperity gospel is the exact opposite; it is all about me and my will, and it turns God into a cosmic bellhop, so to speak.\u00a0\u00a0 By the way, if God answered every narcissistic prayer, \u2018Lord, make me rich and famous for my own power or glory<\/em>,\u2019 that would be the equivalent of a parent who gives their child everything they ever wanted.\u00a0 We know how that ends; the child will be very spoiled in life, and we would be, too, if God gave us everything that our narcissistic desires want.\u00a0 In fact, the worst thing that God could ever do to you would be to give you everything you want.\n\nIsaiah 55:8-9<\/u><\/strong>, God says, \u201cFor My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways ways My ways,\u201d declares the LORD.\u00a0 \u201cFor as the heavens are higher than the earth, So, are My ways higher\u00a0 than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 If you are going to the Lord to petition Him for something, and He doesn\u2019t give it to You, take the \u2018No\u2019<\/em> as a good thing rather than as a bad thing \u2014 because God has something better for you that will not destroy you.\n\nSo, it is a different way of looking at conflict within the assembly; where does the conflict come from?\u00a0 It comes from the sin nature<\/u><\/strong> moving into the relational sin; from prayerlessness<\/u><\/strong>, because we don't go to God with the issue, or when we do go to God with the issue, it relates to misdirected prayer because we are asking with the wrong motive.\n\nJames says that rather than being envious, go to the Lord in prayer, and before you approach the Lord in prayer, make sure that your heart is right and that you are petitioning Him for something that will advance His purposes, not merely something narcissistic or self-serving.\u00a0 If we did that, James says that a lot of conflict within Christianity would cease \u2014 just those three verses in James 4:1-3.<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0 That is what he is getting at when he says to avoid wrangling<\/u><\/strong>.\n\nAs you go down to 4:4-6<\/u><\/strong>, he says to avoid worldliness<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 \u201cYou adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?\u00a0 Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.\u00a0 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: \u201cHe jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 But He gives a greater grace.\u00a0 Therefore it says, \u201cGOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO<\/strong><\/em> THE HUMBLE<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d\n\nHow do we take divine wisdom and apply it to spiritual daily life?\u00a0\u00a0 Number 1, we avoid wrangling<\/strong>? The second thing we do is to avoid worldliness<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 The word, \u201cworld<\/em>\u201d is \u2018cosmos<\/em>\u2019 which is where we get the word, \u2018cosmopolitan<\/em>\u2019 which was also a magazine at one time, but it is appropriately named for the attitude of the world towards fashion, etc.\u00a0 The world here is not talking about the globe or the sphere, but about the philosophy of the age; the world.\u00a0 The Bible is very clear that ever since the fall of man in Eden, that satan has been the rule of this world, and it will remain under his authority until the return of Christ.\u00a0 That is why satan, \u2018(see the Scripture verses) is described as:\n
    \n \t
  • The Prince of this world \u2014John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n \t
  • The god of this age \u2014 2 Cor 4:4<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n \t
  • The Prince and power of the air \u2014 Eph 2:2<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n \t
  • The one who the believer wrestles with; thus, our need to put on the whole armor of God since we are living on enemy territory \u2014 Eph 6:12<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n \t
  • The one who roams about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour \u2014 1 Peter 5:8<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n \t
  • Using that same Greek word, \u2018cosmos\u2019<\/em> that the whole world lies in the lap of the wicked one\u2014 1 John 5:19<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIn fact, in the very earliest book of the Bible, the book of Job<\/u><\/strong>, God asked satan where he came from, and in Job 1:7<\/u><\/strong> and Job 2:2<\/u><\/strong>, satan said \u2018from going over the earth to and fro over the earth<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 Why would satan say that?\u00a0 Because he has the authority over the earth.\u00a0 He is the one who energizes the zeitgeist, I think, ie, the spirit of the age, the philosophy of the age; he is the source of energy behind it.\n\nJesus was tested by satan in the Judean wilderness for 40 days and one of the things satan offered Jesus in Luke 4:5-8<\/u><\/strong>, was all the kingdoms of the world.\u00a0 \u2018For they have been given to me<\/em>,\u2019 satan says, presumably by Adam, \u2018and I can give them to whomever I want<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 It isn\u2019t that God is not sovereign and doesn\u2019t intervene; He obviously does, but all things considered, without the intervention of God, it is satan who runs the course of the present world.\n\nSo, these insurance companies call certain events \u2018acts of God<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 That has never sat right with me.\u00a0 Why don't we just blame the guy who is in charge?\u00a0 Why don't we call these acts of satan?\u00a0 That is why our world, Romans 8:19-22<\/u><\/strong>, is personified as being in a state of groaning \u2014 it is yearning for its liberation from satanic bondage when Jesus returns with His angels who are called, \u2018the sons of God.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 So, when James 4: 4<\/u><\/strong> says, \u201cYou adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? <\/em>[He uses the Greek word, \u2018cosmos<\/em>,\u2019 that is what he is speaking of:\u00a0 the zeitgeist, the energy or philosophy of the age, masterminded ultimately by satan himself.\n\nYou have a wonderful, maybe wonderful isn\u2019t the best chance of words, but it is an accurate description of how the world system operates in 1 John 2:15-17<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 John, speaking to the believers says, \u201cDo not love the world <\/em>[that is \u2018cosmos\u2019<\/em>] nor the things in the world.\u00a0\u00a0 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.\u00a0 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh <\/em>[the enticement of the world to use one\u2019s body against God.\u00a0 You can put any number of sins in that category:\u00a0 sexual immorality, drug abuse, those all go under the category of the lust of the flesh] \u2026 the lust of the eyes<\/em> [covetousness] and the boastful pride of life<\/em>, [living by your own way of thinking as if God doesn\u2019t exist at all] is not from the Father, but is from the world.\u00a0\u00a0 The world is passing away<\/em>, and also its lusts<\/em>; [the world system looks so permanent, but the Bible tells us that it is passing away, in other words, its days are numbered] \u2026 but the one who does the will of God lives forever.<\/em>\u201d\n\nThose are the three ways that the world system operates:\u00a0 lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.\u00a0 That is the source of energy or philosophy in the fallen world in which we now live.\u00a0 The world seeks to alienate our affections from God to itself.\u00a0 That is how the world system operates in the mind of every single child of God; there is a perpetual tendency to want to be like the world and its value system rather than the things of God.\u00a0 So, the world system, whether it is through television, newspaper, keeping up with the Jones;\u2019 it is the whole system, and it wants to alienate our God away from God and to its own value system.\u00a0 And that is foolish, John says, because the world is passing away.\u00a0 You fall in love with the world is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that until the world system is destroyed by the Lord, and He will destroy it one day, it is a very real enemy in the life of the Christian.\n\nIn fact, the moment that you trusted Christ as your Savior, you inherited three enemies that you didn\u2019t have before.\u00a0 So, your life was going along just fine, then you got saved, and now the Lord says that you have three new enemies you didn\u2019t have previously.\u00a0 You say, \u2018Lord, I don't want any enemies<\/em>,\u2019 and the Lord said, \u2018I never asked your opinion; this is just how it is for now<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 So, your enemies are:\u00a0 the world, which is what we are describing here; the flesh, didn\u2019t we describe that earlier in the paragraph?\u00a0 The world, the flesh and the devil<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 You will be in conflict with those until your dying day or until the rapture, and fortunately, the Lord has given us resources to overcome each enemy.\n\nYou have to know what your resources are, and you need to appropriate them by faith moment-by-moment.\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t doing those two things, ie, you don't know what your resources are as a Christian, and if you aren\u2019t appropriating them by faith, then you are simply a defeated Christian.\u00a0 You are going to heaven, your fire insurance is paid up, but you are perpetually tyrannized by these three enemies.\n\nSo, the name that I give this concept is three-dimensional warfare.\u00a0 This is something that we need a lot more teaching on; otherwise, we will be victims for our entire Christian life, and we will never bear the fruit that God would have us to do.\u00a0 James is talking here about the first of the three:\u00a0 the world system<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Romans 12:2<\/u><\/strong> says, \u201cAnd do not be conformed to this world [\u2018cosmos\u2019], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,<\/em> [the Phillips translation says, \u2018Do not let the world squeeze you into its mold\u2019<\/em> \u2014 that is what the world system is doing in our lives now as our enemy \u2014 it is pressing us away<\/em> from God\u2019s value system into<\/em> the way it thinks on countless issues and lifestyle choices.\n\nThe world system is extraordinarily powerful.\u00a0 Paul said this of one of his ministry companions at the very end of his life regarding Demas.\u00a0 There is no doubt in my mind that Demas was a Christian and that we will see Demas in heaven one day. To me, it is unthinkable that Paul would put someone whose salvation is in doubt onto his own ministry team; this would make no sense.\u00a0 A lot of theological systems say, \u2018Well, Demas either lost his salvation or wasn\u2019t saved at all<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 I don't accept that; I think that he was very much a blood bought saint, but Paul says of Demas, \u201c\u2026for Demas, having loved this present world<\/em>, [you mean the world that John says is passing away?\u00a0 Yes, that world system.\u00a0 You mean, it is the same Greek word, \u2018cosmos<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 Yes it is]\u2026 \u201chas deserted me and gone to Thessalonica;\u2026\u201d. <\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>In other words, this is a guy who was basically with Paul at the beginning, and he bailed out on Paul.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because something happened in his mind where the world system got the upper hand, and he became intoxicated with the zeitgeist, the energy of the philosophy of the time, whatever the issue was, that his affections became alienated from God.\u00a0 He is one, who I think will be in heaven, but will not be fully rewarded at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ.\n\nI bring this passage up because that is the power of the world system.\u00a0 Don't underestimate your enemies.\u00a0 As your coaches used to tell you in athletics, \u2018Respect but don't fear your opponent<\/em>.\u00a0 But you must have respect for them<\/em>.\u00a0 And you have three enemies, but you needn\u2019t be afraid of them because God has given you resources in every area, but you must respect them.\u00a0 Respect them on the grounds that they must be pretty powerful, or God wouldn\u2019t have warned you about them, while equipping you to spiritually overcome each of them.\n\nThe book of James, if you have been a careful student with us, has already warned us about the world system.\u00a0 In James 1:27<\/u><\/strong>, James says, \u201cPure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:\u00a0 to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 There is our Greek word, \u2018cosmos<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 James is saying that if you really want to practice true piety, then be a person of blessing to the needy, and also keep yourself unstained from the world.\u00a0 You read that and say, \u2018Well, James, I\u2019d like some more information on the world system.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 James responds, \u2018I am glad you asked.\u00a0 I will pick up that subject, thank you very much, in James 4:4<\/u><\/strong>.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>So, what are the consequences of becoming worldly; of becoming like Demas?\u00a0 Number one, you become an enemy of God, or you come into enmity against God.\u00a0 It is right there in 4:4<\/u><\/strong> where he says, \u201cYou adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?\u00a0 Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0You will notice the expression here, \u2018adulteresses<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 Who is James\u2019 audience?\u00a0 Christians; believers, but they are also Hebrews.\u00a0\u00a0 These are Hebrew Christians.\u00a0 They knew Hebrew Bible, I would assume.\u00a0 In fact, James tells us in James 1:1<\/u><\/strong> that they are from among the twelve tribes that have been dispersed.\u00a0 When James says, \u201cYou adulteresses<\/em>,\u201d they knew exactly what he was talking about because that is what God called Israel, did He not?\u00a0 Over and over again when they became like the surrounding nations and stopped being a distinct people.\u00a0 Read the whole book of Hosea; that is the point of the book \u2014 how the northern kingdom had become a prostitute, a harlot.\u00a0 Read Ezekiel 16 and 23<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 the whole chapters, and you will see God calling Jerusalem and the southern kingdom a prostitute and harlot.\u00a0 He does it with some of the most graphic sexual imagery I know of in the Bible.\u00a0 In fact, I call those chapters Christian pornography.\u00a0 If you want to read some pornography in the Bible, read Ezekiel 16 and 23<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 I am trying to make a point that it is very graphic.\n\nAs a betrayed spouse would feel upon learning that the husband or wife of their youth is carrying on with someone else, that is what happens to the heart of God when God's people become worldly.\u00a0 They become at enmity with God, and of course, they would, because who is engineering the world system?\u00a0 God's enemy, satan.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a totally different value system.\u00a0 In fact, Revelation\u00a0 17<\/u><\/strong>, the one world religious system of the last days that we talk a lot about, what is it called?\u00a0 The Great Harlot; the mother of harlots.\u00a0 A Jewish audience, when they see the word, \u2018harlot<\/em>,\u2019 they understand the analogy well to physical harlotry, adultery.\n\nSo when we fall in love with the world system becoming like Demas where our affections are alienated from God, He looks at it as an adulteress<\/em>.\u00a0 Now the opposite is true.\u00a0 In the upper room, Jesus, John 15:18-19,<\/u><\/strong> said ,\u201cIf the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before<\/em> it hated you<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, \u2018Don't feel bad if the world hates you, it hates Me as well, and it hated Me long before you became My disciples<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 \u201cIf you were of the world <\/em>[our word, \u2018cosmos\u2019<\/em>], the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.\u201d <\/em>\n\n\u00a0<\/em>So, when you decide to walk out the life of discipleship with the Lord Jesus Christ, don't expect the world system, with its hostile values, to stand up and applaud.\u00a0 Don't expect your colleagues to stand up and applaud, nor should you expect your family members to stand up and applaud, and God forbid, in some cases, don't expect your fellow church members to stand up and applaud.\u00a0 Don't expect the world to embrace you; don't expect to be the next speaker at the Grammy Awards, or whichever awards it is where they all give awards to each other, some of the most depraved people on planet earth.\u00a0 You probably won't be invited to speak at an event like that.\u00a0 That is just how it is.\u00a0 If I could, I would probably try to get along with everyone.\u00a0 That is how my personality is, but Jesus is saying that it is impossible because the moment you embrace Christ\u2019s value system is the moment the world will start to despise you, particularly the more serious you become about Jesus Christ.\u00a0 When we were \u2018in the world<\/em>,\u2019 Romans 5:10<\/u><\/strong> tells us that we were enemies of God.\u00a0 Now that we are in Christ, we are the enemies of the world.\n\nSee how James is giving one side of the equation:\u00a0 if a Christian falls in love with the world, they become an enemy of God, and Jesus, in the upper room, is giving the other side of the equation:\u00a0 if we fall in love with Jesus and walk with Him, then the world will hate us.\u00a0 So, we will be hated by someone.\u00a0 We will be judged by someone.\u00a0 The question is Who do you want to be judged by?\u00a0 The world or by God?\u00a0 When you put it that way, I think I would rather be judged by the world, because being judged by God is much more severe.\u00a0 <\/em>The world\u2019s judgment can be very severe, but temporary; God's judgment seems to last a lot longer as far as I can tell.\n\nIf you want to know how this plays out, at least in my life, it relates to the area of evangelical scholarship.\u00a0 We are studying, at this church on Sunday mornings, the book of Genesis<\/u><\/strong>, and as I am studying it, I see multiple points where everything in Genesis<\/u><\/strong> contradicts everything the world system is teaching.\u00a0 There is no evolution in Genesis<\/u><\/strong>; there is an ex nihilo<\/em> creation, and a lot of evangelicals are playing games with the book of Genesis<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because they don't want to stand out like a sore thumb, \u2018so let's just take the Book of Genesis, and massage it a little, then we can come up with an interpretation that the world may like us more.<\/em>\u00a0 So, let's stretch out the creation days even though the Bible does not permit us to do that, hermeneutically.\u00a0 Let's shrink the flood to a local event, that way, we can hold on to the interpretation of the fossil record over billions of years rather than through a catastrophe,<\/em>\u2019 etc.\u00a0 And as you continue to go through Genesis<\/u><\/strong>, there is temptation after temptation to alter the book of Genesis<\/u><\/strong> in a public ministry with the hopes that the world system will like you better.\u00a0 The problem with doing that is that you have to answer to the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0 So, you must decide who it is that you will be despised by.\u00a0 As for me and my house, I would prefer to be judged by the world than by God, as a teacher of God's Word who has stood before people but didn\u2019t represent His Word correctly.\u00a0 Being called out by God for that is to me, a more fearful thing than people thinking that I am some unscientific, unsophisticated buffoon.\n\nThe great secret of the whole thing is that even if you take the book of Genesis<\/u><\/strong>, and turned it into a pretzel, the world system still wouldn\u2019t like you.\u00a0 We do all this compromising, hoping they will like us more, but at the end of the day, they don't want anything to do with us.\u00a0 So, why in the world would I spend all my time trying to impress a lot of people who hate my guts anyway?\u00a0 It is much wiser use of your life and your time to be pleasing to the Lord.\u00a0 Yet we play this kind of game where we try to have our feet in both worlds.\n\nAs I am speaking, the Holy Spirit is probably convicting you of different things.\u00a0 I bring up things related to teaching in the book of Genesis<\/u><\/strong> because my temptations may not the same as yours, but I have them as much as you do.\u00a0 You may be facing an entirely different set of issues that I am not facing, but the fact of the matter is that we are all living in the same zeitgeist, or world, and we are all tempted to become worldly.\u00a0 James is saying that when we become worldly, there is a consequence of developing enmity with God.\u00a0 Satan doesn\u2019t want me to give this message today, because he keeps causing horns to honk.\n\nWhat did Jesus say in Matthew 6:24<\/u><\/strong>, \u201cNo one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.\u00a0 You cannot serve God and wealth.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 In fact, it is very interesting that the name \u2018wealth\u2019<\/em> here is mammon, and when you track down mammon, that is actually a Canaanite deity related to security through money.\u00a0 So, what He is saying is that we cannot serve two gods:\u00a0 we can't serve G<\/strong>od and g<\/strong>od.\u00a0 At some point, we must make a choice.\u00a0 I am not saying that if you are making the wrong choice that you are unsaved.\u00a0 An Arminian would say that as would a strong Calvinist.\u00a0 They would say that Demas was not saved because he did not persevere until the end.\u00a0 I do not come from the Arminian nor the Calvinistic perspectives.\u00a0 I believe in eternal security by grace, \u2018once saved, always saved<\/em>,\u2019 and I am saying that a Christian can become worldly.\u00a0 If a Christian was unable to become worldly, if it was an impossibility, then James would have omitted this chapter.\u00a0 Why the warning if it isn\u2019t a possibility?\n\nI am also saying that when we do become worldly, there is a consequence, and the first consequence is that we become at war with God Himself.\u00a0 You won't lose your salvation, but you are living in such a way it is as though you are unsaved in the sense that you are now at enmity with God where you are being moved into His divine discipline, and this can be very severe.\n\nDon't become worldly or you become at enmity with God is James' point in James 4:4<\/u><\/strong>. You will be judged by somebody; you cannot please both because satan is engineering the zeitgeist of the time, so if you will be judged by the world, it is much better to be judged by man than by God.\u00a0 That is James' warning.\n\nIn James 4:5<\/u><\/strong>, he says that a second consequence is that you alienate the Holy Spirit inside of you, and we are out of time, but we will get into this next week.\u00a0 In 4:6<\/u><\/strong>, we will see the ultimate cause of worldliness, and in 4:7-12<\/u><\/strong>, we will get into what we should substitute into our lives in lieu of wrangling <\/u><\/strong>and worldliness<\/u><\/strong>, which is true spirituality.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t