The Bible says:
“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.”
— James 4: 4
“Worldly” and “hypocrite” are two titles directed at Christians. If a Christian is worldly they are also a hypocrite.
To be worldly is to be two faced. It’s to say we believe one way while living another way. For a Christian worldliness is to be treasonous to the cause of Christ and aid the cause of the enemy. If the Christian is worldly, they’ve compromised the truth, they have dipped their colors, and they’ve made vague their identity, and are at enmity with God and are the friend of the world.
There are three worlds everyone who’s living is a part of. There’s the world that’s the physical natural order which we call planet earth.
(Ecclesiastes 1: 4; Acts 17: 24) There’s the world which we refer to as the world of humanity living on planet earth which Jesus died for that He might save. (John 3: 16) There is the world which we refer to as the world order or system that was erected by man which is hostile to God and ruled by Satan.
The Christian is to be a good steward of the earth and its resources. The Christian is to love and seek to win to Christ the lost world of humanity. The Christian isn’ however, to be in step with the world which is the enemy of God.
The “world” means the world outside of, or not submitting to, the government of God. “World” refers to the world apart from God, rebellious against God, and organized apart from the laws and government of God.
This is a “world system” of rule and governance erected by man and Satan on God’s earth that is in opposition to God. Satan is the mind behind the world- system.
“The whole world lieth in wickedness.”
— 1 John 5: 19 That means the whole world is under the control of the evil one until the time Christ sets up His kingdom. Satan is the kosmokrator, world ruler.
The world in its mind and thought and world view is under the dominion of Satan. This world system belongs to him, he is “the god of this world,” (2 Corinthians 4: 4) “the prince and power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (the lost).” (Ephesians 2: 2) The Christian is in this world but not to be like the world. (John 15: 19) The Christian is not to conform to the world but to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.
(Romans 12: 1, 2)
When a Christian becomes worldly they’e agreed with and decided to follow Satan’s mind.
Whatever excuse we make for being worldly, worldliness always is a sin. If we’re worldly we’re out of fellowship with God and in the camp of the enemy and have committed spiritual adultery and need to repent and return to God.
Pastor/author A.W. Tozer said, “You can be a hypocrite and love the world. You can be a deceived ruler in the religious system and love the world. You can be a cheap, snobbish, modern Christian and love the world. But you can’t be a genuine Bible believing Christian and love the world.”
James H. Cagle is a Ray City resident who pastored several churches for a total of 11 years. Email him at pastorjameshcagle@ yahoo.com
