James 4:4-5 - What Is Worldliness?

”(4) 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. (5) Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” (Jas 4:4-5 KJV)

Definition

Worldliness is living for the same stuff as the lost world around us.

1. The world cannot mean the earth - God created that and called it good.

2. The world is defined by what it wants:

”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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

The world wants to do things (Experience), have things (Possessions), and be things (Status).

3. When you trust Christ, you change.

• Your categorization changes. You change teams. You go from being someone who belongs to Satan to being someone who belongs to God.

”Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” (Colossians 1:13)

”Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;” (1 Peter 1:21)

• Your nature changes. You go from being darkness to being light; from being the corruption to being the preservative.

”Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” (Matthew 5:13-14)

• Your affections and desires change. You have new desires and new motivations.

”And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:24-25)

4. Lost people can’t be worldly.

Worldly means “like the world,” and lost people ARE the world. Just like water can’t be like water or air can’t be like air. You can’t be like the lost world if you are the lost world.

So accusing lost people of being worldly is pretty silly. It’s like accusing a dog of being a dog. So what? What do you expect?

Lost people are going to live for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That’s all they have. Expecting otherwise of them doesn’t make sense.

5. When the motivating force of a believer’s life is experience, possessions, and status, and not the will of God, they are worldly.

It has nothing to do with what you wear or what you do. It has everything to do with your motivation.

Worldliness isn’t wearing short shorts or having tattoos. Those might be symptoms of worldliness, but you can be just as worldly in a modest dress or a three-piece suit. You can be very religious looking and still be worldly. The Pharisees were worldly.

But at the same time, when Christians do certain things, it makes no sense outside of worldliness. Why would you dress in a way to show off your body if you weren’t either:

1. Trying to be like everyone else, or
2. Trying to get attention God doesn’t want you to have?

Sometimes our actions betray our motivations.

But you could say the same thing about the man who spend $1500 on a suit and $1000 on a watch or for the person who spends $80,000 on a car. Why are you dressing to show off? That decision makes no sense unless you are living for experience, possessions, and status.

6. When a Christian is worldly, it is a grave thing in God’s eyes

A. It is an act of spiritual adultery.

”Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? ”

B. It is an act of spiritual treason

”whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

7. Envy is a sure sign of worldly motivation.

”Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” (James 4:5)

”Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Romans 6:6)