Something I feel needs to be adressed
Christ said: "If the world hates you, it hated me first, as you know well. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because I have chosen you out of the world, for that reason the world hates you... As they persecuted me, they will persecute you; they will follow your teaching as little as they have followed mine. It is on my account that they will treat you thus, because they do not know the One who sent me." (John 15:18-20 NEB).
"See what sort of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. That is why the world does not have a knowledge of us, because it has not come to know Him." (1 John 3:1 NWT).
"With us therefore worldly standards have ceased to count in our estimate of any man... When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world (a new act of creation); the old order has gone, and a new order has already begun." (From 2 Cor 5:16,17 NEB).
"The grace of God has dawned upon the world with healing for all mankind; and by it we are disciplined to renounce Godless ways and worldly desires, and to live a life of temperance, honesty, and Godliness in the present age, looking forward to the happy fulfilment of our hope when the splendour of our great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus will appear. (Titus 2:11-13 NEB).
"Have you never learned that love of the world is enmity to God? Whoever chooses to be the world's friend makes himself God's enemy." (James 4:4 NEB).
"Do not set your hearts on the Godless world or anything in it. Anyone who loves the world is a stranger to the Father's love. Everything the world affords, all that panders to the appetites or entices the eyes, all the glamour of its life, springs not from the Father but from the Godless world. And that world is passing away with all its allurements, but he who does God's Will stands for evermore." (1 John 2:15-17 NEB).
"This, therefore, I say and bear witness to in the Lord, that you no longer go on walking just as the nations also walk in the unprofitableness of their minds(1), while they are in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensibility of their hearts." (Eph 4:17 to 19 NWT).
"Did you not die with Christ and pass beyond reach of the elementary ideas belonging to this world? Then why behave as though you were still living the life of the world?" (Col 2:20 NEB).
"As obedient children, do not let your characters be shaped any longer by the desires you cherished in your days of ignorance. The One who called you is holy; like Him, be holy in all your behaviour, because Scripture says, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:14-16 NEB).
So there is some scirpture I have found concerning worldliness. We read about how God expects us to be set a part from the world. So I'm gonna ask this question, why do a lot of us act like this world is our home? Heaven is our home when we can be where Jesus is. To be part of this world is unacceptable because this world is in open rebellion against God. We can't be one of his followers and be part of this world. What about grace you might ask. Grace is the process of perfection, we won't be perfect until we're with God. God grants us forgiveness that we don't deserve at all. There's more to it then "Well God's forgiven everything I do or ever will do so I don't have to bother" yes he has forgiven you, but grace is the power of God making changes in you for the better. God expects us to grow.
2 Peter 1:3-8, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
So that leaves you with a choice, God's given you power through grace. Are you going to work against it (which defeats the purpose of it) or are you going to try to become the person God is calling you to be? I'm not undermining grace, we can only have slavation because of grace. No matter what we do we aren't going to be perfect. You can go crazy trying to make rules and follow them, because we're all going to break the rules. Anyway to summerize what I am saying, God's given us grace to perfect us and the power to change us we need to work with God, not against God in our constant state of perfection.
So what am I trying to say? Don't be part of this world? That's partly what I am saying. As christians we need to do God's will. We need to help others to come to know Christ. As the church we need to be doing the work of Christ. The pit that some people fall in is to completely withdraw from the world. That isn't what scripture means. We need to be here showing the love of Christ but we can't accept the teachings of the world. We need to be loving, we can't hate others because they sin because we ourselves sin but we need to show others love instead of condeming them. Anyway this is just a rant. I hope this makes sense. God bless you.
Pat.
"See what sort of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. That is why the world does not have a knowledge of us, because it has not come to know Him." (1 John 3:1 NWT).
"With us therefore worldly standards have ceased to count in our estimate of any man... When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world (a new act of creation); the old order has gone, and a new order has already begun." (From 2 Cor 5:16,17 NEB).
"The grace of God has dawned upon the world with healing for all mankind; and by it we are disciplined to renounce Godless ways and worldly desires, and to live a life of temperance, honesty, and Godliness in the present age, looking forward to the happy fulfilment of our hope when the splendour of our great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus will appear. (Titus 2:11-13 NEB).
"Have you never learned that love of the world is enmity to God? Whoever chooses to be the world's friend makes himself God's enemy." (James 4:4 NEB).
"Do not set your hearts on the Godless world or anything in it. Anyone who loves the world is a stranger to the Father's love. Everything the world affords, all that panders to the appetites or entices the eyes, all the glamour of its life, springs not from the Father but from the Godless world. And that world is passing away with all its allurements, but he who does God's Will stands for evermore." (1 John 2:15-17 NEB).
"This, therefore, I say and bear witness to in the Lord, that you no longer go on walking just as the nations also walk in the unprofitableness of their minds(1), while they are in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensibility of their hearts." (Eph 4:17 to 19 NWT).
"Did you not die with Christ and pass beyond reach of the elementary ideas belonging to this world? Then why behave as though you were still living the life of the world?" (Col 2:20 NEB).
"As obedient children, do not let your characters be shaped any longer by the desires you cherished in your days of ignorance. The One who called you is holy; like Him, be holy in all your behaviour, because Scripture says, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:14-16 NEB).
So there is some scirpture I have found concerning worldliness. We read about how God expects us to be set a part from the world. So I'm gonna ask this question, why do a lot of us act like this world is our home? Heaven is our home when we can be where Jesus is. To be part of this world is unacceptable because this world is in open rebellion against God. We can't be one of his followers and be part of this world. What about grace you might ask. Grace is the process of perfection, we won't be perfect until we're with God. God grants us forgiveness that we don't deserve at all. There's more to it then "Well God's forgiven everything I do or ever will do so I don't have to bother" yes he has forgiven you, but grace is the power of God making changes in you for the better. God expects us to grow.
2 Peter 1:3-8, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
So that leaves you with a choice, God's given you power through grace. Are you going to work against it (which defeats the purpose of it) or are you going to try to become the person God is calling you to be? I'm not undermining grace, we can only have slavation because of grace. No matter what we do we aren't going to be perfect. You can go crazy trying to make rules and follow them, because we're all going to break the rules. Anyway to summerize what I am saying, God's given us grace to perfect us and the power to change us we need to work with God, not against God in our constant state of perfection.
So what am I trying to say? Don't be part of this world? That's partly what I am saying. As christians we need to do God's will. We need to help others to come to know Christ. As the church we need to be doing the work of Christ. The pit that some people fall in is to completely withdraw from the world. That isn't what scripture means. We need to be here showing the love of Christ but we can't accept the teachings of the world. We need to be loving, we can't hate others because they sin because we ourselves sin but we need to show others love instead of condeming them. Anyway this is just a rant. I hope this makes sense. God bless you.
Pat.