Frank B Beck - Questions on worldliness : what about television, smoking, dancing, the theater, the lodge, gambling?

Questions on Worldliness

What about

Television

Smoking

Dancing

The Theater

The Lodge

Gambling

b y

FRANK B. BECK

contents

WHAT IS WORLDLINESS?

I John 5

I. Definition of Worldliness

What is a good definition of worldliness? Worldliness is the opposite of heavenliness. In the sense in which it is used "in the Johannine writings it comes to stand for the sphere of evil (John 12:46ff.). The world is thus, first of all, at enmity with God; it hates God's chosen (John 15:18)... those who unite themselves to Him (John 15:19; 16:33; I John 3:13). It therefore abides in darkness, rejecting the light (John 3:19). It is under condemnation, exposed to the Divine judgment (John 12:31) and needs the Divine mercy; but it cannot receive the Spirit of truth (John 14:17) and Jesus even declines to pray for it (John 17:9). In expressions of this sort, the emphasis is naturally on the sin of the world. It ceases to pass under that name when it comes from under sin. It is in bondage to Satan (John 12:31; 14:30). Its doom is death; 'it passeth away' (I John 2:17); it is to be overcome as an enemy by God Himself; it has been overcome by Christ, and must be overcome by the disciples (John 16:33; I John 5:4; 2:15)."

According to Dr. James Strong the word "world" ( kosmos ) means "orderly arrangement, i.e., decoration; by implication the world (in a wide or narrow sense including its inhabitants...)" For instance, the word is translated adorning in I Peter 3:3, "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel." L. L. Legters stated, "From it [ kosmos ] we get the English word cosmetics."

It is then the godless system of the world which is evil.

II. Detection of Worldliness

How can we determine whether certain things are worldly or not? What about the theater ? dancing ? gambling ? lodges ? The use of cosmetics? television ? smoking ? and other questions like them.

I give you certain principles in the Word of God to answer these questions. They are not mere rules made by men to be broken or revised. Principles are eternal. Rules can be repealed, but not principles. All rules have legal loopholes; principles, never!

1 A. C. Zenos , A Standard Bible Dictionary (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company), p. 908.

A. Consider the aim of the matter under consideration. Is it for the glory of God? "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31). Someone asks: "What is wrong with smoking?" Can you smoke to the glory of God? Does God get glory out of your puffing and blowing? Do people glorify God at the sight and smell of you, saying, "That man, that woman, must be a Christian, he (she) is smoking a cigarette"? If not, it is not to the glory of God, and it is a sin to do it.

B. What authority do you as a professing Christian have for indulging in the practice under question? "By what authority doest thou these things?" (Matthew 21:23). For it is written: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (Colossians 3:17). To do something "in the name of the Lord Jesus" means to do it by His authority, and with His sanction. Thus we can gather ourselves together in the church in His name (Matthew 18:20), we can bury believers in water baptism in His name (Matthew 28:18-20), and we can do many other activities in His name. What, for example, about the theater ? Can you go to the theater in the name of Jesus Christ? Can you pray about this matter and go with a clear conscience?

C. What of the appearance of the amusement under scrutiny? "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (I Thessalonians 5:22). It may not be evil or wrong, but if it has the appearance of evil, that is enough. What of the dance? What of the close embrace, the feeling of bodies swaying together, the scanty clothing? What right thinking husband would permit any man to so hold his wife in his arms anywhere else except on a dance floor? If it has but the suggestion of evil, abstain, keep away from it. Not to do so is sin.

III. Damage of Worldliness

If you are a worldly person you are in great danger.

A. You are disobeying God Almighty. He says: "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." What does God mean by the world? "For all that is in the world, the lust o f 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" (I John 2:15-17). "Oh, but we are saved by grace!" worldly church members sometimes answer, without realizing that the grace of God teaches us to deny "ungodliness and worldly lusts" (Titus 2:12). A worldly person does not have the grace of God.

B. You are departing from God. The wicked are spoken of in the Book of Job as follows: "They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ." Job, of course, was not applying this to the modern ballroom, but it is applicable today! "Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us" (Job 21:11-15). Why should they serve Him? Why should they pray to Him? A dancing church member is no true servant of the holy Christ. You will not discover many dancing church members out to a spiritual prayer meeting each week!

C. You are destroying the Church. The Church of God is no stronger than its weakest member. "It doesn't hurt me," church members argue about worldly pursuits. They fail to realize how selfish such an expression is. What about your brethren? "None of us liveth to himself" (Romans 14:7). If we take our nephews to Egypt, they will live in Sodom, as did Lot (Genesis 13:10). If we take our children down into Moab they will live and die there as did Mahlon and Chilion (Ruth chapter 1). When we depart out of the way we cause "many to stumble at the law" (Malachi 2:8).

Eating meats offered previously to idols did not hurt Paul the Apostle. An idol was nothing to him. But there were weaker brethren who could not understand how Paul could do this without agreeing with idol worship, therefore Paul nobly declared: "Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend [stumble], I will eat no flesh while the world standeth ..." (I Corinthians 8:13). Now if you will look at Romans 14 you will see that we ought to go out of our way to cease from any action that may prove to be a stumbling block to a weaker brother (v. 13). If we refuse to give up these questionable practices we destroy our brother (v. 15) and destroy the work of God (v. 20). Compare I Corinthians 8 with the passage in Romans: If the weak brother perishes (v. 11), it is because of our influence. Then we sin against the brethren (v. 12), and against Christ (v. 12). We have not the love of God in us (I John 2:10).

D. You are defeating yourself. So you are a member of such and such church, a Christian soldier! Then why are you all tangled up with the gold and silken threads of this world? "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier" (II Timothy 2:4). You cannot deal any death wounds to the hosts of hell if you are wrapped up in the barbed wire of worldliness.

You and I may argue that the worldly thing we like is such a little matter, there surely can be nothing wrong with it. But is it a weight or a wing? What is wrong with wearing an overcoat? It is most foolish to do so if you are bending over at the starting line, ready to spring at the noise of the gun into a hundred-yard dash. And Christians are in a royal race. Therefore "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us [and upset us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).