“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” —Romans 12:1-2, ESV

   

 The gradual blurring of the church and the world has become accepted in many Christian lives and in the churches seeking to be more aligned to society. As social changes have occurred in areas such as clothing and fashions, use of communication devices, respect levels, family cohesiveness, tolerance of sexual mores—these worldly attitudes may have become a way of life to the Christian. Immoral worldliness often seems to take precedence over true Biblical knowledge and morality. The world’s standards have become the church’s by default.

 It is not hard to find erosion from the remembered church life and values of the fifties and sixties to the style of a new century. How did this change occur? Was the Christian asleep or unobservant? Was he concerned with the purity of the church? Or was he concerned about getting ahead in the world and accepting its standards instead of those of the Lord’s church?

Secularism is the church’s greatest danger. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines “secularism” as “denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.” Is this the correct word or idea to apply to the problem of the world and the church? Unfortunately, this definition is blurred with that of “humanism,” an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine power. Humanistic beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems. These ideas have evolved into “humanistic Christian thought” with the view that individuals and their culture have value in their church life by attaching more importance to human culture regardless of the truth of the Bible. To these ideas add “situational ethics,” where every moral decision has to be taken in the light of the circumstances, without exact precedents, absolutes, or irreversible moral laws but open only to the inspiration of the moment. It is easy to see how a church worldliness has developed, despite the admonition that Christians must be in the world but not of it.

The church is linked by a common faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, this faith reveals what the church really is. The church consists of those of each generation who proclaim that the Truth was “once for all delivered” through the prophets, apostles, and writers of the New Testament. The church understands the world through the prism of Biblical faith. Does this sound intolerably exclusive? Christianity has always been regarded as such in a pluralistic world. Even as early Christians moved in the Gentile world, they encountered a bewildering array of worldviews. The writings of the New Testament address these conflicts. I do not mean to minimize important differences between the first century and today, but the relativistic notion so pervasive today that each person should be entitled to his or her own truth would not have occurred to most of these first century believers of the Gospel. Yet once the clear proclamation of the uniqueness of Jesus challenged the Roman world, Christians were persecuted because their teachings were exclusive and intolerant.

Let me state firmly that Satan is attacking the church today as in the past. He subtly uses secular warfare. First, the devil must make the Scriptures irrelevant, so that the words of the world are as important as the words of Scripture. The Gospel is reduced to Jesus’ loving commitment to others. Second, great weight must be placed on current insights of social sciences concerning opinions of homosexuality, out-of-wedlock liaisons, and divorce. Such weight will define a new culture not in agreement with the teaching of the Bible. Third, a new language for God must be written to transcend images, metaphors, and analogies, to shed culture-bound revelations, and to use gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language to fit personal religious experience. Fourth, those who oppose these steps must be caricatured as literalistic, rigid, divisive, and authoritarian—they are standing in the way of bringing the church into relevant dialogue with the post-modern world.

Is there an answer for the canker of worldliness? Yes, it is the defense and interpretation of core Christian belief in the light of the contemporary challenges facing us. There are many hurdles to clear. We are in an era that can be called the “remote control syndrome age,” named for a device that lets viewers change TV channels without moving from their comfortable chairs. The viewers are satisfied captives. This often leads to a lower threshold of viewer satisfaction, to program switching, and to an abysmal attention span. We become afflicted with AADD (Adult Attention Deficit Disorder), and woe to the teacher or minister that cannot attract and retain members’ attention during their lesson.

The church used to have a clear identity distinct from the world. Many of us grew up knowing that we could not do what others did because we were Christians. In the last few decades, we have rushed to embrace the materialist and success-oriented type of Christianity of the worldly denominations. This, combined with our attention deficit, our lack of Scriptural knowledge, and our lack of role models makes us a church of the secular world instead of Christ.

Orthodoxy is not only true but also alive and relevant to this very age. The main problem is that those with an aversion to thinking deeply about their faith will disagree and even find it offensive. Unless we are prepared to think deeply about what we believe, then our day will be over. Those who glibly use Christian language will perpetrate a religion very different from our historical faith placing their citizenship outside of Heaven. “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds on earthly things. But our citizenship is in Heaven” (Philippians 3:17-19, ESV).

 Truth is never merely intellectual. From ancient times, Jewish people thought that truth was not only to be learned, but also to be lived. They were correct. Christ taught of a tree and its fruit and ended with, “For out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45, ESV). In blunt condemnation Jesus quoted Isaiah when he said, “This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commands of men” (Matthew 15:8-9, ESV). The church should not experience worldly glory instead of the glory of the cross. She should resist the desires of the flesh and of the eyes and of the boastful pride of life (1 John 2:15-16). Not to do so is to become a secularized church.

We will encounter truth only when we are willing to be part of a people who are seeking to live under the lordship of Christ, who let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16). For us it is essential to desire holiness, to love God more than ourselves, and to find fulfillment in Christ rather than in a world that will never truly satisfy.

“You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11, ESV).