This morning we are going to deal with one word from our text, or rather one
concept. And that is the biblical notion of ‘the world’. That word has many
meanings in the Scriptures. The sense here is obvious from the context. ‘The
world’ is a way of thinking that is antagonistic to God and His ways. James
warns the Church about the danger of becoming a friend of the world. While
the broad outline of what James is talking about is clear, getting specific
as to exactly what that means in the day to day events of life has been
difficult for the Church over the centuries. And yet, as difficult as that
might be, we need to have some specific ideas about this. Without some clear
idea about worldliness how shall we avoid the danger pointed out in our
text? My goal then is not to give you a list of worldly things to avoid. My
goal to set out some boundaries and markers to at least narrow the scope so
that you will have a better sense of what this is all about. I do this in
the hope that the Spirit will take this and use it more specifically in the
details of your lives so that you will be able to remain a friend to your
God and not of the world.
Let me start out by telling you about what was presented to me as ‘The Plan’
for my life as I was growing up. ‘The Plan’ was never fully verbalized. No
one sat down and went over all the various steps. It was more assumed. But
it was definitely there. ‘The Plan’ summarized the different stages of my
life as I was expected to live it. First, I was to get a good education.
That meant studying hard and getting good grades. Then it was off to
college. After college I would get a good job and begin my career. Once I
got the job, I would marry. I was to work hard at the job and advance in my
chosen field. During that time I was to find a house in the suburbs where my
wife and I would raise our two or three kids. At this point I would be
earning a good salary which would make it possible, first of all, to send
those two or three kids to college also, thus perpetuating ‘The Plan’ in
their lives. After they were grown and starting their own careers, I would
grow my nest egg and then my wife and I would retire and spend our golden
years enjoying life doing this or that. Now, I don’t know if this matches
any plan for your life, but this, pretty much was ‘The Plan’ for mine. When
you step back and examine ‘The Plan’, it looks pretty good. It was a
productive life; a moral life; a good life.
But where does the Gospel fit with this plan? It doesn’t. And the reason is
obvious. My parents were not Christians as I was growing up. When they
handed ‘The Plan’ off to me there was no concern about whether the Gospel
would fit. But can it fit? Can the Gospel fit with ‘The Plan’ for my life?
Let’s compare it with what Jesus has to say about the life of a disciple.
‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me.’ [Mark 8:34] How does self-denial fit with ‘The Plan’ for my
life? It isn’t obvious how this required virtue fits, is it? I suppose that
some might say that after I got the good job then I could tithe. I have a
feeling that Jesus meant more than that. Self-denial might mean taking a job
that doesn’t pay so well. It might mean skipping the ‘marriage and kids’
part and being single. It might mean leaving out some other part of 'The
Plan'. But none of that was allowed when I received ‘The Plan’.
‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth
and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever
loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep
it for eternal life.’ [John 12:23-26] Jesus is on His way to the cross and
He speaks about hating your life in this world. If you do that He claims
that you will keep it eternally. 'The Plan' as given to me had no room for
any life to come. It’s not that there was some discussion on whether such a
thing existed. It’s just that whether there was one or not didn’t matter. I
didn’t affect how 'The Plan' was to function in my life in the here and now.
Everything was focused on the here and now. As a result, any notion of
hating my life in this world just didn’t make any sense.
‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are
you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep
now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they
exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the
Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward
is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you
who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are
full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall
mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their
fathers did to the false prophets.’ [Luke 6:20-26] Here 'The Plan' and Jesus
’ ideas of what a disciple’s is to be like are really at odds. Poverty,
hunger, weeping, hatred. These are things to be avoided at all costs,
according to 'The Plan'. And it’s the things that Jesus condemned that are
at the heart of what I was to be aiming at: a measure of wealth, enjoying
the pleasures of life, being happy, being liked.
Then there is this. ‘Then Peter said in reply, "See, we have left everything
and followed you. What then will we have?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say
to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious
throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or
sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will
receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.’ [Matthew 19:27-29]
Here is the last straw. According to 'The Plan' the pay off is supposed to
be retirement. Having paid my dues I get to cash it all in when I reach 65.
Jesus thinks otherwise. The pay off isn’t now. It has to wait until we reach
the age to come.
I think that you can see that there is a fundamental conflict between 'The
Plan' as it was given to me and Jesus’ call to discipleship. There is no
finessing some add-on of the Gospel to 'The Plan'. If I were to have
followed 'The Plan' and was also very religious it still wouldn’t work. The
reason is clear. 'The Plan' is rooted in the thinking of the world. The
thinking of the world and the thinking of the Gospel have nothing in common,
not when you get to the heart of the matter. There is no way that I could
pursue 'The Plan' and not fall into the very trap that James is warning us
about in our text.
All of that was negative, why 'The Plan' given to me is something that I
cannot follow. What I need is something positive. What do I put in place of
'The Plan'? How do I avoid worldliness and live according to Jesus’ call to
discipleship? Some opt for the substitute Plan of the monks: complete
disassociation from this world – or as close as you can get to that. So,
even today, there are those who are trying to live in what amount to
monasteries with as little contact with the surrounding society as possible.
But that’s not right. How are we to be salt and light in this foul world if
we are running away from it? Instead, there is a principle I found in a
saying of Jesus. This is what I should use instead of 'The Plan'. ‘The eye
is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be
full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’
[Matthew 6:22-23] Some of you will remember how the KJV renders that. ‘… if
your eye is single…’ The context is the impossibility of serving both God
and money. Jesus is teaching us that if our focus is squarely on one thing,
serving our God, then all is well. So, I need to ask myself, ‘Is my eye
single? As I do this and that each day, is the focus on serving my God?’ Now
that’s not an easy question to answer. But however difficult it may be to
answer, it is a question that I need to be asking, over and over, in this
situation and that. ‘Is my eye single, living for Christ in my daily
decisions as well as the big plan for my life – or am I becoming a friend of
the world? Am I following Jesus or am I still following some variation on
'The Plan'?’ I find myself greatly challenged by these sorts of questions.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if there are going to be some more large changes
in my life. But I am not overwhelmed. The Scriptures have all that I need to
understand what a ‘single-eyed’ life is supposed to look like. So I pray,
confident that the Spirit will show me, bit by bit what I need to know.
Now, I’ve talked about 'The Plan' that was given to me. My guess is that you
also were given a ‘Plan’ for your life. I’ll guess that, like me, it wasn’t
so much clearly stated, just assumed. Maybe 'The Plan' for your life has
some overlap with the one given to me. Then again, maybe not. But it would
be good to be sure that the plan you are following is one that fits with
being a disciple instead of one that is based on the thinking of the world.
So, let me offer you some questions that might help you clarify the plan
that you are following. Ponder these questions. It would be good to discuss
them in your family. That’s especially true of you husbands and wives. Talk
this over. Ask the questions and then see where they lead.
· What are some things that you are really hoping to enjoy in this life? How
bad would it be if these things didn’t turn out the way you’d like?
· Would it matter to you if there actually were no God, no heaven, nothing
more than what you see? Would faithful living still be worth the effort if
once you died you just ceased to exist?
· How do you define success for your life?
· How do you define success for the lives of your children? How does this
affect your choices for them?
· Would you be disappointed if Jesus came back right now and all those
things that you are looking forward to a handful of years down the road
never happened?
· You’re 80 years old. The doctor tells you that you have cancer. Untreated,
you will probably die within the year. You can pursue a vigorous course of
chemo and radiation treatments. You’ll probably live an additional couple of
years if you do that. What do you choose to do?
· What does self-denial for the sake of Christ look like in your life?
· Paul said, ‘To die is gain’. Do you agree?
Ponder those questions. Put your answers up against what Jesus said about
being a disciple. Then ask yourself, ‘Have I been fooled by the world?’
