The Church and the World

Text: John 17:14-16; Romans 12:2

Series: Restoration Sermons

Date:

Speaker: Ed Rangel

Location: Waupaca Church of Christ

Bible Version: NASB 1995

Sermon Type: Expository

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. State the church's true relation to the world — in it, but not of it.
2. Recognize the marks of worldliness creeping into a congregation.
3. Examine his own life for the same marks and forsake them.

Thesis

The church is in the world but not of it; worldliness creeps in through worldly leadership, worldly recreation, idle and unspiritual members, and neglected worship — and the only cure is for each member to refuse to be conformed to the world.

Burden

Jesus prayed for His people that the Father would keep them while they live "in the world," yet they "are not of the world" (John 17:14-16). That is the hard balance. The danger has never been mainly that the church would be driven out of the world, but that the world would seep into the church — quietly, respectably, a little at a time, until a congregation looks and thinks and lives just like everyone else. This outline paints a sad and honest picture of how that happens. This lesson holds up the mirror, not to shame us, but to wake us before the worldliness we tolerate becomes the worldliness we are.

Introduction

The church is in the world; it is not a part of the world; its members must deal with the world daily — and that makes it hard to keep the world out of the church. The outline names five doors through which worldliness enters: worldly leadership, worldly recreation, idle members, lack of spiritual growth, and irregular attendance.

I. Worldly Leadership

It is a sad picture when a church chooses its leaders by the world's measures rather than God's:

1. some are honored because of their money;
2. some because of their social standing;
3. some because of their political standing.

But the New Testament sets spiritual qualifications for leadership (1 Tim. 3; Titus 1), not bank accounts or prominence. When a congregation follows the world in choosing whom to follow, the whole body grows worldly from the top down. Leaders set the tone; worldly leaders breed a worldly church.

II. Worldly Recreation and Pleasure

Where the world's standards are adopted, the symptoms follow:

1. worldly standards quietly replace the Lord's;
2. there is no joy in the work of the church, because the heart's pleasures are elsewhere;
3. many do not even know their duties as Christians;
4. and worldly associates shape the affections more than the saints do.

"Friendship with the world is hostility toward God" (Jas. 4:4); "do not love the world nor the things in the world" (1 John 2:15). The issue is not innocent rest — it is letting the world's appetites set the agenda for a Christian's life.

III. Idle Church Members

Worldliness shows itself in idleness:

1. only a small percent of the members do any work;
2. many do nothing at all;
3. leaders fail to guide and enlist them;
4. they have no vision of the Lord's work;
5. they are simply not interested.

But every member is a working member in God's design (Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 12). An idle church is a worldly church, because the energy God meant for His work has been spent on something else.

IV. Lack of Spiritual Growth

The inner life withers:

1. they do not read the Bible;
2. they do not pray;
3. they take no spiritual exercise (1 Tim. 4:7-8);
4. they have no interest in a devotional life.

A Christian who never feeds (1 Pet. 2:2) and never exercises grows weak, and a weak Christian is easy prey for the world. Spiritual growth is not optional maturity for the eager few; it is how the soul stays alive.

V. Irregular Attendance

Finally, the assembly itself is neglected:

1. industrial and modern life is allowed to crowd it out;
2. members are unwilling to deny themselves to be present;
3. they skip the Bible class and the prayer service;
4. they would rather be at some place of amusement.

But we are commanded not to forsake "our own assembling together" (Heb. 10:25). The empty seat is rarely the first symptom of worldliness; it is usually one of the last, the outward sign that the world has already won the heart.

Application

Run the list against your own life, honestly. Do you measure leaders — or yourself — by money, standing, and influence, or by godliness? Where do your real pleasures lie, and whose standards set them? Are you a working member or an idle one? When did you last read, pray, and grow? And does anything short of providence keep you from the assembly? Worldliness rarely arrives by a single decision; it accumulates by a hundred small surrenders. Name the door it is using in your life, and shut it. Be in the world for the sake of the lost, but refuse to be of it.

Conclusion

The church must live in the world without becoming part of it, and that takes vigilance, because the world is always leaking in — through worldly leaders, worldly pleasures, idle and unfed members, and empty seats. The remedy is not a program but a people who refuse to be conformed (Rom. 12:2) — each one keeping his own heart, work, growth, and worship for the Lord. Keep the world out of the church by keeping it out of yourself.

Invitation

Christ prayed that His people would be kept from the world while they live in it — and that life begins when you come out of the world and into Him. Believe in Jesus, repent, confess Him, and be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3-4), and rise to "walk in newness of life," no longer conformed to the world. If you are a member who has let the world creep back in, come home to the Lord's work, the Lord's word, and the Lord's people today. Come while we sing.

Word Study

Scripture Interlock Table

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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 31. Doctrinal audit: core-framework — the church in but not of the world; worldliness as a creeping danger; spiritual (not worldly) qualifications for leaders; every-member work; spiritual growth; faithful assembling. No correction. Style audit: OCR cleanup (source header "Church of the World" → Contents title "The Church and the World"; spacing). No source text line; primary text John 17:14-16; Rom. 12:2 supplied to fit the outline's "in but not of the world" burden (flagged in audit).