The DeGRAFF FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH
State Route 235/ 100 East Miami Street
DeGraff, Ohio 43318
Phone: (937) 585-4463
James R. Roby, Pastor
WORLDLINESS OR HOLINESS?
by Pastor James Roby
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” (1 John 2:15).
“...know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God?” (James 4:4).
“Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world...” (Titus 2:12).
“Follow...holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14).
The Bible repeatedly commands the Christian to pursue a life of holiness. God requires His people to be different from the world. We are not to be “air heads,” mindlessly following the crowd. We are not to model our thinking and behavior after people who do not even know Jesus Christ! We are, instead, to be holy, pure, and separated .
We are living in a day, however, where anything goes. Those who CLAIM to be Christians live no differently than lost people. THIS CAN NEVER BE! When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, He did so to deliver us from this present evil world. (see Galatians 1:3-4). Every person who is truly in Christ is a new creature: old things are passed away and all things are become new! (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Despite the fact that some profess to be Christians and live worldly lives, the standard for God’s people is one of holiness. Consider the following issues:
1.) MODEST APPAREL.
“...adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety.” (1 Timothy 2:9).
Webster defines modest as “Chaste, decent, not displaying one’s body.”
The Christian is told to glorify God in his/her body, because our bodies are bought with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! Our bodies do not belong to us!
“What know ye not that your own body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body...” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
One way to glorify God IN OUR BODIES is to obey the scriptural command to dress modestly. To love God is to obey Him and to always desire to please Him. The saved person, then, should always strive to please God by the way he dresses.
God forbids nakedness among all people who are not husband and wife in Leviticus 18, and Jesus declares that adultery is committed in the heart of a man who looks on a woman to lust after her. (Matthew 5:27-28). This is also true if a woman lusts after a man! THEREFORE, if a person dresses in such a way as to cause lust in the heart of another, that person is JUST AS GUILTY of adultery as the one who looks and lusts! A person who is the temple of the Holy Ghost should be pointing people to Jesus Christ, NOT trying to draw attention to self by displaying the body in a state of undress. We should be careful to cover those parts of the body that might cause others to lust.
“And thou shalt make holy garments...a breastplate...and a robe, and a broided coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments...And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs shall they reach.” (Exodus 28:2,4,42).
Notice, HOLY GARMENTS included breastplates to cover the breasts; a robe that extended below the knee to cover the bottom, torso, loins, and legs; a coat to cover the back and chest, etc. They were even to make linen breeches (undergarments) to be absolutely certain that their nakedness would not be uncovered. God has a very different definition of nakedness than men do. According to God’s inspired Word, He considers nakedness to be uncovering ANY AREA of the leg from the loin (waist) to the thigh (down to the knee)! Biblical modesty would certainly rule out mini skirts, shorts, dresses with high slits, midriff tops, tight clothes, bathing suits, low-cut tops, skimpy “see-through” clothes, etc. This truth is further borne out in other passages:
“...make bare the leg, uncover the thigh...thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance.” (Isaiah 47:2-3).
“Neither shalt thou go up by the steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. (seen by others).” (Exodus 20:26).
It is clear to see that God is concerned about the modesty of His people. In short, the believer should avoid anything that would reveal the body and cause lust in the opposite sex.
2.) TOTAL ABSTINENCE FROM ALCOHOL.
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” (Proverbs 20:1).
“Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. LOOK THOU NOT UPON THE WINE when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. (fermented). At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” (Proverbs 23:29-32).
“But they have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they have swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.” (Isaiah 28:7).
The Bible warns against drinking...even against the “social” drink! It is total ignorance to suggest that moderate drinking is approved by the Lord. In plainer words, IT IS A SIN TO DRINK ALCOHOL. Not only are we not to drink it, Proverbs 23 tells us not to even look at it! “Be not drunk with wine.” is the commandment of God in Ephesians 5:18.
“No drunkard...shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:10). Some would object, “how unfair for God to exclude someone from Heaven because they have a disease.” The truth is, drunkenness is NOT a disease, IT IS A SIN! Consider this: If drunkenness is a disease, it is the only disease that is contracted by an act of the will...it is the only disease that is bottled and sold for human consumption...it is the only disease that promotes crime, destroys homes, wrecks families...it is the only disease that is spread by advertising...and it is the only disease that bars its victim from Heaven. Again, drunkenness is not a disease, IT IS A SIN!
God says in His Word, that it is not only a sin to drink alcohol...but it is also a sin to SELL or GIVE it to someone else! “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunk also” (Habakkuk 2:15).
But, what about Jesus? Didn’t He turn the water into wine? Can you honestly conceive of the Lord Jesus Christ being the instigator of an incident at a feast where scores of people are caused to be staggering drunk, slobbering and falling around? Would our Savior have made a substance that He knew would destroy marriages, wreck lives, cause murders, promote all kinds of crime and immorality? I don’t think so. Only those in spiritual darkness would say that Christ turned water into intoxicating wine. The same God Who, throughout the Bible, commanded people NOT to drink, wouldn’t contradict Himself by miraculously making wine for them to drink! Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21) , and DID NOT impugn His own Word. He did not help to destroy the very men He came to save. (Matthew 18:11).
Being sinless, He could NOT have broken the commandment in Habbakuk 2:15. If Jesus had turned the water into intoxicating wine, He would have been a sinner and thus ineligible to be our Saviour!
It is important to note that, in the Bible, grape juice is also referred to as “wine.” For instance, Isaiah 65:18 talks about wine while STILL IN THE CLUSTER of grapes. Clearly this is a reference to common grape juice. The Bible also talks about NEW wine, juice that has recently been squeezed from the grape...involving no fermentation. (age/rotting).
It must be determined by context and the accumulation of other Bible passages as to whether a reference to wine in a given scripture passage is talking about fermented
(intoxicating) or unfermented juice.
Strong drink has caused more killings, damned more souls, wrecked more lives, broken more wedding bands, stripped more young people of their innocence, diseased more bodies, dug more graves and caused more problems than anything else devised by man.
A child of Almighty God should stand against drinking with his entire being. Without doubt, when the Bible okays the drinking of wine, it is referring to grape juice (new wine), and NEVER to an intoxicating beverage.
The believer should also avoid cigarette smoking, gambling, off-color magazines, ungodly music, wrong attitudes, the wrong kind of companionship, etc. if he is to live a truly holy life.
3.) WORLDLY ENTERTAINMENT.
Many people have the idea that if they receive Jesus Christ their good times are over! But the truth is God wants His children to be happy. Over and over the Bible tells us to rejoice, be joy-filled and happy. (Philippians 4:4; John 15:11; Psalm 144:15; etc.). It is true, that God forbids some things. But it is only because those things are detrimental. No earthly parent would want his child to get involved in things that would be harmful, and neither does our Heavenly Father. It is a bad idea when our “good times” end up breaking our hearts and ruining our lives. Pleasure that ends in sorrow is wrong! The so-called good times that Satan offers end in a ruined, sad life. There are, then, some worldly amusements that the Christian should beware.
MOVIES. I can say, without fear of contradiction, that movies are dirtier today than ever before. The filth and immorality that is spewed out of Hollywood staggers the mind. There are very few (if any) films that are not filled with profanity, drunkenness, drugs, rebellion, sex sin, and even nudity. It seems that there is nothing sacred anymore. The more perverted the film, the more money it makes at the box office. Often the Bible is made fun of and the things of God are ridiculed. Ungodly living is made to appear normal, while sensible living is mocked.
We should not put ourselves under the influence of ungodly people...people who don’t wear enough clothes, people who do not stay married for more than a few months and who jump from partner to partner, people who use the most horrible language, people who DRINK and use drugs, homosexuals, etc. The movie attender risks being influenced by such people.
“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.” (Psalm 101:3).
A word should be said about TV viewing. There is much being piped into our homes that is not only from the gutter, but also from the pit. A few years ago, many would have blushed and turned the offensive program off...but now we’ve gotten used to the filth and it doesn’t bother us anymore. Conscientious parents should select programs that are wholesome and proper. A TV set out of control is a dangerous thing, like a shot gun or a chain saw! We should be very discerning about what we allow in our homes through the TV.
DANCING. Dancing is wrong! First of all, the atmosphere is sinful. The lights are low, hugging and petting are commonplace, there is often strong drink present, the music is immoral and ungodly. Contact with the opposite sex is the main attraction at such events. Men and women have their hands on each other, cheek to cheek, bodies rubbing together, men with their knee between the woman’s legs, men and women clutched in an embrace as she lays her head on his shoulder and rubs her breasts against his chest. Modern dancers who do not make as much physical contact, still gyrate and simulate the sex act in nearly every dance. Modern dancing is not cleaner, but far more immoral than dancing of the past.
The person who dances doesn’t stay as modest as before. A loss of purity and innocence is inevitable. “...keep thyself pure.” (1 Timothy 5:22).
“Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31). If a person purposes in his heart to glorify God in every thought and deed, questions about worldliness and holiness will be immediately solved.
In the Bible, God commands, “...be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16). The child of God is told “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6). The true believer in Jesus Christ is characterized by a desire for that which is pure, edifying, clean and holy.
Holiness or worldliness? Choose the way of holiness !
