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We do battle on several fronts in this war against our soul . . .

The Old Testament Law condemns and kills

The Flesh degrades and defiles

The Devil deceives and defeats

The WORLD entices and entraps, pollutes and punishes

WORLDLINESS – The form and arrangement of life which is organized on the belief that all values, goals, priorities and hopes are bounded by the horizons of birth and death.

CARNAL – A carnal believer is one who's interest and emphasis is on that which pleases and satisfies the appetites, drives and longings of one's earthly, fleshly nature. This is a characteristic of those who are spiritually immature.

1 Corinthians 3:1 "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as carnal/worldly —mere infants in Christ."

To "gain the whole world" is to possess all possible material wealth and earthly power—but for only temporary influence and enjoyment.

It is written of Moses in Hebrews 11:25, "He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time."

What the Lord Jesus Christ promises in John 10:10 is quite different. He speaks of life more abundant when He says "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." When we speak of worldliness, it is not the planet per se that Scripture condemns, or the pleasantries of life in this present world. Rather it is the world-spirit or world-system that is condemned. The very essence of worldliness is to deny God and His involvement in the world. Everything is gauged and measured by a scale anchored to birth at one end and death on the other.

This anti-God attitude leads to evil by its denial or neglect of the unseen and eternal, and by its blindness to the true time-scale of value revealed in the gospel of Christ.

Here is how the apostle Paul expressed it in 2 Corinthians 4:16ff "We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day; for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

In the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John we have a series of insights and instructions about the Christian and the world.

(Incidentally, John 17 is the real Lord's Prayer—the prayer the Lord Jesus Himself prayed. The so-called Lord's Prayer is a model prayer he taught his disciples to pray.)

The Christian is given to Christ out of the world (v. 6; "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word."

The Christian is left in the world (v. 11, 15; "I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one."

The Christian is not "of the world" (v. 16; "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." The Christian is sent into the world (v. 18; "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world."

The Christian is to share the Word with the world (v. 20; "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

In Galatians 6:14, the apostle Paul testifies, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

Exploring this truth that "the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" shows there are several Bible passages which bring much light to the consequent blessings of being crucified to the world.

We are Crucified to the world's POLLUTIONS . . . The warning in James 1:27 is specific, alerting believer's to "… keep oneself from being polluted by the world;" from being spotted, tarnished and sullied by worldliness.

We are Crucified to the world's EVIL DESIRES . . . 1 Peter 1:14 "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy."

We are Crucified to the world's SPIRIT . . . 1 Corinthians 2:12 "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."

We are Crucified to the world's SIN . . . Romans 6:6,7 "We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." We need to be careful with this truth, but we ought to realize That God has not taken away our ability to sin, but He has given us the ability not to sin.

We are Crucified to the world's WISDOM . . . That is, to its values, goals, priorities and hopes –1 Corinthians 1:20ff "Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe . . . we preach Christ crucified . . . the power and wisdom of God."

We are Crucified to the world's FRIENDSHIP . . . James 4:4 "Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."

We are Crucified to the world's THINGS . . . (Materialism) 1 John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

We are Crucified to the world's PRINCIPLES . . . (its schemes and systems, powers and influences) Colossians 2:8 "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

We are Crucified to the world's COURSE or WAYS . . . Ephesians 2:1,2 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient."    

"The whole world lies in wickedness" (1 John 5:19)

"Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." (1 Peter 2:11)