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God or Mammon by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

God or Mammon

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

In our analysis of Matthew 6:19-24, we have seen that our Lord first of all lays down a proposition or a commandment, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth … but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”  In other words, He tells us that we are so to live in this world, and so to use everything we have, whether our possessions, or gifts, or talents, or propensities, that we shall be laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

Then, having given us the injunction in that way, our Lord proceeds to supply us with reasons for doing this.  I would remind you again that here we have an illustration of the wonderful condescension and understanding of our blessed Lord.  He has no need to give us reasons.  It is for Him to command.  But He stoops to our weakness, mighty as He is, and He comes to our aid and supplies us with these reasons for carrying out His commandment.  He does so in a very remarkable manner.  He elaborates the reasons and presses them upon our consideration.  He does not merely give us one reason; He gives us a number.  He works it out for us in a series of logical propositions, and, of course, there can be no doubt at all but that He does this, not only because He is anxious to help us, but also, and still more perhaps, because of the desperate seriousness of the subject with which He is dealing.  Indeed, we shall see that this is one of the most serious matters which we can ever consider together.

Worldliness Is An Attitude

The world is so subtle and worldliness is such a pervasive thing, that we are all guilty of it and often without realizing it.  We tend to label worldliness as meaning certain particular things only, and always the things of which we are not guilty.  We therefore argue that this has nothing to say to us.  But worldliness is all-pervasive, and is not confined to certain things.  It does not just mean going to theatres or cinemas or doing a few things of that nature.  No, worldliness is an attitude towards life. It is a general outlook, and it is so subtle that it can come into the most holy things of all, as we saw earlier.

Another good way of testing ourselves is to ask ourselves quite simply and honestly why we hold our particular views.  What is our real interest? What is our motive? What, when we are quite honest and truthful with ourselves, is really at the back of these particular political views that we hold?  It is a most illuminating question if we are really honest.  I suggest that most people will find if they face that question quite honestly, that there are some treasures upon earth about which they are concerned, and in which they are interested.

The next test is this.  To what extent are our feelings engaged in this matter? How much bitterness is there, how much violence, how much anger and scorn and passion?  Apply that test, and again we shall find that the feeling is aroused almost invariably by the concern about laying up treasures upon earth.

The last test is this.  Are we viewing these things with a kind of detachment and objectivity or not?  What is our attitude towards all these things? Do we instinctively think of ourselves as pilgrims, and mere sojourners in this world, who of course have to be interested in these things while we are here?  Such an interest is certainly right, it is our duty.  But what is our ultimate attitude?  Are we controlled by it?  Or do we stand apart and regard it objectively, as something which is ephemeral, something which does not really belong to the essence of our life and being, something with which we are concerned only for a while, as we are passing through this life?  We should ask ourselves these questions in order that we may make quite certain whether this injunction of our Lord is speaking to us.  Those are some of the ways in which we can find out very simply whether we are or are not guilty of laying up for ourselves treasures upon earth, and not laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

Worldly Treasurse Do Not Last

When we come to consider our Lord’s arguments against laying up treasures on earth, we find that the first is one which we may very well describe as the argument of common sense, or of ordinary observation.  “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.”  Why?  For this reason: “where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.”  But why should I lay up treasures in heaven?  For this reason: “where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”  Our Lord is saying that worldly treasures do not last; that they are transitory, passing, ephemeral.  “Change and decay in all around I see.” “Where moth and rust doth corrupt.” How true it is.  There is an element of decay in all these things, whether we like it or not.  Our Lord puts it in terms of the moth and rust that tend to lodge themselves in these things and destroy them.

Worldly Treasures Never Fully Satisfy

Spiritually, we can put it like this.  These things never fully satisfy. There is always something wrong with them; they always lack something.  There is no person on earth who is fully satisfied; and though in a sense some may appear to have everything that they desire, still they want something else.  Happiness cannot be purchased.

There is, however, another way of looking at the effect of moth and rust spiritually.  Not only is there an element of decay in these things; it is also true that we always tend to tire of them.  We may enjoy them for a while, but somehow or other they begin to pall or we lose interest in them.  That is why we are always talking about new things and seeking them.  Fashions change; and though we are very enthusiastic about certain things for a while, soon they no longer interest us as they did.  Is it not true that as age advances these things cease to satisfy us?  Old people generally do not like the same things as young people, or the young the same as the old.  As we get older these things seem to become different, there is an element of moth and rust.  We could even go further and put it more strongly and say that there is an impurity in them.  At their best, they are all infected.  Do what you will you cannot get rid of the impurity; the moth and rust are there and all your chemicals do not stop these processes.  Peter says a wonderful thing in this very connection: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).  There is corruption in all these earthly things; they are all impure.

Worldly Treasures Ultimately Perish

The last fact, therefore, about these things is that they inevitably perish. Your most beautiful flower is beginning to die immediately you pluck it.  You will soon have to throw it away.  That is true of everything in this life and world. It does not matter what it is, it is passing, it is all fading away.  Everything that has life is, as the result of sin, subject to this process: “moth and rust doth corrupt.”  Things develop holes and become useless, and at the end they are gone and become utterly corrupt.  The most perfect physique will eventually give way and break down and die; the most beautiful countenance will in a sense become ugly when the process of corruption has got going; the brightest gifts tend to fade.  Your great genius may be seen gibbering in delirium as the result of disease.  However wonderful and beautiful and glorious things may be, they all perish.  That is why, perhaps, the saddest of all failures in life is the failure of the philosopher who believes in worshipping goodness, beauty and truth; because there is no such thing as perfect goodness, there is no such thing as unalloyed beauty; there is an element of wrong and of sin and a lie in the highest truths.  “Moth and rust doth corrupt.”

Worldly Treasures Can Be Taken Away

“Yes,” says our Lord, “and thieves break through and steal.”  We must not stay with these things, they are so obvious, and yet we are so slow to recognize them.  There are many thieves in this life and they are always threatening us.  We think we are safe in our house; but we find thieves have broken in and ransacked it.  Other marauders are always threatening us—illness, a business loss, some industrial collapse, war and finally death itself It matters not what it is that we tend to hold on to in this world, one or other of these thieves is always threatening and will eventually take it from us.  It is not only money.  It may be some person for whom you are really living; your pleasure is in that one person.  Beware, my friends; there are robbers and thieves who are bound to come and eventually rob you of these possessions. Take our possessions at their highest as well as their lowest; they are a subject to these robbers, these attacks.  “The thieves break through and steal,” and we cannot prevent them.  So our Lord appeals to our common sense and reminds us that these worldly treasures never last.  “Change and decay in all around I see.”

Lay Up Treasure in Heaven

But look at the other, positive side. “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”  This is wonderful and full of glory.  Peter puts it in a phrase.  He says “to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (I Peter 1:4).  “The things which are not seen are eternal,” says St. Paul; it is the things which are seen that are temporal (2 Corinthians 4:18).  These heavenly things are imperishable and the thieves cannot break through and steal.  Why?  Because God Himself is reserving them for us.  There is no enemy that can ever rob us of them, or can ever enter in.  It is impossible because God Himself is the Guardian.  Spiritual pleasures are invulnerable; they are in a place which is impregnable. “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39).

Furthermore, there is nothing impure there; naught that corrupts shall enter in.  There is no sin there, nor element of decay.  It is the realm of eternal life and eternal light.  He dwells “in the light which no man can approach unto,” as the apostle Paul puts it (I Timothy 6:16).  Heaven is the realm of life and light and purity and nothing belonging to death, nothing tainted or polluted can gain admission there.  It is perfect; and the treasures of the soul and of the spirit belong to that realm.  Lay them up there, says our Lord, because there is no moth nor rust there, and no thief can ever break through nor steal.

It is an appeal to common sense.  Do we not know that these things are true?  Are they not true of necessity?  Do we not see it all as we live in this world?  Take up your morning newspaper and look at the death column; look at all that is happening.  We know all these things.  Why do we not practice them and live accordingly?  Why do we lay up treasures on earth when we know what is going to happen to them?  And why do we not lay up treasures in heaven where we know that there is purity and joy, holiness and everlasting bliss?

The Spiritual Danger

That, however, is merely the first argument, the argument of common sense.  But our Lord does not stop at that.  His second argument is based upon the terrible spiritual danger involved in laying up treasures on earth and not in heaven.  That is a general heading, but our Lord divides it into certain sub-sections.

The first thing against which He warns us in this spiritual sense is the awful grip and power of these earthly things upon us.  You notice the terms He uses.  He says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  The heart! Then in verse 24, He talks about the mind.  “No man can serve two masters” and we should notice the word “serve.”  These are the expressive terms He uses in order to impress upon us the terrible control that these things tend to exercise over us.  Are we not all aware of them the moment we stop to think-the tyranny of persons, the tyranny of the world?  This is not something we can think about at a distance as it were.  We are all involved in this; we are all in the grip of this awful power of worldliness which really will master us unless we are aware of it.

However, our Lord does not stop at the general.  He is so anxious to show us this terrible danger that He works it out in detail.  He tells us that this terrible thing that grips us tends to affect the entire personality; not merely part of us, but the whole man.  And the first thing He mentions is the “heart.” Having laid down the injunction, He says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  These things grip and master our feelings, our affections and all our sensibility.  All that part of our nature is absolutely gripped by them and we love them.  Read John 3:19: “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  We love these things.  We pretend that we only like them, but really we love them.  They move us deeply.

The next thing about them is a little more subtle.  They not only grip the heart, they grip the mind. Our Lord puts it in this way: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (verses 22, 23).  This picture of the eye is just His way of describing, by means of an illustration, the way in which we look at things.  And according to our Lord, there are but two ways of looking at everything in this world.  There is what He calls the “single” eye, the eye of the spiritual man who sees things really as they are, truly and without any double view.  His eye is clear and he sees things normally.  But there is the other eye which He calls the “evil” eye, which is a kind of double vision, or, if you like, it is the eye in which the lenses are not clear.  There are mists and opacities and we see things in a blurred way.  That is the evil eye.  It is colored by certain prejudices, colored by certain lusts and desires.  It is not a clear vision; it is all cloudy, colored by these various tints and taints.  That is what is meant by this statement which has so often confused people, because they do not take it in its context.  Our Lord in this picture is still dealing with the laying up of treasures.  Having shown that where the treasure is, the heart will be also, He says that it is not only the heart but the mind as well.  These are the things that control man.

But lastly, these things not only grip the heart and mind, they also affect the will. Says our Lord, “No man can serve two masters;” and the moment we mention the word “serve” we are in the realm of the will, the realm of action.  You notice how perfectly logical this is.  What we do is the result of what we think; so what is going to determine our lives and the exercise of our wills is what we think, and that in turn is determined by where our treasure is—our heart.  So we can sum it up like this.  These earthly treasures are so powerful that they grip the entire personality.   They grip a man’s heart, his mind and his will; they tend to affect his spirit, his soul and his whole being.  Whatever realm of life we may be looking at, or thinking about, we shall find these things are there.  Everyone is affected by them; they are a terrible danger.

But the last step is the most solemn and serious of all.  We must remember that the way in which we look at these things ultimately determines our relationship to God.  “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  This is indeed a very solemn thing, and that is why it is dealt with so frequently in Scripture.  The truth of this proposition is obvious.  Both make a totalitarian demand upon us.  Worldly things really do make a totalitarian demand as we have seen.  How they tend to grip the entire personality and affect us everywhere!  They demand our entire devotion; they want us to live for them absolutely.  Yes, but so does God.  Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”  Not in a material sense necessarily, but in some sense or other He says to us all, “Go, sell all that thou hast, and come, follow me.”  “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”  It is a totalitarian demand.  Notice it again in verse 24: “Either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.”  It is “either—or” compromise is completely impossible at this point. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

There is a perfect illustration of that in the Old Testament.  Study carefully 2 Kings 17:24-41. H ere is what we are told.  The Assyrians conquered some area; then they took their own people and settled them in that area.  These Assyrians of course did not worship God.  Then some lions came and destroyed their property.  “This”, they said, “has happened to us because we do not worship the God of this particular land.  We will get priestly instruction on this.”  So they found a priest who instructed them generally in the religion of Israel.  And then they thought that all would be well.  But this is what Scripture said about them: they “feared the Lord, and served their graven images.”  What a terrible thing that is.  It alarms me.  It is not what we say that matters.  In the last day, many shall say, “Lord, Lord, have we not done this, that and the other?”  But He will say unto them, “I never knew you.” “Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father.”  Whom do you serve?  That is the question, and it is either God or mammon.  There is nothing in the last analysis that is so insulting to God as to take His name upon us and yet to show clearly that we are serving mammon in some shape or form.  That is the most terrible thing of all.  It is the greatest insult to God; and how easily and unconsciously we can all become guilty of this.

I remember once hearing a preacher tell a story which he assured us was simple, literal truth.  It illustrates perfectly the point which we are considering.  It is the story of a farmer who one day went happily and with great joy in his heart to report to his wife and family that their best cow had given birth to twin calves, one red and one white.  And he said, “You know I have suddenly had a feeling and impulse that we must dedicate one of these calves to the Lord.  We will bring them up together, and when the time comes we will sell one and keep the proceeds, and we will sell the other and give the proceeds to the Lord’s work.”  His wife asked him which he was going to dedicate to the Lord.  “There is no need to bother about that now,” he replied, “we will treat them both in the same way, and when the time comes we will do as I say.”  And off he went.  In a few months, the man entered his kitchen looking very miserable and unhappy.  When his wife asked him what was troubling him, he answered, “I have bad news to give you.  The Lord’s calf is dead.”  “But”, she said, “you had not decided which was to be the Lord’s calf.”  “Oh yes,” he said; “I had always decided it was to be the white one, and it is the white one that has died.  The Lord’s calf is dead.  We may laugh at that story, but God forbid that we should be laughing at ourselves.  It is always the Lord’s calf that dies.  When money becomes difficult, the first thing we economize on is our contribution to God’s work.  It is always the first thing to go.  Perhaps we must not say “always,” for that would be unfair; but with so many it is the first thing, and the things we really like are the last to go.  “We cannot serve God and mammon.”  These things tend to come between us and God, and our attitude to them ultimately determines our relationship to God.  The mere fact that we believe in God, and call Him, Lord, Lord, and likewise with Christ, is not proof in and of itself that we are serving Him, that we recognize His totalitarian demand, and have yielded ourselves gladly and readily to Him.  “Let every man examine himself.”

Posted in Martyn Lloyd-Jones |

Considerations to Keep Us from Worldliness by Richard Baxter

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

Consider the Greatness of Heaven

Seriously consider your everlasting state and how much greater things than riches you have to mind.  Behold by faith the endless joys which you may have with God, and the endless misery which worldlings must undergo in hell.  There is no true cure for an earthly mind, but by showing it the far greater matters to be minded: by acquainting it better with its own concernments; and with the greater miseries than poverty or want, which we have to escape; and the greater good than worldly plenty which we have to seek.

It is lack of faith that makes men worldlings: they see not what is in another world: they say their creed, but do not heartily believe the day of judgment, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  There is not a man of them all, but, if he had one sight of heaven and hell, would set lighter by the world than ever he did before; and would turn his covetous care and toil to a speedy and diligent care of his salvation.  If he heard the joyful praises of the saints, and the woeful lamentations of the damned, but one day or hour, he would think ever after that he had greater matters to mind than the scraping together a heap of wealth.  Remember, man, that thou hast another world to live in; and a far longer life to make provision for; and that thou must be in heaven or hell forever.  This is true, whether thou believe it or not: and thou hast no time but this to make all thy preparation in: and as thou believest, and livest, and laborest now, it must go with thee to all eternity.  These are matters worthy of thy care.  Canst thou have while to make such a disturbance here in the dust, and care and labor for a thing of nought, while thou hast such things as these to care for, and a work of such transcendent consequence to do?  Can a man that understands what heaven and hell are, find room for any needless matters, or time for so much unnecessary work?  The providing for thy salvation is a thing that God hath made thy own work, much more than the providing for the flesh.  When he speaks of thy body, he saith, “Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or drink, nor for your body, what you shall put on: for your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,” Matt. 6:25, 32.  “Be careful for nothing,” Phil. 4:6.  “Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you,” 1 Pet. 5:7.  But when he speaks of your salvation, he bids you “work it out with fear and trembling,” Phil. 2:12; and “give diligence to make your calling and election sure,” 2 Pet. 1:10; and “strive to enter in at the strait gate,” Matt. 7:13; Luke 13:24.  “Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth to everlasting life,” John 6:27.  That is, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you,” Matt. 6:33.

Look up to heaven, man, and remember that there is thy home, and there are thy hopes, or else thou art a man undone forever; and therefore it is for that that thou must care and labor.  Believe unfeignedly that thou must dwell forever in heaven or hell, as thou makest thy preparation here, and consider of this as becometh a man and then be a worldling and covetous if thou canst: riches will seem dust and chaff to thee, if thou believe and consider thy everlasting state.  Write upon the doors of thy shop and chamber, I must be in heaven or hell forever; or, This is the time on which my endless life dependeth; and methinks every time thou readest it, thou shouldst feel thy covetousness stabbed at the heart.

O blinded mortals! that love, like worms, to dwell in earth!  Would God but give you an eye of faith, to foresee your end, and where you must dwell to all eternity, what a change would it make upon your earthly minds!  Either faith or sense will be your guides.  Nothing but reason sanctified by faith can govern sense.  Remember that thou art not a beast, that hath no life to live but this: thou hast a reasonable, immortal soul, that was made by God for higher things, even for God himself, to admire him, love him, serve him, and enjoy him.  If an angel were to dwell awhile in flesh, should he turn an earthworm and forget his higher life of glory?  Thou art like to an incarnate angel; and mayst be equal with the angels, when thou art freed from this sinful flesh, Luke 20:36.  O beg of God a heavenly light and a heavenly mind and look often into the word of God which tells thee where thou must be forever; and worldliness will vanish away in shame.

Remember the Shortness of Life

Remember how short a time thou must keep and enjoy the wealth which thou hast gotten.  How quickly thou must be stripped of all!  Canst thou keep it when thou hast it? (1 Cor. 7:31.)  Canst thou make a covenant with death, that it shall not call away thy soul?  Thou knowest beforehand that thou art of short continuance and the world is but thy inn or passage; and that a narrow grave for thy flesh to rot in is all that thou canst keep of thy largest possessions, save what thou layest up in heaven, by laying it out in obedience to God.

How short is life!  How quickly gone!  Thou art almost dead and gone already!  What are a few days or a few years more?  And wilt thou make so much ado for so short a life? and so careful a provision for so short a stay?  Yea, how uncertain is thy time, as well as short!  Thou canst not say what world thou shalt be in tomorrow.  Remember, man, that Thou must die!  Thou must die!  Thou must quickly die!  Thou knowest not how soon!  Breathe yet a few breaths more and thou art gone!  And yet canst thou be covetous, and drown thy soul with earthly cares?

Dost thou soberly read thy Savior’s warning, Luke 12:19-21?  Is it not spoken as to thee? “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be rerequired of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?  So is every one that layeth up riches for himself, and is not rich towards God.” If thou be rich today and be in another world tomorrow had not poverty been as good?  Distracted soul!  Dost thou make so great a matter of it, whether thou have much or little for so short a time?  And takest no more care, either where thou shalt be, or what thou shalt have to all eternity?  Dost thou say, thou wilt cast this care on God?  I tell thee, he will make thee care thyself; and care again before he will save thee.  And why canst thou not cast the care of smaller matters on him when he commandeth thee?  Is it any great matter whether thou be rich or poor, that art going so fast unto another world, where these are things of no signification?  Tell me, if thou were sure that thou must die tomorrow, (yea, or the next month or year,) wouldst thou not be more indifferent whether thou be rich or poor and look more after greater things?  Then thou wouldst be of the apostle’s mind, 2 Cor. 4:18, “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  Our eye of faith should be so fixed on invisible, eternal things, that we should scarce have leisure or mind to look at or once regard the things that are visible and temporal.  A man that is going to execution scarce looks at all the bustle or business that is done in streets and shops as he passeth by; because these little concern him in his departing case. And how little do the wealth and honors of the world concern a soul that is going into another world, and knows not but it may be this night!  Then keep thy wealth or take it with thee, if thou canst.

Consider What You Really Need

Labour to feel thy greatest needs which worldly wealth will not supply.  Thou hast sinned against God, and money will not buy thy pardon (Proverbs 11:4).  Thou hast incurred his displeasure and money will not reconcile him to thee.  Thou art condemned to everlasting misery by the law and money will not pay thy ransom.  Thou art dead in sin, and polluted, and captivated by the flesh, and money will sooner increase thy bondage than deliver thee.  Thy conscience is ready to tear thy heart for thy willful folly and contempt of grace, and money will not bribe it to be quiet. Judas brought back his money, and hanged himself, when conscience was but once awakened.  Money will not enlighten a blinded mind, nor soften a hard heart, nor humble a proud heart, nor justify a guilty soul.  It will not keep off a fever or consumption, nor ease the gout, or stone, or toothache.  It will not keep off ghastly death, but die thou must, if thou have all the world!  Look up to God and remember that thou art wholly in his hands; and think whether he will love or favor thee for thy wealth.  Look unto the day of judgment and think whether money will there bring thee off, or the rich speed better than the poor.

Riches are Useless at Death

Be often with those that are sick and dying, and mark what all their riches will do for them, and what esteem they have then of the world; and mark how it useth all at last.  Then you shall see that it forsaketh all men in the hour of their greatest necessity and distress (Jer. 17:11; Jam. 5:1-3); when they would cry to friends, and wealth, and honor, if they had any hopes, If ever you will help me, let it be now; if ever you will do any thing for me, O save me from death, and the wrath of God!

But, alas! such cries would be all in vain!  Then, oh then!  One drop of mercy, one spark of grace, the smallest well-grounded hope of heaven, would be worth more than the empire of Caesar or Alexander!  Is not this true, sinner?  Dost thou not know it to be true?  And yet wilt thou cheat and betray thy soul?  Is not that best now, which will be best then?  And is not that of little value now which will be then so little set by?  Dost thou not think that men are wiser then than now?  Wilt thou do so much and pay so dear for that which will do thee no more good and which thou wilt set no more by when thou hast it?  Doth not all the world cry out at last of the deceitfulness of riches and the vanity of pleasure and prosperity on earth and the perniciousness of all worldly cares?  And doth not thy conscience tell thee that when thou comest to die, thou art like to have the same thoughts thyself?  And yet wilt thou not be warned in time?  Then all the content and pleasure of thy plenty and prosperity will be past: and when it is past it is nothing.  And wilt thou venture on everlasting woe, and cast away everlasting joy, for that which is today a dream and shadow, and tomorrow, or very shortly, will be nothing?  The poorest then will be equal with thee.  And will honest poverty or over-loved wealth be sweeter at the last?  How glad then wouldst thou be, to have been without thy wealth, so thou mightst have been without the sin and guilt.  How glad then wouldst thou be to die the death of the poorest saint!  Do you think that poverty or riches are liker to make a man loath to die?  Or are usually more troublesome to the conscience of a dying man?  O look to the end and live as you die, and set most by that, and seek that now, which you know you shall set most by at last when full experience hath made you wiser!

Beware the Perils of Riches

Remember that riches do make it much harder for a man to be saved; and the love of this world is the commonest cause of men’s damnation.  This is certainly true, for all that poverty also hath its temptations; and for all that the poor are far more numerous than the rich.  For even the poor may be undone by the love of that wealth and plenty which they never get; and those may perish for over-loving the world, that yet never prospered in the world.  And if thou believe Christ, the point is out of controversy: for he saith, Luke 18:24-27, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.  And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?  And he said, The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God.”  So Luke 6:24-25, “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation: woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger.”  Make but sense of these and many such like texts and you can gather no less than this from them, that riches make the way to heaven much harder and the salvation of the rich to be more difficult and rare, proportionally, than of other men.

And Paul saith, 1 Cor. 1:26, “Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.”  And the lovers of riches, though they are poor, must remember that it is said, “That the love of money is the root of all evil,” 1 Tim. 6:10.  And, “Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world: for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” 1 John 2:15.  Do you believe that here lieth the danger of your souls? and yet can you so love, and choose, and seek it?  Would you have your salvation more difficult, and doubtful, and impossible with men?  You had rather choose to live where few die young, than where most die young; and where sicknesses are rare, than where they are common.  If you were sick, you had rather have the physician, and medicines, and diet which cure most, than those which few are cured by.  If the country were beset with thieves, you had rather go the way that most escape in, than that few escape in.  And yet, so it may but please your flesh, you will choose that way to heaven that fewest escape in; and you will choose that state of life, which will make your salvation to be most hard and doubtful.  Doth your conscience say that is wisely done?  I know that if God put riches into your hand, by your birth, or his blessing on your honest labors, you must not cast away your Master’s talents, because he is austere; but by a holy improvement of them, you may further his service and your salvation.  But this is no reason why you should over-love them, or desire and seek so great a danger.  Believe Christ heartily, and it will quench your love of riches.

The More You Have…

Remember that the more you have, the more you have to give account for.  And if the day of judgment be dreadful to you, you should not make it more dreadful by greatening your own accounts…  If you desired riches but for the service of your Lord, and have used them for him, and can truly give in this account, that you laid them not out for the needless pleasure or pride of the flesh, but to furnish yourselves, and families, and others, for his service, and as near as you could, employ them according to his will, and for his use, then you may expect the reward of good and faithful servants; but if you desired and used them for the pride and pleasure of yourselves while you lived, and your posterity or kindred when you are dead, dropping some inconsiderable crumbs for God, you will then find that Mammon was an unprofitable master, and godliness, with content, would have been greater gain (Prov. 3:14; 1 Tim. 6:5-6).

Consider the Cost

Remember how dear it costeth men, thus to hinder their salvation, and greaten their danger and accounts.  What a deal of precious time is lost upon the world, by the lovers of it, which might have been improved to the getting of wisdom and grace, and making their calling and election sure!  If you had believed that the gain of holy wisdom had been so much better than the gaming of gold, as Solomon saith, Prov. 3:14, you would have laid out much of that time in laboring to understand the Scriptures and preparing for your endless life.  How many unnecessary thoughts have you cast away upon the world, which might better have been laid out on your greater concernments!  How many cares, and vexations, and passions doth it cost men, to overload themselves with worldly provisions!  Like a foolish traveler, who having a day’s journey to go, doth spend all the day in gathering together a load of meat, and clothes, and money, more than he can carry, for fear of lacking by the way: or like a foolish runner, that hath a race to run for his life, and spends the time in which he should be running, in gathering a burden of pretended necessaries.

You have all the while God’s work to do, and your souls to mind, and judgment to prepare for, and you are tiring and vexing yourselves for unnecessary things, as if it were the top of your ambition to be able to say, in hell, that you died rich. 1 Tim. 6:6-10, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out.  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred (or been seduced) from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”  Piercing sorrows here and damnation hereafter, are a very expensive price to give for money (Psalm 37:16; Prov. 16:8).  For saith Christ himself, “What shall it profit a man to gain all the world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36, 37; that is, What money or price will recover it, if for the love of gain he lose it?  Prov. 15:27, “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.”  Do you not know that a godly man contented with his daily bread hath a far sweeter and quieter life and death than a self-troubling worldling?  You may easily perceive it.  Prov. 15:16, “Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith.”

Consider Christ’s Example

Look much on the life of Christ on earth, and see how strangely he condemneth worldliness by his example.  Did he choose to be a prince or lord or to have great possessions, lands, or money, or sumptuous buildings, or gallant attendance, and plentiful provisions?  His housing you may read of, Matt. 8:20; Luke 9:58, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”  His clothing you may read of at his crucifying, when they parted it.  As for money, he was fain to send Peter to a fish for some to pay their tribute.  If Christ did scrape and care for riches, then so do thou: if he thought it the happiest life, do thou think so too.   But if he condemned it, do thou condemn it: if his whole life was directed to give thee the most perfect example of the contempt of all the prosperity of this world, then learn of his example, if thou take him for thy Saviour, and if thou love thyself. “Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich,” 2 Cor. 8:9.

Consider the Early Christians

Think on the example of the primitive Christians, even the best of Christ’s servants, and see how it condemneth worldliness.  They that by miracle in the name of Christ could give limbs to the lame, yet tell him, “Silver and gold have we none,” Acts 3:6.  Those that had possessions sold them and laid the money at the apostles’ feet, and they had all things common to show that faith overcometh the world, by condemning it and subjecting it to charity and devoting it entirely to God.  Read whether the apostles did live sumptuous houses, with great attendance, and worldly plenty and prosperity?  Chrysostom saith, his enemies charged him with many crimes, but never with covetousness or wantonness. And so it was with Christ and his enemies.  And so of the rest.

Remember the Purpose of Worldly Goods

Remember to what ends all worldly things were made and given you and what a happy advantage you may make of them by renouncing them as they would be provision for your lusts and by devoting yourselves and them to God.  The use of their sweetness is to draw your souls to taste by faith the heavenly sweetness.  They are the looking-glass of souls in flesh that are not yet admitted to see these things spiritual face to face.  They are the provender of our bodies; our traveling furniture and helps; our inns, and solacing company in the way; they are some of God’s love-tokens, some of the lesser pieces of his coin, and bear his image and superscription.  They are drops from the rivers of the eternal pleasures; to tell the mind by the way of the senses how good the Donor is and how amiable and what higher delights there are for souls; and to point us to the better things which these foretell.  They are messengers from heaven to testify our Father’s care and love and to bespeak our thankfulness, love, and duty; and to bear witness against sin and bind us more tightly to obedience.  They are the first volume of the word of God; the first book that man was set to read, to acquaint him fully with his Maker.  As the word which we read and hear is the chariot of the Spirit, by which it maketh its accesses to the soul; so the delights of sight, and taste, and smell, and touch, and hearing, were appointed as an ordinary way for the speedy access of heavenly love and sweetness to the heart, that upon the first perception of the goodness and sweetness of the creature, there might presently he transmitted by a due progression, a deep impression of the goodness of God upon the soul; that the creatures, being the letters of God’s book, which are seen by our eye, the sense (even the love of our great Creator) might presently be perceived by the mind: and no letter might once be looked upon but for the sense; no creature ever seen, or tasted, or heard, or felt in any delectable quality, without a sense of the love of God; that as the touch of the hand upon the strings of the lute do cause the melody, so God’s touch by his mercies upon our hearts, might presently tune them into love, and gratitude, and praise.

They are the tools by which we must do much of our Master’s work.  They are means by which we may refresh our brethren and express our love to one another and our love to our Lord and Master in his servants.  They are our Master’s stock, which we must trade with, by the improvement of which, no less than the reward of endless happiness may be attained.  These are the uses to which God gives us outward mercies.  Love them thus, and delight in them, and use them thus, and spare not; yea, seek them thus, and be thankful for them.

But when the creatures are given for so excellent a use, will you debase them all by making them only the fuel of your lusts and the provisions for your flesh?  And will you love them, and dote upon them in these base respects; while you utterly neglect their noblest use?  You are just like children that cry for books and can never have enough; but it is only to play with them because they are fine; but when they are set to learn and read them, they cry as much because they love it not: or like one that should spend his life and labor in getting the finest clothes, to dress his dogs and horses with, but himself goes naked and will not wear them.

Remember God’s Promises

Remember that God hath promised to provide for you and that you shall lack nothing that is good for you, if you will live above these worldly things and seek first his kingdom and the righteousness thereof.  And cannot you trust his promise?  If you truly believe that he is God, and that he is true, and that his particular providence extendeth to the very numbering of your hairs (Matt. 10:30; Luke 12:7), you will sure trust him, rather than trust to your own forecast and industry.  Do you think his provision is not better for you than your own?  All your own care cannot keep you alive an hour, nor can prosper any of your labors, if you provoke him to blast them.  And if you are not content with his provisions, nor submit yourselves to the disposal of his love and wisdom, you disoblige God, and provoke him to leave you to the fruits of your own care and diligence: and then you will find that it had been your wiser way to have trusted God.

Remember the Mischiefs of a Worldly Mind.

Think often on the dreadful importance and effects of the love of riches, or a worldly mind…

1. It is a most certain sign of a state of death and misery, where it hath the upper hand.  It is the departing of the heart from God to creatures.  See the malignity of it before.  Good men have been overtaken with heinous sins; but it is hard to find where Scripture calleth any of them covetous.  A heart secretly cleaving most to this present world and its prosperity is the very killing sin of every hypocrite, yea, and of all ungodly men.

2. Worldliness makes the word unprofitable and keepeth men from believing and repenting, and coming home to God, and minding seriously the everlasting world.  What so much hindereth the conversion of sinners, as the love and cares of earthly things?  They cannot serve God and mammon: their treasure and hearts cannot chiefly be both in heaven and earth!  They will not yield to the terms of Christ that love this world: they will not forsake all for a treasure in heaven.  In a word, as you heard, the love of money is the root of all evil, and the love of the Father is not in the lovers of the world (Matt. 6:25,; 13:22; Luke 16:13,14; 14:33; 18:22, 23; Matt. 6:19-21; 1 Tim. 6:6-8; 1 John 2:15; Prov. 28:9; 18:8; James 4:3; Prov. 28:20, “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”).

3. It destroyeth holy meditation and conference and turneth the thoughts to worldly things: and it corrupteth prayer, and maketh it but a means to serve the flesh, and therefore maketh it odious to God.

4. It is the great hindrance of men’s necessary preparation for death and judgment and stealeth away their hearts and time till it is too late.

5. It is the great cause of contentions even among the nearest relations; and the cause of the wars and calamities of nations; and of the woeful divisions and persecutions of the church; when a worldly generation thinks that their worldly interest doth engage them, against self-denying and spiritual principles, practices, and persons.

6. It is the great cause of all the injustice, and oppression, and cruelty that rageth in the world.  They would do as they would be done by, were it not for the love of money.  It maketh men perfidious and false to all their friends and engagements: no vows to God; nor obligations to men, will hold a lover of the world (Jam. 5:1-5; 1 John 3:17).  The world is his god and his worldly interest is his rule and law.

7. It is the great destroyer of charity and good works. No more is done for God and the poor, because the love of the world forbids it.

8. It disordereth and profaneth families; and betrayeth the souls of children and servants to the devil.  It turneth out prayer and reading the Scripture and good books, and all serious speeches of the life to come, because their hearts are taken up with the world, and they have no relish of any thing but the provisions of their flesh.  Even the Lord’s own day cannot be reserved for holy works, nor a duty performed, but the world is interposing, or diverting the mind.

9. It tempteth men to sin against their knowledge and to forsake the truth and fit themselves to the rising side and save their bodies and estates, whatever become of their souls.  It is the very price that the devil gives for souls!  With this he bought the soul of Judas, who went to the Pharisees, with a “What will you give me, and I will deliver him to you.”  With this he attempted Christ himself, Matt. 4:9, “All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”  It is the cause of apostasy and unfaithfulness to God (2 Tim. 4:10).  And it is the price that sinners sell their God, their conscience, and their salvation for.

10. It depriveth the soul of holy communion with God and comfort from him and of all foretaste of the life to come and finally of heaven itself (Tim. 6:17-19).  For as the love of the world keepeth out the love of God and heaven, it must needs keep out the hopes and comforts which should arise from holy love.  It would do much to cure the love of money, and of the world, if you knew how pernicious a sin it is.

Consider the Lowliness of this Sin.

Remember how base a sin it is, and how dishonorable and debasing to the mind of man.  If earth be baser than heaven and money than God, then an earthly mind is baser than a heavenly mind.  As the serpent’s feeding on the dust is a baser life than that of angels that are employed in admiring, and obeying, and praising the Most Holy God.

Consider God’s Judgment

Call yourselves to a daily reckoning, how you lay out all that God committeth to your trust; and try whether it be so as you would hear of it at judgment.  If you did but use to sit in judgment daily upon yourselves, as those that believe the judgment of God, it would make you more careful to use well what you have, than to get more; and it would quench your thirst after plenty and prosperity, when you perceived you must give so strict an account of it.  The flesh itself will less desire it, when it finds it may not have the use of it.

Fight your Covetousness when it is Strong

When you find your covetousness most eager and dangerous, resolve most to cross it, and give more to pious or charitable uses than at another time.  For a man hath reason to fly furthest from that sin, which he is most in danger of.  And the acts tend to the increase of the habit.  Obeying your covetousness doth increase it: and so the contrary acts, and the disobeying and displeasing it, do destroy it.  This course will bring your covetousness into a despair of attaining its desire; and so will make it sit down and give over the pursuit.  It is an open protesting against every covetous desire; and an effectual kind of repenting; and a wise and honest disarming sin, and turning its motions against itself, to its own destruction. Use it thus oft, and covetousness will think it wisdom to be quiet.

Do not Save Heaven for Last

Above all, take heed that you think not of reconciling God and mammon, and mixing heaven and earth to be your felicity, and of dreaming that you may keep heaven for a reserve at last, when the world hath been loved as your best, so long as you could keep it.  Nothing so much defendeth worldliness, as a cheating hope, that you have it but in a subdued, pardoned degree; and that you are not worldlings when you are.  And nothing so much supports this hope, as because you confess that heaven only must be your last refuge, and full felicity, and therefore you do something for it on the bye.  But is not the world more loved, more sought, more delighted in, and harder held?  Hath it not more of your hearts, your delight, desire, and industry?  If you cannot let go all for heaven and forsake all this world for a treasure above, you cannot be Christ’s true disciples, Luke 14:26, 27, 30, 33.

Mortify the Flesh

If ever you would overcome the love of the world, your great care must be to mortify the flesh; for the world is desired but as its provision.  A mortified man hath no need of that which is a sensualist’s felicity.  Quench your insatiable, feverish thirst, and then you will not make such a stir for drink.  Cure the disease which enrageth your appetite; and that is the safest and cheapest way of satisfying it.  Then you will be thankful to God, when you look on other men’s wealth and gallantry, that you need not these things.  And you will think what a trouble and burden, and interruption of your better work and comfort it would be to you, to have so much land, and so many servants, and goods, and business, and persons to mind, as rich men have.  And how much better you can enjoy God and yourself in a more retired, quiet state of life.

Conclusion

Did men but know how much of an ungodly, damnable state doth consist in the love of the world; and how much it is the enemy of souls; and how much of our religion consisteth in the contempt and conquest of it; and what is the meaning of their renouncing the world in their baptismal covenant; and how many millions the love of the world will damn forever; they would not make such a stir for nothing, and spend all their days in providing for their perishing flesh; nor think them happiest that are richest; nor “boast themselves of their heart’s desire, and bless the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth,” Psalm 10:3.  They would not think that so small a sin which Christians should not so much as “name,” but in detestation, Eph. 5:3; when God hath resolved that the “covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” 1 Cor. 6:10; Eph. 5:5; and a Christian must not so much as eat with them, 1 Cor. 5:11.  Did Christ say in vain, “Take heed and beware of covetousness,” Luke 12:15.  “Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil,” Hab. 2:9.  Oh what deserving servants hath the world, that will serve it so diligently, so constantly, and at so costly a rate, when they beforehand know, that besides a little transitory, deluding pleasure, it will pay them with nothing but everlasting shame!  Oh wonderful deceiving power, of such an empty shadow, or rather wonderful folly of mankind!  That when so many ages have been deceived before us and almost every one at death confesseth it did but deceive them, so many still should be deceived, and take no warning by such a world of examples!  I conclude with Heb. 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”

Posted in Richard Baxter |

Love of the World by Richard Baxter

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

I shall say but little on this subject now, because I have written a Treatise of it already, called “The Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ;” in which I have given many directions against this sin.  Understand well the nature and malignity of this sin; both what it is, and why it is so great and perilous.

Lawful Love of Creatures

All love of the creature, the world or riches, is not sin. For:

1. The works of God are all good, as such; and all goodness is worthy of love.  As they are related to God, and his power, and wisdom, and goodness are imprinted on them, so we must love them, even for his sake.

2. All the impressions of the attributes of God appearing on his works do make them as a mirror, in which at this distance we must see the Creator; and their sweetness is a drop from him; by which his goodness and love are tasted.  And so they were all made to lead us up to God and help our minds to converse with him and kindle the love of God in our breasts, as a love-token from our dearest friend; and thus, as the means of our communion with God, the love of them is a duty, and not a sin.

3. They are naturally the means of sustaining our bodies, and preserving life, and health, and alacrity; and as such, our sensitive part hath a love to them, as every beast hath to its food and this love in itself is not of a moral kind, and is neither a virtue nor a vice, till it either be used in obedience to our reason, (and so it is good,) or in disobedience to it (and so it is evil).

4. The creatures are necessary means to support our bodies, while we are doing God the service which we owe him in the world; and so they must be loved, as a means to his service; though we cannot say properly that riches are ordinarily thus necessary.

5. The creatures are necessary to sustain our bodies in our journey to heaven, while we are preparing for eternity; and thus they must be loved as indirect helps to our salvation.  And in these two last respects, we call it in our prayers “our daily bread.”

6. Riches may enable us to relieve our needy brethren and to promote good works for church or state.  And thus also they may be loved; so far as we must be thankful for them, so far we may love them; for we must be thankful for nothing but what is good.

What is Worldliness?

But worldliness, or sinful love of riches, is …

1. When riches are loved and desired, and sought more for the flesh than for God or our salvation; even as the matter or means of our worldly prosperity, that the flesh may lack nothing to please it, and satisfy its desires (Phil. 3:7-9; Jam. 1:10; Phil. 4:11; 1 Tim. 6:5; Prov. 23:4, “Labor not to be rich.”).  Or that pride may have enough wherewith to support itself, by gratifying and obliging others, and living ostentatiously, and in that splendor, as may show our greatness, or further our domination over others.

2. And when we therefore desire them in that proportion which we think most agreeable to these carnal ends, and are not contented with our daily bread, and that proportion which may sustain us as passengers to heaven, and tend most to the securing of our souls, and to the service of God.  So that it is the end by which a sinful love of riches is principally to be discerned; when they are loved for pride or flesh-pleasing, as they are the matter of a worldly, corporal felicity, and not principally for God and his service, and servants and our salvation.  And indeed, as sensualists love them, they should be hated.

When Worldliness is Predominant.

Worldliness is either predominant, and so a certain sign of death; or else mortified, and in a subdued degree, consistent with some saving grace.

Worldliness predominant, as in the ungodly, is, when men that have not a lively belief of the everlasting happiness, nor have laid up their treasure and hopes in heaven, do take the pleasure and prosperity of this life for that felicity which is highest in their esteem, and dearest to their hearts, and therefore love the riches of the world, or full provisions, as the matter and means of this their temporal felicity (Luke 14:26, 33).  Worldliness in a mortified person, is, when he that hath laid up his treasure in heaven, and practically esteemeth his everlasting hopes above all the pleasure and prosperity of the flesh, and seeketh first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and useth his estate principally for God and his salvation, hath yet some remnants of inordinate desire to the prosperity and pleasure of the flesh, and some inordinate desire of riches for that end; which yet he hateth, lamenteth, resisteth, and so far subdueth, that it is not predominant, against the interest of God and his salvation (Matt. 6:19-21,33; John 6:27; Luke 12:19, 20 18:22-23.)  Yet this is a great sin, though it be forgiven.

The malignity or greatness of this sin consisteth in these points (especially when it is predominant).

1. The love of the world, or of riches, is a sin of deliberation and not of mere temerity or sudden passion: worldlings contrive the attaining of their ends.

2. It is a sin of interest, love, and choice, set up against our chief interest: it is the setting up of a false end, and seeking that; and not only a sin of error in the means, or a seeking the right end in a mistaken way.

3. It is idolatry (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5; James 4:4) or a denying God and deposing him in our hearts and setting up his creatures in his stead, in that measure as it prevaileth.  The worldling giveth that love and that trust unto the creature, which are due to God alone; he delighteth in it instead of God and seeketh and holdeth it as his felicity instead of God: and therefore, so far as any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 1 John 2:15.  And the friendship of the world is enmity to God.

4. It is a contempt of heaven; when it must be neglected, and a miserable world preferred.

5. It showeth that unbelief prevaileth at the heart so far as worldliness prevaileth: for if men did practically believe the heavenly glory, and the promise thereof, they would be carried above these present things.

6. It is a debasing of the soul of man, and using it like the brutes, while it is principally set upon the serving of the flesh, and on a temporal felicity and neglecteth its eternal happiness and concernments.

7. It is a perverting of the very drift of a man’s life, as employed in seeking a wrong end, and not only of some one faculty or act: it is a habitual sin of the state and course of mind and life, and not only a particular actual sin.

8. It is a perverting of God’s creatures to an end and use clean contrary to that which they were made and given for; and an abusing God by his own gifts, by which he should he served and honored; and a destroying our souls with those mercies which were given us for their help and benefit.  This is the true character of this heinous sin.  In a word, it is the forsaking God, and turning the heart from him, and alienating the life from his service, to this present world, and the service of the flesh.  Fornication, drunken-ness, murder, swearing, perjury, lying, stealing, &c. are very heinous sins.  But a single act of one of these, committed rashly in the violence of passion, or temptation, speaketh not such a malignant turning away of the heart habitually from God, as to say a man is covetous, or a worldling.

Posted in Richard Baxter |

The Scriptures and the World by Arthur W. Pink

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

Not a little is written to the Christian in the New Testament about “the world” and his attitude towards it.  Its real nature is plainly defined, and the believer is solemnly warned against it.  God’s holy Word is a light from heaven, shining here “in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19).  Its Divine rays exhibit things in their true colors, penetrating and exposing the false veneer and glamour by which many objects are cloaked.  That world upon which so much labor is bestowed and money spent, and which is so highly extolled and admired by its blinded dupes, is declared to be “the enemy of God;” therefore are His children forbidden to be “conformed” to it and to have their affections set upon it.

The present phase of our subject is by no means the least important of those that have already been before us, and the serious reader will do well to seek Divine grace to measure himself or herself by it.  One of the exhortations which God has addressed to His children is, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2), and it behooves each one of them honestly and diligently to examine himself so as to discover whether or not this be the case with him.  Nor are we to be content with an increase of mere head‑knowledge of Scripture: what we need to be most concerned about is our practical growth, our experimental conformity to the image of Christ.  And one point at which we may test ourselves is, “Does my reading and study of God’s Word make me less worldly?”

1. The World Is A System Opposed to God. We profit from the Word when our eyes are opened to discern the true character of the world.  One of the poets wrote, “God’s in His Heaven—all’s right with the world.”  From one standpoint that is blessedly true, but from another it is radically wrong, for “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19) but it is only as the heart is supernaturally enlightened by the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to perceive that which is highly esteemed among men is really “abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).  It is much to be thankful for when the soul is able to see that the “world” is a gigantic fraud, a hollow bauble which must one day be burned up.

Before we go farther, let us define that “world” which the Christian is forbidden to love.  There are few words found upon the pages of Holy Writ used with a greater variety of meanings than this one.  Yet careful attention to the context will usually determine its scope.  The “world” is a system or order of things, complete in itself.  No foreign element is suffered to intrude, or if it does it is speedily accommodated or assimilated to itself.  The “world” is fallen human nature acting itself out in the human family, fashioning the framework of human society in accord with its own tendencies.  It is the organized kingdom of the “carnal mind” which is “enmity against God” and which is “not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).  Wherever the “carnal mind” is, there is “the world;” so that worldliness is the world without God.

2. The World Is An Enemy to Be Resisted and Overcome. The Christian is bidden to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy. 6:12), which implies that there are foes to be met and vanquished.  As there is the Holy Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—so also there is an evil trinity—the flesh, the world, and the devil.  The child of God is called unto a mortal combat with them; “mortal” we say, for either they will destroy him or he will get the victory over them.  Settle it, then, in your mind, my reader, that the world is a deadly enemy, and if you do not vanquish it in your heart then you are no child of God, for it is written “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” (1 John 5:4).

Out of many, the following reason may be given as to why the world must be “overcome.”  First, all its alluring objects tend to divert the attention and alienate the affections of the soul from God.  Necessarily so, for it is the tendency of things seen to turn the heart away from things unseen.  Second, the spirit of the world is diametrically opposed to the Spirit of Christ, therefore did the apostle write, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).  The Son of God came into the world, but “the world knew Him not” (John 1:10), therefore did its “princes” and rulers crucify Him (1 Corinthians 2:8).  Third, its concerns and cares are hostile to a devout and heavenly life.  Christians, like the rest of mankind, are required by God to labor six days in the week; but while so employed they need to be constantly on their guard, lest covetous interests govern them rather than the performance of duty.  “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).  Naught but a God‑given faith can overcome the world.  But as the heart is occupied with invisible yet eternal realities, it is delivered from the corrupting influence of worldly objects.  The eyes of faith discern the things of sense in their real colors and see that they are empty and vain and not worthy to be compared with the great and glorious objects of eternity.  A felt sense of the perfections and presence of God makes the world appear less than nothing.  When the Christian views the Divine Redeemer dying for his sins, living to intercede for his perseverance, reigning and overruling things for his final salvation, he exclaims, “there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.”  And how is it with you, dear reader?  You may cordially assent to what has just been said in the last paragraph, but how is it with you actually?  Do the things which are so highly valued by the unregenerate charm and enthrall you?  Take away from the worldling those things in which he delights, and he is wretched: is this so with you?  Or, are your present joy and satisfaction found in objects which can never be taken from you?  Treat not these questions lightly, we beseech you, but ponder them seriously in the presence of God.  The honest answer to them will be an index to the real state of your soul and will indicate whether or not you are deceived into supposing yourself to be “a new creature in Christ Jesus.”

3. Christ Died to Deliver Us from “this Present Evil World” (Gal. 1:4).  The Son of God came here not only to “fulfill” the requirements of the law (Matthew 5:17), to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), to deliver us “from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10), to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21), but also to free us from the bondage of this world, to deliver the soul from its enthralling influence.  This was foreshadowed of old in God’s dealings with Israel.  They were slaves in Egypt and “Egypt” is a figure of the world.  They were in cruel bondage, spending their time in “making bricks” for Pharaoh.  They were unable to free themselves.  But Jehovah, by His mighty power, emancipated them, and brought them forth out of the “iron furnace.”  Thus does Christ with His own.  He breaks the power of the world over their hearts.  He makes them independent of it, that they neither court its favors nor fear its frowns.

Christ gave Himself a sacrifice for the sins of His people that, in consequence thereof, they might be delivered from the damning power and governing influence of all that is evil in this present world: from Satan, who is its prince; from the lusts which predominate in it; from the vain conversation of the men who belong to it.  Now the Holy Spirit indwelling the saints cooperates with Christ in this blessed work.  He turns their thoughts and affections away from earthly things to heavenly.  By the working of His power, He frees from the demoralizing influence which surrounds us, and conforms to the heavenly standard.  And as the Christian grows in grace, he recognizes this and acts accordingly.  He seeks yet fuller deliverance from this “present evil world” and begs God to free him from it completely.  That which once charmed him now nauseates.  He longs for the time when he shall be taken out of this scene where his blessed Lord is so grievously dishonored.

4. Our Hearts Should Be Weaned from the World.  “Love not the world neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15).  “What the stumbling block is to the traveler in the way, the weight to the runner, the lime twigs to the bird in its flight, so is the love of the world to a Christian in his course—either wholly diverting him from, greatly enticing him in, or forcibly turning him out of it” (Nash Hardy, 1660).  The truth is that until the heart be purged from this corruption the ear will be deaf to Divine instruction.  Not until we are lifted above the things of time and sense can we be subdued unto obedience to God.  Heavenly Truth glides off a carnal mind as water from a spherical body.

The world has turned its back upon Christ, and though His name is professed in many places, yet will it have nothing to do with Him.  All the desires and designs of worldlings are for the gratification of self.  Let their aims and pursuits be as varied as they may, self being supreme, everything is subordinated to the pleasing thereof.  Now Christians are in the world and cannot get out of it; they have to live their Lord’s appointed time in it.  While here they have to earn their living, support their families, and attend to their worldly business.  But they are forbidden to love the world, as though it could make them happy.  Their “treasure” and “portion” are to be found elsewhere.

The world appeals to every instinct of fallen man.  It contains a thousand objects to charm him: they attract his attention, the attention creates a desire for and love of them, and insensibly yet surely they make deeper and deeper impressions on his heart.  It has the same fatal influence on all classes.  But attractive and appealing as its varied objects may be, all the pursuits and pleasures of the world are designed and adopted to promote the happiness of this life only—therefore, “what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”  The Christian is taught by the Spirit, and through His presenting of Christ before the soul, his thoughts are diverted from the world.  Just as a little child will readily drop a dirty object when something more pleasing is offered to it, so the heart which is in communion with God will say, “I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord … and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

5. We Should Walk in Separation from the World.  “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?  Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).  Such a verse as this ought to search every one of us through and through, and make us tremble.  How can I fraternize with or seek my pleasure in that which condemned the Son of God?  If I do, that at once identifies me with His enemies.  Oh, my reader, make no mistake upon this point.  It is written, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

Of old it was said of the people of God that they “shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9).  Surely the disparity of character and conduct, the desires and pursuits, which distinguish the regenerate from the unregenerate, must separate the one from the other.  We who profess to have our citizenship in another world, to be guided by another Spirit, to be directed by another rule, and to be journeying to another country, cannot go arm in arm with those who despise all such things!  Then let everything in and about us exhibit the character of Christian pilgrims.  May we indeed be “men wondered at” (Zechariah 3:8) because we are “not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2).

6. When We Love Not the World, We Will Evoke the Hatred of the World.  What pains are taken in the world to save appearances and keep up a seemly and good state!  Its conventionalities and civilities, its courtesies and charities, are so many contrivances to give an air of respectability to it.  So too its churches and cathedrals, its priests and prelates are needed to gloss over the corruption which seethes beneath the surface.  And to make good weight “Christianity” is added, and the holy name of Christ is taken upon the lips of thousands of those who have never taken His “yoke” upon them.  Of them God says, “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).

And what is to be the attitude of all real Christians toward such?  The answer of Scripture is plain: “from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).  “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:17).  And what will follow when this Divine command is obeyed?  Why, then we shall prove the truth of those words of Christ: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).  Which “world” is specifically in view here?  Let the previous verse answer: “If the world hate you, ye know it hated Me before it hated you.”  What “world” hated Christ and hounded Him to death?  The religious world, those who pretended to be most zealous for God’s glory.  So it is now.  Let the Christian turn his back upon a Christ‑dishonoring Christendom, and his fiercest foes and most relentless and unscrupulous enemies will be those who claim to be “Christians” themselves!  But “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you—for My sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad” (Matthew 5:11-12).  Ah, my brother, it is a healthy sign, a sure mark that you are profiting from the Word, when the religious world hates you.  But if, on the other hand, you still have a “good standing” in the “churches” or “assemblies,” there is often grave reason to fear that you love the praise of men more than that of God!

7. We Should Be Elevated above the World.  First, above its customs and fashions.  The worldling is a slave to the prevailing habits and styles of the day.  Not so the one who is walking with God: his chief concern is to be “conformed to the image of His Son.”  Second, above its cares and sorrows: of old it was said of the saints that they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they had “in heaven a better and an enduring substance” (Hebrews 10:34).  Third, above its temptations: what attraction has the glare and glitter of the world for those who are “delighting themselves in the Lord?”  None whatever.  Fourth, above its opinions and approvals.  Have you learned to be independent of and defy the world?  If your whole heart is set upon pleasing God, you will be quite unconcerned about the frowns of the godless.

Now, my reader, do you really wish to measure yourself by the contents of this article?  Then seek honest answers to the following questions.  First, what are the objects before your mind in times of recreation?  What do your thoughts most run upon?  Second, what are the objects of your choice?  When you have to decide how to spend an evening or the Sabbath afternoon, what do you select?  Third, which occasions you the most sorrow, the loss of earthly things, or lack of communion with God?  Which causes greater grief (or chagrin), the spoiling of your plans or the coldness of your heart to Christ? Fourth, what is your favorite topic of conversation?  Do you hanker after the news of the day, or to meet with those who talk of the “altogether lovely” One?  Fifth, do your “good intentions” materialize, or are they nothing but empty dreams?  Are you spending more or less time than formerly on your knees?  Is the Word sweeter to your taste, or has your soul lost its relish for it?

From Profiting from the Scriptures, “The Scriptures and the World”

Posted in A. W. Pink |

Love Not the World by Jim Ehrhard

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

Preface to the Study

Love and hate go hand-in-hand together.  If you love your spouse, you will hate anything that will harm her.  If you love your children, you will hate anything that hurts them.  If you love holiness, you will hate sin.  Jesus told his disciples, “You cannot love God and riches.  For you will love one and hate the other.”  So it is with loving the world.  Whenever we love the world, our love for our Lord wanes.

It is important that we understand what the “world” is.  The term, “world,” is used in three ways in the Bible.  First, it refers to the creation.  We are to love the world in this sense because “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”  It is His handiwork and we are to rejoice in His creation.  Second, it often refers to the people of the world.  Here too, we should love the world.  “For God so loved the world and sent His only Son.”  Likewise, we should love all that we come in contact with for the sake of the gospel.  Finally, the Bible speaks of the “world” as a system that is opposed to God.  This is what John refers to when he says, “Love not the world.”

The articles in this issue explore the many aspects of what it means to love the world.  A. W. Pink’s article, “The Scriptures and the World,” helps to define what the world is and what the Scriptures say about it.  The two articles by Richard Baxter provide some practical helps for examining our own lives with regard to our attitude toward the world.

Martin Lloyd-Jones reminds us of the dangers of loving this world rather than laying up treasures in heaven and the article, “Contentment,” by Pink points us toward the one heart attitude that can protect us from the love of the world.  The sermon by Spurgeon shows us the victory that we have in Christ that enables us to overcome the world.

We pray that this issue may help you in your walk with the Lord.  That it might enable you to be able to identify worldliness in your own life and return to loving the Lord alone with all your heart!

By His Grace, Jim

Posted in Jim Ehrhard |

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