“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, 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 KJV).
“Worldly” and “hypocrite” are two titles directed at Christians. If Christians are worldly, they are also hypocrites. To be worldly is to be two-faced. It’s to say we believe one way while living another way. For a Christian, worldliness is to be treasonous to the cause of Christ and aid the cause of the enemy. If Christians are worldly, they have compromised the truth, dipped their colors, made their identity vague, and are at enmity with God as a friend of the world.
There are three worlds of which every living person is a part. There’s the physical, natural order, which we call planet Earth (Ecc. 1:4; Acts 17:24). There’s the world of humanity living on planet Earth, which Jesus died to save (John 3:16). Finally, there is the world order or system erected by man, which is hostile to God and ruled by Satan.
The Christian is to be a good steward of the earth and its resources. The Christian is to love and seek to win the lost world of humanity to Christ. The Christian is not, however, to be in step with the world, which is the enemy of God.
The “world” means the world outside of, or not submitting to, the government of God. “World” refers to the world apart from God, rebellious against God, and organized apart from the laws and government of God. This is a “world system” of rule and governance erected by man and Satan on God’s earth that is in opposition to God. Satan is the mind behind the world system. “The whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). That means the whole world is under the control of the evil one until the time that Christ sets up His kingdom. Satan is the kosmokrator, world ruler. The world, in its mind, thought, and worldview, is under the dominion of Satan. This world system belongs to him; he is “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).
The Christian is in this world but is not to be like the world (John 15:19). The Christian is not to conform to the world but to be transformed into the likeness of Christ (Rom. 12:1-2). When Christians become worldly, they have agreed with and decided to follow the mind of Satan.
Whatever excuse we make for being worldly, worldliness is always a sin. If we’re worldly, we’re out of fellowship with God and in the camp of the enemy; we have committed spiritual adultery and need to repent and return to God.
A.W. Tozer said, “You can be a hypocrite and love the world. You can be a deceived ruler in the religious system and love the world. You can be a cheap, snobbish, modern Christian and love the world. But you cannot be a genuine, Bible-believing Christian and love the world.”
