What Is Worldliness? (John 17:13-19)

The question is, "What is worldliness?" Over the years, I've been given some strange answers to this question! However, as a Christ follower, it's very important to understand biblically what worldliness is and what it is not. The word "world" is the Greek word for "cosmos." It means "order," and refers to the universe as the well ordered creation of God. In John 1:10, it refers to the physical world and in John 3:16; 1 John 2:2, it refers to the people of the world. In those aspects, there is no prohibition to loving the world. We are to enjoy God's creation as well as showing love to worldly people who are not connected to Jesus. But, apostle John also used the word to refer to the wicked, organized system of operation under Satan, that uses unbelieving people who are opposed to God. John tells us, "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19). Our Lord Jesus spoke of the world as hating both Him and His followers (John 7:7; 15:18-19). The world operates on the basis of ungodly thoughts, attitudes, motives, goals, and values. It is directly opposed to the kingdom of God! It does not seek to promote the glory of God or to submit to His lordship. It's in this sense that we are not to love the world. John tells us, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world" (1 John 2:15-16). In our text, Jesus is praying. From our text we learn that Christ followers are to relate to the world as Jesus did. Jesus was in the world, but Jesus was distinct from the world! We'll continue this teaching in part two of our lesson entitled, "What is Worldliness?"