ACTS 1:15-26

PSALM 68:1-20

1 JOHN 5:9-15

JOHN 17:116-19

Sermon – June 1, 2003 – 8:30a.m.

“Godliness” vs. “Worldliness”

In John’s Gospel and especially in today’s passage, the author sets a great distinction between followers of Jesus and “the world.” While it was true that “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son so that all who believe in him would not perish, but have eternal life”, John’s Gospel also declares that, while “the world” was loved by God, “the world” did not love God back, but only certain people did.

Those certain people – those who believe in Jesus, John asserts – are now “hated” by “the world” because “they do not belong to the world”: they belong to God, and know it. Yet, Jesus’ followers – including us today – are still “in the world” – a world in which non-Christian or anti-Christian impulses and forces are strong, so much that Jesus twice (12:31 and 14:30) refers to Satan as “the Prince of this world.”

Christian thought as early as the New Testament writers included both those who wanted to convert and transform the world (like Luke) and those who saw believers as a permanent minority destined to be persecuted (like John). Either view, the great biblical scholar Raymond Brown wrote, can be a corrective if the Church as a whole (or a particular congregation, I believe) begins to go to one extreme or the other. Brown writes, “Passages such as those we have found in John have a message for an era that becomes naively optimistic about changing the world or even about affirming its values without change.”

Whether any or all of us are tempted to embrace “the world” uncritically or think transforming it will be a snap or not, let’s listen to John’s dualism and think for a minute about “worldly” values and “Godly” values.

“Worldliness” puts “me first, me second, and me third.” Worldliness has an insatiable hunger for power, fame and money. Worldliness has immediate gratification as its priority and tangible rewards as its only measure of achievement. Worldliness sees nothing but the superficial. Worldliness adjusts its means and ends in accordance with whatever’s fashionable this week.

Godliness puts God first, seeks service, holiness and generosity, sets priorities based on long-range and wide-range objectives, recognizes that intangibles like “faith, hope and love endure”, cherishes the profound, and holds fast to eternal principles.

Committed “worldly” people look at those seeking Godliness (if they think of them at all) as potential doormats or hopeless idealists or suckers or antiques or masochists or crazy or not worth even thinking about. Some people who seek Godliness see worldly people as those who are determined to start living in Hell early; others see worldly people as those who most need to hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. Perhaps they are both right.

Christians are called to Godliness, to train ourselves in this path just as an athlete would train physically if he or she wanted to excel. Training ourselves in Godliness means seeking the godly priorities I described and rejecting the worldly ones – without becoming stuck-up or self-righteous!

It is a challenging job – but why not challenge ourselves! We “are in the world” but we do not “belong to the world”; we belong to God. So does everyone, but we know it, and to proclaim this matter-of-factly in words and deeds while not coming off as spiritual snobs requires some art – but it can be done. After all, we got converted, didn’t we?

So let us put God first, not ourselves, seek service, holiness and generosity, not power, fame and money for ourselves, focus on the big picture (not immediate self-gratification all the time), cherish the profound, not the superficial, and hold fast to core principles and not be blown to and fro whatever’s hot this week. And while each of us is trying to do this, let’s keep each other company and share the stories of our journeys, our struggles, and every small victory, cheered on by our Lord who said, “I have overcome the world.”

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church