Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church

Stain-Resistant Living

by Sheri Blackmon

James 1:27

September 26, 1999

Some years ago, musicians noted that errand boys in a certain part of London all whistled out of tune as they went about their work. It was talked about and someone suggested that it was because the bells of Westminster were slightly out of tune. Something had gone wrong with the chimes and they were discordant. The boys did not know there was anything wrong with the peals, and quite unconsciously they had copied their pitch.

Like these errand boys, much of today’s church is also whistling out of tune. We are whistling more in tune with the world’s off-key notes and out of tune with God’s unchanging music. In polls taken by George Gallup and George Barna we are finding out that there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously. Barna has compared the two groups on 152 counts and has found virtually no differences between the two.

We must ask ourselves anew: What is our relationship to the world and how do we live out our faith in Jesus Christ in today’s culture? This is a question Christians have always had to answer: from the pagan Roman Empire through the medieval struggles between pope and emperor, into the era of nationalism and into today’s post-modern era. If we fail to ask this question, we will become like the errand boys of London, copying the people with whom we associate; borrowing thoughts from the books we read, shows we watch, programs we listen to which are out of tune with the perfect pitch from God’s Word.

God’s Word gives us direction on how to conduct ourselves in this world. Read James 1:26-27. Today’s focus will be on the short phrase: Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to keep oneself unstained by the world. This phrase along with the verses Dave read from John 17:14-19 and 1 John 2:15-17 sets the framework of the message this morning.

Let’s begin with the context of James’ words here: self-deception. We must guard against self-deception in which we say we are Christians but don’t show that in our lives. We must take an honest look at our own lives. Hearing the Word is not enough; we are to show ourselves doers of the word. James points to three marks of true Christianity: control the tongue, help the distressed and oppressed, and keep from being stained by the world. I want to focus on the meaning of the third mark this morning.

The meaning is straightforward: we are called to avoid whatever pollutes the self. The world must have no hold on the believer. Instead, believers hold themselves apart from the ways of the world. We could end this message now if it were not so difficult to understand how to apply it. To begin, it helps to understand the meaning of the words "world" (cosmos) and "without spot" (aspilos).

In this context cosmos means the combined activities, affairs, advantages, and accumulated assets of the worldly people on earth. In the more than 30 passages with the word, cosmos portrays the whole mass of unregenerate people alienated from God, hostile to Christ, and organized as a system under Satan (John 7:7; 14:27; 1 Cor. 1:21; 11:32; 1Pe. 5:9; 1John 3:1).

Chuck Swindoll boils down the concerns of the world system to at least four major objectives: fortune, fame, power and pleasure.

First and foremost: fortune, money. The world system is driven by money; it feeds on materialism. Second: fame. That is another word for popularity. Fame is longing to be known, to be somebody in someone else’s eyes. Third: power. This is having influence, maintaining control over individuals or groups or companies or whatever. It is the desire to manipulate and maneuver others to do something for one’s own benefit. Fourth: pleasure. At its basic level, pleasure has to do with fulfilling one’s sensual desires. It’s the same mindset that’s behind the slogan: "If it feels good, do it." (Swindoll, Living Beyond the Level of Mediocrity p.219). We are called to separate ourselves from these temptations. Which one is it for you?

Just how we separate ourselves from the world can vary greatly among believers in Christ.

The story was told some years ago of a pastor who found the roads blocked one wintry Sunday morning and was forced to skate on the river to get to church, which he did. When he arrived, the elders of the church were horrified that their preacher had skated on the Lord’s day. After the service they held a meeting where the pastor explained that it was either skate to church or not go at all. Finally one elder asked, "Did you enjoy it?" When the preacher answered, "No," the board decided it was all right! (Today in the Word, MBI, Dec. 1989, p.12) As this story reminds us, we must guard against a legalistic separation from the world.

The other word aspilos means pure, spotless, without defect. The meaning is that we are to be unspotted from the contagion of the world’s slow stain; to keep free from the evil influences in the surrounding culture. This is a call to holiness. The concept of holiness may seem a bit out-of-date to our current generation and has suffered from many false concepts. To some minds it brings up images of hair in buns, long skirts, loose clothing, dark stockings or the cloistered halls of a monastery. In some circles it is associated with a series of prohibitions: "don’t smoke, drink, dance and don’t go with girls who do." For others it is a particular style of dress or mannerism, language or standard of unattainable perfection. To others the idea is a put off because they associate holiness with a "holier than thou" judgmental attitude of moral superiority, intolerance and anger.

All of these ideas miss the true concept.

Here is a good definition of holiness: "Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervors, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks and willing as God wills" (John Brown, Expository Discourses on 1 Peter). Holiness is required for fellowship with God. There is a holiness we have as a free gift—Christ’s obedience on our behalf--and one we are to strive for: "a salvation to holiness." True salvation brings with it a desire to be made holy. This is not the same as a perfect life but a seriousness about holiness where we grieve over sin in ourselves instead of just justifying it and we earnestly pursue God’s will as a way of life.

So far, so good. But here comes the hard part: what does it mean for us practically to be unstained by the world. It begins with separating ourselves from the world to the degree that its influence does not stain us. This is not necessarily something we set out to do; it can happen rather naturally as we think as God thinks and will as God wills.

During WW1 a pastor led the son of a prominent American family to the Lord. He was in the service, but he showed the reality of his conversion by immediately professing Christ before the soldiers of his military company. The war ended. The day came when he was to return to his pre-war life in the wealthy suburb of a large American city. He talked to the pastor about his fears of slipping back into his old habits. The pastor told him that if he was careful to make public confession of his faith in Christ, he would not have to worry. As a result of this conversation the young man agreed to tell the first ten people of his old set that he had become a Christian, which he did with heartfelt enthusiasm.

As it turned out some of his friends responded rather unenthusiastically to him and stopped seeing him altogether. What had he done? Nothing but confess Christ. That began the separation process from his former manner of life and from those who did not want to hear about Christ. (Christ’s Call to Discipleship, Boice 1986, 122-23) The story does not tell us, but he probably found many new friends who shared his newly found beliefs and would support and encourage him in his growth as a Christian.

If we are willing to pursue holiness, a certain separation from the world will naturally occur and we may even be rejected by some? Are we willing to follow Christ or is our thirst for popularity too great for us to stand up and show we belong to him?

People will do strange things to fit in, like the experiments on group pressure have shown. Ten teens were brought into a room. All of them were told to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line on three separate charts. What one person in the group did not know was that nine of the others in the room had been instructed ahead of time to vote for the second-longest line. The experiment began with nine teens voting for the wrong line. The stooge would typically glance around, frown in confusion, and slip up his hand with the group. This remarkable conformity occurred in 75% of the cases in all age categories. The conclusion: many people would rather be president than right. But God calls us to be his own people who have the courage to stand up and be in the world and not of the world. Can we separate ourselves from the world even if no one else seems to be doing so?

This leads us to the next question: how separate should we be from the world and how do we keep from extremes Christians have fallen into over the centuries? The two most common extremes are identification with the world on the one hand and isolation from it on the other. The first extreme is characterized by either intellectual, social or political accommodation in which Christ’s kingdom is identified too closely with the world’s system of change and renewal. There tends to be an overemphasis on political power to the neglect of individual salvation through Jesus Christ. This view has been called: Christ in culture. The isolationist extreme on the other hand takes its cue from the ancient Israelite call to "come out and be separate," a holy people unto God. This view draws a sharp division between the secular and sacred realms. This view has been called: Christ against culture.

The Bible does not call us to identification or isolation, but to insulation from the world in order to transform the world through salvation in Christ. This view has been called: Christ transforming culture. I believe this view is the most biblical one. We are called to be salt: to preserve the unchanging truth of salvation through Christ alone. Like salt, insulation has a preserving function. Home insulation, for example, preserves the positive atmosphere within the home. It offsets the extremes from the outside. It provides nurture for the home’s inhabitants to prepare them for meeting the outside elements. To use another analogy, we are called to be like the scuba diver who lives in the water but breathes the air—he takes his environment with him. Along with salt, we are also called to be the light of the world. Light transforms its environment with a powerful force.

There is a big debate going on in evangelical circles today over the issue of a Christian’s and the church’s relationship to the world. There are some who are saying that today’s culture has become so corrupted that Christians must isolate themselves. In their recent book Blinded By Might the authors (Paul Weyrich, founding father of the "religious right," Cal Thomas, Ed Dobson) point out the limits of politics in confronting deep moral and spiritual conditions. They conclude that politics itself has failed because of the collapse of the culture which is becoming an ever-wider sewer. While they have not called for a retreat, their language of "quarantine" and "bypassing" cultural institutions sounds like a self-conscious separation.

Maybe the problem is not that politics has failed but that attempts to reform culture through politics have failed. Maybe it’s time to recognize that while God uses Christians in politics to bring about justice and righteousness, politics itself is limited in what it can accomplish. Chuck Colson says that "we must work to keep its (politics’) scope limited. We cannot let it usurp the place of other institutions, such as church and family. Nor should we confuse what can be achieved by political means with what can be achieved only by spiritual transformation."

Should the church of Jesus Christ withdraw unto itself? No! Neither James nor Paul nor Jesus ever advocated it. James’ instruction presupposes that we are actively working in the world, or he wouldn’t need to remind us to keep ourselves from being soiled. You don’t tell a dressed up child not to get dirty while sitting in church but when it’s heading out to the playground after church.

The problem with isolationism is that it is a defensive, angry and weak approach that chokes out the transforming power of God’s love. Paul says to us: do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The church and individual Christians are to be the conscience of society. The church can and should address moral issues, though it should not make partisan endorsements or allow itself to be seduced by political power. But individual Christians can work for political change, all the while recognizing the limits of politics to bring about true transformation.

Church history is full of courageous examples of people who opposed evil and moral decay. One such example is William Wilberforce, a Christian politician who ultimately succeeded in outlawing slavery, but who did so by first acknowledging the limits of law absent the reform of manners and morals. Over the course of 40 plus years, Wilberforce created 67 councils and commissions to bring about social and moral reform, some religious, some secular. His model had all the ingredients of a subordinate relationship of politics to culture.

Some of the positive moral changes we see today did not come about as a result of politics but of faithful people who would not be silenced. There are still many signs of moral decay in our culture. But we must never despair or become silent. God will hold us accountable for our actions and words as well as our lack of actions and words.

"The problem of America," says Dr. Henry Blakaby, author of the best-selling book Experiencing God, "is not the unbelieving world. The problem of America is the people of God. . . there is virtually no difference between the lost world and churches. Don’t fuss at the world. It’s acting just like its nature. We’ve got to be salt and light again. We’ve got to have an observable difference."

It begins within our own hearts and lives. Unless the heart of a person changes through an encounter with Jesus Christ, the change is at best superficial. The only lasting change is when a person turns over his or her will to the God of the universe and accepts the free gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ as one’s own. Then we can pursue holiness and keep ourselves unstained by the world, while we work to overcome evil with good. May God give us the grace, will and power to be his unstained people.