Christians Are Not Friends of the World
This quote by Charles H. Spurgeon rings the bells that one of the greatest marks of false conversion is when one professes to be saved but it turns out to be satisfied in full with the worldly pleasures and pursuits is a false conversion. Don't get me wrong a Christian can find temporal satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits but the loving hand of God convicts them of it so it does not come in full. A Christian can get some pleasure from sin but they will feel misery and genuine repentance for their shortcomings compared to false converts.
When you think of the parable of the sower's three types of false converts, the thorns represent worldliness. I am upset to how so many false converts today say that all four are examples of believers when only one is the true convert namely the soil that has been conditioned to receive the Word of God. It is true that a Christian can temporarily leave when persecution arises but they return like Peter did, not end it like Judas Iscariot did. A Christian can be led astray by Satan's deception but only for a moment. They can be ensnared by riches but not for long. A Christian is not sinless but they definitely sin less as a result of God's grace in contrast to the worldly false converts.
But the problem of the worldly is that it's not just a few thorns as it's really a thorny ground that means there is no room to grow at all. If the others are just too hard and others have the stony ground which gives no growth at all, it's that people reject the true Gospel because there is no root. They are not humbled nor are they fully convinced. The thorns would choke the plant before it could grow. While Christians may have problems with thorns in their life but God is gracious to cut them off. Not for the thorny ground hearer as they do not belong to Christ. Without God's work of sanctification to cut down the thorns, the plant dies off as worldliness chokes it down. Many people reject the Gospel because they love the world - that is the picture of the thorny ground hearer.
John 15:18-19 and James 4:4 are clear that Christians are not friends of the world. To be a friend of the world means to be an enemy of God. The moment the Lord Jesus reconciles the lost sinner to God the Father, the forgiven sinner is made righteous and he or she is separated from the wicked. The moment that a person is God's friend, they are enemies of the world and they cannot be friends with the world because they are no longer enemies of God. Because they are friends of God, how can they find full satisfaction in the world?
When I think of Spurgeon's quote about worldly churches, I cannot help but agree that God hates worldly churches. Why should it be that a place to worship God adjust to the world when it is meant to evangelize the world? I find the idea of a worldly church to be an apostate church where it is a church but it does not belong to the Church, the Body of Christ. Those who are in the Church are those baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27) and those not in Christ are outsiders of the Body of Christ. While Christianity may have several denominations that teach the same theology and sotierology (ex. Baptist, Presbyterian, Evangelical) but they are One. The Church is One and worldly churches are not part of the Church, the Body of Christ, they are outsiders of it.
See also:
God Hates Worldly Churches!
When I think of Spurgeon's quote about worldly churches, I cannot help but agree that God hates worldly churches. Why should it be that a place to worship God adjust to the world when it is meant to evangelize the world? I find the idea of a worldly church to be an apostate church where it is a church but it does not belong to the Church, the Body of Christ. Those who are in the Church are those baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27) and those not in Christ are outsiders of the Body of Christ. While Christianity may have several denominations that teach the same theology and sotierology (ex. Baptist, Presbyterian, Evangelical) but they are One. The Church is One and worldly churches are not part of the Church, the Body of Christ, they are outsiders of it.
See also:
God Hates Worldly Churches!