The Great Danger of Worldliness in the Church
Over fifty years ago, Lloyd-Jones thought that one of the most insidious challenges to the church was none other than a worldliness which was excused for the sake of evangelism. On October 29, 1965, Martyn Lloyd-Jones concluded his Friday evening study on Romans 12:1 at Westminster Chapel with this warning:
We shall go on, God willing, with this and see how it is to be done in practice. I have a most uncomfortable feeling that most of us modern Christians need this very exhortation. In much that is being written at the present time it is evident that there is a loosening, even in evangelical circles, along that very line. I read an article not so long ago which was virtually exhorting young Christian men to take alcoholic drink. I cannot imagine anything more dangerous than this new idea that seems to be creeping in that we are to be modern and up to date and that we are to recommend the gospel by being like every body else. I regard it as of the very devil, dangerous to the individual soul, dangerous to the life of the church, dangerous to those who are outside. These matters are of great urgency and acute present relevance. That is why we must continue to examining the apostle’s statement with great care, and in humility, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.[1]
When I read that, I could not help but imagine what Lloyd-Jones would say if he could visit the modern church. Now the prevailing idea is that the world’s estimation of the church is to be our barometer of success. That we must be relatable in order to have a hearing. That the culture’s trends should be adopted for the sake of ‘contextualization’ or as Lloyd-Jones put it, “to recommend the gospel.” However, Jesus said the exact opposite. It is the church’s distinctiveness from the world which actually serves as our salt and light. Holiness is our saltiness. Holiness is our lampstand. So being like the world actually causes the opposite effect. It destroys our witness. Jesus put it like this, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matt 5:13). We must never lose our distinctiveness. It is the Christian high ground from which our light shines to the world. If we lose it, and I think we are in grave danger of doing so, our Christian witness, will actually be lost. And in these dark days, we need it now more than ever.
[1] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Exposition of Chapter 12: Christian Conduct, Romans (Edinburgh, UK ; Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000), 55.
