R.C. Sproul, Jr on Worldliness

For some time now, there has been a constant thread of thought that runs throughout much of what I write. It involves how our modern "witnessing" techniques typically don't produce fruit, and how a better, more Biblical witness to the world is a life that doesn't run with the world, but rather, stands apart from the world as a lamp on a hill.

Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr. is about to publish a new book entitled, "Believing God." This book contains ninety five theses designed to spark thought-provoking conversation within churches around the country. He has samples from the book posted at his website HERE. In particular, thesis number seven eloquently discusses the life that witnesses the reality of Christ... and does so in a far better way than I ever have. Below is an excerpt from that thesis with the bold as my emphasis:

"First century Rome was a sports crazed culture. Sundry stadia still dot their ancient cities all across their empire. As Christianity spread as well, but before Christians would be dragged to these sites to become sport themselves, the Christians did not attend the Roman games. No, they did not organize a boycott in order to protest the skimpy clothing of the combatants. Nor did they carry signs outside the gatherings prophetically denouncing the violence of the games. Their reason for not attending was far more spiritual--they just didn't care. Their lives were focused on better things. This doesn't mean, of course, that the first century Christians were too austere to go to the games. The point isn't that godliness is next to crankiness. Instead their joys were too grand to be compared to having your favorite athlete win the laurel.

Christ has given us life, and life abundant. And we fill our lives with petty trifles. We think we're doing it for the lost, but are instead showing how lost we are. What the lost need from us is not that we would live lives like theirs, not that we would be consumed with the petty and insignificant. They do not need one more conversation around the water cooler about last night's episode. What they need is to see lives lived for something more important than 'Must See TV.' We do not need to learn the jargon of this subculture or that. Instead we need to live lives that speak plainly, and we need to speak plainly about our life in Christ. Better still, when we are speaking our language, at least we will hear it. If the lost are not found through our faithful lives, we are still blessed with faithful lives. 'Repent and believe the good news' is understandable in any language. Worldliness is no virtue, no matter what end we say it serves."