Holiness in an Age of Worldliness

You would think that one thing every Christian would agree on is the need for personal and corporate holiness. After all, the Bible tells us repeatedly, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:16). As God’s people, we must strive for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

And yet, many Christians seem scarcely interested in holiness and little concerned by Scripture’s warnings for those who do not pursue holiness. It is easy to get Christians passionate about family matters, or cultural issues, or political concerns. But some Christians have actually argued that part of “knowing what time it is” in our cultural moment is recognizing that virtues like obedience, truth-telling and purity of speech are unnecessary obstacles to defeating our political enemies. More commonly, churches or pastors that lean hard into the Bible’s exhortation to holiness are likely to be called pietistic, legalistic and unloving.

We should not be surprised at these protestations. The world, the flesh and the devil have always hated holiness. How could they not? God is holy, and the unholy trinity (the world, the flesh and the devil) hates God. To be holy is to be like God, which means that a necessary step toward God is to flee the world. 

In Revelation 18:1-4, John hears a voice from Heaven calling Christians to come out of Babylon. Here, Babylon does not refer to one literal/historical kingdom. Babylon is a composite picture of many kingdoms—Rome, Tyre, Sodom, Nineveh and Jerusalem. Babylon is manifest today in the corruption, idolatry and immorality in America, in Canada, in the United Kingdom and in every other country. 

Babylon is the anti-church. She is the opposite of Christ’s pure, spotless bride. Babylon is corrupt society, fallen culture, decadent civilization. In a word, Babylon is worldliness. Wherever sin looks attractive, impressive and pervasive—and it seems that you cannot live without it—there is Babylon.

So how do we flee Babylon? It doesn’t mean we must leave our urban centers. There is often “Babylon” in the country as much as there is in the city. We come out of Babylon by not taking part in her sins (verse 4). Revelation 17 and 18 are a warning against spiritual adultery and compromise. That’s why Babylon is depicted as a great prostitute. She looks attractive on the outside, but she holds in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and impurities (Revelation 17:4). The spirit of Babylon pulses through our veins when we do whatever it takes to get along in Babylon and get rich in Babylon.

What might adultery with Babylon look like today?

• Making financial profit more important than the people you serve and the principles you claim to believe in.
• Neglecting your responsibility to tithe to your local church and give generously to missionaries, worthwhile Christian organizations and those in need.
• Going into so much debt that you are no longer free to serve the Lord as He might call you or give generously as He might lead you.
• Choosing not to have any children because you think they are too expensive or don’t fit with your dreams and ambitions. (I say this acknowledging many would-be parents struggle through the pain of infertility.)
• Making ethical compromises as a doctor, pharmacist, lawyer, entrepreneur, advertiser or government employee for fear that you might lose business or your job.
• Affirming the signs and symbols of the sexual revolution so your friends won’t think negatively of you.
• Making decisions about your future based solely on what kind of income you can make and not on more important factors like ministry opportunities and proximity to a strong church.
• Sacrificing time needed for spiritual disciplines, family discipleship and personal ministry in order to make more money and make your possessions look more impressive.

The temptation to do whatever it takes to be prosperous is very strong. It is a kind of magic spell that beautiful Babylon puts over us. It’s like a potion that dulls our spiritual senses so we cannot fathom living any other way. 

Babylonian worldliness leads people to trust in their prosperity. It perpetuates the myth of security. It wants us to forget that for all her might, Babylon the great will fall in a single hour (Revelation 18:10). If we don’t want to weep on the day of judgment, then we need to make sure we are not putting our hope in Babylon now.

One of the dangers for Christians in our day—where politics is everything and everything is political—is that we fail to cultivate a vertical gaze and a transcendent hope. We can end up spending our best time and energy on restoring America or saving Western Civilization. 

To be sure, there is an appropriate way to be concerned about these things, to even be involved in these things. In my church, for example, we started a monthly prayer time for our country in advance of the upcoming election. But for as much as we care about our earthly home, we’d better have Hebrews 13:14 impressed deep in our souls: “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”

If you want a place with singing, celebration, joy and feasting, then live for the place where you get all those things forever. Christ welcomes you to that eternal home. He goes ahead of you to prepare a place for His disciples. He will take you by the hand and lead you into the promised land. 

But you have to leave Babylon to get there.

“Come out of her, my people,” says the Lord, “lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.