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companion worksheet)
Many of you will be familiar with the phrase, “In the world, not of it”. This is one of those phrases that many people believe is in the Bible, and are surprised to find that it is not. The idea, however, is one that is founded in biblical principle and is going to be at the heart of what we discuss today. To examine the biblical basis for this idea we are going to look at excerpts from three different books of the New Testament. As we read each of the passages I want us to pause, discuss the text, and pull out the most important ideas and the underlying meaning.
John 15: 18-21
18"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.'[a] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.
John 17: 14-18
14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify[a] them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
Romans 12:1-3
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
1 John 2 :15 - 17
15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
I think after examining these verses, we can safely say that being in the world, but not of it is a biblical principle. Which begs us to take the next logical step. If we know that we are called to do this, we need to hold the mirror up and assess where we stand.
If we really want to examine what it means to be in the world but not be of it, we need to first understand that how we prioritize our life is ultimately what will determine if we are living in the world or of the world. Those who fail to examine what they do and why they do it, soon find themselves being steered by their whims and desires rather than plotting the course that Jesus has mapped out for them.
As we examine Jesus’ call for us to be set apart we must be careful of a few things. Many times when we get to comparing ourselves to the unsaved world we make one fatal error. Instead of examining the state of the church today, we look at the church with rose colored glasses. We sometimes tend to see the church as we would like it to be and not how it actually is (Sometimes we do this with ourselves as well). We often begin speaking in generalities like "Christians don’t do that", or " Christians wouldn’t go there", when in fact there are Christians that will "do that" and will "go there". If we are honest we can say that there are three sub groups that we need to consider when evaluating where we fit:
1) Non-Christians or Christians in name only
2) Your Everyday, Average Christian
3) A Faithful, Bible-based Christian
Why is it important for us to look at Non-Christians? Well, If Jesus is telling us to be different from the world, we first need to understand what the world looks like. How else would we know we are different?
Once we establish what we should not be, I think we need to determine who we should try to look like. Especially in America, there are a lot of professing Christians. For some, being “Christian” is enough. For this group, Christianity is about Fireproofing their life. It is these Christians that look at one another and say I’m doing what everyone else is, I must be doing alright.
For others, Christianity is who they are. WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) is not just a bracelet or a song, it’s the question that drives their decision making.
Let’s stop for a moment and examine the way these three groups prioritize their time, energy, and money. In the book The Love Dare, from the movie Fireproof, the author points out, “Whatever you put your time, energy, and money into will become more important to you. It’s hard to care for something you are not investing in.”
The Bible makes this same point in Matthew 6: 21 saying, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
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On a sheet of paper, write down Non-Christians, Average Christians, and Bible-based Christians. Write down the five biggest motivators for how people in each group live. What drives them each day to do what they do, say what they say, treat people the way they do.
Do you notice any trends when looking at the lists you have compiled.
Where would safety, security, wealth, self, others, and God fit on your list?
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The following article contains a Christian that most of you have probably never heard of before. Write the name of the person this article is about down. In a sentence or two tell what happens in your article. Finally, consider what you have read along with our discussion about being in the world and not of it. How does considering the life of these Christians and the lives of others like them impact your understanding of in the world not of it?
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(Click on the pages and you will be able to enlarge them for easy reading)
The point of discussing these persecuted Christians is not to persuade you to go martyr yourself . It is to focus us on the fact that we have a very Americanized view of Christianity and a very Americanized view of what it means when we say to be in this world and not of it.
When we hear these stories of torture and malice we cringe. When we hear stories of heroism to bring the word of God to unreached people we applaud. Yet in our own lives, here in our own country (U.S.) where it is so much easier to “be a Christian” do we actually go the full measure, do we actually live out the command?
Consider:
The Ten Commandments have to be torn off the walls of our Courts and Public Buildings
Smut Websites and Magazines are produced and distributed within easy reach of our kids because it’s free speech and press
Marriage doesn’t have to mean man and wife
A dog has more rights than an unborn child
The Leader of our country has proclaimed within the last year that we “are not a christian nation”
There are movements to ban the pledge of allegiance from public schools for saying “One Nation, under God” ,
Likewise there are Petitions to change our money to omit, “ In God we trust.”
Some Local governments have been forced to take down Christmas decorations
Every year, more and more we allow our country to truly become a non-Christian nation.
Why are we not yelling and screaming? Why are there not a billion letters of outrage flooding the Washington Post Office? Why are we so concerned about being politically correct that we refuse to speak out and say this is wrong?
In China, India, Laos, Iraq, Indonesia, Iran and hundreds of other places Christians die and endure endless hardships for Christ. These people choose to speak even when the gun is in their face, even though they know they will die. Compared to that what do we face when we speak up? People will call us names, say we are closed minded, tell us we’re wrong?
Why are we like this? I fear the answer is that the American church, the average American Christian has become content being of the world and not simply in it. We place conformity, safety, security, popularity, comfort and being accepted over speaking out for Jesus. We place more value on not stepping on toes than we do on speaking Truth. Did Jesus pull punches? No. Jesus understood there was too much at stake to pull punches, that's why he was viewed as such a threat.
We live in a culture where most of us have never known what it is like to have to choose Jesus over life. When we think of the extent that persecution affects most kids in the U.S. it simply means that those who are faithful through the developmental stages of life might not be in the in crowd. As adults, sometimes we look at it as a sacrifice when we decide not to join in conversations about the latest gossip, or if we share the gospel with someone who totally blows us off and rings us up as just another idiot.
Sometimes I think we lose sight of the actual Jesus who walked the earth. We see instead the Americanized version that shows up in the movies we grew up with. We trivialize the sacrifices that he made and forget that he told us that we too would face adversity. We rationalize in our own minds that its okay for us not to step out of the shadows when we’re called because it makes us uncomfortable, and after all God loves us he wouldn’t want that, right? Wrong.
Jesus is not a comfort zone God. He rocked the boat a lot more than he ever coasted. The world that he faced was as dangerous as those we looked at in small groups. Those that dared to speak out against the religions of the day skated on thin ice. Jesus drove the bus out on the lake. Not only did Jesus and his followers face persecution, rejection, and heart ache for being different, ultimately they faced death. Jesus told us if the world hates you they hated me first, he told us to step out of the boat and follow him, he tells us still to stand tall for what is right and despise what is wrong. In this world we live in, if our boat is not rocking it’s not because we are in calm waters, it’s because we’re afraid to get wet.
I want to challenge you today to do one more thing before we leave. I want each person to examine their lives, this is not with your spouse, not to share with your friends, this is between you and God. What are the priorities in your life? What motivates your every day actions? Where in your life are you conforming, where are you choosing to be like the world instead of stepping out in faith and daring to be different. Where are you remaining silent, is there some place where you don’t conform to the world but you choose to remain silent, appear nuetral to avoid conflict? Finally, where have you taken a stand and said, the world is wrong and I choose to be different because that’s what My Lord wants.
Our God is mighty, he wants to accomplish mighty tasks and he wants to use us to accomplish them. If we refuse to step out in faith and be different for Jesus, he will choose someone else who will listen to fulfill his will, and ultimately it will be those of us hiding in the shadows who will miss out on the blessing of being his instrument. If we want to be able to look at our list and honestly say that Jesus is the top priority, then we should be able to look at our actions and see Jesus shining through us.
