OUR LIFE POSITION

John 17:15 ( ESV ) ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.^£

The implications of this Scripture are that we are in the world and we are to stay away from the evil one (present in the world-not be a part of the evil of the world).

When Jesus tells us to be in the world but not part of the world he places before us a bit of a challenge. What does he mean? I think we can define world as that which is outside of faith. This is a definition that looks beyond a specific church or denomination, culture or doctrine.

Now we need to define IN and PART OF. I would suggest that the term IN refers to our relationship to those things outside of faith. This would include people, systems, and things. We, falsely, think that we can hide away in our facilities and protect ourselves, and/or our children from the “world.” If we protect them, we surmise, they will grow-up into great Christian leaders. In this setting, decisions are made for us by people who have our best in mind. It is not necessary for us to make decisions about our relationship to the world if I stay in these “safe places.” However, our primary model, Jesus, did not live this way. He walked in the “world” and interfaced with them. Check out the story of Zacchaeus. (Luke 19:1-10)

PART OF the world would indicate to me an embracing or ownership of the principles, values, and actions of those people who are not walking as our model, Jesus. This becomes a dangerous place. Many people in our churches are not walking as our model, Jesus. Many of us disagree on what that even means. Rather than question, argue, struggle and work through these questions we hide in our own private places and hope no one will challenge our walk. Personally, as one growing in leadership skills, it is necessary to define some of these things. What principles, values or actions are worldly and therefore the wrong source of input? One obvious principle that is usually assigned to the world is materialism. But what does that mean? What is materialistic? Is it spending $40 for gift? Buying a Chrysler rather than a Chevrolet? Shopping at the Mall rather than Wal-Mart? Again, we come to a place where we need to define for ourselves and then extend a great amount of grace to others.

From these last two paragraphs it should be clear that we can be in the world and not part of it. We don’t need to hide away in our “safe places” but can interface with the culture around us without embracing its values. Is this dangerous? Sure it is. Is it exciting? Oh, it can be. Will it support our life together in faith? I think the lack of this interaction with the world is the reason our faith is so weak. Perhaps it is why we fight so much with each other.

So what does it look like when we are in the world? It does not mean giving up on the church! It might mean redefining some of our understanding of the church and how it does business. In many ways it will make the church a messier place. We need to be loving and caring for people who are not of faith; bringing these people into our faith relationships when appropriate and sharing our life with them. We can’t do that as long as we separate ourselves from them. There is a need to interface with their friends (we need to have friends that are part of the world) and their culture without condemning it. Going to their places of play (with some discernment), reading and listening to their stuff so we can better converse with them and then not giving up on them when they don’t respond to our presentation of the Gospel in the first 10 days or months or years..

Do we have friends that are not in the faith? Good friends? Ones we like? Ones we love? We will find ourselves in places that Christians might not normally frequent. But more important than the places are the relationships we will build for people we really care about. If we really care we will find ways of bringing Jesus – our best friend – into these “worldly” relationships. Eventually these friends join us as we live in the world but are not a part of it.

FOR YOUR JOURNAL

• In you life story, how have you experienced this concept?
• Do you have friends who definitely look to the church as a safe haven and protection from the world? How does this affect their way of life?
• What can you do this week to become more IN the WORLD without becoming PART OF IT?