You’ve probably heard your pastor declare that believers are to be “in the world but not of the world.” What does that phrase “in the world but not of the world” mean? The term “world” has a number of definitions: lost people on the planet (John 3:16), the planet itself (terra firma) (Romans 8:22), and the Satanic value system embraced by the lost (1 John 2:15-17). The first part of the phrase, “in the world,” means believers swim in the same water as the unsaved. Until we go home to Jesus, we are pilgrims and aliens on earth. We are just passing through. Our true home is heaven.
The latter part of the phrase, “of the world,” means that we do not embrace the ungodly values of the world in which we live. We refuse to “drink the kool-aid.” So if we are in the world but not of it, how shall we then live? What is our relationship to the world? As we learn from Jesus’ final conversation with His Father in John 17:1-26 we learn three truths about our relationship with the world.
1. We are to GUARD against the world. Though believers are in it, they are not to be of it (17:11). As long as we are in the world we are vulnerable to succumbing to its demented values. Our best defense against the constant attacks of the world is to stick together. As every African antelope knows, there is safety in the herd.
Unity is the believer’s best defense (17:11). The world is a dangerous place. It can destroy believers (17:12). It hates us because we don’t belong to it (17:14). We are pilgrims just passing through (17:14, 16). We don’t buy into the devil’s agenda for the world (17:15).
How do we stay pure and unpolluted in such toxic water? Our lifebuoy is God’s Word, the Bible (17:17). It is living and powerful for the cleansing of the soul (Hebrews 4:12). If we obey the Bible and make its values our values we can overcome the world..
2. We are to GO into all the world (Matthew 28:18-20, John 17:18-23). We are sent by Jesus Christ (17:18). He commands us to go as witnesses for Him, speaking the truth to a lost world (17:19). The fact is that few will receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. God is not deterred by that (17:9). God has always been glorified in the righteous remnant, the few in number (17:9, 10). God desires quality over quantity (Matthew 7:13, 14).
When we go to bear witness we are to go unified (17:21). Division and discord among believers nullifies our witness. Unity, on the other hand, declares to the watching world three messages: Jesus is God’s Son, God transforms the lives of all who receive Jesus, and God loves all who receive His Son (17:23). Our Great Commission is to bear witness to God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
3. We are not to GRASP the world (John 17:24-26). Heaven is our home, not this world (17:24). The world doesn't know God but we do (17:25). We must love Jesus and cling to Him but hold the world and all it offers with a loose grip (17:26).
Christians are to carpe diem, seize the moment, to stand together in unity. We must show the world who Jesus is by loving them, sharing the truth of God’s Word with them, and calling them to come to Him.
The devil is our enemy, not the lost,
Irv