LIVING IN THE WORLD

 

John 17:15-18 (NIV)
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

               One of the challenges that every believer in Christ faces is how to live in the world without being of the world. When Jesus prayed for his disciples, he didn’t ask God to take them out of the world, but to make them an effective witness in the world. Jesus’ prayer applies to all of us who claim to be followers of him. What does it mean for us to be in the world but not be of the world?

               To live out what Jesus prayed for us means to live a distinctly different life in the midst of a secular world. Unfortunately, we have often chosen to be more of the world than we realize. We have been seduced by political power and influence. We have bought into the methods of the world in our attempt to “recapture” our culture. The results have been less than stellar.

               I have been reading Philip Yancey’s book Vanishing Grace. He makes the observation that the image of Evangelical Christians today is primarily a negative one. We are seen as anti this and anti that. Instead of being seen as dispensers of grace, we are perceived as dispensers of hate. It is a criticism that we should take seriously. But it is not a true understanding of who many, if not most, Evangelicals are today. In fact, Yancey gives numerous examples of how Evangelicals are leading the way in helping the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. When a person looks behind the popular caricature of Evangelicals, they often find something very different.

               Each one of us who claim the name of Christ has a role to play in changing the world’s view of us. Jesus made it clear that there will always be those who see us in a negative light. But we can do much to change our image among many others.

               At the beginning of 1900’s a clash arose between those who promoted a social gospel and fundamentalists. The social gospel focused on humanitarian issues, like feeding the poor, with little or no emphasis on faith in Christ. The fundamentalists focused on proclaiming the truth of Jesus with little or no emphasis on social issues. Today, we have learned that the gospel actually blends these two into an effective strategy. Evangelicals today are often leading the way on social issues without failing to share the truth about Jesus.

               Jesus made it very clear that proclaiming the Gospel and caring for others must go hand in hand. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used the image of a city on a hill to bring these two concepts together.

Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

               Notice that the way that we best communicate God’s love to the world is through our good deeds for the world. Later, Jesus made this even more clear when he equated service to him with service to others.

Matthew 25:31-40 (NIV)
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

               Like Jesus, Both John and James make it clear that if our faith does not demonstrate itself in practical ways, it is useless. The way we treat those around us, especially those who are different from us, is a measure of the depth and genuineness of our faith.

               We have been called to carry the good news of Jesus into the world. We need to do this with both our words and our deeds. If we are going to change the image of Evangelicals, we need to change the way that we interact with the world around us. We have not been called to capture our culture, in some political way, but to live radically different lives from our culture that causes people to take notice and see God at work.

1 Peter 2:12 (NIV)
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

 

WHAT WAS GOD THINKING?

 

2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

               There is a story in the Old Testament about a man named Gideon. God came to Gideon at a time when Israel was living under the oppression of a foreign power. God called Gideon to lead Israel against the Midianites and free them. Gideon was reluctant at first, but God convinced him to trust God and move ahead. Gideon amassed a great army to fight the Midianites, but God told Gideon that he had too many men. God began the process of whittling down Gideon’s army until he was left with only 300 men. Gideon must have been wondering, what is God thinking? This is disaster. But God had a reason and it is the main point of the story. God was going to deliver Israel from the Midianites with only 300 men so that everyone would know that God did it and not Gideon.

               I have been reading a book by Philip Yancey called Vanishing Grace. Yancey raises the question of why God chose to use the Church to be His agents in the world. Over the centuries, the Church has often made mistakes, even really bad mistakes. The Church is filled with flawed people who often mess up. Yet, the Church remains God’s plan A to reach the world. There is no plan B. What was God thinking? The point is that God uses flawed people to show that the power comes from God and not from people.

               The place where we most often mess up is when we start to think that we can do God’s work in our own power. We get an inflated view of ourselves and pride takes over. Soon we are claiming credit for whatever success we have. It is usually at that point that God pulls the rug out from under us and brings us crashing back to earth. Everything we accomplish of any eternal value happens because God is working in us and through us. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, we are just jars of clay so that God’s glory might shine.

               The greatest evidence of God’s power in the world is when he uses flawed people to accomplish amazing things. Paul had to remind the Corinthian believers, who were struggling with an ego problem, that it was not their greatness that counted, but God’s greatness.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (NIV)
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

               God is still using weak, frail, faulty people to accomplish amazing things for His glory. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things so that everyone will know that God did it. This was a lessen that the Apostle Paul had to learn. Before Paul became a follower of Jesus he had a pretty big ego. He thought that he was God’s agent to purify the people of Israel. God had to humble him and show him that all his accomplishments meant nothing if he was doing them in his own strength. Later, Paul wrote about what he had learned. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NIV)

               Many people today have turned away from the Church because some in the Church have chosen to use the weapons of power, politics, and personalities to wage war with the world. Historically, the Church has always been its weakest when it has the most political clout. The Church shines the brightest today when ordinary people do extraordinary things out of love for God. God is still using what the world sees as the weak and unimportant to confound the strong and to transform our world.

               Jesus knew exactly what He was doing when He commissioned His less than stellar disciples to take His message into all the world. He is still calling ordinary people to do extraordinary things in His power, so that the world will know that God is at work.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV)
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Zechariah 4:6 (NIV)
So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.