In the world, but not of the world

Recently, my husband and I have found ourselves digging deeper into theology, spending our free time watching sermons, listening to reformed pastors, researching everything from cultural shifts to biblical holiness.  It started with questions about why we hear stories of people leaving their faith, decontructing faith and why people live duplicitous lives of hypocrisy.  Why does it seem hard to find people who are pursuing holiness and how is the political environment of 2022 impacting the church.  We've dug into information from David Jeremiah's Where Do We Go From Here,  to messages from Noelle Mering on Progressive Ideology, Amar Tsarfati on the end times, to the American Gospel documentaries.  

All of this research has spurred us on to deep conversations about the church, the world, and our future.  The Bible stands in deep contrast to the ideologies and philosophies of our world today. I'm not saying anything surprising when I admit I think our world is a mess right now and the church is struggling to remain strong in the midst of this climate.   In a cancel culture world, I find myself anxious to say anything definitive about my beliefs because I know it will be counter-cultural and could label me as an extremist.  Even my daughters at liberal arts universities have mentioned how hard it is to have a faith-based perspective when so many are vehemently opposed to a biblical world view.  We've never been a family that excluded our children from the world as I've worked in a public school where they've attended but we certainly limited their exposure to worldly appetites through media, etc.  

So, the real question is:  how do we remain in this world, swimming against the current, standing for biblical truth and yet loving people the way Jesus did?

There is an old song I remember fondly of coming to the garden alone in the morning while the dew is still on the roses to pray.  And He walks with me and He talks with me. ..

This morning as I was sitting in my garden, I read Jesus' prayer for His disciples as he was nearing his death.  Let's listen to see if we hear from Him how to be in the world but not of it.

John 17:6 “I have revealed you[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I 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. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus prayed that the Father would protect His disciples that they would not be lost.  He commended them because they accepted His words and they obeyed the Word.  So, my number one prayer for the church, for each believer, to know God's Word.  We can't obey His word if we don't know it.  We have to read it, study it, learn it, so we can live by it.  May the church be preserved from worldly influences because there is a strong foundation of "Sola Scriptura," which means that we don't add to or subtract from the Word of God.  Scripture is the one and only reliable source of truth.

Secondly, Jesus prayed for the disciples to be sanctified. Sanctification is the process of becoming more and more like Christ, laying aside our selfish desires in order to pursue holiness.  Did you know that every revival that has occurred in America has begun with repentance?  One famous revival at Asbury college in 1970 began with a chapel service that brought people to public confession of sin.  The students began to repent, to weep over their sinful tendencies and to pray for each other to find true and lasting change in their lives.  The Holy Spirit comes to convict us of our sin and when we are sensitive to His voice, we submit to His work in our lives to make us new, to long to leave everything else behind that we may know Christ and become like Him (Philippians 3:8-10).  

Notice that Jesus prays this so that we would be unified as a body and be filled with joy.  When we stand on the foundation of God's Word and we seek to be more like Christ, it brings unity and joy!  He repeats that we are not of this world just like He is not of this world.  When we feel discouraged by the way things are going in the world today, we have to remember this world is not our home.  

Praying for you dear friends, that God would protect you from the sneaky ways of Satan, who wants to derail your faith, that you would be like a tree planted by a stream and dig your roots deep into the Word of God to make you strong against the changing winds of the world, and that you would long to live for Christ in all that you do.