in the world but not of it?
here's a nugget from John 17
6 I have revealed Your name to the men You gave Me from the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they know that all things You have given to Me are from You, 8 because the words that You gave to Me, I have given to them. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from You. They have believed that You sent Me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those You have given Me, because they are Yours. 10 All My things are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I have been glorified in them.11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name that You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. 12 While I was with them I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture may be fulfilled. 13 Now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy completed in them. 14 I have given them Your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I am not praying that You take them out of the world, but that You protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. 18 Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (HCSB)
we are in, but we are to expect hatred. for all the Christian persecution and the bloggers who point it out, it won't stop, till Jesus returns, when he'll make the persecutors drink blood. but they and we are on a mission. we are in the world but we are strangers and aliens here. our citizenship is in heaven. we are not to befriend the world. James 4:4 Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy. (HCSB)Being the humans we are, we come into church leaning one way or another. And because of our history we sometimes need to not be in the world at all. Sometimes we need to live in the safe culture of "not-world" which may not be the same as as heaven. and the church is called to make disciples but not scare away those who might become disciples. God loves the world, that's why he saved us. so we fumble around like drunks trying to love the world but not befriend it and help form heavenly citizens/disciples. and as the church rightly creates a distinct culture, it ghettoizes itself and tells itself how awful things are outside its walls and scares its children and worries parents...and it turns into itself. and some are constantly coming along, who have peered over the walls and say, hey, its not that bad and there's some really hurting people out there, let's carry them in. and when those rescued ones revive they wake with curses and foul odors and demands for more beer, which confirms the fears of all those who've grown to fear the world and they eject the rescued or tie him up in a straitjacket. so those rescuers set up medical tents outside of the walls. and they rescue many but don't make many new citizens either because once recovered the rescued return back to the world instead of joining the city.
so i think the church that is in but not of is a city on a hill, but one with low hedges instead of walls. neither side is a mystery to the other. it's easy to talk over a hedge, yet that hedge makes good neighbors. it divides gently. its still a perimeter. there are plenty of gates that swing open and close as neighbors come and go.
sorry this doesn't make much sense, but it helps me.
i'm slogging through understanding this 3rd commandment. i'm only just beginning to grasp it. hopefully i'll post the next 10 C's post soon.
Comments