In the World -
But Not of the World
 any of you have heard from your pastors the
title of this article in that we are to be in the world,
but not of the world in our walk with the Lord. Not only
is this a very catchy phrase and saying, but this is also
a rock solid God-truth that is coming straight out of our
Bible.
Many Christians get a bit confused when
they first hear this phrase and revelation. The first question
they usually have is if God is calling me to do something
worthwhile and noble in my call and purpose for Him down here
on this earth, then why is God telling me not to become a part
"of" this world? How can I complete my divine call in
the Lord if I don't get actively involved in the world and with
other people in general?
Jesus Himself went full scale into His surroundings once He
received the Baptism
of the Holy Spirit and then came out of the 40 day
wilderness test with the devil. From there, He embarked on a
major three and a half year miracle ministry before He went to
the cross to die for all of us and our sins.
During those three and half years, Jesus was constantly
preaching, teaching, healing and delivering people. At first
glance, it looked and appeared as if He had become an actual
part of the world with how much interaction that was going on
between Him and everyone else that was around Him. But as you
will see in the explanations below, God the Father does want us
to become actively involved "in" the world so that we
can fully accomplish His perfect will for our lives.
Another problem that some Christians have with this phrase
is that they misinterpret what God is trying to tell them when
He is making the statement that we are not to be "of"
the world. They think they should be retreating from life and
everyone in general, and some of them end up becoming monks,
hermits and recluses hiding away from as much of the world as
they possibly can.
I know God may call a very small percentage of His people
into that type of special celibate and monastic type lifestyle,
but for the most part, I believe God wants His people to become
very active "in" the world trying to make it a much
better place to live, work and play in. How can you witness,
save, teach, preach and help deliver other people if you are
not "in" the world trying to reach and connect with them
in the first place?
I believe this particular revelation from the Lord has two
sides to it. It is like looking at a two sided coin.
On the one side of the coin we are to be "in" the
world. As you will see in one of the Scripture verses below,
Jesus is telling His Father not to take us out of the world,
since we all have a great commission and call from Him to try
and save and help as many people as we possibly can.
We can't "reach" the lost, the downtrodden, the
helpless, the poor, the sinners and the people who are being
held in some type of captivity if we are not "in" the
world trying to reach them with the message and gospel of our
Lord and Savior.
This is what is meant by the Lord telling us that we still
have to continue to be living "in" this world. We all
have to be born into this world as a result of the curse of
Adam and Eve, and until it is
our time to leave and depart from this life, God will expect
each and everyone of us to come and work for Him.
Once you enter into a full surrender with the Lord of you
and your entire life, then God will place you into His perfect
will for your life. And once God places you into His perfect
will for your life, then He will lead you into the path and
direction that He will want you to take in this life. And on
that path will be your call or calls, your missions, your
divine assignments and the specific people that He will want
you to work with.
Again, you cannot properly compete your calls, your
divine assignments, and your tasks and duties for the Lord
if you are not willing to get actively involved "in" the
world to some degree and to some extent. This is the one
side of the coin where we are supposed to be "in" the
world.
However, this revelation from the Lord also has a flip side
to it. There is a flip side to this same coin. Though we are to
be actively involved "in" the world to the degree that
God will lead us to, we also have to realize and be very aware
that we are not to become too much of an actual part
"of" the world.
As you will see in one of the verses below, God is telling
us to keep ourselves "unspotted" from the world. In
other words, He does not want us to become spotted,
contaminated and tainted by the bad and evil things of this
world. And the only way that we can keep ourselves from
becoming too spotted and too contaminated from this world is
not to get too deep and too friendly with the ways of this
world.
In other words, God is asking all of us to walk a
very fine line between being actively and properly involved
"in" the world so we can reach and help other people - but
at the same time making sure that we do not fall too deep
and too far into the world where we then start to fall into
the actual evil, depravity and corruptness of this
world.
The best analogy I can give you on this so that you can
fully understand what the Lord is trying to convey to us is the
"fence analogy."
Imagine a fence line running alongside your right side as
you continue to walk on the straight and narrow path that God
has you set to walk on. The phrase and saying that will come
off of this fence line analogy that perfectly lines up with
what the Lord is trying to tell us in this revelation is that
we all should be "staying on our side of the fence."
On your side of the fence is the call and path that you are
taking for the Lord. On this side of the fence are all the
righteous ways of our Lord on how we are to act and behave in
this life with ourselves and with other people in general.
On the other side of the fence are the walks and paths taken
by those who are either not saved or the ones who are
considered to be very carnal and fleshly type Christians, whose
only goals and desires in this life is to live for as much as
they can get out of this world. Their only goals and
aspirations in this life is to try and gain as much of the
material and lustful things out of this life as they possibly
can before their day in the sun is finally over.
We thus live in a dual type of world. On the one side of the
fence is the side of God and the righteous way that He wants us
to live this life in. On the other side of the fence are the
unsaved sinners and carnal Christians who are not living their
life God's way, and who are out breaking any law and
commandment they see fit
so they can satisfy their cravings for the lustful pursuits
and things of this life.
Once you become saved and born again by accepting Jesus
Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are now in whole
different ballgame. You are now on a whole different type of
playing field. God the Father perfectly lays it out for each
and everyone of us in the way that He has worded the following
verse I will now give you.
In this verse, God is giving every single one of us a big
choice to make in this life. We can either choose to follow God
and His ways for living in this life and "live" - or we
can choose to follow the wicked and evil ways of this world and
"die." Here is one whopper, all-or-nothing, black and
white, straight to the point verse direct from the mouth of the
Lord Himself:
"... I have set before you life and death, blessing
and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your
descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God,
that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him,
for He is your life and the length of your days ..."
(Deuteronomy 30:19)
Notice that God says absolutely nothing about any type of
middle or neutral grounds with this proclamation. Either we
choose to follow God and live this life in the way that He
wants us to live it, or we can choose to follow the ways of
this world and eventually bring down death and cursing upon us
and possibly those who may be close to us.
Notice in this verse that God is telling us that we must
"obey His voice," which means that we have to follow
directly after Him and all of His ways for us in this life, not
after the ways of this world or anyone else in this world.
Now here are 5 very good verses from the Bible that is
giving us this specific revelation in that we are to be in the
world, but not of the world.
The Scripture Verses
I will first list each one of the verses one right after the
other, and then I will point out and highlight several key
words and phrases in these verses.
- "If you were of the world, the world would love its
own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose
you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
(John 15:19)
- "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated
them because they are not of the world, just as I am not
of the world. I do not pray that You should take them
out of the world, but that You should keep them from the
evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of
the world." (John 17:14)
- "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father
is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble,
and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."
(James 1:27)
- "Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not
of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing
away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God
abides forever." (1 John 2:15)
- "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that
friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever
therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself
an enemy of God." (James 4:4)
Notice in the first two verses that Jesus is specifically
telling us that we are not to be "of the world." He then
goes one step further in the third verse from James when He
tells us that He wants us to remain "unspotted" from the
world.
Jesus then perfectly wraps it up in the last two verses when
He tells us that if we ever get to the point where we have
become too friendly with the world and the ways of it - then we
will literally become the enemy of God Almighty Himself!
When Jesus Himself is telling us that we will become His
Father's enemy if we become too friendly and too attached to
the ways and things of this world - you know we are dealing
with a very serious warning from the Lord on this issue!
Jesus points out to us that all of the lustful pursuits and
things of this life will eventually pass way when we die and
cross over. In another verse, Jesus has already told us that
what good will it do a man to gain all the wealth of this world
as his possessions, but then lose his own soul in the pursuit
and acquirement of all of that wealth. It will all have ended
up being for naught when everything is all finally said and
done.
Conclusion
Though most of us know exactly what the Lord is trying to
tell us with the revelation and knowledge that is in these
verses, for many Christians in this day and age, this one is
a real hard one to try and keep on top of.
With the incredible advances in technology and knowledge in
the last 100 years, much of the world has become a much better
place to live, work and play in. As a result of all of this
incredible advancement in technology and knowledge, we now have
many more toys and material possessions that we can all strive
to acquire more of. We can now shoot for bigger and better
houses, bigger and better cars, and bigger and better things
for our lives in general.
With all of these types of material blessings from our Lord,
it becomes very easy for many to get out of balance with all of
it. Instead of realizing where all of this abundant type of
wealth is really coming from in the first place, and choosing
to say humble and accountable with it in their walks with the
Lord, many Christians start to get to caught up in the actual
pursuit and desire for this material wealth.
Before they know it, they have placed their pursuit and
desire for all of this material wealth before God Himself. The
are no longer wanting to serve and follow God. They now only
want to serve themselves and what they can get out of this
life.
As Christians, we always have to stay on top of this
part of our walk with the Lord. Jesus Himself has made it
as clear and as plain as day as to how we are to look at
this life and interact with it. We are to stay "in" the
world. We have a holy mission and a holy calling direct
from the Lord on what it is He wants us to accomplish and
get done in this life before we depart to be with Him for
all of eternity.
The goal of each Christian's life should be to
accomplish, to the best of our abilities, God the Father's
perfect will for our lives. Our goal should be to serve God
and do what He wants us to do in this life - not to chase
after the world and all the wealth and possessions of this
world, which will do nothing but rot and perish the minute
we leave and depart from this life.
We have to keep our priorities straight, and our
number one priority should be to want to serve God and
accomplish His perfect will for our lives. If we make that
our number one goal and aspiration in this life, then God
will appropriately reward each one of us once we enter into
heaven. And those heavenly rewards will far surpass and far
exceed any of the material wealth and possessions that we
could have gained down here on this earth.
As Christians, we have to realize that we no longer even
belong to ourselves, much less to the world in general. We have
been bought back at a severe price at the death of our Lord and
Savior, and we now belong to God, and God alone. We now work
for God, and God alone.
What this means is that our protective and loving God has
now drawn a major battle line in the sand. He is letting all of
us know what we can and cannot do in this life. He is letting
all of us know where we can tread in this life and where we
cannot tread. Boundary lines and a fence line have now been put
up by our Lord. God is now telling all of us to stay on our
side of the fence in our walks with Him. We have to stay on the
righteous side of the fence in our walk with Him.
Though there is much in this life that is enticing and
tempting to want to cross over and experiment with, realize
that there are going to be certain things of the flesh that you
will not be able to chase after in this life.
You can't be doing drugs, abusing alcohol, and sleeping with
whoever you want to outside the bounds of holy marriage. You
can't be cheating and scamming others in an effort to try and
gain more wealth and riches.
You now have to play everything by the Book - and
that Book is the Bible!
Many of our teenagers are battling this cold, hard reality
in the high schools and colleges they are attending. God
obviously wants them to be "in" this world, as they will
need a proper education to progress into the calls and divine
assignments that He will have in store for them in this life.
But that doesn't mean you have to cross over into the carnal
and fleshly worlds of those who are not walking right with the
Lord.
You can sit next to someone in school who may be doing drugs
and living a wide and carnal type of life. You can befriend
him. You can witness to him as the Spirit leads. You can help
him with his schoolwork if he should ask you. But that doesn't
mean you have to leave your side of the fence and cross over
into his world of drugs, booze and wild and crazy sex parties.
You can keep yourself unspotted from the world and yet still be
"in" the world to help other people out.
The same thing goes for adults who are working in
environments where they have a mixture of good apples and bad
apples. Again, you can help out, and work in harmony and unity
with those who are living their life on the dark and wild side
of this life. But that doesn't mean you have to cross over and
leave your side of the fence to start going to their drug,
booze and wild sex parties outside of work.
Many Christians have been seduced into crossing over into
some of these carnal and fleshly realms as a result of the
seductive and persuasive influence of some of their co-workers
or schoolmates. This is why this particular piece of revelation
is so important for each and every Christian to not only have
the knowledge of, but to also abide by it and not be tempted to
ever cross over into some of these forbidden areas with the
Lord.
These boundary lines are being set up by the Lord for our
own good and for our protection. Every Christian mother and
every Christian father should be burning this piece of
revelation into their young children's minds at an early age so
that they can have this knowledge to fall back on when they
start to get tempted to cross over into this darker side of
life. This knowledge should be fully ingrained into them by the
time they move into their high schools, their colleges and then
eventually into the work place.
This particular piece of revelation may be the difference as
to whether or not some of your children ever become everything
that God is calling them to become in this life. Every minute
of every day someone is getting hurt, maimed or murdered as a
result of crossing over into the darker side of this life and
hanging out with the wrong type of people or crowd.
Bottom line - you are still "in" the world as far as
God the Father is concerned because He has a specific plan
and purpose for your life - but you are no longer part "of"
this same world. You now belong to God and Jesus, and you
now have to live your life the way They want you to live it
- not the way you or the rest of the world would like you
to live it.
This choice will always be yours to make. You
can either choose to follow God and His ways for your life
and stay on His side of the fence in your walk with Him -
or you can choose to leave the safety and protection of His
side and venture into the darker side of this life where
death, cursing and major misfortune will await
you.
Once again, God the Father could not make things any more
clear and any more plain with the revelation that He is giving
us in that we are to be in the world, but not of the world.
Remember, stay on your side of the fence in your walk with
the Lord. Many great men and women of God have lost their
calls, their ministries and their earthly destinies in the Lord
because they violated this basic, fundamental, common sense
rule and revelation from the Lord.
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Fruit of the Spirit
Godliness with Contentment is
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Michael Bradley
Bible Teaching and
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Scripture taken from New King James
Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
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