We are Not of the World

Jesus was praying to God the Father with regard to the fact that he was about to be crucified on a cross for the sins of the world and that he would be leaving the world to go back to the Father, and so his followers would no longer have him physically with them.

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 

“I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 

“But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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 ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:6-17 ESV)

After this, Jesus also prayed for all who would yet believe in him, which includes us who are believing in him now (John 17:20-26). He prayed that we would be one in him and in the Father and that we would be united as one with one another as we are all one with Christ and with God the Father. And this oneness is to serve as a testimony to the world that the world might believe that Jesus came from the Father, and that the Father sent him, and that God the Father loved them even as he loved his Son Jesus, and that the love that the Father has for Jesus might be in them, and Christ in them.

Yet much of what he prayed for those who had been with him physically also applies to us who believe in him now. For if we are believing in Jesus Christ with genuine God-ordained and God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, and thus we have been crucified with him in death to sin, and we have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God, then we are also those who have kept and who are keeping (obeying) his word that is written for us to follow (Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 6:1-23).

Now this specific prayer was for those who were presently his followers, and so those of us who are presently his followers can apply it to ourselves where it is applicable. Now here he said that he was not praying for the world but for those whom the Father had given him. This is not saying that he did not pray for the world, for this next section that I mentioned first indicates that he was very much concerned for the people of the world that they would believe in him and that Christ would be in them, and that they would know the love that the Father had for them.

But this first part was a prayer for his followers who he was going to leave behind when he returned to the Father. And what was his primary concern? He would be leaving them and thus he would no longer be in the world, but they would still be in the world, not of it, and he would no longer be with them in person to protect them from the evils that are in the world. For he did not want any of them to be lost. And so he prayed to the Father that he would keep them in his name. And he is still concerned for all who are his that we would remain in him and that his word would remain in us.

And another one of his concerns, which I believe is connected to this previous one, is that because Jesus had given them (and us) his word, they would be, and we are presently, at least to some degree, hated by the people of the world because we are no longer like the world (if this is true of us), just as Jesus is not of the world. And he is our role model for what it means to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being made to be like Jesus in character, thinking, attitude, words, and deeds. Like the old cliché said, “What would Jesus do?”

Now, there is a difference between living in the world and being among the people of the world and us literally becoming like the world and participating in worldly practices. So we are to live in the world and among its people, and we are to go out into the world with the message of the gospel, but we are not to embrace worldly practices and attitudes and thinking and behaviors. We are to be in the world but not of the world. So we are not to seclude ourselves from the people of the world, but we need for the Lord to help us to not get caught up in the evils that are in the world.

But this involves our full participation with the Lord in his work of grace in our lives. We must choose the Lord over all else. We must choose to serve the Lord and not the flesh. Daily we must be putting sin to death, by the Spirit, and we must be walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant, by his power, and in his strength and wisdom. Moment by moment we must be growing in the grace of the Lord in our walks of holiness and righteousness in surrender to God’s will for our lives. And then we have the hope of salvation and eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Broken and Contrite  

An Original Work / May 13, 2012

I come before You, Lord, my Savior,

With humble heart and crushed in spirit.

I bow before You, I implore You,

Heal my broken heart, I pray.

Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master,

You are the King of my heart.

Lord, purify my heart within me;

Sanctify me, whole within.

Oh, Lord, I long to obey fully

The words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.

I pray You give me grace and mercy,

Strength and wisdom to obey.

Father God, my heart’s desire,

Won’t You set my heart on fire?

Lord, cleanse my heart of all that hinders

My walk with You, now I pray.

Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,

My heart cries out for understanding.

I want to follow You in all ways,

Never straying from Your truth.

Holy Spirit, come in power,

Fill me with Your love today.

Lord, mold and make me; 

Your hands formed me;

Live Your life through me, I pray.

https://vimeo.com/118841304