In The World But Not Of The World

by Chris Simmons

Jesus no doubt developed a very close relationship with the apostles and, in John chapter 17, we read of His prayer for the apostles and His concern for them after He returned to His Father. Jesus, when He was once again with His Father, would leave the apostles in the world that rejected and despised Him and knew the trials and tribulations they would face. His prayer for them was not to “take them out of the world” (John 17:15) for they had much work that needed to be done in carrying the gospel to “all creation” (Mark 16:15; Colossians 1:23). His prayer was that they be victorious in their battle against Satan (“keep them from the evil one,” verse 15). Jesus declared that this victory would ultimately be defined by the apostles’ ability to continue to live “in the world” (verse 11) yet not be characterized as being “of the world” (verse 14).

It was not for the apostles only that Jesus expressed this desire. It was for our sakes as well. Jesus said in verse 20, “I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.” Jesus’ prayer for you and me is also that while we live “in the world” that we not be “of the world.” Because of his relationship to Jesus Christ, Paul’s relationship to the world forever changed; “But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). How do we go about doing that in our lives?

First and foremost is our relationship to God’s word. Jesus said in John 17:14, “I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” It is our relationship with God’s word that will define whether we are “of the world” or not. Jesus said our submission and adherence to God’s word will create an adversarial relationship (“the world has hated them”). The key to preventing us from being “of the world” is our faithfulness to God’s word that will truly set us apart (sanctify us) from the world. “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth” (John 17:17).

Another key to being in the world but not of the world is to have the right mindset. The child of God who is not “of the world” views life from the perspective that we’re just sojourners or pilgrims passing through this fleshly world on our way to our eternal spiritual home. This is what Peter described in I Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens (sojourners, ASV) and strangers (pilgrims, ASV) to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.” While being an alien or sojourner refers to someone who lives somewhere without the rights of citizenship, Thayer's Greek Lexicon defines a stranger or pilgrim as “one who comes from a foreign country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives; hence, stranger; sojourning in a strange place, a foreigner.” We need to live with such a mindset that our citizenship is elsewhere (Philippians 3:19-20) and that, as we often sing, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.” Ultimately, we must answer these questions to determine if we are just “in the world” or if we are “of the world.” Do we have a “mind set on the flesh” or a “mind set on the Spirit” (Romans 8:5-8)? Will our thinking be shaped by the wisdom from God rather than the wisdom of the world (I Corinthians 1:20-28)?

We will be successful when we focus on our responsibility to be a positive influence in this world we temporarily live in. Jesus spoke of our need to be “the light of the world” and to “Let your light shine before men” (Matthew 5:14-16). Paul wrote in Philippians 2:15 of the need to “prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.” To be “of the world” is to try and blend in with the world. That we simply can’t afford to do.

If we then have our mind set on the things above and that our citizenship is in heaven, we will refuse to allow the worries and cares of this life to consume us. In the parable of the sower, Jesus described the “seed … sown among the thorns” as those who’ve allowed “the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things” (Mark 4:18) to choke out the power of God’s word. Those who are not “of the world” keep life and the things of this life in perspective and choose to not allow worry and desire for temporal things to overtake them. We are only able to do this if our passions, affections and friendships are not on the things of this world. I John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world, nor 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 and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.” Our allegiance cannot be divided – friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4).

We have been chosen out of the world (John 15:19) and therefore must not return to be “of the world” while we sojourn here. Our lifelong goal must be to live in such a way that we end up “unstained by the world” (James 1:22). “In the world” but not “of the world.”