In the World But Not of the World

Introduction and Review: The Christian's Relationship to Society

0:06 Now, while others are taking their places, may I urge you to turn with me in your Bibles as I read several verses from the 17th chapter of John's Gospel as a background and introduction to our study this morning. Then we'll engage in a brief review of what we are doing in opening up the theme of this singles conference and precisely where we are in the opening of that theme and where we propose to go during this Sunday school hour. John chapter 17, breaking into the midst of our Lord's prayer, commonly called His High Priestly Prayer, we read in verse 14, I have given them thy word, and the world hated them. Because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

1:26 Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. Amen. As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.

1:44 In this Sunday school hour, we take up the second in a series of studies on the subject assigned to me for this singles weekend, the Christian and his relationship to society. Now, our subject is not the church. It is the relationship between the church and its relationship to society. Pastor Jim Huffstetler of our sister church in Grand Rapids addressed that subject at one of the family conferences last summer and did so in a most helpful way, and the tapes of those messages are available.

2:23 I reviewed some of my notes of those messages as I was privileged to take them while they were being originally delivered. And I heartily recommend that you read them. And I heartily recommend that you read them. And I heartily recommend that you read them.

2:32 And I heartily recommend that you read them. And I heartily recommend that you read them. In that series of studies, they come in one of those book-like containers so that the tapes will not get scattered hither and yon, but his subject was the role of the church as church in society, whereas our concern is the role of the individual Christian as he relates to society. And in our initial study yesterday, we had occasion to note that in all of the strategic passages dealing with the relationship of the people of God to the godless society around them, two things are always assumed, namely that those addressed, number one, possess a biblical experience of the salvation of God, and secondly, that they sustain a biblical commitment to the church of God. And we'll see that principle underscored again and again in the passages that we look at both in the Sunday school hour and, God willing, in the morning worship hour. And this is true because it is only those who are new creatures in Christ who will have

3:53 the desire, the power, and the discernment to relate to a godless society as God directs them so that they may be saved. And so to relate. And it is only those whose spiritual life is nurtured in the life and ministry of a biblically ordered church who will be equipped to relate to a godless society as they ought to. And so the presuppositions, the assumptions of all of the pivotal passages directing believers concerning their relationship...

The Paradoxical Relationship of a Christian to the World

4:33 The presuppositions of all of the pivotal passages directing believers concerning their relationship to a godless society presuppose that those people addressed possess a biblical experience of the salvation of God and that they sustain a commitment to the church of God. Now, in this hour, I want to consider with you in a very cursory and, I hope, not too hasty form, but certainly only in outline form, what I am entitled to. I am entitling the paradoxical relationship of a Christian to society or the world around him. The paradoxical relationship of a Christian to society or to the world around him. And a paradox is an apparent or a seeming contradiction. And as we open this up, I want you to consider with me. under the first heading, The Biblical Description of the State of Society or the World.

5:39 The Biblical Description of the State of Society or the World. Now, my reason for opting for the term the world is that it is a profusely used biblical word and terminology. Whereas society is not a biblical term and one finds it very difficult to come up with a definition and then try to adjust that definition to scripture, so I am using the term the world and I do so because society basically is a group of mankind collectively living out their existence in a given area but according to the scripture collectively. A group of society lives out its existence alienated from God and such a society is termed in the Bible the world. Collective mankind living out its life independent of God, alienated from God is what the Bible designates as the world. Now, I am conscious that there are two different Greek words used.

6:57 To designate this reality and I am not going to trouble you with technicalities but I will seek to use the various passages in an accurate way. Now, it is crucial that we understand and believe that the world is precisely what God says it is. We can never hope to relate to society or to the world as we ought. Unless we are convinced that the world is what God says it is.

7:34 And I want you to tighten your seatbelt and consider with me very quickly five very clear things that God says concerning the state of society or the world. The aggregate of humanity living out its life in interdependence in the world, alienated. Alienated from God without any conscious desire to be obedient to God. How does the Bible describe that world?

The World is Under Satan's Moral and Spiritual Control

8:08 How does the Bible describe society in that sense? Well, number one, we are told it is under the moral and spiritual control of Satan himself. It is under the moral and spiritual control of Satan himself. It is under the moral and spiritual control of Satan himself.

8:30 In 1 John chapter 5 and verse 19, John says, We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in the evil one. John distinguishes the people of God as a separate entity from the world and he says that, Though we are of God, all others who constitute the world lie in the lap of the evil one. The world is under the moral and spiritual control of Satan. It sleeps in his lap as Delilah slept in the lap of Samson. Again, in Ephesians chapter 2, in describing the lifestyle, of those in the world, Paul, including his own lifestyle and the former lifestyle of the Ephesians, describes it in this way, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2, Wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

9:55 That now worketh in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also all once lived. And here he describes then every person who is a part of the world, society alienated from God, as living under the moral and spiritual control of the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit who works. In the sons of disobedience, the devil himself. Hence he is designated in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving. He is called the God of this world. So that, as we think of the state of society, as we think of the world biblically, we must perceive it to be what God says it is. It is under the moral and spiritual control of Satan himself.

The World is the Enemy of God, Christ, and His People

11:13 Secondly, the scripture tells us it is the enemy of God, of Christ, and of his people. The world is the enemy of God, of Christ, and of his people. Turn please to James chapter 4 and verse 4. As I said, this will be a quick overview giving you the pivotal text, hoping that in future days you will go back and meditate upon them, seek to chew over them, and to perhaps consult the commentaries on them for a fuller explanation.

11:50 But I want to give this overview so that you can assess the true state of the world. James 4 and verse 4. Verse 4, ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

12:17 If I align myself with the world, I make myself an enemy of God. Why? Because the world's alignment is that of enmity against God. Whatever its principles and perspectives on its own internal life and operations may be, this we know, they are at enmity with God.

12:43 The world is the enemy of God, but not only of God in general, but of Christ in particular. John 15. Jesus, here speaking of his relationship to the world and the world's to him, says in John 15, 18, If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world.

13:23 Therefore the world hateth you. Here we see that the world is the enemy, not only of God in general, but of Christ in particular, and also of the people of Christ. Verses 23 and following of the same chapter, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not sinned, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my.

13:53 Father, also. And then he goes on to show that that hatred is without any rational cause in him. It is the expression of the enmity of the human heart against God and his law. As manifested in the person comes incarnate.

14:19 And life and words and looks and the human heart against God and his law finds concrete expression as it terminates upon Jesus. And to the extent that the people of character and spiritual control of simply it is the enemy of God, of Christ, and of his people.

The World is Crooked, Perverse, Evil, and Driven by Lust and Pride

15:00 Crooked, crooked.

15:27 For a feast, I'm sorry, and remain over the Pentecost. And to such a people as Peter is preaching, we read in Acts 2 and verse 4, exhorted them, saying, Selves from this crooked generation, from which we get scourbature of the spot. They are a crooked. They.

16:25 People living in a certain form of consistent life.

16:36 And in view of without blemish of a crooked, perverse scene.

17:38 Ordinary. Whether we find it as we do, there is that this word is a crooked. After two.

18:20 One says to believers, love not the neither the things of the father is not in him. For lust to enjoy things, to possess things, and to be somebody.

19:16 Be granted unto us precious and exceeding great promises, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world, blinded the minds of those that Ephesians 4 and verse 17.

20:32 The apostle calling upon believers no longer to walk as the Gentiles walk. Worldly characterizes their walk. Where. Of their mind.

20:49 In darkened. In. By the Lord Jesus as recorded in Acts. Twenty six.

21:09 Eighteen. The risen Lord says to Paul that as you go forth. Serve me. Here is your mission.

21:16 To.

21:18 To.

21:30 Sanctified by faith. So that world.

21:38 Is driven.

22:12 The grace of God.

22:17 You of union with Christ. The dominion of sin.

22:44 To present your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy. Acceptable to God. And to God.

22:49 Holy. And to God. which is your spiritual service and be not evangelistic and aggressive and i may use the terms instinctingly which the gospel has asked us for peter has to write as he does in first

24:02 peter 1 in verse 14 first peter 1 in verse 14 obedience not yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance but like as he who has called you is holy so in all manner of living in other words the effort to be holy the constant impediment a constant resistance and where does it come from it comes from this world system that would fashion us according to former patterns in which as we have already seen thriving force to understand my responsibility to to to society, or to use the biblical term, to naive, unbiblical, sub-biblical views of the

The Importance of Taking God's Description of the World Seriously

25:15 world, there will never be a society or the world. The description has been far from exhaustive. These descriptions, I trust, are enough to show the evil nature. We recognize the doctrine of sovereignty over the world and even the forces of evil. We do joyfully acknowledge the doctrine of God's common grace, which keeps men of the world from being as evil as they otherwise would be, and common grace that injects into the world elements of nobility and goodness, but nonetheless has nothing to do with these fifteen or twenty scriptures we've looked at. Will we let God's sovereignty and the doctrine of common grace bleed out

26:29 of a conviction? In the language of Isaac Watts, it is under the moral instruction of the spiritual control of the devil. It is the enemy of God, of Christ and his people. It is crooked, perverse, and evil. It is driven by lust, pride, and blindness, and it's determined to impose its way upon all men. And you begin to take that seriously. It'll affect what television programs you watch. It'll affect what videos you watch. It'll affect what music you listen to. It'll affect the whole host. You realize if it comes out of that matrix of the world...

The Paradox Explained: Not of the World, Yet In the World

27:21 ...the smell of ha- ...nationship to society or to the world. We come to the nationship to society or to the world. Now here is the paradox. For when we examine our Bibles, we find two contradictories of statements regarding the Christian's relationship. He is not to have an influence strand of the

28:52 paradox. Christian is not in the world. It's John chapter 17. In my preparation, I discovered something that I should have known a long time ago.

29:08 ...pick up some of you and do what your second cup of coffee didn't do, is the most worldly prayer in all of the Bible. It's a worldly prayer. The word world occurs no fewer than 19 times. So it becomes the watershed of a Bible perspective on the Christian's relationship to the world. Because here we have our Lord Jesus praying for His people in relationship to the world my relationship to the world if it follows the contours of the prayers has been delivered from it three texts in john 17 verse 6 i manifested thy name unto the men whom thou

30:31 gavest me and to me 14 and thy word and the world hated them because are not the world even as i

31:23 hear again those who are distraught the true people of christ hated by the world are those who are not of imaginable and as i john 15 in verse 19 and you have a similar statement if ye speaking to his own disciples if he were of the world the world would love its own but because you are not of the world but i chose you you out of the world, for the world hateth you. How could language be plainer than this? You don't need to know a word of Greek. English translations here are quite acting the thought of God in the original. The Christian is not in the world, but has been delivered from

32:40 it. In the New Testament, it should not surprise us to find the Christian described as one whose life begins with a heavenly birth, except a man be born again. Those in John 1, 12, and 13, as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. But we have a heavenly birth, a heavenly position.

33:24 Ephesians 2, verses 4 and 5, but God who is rich in mercy. For his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead, hath pinned us together with Christ's places in heaven. Have a heavenly birth, have a heavenly position, fashion the body of our humiliation like unto his own glorious body, the heavenly father of our Lord Jesus, who hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance. Describe it, inheritance, undefiled, heavenly position, a heavenly citizenship. A heavenly inheritance, a heavenly destiny. If I go to prepare this for you, to me it's a wonderful thing to have the Bible wash over my...

34:49 That's our identity. The Christian is not in the world, has been delivered from it. As the richest, 17, and these come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which

35:38 thou hast given me, that they may be one, even. Well, he said, these are, given them thy word, and the world hated them. Because they are not of the world. I am not of the world.

36:04 And then react to the acts in hatred. How shouldest take them, sanctify them in the truth, thy word is truth, as thou didst send me into the world? So send them into...

36:39 Is not... Language uses it. He is not in the world, yet he is in the world, an influence upon that world, even though the focal point of that influence in John 17 and in John 15 is not in the world. John 15 and verse 18 is the negative reaction at lice of the child of God, hateth you before it hated you. So here we have, Christian is not in the world, has been delivered from it. Christian is in the world, influence upon it.

Resolution of the Paradox: Separated from the World's Driving Engines

37:32 What is the resolution of the apparent paradox? As I've wrestled with a way to state it in narration, I turned up a book or in a chapter on the Christian in the world, came across a statement that other servant of God for the seed thought. Here is the resolution. What is the resolution of the apparent paradox?

38:05 Two people of God, separated from God, separated from God, they've been delivered from that realm in which the driving engines of life are lost.

39:13 Some of all, and in second attempt at the biblical description of the Christian's relationship to society of the world, he is not in the world, but has been delivered from it, yet he is in his only general, I've used the word beauty, he live in the day of everyone talking about.

40:40 His rights, society, all supply, all the needs of thy subject. No hero, Israel, the Lord, our God is one, and thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and cranny of our society, education, thing, and everyone that

42:50 lives and breathes and moves in duty. He life, he could have made me a worm buried in the earth, waiting for spring to come to like a wiggle up and have some Robin pinch my head off.

43:28 Did you tell? God to make you a human being and not a worm? How many of you marched up to the throne of God and said, make me a human being and not a worm? I didn't.

43:38 Could have been that little creature that wagged its tail and was waiting to have its head petted. You tell God to make you a human being and not a dog? Illuminating obsession, abomination to God, and is the great, don't let the world, going to think in terms of duty. And in the few remaining minutes, I want to give you just the sparest outline of a biblical description of the Christian life.

The Christian's General Duty: Negative Commands (Not to Love or Conform)

44:19 The Christian's general duty to society or to the world. Negative, three things.

44:28 You're not to love it. First John 2.15, love not. You are not to be conformed to it.

45:00 Romans 12.2, be not. 4.17, this I testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles.

45:15 You're not to be conformed to it.

45:23 When the world stretches out its tentacles, thinking. Whether it's your thinking about money, the use of time, his legitimate diversion and entertainment, about marriage and what to look for in a marriage partner, how extra money, what.

45:58 Be not conformed. Try to God to have discernment, to recognize the first wiggle of the smallest tentacle of the world that is seeking to wrap itself around the slightest facet of your thinking, of your speech. The speech taker of it. 14.

46:30 The grace of God hath appeared. To all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present what? Eat us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a people his special possession. Be not partakers, therefore, with them, the machinations of the devil, who would ensnare them through lust, who would trip them up through ignorance, who would turn them aside as sinful. Be not conformed. Be not conformed. Be not conformed.

47:34 Be not conformed. Be not conformed. Be not conformed. Be not conformed.

47:34 To peer pressure. Holy Father, keep them. The spiritual minefield.

The Christian's General Duty: Positive Commands (Salt and Light)

47:59 What is the biblical description of the Christian's duty to society? He is, number one, to be salt in the midst of it. Matthew 5, 13. You are the salt.

48:12 And in that context and in that day, the dominant concept of salt would not have been that of flavor and savor, but of checking putrefaction. There were no Kelvinator, Amanda, GE. Or Sears refrigerators. And if you were to preserve meat, you would use salt as a preservative.

48:38 And you and I, by simply being consistent with what we are as sons and daughters of a heavenly birth, with a heavenly position, and with a heavenly inheritance, and a heavenly destiny, and living by the standard, you become so much like the world in your dress. In the jokes. You'll laugh at. In the jokes.

49:14 You'll tell. In the gossip.

49:18 Entertainment can talk about the same movies that the people in the shop and in the office and at the workbench can talk about and rationalize and say, well, there are ten hells, hams, and a few others. My salt is lost.

49:43 You're to be salt.

49:47 You and I are to be light upon it. Salt in the midst of it. Light upon it. Matthew 5, 14 to 16.

49:55 Ye are the light of the world, a city set upon the hill. Ephesians 5 and 13, we are told, as the people of God whatsoever makes manifest his light, our lives are to be a continual spotlight, sending forth the beams of God's holy standards of moral uprightness and moral integrity. That's why Jesus said, marvel not if the world hates you. He said, this is the condemnation that light has come into the world.

50:24 Men love darkness.

50:29 My nature is a spiritual mold. He loves the darkness. Dark tunnels.

50:37 There's a flashlight shining in his eye. The office, when everyone else is taking 13 minutes for the 10-minute break. You're back at your post. Your presence says the rest of you are sinning.

50:56 You are light.

51:19 Jesus said that if the world hates you, I'm sorry, 17, 18, as thou didst send me into the world, how does Christ send into the world not to absorb its defilement, not to conform to its standards? But on a rescue mission, says I have sent them.

51:46 Thou didst send me on a mission of mercy and rescue. Even so, I sent them.

Conclusion: An Outline for Further Study

52:08 Whoever shall come, whoever shall deny me before him will I also deny. Now that's just the outline.

52:37 This outline will get the decision fly over.

53:21 We're so thankful that we have not been left in darkness. How grateful we are that we have the scriptures as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our feet. Thank you for these young men and women who have gathered from various points of the compass, that they might sit under that word, know their due, or take the thing not out of their heavenly inheritance.