In His prayer to the Father in John 17, just before He went to the cross, the Lord Jesus made several references to His own, with respect to the world. Two of them are very relevant to the Christian today. First, we read, “Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world” (vs. 11). Second, He says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (vs. 14). On these two statements hang some very important considerations for the believer, as to his relationship with the world around him.
Up to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, the world was under trial, for God was putting fallen man through every kind of test, to see if there were any good in him. Not that God needed proof of this for Himself, for of the Lord Jesus it could be said, “He knew what was in man” (John 2:2525And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. (John 2:25)). However, God was proving to man that even under the best of circumstances, he was a complete failure. When this world crucified the Son of God, man’s trial was over, and God pronounced judgment on the world. From that point on, until the judgment is carried out, those who would honor God and live for Him in this world must follow a rejected Christ — One who has been cast out. Of course, right from the beginning of man’s history, rejection was the lot of those who sought to be faithful to God; once Christ was rejected, Satan became the god and prince of this world, and, as we might say, the battle lines were very clearly drawn.
It is beautiful to see that the Lord Jesus associates us with Himself in all of this, for we are “not of the world” even as He is “not of the world.” If He was cast out, we will be too, if we are faithful to Him. It is in His steps that we are to walk. In keeping with all this, we are called to a path of separation from the world, for “if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not him” (1 John 2:1515And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; (John 2:15)). God’s love and purposes center in His beloved Son, and He loves us as He loves His beloved Son. If we are to enjoy that love and have fellowship with the Father, our hearts must be in tune with His. This can be true only if we share the same object — the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ and the world cannot exist in the same heart at the same time, and the love of the Father cannot coexist with the love of the world. It must be the one or the other.
Separation Versus Isolation
However, there must be balance in our Christian pathway as to all this, as in many other areas of our Christian life. If we are called to separation from the world, we are not called to isolation. If we are not of the world, we are nonetheless in the world and are called to be a testimony to it. The commission given to believers is found in Luke 24:4747And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47): “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” This cannot be done in a pathway of isolation; there must be contact with this world, and we must be accessible to it. The question arises as to how this can be done in the right way.
Some dear believers (and some, no doubt, with an earnest desire to reach this world with the gospel) have succumbed to the wrong notion that they must descend to this world’s level in order to reach souls. Instead of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind,” they have allowed themselves to be “conformed to this world” (Rom. 12:22And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)). The full-blown effect of this is seen in so-called covenant theology, which teaches that it is the Christians’ responsibility to straighten out this world and make it ready for Christ’s kingdom. Thus we find many believers today getting into politics and other forms of help for this world, using their energies in that direction. Needless to say, those who work with this world must lower themselves to its principles; thus their testimony is diluted, and their spiritual discernment suffers as well. Such believers are not only in the world, but practically are of the world. Of course, there are degrees of worldliness, and some have much more of the world than others. Thus other believers who have little interest in bettering this world feel that it is enough to lead a good, morally upright life, while at the same time enjoying to the full all that this world has to offer. The question is often asked, “What is the harm in it?” This is rather low ground for a believer, for whatever is of self cannot be of God.
Other believers, appalled at the widespread increase in violence and corruption (and again with the best of motives), have taken up a pathway of isolation, seeking to protect themselves and their families from everything in this world. This way of dealing with the matter is not new, for such things as Christian hermits, monastic orders, and other forms of extreme isolation have been with us for more than 1500 years. But as another has most aptly said:
“Mere monasticism, no matter how severe, does not shut out worldliness; rather, it shuts it in. You may put a man behind stone walls and never allow him to see God’s fair world; you may deprive him of the luxuries of life, almost of its necessities, and yet have him as thoroughly worldly as ever. If the Father is excluded, there is worldliness. It is not enough to enclose a portion of ground with walls to make it a garden. Unless it is cultivated with good, it will produce more weeds than ever.”
Such believers are not of the world, but practically they are not even in the world, and their testimony to it is either weak or non-existent. Likewise, the world may continue to flourish in their hearts, only in a different way. The pride of life, one of the characters of the world that they wish to avoid, may well continue to thrive.
Transformed
What then is the answer? How can we achieve the proper balance? I would suggest that we can go to either of the extremes suggested — worldliness or isolation — without much exercise before the Lord. I may have self before me in either extreme and no spiritual discernment at all. My own lusts will control me in the one, and a legal spirit in the other. However, to balance these in the right way, I must be “transformed by the renewing of [my] mind” (Rom. 12:22And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)), and “the love of the Father” (1 John 2:1515And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; (John 2:15)) must be in me. When my heart is attracted to Christ, and the joy of His love is filling my heart, I am occupied with the same object the Father has before Him. The love of the Father will force out of me the love of the world.
Then I will be separated from this world, but more in heart than in location. I will not associate myself with the world in its pleasures, ambitions and politics, but I will live and move in it. Instead of conforming myself to it, I will not only be a living witness against its course, but also a witness to it of God’s character as Saviour. My mind having been renewed, I will be transformed, not conformed.
This does not mean that I will be characterized by a miserable asceticism. Rather, I will be thankful for God’s gracious provision for me, while remembering that I am to be among those who “use the world, as not disposing of it as their own; for the fashion of this world passes” (1 Cor. 7:31 JND). I will recognize that in walking through this world, I will contract defilement from time to time, and I will thus avail myself of “the washing of water by the Word” (Eph. 5:2626That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26)), whether applied by the Lord Himself or by another believer.
Above all, I will seek continual guidance from the Lord, in a spirit of dependence on Him. The Spirit of God is able to lead and guide me and to show me how to be in the world, yet not of it. This requires constant dependence on Him, for “it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:2323O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)). In this we have the perfect example in our blessed Lord, who voluntarily took His place down here as the perfect, dependent man, walking in the power of the Spirit of God. We know that at times He spent all night in prayer, not only for Himself, but as an example for us. It is a privilege to “follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
W. J. Prost