How Are We to Be In the World But Not Of the World?

At the end of the Passover meal, Jesus prayed for His disciples. Jesus specifically asked God to protect them as they lived out their lives as His followers in a sinful world. This daily devotional looks at what He prayed for His disciples and how we can apply that to today.

The Passover/Last Supper was about to close for the year. The preaching had occurred; and the comfort, direction, and instructions had been given, so it was time to pray.

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I think, a lot of times, we forget the prayer part. We get caught up in getting our coats on and just leaving. But this is Jesus’ longest, most fully recorded prayer, so it is a good example for us.

Jesus Prayed for Himself

Jesus already was looking to heaven. He had His hands raised and was talking to His Father. He knew He would be going home soon, but He still had some unfinished business here on Earth.

Jesus asked that God glorify Him as Mediator. He wanted the plan to work so God would be glorified. He wanted man’s relationship with God to be restored. He also wanted the recognition His Father would give Him for accomplishing the Father’s plan.

It was a given that what Jesus was going to go through was not going to be a walk in the park. He knew His human side wasn’t looking forward to it.

It is logical that Jesus asked for success in His mission. He would not want to have gone through 33 years and have it been all for nothing — especially as painful as the ending was. He wanted His “well done, good and faithful servant” (Mt. 25: 21).

Jesus had already withstood Satan’s temptation when Satan wanted Him to give up His Sonship (Lk. 4: 1-13). Now, Jesus wanted God to bless Him in His sufferings.

But Jesus knew this was the way to reconcile man to God. So He was going to do it.

Jesus Prayed for His Disciples

"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" (Jn. 17: 14-16 ESV)

The disciplines were going to have to withstand, too. They were getting ready to really be tested. Jesus knew the trials and punishment they were going to have to endure.

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Jesus couldn’t ask the Father to let them have a pass on this. If the disciples hadn’t started the early church, who would have? God was going to — and did — use man to further His kingdom.

So, Jesus had to encourage the disciples through this prayer. He had to ask God to strengthen them, because if He asked, God would answer His prayer. They had to know that, even when He was gone, they were not alone.

Jesus was praying in the Father’s Will. This, too, was God’s plan to reconcile man to Him. He would use man to further His kingdom.

A Specific Request

Jesus said that, because He was not praying for the disciples to be taken out of the world, He asked for a hedge around them to protect them from Satan.

And, oooo baby, wouldn’t Satan be trying everything he could to get the disciples to not fulfill their ministry! He was going to do everything in his power to hurt them and their witness. They needed God’s protection.

If God is going to use man to further His kingdom, we can’t be taken out of the world. For some non-believers, we are the only church they are going to see. We are the only way that they will be introduced to Jesus. We don’t want to mess that up.

I really think that phrase, in the world but not of the world, has taken on an enhanced meaning in today’s world.

Making the Connections

My pastor had this to say Sunday. “We hear people condemn Christians because we do not love people the way they love people. But we are not supposed to look like the world. We cannot conform God to what we want. We expect people to change who they are. We believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. We must have higher expectations as we serve the Lord.”

That really hit me. Non-believers today think they have the market on loving others.

Unfortunately, I think they say love when they really mean tolerance. Non-believers want believers to love and tolerate them while they continue in their sin.

We hear of non-believers accusing believers of only loving those who think and act the way they do. Non-believers, however, don’t see that in themselves as they attack the believers.

As soon as someone identifies as a believer, non-believers can sometimes accuse them without really knowing their beliefs and actions. They stereotype believers as narrow-minded, stubborn, and sometimes hateful without really knowing the person.

If we think about it, though, tolerance isn’t the way God loves. Yes, He loves everyone.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV). The whole, entire world — not just His church.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5: 7-8 ESV). Yes, He loved us enough to put the plan of redemption in place while we weren’t following His commands.

No, God does not tolerate our sin. Colossians 3: 5-6 tells us to “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming” (NIV). If His wrath is coming, that means He isn’t tolerating the sin.

On the other hand, believers are told to “… Go now and leave your life of sin” (Jn. 8: 11 NIV). No, God knows total perfection is not possible: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I Jn. 1: 8 ESV).

What we are instructed to do is leave our sinful lifestyle and replace it with a lifestyle that honors Him.

How Do We Apply This?

If believers are to look differently from those in the world, we cannot get bullied and pressured by those in the world to look like them. We have to stand firm in the guidelines God has given us.

We must “… not conform [ourselves] to the standards of this world, but let God transform [us] inwardly by a complete change of [our] mind[s]” (Rom. 12: 2 GNT). God will help us.

I think a lot of times we forget to ask God to make sure others can see His glory in us. We ask for success. We ask for smooth sailing in accomplishing His work.

We just don’t ask God to shine through in accomplishing the tasks. We need to make sure others can see that it is Him working, not us. It is His doing, not ours.

Often times, we do like to take the praise for ourselves. Don’t get me wrong — we need to be told we did a good job when we did. We need the encouragement to continue pressing onward.

We just have to make sure it doesn’t slip into pride.

Satan will be trying everything he can to get us to not fulfill our ministries! He is going to do everything in his power to hurt us and our witness. We need God’s protection.

Being in but not of the world is a tall order. Wrap in our desires to be accepted by others, it is hard when we meet fierce opposition from non-believers to God and His commandments.

Thanks be to God that we aren’t in this alone. We have Heavenly support to do His Will.

Loving Heavenly Father. We like easy but doing kingdom work is rarely easy. Satan wants to sabotage our efforts. He wants to keep us for himself. Satan wants to keep the world for himself so he has caused a division to occur over how You love us and expect us to live our lives. That makes our witness for You more difficult. But we know, Lord, that if You call us, You will equip us. We also know that Jesus is still mediating for us. Help us to use all of this to further Your kingdom work. Amen.

What do you think? What part of “in the world but not of the world” is most challenging to you? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.

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