In the World But Not of It

In the World But Not of It

My recent thoughts and prayers continue to return to this idea:  we are in the world but do not belong to it.  Nowhere in scripture is the "in-not-of" principle articulated quite so directly or simply.  It's not a bumper sticker slogan that you can find in a single verse.  If it were, we'd probably find a way to take it out of context as we silk-screened it on our t-shirts.  Nevertheless, the idea is contained within God's word and is most closely matched in or deduced from the following verses:

"If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."  John 15:19

"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."  John 17:14-16

And

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."  1 John 2:15

Certainly, we should also consider a companion verse, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor during the rise and power of the Nazi party.  In his influential besteller, Eric Metaxas describes Bonhoeffer as a pastor, prophet, spy and martyr.  During his brief life, he stood against both Nazi atrocities and the malaise of the German church.  After Bonhoeffer's imprisonment for his work with the fledgling and brash "confessing church," Adolph Hitler personally provided the order for his execution.  The Fuhrer's hatred for Bonhoeffer no doubt also resulted from his nemesis' involvement in a failed assassination plot on his life.

While in prison, Dietrich wrote often to his young fiancé, Maria.  In his correspondence, Bonhoeffer indirectly provides something of a commentary on the precious verses and our discussion:

“And I do not mean the faith which flees the world, but the one that endures the world and which loves and remains true to the world in spite of all the suffering which it contains for us. Our marriage shall be a yes to God's earth...  I fear that Christians who stand with only one leg upon earth also stand with only one leg in heaven (12 August 1943).”  Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. “Letters Papers from Prison."

Within this scriptural reduction to common axiom an important truth is concealed.  We are to live in this world standing on both legs while looking forward to the day we will stand together in His presence.  While the world was initially pronounced "good," sin has entered and with it the curse.  Like man made in God's image, all of creation groans for redemption.  Romans 8:19 & 22.  What then does it mean to stand in this soil on two legs?  There is, after all, a continuing curse and the ever cumulative consequences with which to deal.  Even our natural laws acknowledge increasing disorder.  In plain language, the second law of thermodynamics states that we cannot break even.  That is, we cannot return to a previous energy state because there is always an increase in disorder.  Entropy always increases.

Nonetheless, by way of the Father's common grace, the curse does not hold complete sway over the entirety of creation.  All has not fully succumbed to the shadow.  We see through a glass darkly, but we still see.  1 Cor. 13:12. Though we will not fully see Him while we remain trapped in fallen flesh yet to be glorified, we see enough of Him now to stand in awe and to be amazed!  The common grace of God keeps us from becoming too blind to see.  Theologians describe common grace like this:  it is the grace God gives to creation as a whole. In this universal non-saving form of grace, God allows the sun to shine upon both the righteous and the unrighteous. God shows his goodness to all people when He feeds them, allows them to work, experience beauty, learn and have joy. It is also common grace that restrains the wrath of God until a later time.  Louie Giglio recently wrote that, "We may dwell in the lowlands, but we have been high enough, often enough to carry something special in our lives as we walk the streets of earth."

It is in this residual goodness that we can fully stand today while awaiting our hope of tomorrow.  Make no mistake, Biblical hope is not wishful thinking.  True hope is a present knowledge of a future certainty.  It is not pie in the sky, rope-a-dope thinking.  Hope provides a life fully lived now and a life fully lived later.  It is not an either/or conundrum; it is a both/and proposition.  "Follow Me."  It is coming to terms with the truth that eternal life begins the moment Christ arrives on your individual scene.  As Jon Foreman belts out, "I'm ready now, I'm not waiting for the afterlife."  Perhaps C.S. Lewis was a bit more articulate when he said, "Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.”

Within this realization we find answers to many of the questions, causes, concerns, policies and politics of the day.   This knowledge provides us with real perspective on what it means to be fully human today and fully spirit always.