When one begins to delve into the question of
how to live as a follower of Christ in this world while keeping oneself “unspotted,”
the waters get very murky very fast. Here are just a few texts which are
downright confusing, not to say contradictory!
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our
God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to
keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27) “Every
good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (James
1:17) “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.” (1
John 2:16) “For the world is Mine, and all it contains.” (Psalm
50:12) Well, which is it? The world and all it contains belongs to God, or “all”
that is in the world is not from God?
Or how about this pair? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
everlasting life.” (John
3:16, emphasis supplied) “Do not love the world nor the things in the world.” (1
John 2:15, emphasis supplied) John even goes on to say, “If anyone loves
the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
How can all this fit together? Checking the
Greek doesn’t help much. There is only one word used for “world” in the New
Testament, except in places which also mean “age” or “era.” The word is kosmos, which seems pretty
all-inclusive even if one doesn’t read Greek. It means the people, the physical
creation, the order of the universe, the human system, just like the English “world”
or even “universe,” kosmos covers it all. So is it good, or is it bad? We know God made the
world, and “saw that it was very good.” (Genesis
1) We also know the children He made to be His own chose their selfish
interests ahead of their love for Him, and the world became a very different
place than God had planned. So far, it’s clear. There were physical changes,
thorns and unruly weeds, storms and seasons, dangerous animals; and there were
spiritual changes in the hearts of human beings, leading all the way to murder
within the first generation of humans. (Genesis
3 and 4)
None of this was from God, yet this changed the world He loved and immediately
began to work to save.
From then on, there were choices to be made.
There were “sons of God,” and “daughters of men.” (Genesis
6) Of course both those phrases include both genders. There were people who
chose to follow God, even though He was invisible and no longer walked with
them in “the cool of the evening,” and there were people who chose to follow
their own erratic desires.
What did it mean for them to be human beings
living in a sinful world, but having their citizenship in a different place,
desiring “a better country, that is, a heavenly one?” (Hebrews
11:16) We can learn a lot from the examples set for us in the early stories
of our faith. And the first thing that becomes obvious is that the definition
of “not of the world” is not a static one, but varies drastically from person
to person and from one situation to another.
Abraham: In Genesis
12, we have God calling Abram out of “his father’s land”—a very important
and unsettling move in those times—to “a place I will show you.” Obediently,
Abram and his household move, and keep on moving. They are taken away from the
powerful center of learning that Ur of the Chaldees was, with its libraries and
temples and architectural wonders. Out in the quiet places of nature, Abram and
Sarai learn about God and His true worship. They receive promises, visits from
God, and even new names. They are made the progenitors of a whole new nation, chosen
to be priests for God to the world.
Moses: First raised in a humble
home, Moses by God’s miraculous intervention became part of the first family of
the nation. Then, when he has received a palace education, he is taken away
from it all and retrained by forty years of shepherding. It is in the
wilderness that God speaks, even naming Himself to Moses, and calling him to
become one of the greatest leaders and lawgivers of all time.
Ruth: A Moabitess who was
presumably raised in an idolatrous home, Ruth is called to leave her homeland
and go to the small town of Bethlehem, where amid scenes of the simple duties
of home, she will learn to love the one true God—and, little though she knows
it, will become an ancestor of the Messiah!
Elijah and Elisha: By and large all the prophets, including Elijah and Elisha, are called
to live simple lives, moving from town to town giving whatever message God has
entrusted to them. Elijah even lives by a brook for an extended period, fed by wild
ravens. In the wilderness, he learns to hear the voice of God, and nearing the end
of his work, when he becomes burned out and discouraged, the lesson is impressed
on him even more firmly than before—God’s voice is still and small, and best heard
in the quiet places.
Preliminary Conclusion: Clearly, following God and being “not of this world” means going
out, away, living alone or possibly in a small, likeminded community. Over the centuries,
thousands of God’s earnest followers have done, and still do, just that. But, there
are exceptions.
Joseph: Here is a
boy who was raised in the time-honored nomad tents and then picked up and
dropped in Egypt, of all places, the most decadent of the ancient societies—so
degraded its name became a byword for sin, just as Babylon’s later did. Joseph
is not only taken away from his quiet outdoor life, he is immediately transplanted
into the home of a high official, and subjected to temptations which could have
cost him his life whether he gave in or not! From being Potiphar’s most trusted
steward, he goes to prison. But again, he rises to the notice of high officials.
Now he’s the steward on the Inside! And next thing you know, Joseph is a kind
of Deputy Pharaoh, in charge of the whole department of agriculture, and married
to the daughter of an idolatrous priest?
Does Joseph feel he is placed in a position that
is incompatible with his faith? No, in Genesis
45:5-8 and again in 50:20,
Joseph says God sent him to Egypt, to save lives, and that even though others mean
something for evil, God can mean it for good, anyway. And God wins.
Daniel: It is one
of the low spots of the Old Testament. The people of God have been so
rebelliously determined to worship their own gods their own way, and refusing
to obey their Creator, that they are about to find out what happens when God’s
patience comes to an end. Teenaged Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah, are captured and borne off to Babylon and a genteel sort
of slavery, probably as eunuchs. In some ways, Daniel’s story parallels Joseph’s.
Both are among the few Bible characters for whom no sin is recorded, (which is
not to say they were sinless.) Both are imprisoned, one with lions, for
adhering to their faith even in adversity and temptation. Each becomes
assistant governor of a major ungodly nation. Daniel’s story doesn’t have the
kind of exciting finale where he saves his nation. (Although he was certainly
highly instrumental in what is probably the greatest recorded change of heart
in a pagan king.) He, in fact, has to live through the conquest of the nation
he’s been serving his whole life by the next nation on the prophetic chart, as he
is in a unique position to recognize. Daniel has already retired by this time,
but is brought back into the public eye to serve the next administration with
the same kind of unswerving righteousness.
This is no wilderness sojourn! Apparently one
can serve God just as well in the bustle of high civic life as in the desert.
And apparently, He sometimes asks someone to do just that.
Esther: If ever a
person in the Bible is placed in a questionable position, it is Hadassah, the
niece of Mordecai, whom we refer to by her Gentile name, Esther. The seventy
years Jeremiah had promised are long over, and many refugees have returned with
joy and singing to the Promised Land. They are rebuilding and facing the trials
of inhospitable neighbors, learning and relearning new lessons about how to
worship. Yet many have stayed. Why did Mordecai stay? We are not privileged to
know. Does he wish he hadn’t, when Ahasuerus makes the decree demanding that all beautiful virgins be
brought to his harem? Surely Mordecai is horrified and wishing he and Hadassah
were far away and out of reach. He may even try to hide her. We don’t know that
either.
What we do know is that every virgin that the
overseers think worthy of the king’s notice, including Hadassah, is collected
and taken into the custody of Hegai, at the royal harem. For twelve months,
they are given beauty treatments and possibly trained in ways of being pleasing
concubines. Then they each have one night with the king. At the end of the
night, that girl is taken to the “second harem,” to the custody of Shaashgaz,
who has charge of the concubines (Esther
2:8, 14). She will never be called to the king again unless she “delighted”
him. Her dreams of a husband and family of her own are over forever. She is now
a concubine of the king, imprisoned inside the petty life of a harem, for life.
Esther does delight this jaded king, and is chosen as his queen. Most startling
of all, she is cautioned by Mordecai not to let on that she is a
Jew.
Do Mordecai and Esther, separated, they believe,
forever, walk the floor and mourn? Can this possibly have been God’s plan? No
matter. There is no escape. And yet the day comes when Mordecai tells Esther
she might have been brought to this place “for such a time as this,” and that
the fate of her entire nation is in her hands. Once again, God brings human
plans for evil to good, though there is still sin and ugliness and bloodshed in
the end of this story. And once again He does it right in the palace of the
king.
What, then, can we say? Some followers of God
have been called out of the world and into a simple life, learning to be faithful and
true in the company of nature and nature’s God. Others have been called into the world, learning to be
faithful and true while also being faithful to high-status business and
politics, though these always remain second place to God. What does it mean to be “in the
world, but not of the world”?
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