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. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the
world, even so sent I them into the world. 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
and its relationship to society. Pastor Jim Hufstetler 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. 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 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 the desire
the power and the discernment to relate to a godless society
as God directs them 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 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 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. 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, collective 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 to designate this reality,
and I'm 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. 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 from God
without any conscious desire to be obedient to God. How does
the Bible describe that world? 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. 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 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. 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, but I want to give this overview so that
you can assess the true state of the world. James 4 in 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. 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. The world is the enemy of God,
but not only of God in general, but of Christ in particular. John 15. 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, 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 Father also. And then he goes on to show that
that hatred is without any rational cause in himself. It is the expression
of the enmity of the human heart against God and His law. And when God becomes manifested
in the person of His Son, and the law becomes incarnate in
the person and life and words and looks and actions of Jesus,
then the enmity of the human heart against God and His law
finds concrete expression as it terminates upon Jesus Christ,
and to the extent that the people of Christ reflect the character
and the ways and speak the words of Christ, they too are the object
of the world's hatred. So what is that world system
as described in the Bible? It is under the moral and spiritual
control of Satan. Secondly, it is the enemy of
God, of Christ, and of his people. Thirdly, it is crooked, perverse,
and evil. It is crooked, perverse, and
evil. when Peter is preaching on the
day of Pentecost and remember he's preaching to the religious
elite of that age. These are Jews who have come
together from all over the Roman Empire to the Feast of Pentecost
at Jerusalem. They have come up for Passover
feast. I'm sorry and remain over for
the Pentecost. And to such a people as Peter
is preaching, we read in Acts 2 and verse 40, and with many
other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves
from this crooked generation. The word from which we get scoliosis,
an extreme curvature of the spine. He says, save yourself from this
crooked, this twisted generation. There that generation, the cream
of it being, these devout Jews from all parts of the earth under
heaven gathered at Jerusalem and yet he says they are a crooked,
they are a morally and spiritually perverse and twisted generation. Likewise in Philippians chapter
2, As Paul writes to people living in this Roman colony of Philippi,
he urges them to a certain form of consistent lifestyle, and
this is the end in view. Verse 15 of Philippians 2. that
you may become blameless and harmless children of God without
blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among
whom you are seen as lights in the world. And furthermore in
Galatians 1 verse 4, the Apostle Paul says that Christ died for
his people to this end. Galatians 1 verse 4, who gave
himself for our sins that he might deliver us out of this
present evil world. according to the will of our
God and Father. So this present world system,
this present generation, whether in a concentrated religious elite
segment of it as we find at Jerusalem, or whether we find it in its
more ordinary mixture of paganism there at Philippi, or whether
we find it as we do there in the area of Galatia, the Word
of God says that this world, present society, is a crooked,
perverse, and evil world. Fourthly, we learn from the Scriptures
that God's assessment of the world is that it is driven by
lust, by pride, and spiritual blindness. It is driven by lust,
pride, and spiritual blindness. 1 John chapter 2. John says to
believers, love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the major ingredients, the things that make the world go round
are these, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
vain glory of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. What is it that drives the engines
of this world system? Society alienated from God, John
says, it is lust and it is pride. It is the desire to enjoy things,
to possess things, and to be somebody. This is the world's
trinity. It is driven by lust and by pride. 2 Peter 1 and verse 4 describes
Christians in this way, whereby he hath 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 by lust. And here Peter says that all
of the corruption that foments and spews out of this world system
is driven by the subterranean pressures of lust. Corruption
that is in the world through lust. The world then is driven
by lust and by pride and by spiritual blindness. Back to 2nd Corinthians
4 and verse 4, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the
minds of those that believe not, and add to that Ephesians 4 and
verse 17, where the apostle calling upon believers no longer to walk
as the Gentiles walk, worldlings walk and what characterizes their
walk in the vanity of their mind being darkened in their understanding. They walk the way they walk because
the eyes of the understanding are blind. That's why when Paul
is commissioned by the Lord Jesus as recorded in Acts 26 18 The
risen Lord says to Paul that as you go forth to serve me,
here is your mission, to open their eyes. to turn them from
darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among those
that are sanctified by faith in me." So that world system,
society alienated from God, is driven by lust, pride, and spiritual
blindness. And the fifth thing it says,
This is not exhaustive. I want to give you just a cameo
picture of the world according to the scriptures. This is crucial
for us as believers. It is determined to impose its
way upon all men. It is determined to impose its
way upon all men. Romans 12 and verse 2. Here Paul
writing to those who have been rescued by the grace of God from
the clutches of the devil. They have, in virtue of union
with Christ, died to the dominion of sin. They have risen to newness
of life. They have received the gift of
the Holy Spirit. They have been adopted as sons.
They have the glorious inheritance awaiting them, as outlined so
beautifully in Romans chapter 8. And yet, to such people Paul
must write and say, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service, and be not
fashioned according to this world. Do not allow this world system
to shape and to mold you." Now, why did he need to give that
exhortation? Because this world system is evangelistic and aggressive,
and I may use the terms, it is stinkingly, rottenly, unprincipled
in its determination to take everyone rescued from it and
to draw it back and mold it by its principles. It cannot stand
nonconformity. And therefore when anyone breaks
out of its mold by being cast into the mold of the gospel,
which is the very imagery of Romans 6-17, it is always seeking
to take us back from the mold into which the gospel has cast
us and bring us into its own mold. It is determined to impose
its way upon all men, and therefore Peter has to write, as he does
in 1 Peter 1 and verse 14, 1 Peter 1 and verse 14, as children of
obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts
in the time of your ignorance. But like as he who has called
you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of living. In other
words, in the effort to be holy, there is a constant impediment,
a constant resistance. And where does it come from?
It comes from this world system that would seek to fashion us
according to former patterns in which, as we have already
seen, lust is the driving force in its exercise of influence
upon men. Well, you see, if I'm to understand
as a Christian my responsibility to society, or to use the biblical
term, to the world, I had better understand what the Bible says
the world is. If I have naive, unbiblical,
sub-biblical views of the world, I will never be able to relate
to that world system as I ought And so we have begun then with
this biblical description of the state of society or the world. And although this description
has been far from exhaustive, these descriptions, I trust,
are enough to show the evil nature of the world. And while we recognize
the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty over the world and
even the forces of evil, and while 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
and compassion. I'm fully aware of the doctrine
of common grace. I fully believe in the doctrine
of the absolute sovereignty of God, but nonetheless, What are
we going 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 us of a conviction in the
language of Isaac Watts? Is this vile world a friend of
grace to help me unto God? And the answer is no. It is under
the moral and 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,
and 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 a whole host of things because you realize
if it comes out of that matrix of the world, it reeks with the
smell of hell and drips with the influence of the Prince of
Darkness. Well then, we come now, secondly,
to the biblical description of a Christian's relationship to
this society or to the world. We come to the biblical description
of the Christian's relationship to society or to the world. Now
here is the paradox. For when we examine our Bibles,
we find two apparently contradictory sets of statements regarding
the Christian's relationship to the world. And here they are.
I'll name them, and we'll unpack them briefly one at a time. One
hand we read in scripture that the Christian is not in the world
but has been delivered from it. But on the other hand we read
the Christian is in the world and is to have an influence upon
it. Now there's the apparent paradox. And it's very interesting that
in the Greek the very structure with the prepositions ek followed
by the words, the world, not out of the world and end in the
world. They are used in ways that are
paradoxical. Let's look first of all at the
first strand of the paradox. The Christian is not in the world,
but has been delivered from it. And the key passage that teaches
this truth is John chapter 17. In my preparation, I discovered
something that I should have known a long time ago. This high
priestly prayer of our Lord, I want to say it in a way that
will wake 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 in this prayer. Nineteen times the word world
is in this prayer. And 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. And whatever He prays for us
must surely be the will of God. I need never wonder about my
relationship to the world if it follows the contours of the
prayers of the Son of God. And in this prayer, it is very
clear that the Christian is not in the world, but has been delivered
from it. Look at three texts in John 17,
verse 6. I manifested thy name unto the
men whom thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and
thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word." He describes
his people as those whom the Father gave him out of the world. So that according to this text,
Christ owns no one as his, except those who have been delivered
out of the world. Look at verse 14. Same prayer. 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. And here again, those who are
described as the true people of Christ hated by the world
are those who are not of the world." Again, verse 16, in the
most explicit language imaginable, they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Turn back to John 15 and verse
19, and you have a similar statement. If ye, speaking to his own disciples,
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,
therefore the world hateth you. How could language be plainer
than this? You don't need to know a word of Greek. The English
translations here are quite accurate in reflecting the thought of
God in the original. The Christian is not in the world,
but has been delivered from it. Therefore, when we read through
the rest of 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, the word anophen
can mean born from above. We have a heavenly birth. John
says in John 1, 12 and 13, as many as received him to them
gave ye 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 of God. We have a heavenly birth. We
have a heavenly position right now, 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 quickened us together with Christ and raised us up
to sit in the heavenly places in Christ. We have a heavenly
birth right now. We have a heavenly position.
We have a heavenly citizenship, Philippians 3.20. Our citizenship
is in heaven. From whence we wait for a Savior
who shall fashion the body of our humiliation like unto his
own glorious body. We have a heavenly citizenship. And then we have a heavenly inheritance,
1 Peter 1, 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and 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. And how does he describe it?
An inheritance undefiled, incorruptible, reserved in heaven for you. a heavenly birth, a heavenly
position, a heavenly citizenship, a heavenly inheritance, a heavenly
destiny. If I go to prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am,
there you may be also, John 14. I hope you don't worry of having
all this scripture. To me, it's a wonderful thing to have the
Bible wash over my mind. Amen. That's our identity. The Christian
is not in the world. but has been delivered from it.
But now here's the paradox. The Christian is in the world
and is to have an influence upon it. Go back to John 17. The very
passage which has the richest teaching of the other worldliness
of the Christian also has the richest teaching on the now worldliness
of the Christian. John 17, notice verse 11. And I am no more in the world,
and these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they
may be one, even as we are." Well, he said they are not in
the world, they are not of the world. Now he says that these
are in the world. verses 14 and 15, 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. But though they're
not of the world, they're close enough to the world that the
world can behold them and react to them and the world reacts
in hatred. Verse 15, I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil one verses 17 and 18 sanctify them in the
truth thy word is truth as thou didst send me into the world
even so sent I them into the world so you see the Christian
is not of the world In a true sense, since the Greek language
uses it, he is not in the world, yet he is in the world, and he
is to have an influence upon that world, even though the focal
point of that influence in John 17 and in John 15 and verse 18 is the negative reaction of the
world to the alternate lifestyle of the child of God. If the world
hateth you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. So here we have the apparent
contradiction. The Christian is not in the world,
but has been delivered from it. The Christian is in the world
and is to have an influence upon it. Now, what is the resolution
of the apparent paradox? Well, as I've wrestled with a
way to state it and put different things down in my notes, in my
desperation, I turned up a book that I recently received in Discovering
a Chapter on the Christian in the World, and I came across
a statement that broke the back for me, and this is not the statement
as I read it, but as I have altered it, but I am indebted to another
servant of God for the seed thought. Here is the resolution of the
apparent paradox. The true people of God are spiritually
separated from the world, but they are not socially segregated
from the world. Spiritually separated from it,
so that Jesus can say, you have given them me out of the They
have been delivered from that realm in which Satan controls
the minds and the wills of men. They've been delivered from that
realm in which the driving engines of life are lust and pride and
spiritual blindness. They are delivered from it spiritually,
but they are not socially segregated from it. they live in the midst
of that worldly society so much so and in such close proximity
that that society reacts to them and the Lord Jesus promises them
above all else in their interaction with the world hatred and opposition
and Paul echoed those words when he said in 2nd Timothy 3 and
verse 12 and all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. So we've looked, first of all,
at the biblical description of society or the world, and we
looked at five categories of the Bible's description. Secondly,
we've looked at the biblical description of the Christian's
relationship to society or the world. He is not in the world,
but has been delivered from it. Yet he is in the world and is
to have an influence upon it. Now, thirdly, in the ten minutes
that remain, I want to give a biblical description of the Christian's
general duty to society or to the world. the biblical description
of the Christian's general duty to society or to the world. And this is only his general
duty. And you notice I've used the
word duty? That's a bad word in our day. Because we live in
the day of everyone talking about his rights. Society owes me this. The government owes me this. Everyone is in debt to me. Whereas the teaching of the Bible
is that I am under solemn obligations to fulfill my duty to God and
to my fellow man. What is the first and great commandment? It is not, Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one. O commonwealth of Israel, supply
all the needs of thy subject, no. Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God is one, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. And the second is like unto it,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And you young men
and women especially, listen to If you are not able, at the
deepest levels of your internal life, to break loose with this
damnable, self-terminating, everybody-serve-me mentality, you won't be worth
a nickel as a Christian in this generation. It is a curse that pervades our
society. It is brought forward the God
of self-esteem, self-love, self-worth, and self-worship that is found
worshipped all over and in every nook and cranny of our society. You can't pick up a book on exercise
without self-esteem being forward. A book on diet, self-esteem. A book on education, self-esteem. Do this to enhance your self-esteem. Go here to enhance your self-esteem. And join to the self-esteem is
the notion that the government and society and my parents and
everything and everyone that lives and breathes and moves
and exists does so to serve me. My friend, if you fall prey to
that, you'll not be worth a plug and echo to God but to society.
Therefore, without shame, I use the word duty. I have obligations. God didn't owe me life. He could
have made me a worm buried in the earth waiting for spring
to come till I could wiggle up and have some robin pinch my
head off. 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. You could have been that little
creature that wagged its tail and was waiting to have its head
petted this morning. Did you tell God to make you
a human being and not a dog? All this stupid, self-terminating
obsession. abomination to God and is the
great, great hindrance to biblical Christianity. Don't let the world
squeeze you into it. We're going to think in terms
of duty, and in the few remaining minutes I want to give you just
the barest outline of a biblical description of a Christian's
general duty to society or to the world. Negative? Three things. You're not to love it. 1 John
2.15, love not the world. You are not to set your affection
upon this world system. This world system under the control
of devil, the devil, driven by lust, by pride, and by spiritual
darkness and ignorance. You are not to love it. 1 John
2.15. Under the negative, you're not
to be conformed to it. Romans 12, 2, be not conformed
to this world or this age. Ephesians 4, 17, this I testify
in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk. You're not to be conformed to
it. You're to cry to God for discernment, to recognize when
the world is stretching out its tentacles and seeking to enmesh
and to wrap those tentacles around your thinking, whether it's your
thinking about money, the use of time, what is legitimate diversion
and entertainment, about marriage and what to look for in a marriage
partner, how to Spend your extra money, whatever you are or possess. The world is not neutral with
respect to those things. It wants to squeeze you into
its mold. Be not conformed. Cry 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, of your perspectives,
of your actions, of your desires and ambitions. Don't be conformed
to it. And then thirdly, don't be a
partaker of its sinful ways. Titus 2, 11-14, 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, evil age, looking for the blessed
appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself for our sins, who gave Himself for us, that He might
redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself a people, His
special possession, zealous of good works. Ephesians 5, 7, Be
not partakers, therefore, with them. Remember the prayer of
Jesus. I pray not that thou shouldst
take them out of the world. But what is their greatest enemy?
Keep them from the evil one. Keep them from the machinations
of the devil who would ensnare them through lust, who would
trip them up through ignorance, who would turn them aside by
a sinful conformity to peer pressure. Holy Father, keep them. They're
in a spiritual minefield. And though I could take them
out of the minefield, I'm not going to take them out, but,
oh, Father, guide their feet through that minefield that they
don't get their feet blown off. Keep them from the evil one.
That's the negative. Positively, 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, we are
the salt of the earth. 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. 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 standards of the God of
heaven, we check the putrefaction. We are salt. But Jesus said,
if the salt is lost, it's saved. If you become so much like the
world in your dress, in your speech, in the jokes you'll laugh
at, and in the jokes you'll tell, in the gossip you'll indulge.
in the entertainment that you partake of as diversionary. If you 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,
that was only one sex scene and there were only ten hells and
damns and a few other... My friends, the salt has lost
its savor. You're to be salt, checking the
future. You and I are to be light upon
it, salt in the midst of it, light upon it. Matthew 5, 14
to 16, 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 is 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. Men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil. Every man by nature
is a spiritual mole. He loves the dark tunnels of
moral evil. Your life is a flashlight shining
in His eyes. In the office, when everyone
else is taking thirteen minutes for the ten-minute break, you're
back at your post at ten minutes. Your presence says the rest of
you are sinning. You're a rebuke. You are light
that exposes When everyone titters and laughs at the latest double
innuendo remark, you walk away with a frown upon your face.
That frown is a rebuke. It's light that exposes their
moral uncleanness. Then we are thirdly to be a witness
to it. John 17, 18, Jesus said, that
if the world hates you, I'm sorry, 1718, as thou didst send me into
the world, how was Christ sent into the world? Not to absorb
its defilement, not to conform to its standards, but on a rescue
mission sent to save his people. So he says, I have sent them
into the world As thou didst send me on a mission of mercy
and rescue, even so have I sent them. We are to be a witness
to it against the backdrop of a salty lifestyle that exudes
the light of moral purity. We are to bear verbal witness,
remembering the words of Jesus, Whosoever shall confess me before
men, him will I confess before my Father. Whosoever shall deny
me before men, him will I also deny before my Father." Now that's
just the outline. God willing, in the next hour
we're going to focus on one particular aspect of the Christian's duty
to society and to the world, namely his civic duty his responsibility
to the powers that be. But I hope this outline will
be of help to you. I had to make a decision whether
to give the flyover and to give you these broad perspectives
so you could work them out and pray them through or to concentrate
on particulars, and I compromised with myself and said, well, we'll
do both. And I trust God has blessed this
quick flyover as we've considered together the biblical description
of the state of the world the biblical description of the Christian's
relationship to the world, and the biblical description of the
Christian's general duty to the world. Let us pray. Our Father, we are 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
to our pathway. Thank you for these young men
and women who have gathered from various points of the compass,
that they might sit under that word to know their duty. Lord,
take the things considered this morning and write them upon all
of our hearts. To the end, that we may, in the
truest sense the world, be a people who are not of this world, and
yet while in it, fulfill our mission to it, and then are taken
to our heavenly inheritance, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.