As we noted last week, when it comes to being ‘strangers and aliens, we must CULTIVATE IT (so we are always aware we are ‘set apart’). This week, let’s focus on how we OWN IT (to avoid compromising our life and our allegiance) USE IT (to motivate us toward loving engagement.)
Have you seen those TV commercials where the punch line is, “Want to get away?” The ads resonate because we’ve all been in situations like that. I remember in Bible College leading hymns in chapel one morning, and when I started leading the second verse, I started singing from the wrong page. Yes, I wanted to get away.
But those ads make me think of a more serious reason that we might want to get out of a particular situation. Do you ever look at the world around you and think that you just want to get away from all the junk that's going on?
the horror that is happening in Ukraine
the weariness of the world after 2 years of COVID and all the accompanying grief and loss, as well as the controversies
the increasing coarsening of our culture
Sometimes I want a break. Sometimes I want to go somewhere free of all the brokenness in the world. It wears me down. Jesus once said of those who follow God,
“The world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14)
I grew up in a church community that took that verse seriously. We retreated from the world. Heaven was my home anyway, not this place. The best we could do was quietly try to fly under the radar and pray the world passed by our community without leaving any traces it had been there. We wanted to get away, and for the most part, we did. And yet that’s only the first half of Jesus’ statement. He goes on to say:
“I do not ask that you [God] take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15).
The prayer of Jesus was not that His people get removed from their context, but that while we are in the midst of a broken world, we will be kept safe from spiritual destruction. Growing up, the world may not have left much of a trace on our community – but we didn’t leave much of a trace on them either. We are supposed to have an impact! Paul wrote in Ephesians,
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the lightconsists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)”. (Ephesians 5:8-9)
The whole reason God declared Israel holy was to reveal Himself to the world through them. God set them apart for His divine purpose so the nations in spiritual darkness would receive the light that revealed what Yahweh was like.
"…I shall submit you as a light unto the nations, to be My salvation until the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6
"I the LORD have called unto you in righteousness, and have taken hold of your hand, and submitted you as the people's covenant, as a light unto the nations." Isaiah 42:6
"And unto your light, nations shall walk, and kings unto the brightness of your rising." Isaiah 60:3
Paul, in Galatians 6:16, refers to followers of Jesus as the “Israel of God.” Now, the church is the light unto the nations. If we are going to live as children of light, we have to go to dark places.
Jesus showed God’s plan on how to change the world by moving into a darkened world that needed light – in His case, a Jewish community whose leaders were making “disciples of hell” while living under the shadow of a very pagan Rome. Jesus didn’t show his people how to circle the wagons; he showed them how to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.
How do we do this well? That can be hard. The line between “in” and “of” can be confusing. I read this poem by John Fisher years ago:
“The Ins And Outs Of It ”
"In it, not of it," the statement was made
As Christian One faced the world, much afraid.
"In it, not of it," the call was made clear,
But Christian One got something stuck in his ear.
"Not in it, or of it" was the thing that he heard.
And knowing the world was painfully absurd,
He welcomed the safety of pious retreat,
And went to the potluck for something to eat.
Now Christian Two, he knew what to do,
He'd show those fundies a thing or two!
How will the world ever give Christ a try
If we don't get in there and identify?
So "In it, and of it," he said in his car,
As he pulled in and stopped at a popular bar.
"I'll tell them the truth as soon as I'm able
To get myself out from under this table."
Now along comes Christian Three jogging for Jesus,
In witnessing sweats made of four matching pieces.
His earphones are playing a hot Christian tune
About how the Lord is coming back soon.
"Not in it, but of it," he turns down the hill
And stops in for a bite at the Agape Grill.
Like the gold on the chain of his "God Loves You" bracelet,
He can have the world without having to face it.
While way up in heaven they lament these conditions
That come from changing a few prepositions.
And Jesus turns to Gabriel, shaking His head.
" 'In it, not of it,' wasn't that what I said?"
- John Fisher
The church in Corinth had “in it and of it” problem. In his first visit to Corinth, Paul had apparently warned them about associating with people who were defiantly and proudly sinful.[1] Unfortunately, they did not understand what he was trying to say.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul clarified his command from his previous visit: “I didn’t mean people who aren’t following Christ. You would have to leave the world.” In other words, of course you are going to have friends and relate to people who don’t agree with you or live like you. You live in Corinth. You are in Corinth. In his second letter, he gives them a little more clarity on how not to be “of” Corinth:
“Don’t be unequally yoked[2] with unbelievers. What common interest can there be between goodness and evil? How can light and darkness share life together? How can there be harmony between Christ and the devil? What faith do those who believe have in common with those who do not? What common ground can idols hold with the temple of God? For we, remember, are ourselves living temples of the living God.” (2 Corinthians 6:14 - 7:1)
The yoke referred to here was one used by farmers. They would hook up two oxen for plowing a (hopefully) straight line. There were good combinations and bad. If one ox was stronger or taller, it would overpower the other, and the line would curve. But if they were the same, their strengths balanced each other out, and they moved steadily toward a common goal.
Now, Paul already made clear to the people in Corinth that he was NOT telling us to withdraw from culture or from people who are not followers of Christ. We cannot accomplish the mission that Jesus started if we don’t have a vital presence in our community. Jesus himself did not pray that we would be removed. This isn’t a moratorium on relationships. The early church had a huge impact by simply being a Godly presence in their cities. #saltandlight.
And yet Paul also highlights a crucial reality: Everybody yokes.
All people attach themselves to a person, organization, worldview or movement. Sometimes - perhaps often if all is well - there are common temporal community goals toward which we can legitimately partner with those who do not share our allegiance to Christ: helping the sick, feeding the hungry, housing the refugee, keeping our water clean.
Other times, this kind of coalition is not possible. Some people will walk with us on a path paved with the values of the Kingdom of God, but some will attempt to pull up those pavers or pull us onto a different path the leads to a different Kingdom altogether.
Everything with which we yoke works with us or against us as we move toward a goal.
If we are not alert, we will often unconsciously yoke poorly and compromise the Christian integrity of our lives. We become comfortable in a world that is not our home, and eventually we will live by the standards of the world.
We hear message after message about how money and things will lead to the good life, and they are ours to do with what we want– and if that begins to feel comfortable, we will begin to yoke with a world that is remarkably at odds with every biblical principle about how to use and view wealth and things.[3]
We hear over and over that we should follow our heart or be true to ourselves, when biblically speaking those are both terrible ideas. We are to make sure our heart follows God’s heart; we are supposed to be true to Christ. I don’t yoke with the philosophy of Titanic; I yoke with the philosophy of Jesus.
Our culture tells us we are free to do anything we want and nobody should tell us what to do, but those are not biblical notions. Biblical freedom is freedom from the enslavement of sin and into the freedom to follow Jesus. God absolutely tells us what to do and who to be, and we are embedded in a community of God’s people who are supposed to speak into our lives not just to encourage us, but to reprimand us in line with God’s Word. I am guided toward what I ought to do all the time by the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the counsel of people around me who care about me. It’s life in the Kingdom of God. I am yoked with a King; I live in a Kingdom, and that King gets to tell me what to do.
Our culture tells us it’s our right right to say virtually anything we want to say; the Bible tells me the tongue is a fire, and my words have the power of life and death, and that I dare not have bitter words come out of my mouth. I am yoked with a Holy Spirit whose fruits include patience, kindness, and self-control.
Our culture insists on the right to pursue happiness; the Bible tells me I have the responsibility to pursue holiness, which may or may not lead to happiness.
Be careful who shares your spiritual yolk.
During the Roman persecutions we have been reading about in Revelation, Christians were commanded to cast a little incense on the altar of a pagan god. They refused to do it, and many were killed; those who didn’t certainly suffered economic hardship. Just a little incense. No big deal, right? This was a question of yoke. It was a question of spiritual partnership, of allegiance.
Who gets our conscious, deliberate yoke? (What orders our life: how we think about issues, what we prioritize, etc.)
Whom do we most want to please/ are most willing to offend? We have traveling companions; who are we most willing to push away, and who do we invest in the most to keep them close?
As we plough a trail through the world, whose trails does it most look like?
Who gets to share our yolk as we plough through life?
This question is not meant to make us disengage. Paul was not exhorting people to stay away from, ignore or hate people with whom spiritual yoking was not a good idea. Not at all. If anything, we ought to be going into fields full of crooked lines and ploughing straight ones. That we cannot spiritually yoke with people both we and God love should motivate us to live as faithful ambassadors in a world in desperate need of the gospel. Here was God’s direction to the Jews in Babylonian exile:
“Build houses—make homes for your families because you are not coming back to Judah anytime soon. Plant gardens, and eat the food you grow there. Marry and have children; find wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, so that they can have children. During these years of captivity, let your families grow and not die out. Pursue the peace and welfare of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to Me, the Eternal, for Babylon because if it has peace, you will live in peace.” (Jeremiah 29:5-11)
That’s a very specific order for the Israelites, so let’s consider how this command has played out over church history in other situation. I’m reading now from manuscripts that have survived from the times of the early church.
The Epistle to Diognetes, c. AD 130
For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity…
But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life.
They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all others; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.
They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men and are persecuted by all.
They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and restored to life. They are poor yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things and yet abound in all; they are dishonored and yet in their very dishonor are glorified.
They are evil spoken of and yet are justified; they are reviled and bless; they are insulted and repay the insult with honor; they do good yet are punished as evildoers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life.
They are assailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. To sum it all up in one word -- what the soul is to the body, that are Christians in the world.”
From the Apology of Tertullian, AD 197
“We are a body knit together as such by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. We meet together as an assembly and congregation, that, offering up prayer to God as with united force, we may wrestle with Him in our supplications…
We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the final consummation. We assemble to read our sacred writings . . . and with the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more steadfast; and no less by inculcations of God’s precepts we confirm good habits.
Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of purchase-money, as of a religion that has its price. On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary.
These gifts are . . . not spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines or banished to the islands or shut up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God's Church, they become the nurslings of their confession.
But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another, for they themselves are animated by mutual hatred. See, they say about us, how they are ready even to die for one another, for they themselves would sooner kill.”
Clement, describing the person who has come to know God, wrote,
“He impoverishes himself out of love, so that he is certain he may never overlook a brother in need, especially if he knows he can bear poverty better than his brother. He likewise considers the pain of another as his own pain. And if he suffers any hardship because of having given out of his own poverty, he does not complain.”[4]
Sociologist Rodney Stark:
". . . Christianity served as a revitalization movement that arose in response to the misery, chaos, fear, and brutality of life in the urban Greco-Roman world. . . . Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms and new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent problems.
To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachment. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity.
And to cities faced with epidemics, fire, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services. . . . For what they brought was not simply an urban movement, but a new culture capable of making life in Greco-Roman cities more tolerable." [5]
They lived in Rome, but they were not of it Do you see the patterns?
Followed the customs they could, but offered new norms.
Valued families
Protected the vulnerable
Practiced Generosity/Charity
Provided health of all kinds
Lived with chastity/sexual restraint
Surpassed Roman law
Responded to evil with good
Suffered hardship with integrity
Formed tight communities
“See how they love one another.”
Preached the gospel in word and deed
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the lightconsists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)”. (Ephesians 5:8-9)
[1] I Corinthians 5:9-12 “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked person from among you.”
[2] 2086 heterozygéō (from 2087 /héteros, "another of a different kind" and 2218/zygós, "a yoke, joining two to a single plow") –different kinds of people joined together but unevenly matched; hence "unequally yoked" (not aptly joined). (HELPS Word Studies)
[3] One example of how we take economic ideas for granted: did you know the concept of retirement is only about 100 years old? Yet now we order our lives around it. I’m not saying that makes it wrong; it's just a concept we take for granted that Christians for 2,000 years did not. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/how-retirement-was-invented/381802/
[4] http://earlychurch.com/unconditional-love.php
[5] Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity, Princeton University Press, 1996, page 161.