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Why should we relate to the world at all? A look at what the Bible says about reaching out to the world and what our responsibility is and isn't in promoting the message of Jesus Christ. Listen to the Lecture Download as a PDF file.
IntroductionHistorically the Christian Church has been inconsistent in its relationship to the world at large. The early church was very focused towards being an appropriate influence in the world and quietly grew from a group of 70 Jews huddled in an upper room in Jerusalem to become the dominant worldview in the Roman Empire in just a few centuries. After Christianity became the majority religion, however, the church struggled to properly relate to the rest of the world. The pendulum would swing between two extremes: cloistering and crusading. Cloistered ChristiansAs early as the 4 th century, Christians began developing the idea that to be holy required that one be removed from society. The idea was that society corrupts and that only in an ascetic lifestyle could someone achieve a sinless life. This developed into the monastic lifestyle that we still have remnants of today in the monks and nuns of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. There are numerous stories of the outrageous steps that some monks took in order to isolate themselves from society and sinful influences. In the 5 th century there was an order of monks called the “Stylites,” who, in order to isolate themselves from the corrupt world, would sit on top of tall pillars. One Stylite, Symeon, sat on top of a series pillars for 37 years. The last pillar he sat on was 70 feet tall and had a platform at the top that was three feet across (Robertson). The attraction of cloistering remains with the Church today. It is not as obvious Symeon sitting atop a 70-foot pillar. Today's cloistering is subtler. We still live in secular houses, drive secular cars, and for the most part, have secular jobs. But late 20 th Century American Evangelicals have nonetheless developed a Christian sub-culture that increasingly cloisters us and removes us from society. We listen to Christian radio stations, have our own Christian celebrities, read Christian romance novels, support Christian businesses, and associate only with Christian friends. Now I'm not saying there is anything wrong with these things in and of themselves. I listen to I listen to Christian music, and subscribe to Christian magazines. But when we use our Christian subculture to escape and avoid the world rather than to equip us to engage and make a difference in the world, it reveals a cloistered attitude that goes against the very purpose for which we are on this earth. Jesus did not call us to avoid the world around us but to engage the world. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to God the Father: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one… As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world (John 17:15, 18)." But the reality is that most of us would rather avoid the world into which Jesus has sent us. Most of us have very few if any significant relationships with non-believers. George Barna, a Christian pollster, came to this conclusion: "Research among Christians has found that… we tend to associate with other Christians and thus have few significant relationships with nonbelievers. We struggle with evangelism because we are isolated from the people God has called us to influence (Barna, 149). " Crusading ChristiansA few centuries after the rise of monasticism, the Christian Church began to relate to the world militarily. In 1095 AD, Pope Urban II called on all the Western European armies to bring Christianity back to the Jerusalem, which by then had long been occupied by Islamic peoples. So, the crusades began and armies from all over Christianized Europe journeyed thousands of miles to retake the Holy Land for Christ. The crusades ultimately failed to take the land from the Muslims. But, perhaps worse, established an animosity between the Church and rest of the world. Examples of the crusading attitude continued for centuries. It resulted in the Spanish Inquisition of the 16 th century, where authorities would torture Jews until they “converted” to Christianity [1]. The Roman Catholic “missionaries” sent to the New World after its discovery, conquered, annihilated, or assimilated entire civilizations in an attempt to “Christianize” the natives. While the Church has long confessed and repented of the atrocities of the crusades, inquisitions, and other “conquests for Christ,” the Evangelical Church today often retains this crusading attitude. Our crusades today are of a political and moral nature. Our crusades consist of protesting at abortion clinics, passing anti-homosexual ballot measures, or jamming the phone lines of the Justice Department. While our methods are more “democratic,” often times our attitudes are just as atrocious as a medieval crusader slaughtering the infidels occupying Jerusalem. And sadly, our methods often do more to turn people away from Christ rather than draw them to Him. Now I am not saying that Christians should not have a voice in the political process or that Christians shouldn't be addressing the moral and social ills in our country. But when we as Christians are better known for our political stance than our love, somewhere along the way we've missed the boat. When the world perceives the Christian message as a political agenda rather than the gospel of Christ somewhere along the way we've forgotten our priorities. Jesus did not say "They will know you are my disciples by your stand on gay marriage." He did not say "They will know you are my disciples by your political party affiliation." He said “ By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35).” The result of this modern cloistering and crusading is an isolated and combative Christian culture that huddles together in church groups and throws political and moral grenades at the world. Linda Raney Wright says it well in her book, Christianity's Crisis in Evangelism: "Sadly, many Christians have bought the idea that the non-Christian is the enemy whom we need to fear, confront, and defeat. Other Christians determine to avoid contact with non-Christians by establishing lifestyles which remove them by and large from secular influence. Both positions are deadly (Wright, 16)." So, why should Christians relate to the world at all? Why shouldn't we just sit in our holy huddles and ignore the rest of society? It comes first from the commandment of Christ, and then the passion of God. The Commandment of ChristActs 1:8The book of Acts begins with the last days before Jesus ascension into heaven. During these days, Jesus explained to his followers more about the kingdom of God and how a resurrected Messiah fit into the scheme of things. In light of that, his followers asked him, “is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). His followers were basically asking Jesus if he was going to establish an earthly kingdom that would rule the whole world [2]. Jesus followers were not off base in this question. The Old Testament is filled with prophecies that predict the restoration of a Jewish nation; a nation that will be ruled directly by the Messiah; a nation that will be the most influential nation in the world. With the recent triumph of the resurrection, the disciples were legitimately speculating that the Jesus might be about to establish his Messianic kingdom. Jesus responds to their question by telling them: "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:7-8)." In essence, Jesus is telling them that instead of concerning themselves with the details of the Old Testament prophecies, they should instead focus themselves on being a witness of who Jesus is to the entire world (Ryrie, 1727) . That is, to tell others what they have experienced and to share the message they have heard concerning Jesus to their city, their province, and ultimately to the entire world. We are commanded by Jesus himself to relate to the world; to share and proclaim who Jesus is, what he has done, and what his message is to the entire world. This does not permit cloistering. This does not suggest crusading. It is communicating the message of Jesus to the world. The communication needs to involve a personal testament to who Jesus is. If you think in terms of a court of law, a witness is one who has seen or experienced something, and then is willing to communicate that experience for the record. For the followers of Jesus who heard this commandment, their “court testimony” would be simply telling what they saw and heard Jesus do while he was with them. But for modern Christians, we haven't seen or heard directly what Jesus did. Instead, our “court testimony” will necessarily need to be different. First, while we cannot directly testify to what Jesus did, we can become experts in what has been recorded historically about Jesus. This demands that we become scholars of the scriptures and that we diligently search out the truth about who Jesus is and what he has done. We need to become “court-recognized experts” in the life and message of Jesus. Secondly, we can directly testify to the influence Jesus has had on our personal life. How has being a Christian changed us? How does the life and message of Jesus impacted who we are, what we do, and how we think? We can be a first hand witness to the influence of Jesus on our lives. In our experientially driven culture today, this maybe the more effective method. Charles Colson affirms this second testimony of modern Christians: "Authentic evangelism must involve the totality of life. Jesus said, 'You shall be My witnesses,' but a lot of Christians have taken that commandment to mean that we are to witness. So we have reduced evangelism to verbal formulas, neat, easy-step plans; just utter these simple phrases and you'll be part of the club…. Packaging the Gospel into tidy package has some serious dangers. For one thing, it tends to cheapen the message…. This is why it is so important to focus on Jesus command that we be witnesses. Jesus means, I believe, that evangelism is to involve the totality of our lives. Everything about our lifestyle counts- how we spend our money, our political values, our domestic relations, and on and on.” (Colson, 103) Matthew 5:13-16You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:13-14)." This passage is within a message given by Jesus, known as the Sermon on the Mount . The first issue we must resolve in this passage is who the “You” is to which that Jesus is referring. If we look back at the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, we see it begins with what is sometimes called the Beatitudes. These are a series of “blessings” Jesus proclaims on a certain type of person, or a certain character. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God… (Matthew 5:3) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied…(Matthew 5:6) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God… (Matthew 5:8) Those whom Jesus proclaims as the salt of the earth and the light of the world are those who exhibit the characteristics of people described in the Beatitudes [3]. It is the person who is poor in spirit, who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, not someone who is proud and arrogant of their righteousness. It is the one pure in heart, who is honest with themselves and those around them about who they are. Christians, whose lifestyle has been impacted by Jesus, will be the people who exhibit these characteristics. We have a role to play in relating to our world. We are the salt-seasoning of the world. Our humble, pure hearts can bring an influence to the world that will change the way the world tastes, just as a pinch of salt can change the way an entire entrée can taste. We are the light of the world. Our hunger for righteousness and mercy will bring light to the entire world, just as a small candle can fill an entire room with light. If, as a Christian, these things don't characterize you, then you are probably not going to be much of a light and won't give much flavor to the world. What Jesus says to you is, “what good are you?” Salt that's lost its flavor is tossed out. This is not an excuse not to be an influence in the world. It is a call to let Jesus change your character. It is a call to become a person who stands out from the world, not because of your moral superiority, but because of your transparency and humility. It is the uniqueness of our character itself that will serve as the salt and the light. As Colson says, being a witness involves the totality of our lives. This, too, is being a witness of Jesus, for this is the character that Jesus showed when he walked on the earth. But, as Jesus says, you don't put a lamp under a basket. You must be in the world, not cloistered away from it. The Passion of GodWhile it is certainly enough that Jesus commands us to relate to our world, there is a deeper, more important, and potentially more motivating reason for us to share the message of Jesus with those around us. God has a deep and passionate love for the world; and it is a passion and love that He wants us to have as well. 2 Peter 3:9Around 66 AD, the Apostle Peter wrote a letter to a church that was undergoing tremendous persecution by the Roman authorities. Peter used this letter to encourage them by reminding to “be diligent” because the Lord will soon return. Those suffering under persecution, however, must have wondered why God was taking so long to bring vengeance on their enemies and to rescue them from their plight. To this Peter responds: "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, no wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). " Peter is giving us a picture of God's passion for all to find Him. He is a God who is slow to anger, not quick to judge. He is a relenting God. God will take his time to bring about the end of the world, because His ultimate desire is to see all repent and enter a relationship with Him. God's great desire is to see all people come to Him, to the point of delaying his judgment. We, then, need to have this same desire, this same passion for those who are not Christians. We should not be quick to judge, but quick to share the message of Jesus with them. It is the passion and desire of our Lord. It should be our desire and passion as well. John 3:16This is probably the most famous in the Bible, due in part to the fact that millions of kids in Sunday School were taught to memorize this verse, and due in part to posters and signs bearing its reference at televised football games. Unfortunately, familiarity often breeds contempt, and as such, we have lost the importance of the message. The verse is actually the words of Jesus, taken from the middle of a discussion He was having with a prominent Jewish leader named Nicodemus. We will look at this discussion in greater detail next week. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). " Why should we relate to our world? Because God loves this world. This is not just a fond affection however. God's love for the world is so deep and so passionate, that He willingly sent His Son to die as a sacrifice for the world. This is the essence of Christian teaching, but it speaks so clearly to the passion of God; His love for all people, the world, motivated his sacrifice. Christians who refuse to associate, carry animosity towards, or actively crusade against the world are in direct conflict with the fundamental message of Christianity. If God was willing to go this far to reach this world, Christians who refuse to engage the world in a loving, caring way are in direct violation of God's most fundamental desires. Luke 15Jesus life exhibited in practical ways how we should relate to our world. He carried the same passion and love as His Father. But Jesus relationship to the non-religious, the “sinners,” was a cause for criticism by the Jewish religious leaders of his day. Jesus' AssociatesIn Luke 15:1-3, Jesus is hanging out with what the writer describes as “tax collectors and sinners.” Tax collectors were hated people, not just because of the abusive taxation levied on the people, but because they were seen as traitors of the Jewish people. They were Jews who worked for the occupying Romans. As such, the idiom, “tax collectors and sinners,” meant the worst of the worst, the low-life. It would be the equivalent of Jesus hanging out today with gang members, drug dealers, and child molesters. This was not the first time Jesus was with these people. Jesus made a habit of associating with the dregs of society. He even called a tax collector, Matthew Levi, to be one of his disciples. He attended parties with them (Luke 5:27-32). Known prostitutes followed Jesus. The Jewish religious leaders were troubled that Jesus, a respected teacher, would be associating with these people. In 15:2, it says they grumbled at the situation, and it became a source of criticism that they would levy at Jesus. In response to their grumbles, Jesus tells three stories, or parables. The Story of the Lost Sheep & the Lost CoinThe first story, in Luke 15:4-7 tells of a shepherd who discovers one of his sheep is missing. He leaves behind the rest of his sheep, unprotected, to go and search for the lost one. And when he finds it, he is excited and joyful at the one sheep he has found. Jesus says the same is true in heaven. "…there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:7). " The second story, in Luke 15:8-10 tells of a woman who has lost a coin. She searches all over the house and finally finds the lost coin. We she finds it she calls her friends and tells them of her exciting find. Jesus repeats that this is true in heaven. "…there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10). " The Story of the Prodigal SonThe final story in this trio is the well-known parable of the prodigal son. Jesus tells of a young man who leaves his father, squanders the family fortune, and ends up destitute. At his low-point, he remembers his family and wonders if he can come back and work as a slave for his father. So he returns home. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called son.” But the Father said to his slaves, “Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found (Luke 15:20-23). The Father is deeply passionate about the return of his son. He runs to him, almost ignores the confession of his son, and begins to celebrate by throwing a large party. There is no lecture, no “I told you so”, no penance or punishment. It is pure compassion and love. "For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found (Luke 15:23). " The story goes on to tell us about the prodigal sons older brother. This is the brother who did not run off and squander the family fortune. This is the brother who remained faithful. And this is the brother who does not share in the joy of his father. Upon his brother's homecoming, He complains that this unworthy louse of a brother gets the big party. His years of faithful service to the father have never been rewarded. He resents the love and attention given to the repentant son. This is a not so veiled condemnation of the grumbling Pharisees. The Pharisees, like the older brother, do not share in the compassion of the Father. They are more worried about getting their reward than they are about the repentant son. It is a condemnation of selfishness, and a condemnation of a heart that does not track with God. This is also a condemnation of cloistering and crusading Christians. When we remove ourselves from the world, or do battle with the world, we are the selfish older brothers. We are the arrogant prideful Pharisees. We do not share the compassion that Jesus himself has for those who do not know God. ConclusionThe reality is, none of us is the older brother. None of us has been the faithful servant of our Father. We all have been prodigal sons, who have run away from home and squandered the family fortune. Romans 3 says: "There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God…There is none who does good. There is not even one (Romans 3:10-12). " The very same Christians who huddle up and complain about the unrighteous evil in the world have forgotten that that except for the grace of God, they either have been or would be in the same boat. To not want to relate to our world, to not want to share the message of Jesus with those who do not believe is the ultimate act of selfishness. It's an “I've got mine and you can't have it” attitude. It is disobedience to the commandment of Christ. It is directly opposed to the passion of God and the core of the message of Christianity. And if the salt has lost is saltiness, then Jesus says, "It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men (Matthew 5:13). " Why should you relate to your world? It is the commandment of Christ and the Passion of God. Footnotes
BibliographyBarna, George. Evangelism That Works. Ventura CA: Regal, 1995. Colson, Charles. Faith on the Line. Victor Books, 1994. Robertson, Rev. J. C. Sketches of Church History. http://www.biblestudytools.net/History/AD/SketchesofChurchHistory/ (accessed April 2, 2007). Ryrie, Charles Caldwell. Ryrie Study Bible. Chicago: Moody Press, 1995. Wright, Linda Raney. Christianity's Crisis in Evangelism. Gresham OR: Vision House, 1995.
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