I Am Not of This World

Bryan Chapell: You need him. Our efforts, our goodness is not enough. We actually depend upon the grace of God. And the first great limp that we take as those who testify of the goodness of Christ in the world is we say, I need him.
Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace. The Audio Broadcast Ministry of pastor and author Brian Chapel. In today's episode, pastor Brian shares a lesson from John 17. When investigating what the markers are of a follower of Christ, Dr. Chapel highlights the age-old question, how can you be in this world but not of it? You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for pastor Brian's book, The Multi-Generational Church Crisis. This compelling book asks the question of the church, what could be accomplished in the name of Christ if we could better understand each other? Let's hear now from Dr. Brian Chapel as he shares the lesson, I am not of this world.
Bryan Chapell: What is the mark of a disciple? We need to know because you recognize there are people who gather in the church as they did in Christ's name who think they are disciples, but the one actually being fooled the most is they themselves. What would be the mark of a disciple that is not false at all, but absolutely necessary to be those who take the name of Christ into the world? Curiously enough, we might learn from that man at the intersection who was faking it what the mark of true discipleship is. True disciples, after all, are marked by limping well and hugging well, and ultimately running well. You want to see the need for the limp, you have only to look at the calling in verses 15 and 16. Jesus here describes what his disciples are called to do by the way in which he prays for them to the Father. He says in verse 15, Father, I do not ask that you take them that is my disciples 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. What What is the calling of a disciple of Jesus Christ? A disciple of Jesus Christ is to be in the world. He doesn't pray that we be taken out of the world. To be in the world, but not of the world. For those of you who know something of our nation's history, that is what is known as the Puritan dilemma. How How do you live in the world to have influence upon it as a disciple and at the same time not be so influenced by it that you do not become a negative example? How do you get in the soup of a broken, sinful world and not soak it in so that you become unusable for the purposes of the testimony of Christ? How do you be in the world but not of the world? The difficulty of being in the world but not of the world is explained in the same passage. If we just back up one verse, one of the reasons it's so hard to be in the world but not of the world is that the world hates us. Verse 14. Jesus says of his disciples in his prayer, I have given them your word, Father, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. The hatred of the world, its opposition, its pressures, its crises, its trials tempts us to flee out of the world, to go into isolation, to protect ourselves, to to get into a little Christian huddle and and to so isolate ourselves from the world that we will not be hurt by difficult people, evil people, people who do not share our values. The great tendency is always to retreat out of the world because they don't like us. And that causes us not to like to be among them. It's difficult to hear the language of people like Abraham Kuyper, one of the great Christian theologians who said, what Christ is reminding us as the creator of all things is, there is not one inch of the world over which Jesus just not stand and say, this is mine. Where you are, but but where the enemy is, where difficult people are, where sinful societies, that's still Christ's world into which we are called to take his name and his glory. We are to be stretching the boundaries as it were of the church. It's part of what we say is our calling now as a church ourselves, not just to be attracting people here, but to be sending people into communities, into neighborhoods, into other places where we might say, but it's hard there. The temptation, of course, is for the world's hatred to turn us inward when disciples are moving outward. But the world's opposition is not the only difficulty. In order to be in the world but not of the world, we have to face verse 15 as well. Jesus says there, Father, I do not ask that you take the disciples out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. The opposition of the world makes us want to retreat. The temptations of the evil one make us want to conform. Lest they hate us, we want to be like them. We don't want to be ill thought of. In fact, we find that so many things in the world actually attract us as the evil one actually wants to spoil our testimony and make us like the rest of the world instead of being separate and different from it. I don't have to tell you. You already know this. We recover the statistics over and over again. While we are called to be in the world but not of it, the reality of those who identify themselves as Bible-believing, evangelical, born-again Christians, which by the way in our culture right now are at the highest percentage of any time in our nation's history, those who identify themselves as born again. And at the very same moment, among those who survey us, they will say those who say they are born again differ very little from the rest of the world around us. Our divorce rates are not much different. Our abortion rates are not much difference. Our entertainments are not much different. Our wealth priorities are not much different. Our pornography use is not much different. We're just not much different. We have been in the soup but soaked it in. It is extremely hard to be in the world and not of it. And the first limp that Christians make is when they just say that to one another. It is hard to live out the calling of being in the world but not of it. And so we confess that we need help, and some of that help that we need is identified in verse 17. Jesus praying for these disciples prays to the Father. Father, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. How am I going to live a sanctified, pure, holy life in a world that is not sanctified pure or holy? Lord, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Wouldn't it be awful if God said, I expect you to go out and live a separated, sanctified, holy life, and we say, great Lord, how? And the Lord will say, I'm not going to tell you. He didn't do that. He gave us his word, a reflection of his own character and care. So often we think of the standards of the word of God is some eternal kill joys commandments. Instead of recognizing that when God is calling us to purity, to faithfulness, to fidelity, to honesty, what he is saying is, here's a reflection of his own holiness that he is now outlining for our lives so that we who want to protect our families, we who want to have our integrity, our character protect, he's saying, here's the way, here is the safe and the good path that I am giving for you. And our God is by his great mercy and grace giving us his word that we might know the path of sanctification. Sounds easy. You and I know it's not easy at all. And so the very same God who says that he would give us the word that would tell us how we might be sanctified gives us something even more that we will need. Verse 19. Jesus prays, Father, for their sake I consecrate myself that they may also be sanctified in the truth.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the Audio Broadcast Ministry of pastor and author Brian Chapel. It may seem hard for younger Christians to believe, but people over 50 were raised during an era when 90% of Americans identified as Christian. These older believers were once part of a majority group that understood the mission of the church was to take control of our culture, to halt its evils. At the same time, Christians under 50 have lived their entire lives perceiving themselves as a minority that needs to make credible their faith to a secular pluralistic culture. These distinct experiences and perceptions have a profound impact on the priorities different generations have for church ministry. It's no wonder that younger and older believers don't always see eye to eye. In his new book, The Multi-Generational Church Crisis, Dr. Brian Chapel asks the question, what could be accomplished in the name of Christ if we could better understand each other? This practical and hopeful book is backed by thorough research revealing how to open the lines of communication, appreciate the experiences that shaped each generation in your church, and unite in one mission to impact your community and the world. You can request your copy of the Multi-Generational Church Crisis when you donate online at unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41 Grace. That's 844-414-7223. And now, more from Brian Chapel on today's Unlimited Grace.
Bryan Chapell: Having said, here's how you are to live, he then says, but what you will ultimately need, Father, is to sanctify them by my consecration. Do you remember what consecration means? It's something that is set aside for a holy purpose. What has God the Father set aside Christ for? His hour has come. He will come to suffer and to die for his people because the sanctified lives they were supposed to live they do not live, and therefore he would take upon himself the penalty of our sin that we might be sanctified in him. Ultimately what God is saying and what we will soon celebrate in this meal is that you need him. Our efforts, our goodness is not enough. We actually depend upon the grace of God. And the first great limp that we take as those who testify of the goodness of Christ in the world is we say, I need him. While I want to walk in a path that glorifies my God, while I desire the sanctification that I know is good for myself and for my family, over and over again I find myself soaking in the soup of the world and its evil and its difficulty challenge me and its crises move me into isolation. I am going to need some mercy and forgiveness as much as I've tried. And this is what God says, I consecrated my son for that. I so appreciate that that God is not saying to you and to me, the way in which you will be sanctified is by your work. Instead he is saying the way in which you will be sanctified is by the work of my son in your behalf. This this frightens people always that that we at the same moment that we talk about the requirements of the sanctification of the people of God, we talk about the grace of God in Christ Jesus providing for their holiness. And the reality that is people say, well, well, if the grace of God is so great, why should I strive to be pure and holy at all? After all, there's a math of the mind that says, if God is going to be gracious, why bother to be good? The answer is that there is a chemistry of the heart that is stronger than the math of the mind. When the math of the mind says, why don't I just take advantage of the grace of God? The chemistry of the heart says, if he loved me enough to die for me, if the grace of God is so great and so beautiful that he would send Christ, his only son, to die for me, I want to walk with him. I want to live for him. The very first church that I pastored was a a little church. I mean, Easter Sunday, a really good Easter Sunday would be about 25 people on an Easter Sunday. There weren't many people. It was a little church, but I was invited to kind of learn to pastor while I was in seminary and and I would go over on weekends and and I would teach and preach at that little church. Preaching was a good place to learn. It was also great for me to be in the college and careers class. The reason it was good to be in the college careers class as the teacher there was because there were there were two people in the college and careers class, Kathy and her sister. They were both single at the time as was I. One day after church, Kathy's father, an elder in that church, asked if if I wanted to go on a picnic with the family. Now, did you catch it? I'm single and food is being offered. What did I say? Sure. And so there in Southern Illinois, some of you may know the area where all the major rivers of the Midwest gather. Uh there is a road called the Great River Road where the river runs a mile wide. The white limestone cliffs line the highway, and on a beautiful fall day I was asked to go with this family on a picnic. And we drove up the Great River Road up to a place called Elsa, which is a restored Victorian village. Remember all the Victorian homes with all the gingerbread and the different colors on the filigree, just absolutely beautiful. And after this beautiful lunch together, this wonderful young woman said to me, would you like to take a walk with me? All right, let me describe this again. The sky is blue. The sun is shining. The leaves are turning colors. She's got blonde hair, green eyes, red sweater. She says, would you like to take a walk with me? I said, you bet. She's beautiful. Why wouldn't I want to walk with her? Why does the gospel tell us the beauty of the grace of God? To tell us that he who is king from all creation would be willing to offer himself on a cross for your sin and for mine. When he knew the worst about us, he would sacrifice himself for us. When we see the beauty of his grace and he says, do you want to walk with me? What does the chemistry of the heart say? You bet. If that's how beautiful your heart, if that is how great is your love for me, then I know that I want to walk with you. We are called to limp, to say I can only do it by his grace. But he calls me now and I need him. This is what I need. I need his grace to forgive my sin. He's called me to holiness. I don't live it. I need this and I declare it to the world by participating in communion saying, these elements represent the grace of God that I need to be right with him. It is not in my hand. It is my faith and what he has done, and I affirm it by participating in this communion meal with others. But it's that notion of doing it with others that's also in view for us here. To remember that what Jesus is doing is he is calling his disciples not only to limp well, but if you will to hug each other well. In verse 21, Jesus just begins by saying that he wants all to be one. Just he says as Father, you're in me and I'm in you. Further explanation is in verse 22. Jesus says, the glory that you have given me, Father, I have given to them my disciples that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you and me that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me. What's the mark of a disciple? Not only that we would be in the world but not of it by the grace of God, but also that we disciples would be one, that the love that Christ and the Father share would be reflected in us. That love would be here. Now, I say it and I automatically having said it feel kind of the the the sentimental saccharine notion of saying what all preachers everywhere say, there ought to be more love in this place. You know, I feel like I'm somehow quoting something from the Princess Bride that some of you have seen 1,400 times, right? Love is a beautiful thing, you know. See, some of you have seen the Princess Bride 1,400 times. It's not only a beautiful thing, it is an amazingly powerful thing. When people who face difficulty with each other, when they face hurt with each other, when they face differences among each other, nonetheless love in the name of Jesus Christ, the world knows. That is what Jesus says. The world knows something is different there, that Christ has come, that he indwells, that the Father who is in him is now in us, and that there is something unique among God's people. And when it is gone, there is no evidence of the gospel, no matter how good our truth and how formal we live our lives. No one has said that better than Francis Schaeffer, the great Christian theologian who wrote the book, The Mark of a Disciple. And Francis Schaeffer, who surely believed in the importance of theology, certainly believed in the importance of righteous living, nonetheless said that love among believers was the indispensable mark of a Christian. And he spoke out of experience. Francis Schaeffer's ministry was largely formed during that portion of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s in which American evangelicalism was engaged in this culture in what was known as the Battle for the Bible. We were trying to stand firm to say that what the Bible says is true, that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he lived a sinless life, that he died upon the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and then he rose physically in victory over that. And that if we do not believe that, we are all men most to be pitied, said the apostle Paul, because if Jesus Christ did not rise, we are yet dead in our sins. And believe it or not, there were churches across this nation who were saying, you should be good to one another and you should be kind to other people, but we're no longer affirming those truths. And Schaeffer stood with others who said, we will affirm the virgin birth. We will affirm the substitutionary atonement. Christ died for our sins. We will affirm that he rose physically from the dead. And having stood in that battle almost lost his faith. Do you know why? Because he was with other people who so much were zealous for those arguments that they became completely unloving in the way that they expressed it, not only in separating from from liberal church movements, but in being unwilling to love those in the church who differed with them even a little bit. I mean, one of the things that we have talked about as a church now is a desiring to to work and cooperate with other churches just because we know it's part of the testimony to the world. If we who believe the same things about the essentials of the gospel are so arrogant or selfish or turned in that we will not work with them, the world knows that. And it says there's something wrong with you. I thought you said you were on the same team. I thought you said Christ was in you. I thought you shared something. But of course, it's not just cooperation with other churches that becomes the difficulty. It it's it's cooperating other people in the church that's sometimes so hard. After all, remember what Jesus is saying here. He's asking for oneness with these disciples, verse 18, that ought to be sent into the world. Jesus says to the Father, as you sent me into the world, I'm sending them into the world. Who are they? He's already predicted that Peter will betray him. He's already predicted that the other disciples will abandon him. Part of the difficulty with love in the church is that church people are so difficult. I tell you about Francis Schaeffer almost losing his faith. Do you remember what happened? He left the church that he was in in St. Louis, Missouri. And he went to establish a place for young people in the United States to go to Switzerland to ask hard questions that they felt they could not answer in the churches of their parents. What you and I may not recognize in that kind of wonderful story of Labri and the setup of that movement was that the reason that Schaeffer left was he's not sure he believed anymore himself. Why? Because of that church in St. Louis, which has been my church for the last 30 years, where my family has worshiped. Now, just so that you get the story, I mean, just so happens, it's not like this church at all. I mean, there are people in that church who are actually unlovable. Actually, it's just like this church and every church you'll ever meet. If we can forgive and love past differences, something supernatural is among us.
Guest (Male): That's pastor Brian Chapel, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his Unlimited Grace.
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