“How Can I be “In” the World, but not “Of” the World?” 8-29-21
Overview
In the World, but Not of It
Two small words carry enormous weight for the Christian: in and of. We clearly live in the world—our feet are planted on this earth—but Scripture insists we are not of it. In Philippians 3:18-19, Paul writes through tears of those whose "god is their belly," whose minds are set on earthly things, and whose end is destruction. He grieves not only for outsiders but for those within the church who drift toward worldly desires. To set our minds wholly on earthly things is to live as enemies of the cross.
Recognizing this danger, however, can lead us into two opposite traps. The first is self-righteousness—looking at those consumed by worldly things and quietly congratulating ourselves for being above it. The flip side is despair, when we discover that we, too, struggle with worldly desires, and shame begins to swallow us. The second trap is withdrawal: in our zeal to honor God, we shun anything we enjoy, confuse pleasure with sin, and hide from unbelievers altogether—cutting out humor, fashion, friendship, and fun. But that is not the life Christ calls us to. In John 17:15-18, Jesus prays not that the Father would take His disciples out of the world, but that He would protect them from the evil one and send them into the world as He Himself was sent. Jesus ate with sinners, touched them, taught them, healed them—not to participate in their sin, but to transform their lives. And in John 16:33 He assures us, "Take courage; I have conquered the world."
Paul points us to where our true identity rests: "Our citizenship is in heaven" Philippians 3:20. Paul, born a Roman citizen with all its privileges, counted those benefits as rubbish compared to knowing Christ and gaining the righteousness that comes through faith Philippians 3:8-10. Our heavenly citizenship is not a future reward to wait passively for; it is a present reality with present rights and freedoms—the freedom to share His Word, to forgive sins by His authority, and to live as His saints in His righteousness. As Ephesians 2:10 reminds us, we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
So how do we live this out? Paul says, "Join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us" Philippians 3:17. We grow in faith by watching mature believers and following their example—and others are watching us as well: our children, grandchildren, friends, and neighbors. Every encounter is an opportunity to point to the righteousness of Christ. The risen Lord did not tell His disciples to hang back and wait; He sent them out to make disciples of all nations Matthew 28:19-20. We are in the world. We are not of the world. We belong to Christ, and our citizenship in heaven begins the day we are called into faith and stretches into eternity.
Transcript
If you would please open your Bibles to the book or the letter of Philippians, the third chapter, 2s
we will be doing most of our studying out of Philippians chapter three. 10s
Okay, so do you guys recognize this? 16s
Do you know what this symbol stands for? 19s
Huh? 22s
Not of this world. 24s
This is a symbol that is widely used and seen in the Christian population at large. 25s
And it stands for not of this, the teabying the cross world, not of this world. 34s
And people wear this with pride. 40s
They will tattoo it on their arms or a backer, wherever they'll wear it on their t-shirts. 43s
That is not of this world. 48s
That is something that's worn with a lot of pride. 50s
But what does that mean not of this world? 55s
And that's exactly what we're going to talk about today in our Q&A sermon series. 59s
How can I be in the world but not of the world? 64s
Because what does it mean to not be of the world? 69s
We can sit here, stand here, look around. 72s
And we know we are in the world. 76s
We're here. 79s
So we're in the world. 79s
So how are we in the world? 81s
But not of the world. 83s
There are two small words in there, in and of, that are very small but very significant. 88s
And we are going to talk about the difference and how we live the difference between in and 95s
of in our lives as Christians. 103s
Because the difference is really quite large. 106s
And so where we're going to look is we're going to find out where our true citizenship 109s
is. 114s
And we're also going to see what traps we fall into. 115s
If we focus solely on not being of the world. 121s
So we're going to begin in Philippians chapter 3 with verses 18 and 19 where Paul under 128s
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote, for many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 135s
I have often told you of them and now I tell you even with tears, their end is destruction. 143s
Their God is the belly and their glory is in their shame. 151s
Their minds are set on earthly things. 156s
People of the world are living as enemies of the cross. 162s
In Scripture, the world is so often referred to as darkness or chaos. 170s
And we know that that's equated with sin. 178s
And we see that these people that are living in the world, they're just seeking to fill 181s
their bellies. 189s
They're seeking to fill their greed. 189s
Their minds are holy and completely set on earthly things. 193s
And I think that we can all as Christians agree that those who's God is their belly, 197s
who feed their greed, their every want and desire. 206s
Those who are focused solely on earthly things. 212s
Their end is destruction. 218s
It is too their detriment. 221s
And Paul weeps. 226s
He's brought to tears for these people because he's not talking about 229s
those outside the church alone. 235s
He sees people within the church who are going astray who are setting their mind 240s
on things of the world. 245s
And we can all agree that that is to their own detriment and to their own destruction. 249s
But there's some pitfalls that we fall into. 258s
There are some traps that we fall into when we think about these people who are only 262s
focusing on the earthly matters. 269s
Because when we see these people, these other people whose minds are only set on the world, 274s
only set on the darkness. 284s
We can start to think pretty highly of ourselves. 288s
And we get a little judgmental and we get a little self righteous because we know 292s
that we don't focus on the world. 301s
We know that we don't focus on earthly things. 305s
We are above that we focus on God. 310s
And we fall into this self righteous trap. 318s
But what happens when we become the ones who find ourselves focusing on some worldly things 324s
and find ourselves concerned with matters of the world, 334s
then we find ourselves slipping into despair, into hopelessness. 340s
And there's nothing that we could do to get out of this. 349s
And there's no way that we can get out of the shame of our sin. 353s
One theologian said, sin is the sinners shame. 361s
And we get brought down low because we are focusing on worldly things. 370s
Or another trap that we can fall into is that we want to focus on God. 382s
We want to be his disciples, good Christians. 389s
And so we shun everything that is of this world. 393s
And in shunning anything that is of this world, we cut out enjoyment. 402s
We cut out the things in this life that we enjoy, that we love. 410s
We cut out humor. 416s
We cut out fashion. 417s
We cut out fun because we confuse our minds that if we're enjoying it, 420s
it must not be of God. 430s
And sometimes we take it to the point where we hide. 435s
We hide ourselves from the world. 440s
We don't even want to let it in. 443s
We don't want to speak to anyone outside of believers. 444s
We don't want to see anyone we want to pretend the world is not there. 449s
But what then? 459s
Are we just waiting? 461s
Are we just waiting? 462s
Marking time? 463s
Here on earth? 465s
Are we just standing still? 466s
Waiting for? 468s
What? 470s
Doing? 473s
What? 475s
Paul in Ephesians wrote, we are what he has made us. 478s
Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand to be our 483s
day of life. 490s
God did not call us to hide from the world. 493s
God did not call us to shrink from the world. 498s
He has purpose set before each and every one of us, each and every day purpose to 502s
his glory, purpose to his will. 512s
The night before Jesus died. 518s
He prayed for his disciples. 522s
You can read in John the gospel of John chapter 17, he says, I have given them your word and 526s
the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world just as I do not belong 532s
to the world. 540s
I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from 541s
the evil one. 549s
They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world, sanctify them 551s
in the truth. 557s
Your word is truth. 558s
As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 561s
Jesus did not call us to be out of the world. 568s
Jesus himself was in the world. 576s
Jesus came into this world, took upon himself our flesh. 580s
He irritated the heckfire out of the Pharisees and the scribes because he was in this world 589s
and he ate with sinners and he talked with sinners and he touched sinners. 596s
But Jesus was not interacting with them in order to participate in sin, in order to 613s
encourage them in sin. 627s
Jesus was in the world, teaching. 631s
Jesus was in the world, healing, transforming these lives. 636s
The tax collector who became his disciple. 646s
The lame man who was healed, the blind man who was healed, Jesus did not ignore any 651s
of them. 662s
He was very much in the world that people may be cleansed, may be healed through him, 663s
by him. 673s
All his disciples, you, me, the disciples around the world of all times. 676s
He had a word for all of us in the sixth chapter or sixth chapter of John. 683s
This is right before he's going to do his prayer. 688s
He's talking to his disciples and he tells them, I've said this to you so that in me you 690s
may have peace. 697s
In the world you face persecution but take courage. 699s
I have conquered the word world. 702s
Jesus overcame the world. 707s
He entered into the world. 711s
He mingled, he mixed, he taught, he transformed and he conquered the darkness of the world. 715s
He conquered the sin of the world. 724s
Did he conquer the world so that we could hide from it? 729s
No. 735s
Did he die and conquer the world so that we can live according to our own wants and desires in 736s
this life? 742s
Are minds set on earthly things? 744s
No. 748s
No, he didn't. 750s
In Philippians, verse 17, Paul begins, brothers and sisters, 753s
join in imitating me. 758s
Imitating Paul, imitate Paul. 761s
How do we imitate Paul? 765s
Let's back up a few verses. 767s
Still in chapter three, going up to verse 8, where he says, for his sake that is Christ. 770s
For Christ's sake I have suffered the loss of all things. 777s
And I regard them as rubbish. 782s
In order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, 785s
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in 790s
Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 797s
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His 802s
offerings by becoming like Him in His death. 809s
If somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 813s
We are to imitate Paul in His want and desire to know Christ and the righteousness that was 821s
one for Him by Christ, the righteousness that was one and given to all of us. 832s
Through Christ. 839s
And He doesn't say, imitate me alone. 843s
He continues, join in imitating me and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 847s
He's saying, imitate me, imitate those whom I'm in mission with. 857s
As we are mature, Christians, as we have grown in the faith that has been given to us. 865s
And we continue to do that. That is how we are all here today, 875s
because at some point in our life we imitated and we observed the mature Christians in our life. 881s
And we followed that example, focusing on the righteousness that was given to them 891s
and the lives they lead in the spirit that they were sealed in. 900s
When we bring our children, our grandchildren, to church, they are observing us. 910s
When you have friends or your children's friends over for dinner or you invite someone to a church activity, 919s
they are observing you and the faith that you have been called into. 929s
Paul doesn't say to hide. He doesn't say, keep clear of the world. 938s
Keep clear of people who don't preach and believe and teach exactly like you do. 943s
He says, this is an opportunity. This is an opportunity. It's not practical to hide 953s
from everyone and everything. But in every encounter, 962s
it's an opportunity to share the righteousness of Christ, to point to the glory of God, 972s
imitate Paul in knowing the righteousness that has been given to you in Christ by Christ. 983s
Focus on where your true citizenship lies. He writes our citizenship is in heaven. 996s
It is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 1006s
When Paul writes of citizenship, he is writing, in the Roman Empire and the ancient 1012s
near East citizenship held a lot of a lot of weight. Being a Roman citizen allowed a lot of 1018s
freedom. He could go around the Empire. He could be protected from certain abuses within the cities 1026s
within the cultures. People could purchase a citizenship for a lot of money. Paul was born into this. 1034s
But he says, all of that is rubbish. It's nothing. All the freedoms, all the powers, all the 1043s
privileges given to me here on earth are rubbish. Because my citizenship as a disciple of Christ is in 1049s
heaven. And just as we have writes and freedoms as citizens today, we have the freedom and the 1060s
right to build our lives here in America how we choose. As citizens of heaven, we have 1075s
rights and we have freedoms. We have the right and the freedom to share his word. We have the right 1090s
and the freedom by his authority to forgive sins. We have the right and the freedom to live in 1100s
his righteousness as his saints. When Christ died upon the cross, he gave you his righteousness. 1113s
He told you I have a citizenship that is for you. And when he was resurrected from the dead, 1130s
he did not tell his disciples, okay, your citizens, you are righteous. So now I want you to just 1142s
hang back and wait. Wait for me to come again. No, he said, I have conquered this world. 1149s
You are righteous through my blood. And now what I want you to do with that righteousness, with the 1160s
freedom of your citizenship, I want you to go. Go. Making disciples of all nations, 1167s
don't shrink from the world. I have prayed for you to be protected. And I am sending you to share my 1177s
word. Baptize these people. Baptize the nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 1185s
Spirit, to teach the people all I have commanded. You as a citizen of heaven have a purpose 1192s
to share the righteousness with others, to tell others that they too can be citizens in heaven. 1206s
And it's a citizenship that begins day one of being called into faith. Day one 1220s
through all eternity. We as believers are in the world. 1229s
We as believers are not of the world. We are of Christ. We are of the saints. 1245s
And we are citizens in heaven forever. 1262s