Not of This World, Yet in It

Not of This World, Yet in It Christians are to live as not of this world, yet in it. What does that mean? We have been born again to live a new life. We are God's chosen people built together as a holy temple serving as God's priesthood. But we still live in a fallen world and face its opposition. How are we to live here? Our text today is just two verses, 1 Peter 2:11, 12: Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. We are to live as aliens and strangers in the world. If you are a Christian, you do not belong here. We are strangers, temporary visitors in a foreign land. This is the third time Peter calls us strangers. Though we live here, this world is foreign to us. We follow different "customs" than those around us. We are to live our lives as aliens, those living in a nation not their own. Long-time residents of a nation expect aliens to assimilate to their ways. But we are not to assimilate to the fallen world system around us. Hebrews 11:8-16 teaches us that God's people never really belong here. Though Abram was promised the land, he always lived in a tent as an alien there. He looked to the future, not the present, for his real home. All the patriarchs lived as aliens and strangers all their lives. They could have returned to their homeland, but they desired more than this world offers. They are our examples. In Philippians 3:19, 20, Paul contrasts us with the people of the world: Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. As he wrote in Ephesians 2, we were once excluded from citizenship in God's people, but now in Jesus we have been brought near to God. We are now all citizens, fellow citizens with God's people. Once foreigners and strangers to God's kingdom, in Christ we are now aliens and strangers in this world. Our mind should not be on earthly things. Instead, as verse 11 in our text says, we should abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. From what desires should we abstain? Back in Ephesians 2 we see it is from the things of our past when we were dead in sin. This includes the ways of the world, the ways of its ruler, Satan, and our own sinful nature with its desires and thoughts. Paul can be specific as in 1 Thessalonians 4:3: It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality. And he can be general as in 1 Thessalonians 5:22: Avoid every kind of evil. Peter gives us one reason to abstain or avoid sinful desires: which war against your soul. Our fleshly desires war against our souls, destroying us as persons. Evil behavior results from these warring desires. James in James 4:1 puts it this way: What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? In Galatians 5, Paul speaks of the conflict that rages within us between our flesh and God's Holy Spirit. He teaches us that we can only abstain from those sinful desires through living by the Holy Spirit. We must choose to put our fleshly desires to death and walk with the Spirit. So, we are to live as aliens and strangers and to abstain from our fleshly desires and the ways of this world. But if our only reason is to protect our own welfare, we should isolate ourselves in monasteries to live untainted by contact with the world. But there is a further reason to live a holy life. And it requires us to be not of this world, yet to live in it. Listen again to the second verse of our text: Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. We are to live among the pagans to be seen by the pagans. We are to both live good lives and do good deeds in this world. We are to live such lives AMONG the lost people of the world, living IN the world. Good lives are a powerful witness to those not living them. Peter says, They may see your good deeds and glorify God. Even our persecutors may one day praise God because of our good lives. But for that to happen, the world must continually observe us as eyewitnesses of godly lives. We must consistently abstain from evil AND do good. Though not living OF this world, we must live IN it for God. Listen to part of Jesus prayer from John 17:14-18: I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. We are not of this world, yet we are in it. Jesus wants us to be sanctified, set apart to serve God. But we are to serve God IN THE WORLD. As the Father sent Jesus into the world to save lost mankind, Jesus sends us into the world. Jesus sends us to be His witnesses to the world. To be His witnesses, we must abstain from our sinful desires and live here as aliens and strangers. To be His witnesses, we must be IN the world and interact positively with the lost. To be His witnesses, we must live good lives and do good works AMONG the pagans. Instead of taking us out of the world, Jesus sends us into the world as His witnesses. As a closing point, note the final words of our text: they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Jesus is coming to visit and inspect this world as Judge. For many this will be a day of reckoning when disaster comes upon them for their sin. But those who see our good deeds and come to faith in Jesus will be ready to meet Him when He comes and will glorify God on that day. Will anyone be ready for that day because they have observed your life as you live not OF this world, yet IN it? Are you yourself ready for that day?