In the World

Text: “11 …Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” John 17:11

I think some of you may know Pastor David Petersen (who had served not too many years ago at Grace, Fairgrove). He was on the radio program Issues, Etc., a couple of years ago. In that discussion, he commented on a Christian’s relationship to the world around us. He said, “Any Christian that is serious today in trying to follow the Bible, to live by the Bible, to teach by the Bible, has to recognize that we do not fit in this culture and we cannot fit in this culture. We are a threat to them at every level. And the only way we could make ourselves possibly acceptable to America at Large and gain influence in the public sphere and so forth, in any meaningful way, or be taken seriously, is if we would be willing to give up the very essence of Christianity, which is to say that Jesus is the only way to the Father. There is no other name under heaven by which men are saved. And, of course, there is great pressure to do that. We want the world to think, “Oh, we’re like you: we’re not judgmental. We’re like you: we like Star Wars.” All of this kind of nonsense. This is the most basic reality: that there is only one God— the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit— and there is no other way.

“And I really pray for myself and for our church that we’ll never give this up, that no goods, fame, child, or wife is worth it. That’s a pretty extreme statement when you start really examining it. But I would rather have my eyes plucked out, I’d rather be imprisoned, I’d rather even watch my own grandchildren be abused and tortured and killed rather than deny this: Jesus lives, and He’s the only God, and I want to confess that no matter what.

“And, of course, I don’t want my grandchildren to be tortured, but I want them to confess this, too. And I’d rather die a martyr than be thought well of by a tolerant world and go to hell.”

That is the (unpleasant) reminder from our Lord this morning. This world hates us. As He prays the words from which we take this morning’s gospel reading, He is anticipating His crucifixion and He is anticipating His ascension, which we celebrated just this past Thursday. As He anticipates leaving His disciples, His prayer is that the Father would keep us. “12 While I was with them,” Jesus prays, “I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” He has kept them while He was with them, but now He is preparing to return to heaven. And His leaving will not remove the danger. “14 I have given them your word,” He points out, “and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” That will not stop being the case after He ascends back into heaven.

And it’s true to this day, even here in little Unionville, Michigan. The world still assaults us with its hatred. We are told quite definitively that “Heaven is a ‘fairy story for people afraid of the dark’.”[1] We are as ignorant as those who claim the earth is flat because we supposedly deny science. We are hypocrites, bigots, and oppressors. You’ve heard the accusations. Our Lord’s words are certainly true to this day, even here in the Thumb of Michigan.

Why does the world hate us? In spite of the current big debates, it’s not a fight over the sixth commandment— Thou shalt not commit adultery— or over the fifth— Thou shalt not murder— or the fourth— honor your father and mother— or the third, or the second. Those all play a part, to be sure. As we fight about God’s intent for human sexuality, about protecting the unborn, or the definition of marriage and the family, these are real issues, but they’re symptoms. The real fight is over the first commandment. It is not an easy or a comfortable thing to acknowledge that there is a God and that you are not Him. It means, among other things, that there will be an accounting one day for all that we’ve done and failed to do. This, ultimately, is the source of the world’s hate— both of Jesus, Himself, and of you and me.

And that hate takes multiple forms. “The world not only assaults [you] with its hatred, it also tries to lure [you] with its enticements. It has a stinging tail, but it also has a charming face.”[2] It can be very subtle and appealing, holding out to us an enticing picture of the world and what it could be if we remake it in our image, the way we think it should be. These attacks are far more subtle, but just as deadly. The picture of the world that it offers is truly enticing. But it is as corrupt and dying as the world that our sin has already brought about.

You and I are well sheltered in several ways—you’re sheltered here within our community, within our school and among your friends here at church— but none of us actually believe that the walls of our school are able to completely keep the influence of the world away from our children, do we? None of us believe that we’re immune from the world’s influence, do we?

Let me give you one very simple example: how many children were in your parents’ families? How many children do you have? For most of us, our parents’ families had many more children than our families. Why? At least in part, it’s because we’ve bought into the world’s view of marriage and sexuality and things like birth control that go along with it. The position of many Christians on the ethics of birth control has changed over the past 50 years. But why did they change? They were not shaped by God—by a shift in our understanding of what God’s Word says about the subject—but by the world and the world’s values. (Now, to be clear, the ethics of birth control is a much longer discussion that I’m not going to take up this morning.) And that’s my point in bringing up the topic: More of our worldview— the basic, fundamental way we think about the world, our values, our built-in assumptions— comes from the world, instead of God, than we’d like to admit. You and I are at least as well catechized—well taught— by the world as we are by the church.

You are not immune from the influence of the world, not even here in Unionville, relatively safe behind the walls of our church and our school. Even within your own hearts, the world both rages against you and entices you to your destruction. And the words of our Lord are still true: the world hates us because we are not of this world, just as He is not of this world.

But this is not cause for fear. For all of this, Jesus does not pray that we would be taken out of this world. In fact, He sends you into it just as He was sent into it. He says, “19And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” He was consecrated— wholly set apart for service to God— to sanctify you— to make you holy— as well.

That is, precisely, what happened on the cross. He handed Himself over— into the hands of sinful men, yes, but not into their control. He handed Himself over to the Father’s will. And even through the hands of those sinful men, the Father continued to work His good and gracious will. On the cross He took upon Himself every sin that flows from our breaking of the first commandment and paid the full price for them all and, in the process, makes us holy and set apart from this sinful world by the power of His Name.

As the President of our Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod put it, “It is eminently Christian to always believe that you are at the end times, that things couldn’t possibly get any worse. …And the Bible says it’s going to get worse. It’s not going to get any better. But it is the resurrected Christ who says, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ [This past Thursday we celebrated Ascension Day.] It’s very fascinating that, after Christ ascends into heaven, you would expect His apostles to return to Jerusalem going, “Oh, man, this is bad news, He’s gone.” But they didn’t. In Acts chapter 1 it says, ‘And they returned to Jerusalem rejoicing and they were daily in the temple praising the Lord.’ So the resurrection and ascension means Christ is seated at the right hand of God, which is omnipresent power, and He’s with us always. There’s a limit to evil. It will only go so far. And He will work all things together for good. He allows this evil world to continue for one purpose: that the full number of the elect hear the gospel and believe.”

“Holy Father,” Christ said, “keep them in your name, the name you have given me….” He has and He does. His unchanging grace protects you like a shield agains the hatred of this world, which is passing away. The anger of His wrath was emptied upon Christ on the cross, so no harm can befall you, even the whole world attacks you with its hatred.

The One who is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell has given Himself into the suffering of Hell in your place in order to deliver you to the blessings of heaven. In Him, heaven, not this world, is your home.

Your faith in Him is the victory that has overcome the world. By that faith we look forward to future joy so we can endure the adversities of the present age (Romans 5:1ff.). By that faith we rest in divine goodness so we can bear the hatred of others with the same love that He, Himself, showed on that cross.

Even as He sends you into the world with the testimony of eternal life, He gives you the taste of sweet heavenly joy so all love of this world dies with you. He teaches you to turn your heart away from the enticements of the world to enjoy true spiritual delights.

There will always be the urge, within the church, to try to make peace with the world, to convince them that we’re just like them. And we certainly should live in peace with everyone, as much as it is in our power to do so. But ultimate, lasting peace with the world just is not possible. Instead, our Lord gives you something better: the victory of the cross. The gift He gives there, is truly worth everything.

[1] Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1387478/Stephen-Hawking-Heaven-fairy-story-people-afraid-dark.html#ixzz5FNMfcBFa [2] Gerard, Johann. “Meditations on Divine Mercy.” CPH 2003. p. 119