How Can The Church Keep The World Out?

One Sunday morning the Adult class at Kelly Chapel posed an important question. It was one I have heard before. The question was "How can the Church keep the World out?" In other words, how can the Church remain the Church, be salt and light to the world when Christians are constantly in the world? The observation is often made that the World seems to be influencing the Church much more than the Church is influencing the World. This is exactly the opposite of the way it is supposed to be.

The class did not get very far in their search for a solution. They did not have much time and it is a deep subject. A few suggestions were made which resembled many I have heard through the years: ones like keep this out, do not do this, stick to this, and the like. Most of the time these suggestions tend to be more culturally relative than Biblically based.

So what should Christians who are serious about their faith do? While there are many things we could do, I find the solution offered in Hebrews 12:1-3 helpful. Instead of a list, it points us to Jesus and tells us four things about Him that will take us a long way toward a living answer to the class's question.

The first thing about Jesus is that He is our focal point. Hebrews 12:2a says, "fixing our eyes on Jesus". This passage uses the image of a race. We are to fix our eyes on Jesus, concentrating on Him, making Him the center of our attention! Like a runner focusing on the finish line, we look at Jesus; just as looking back can spell disaster for a runner, so looking away from Jesus can be a spiritual disaster. One major way we keep the "World" in its proper place in our lives and our churches is to keep Jesus in His proper place!

The second thing about Jesus is that He is our leader. Hebrews 12:2 continues, "the author and perfecter of faith," Jesus is the author of our faith. When I read that phrase, I often think of the idea that Jesus wrote the book and of course, in a very real sense He did! The word means more; it also means that Jesus is the chief leader of our faith. So, as we acknowledge and actively follow Jesus, concentrating on Him we will resemble Jesus more than the World.

The third thing about Jesus is that He is our perfect example of living out the faith. Hebrews 12: 2 said He is the perfecter of faith. Honestly many of us have problems learning how to do something well just by reading the manual; we need someone to show us how to do it. With the written instruction and the demonstration, we stand a much better chance of doing something properly. Too often, we look to another Christian for that demonstration. Unfortunately, Christians are human and however good their life may be they are still in process. So as we look at Jesus' life in the Gospels and God's character as revealed throughout the Bible we will be modeling on the perfect example. That too will mold us more to Jesus than to the World.

The fourth thing about Jesus is that He is our encourager. If we are honest there are many times when we need an encourager. Life can get very hard and in those times, it is important to remember that God is not only there but he understands. If you read the Gospels carefully, you see that Jesus suffered all kinds of ways. Hebrews puts it this way, [4:15] "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. [12:2,3] . . . who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, . . . who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, . . ." He actually had it far worse than we ever will. So because He does understand - Hebrews 4:16 is so encouraging, "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." As we go to Jesus for our encouragement, we will find ourselves getting stronger and more like Him.

Instead of negatively looking at what we need to keep out, according to Hebrews 12 we should be looking at who we need to put into our lives. If we are full of Jesus there will not be room left for the World to get in.

Look at these aspects of Jesus and our lives, pick the one that speaks the most to where you are right now. Then concentrate on incorporating it into your life.

Written by Rev. Daniel B. Baker April 2005



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