11/27/2025
Do we think that by withdrawing from the world, by separating ourselves, that we will become more pious and that this will help us to consecrate ourselves by removing all temptation? Well, this is a false hope, and if we look at the gospel of Jesus we understand that He inserted Himself fully into the world and wants us to remain in the world also. He didn’t run from it but overcame it.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."”
John 16:33 ESV
By remaining in the world we are placing ourselves where we can reach the greatest number of souls, and influence them with our telling, and living out, the gospel of Jesus. To withdraw into our churches and enclaves, and shutting the doors, we are saving no one and are keeping ourselves from realizing the true power of Christ in the world… loving our neighbors. We are not loving others by doing this, we are not saving their souls form sin; you see, we aren’t meant to save souls from the world, no, we are sent to save them from the sin which is in those who inhabit the world.
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
Galatians 6:14 KJV
We too are crucified to the world in Christ... and its power over us is dead. It isn’t that we look upon the world as being a place where we aren’t meant to be, but rather, that it is a place where we rule spiritually. The world is a place that our faith in Jesus Christ has given us dominion over, and we are to enjoy it, and set out into it as lifesavers to the lost and drowning. We are the lifeline that He has cast into the world. Jesus prayed for us in this regard...
“I do not ask that you take them 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. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
John 17:15-19 ESV
Pastor Oswald Chambers wrote of the fallacy of sequestering ourselves from the world, and he speaks of Jesus remaining consecrated, even among those who were full of sin. Listen to his words…
“Our Lord was not a recluse nor an ascetic, He did not cut Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but lived in another world. He was so much in the ordinary world that the religious people of His day called Him a glutton and a wine-bibber. Our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual energy.” - Oswald Chambers
Jesus didn’t fear sin, and He didn’t hide from it... He recognized his separation spiritually... not physically, and loved people enough to go after them, and save them from their sins. If we are fearful, and reluctant to jump into the water and swim the lifeline of the gospel to those that are drowning then we have one of two problems... we either don’t love them as we should, or we haven’t realized the power of Jesus over sin within ourselves. It all boils down to these two things. Do you love your neighbor, and do you trust in God, and recognize fully the dominion of Jesus over sin?
Loving one another doesn’t mean we love the sin they contain, but rather that we love them in spite of it, and desire to help them free themselves from it. If your child is making a fool of himself in public, wouldn’t you love him enough to pull him aside and instruct him on proper behavior? Loving doesn’t mean we ignore, but that we find a way to help.
Trusting in God and recognizing that Jesus has conquered sin and death; that He has achieved dominion over these things, and given this gift to us, is what allows us to confidently go into the waters of the world and pull those who are floundering from it... not physically, but spiritually. Jesus didn’t send those he redeemed directly to heaven, no, He sent them back into the world with the simple instruction “go and sin no more.” The world is a wonderful and amazing place; it is only man who has tainted it through his sin... help your neighbor, and don’t fear the world that God has provided for us to live in.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the wonderful world you have placed me in, and for the neighbors that you have given me. I pray Father that you give me enough love that I will see the sin in many of them, and go to their rescue with your Holy Word, and the Gospel Story of Jesus Christ. Build in me an unwavering trust in you, and confidence in the total defeat of sin that Jesus provides me, so that I can venture into the furthest places of the world, and into the deepest recesses of it to reclaim lost souls for your kingdom. Make me courageous Father and remove the temptation to cower in my fortress of faith while abandoning those who need me to come for them. Give me confidence to sit and dine in the homes of the lost, and to bring them to your righteous table as I do so. Help me to resist the sin they wallow in and to speak to them of Jesus Christ. the living and cleansing water of salvation. Merciful God, let me shine forth with the gospel message and your grace, as I reflect your light into the darkest places; let me shed the light of your truth on sin as it hides there, and bring life once more to your world through Jesus. So it is that I pray to you and ask that you give me the spirit of a pilgrim and venturer as you send me out in confidence to deliver your message of love and life to those who are dead and dying in the world. Let me live my life in the beauty of this world that you have created and teach me to cleanse it of the sin that has sullied it. Use me Father, and as you do I will praise your name, and lift you up before all men! Holy, Holy, Holy, art thou my God Almighty, and Holy is your Word, and Jesus Christ the redeemer of all who believe!
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16 ESVB
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV
Amen!
Rich Forbes