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Mark 8:36
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
How often do we as believers use this phrase to be critical of a wealthy or successful non-believer? Does it not follow however, that “It Profits a man much to gain the whole world and win his soul…” Ok, so it doesn’t quite have that pious spiritual deprecation… But it makes one think.
What should our actual relationship be to the world? We are quick to cite verses like “Come ye out from among them, and be yet separate.” (2 Cor 6:17) but we don’t want to do the first part of 2 Cor 6, verses 1-10: “And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”—giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.”
In 2 Cor 5, Paul pleads the gospel so that the Corinthians should repent and “become the righteousness of God in Him.” In 2 Cor 6, Paul continues his plea, but gives specific instructions: Live your lives “so that the ministry will not be discredited…” The ministry is that “we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (v. 20) Therefore as an Ambassador we must be stationed, c0-missioned to those outside the people or Person who has sent me. The United States does not therefore send an Ambassador to the State of Ohio, but to the Nation of Britain, or Pakistan, or China… a dissimilar people, and oftentimes the enemy.
So why do we believers live in what Briner (Roaring Lambs) has rightly called a Christian Ghetto? We retreat into a bubble of christian community in which we are protected from the world and temptation, and sin… “come ye out from among them…” We write each other books, and music, and separate our businesses, and avoid the world like the plague… and yet all the while, the world seeps in as an infection… like a rot.
But we are called to be Ambassadors. We are called to live among those dissimilar from us and those who are His enemies.
John 17:13-18
“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
A Christian Life lived in the Christian Ghetto is safe. The only risk is to be found somehow less spiritual than another. A Christian Life lived in the world has stakes.
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