Behind the Christian Cliché: "In the world, but not of it."

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 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. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
(John 17:14-21)

In the Christian circles I run in, the buzz words I hear all the time are missional, evangelical, and relevant. While I do not think that these terms are harmful, I am unsure of their effectiveness in relaying the message of the Christian lifestyle to the pew sitter. I think 21st century Christianity (at least in the United States) works like this:

1. The Pastor decides what he wants to talk about.
2. The Pastor then waters down his topic enough to make himself comfortable with it.
3. The Pastor additionally waters down his topic enough to not offend his Congregation (maintain job security).
4. The Pastor preaches to the Congregation
5. The Congregation hears and understands about 50% of the sermon, mostly the funny parts.
6. The Congregation then waters down the message so they don't have to change their lifestyle.
7. Christianity continues to look more and more like the surrounding secular culture.

While this is a sweeping generalization of Christian churches, I am afraid it is not too far off. Christians do however, maintain some clichés that help us to feel like we are really God's people living in a fallen world. One of these clichés is the idea that Christians should be "in the world, but not of it." When people say this, what they mean is that Christians are supposed to live in the midst of the world, but not live in the same way as the world. You can be a Christian and a businessman, because you can be in the business world, but not of it.

I worry that the we have watered down this concept so far as to make it unrecognizable. We have turned "in the world, but not of it" into a dualism between Christianity and so-called "everyday life." Here's an example: We think to ourselves, I can be rich, live in a big house, drive expensive cars, buy my wife expensive jewelry, and give my kids expensive playthings as long as I have the right set of beliefs (a la the Trinity and salvation by grace through faith). Here's another example: I can promote patriotism and nationalism, as long as I remember that we are "One nation under God." My last example: It's okay that I only associate with people exactly like me, as long as I remember that everyone is made in the image of God. These examples make me sick to my stomach, mostly because I can see myself in each of them.

Christians must stop ascribing to what the world considers normal. I have been challenged by people who say, "Why resist the way things are going? If we live differently it won't change anything." I think this is exactly the wrong attitude and such a perspective comes from Satan. We do not follow Jesus because it is a means to an end (i.e. the Christianization of the United States). We are to follow Christ because he offers the only true way. In Luke 12, Jesus is telling his followers to not worry about food, clothing or storing up goods and then he says:

For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
(Luke 12:30-33)

I believe that Christians don't live the way Jesus called us to live because they have a nagging doubt in the back of their mind that the Kingdom Jesus speaks of isn't real. It is much easier to ascribe to the ongoing systems in this world that we can see operating everyday. I believe this is the major calling of the Gospel that we have forgotten: Follow Jesus and believe that what he said is true, even if it seems contrary to the way things appear. It is easy to put our hope in Capitalism, political parties, or lifestyles of the rich and famous because we can see them happening everyday. As followers of Jesus we have a higher calling to be members of a better Kingdom. We do not have to be afraid to sell our possessions and give to the needy, or to turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute us. Jesus says that is our Father's good pleasure to give us that Kingdom, because that is taking "hold of that which is truly life" (1 Timothy 6:19).

In C.S. Lewis' masterful work The Silver Chair, the story climaxes with the characters being trapped in the underworld of an evil witch. Her plan is to trap them in the underworld by convincing them that their world is not real. One of the characters answers her with this statement:

One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a playworld which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia.

This is what it means to be in the world, but not of it. Satan is trying to deceive us into believing that this world, this kingdom is all there is. We are to trust Jesus' call to live in the Kingdom of God. We do not need to hold onto the worldly status quo (politics, economics, materialism, greed, apathy, violence, etc..), we need simply to live as though the Gospel is True.