What in the World Is the World?

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR 1 John 4:4–6 (ESV) Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  CONSIDER What in the world is “the world”? Is it planet Earth? Is it Las Vegas? Is it riches and fame? Is it a group of people? Is it the devil? Is it contemporary culture? Is it the inner city? Or is the world the opulent wealth of the suburbs? Is it R-rated movies? Is the world a bad place? Or is the world the same place that John spoke of when he said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJ21)? What in the world is the world, and where is it? I have always thought I knew, but now that I ask the question, I’m not so sure. Though it be filled with evil, the world can’t be a bad place. I think the issue isn’t so much the world as it is “he who is in the world.” The world, to be sure, is a fallen place. Because of he who is in the world, the world lives in the throes of a conspiracy of corruption. The world is love turned into lust. It is beauty reduced to brokenness. The world is home turned into hell. The world is the created supplanting the Creator. The world is the truth exchanged for a lie. A common myth among many Christians has persisted through the ages to the present day. The myth is that the world is not our home, that we can somehow escape the world or at least boycott it. But think about it: Jesus didn’t teach us to pray, “Thy will be done, somewhere other than here, as it is in heaven.” No! It’s on earth, right here, in the world, as it is in heaven (see Matthew 6:9–12). The big problem is not that we are in the world. The problem is the world is in us. That’s why today’s text is such good news. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. The kingdom comes when this reality is given birth right square in the middle of the real world. Because of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can live in the world without the world living in us. I like the way Peter puts it: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3–4) We can’t escape the world, but we can escape the corruption that is in the world. The secret is the One who is in us. PRAY Lord Jesus, thank you for the world you created and for graciously re-creating it day by day. Thank you for showing us a way not to withdraw from the world but to escape the corruption that is in the world. Come, Holy Spirit, and empower me more and more to participate in your divine nature. It’s in your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.