What's In Your Bible?
5-17-15 (Easter 7B)
1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19
We’re doing something a little different today, and I’m going to be looking for audience participation on this one. It’s time to play a little game together - I call it “What’s in your Bible?” I’ve gathered together some quotes, and it’s your jobs to determine whether they’re actually from the Bible or not. Some of them are really easy, while others might surprise you. Here we go: Let’s start off with an easy one: “Honor thy father and mother.” Everybody got that one? It’s commandment number five in Exodus 20:12 Good! Now - how about “If God is for us, who can be against us?” That one comes from Paul in Romans 8:31, among other places. Going strong - let’s keep it up! How about: “A penny saved is a penny earned?” Not in the Bible, correct. Now let’s up the challenge a little bit. What about the proverb, “God helps those who help themselves?” While it's been quoted as if it were biblical by a lot of people, this one is actually credited either to the Greek storyteller Aesop, or to Benjamin Franklin. In fact, this statement is about as far from Scripture as you can get - frequently, we actually see God giving special attention precisely to those who can’t help themselves. OK, moving on: What about the phrase, “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry?” Believe it or not, this one is in the Bible - though not in the way we typically use it. You can find this one in Jesus’ parable in Luke 12:19 about the man who builds new grain bins before God tells him that his soul is required of him the same night. Now… how about this one: “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” While this one is not in the Bible, you can hear Julie Andrews say something to this effect in The Sound of Music…
Now, for the most challenging ones. Bonus points if you get them right! Where in the Bible would you find the advice, “To thine own self be true?” That’s right! You can find it in the book of 1 Hamlet… this is advice given by Shakespeare's character, Polonius, to his son in the famous Danish tragedy. Now… which proverb says “Spare the rod and spoil the child?” Believe it or not, that proverb is not in Scripture as we have quoted it and heard our own parents and grandparents quote it. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is a misquoting of Proverbs 13:24: "Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” While the idea is similar (sorry, kids!) the proverb we quote actually comes from a 17th century poet named Samuel Butler.
One last one, then: where in the New Testament can you find the advice that we are to be “in the world, but not of it?” This one is the most challenging one - and it’s also the one that I want to take the most time to explore together. It’s one that I’ve not only heard quoted many times, but also one that I’ve quoted myself on numerous occasions. In fact, as I was preparing this week’s sermon and reading through commentaries that started talking about the verses in today’s reading from John that “they do not belong to the world,” I actually had to go back and re-read the passage over and over again, and eventually did a more detailed search throughout the scriptures for the verse that I just knew was somewhere in the Bible where we’re told to “be in the world, but not of it.” I’ve heard this phrase used so many times in so many discussions of faith that I can almost see the printed words on a page somewhere in one of Paul’s letters or Jesus’ teachings. The thing is… it’s not there. There is no distinct verse of Scripture that says “Be ye in the world, but not of it.” Does it surprise you to hear that? I know it surprised me to realize this fact.
So then… where does this axiom for the Christian faith come from? Is it something we've been mislead into quoting time and time again as being Scriptural, like “God helps those who help themselves?” Have we made a mistake somewhere along the line in saying this or giving this phrase as a reason either to do something or not do something? The phrase may not be found verbatim in the Scriptures, but that doesn’t mean that it is not still supported by various passages - including today’s reading from John. As Jesus prays on behalf of his disciples, he does essentially ask God to let the disciples be “in the world, yet not of it,” in some ways, and it’s in his own prayer that we can discover some insight into how Christ calls his followers to relate with the world.
As Jesus lifts up the disciples to his Father, John conveys the prayer in a very particular, even meticulous way: The disciples (and by way of the community reading this gospel, the church universal) have been given to Christ by God, and have been given to him from the world. But at the same time, because they have been given to Christ, they no longer belong to the world - they belong to Christ, who has lifted them up with Himself in the Ascension, which we just celebrated in our church calendar this last Thursday.
And yet, despite the fact that, through Christ, we no longer belong to the world, Jesus doesn’t let his disciples (or us) off the hook! He also prays to the father, saying that while he was with them, he guarded them so that none of them may be lost - but now in this prayer, he makes it clear that he is preparing to be taken out of the world. But the disciples are not going with him; they are being sent out into the world, instead. And so Jesus prays not only that they might have joy in their life, but that God might protect them, as well. Jesus is specific in his prayer: “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.”
So, then, what’s the verdict? Should we keep telling people that we’re supposed to be “in the world but not of it?” Is it at least accurate and biblical, even if it’s not precisely in the Bible anywhere? Or is it one more of those sayings that needs to go the way of “God helps those who help themselves?” Judging from the things that Jesus says in this passage, I think we can safely say that it is an accurate proverb to use: through Jesus Christ, we who once belonged to the world are reclaimed for God - we are therefore no longer of this world. We are different from this world, people pulled out of darkness and into light, people freed from our own self-destruction. But even though we are now, through Christ, inherently different from the world, we are still nevertheless a part of this world. In fact, we are even sent out into it - we are sent out to help others see the light and come out of the darkness, to help others know that freedom - and we can only do so if we are still in this world. So, yes, we are most definitely “in this world, but not of it.”
But here’s where the challenge is also issued to us as followers of Christ - we know the statement to be true; we know that we are “in but not of,” but now… how do we put that into practice? How do we truly live as people who are “in the world but not of it?” We’ve seen so many different ways in which this instruction has been interpreted - we even see these kinds of questions playing out directly in the Scriptures as the early church wrestles with what this concept means. Much of the church’s history seems to have focused on the “not of the world” side of the equation, and it still shows in our culture today as Christians determine that the only way to be true to their faith is to be surrounded on all sides by Christian influences to the complete exclusion of the secular wherever possible in their lives - we only listen to Christian music, only watch Christian movies, read Christian books, talk to Christian friends, go to Christian events… but we have to ask ourselves: what does that accomplish for evangelism? Where is the room for the Gospel to flourish in an environment where it is so tightly isolated and controlled? If we are meant to still be in the world, what good do we accomplish if we view ourselves as nothing more than placeholders, marking time till the day when the Kingdom comes?
Christ calls us to walk a fine line between being “in and not of” - he calls us to rely on the Spirit to guide us in that walk, but at all times to live inside the tension of both Word and World in our lives. It is only by being in the world that we can see its pain, its suffering, its needs and cares, and it’s only by being in the world that we can also minister to it - because we also are not of the world. By holding fast to our identity in Christ and letting it carry us out into the world, we bring Christ into the world with us just as Christ brought us to God with himself. That is our calling - that is what we have been charged with doing in this world. It’s not about us being able to say “I’m in and you’re out,” and then waiting smugly for the world to get its comeuppance… it’s about us reaching out to that world and offering them the same Grace of Christ that we have already received. And in that tension between the Word and the World, we find the place where the Gospel grows and we bear good fruit together. To God be the Glory. Amen.
1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19
What's In Your Bible?
We’re doing something a little different today, and I’m going to be looking for audience participation on this one. It’s time to play a little game together - I call it “What’s in your Bible?” I’ve gathered together some quotes, and it’s your jobs to determine whether they’re actually from the Bible or not. Some of them are really easy, while others might surprise you. Here we go: Let’s start off with an easy one: “Honor thy father and mother.” Everybody got that one? It’s commandment number five in Exodus 20:12 Good! Now - how about “If God is for us, who can be against us?” That one comes from Paul in Romans 8:31, among other places. Going strong - let’s keep it up! How about: “A penny saved is a penny earned?” Not in the Bible, correct. Now let’s up the challenge a little bit. What about the proverb, “God helps those who help themselves?” While it's been quoted as if it were biblical by a lot of people, this one is actually credited either to the Greek storyteller Aesop, or to Benjamin Franklin. In fact, this statement is about as far from Scripture as you can get - frequently, we actually see God giving special attention precisely to those who can’t help themselves. OK, moving on: What about the phrase, “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry?” Believe it or not, this one is in the Bible - though not in the way we typically use it. You can find this one in Jesus’ parable in Luke 12:19 about the man who builds new grain bins before God tells him that his soul is required of him the same night. Now… how about this one: “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” While this one is not in the Bible, you can hear Julie Andrews say something to this effect in The Sound of Music…
Now, for the most challenging ones. Bonus points if you get them right! Where in the Bible would you find the advice, “To thine own self be true?” That’s right! You can find it in the book of 1 Hamlet… this is advice given by Shakespeare's character, Polonius, to his son in the famous Danish tragedy. Now… which proverb says “Spare the rod and spoil the child?” Believe it or not, that proverb is not in Scripture as we have quoted it and heard our own parents and grandparents quote it. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is a misquoting of Proverbs 13:24: "Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” While the idea is similar (sorry, kids!) the proverb we quote actually comes from a 17th century poet named Samuel Butler.
One last one, then: where in the New Testament can you find the advice that we are to be “in the world, but not of it?” This one is the most challenging one - and it’s also the one that I want to take the most time to explore together. It’s one that I’ve not only heard quoted many times, but also one that I’ve quoted myself on numerous occasions. In fact, as I was preparing this week’s sermon and reading through commentaries that started talking about the verses in today’s reading from John that “they do not belong to the world,” I actually had to go back and re-read the passage over and over again, and eventually did a more detailed search throughout the scriptures for the verse that I just knew was somewhere in the Bible where we’re told to “be in the world, but not of it.” I’ve heard this phrase used so many times in so many discussions of faith that I can almost see the printed words on a page somewhere in one of Paul’s letters or Jesus’ teachings. The thing is… it’s not there. There is no distinct verse of Scripture that says “Be ye in the world, but not of it.” Does it surprise you to hear that? I know it surprised me to realize this fact.
So then… where does this axiom for the Christian faith come from? Is it something we've been mislead into quoting time and time again as being Scriptural, like “God helps those who help themselves?” Have we made a mistake somewhere along the line in saying this or giving this phrase as a reason either to do something or not do something? The phrase may not be found verbatim in the Scriptures, but that doesn’t mean that it is not still supported by various passages - including today’s reading from John. As Jesus prays on behalf of his disciples, he does essentially ask God to let the disciples be “in the world, yet not of it,” in some ways, and it’s in his own prayer that we can discover some insight into how Christ calls his followers to relate with the world.
As Jesus lifts up the disciples to his Father, John conveys the prayer in a very particular, even meticulous way: The disciples (and by way of the community reading this gospel, the church universal) have been given to Christ by God, and have been given to him from the world. But at the same time, because they have been given to Christ, they no longer belong to the world - they belong to Christ, who has lifted them up with Himself in the Ascension, which we just celebrated in our church calendar this last Thursday.
And yet, despite the fact that, through Christ, we no longer belong to the world, Jesus doesn’t let his disciples (or us) off the hook! He also prays to the father, saying that while he was with them, he guarded them so that none of them may be lost - but now in this prayer, he makes it clear that he is preparing to be taken out of the world. But the disciples are not going with him; they are being sent out into the world, instead. And so Jesus prays not only that they might have joy in their life, but that God might protect them, as well. Jesus is specific in his prayer: “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.”
So, then, what’s the verdict? Should we keep telling people that we’re supposed to be “in the world but not of it?” Is it at least accurate and biblical, even if it’s not precisely in the Bible anywhere? Or is it one more of those sayings that needs to go the way of “God helps those who help themselves?” Judging from the things that Jesus says in this passage, I think we can safely say that it is an accurate proverb to use: through Jesus Christ, we who once belonged to the world are reclaimed for God - we are therefore no longer of this world. We are different from this world, people pulled out of darkness and into light, people freed from our own self-destruction. But even though we are now, through Christ, inherently different from the world, we are still nevertheless a part of this world. In fact, we are even sent out into it - we are sent out to help others see the light and come out of the darkness, to help others know that freedom - and we can only do so if we are still in this world. So, yes, we are most definitely “in this world, but not of it.”
But here’s where the challenge is also issued to us as followers of Christ - we know the statement to be true; we know that we are “in but not of,” but now… how do we put that into practice? How do we truly live as people who are “in the world but not of it?” We’ve seen so many different ways in which this instruction has been interpreted - we even see these kinds of questions playing out directly in the Scriptures as the early church wrestles with what this concept means. Much of the church’s history seems to have focused on the “not of the world” side of the equation, and it still shows in our culture today as Christians determine that the only way to be true to their faith is to be surrounded on all sides by Christian influences to the complete exclusion of the secular wherever possible in their lives - we only listen to Christian music, only watch Christian movies, read Christian books, talk to Christian friends, go to Christian events… but we have to ask ourselves: what does that accomplish for evangelism? Where is the room for the Gospel to flourish in an environment where it is so tightly isolated and controlled? If we are meant to still be in the world, what good do we accomplish if we view ourselves as nothing more than placeholders, marking time till the day when the Kingdom comes?
Christ calls us to walk a fine line between being “in and not of” - he calls us to rely on the Spirit to guide us in that walk, but at all times to live inside the tension of both Word and World in our lives. It is only by being in the world that we can see its pain, its suffering, its needs and cares, and it’s only by being in the world that we can also minister to it - because we also are not of the world. By holding fast to our identity in Christ and letting it carry us out into the world, we bring Christ into the world with us just as Christ brought us to God with himself. That is our calling - that is what we have been charged with doing in this world. It’s not about us being able to say “I’m in and you’re out,” and then waiting smugly for the world to get its comeuppance… it’s about us reaching out to that world and offering them the same Grace of Christ that we have already received. And in that tension between the Word and the World, we find the place where the Gospel grows and we bear good fruit together. To God be the Glory. Amen.
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