Breaking Up With the World and Waking Up to Our Mission in It

0:21 I don't know if anybody else is loving it, but I'm loving it. We're talking about relationships. And Dr. Crawford kicked us off talking about kids, parents and kids. Amazing talk. Last week we talked about our relationship with ourselves. And I know for me, huge encouragement in that message. We're going to talk about dating. We're going to talk about marriage. We're going to talk about your relationships with your friends. We're going to talk about our relationship with technology. But today we're talking about what God wants to say to you about your relationship to the world. I don't know if you probably didn't think that one was going to be in the relationship collection, right? But God has a lot to say in his word to you and to me about our relationship with this world that we live in. and primarily he's trying to remind us that we are not of this world, but that we are in this world with a purpose. We say it in church circles sometimes that we're in the world. Say it with me if you know this phrase. We're in the world, but we're not of the world. Anybody know where that verse is in the Bible, by the way? Turns out that verse isn't in the Bible, but anyway, that's just one of those things that we sort of, you know, add in along the way. The spirit of that idea of being in the world, but not of the world, is in Scripture. In fact, that idea comes from Jesus himself. And this is the way he said it. And we're going to put a little twist on it as we see his words. Verse 13 of John 17. And this whole text that we're seeing is a prayer, And it's Jesus praying for you.

2:03 I mean, he's praying for his disciples and praying for his followers. But he's also praying for those who are going to come after his disciples and become his followers. So this is Jesus, before his death, praying for you and praying for me. And he says to his father, I'm coming to you now. But I say these things while I'm still in the world. I just want you to notice his proximity and his relationship to the world. Because he's thinking about it all the time. It's in his last prayer before he gives his life for you and me. So that they, that's us, those who are coming, may have the full measure of my joy within them. I've given them your word and the world has hated them. So already he's letting us know that if we are locked on to our mission with Jesus, we're going to have some conflict with the system of this world. He says, I'm giving them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

3:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, hello, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world. He just said that, and now he's saying it again. They are not of the world. Even as I am not of it, sanctify them by the truth. Your word, second time he emphasizes this, is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified. Wow. What is the big idea Jesus is wanting us to see and understand about our relationship with the world? He's wanting us to know, A, that we're not of the world, but that he's sending us into the world. I think if we miss what Jesus is wanting us to understand about our relationship with the world, we're going to end up on two tracks. One track is just oblivious, oblivious to everything, oblivious to the fact that we have a mission and a purpose in the world. We are going to be mimicking the world. We're going to be leaning on the world to get our pleasure, to get our applause, to get our approval in life. Or we're going to be on this other track as Christians, where we are running from the world or we're spending all of our time condemning the world.

4:43 And Jesus is saying, I don't want you to get on either one of those tracks. What I am hoping for, the goal is for beautiful God-reflecting lights on mission in the world. I want you to see yourself as a beautiful God-reflecting light in the world. And this is what Jesus was saying to us last week when he said, love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. Not your Christian neighbor, your neighbor. In other words, you've got to get in the seams, into the flow, with the people on earth, understanding that you're not from the world, but you're definitely sent into the world to be light for Christ in this world.

5:39 How's that going to happen? It's going to happen by taking a few steps together. And the first one is this, that you have to understand that you are sent into the world. I love it. He just said it so clearly. He said, as you have sent me. Now understand this. This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, coming out of heaven into earth in a human body, living among people, being one of us, for crying out loud. Because his father needed a rescue mission. And so he says to the son, would you be willing to lay down glory, take on humanity, and enter into the world? And he says, yes, I am willing to do that. So Jesus' mentality, every moment of his life was, I am on a mission. It doesn't mean he didn't enjoy a fig or a sunset or a fish lunch. It didn't mean that Jesus didn't have all of the understanding of the beauty of where he lived and the friendships that he had.

6:37 It just means that Jesus knew the whole time he was on a mission. And for you and I to have the right relationship with the world, we have to understand that we are on mission to the world. That's the first thing that we have to see in this text. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. Not of it, but sent into it. I think I actually like that better. I borrowed that from a friend of mine, David Mathis, and I like it better than we're in the world but not of the world because that kind of gives us a little attitude. You know, we're in the world, but we're not of the world. I like flipping it back to Jesus' words. We're not of this world, but we are definitely sent into this world. And we're going to have that right relationship starting with an understanding that our lives are missional.

7:33 It's going to mean that we see things differently. Jesus, it says in Matthew, when he saw the crowds. Now, what do you think when you see the crowds normally? You're like, oh man, I can't believe there's a crowd. Oh, I can't believe there's a line. Oh no, there's so many people at TSA. Oh no, there's so many people on the freeway right now. Crowds usually mean negative for us, unless you're the one selling the tickets, and then you're excited that a lot of people showed up. But otherwise, you're like crowds. But when he saw the crowds, notice what happened. He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless. He was looking at their spiritual condition and they were like sheep without a shepherd. And then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. When Jesus saw the crowd, He knew he was on mission and he saw the people.

8:31 When he saw the people, he saw their spiritual condition. When he saw their spiritual condition, he had compassion on them. And he said, man, we've got to go to them with the good news of Jesus. We've got to go to them with the gospel. We've got to go to them and meet their needs. He had a missional mindset. And to be a follower of Jesus is to have that same missional mindset. And so why is it important that we include this in the collection today, our relationship with the world? because we're in all kinds of situationships with the world right now. And I want us to be purposeful today. And I want the spirit of the living God to wake us up today to our opportunity to be influencers in this world. Now, I know influencer has totally negative connotation to a whole lot of people, unless you're just really all about it and doing the TikTok dance later today. But normally we're like, I don't like all these influencers. Well, we're not talking about that kind of person.

9:25 We're talking about your opportunity to be salt and light in this world. Your opportunity to be an influence in this world. To bring the light of God into the world. And that's what he's inviting you and I to do. And it all begins with having a mindset that says, I'm not of this world. But I am definitely sent into this world to be a difference maker, to bring the light of Jesus into every sphere of the world. Not to live in a Christian bubble over here where I've insulated myself completely from anything worldly. and not to just mimic the world and just gobble down whatever it's giving me today, but to get into this place of Jesus of saying, I'm very much in the world, but I am not of this world, but I know I'm sent to the world.

10:33 I'm sent to my job. I'm sent to my classroom. I'm sent to my gym. I'm sent to my neighborhood. I'm sent to my team. I am sent here by God, not just to be along for the ride like so many people in this world, but I am here to be an influence of the light of God, the light of Jesus in this world. The second thing that's going to be true if you're going to have this right relationship with the world is that you're going to build a platform to have that ability to be salt and light. You know, there's different kinds of light. There's a hundred thousand lumen light where you're just shining light on everybody, like blasting everybody with light. I'm light. I want to be the light of God in the world. And you're just blasting everybody with the light. Sometimes maybe that's necessary, but I think a better light is like a glow stick in case the lights go off and it's just glowing. Or a candle that's just steady. Or a phone light that says, let me help you see that better. And that's the kind of light that God is inviting you and I to be.

11:36 But you become an influence of light, I believe, by at least four C's. And the first one of these is by character. to become a person of character automatically is going to put you in the top 10% of all the people your friends know. You're going to go up on their radar right away. And why is that important that you go up on their radar? Because you want to have influence in their life for the sake of the gospel. And how do you have influence in their life for the sake of the gospel? You have to build a platform to earn that place. Unless you just want to go barge in their door and put a big spotlight in their face. But if you want to be winsome, as Paul talks about, you want to become all things to all people so that you can save some. To the weak, I became like the weak so I could win some of the weak. To the Jews, I became like the Jews so I could win some of the Jews. To those under the law, even though I'm not under the law, I became like those under the law so I could win some under the law. To those not under the law, I became like one not under the law, even though I'm under the law of Christ, so that I could win some under the law.

12:50 I became all things to all people that I could save some, Paul said. And how do you do that? You do that by earning a place. And you earn a place by character. And if you're a person of character, you're going to stand out at your work. Amen? You're going to stand out among your friends at school. You're going to stand out among the ladies at the brunch. If you are a person of character, you immediately are going to go up into the very thin layer of exceptional people that the people who work with you, go to school with you, live in your neighborhood. No, they're going to go, I'll tell you one thing about her character. Second thing, the way we're going to build this platform is through our consistency. that's going to immediately put you in the top 10% of all the people who you're around now. Because you come through.

13:52 You show up. You're not fake, but you're positive. You have something kind to say. You have joy. You seem to have purpose. You seem to light up the room. You are a difference maker. You are a positive influence in the equation. You are consistent. The third way that we're going to build this platform from which we can be a positive influence in the world is through our care.

14:24 People who are in love with the world think mostly about themselves and what they can get the world to do for them. And people who know they're not from this world and have a whole new identity in Christ think primarily about other people. And they walk into an atmosphere. And when they walk into the room, they start looking around for people to care for. They're like, well, why do they do that? Because Jesus taught them how to do that. Because when he saw the crowd, he had compassion on them. Because they were like sheep who were harassed and helpless. and so when we walk into the coffee shop we don't go oh my word there's nine people in line I don't have time for this and slow betty's back there making the coffees today and this is going to really be a drip of another kind today and I don't know who homeboy is over there but that's my table by the window Let's go.

15:20 Tammy, two M's. No. No. What kind of person walks into coffee shop and immediately scans and surveys the whole place? just checking it out because I got sent here. So I need to know who's here because my assignment is going to involve some of these people. and I'm going to care. And of all the people coming up who are doing their thing, all of a sudden you get to your place in the line, and you say like you normally do because you're a wonderful Passion City church person, you say, how are you today? How's your day been going?

16:12 Hey, how's your mom doing? I asked you about her three days ago when you were telling me about her operation. How did it go with your mom? And all of a sudden now somebody's in the space who cares. And that immediately will put you into the 10% of all the people who come in that coffee shop that day. And the people who work there consciously or subconsciously will go. And if you tip good, that helps also. Because everyone remembers that. If you've worked in service industry, you know that there is a special spiritual gift that you get when you work in the service industry. and that is you can remember somebody who tipped you nine years ago and exactly how much it was.

16:57 But when you care, you're building a platform from which you can influence positively with the light and the salt that are the gospel of Jesus and the person of Christ. And then lastly, and there could be 10 C's, your craft. If anybody's being inspired by this so far, then you're going to understand this. If you're content just having a seat on the bus, then this message isn't for you. But if you want to be a difference maker, you want to be a kingdom influencer, let all the YouTubers be the YouTubers, but you want to be a kingdom influencer, then you're going to understand this, That your craft, that is whatever it is God has put in your hands to do, that you want to do it to the very best of your ability. You want to become the best that you can be at your craft.

17:59 And that attitude and heart is going to put you in the 10% of all the people who are around you. Because you went the extra mile. You took the extra training. You did the online certification. You wanted to keep honing your craft to the best of your ability to do it as unto the Lord and not unto men. And as you did, people around you noticed how well you do what you do.

18:33 And when you take your craft and care and consistency and character and you bundle all these together, what happens is you are building a platform from which you can then influence the people around you for the gospel. I had a friend for a couple of years was driving a NASCAR race car on Sundays. And we would text back and forth and encourage each other back and forth. And I always say to him on race day, hey, go out there and preach with the pedal today. Because I preach back here with the table. I said, but you preach with the pedal. You get to that spot before that other guy gets to that spot and bless him later, but you get in that spot and you win because it's a race. And only one dude wins the race today. Go preach with the pedal. And you know, God loved him, whether he came in 30th or first, whether he wrecked the car, whether he got the car back to the garage. I loved him whether he came in first or last. It didn't matter in terms of my love for him, but he had an assignment. He was on mission. He was a kingdom influencer in the middle of people going 200 miles an hour in cars around a track, and he's God's man. And how do you get influenced there? A, by caring for people and being consistent and having character. And I'm telling you, he had all three of those things, but you also get influenced there by winning. And so go preach with the pedal. You don't have to win the race to get the influence. You understand what I'm saying, right? But if you're a race car driver, you better win some. Or guess what? You won't be a race car driver much longer. You can go influence the world for the kingdom of God in some other field.

20:23 What field are you in? What lane are you in? What sphere are you in? What gift do you have? What calling do you have? What passion do you have? What opportunity has God put in front of you? Whatever it is, do it all to the glory of God. When you do that, you will get noticed. Not for you, but you will get noticed. You will get recognized. You will get promoted. You will get pushed forward. And when you do, that's just helping give you an opportunity to say to people, when they ask you, Jesus is the reason. And if you've always struggled with the transition of how do I get from we're just hanging out, doing a project at work to telling people about Jesus, just be a person of character, consistency, care and craft. And you most likely are going to get asked. and it's a lot easier to be light and salt when you're asked than when you're over there going, I got to figure out how to move this from this subject over to this subject. People most likely are going to ask. The third thing that's important, if you want to have this kind of relationship with the world, does anybody want to have this kind of relationship with the world? The third thing that's important is you've got to prioritize missional community. And I'll tell you what I mean by that. And you just have to stay with me on this talk, okay? If you become someone who excels at what you do, and don't we all want to do that? Not just for the sake of making more money or getting a promotion or owning our own business or being recognized. We want to do that because God's given us the ability to be great.

22:12 And so we want to be as good as we can be at whatever it is we do. But the tendency is if you really do start knocking it out of the park, that you begin to forget the mission and you begin to drift away from the purpose. And I and you have seen people who started out well wanting to be light for Jesus, but they ended up sort of drifting away from Jesus to being a person with a scripture verse on their Instagram bio, to being a person of faith, to being a person who talks about faith and inspiration and maybe not as much about Jesus because that's controversial, to a person who has a good heart, to a person we all know really probably does know the Lord, and they just sort of drifted away. And if you don't want to drift, you have to be linked into missional community. You have to prioritize it. Character is great.

23:05 Consistency is great. Care is great. Craft is great. But you have to be rooted in a missional community. What does that mean? Come to church? No. You've got to be linked in with other people in life. In church, yes. But people in life who also understand that they're on mission. So you could be linked in a missional community and have a bunch of little people over here who don't want to get near the world and don't want to get into the world and don't want to influence anybody. They just want to insulate themselves from the world. But that's not who you need. You need people who are rooted in God's word, who are committed to your best, and who are also missional people who are going to inspire you in the lane that you're in, but they're going to keep you tethered into the word of God so that you don't drift. The fourth thing that's going to have to be true of you is you're going to have to rehearse the mission. I said this about Paul, but I want to bring it up so we can see it. He said, though I'm free and belong to no one, I've made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible.

24:13 That's what an influencer looks like. A kingdom influencer looks like that right there. I want to win as many people as possible. To the Jews, I became like a Jew to win the Jews. To those under the law, I became like one under the law, though I myself am not under the law, so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law, I became like one not having the law. No, I'm not free from God's law, but I'm under Christ's law. I love all these parentheses. So as to win those not having the law. Now, all these parentheses, by the way, I want to come back to these in a minute. These parentheses are in here for people who want to jump real fast to pointing fingers at everybody who's out there trying to win people to Jesus. He says, to those under the law, I became like one under the law. Now, I'm not under the law before anybody gets all freaked out. To those who don't have any law, I became like someone not having the law. No, no, no. Before you all get freaked out, I'm under the law of Christ. Why is he having to put all the parentheses?

25:13 Because Christians have a tendency to get real riled up when they see people starting to get out influencing the world. And he's like, hey, everything's good. Everything's where it needs to be. I'm rooted in missional community, but I'm also rehearsing the mission. This for me as much as it is for you. So as to win those not having the law. To the weak, I became weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. and I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. Paul is showing us that middle, that Jesus place that I'm not of this world, but I am sent into this world. I'm not running from it. My job is not to condemn it. I am not mimicking it, and I am definitely not trying to get all my pleasure from it, but I'm over here in the middle, and I'm rehearsing the mission. I'm waking up reminding myself, oh yeah, today I want to become all things to all people that by all means I might save some people. That's why I'm on earth today.

26:27 And so I want to pay attention to my character. I want to pay attention to my consistency. I want to pay attention to how I'm caring about people. And I want to pay attention to my craft because I want to save some people. The fifth thing is that you want to ask the Holy Spirit in your community to help you set boundaries so you protect your reputation. If you're going to get into the seams with people, you're going to have to be very shrewd and very filled with the Holy Spirit. You're going to have to walk by the Spirit so that you do not fulfill the desires of the flesh. And you're going to have to be honest with yourself. If you want to be a person that builds a platform to influence the world with the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you're going to have to be careful about your boundaries because you're sent and you're on mission. It's like a training regimen for somebody who's trying to make the Olympics.

27:29 They have to be careful about the boundaries that they set so that after all their hard work, a couple of days don't disqualify them from the goal that they've set their eyes on. And I don't know what that looks like for you. I mean, it may be for you saying, I'm trying to shape up my speech right now, so I'm going to have to trim back the brunches with that group right there. because brunches with them end up finding me saying things I don't like to have said when I get home. And so I got to think about that boundary. So how can I influence these dear friends of mine? How can I be light to these dear friends of mine without putting myself in a situation that is going to deteriorate the reputation that I'm trying to build to have influence in their lives? Maybe when you golf, you like to have a beer. I don't know why I said that.

28:23 We're in church, and I'm sure no one at Passion City Church has a beer this weekend. But maybe you're that guy. When I golf, I like to have a beer. But I know if I play with those three cats, I'm having six beers by the ninth hole. Just the way it goes every time we're out there. and I don't want to chip away at my reputation that I've been working so hard to build with them and I don't want to just throw that away in two hours on a golf course and so I've got I'm thinking now what do I do now I mean I don't want to not go and I but I'm not not going to go and do that so is there a way that I can go and not do that how would that work or do I just need to not go?

29:12 Because I'm on mission, so I'm thinking this through. I mean, somebody in the gathering right now, and you're thinking, I stopped smoking weed, and we applaud that fantastic decision. And you're like, but I got invited to something next weekend, and I know if I show up at that, a blunt probably will be smoke by the time that night is over. And so you've got to ask the Holy Spirit in your community, Help me set boundaries because I want to be an influencer, not influenced. I want to be a kingdom influencer, not worldly influenced. And so we preach this to our kids all the time, but we are not as good as preaching it to ourselves as adults. And we need to set those boundaries. and then let that community and Holy Spirit, let them lead you.

30:08 Because if you want to get in the seams of culture, you have to have a support system and you're probably going to get criticized by other Christians. Let your community and the Holy Spirit help you with boundaries. You don't need to be in there. We don't feel good about that. And the Holy Spirit may be telling you, I don't feel good about you being in there. Okay, great. Won't be in there. Or let your community and the Holy Spirit say, hey, why are you there? What's your purpose being there? What's your mindset being there? What's your attitude being there? Are you thinking kingdom? Are you speaking kingdom? Are you about kingdom? Great. We're behind you. We got you. We'll be covering you. We'll be praying for you. We got your back.

30:59 Oh, and by the way, you look great. This is a mindset, people, and we need it. We need light in darkness. We need light in darkness. We need light in the dark. And Jesus said it. They're not of this world. I'll say it again. They're not of this world, but I'm giving them your word, and I'm sanctifying myself, setting myself apart, in this death, burial, and resurrection so that I can set them apart. I've given them truth, but I'm not taking them out of the world. I'm sending them into the world.

31:43 I am not gathering them all up. I'm sending them all out. And I'm praying for them. that the enemy won't get them. That's what they're going into. And so I'm praying that you'll save them from the evil one. Why would he have to pray that for us? Because where we're being sent is evil.

32:12 And he's saying, send them. Send them. Lastly, and I'll close with this. if this is going to be your relationship to the world, and I kind of alluded to this a second ago, you're going to have to die to some things. A lot of things, really, but you're going to have to prioritize mission over your desire to melt down at the ticket counter at the airport. I mean, I have to do that because it's my job. I'm a pastor and I can't pitch a fit like I would like to sometimes. Because I don't know if maybe you're in the line over next to me.

32:54 That's my pastor over there acting like a complete idiot. you're going to have to resign from leaving all the comments on the social media posts of the people you don't know. Rest in peace, comment patrol. Why? Because I want to be a kingdom influencer. Well, I am. I told them I put it right in there. You're talking about kingdom influence and light. I put some light in there. Yeah, I'm sure that really changed a lot. you're going to have to die to cutting people down to tell them what you think. It doesn't mean that we want to just become lambs going to the slaughter, except it does say that in the Bible. well, I just don't want to get steamrolled.

33:50 I don't know. Would you rather have influence or have your opinion heard to everybody in the restaurant because of what went down with the server? It's a tight rope, to be honest. And a lot of it's just us in the world forgetting why we're in the world. Amen.

34:16 What God's calling us to do is just do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. I love it. This is our anchor. Whatever you do, whatever you do, it's going to eliminate some things like the meltdown. Because the meltdown can't be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. I mean, you can use his name in it, but that's not exactly the right idea. and whatever you do. So that's going to eliminate a lot of things that now we're not going to do anymore. Whether in word or deed, do it all. Go for it.