“Those who are
baptized no longer belong to the world, no longer serve the world, and are no
longer subject to it. They belong to Christ alone, and relate to the world only
through Christ” (page 185).
The word “world”
can be confusing, though it need not be. It can mean “people,” as in the people
of the world, or it can “system,” an order of things and ways and dynamics that
is governed and animated by Satan and his minions, which rules over unregenerate
mankind and seeks not only its perpetual enslavement, but seeks to enlist it in
rebellion against God and the destruction of His Kingdom.
Context
indicates the sense in which we ought to understand the word “world.”
When we read, “For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” we understand that
“world” means the people of the world.
However, when read
1 John 2:15 – 17 we see something different:
“Do not love the
world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust
of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from
the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does
the will of God lives forever.”
The world system
has myriad subsystems, and none is innocuous, none are innocent. In Christ we learn
to be “in the world but not of the world” (John 15:19; 17:13 – 16), which also
means that we strive to be a blessing to the people of the world, to show them
Jesus, to lay down our lives for others as Jesus laid down His life for us.
When Bonhoeffer
writes that we “no longer serve the world,” he does not mean that we no longer
serve the people of the world, but rather that we no longer serve the system of
the world. This does not mean that we do not live and function within world
systems, for again we must live in the world for many reasons – to eat and
drink, for provide for others, to benefit humanity, to share the Gospel and
grace of Jesus – but we do not subject ourselves to the values of the world, to
the goals of the world. We refuse to be intoxicated by the world, to grab for what the world dangles in front of us, and we refuse to offer our children on
the altars of the world.
We have an
adversarial relationship with the world system, and this means that we must often
say “no” to the world if we are to be faithful to Jesus Christ, to the Church,
and indeed to the people of the world. The professing Christian who does not
live a life of saying “no” to the world perhaps ought to ponder the Parable of
the Sower (Mark 4). The parent who is not teaching his or her children to say “no”
to the world might want to consider how deeply he or she truly cares for those
children and adolescents.
The people of
the world need us to be faithful in our obedience to Jesus and in saying “no”
to the world system, for otherwise they will not see a better Way, they will
not see Jesus. This is one reason why it is critical for us to do all that we
do in the name of Jesus and to the glory of God (Colossians 3:17, 23), so that
when we do say “no” we will have credibility and integrity. People may not like
it when we say “no,” but they may respect it; others may take courage when we
say “no” and they may see the light of Christ.
But there is
more than saying “no,” there is more importantly being an active blessing to
those around us, seeking the welfare of others, attempting to improve the condition
of our communities and broader world. We are to be the Good Samaritan to the
world, the Presence of the Good Shepherd, feeding the hungry, welcoming the
stranger, visiting those in prison, caring for the widow and orphan and
disenfranchised, clothing the naked and housing the homeless and caring for the
sick. Whether at work, at school, in civic life, in recreation and
entertainment, in economics – we are to be in the world but not of the world,
we are to be showing the people of the world a better Way because we belong to
Jesus Christ – we are no longer our own.
I am puzzled why
we are more pleased with our children doing well in the world than we are in
them growing in Jesus Christ. Perhaps because we are more pleased with our own success
in the world rather than our growing in Jesus Christ?
Bonhoeffer
writes, “The break with the world is absolute” (page 185).
Followed by, “It
requires and causes our death.”
Bonhoeffer can
be a nuisance, can’t he?
What do you
think?
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