How to not be of the world - Pastor John Franklin

Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military styles.

It wasn't the type of people. Good morning everybody.

It's actually wonderful to be up here. It really and truly is. Pastor Jeff's off preaching somewhere else and Josiah's finally getting to take a much needed break.

Guys, I might be a little rusty, but I'm excited to be up here. I'm going to be talking today to believers.

So if you're a non -believer here, I want you to listen. But bear in mind that who

I'm speaking to today are those who claim to be in Christ. Because I don't know about you, but sometimes

I struggle with some things. I'm called to be holy because God's holy.

And to be holy means to be separate, right? But then I have a problem because when

I read Mark chapter 16, in verse 15 he says,

And he said to them, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. So I'm called to be holy, which means to be separate, but then he tells me to go into all the world.

Chris, today I'm going to be talking to you about being in the world and not of the world. Because that's a fine line that each and every one of us has to walk.

It said, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Guys, we have an obligation to God.

That was a command, not a suggestion, to go into all the world. And to tell the good news to all of creation.

Sometimes that's really hard, isn't it? Because I have no problem telling it to somebody who already says they believe, and talking to them, but those people that don't.

Or those people I may not know very well. Or those people who may not look like me, or dress like me, or talk like me.

Those people that might not bathe very much and might smell a little funny, right?

But it said, Go preach it to all of creation. Not just those that we want to.

And then he said in Matthew chapter 18, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you until the end of the age. So not only am I supposed to go to these people, and not only are we supposed to tell them about Jesus, but then he said to make disciples of them.

How many of you have someone you're discipling right now? Can I dare say many of us

Christians have no problem coming here sitting in a pew, but we're not discipling very many people. And again, these aren't suggestions by Jesus, these were commands by Him.

This is what we were told to do. We have to go into the world to do it. To make a disciple means to actually instruct somebody in the ways of the

Lord. To teach them to follow Christ. To tell them, follow me because I'm following Christ just like Paul said.

And it's hard. Because we not only have to tell them about Jesus, we have to show them about Jesus.

And then we have to invest in these people. And we have to take time to teach them and pour ourselves out into them.

Just like the Holy Spirit has poured Himself out into us, we're supposed to do the exact same thing to other people.

And then it gets even worse because in Acts 1 .8 it says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.

In Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Again, He didn't say, you may be.

He didn't say, you can be if you just feel like it. He didn't say, I know if you just feel comfortable this time you can talk to someone.

No, He says, you will be my witnesses. You don't have a choice,

Christian. The only choice you have is what kind of witness are you? Are you a good witness or are you a bad witness?

Are you truly a follower of Christ or are you just giving a lip service? You see, we have a specific purpose when we go into that world.

That we've been told to go into. That we have to go into every single day. We're called to be the salt of the earth, right?

For those of you who like to cook, I enjoy cooking. I really and truly do. It's one of the things that I learned how to do at a young age.

Because we're nine children in my household. And my mother cooked for a living. So when she got home she didn't want to feed all of us.

Because she'd been feeding people all day. So we had to each learn how to cook. And I didn't want to just make something in the microwave. Or heat up a can of soup on the stove.

So I enjoy cooking. Salt is a wonderful seasoning. You can do a lot with just salt, can't you?

And when it's not there, you know it's not there, right? It says in Matthew 5 .13,

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. In other words,

Christian, you're supposed to go out and you're supposed to add flavor. You're supposed to add seasoning to the world.

You're supposed to enhance what the world has to offer. By sharing the good news.

Because that's the best seasoning there is, isn't there? There's no other flavor like it.

And it says if you don't have the taste of salt, you're good for nothing but to be walked on.

To be trampled on. Luke says that if you lose your taste, how shall it be restored?

It's of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It's thrown away.

Christian, if your walk looks just like the world, you're not the salt. If your everyday life consists of being just like the world is, you've lost your flavor.

And Jesus just said in Luke, you're not even good enough for the manure pile. I don't know about you, but that actually hits a little bit close to home sometimes, doesn't it?

Man. Thank you. I was hoping not to do this, because last time

I listened to the recording, all I heard was me drinking water. But I get to where my mouth is so dry,

I meant to get a glass and put it up here instead of a bottle, but that's my own fault. You know, we're supposed to be the light of the world.

We're supposed to be what illuminates the path. We're supposed to be showing people the way, and we're not doing it.

We're sitting there and we're living, and we're trying to be like them. We're trying to blend in rather than stand out.

I know I've told this story before about when I was in college, one of our fun things to do was to walk through the train tunnel.

You waited for the train to go through, and then you walked behind the train, and you walked, because it was a long train tunnel.

It didn't take about 20 minutes to walk through it. And one day, or one night, we only did it at night.

We weren't always the brightest people. As we're walking through, we forgot the train, some of us forgot to look at the train schedule that day, and we heard, now we'd only been in about 5, 10 minutes, so we knew we didn't have time to run towards the train and get out, but we started running out, and that light that was at that end of the tunnel, there's no more beautiful thing than seeing a light of rescue.

And we're supposed to be the light to the earth. I guarantee you my pucker factor when

I didn't have any light, and for those of you who know what a pucker factor is, you know what I'm talking about. Right?

That's where it puckers up so much it's drawing the seed up into you. Yeah? Some of us have felt that pucker factor go up once or twice, right?

There's no more beautiful sight than when that light turns on. But we're called to go out and be the light of the world, that city on a hill that cannot be hidden.

But often we hide that light because we want to please man more than God.

We should be standing out in the world, not blending in, because we're called to remain separate from the world.

It says that in Deuteronomy 12 .29, it says that the world's going to try to make us like them.

Right? The world wants you to be like them. It says, When the Lord your

God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to depossess, and you depossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not instead to follow them.

Christian, we need to be careful when we go into this world that he's conquered that we don't try to be like them.

He's already conquered this world. We are his children. We are his servants.

We're not supposed to go in and be like them. We're supposed to show him how to be like them, show them how to be like him.

It says, You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way for every abominable thing the

Lord hates they have done to their gods. They do to him what they do to their gods.

They're gods of money. They're gods of TV. They're gods of idols. They're gods of singers. Whatever it is that they're following, we're not supposed to give it to God.

But they want us to be like them. I can remember, again, in my college days, weren't the brightest people.

For some of you who may not know, I was kind of wild in my college days.

And I liked to go out and drink with my friends. But I didn't start off that way. And it was amazing.

I'd go to the party and they knew that I didn't drink. I made it all the way through basic training. A few years in the military, never drinking a drop.

And when I got there, I didn't do it then either. But there would always be that, Hey, just have one.

Right? Because everybody else is doing it. And they want you to do it too.

They want you to make them like them rather than for you to stand out. And Christian, I'm here today to tell you that eventually, if you don't have that grounding in Christ, if you don't have those roots deep, you will submit to what the world is pressuring you to do.

If you don't have that support system that's rooted and built up in Christ, you will submit.

Guys, I hate that I can't say anymore. Because they're going to try to make you like them.

Because over and over, just have one. And one day, I succumbed. One day,

I'd broken up with a girl. I told them at the party, You know what? If you guys buy it, I'll drink it.

I had never been so drunk in my life. And I don't say that to brag. But I stumbled because I didn't have the firm foundation that I needed to resist.

I wanted to blend in and quit standing out. I wanted to be a part of instead of showing them the way.

And as the years went on, and I drank more and more, and I realized at the point when

I drank a liter of whiskey one night and didn't even have a buzz, didn't even know that I'd been drinking, that it was time to stop.

And I left everything behind. And they kept saying, Why don't you come back to the party?

You see, the world wants to make you like them. The world wants to make you as miserable as they are.

Because I'm here to tell you that's just a temporary false enjoyment.

There's no joy there. In 1

John 4 it says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Because it's not just the people that you know are in the world. Some of them are those false teachers.

Some of those are those false prophets that are telling you, Hey, you can do, you can live your best life now. Right? You can have your best life now.

Jesus loves you just the way you are. Christian, I'm here to tell you

Jesus does not love you the way you are. He loves you in spite of the way you are, and He wants to make you more like Him. But the world's going to try to change you to be like them.

So you have to work at it. You have to fight it. You have to do everything you can not to.

2 Corinthians 6, 14 says, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?

What fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Bilal? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

Christian, your best friend should not be somebody who's in the world. If your best friend, then you are unmatched with an unbeliever.

Your partner should not be someone who's in the world. Those of you who haven't married yet, you need to listen up.

You're not going to change them. You can't change them. Only God can change them.

Don't expect to be the instrument. If He wants you to be, He'll make you. But don't go planning your life with someone who you know is an unbeliever.

You're supposed to be in the world, not of the world. Because that world's going to make you just like them. It says,

Therefore, go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing.

Then I will welcome you. Christian, we can't be going out and trying to say, well,

Jesus sat down with prostitutes and sinners, so it'll be okay if I do it. Which is what we tell ourselves all the time, isn't it?

Jesus sat down with them, but when He stood up, they were no longer prostitutes and sinners. And you don't have that power.

So He says for you to be separate from them. Go witness to them.

Tell them the truth. But then be separate from them. And Ezra 9 .12

says, Therefore, do not give your daughters to your sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek the peace and prosperity that you may be strong and eat the food of the land and leave it for the inheritance of your children forever.

Don't go with them. Don't let your children hang around them. If you know that they are unbelievers, tell them the good news, but then go fellowship with believers.

Tell them the good news. Witness to them. Tell them about Jesus, but then go back to the church. We have to be separate because there's problems associated with that matching of unbelievers.

Generational problems. It said in Nehemiah 13, it said,

And half of the children spoke the language of Ashod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people.

The nation of Israel in just a few years had forgotten the language of their

God. And Christian, it will happen to you too if you want to hang around with believers, with unbelievers.

You're going to forget and your children are going to forget and never learn. Because they're going to see what this world has to offer, the wealth, the power, the money, the fame, and they're going to pursue it and not the things of God.

Because it's shiny. It's new. It feels good.

It tastes good. And sometimes to follow

Christ is a little bit hard, isn't it? It's sacrifice. It's living for someone else other than yourself.

You cannot have friendship with the world. James says,

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? There's a hostility there when you want to be the world's friend.

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend with the world makes himself an enemy of God. Christian, you want to play with the world?

You want to go live in their life? You want to look just like them, act just like them? James just said you're an enemy to God.

And I don't know about you, but I don't want to be an enemy with God. I'll lose that fight every day.

And it's amazing how we try to be enemies with those who hate us. Or how we try to be friends with those who hate us, rather.

1 John 3 .13 says, Do not be surprised, brother, that the world hates you. Christian, you want to look like them, you want to act like them, but they hate you.

Why do you want to be like them? If you're truly a child of God, Scripture says they hate you.

It says in Matthew 10, Brother will deliver brother over to death, and father his child, and children will rise against their parents, and have them put to death, and you will be hated for all for my name's sake.

They hate you. Yet you want to please them. Jesus said in Luke that you're blessed when people hate you.

And when they exclude you, and revile you, and spurn your name as evil. Scripture says that you are blessed when you follow

Christ and let the world hate you. You're looking for that friendship?

Don't go to the world, go to the church. Do not forsake the assembling. That's to give you that fellowship you need.

Because I'm going to tell you, it's very easy to take that little step over. And once you take that first step, the next one's a big one.

The only way the world is going to love you, the only way you're going to please them is if you're a part of it. Jesus said in John 15, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it has hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

The only way the world is going to love you, the only way the world is going to accept you is if you are of the world. So if you're sitting there, and everybody around you, when you're out in the world, is perfectly fine with everything you're doing, you need to examine yourself.

If you're sitting there pursuing what the world says is right, and what the world says is good, instead of what the

Bible says is good and right, you need to examine yourself. Because you're doing something wrong.

You're not a servant of the world, you're a servant of man. You're not a servant of God, you're a servant of man.

Like I said, it doesn't take a whole lot of influence from the world to get you to take that step over. Again, I love baking bread.

And Scripture says a little leaven leavens a whole lump. It doesn't take a lot of yeast.

That's what leaven is. It doesn't take a whole lot of yeast to permeate through the entire ball of dough.

You can't just have it in one little compartment. And Christian, our lives are like that. God can't be sitting in one little compartment.

Right? Just because you walk in here and sit down in a chair on Sunday morning does not mean you're following Christ if you look like the world every single other day.

Because that lump has permeated your body. That sinful nature out there is taking over.

And just because you sit in here one day a week for an hour isn't going to prevent that world from attacking you.

And it's hard. And it's a struggle. But we're called out of it.

Revelation 18 verse 4 says, Then I heard another voice from heaven come out from her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues.

You don't want to suffer like the world come out from her. It's time to quit playing church and start being the church.

It's time to quit pretending you're a Christian and start following Christ. By this, all people will know, my disciples, you have love for one another.

Not love for the world. Love for one another. Ephesians says that we previously walked as the world.

Right? In chapter 2 it says, You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of the world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens.

In other words, you previously walked as Satan did. And does. But you're not anymore.

Come out and be holy. Guys, I'm not going to belabor the point.

I'm going to have a very short message today. But I think it's time for each and every one of us to examine ourselves.

I think it's time for each and every one of us to look at the image we portray when we go out into that world.

Are you truly being the salt? Or are you just sitting there living for yourself?

Are you trying to please man? Or are you trying to please God? Because you can't do both.

There is no sitting on the fence. Jesus says you cannot be lukewarm because I will vomit you out of my mouth.

You have to choose today who you serve. I'm going to get Andrew to go ahead and come up.

Like I said, I'm not going to sit here and belabor the point and beat you over the head. Because I think

I've gotten the message of cross. And today, you need to choose who you serve and decide to live like him.

And if you're choosing the world, good luck to you. But if you're choosing

God and you haven't been living like that, you need to get right today. Repentance just doesn't mean saying

I'm sorry. Repentance means I've been going this way, I've been following the world,

I'm going to turn around and go the other way. I'm going to make that course correction.

I did land navigation at night. I did land navigation in the morning where we'd have to walk thousands of meters through the woods.

And you're off by one degree. Eventually, you'll stray. Every single one of us in this room,

I guarantee, has strayed a little bit. And the farther you go from your point of origin to where you want to be, the farther that strain is if you don't course correct.

So if you haven't walked in an aisle since you got saved when you were five years old, it might be time again.

It might be time to come and course correct. Because some of us, when we walk out there, we can't tell the difference.

Some of us, when we walk in here, we can't tell the difference. And it's time to make the change.