Passage: This Week's Second Reading

"Until Then"

The world needs to change. That’s probably something we can all agree on. Exactly how, well that might leave room for argument. One thing is for sure, all you have to do is read the paper or watch the news on TV, and you would probably agree that the world does need to change. But how realistic is it to think the world is going to change? Many people think we’re already beyond the point of no return. It’s too late and all there is to do is wait for Jesus to return and do His thing.

But is it really too late? Jesus says in our text for today, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one." These words of Jesus provide a big clue for us about the world and about change. The world can change, and it’s up to us, it’s up to the Christian people in this world today to bring about that change.

Our text for today is part of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. It’s embedded in the narrative of our Lord’s Passion. In this prayer, Jesus prays to His heavenly Father and expresses His desires and wishes, and prays in such a way that His disciples can overhear and then be motivated to strive for the Lord’s desired ends. In this prayer, Jesus prayed not only for his disciples, but in the verse right after our text, Jesus asks that all of the things he has asked for his disciples would also be applied to all who would believe through their word, that we would all be one, just as Jesus and the Father are one.

Jesus prayed this prayer right before He and his disciples left the Upper Room and went to the Garden of Gethsemane. It wouldn’t be long before Judas would arrive with a detachment of soldiers and servants from the chief priests and the Pharisees to arrest Jesus.

The world back then needed to change too. Few people worshipped the One true God. The Gospel message needed to touch the lives of many people. It was up to the disciples to carry on the work that Jesus had started.

Jesus knew that He would soon be ascending into heaven, and in fact this past Thursday was Ascension Day, which was 40 days after Easter. Jesus was not going to be a physical presence for the long haul. Jesus needed them to be the kind of people that would change the world. He needed them to be strong witnesses of the Gospel.

Jesus knew this would be no easy task. They were in the world, but not of the world. This would be a hard balance to maintain. The disciples were men. They were ambitious to the point of fighting each other. They were politically minded. They wanted to be rewarded for their hard work. Like all people, they got tired. They were lured by the trapping of the world.

But they had several powerful things on their side. They had prayer. They had the Word and teachings of Jesus. They had the power of the Holy Spirit. They did change their period of world history by the way they lived their lives and their love for one another. Slowly, day by day, they attracted other to Jesus’ love.

We are in the world, but as followers of Christ, as people who call themselves "Christian," we are not to be of this world. That’s a hard balance to maintain. Just as the world hated the disciples because they were not of the world, it also hates us.

Now it may not seem like the world hates us. After all, when was the last time you felt hated by the world? But you should feel that way. Wrong is wrong, even if everyone else does it. Wrong can become so normal in our lives that is ceases, or at least seems like it ceases to be wrong. We are so easily pulled in by the world. "The government doesn’t need all that money, go ahead, cut a few corners on your taxes." "Television isn’t that bad; quit being such a spoilsport." Go ahead and drive five mph over the speed limit. They let you do it anyway." Sometimes, what’s wrong can even become right.

The courts have said gay marriage is okay. I guess it must be. They are using our tax dollars to fund abortions. Maybe abortion is okay too. You get the idea.

The fact of the matter is that righteousness cannot help but hate evil. Trouble is, we like to negotiate with evil. We like to rationalize the evil actions in our lives. "I didn’t really lie; I just left out a few details."

Jesus knows that living in the world is hard for us. Jesus knows our sins and failures. That’s what the cross and empty tomb of Easter is all about – forgiveness, strength and encouragement to keep going. What better vote of confidence then, when Jesus prays that we are not to be taken out of this world because there is work to be done and we are the ones to do it.

Not only that, Jesus trusts us to do His work. The world needs to be changed, and it can be changed, one corner at a time. The world needs to see the difference God can make in the world through His people. We need to answer His call and often that may mean seeking the harder road and putting ourselves on the line for the Gospel. It will mean sacrifice so that others may know the truth of Jesus.

So how do we live in the world, use it, and not bow down to it or be swept away by it? It’s an everyday, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute battle. We have to consider how our actions and decision affect our lives as Christians and how those actions and decisions will affect how others view our lives as Christians. How do we use our Christian liberty to further the Gospel in the world? It’s a one step at a time, one decision at a time, one victory at a time life, that as warriors of and for the Gospel we are empowered to win.

Jesus was in the world, struggling against the world when he prayed this prayer for his disciples and for us. He won a hard-fought victory, a victory that took deep commitment, a victory that required a giant leap into hell, so we would no longer be of this world and so we would not perish with the world.

He was hated by the world, rejected by the world, killed by the world so that someday we could be taken out of this world – to eternal bliss that’s out of this world.

For now, we are in the world, but, in our Baptisms, we are also in Christ. Everything that he won during his earthly sojourn is ours. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, by reading His Word, partaking of the Sacraments, by putting on the armor of God and boldly proclaiming His Word to others, we start to change our little corner of the world.

Christians are often faulted for not witnessing their faith in the world through their actions. When our lives as Christian people are let loose on the world, people will be changed, and the world will be changed as well.

Until Jesus comes again, we have work to do. We have the privilege of proclaiming the Gospel. We are in the world, but not of the world.

We are in Christ and being in Christ – while being in the world – is all we need to do to change the world for the Kingdom. Amen.