Believers Are Not Of The World.
Jesus declared: If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world; therefore, the world hates you. John 15:18-19.
It is of utmost importance that every believer gain a personal revelation of their true disposition in life. In reality, as believers, we are to gain the knowledge of our standing in Jesus Christ and in our living in this world.
I am reminded of a word of exhortation in which the Lord declared: With my outstretched arm, I have redeemed you out of this world, I have drawn you unto Myself. I have called you by name, and I declare over your lives that you are mine. You are know that you are not of this world, nor are you for this world.
In His High Priestly prayer, Jesus prayed for all who would come unto Him. He declared: And now come I to You and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil. John 17:13-15.
Previously, in His prayer, Jesus declared that while He was with His disciples, He kept them, meaning that He watched over them and guarded them, preventing any harm from afflicting them.
Jesus said: They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth. As You have sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. John 17:16-19.
To sanctify is to set something apart for a specific purpose; in this aspect, Jesus is asking the Father that those who are in Him are to be dedicated to a cause, that of being separated for the purposes of the Father exclusively.
We are to examine our lives in this light, which is the revelation of Jesus’s concern for our lives in Him. As His body:
We have been called out of this world.
We have been called into the service of His Kingdom.
The calling on our lives is that the desired purpose of the life of Jesus Christ in and through us should be for the proclamation of the will of the Father.