Believers Are To Be In The World, But Not Of It
Jesus prayed: “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” John 17:9–12
Every believer needs to understand this distinction: Although we are in the world, we are not of the world. Our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God, and therefore our lives are to represent the King whom we are called to serve. Jesus was not asking the Father to remove His disciples from the world. He was asking His Father to keep them while they remained in it.
They were to live among the world, while they belonged to another Kingdom; although they would walk among men, they were to reveal the character of Christ; even though they would be surrounded by darkness, they were to shine as lights; they would be torchbearers, carrying the light of the Gospel.
Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” John 12:35-36.
In the course of His high priestly prayer, Jesus declared something that must be firmly understood in our lives, notice prayerfully what Jesus prayed: I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. His prayer was not a rejection of the lost, but a prayer concerning those who would carry His testimony into the world.
Jesus continued His prayer: I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me, I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”John 17:20–23
Jesus Christ was looking beyond His redemptive work on the cross, for in His sacrificial death, His triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension, the Holy Spirit of Almighty God would be unleashed into this earth, working with the glorious gospel that would be preached through His believers, those who would follow in His footsteps