This past weekend I flew up to Maine. My grandfather had given me a bunch of furniture and I needed to pack it in the back of a moving truck to bring it down to North Carolina. This trip gave me plenty of time to think. I found that a lot of my time was spent thinking about a chapter of the book I have said I plan on writing. Actually this topic will be more of an appendix because of its wide application. The topic is the idea in Christianity of being separate from the world. A common phrase is that Christians are to be “in the world” but not “of the world.” This principle can be derive throughout scripture.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:12-15

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” – John 15:19

“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 ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” – John 17:14-18

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.” – 1 Cor. 2:12

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. . . . If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’” – Colossians 2:8,20

There are numerous more but I am sure you get the point.

Now, you may be asking, why are you planning on writing an appendix to a book concerning this obvious principle. The answer is simple, the principle has become perverted. I cannot say when, for I have not studied its history, but I have noticed a growing trend of Christians separating themselves from sinners. Thankfully this is not happening everywhere but it is happening in creeping ways and the philosophy behind it has infected our theologies . . . or perhaps our theologies have infected this principle.

You see, the principle is (and should remain) that our attitudes and actions be like Christ. In fact, our very being should reflect everything that Christ did and desired to do. The principle has become – do not associate in any activities that non-Christians participate in.

Non-Christians, drink alcohol, go to bars, gamble, wear torns jeans, etc.
Thus Christians need to abstain from alcohol, forsake bars, never gamble, wear khaki’s or dress clothes, etc.

Instead, in the NT we see Jesus, drinking wine, hanging out with the tax collectors, sinners, and prostitutes (probably in bar-like scenarios), cannot say for sure that He gambled – it’s a non-issue at this point, wore the clothes a carpenter could afford, etc.

It is a common misconception that you must wear your “Sunday’s Best” when you meet the Church – why? So the world can see a difference in you. That is completely anti-thetical to itself.

1) If the “world” is gathering as the Church – you have bigger fish to fry.
2) The “world” wears khaki’s, dress slacks, etc. – Christians would need to invent brand new clothing that only bonafide Christians can wear
3) Do we only care what the world sees us wearing one day a week; when we have the smallest interaction with the world?

There was a professor at SEBTS that once said we need to bring our very best to God. He was frowning upon those lazy college students who wander into chapel wearing nothing but their pajama’s. To this day, I still wonder whether or not he wears his suit when he does his morning prayers or right before bed . . .

I still need to develop this topic a little better before I write an appendix about it. But just to leave you with a thought. If you believe that we need to be separate from the world by separating ourselves from them, I want you to consider this…

The world sleeps, drinks water, drinks juice, drinks soda, drives cars, walks, runs, goes to the gym, goes grocery shopping, talks on phones, uses libraries, uses the interent, wears clothing, swims, plays, enjoys company, etc., etc., etc.

Do you hold to a position that prevents you from doing what Jesus did – interact with the world for the sake of His gospel?

A few months ago a friend of mine sent me to a blog which had a segment from a book called So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. I downloaded the available PDF and stored it on my jumpdrive. After a few months I had totally forgotten about the book. Last week this same friend mentioned the book and I remembered that I had once downloaded it with the intention of reading it. He encouraged me to read it.

So I read the book and finished it in a few days (only a few hours of reading). The book was awesome and it challenged me in many ways. I highly encourage those who are on a similar journey to read this book. You can download it or purchase it at http://www.jakecolsen.com/.

The only warning I can give is the same warning that was given to me. Basically, the book is really good but read it carefully and thoughtfully.

Last night, in one of my classes the professor ended the class by stating that the Bible never asks or answers the question, “How close to sin can you get without sinning?” but always asks and answers the question, “How close to Jesus can you get?”

The point he was trying to make is that it is a wrong attitude to try to figure out what you can get away with instead of focusing on how you can build up your relationship with Jesus. At first glance this seems great, but it is the application that fails.

In application he talked about the fact that he promotes abstinence from alcohol and has been called legalistic because of his stand. As some of you know, I have recently written a paper refuting the positions taken by those who teach abstinence from alcohol as a biblical position. I have not posted this paper online anywhere yet and I may not (more on this later). I do tend to agree that those who promote abstinence from alcohol are being pharisaical or legalistic. That is not to say that abstaining from alcohol is wrong, just wrong to force on other believers. Of course we all agree that drunkenness is wrong and there are clear teachings in the Bible against drunkenness. But there is a fundamental difference between getting drunk and drinking. If you use the question my professor posed to the class, “How close to Jesus can you get?” and apply it to the alcohol discussion, you have the burden to prove that person X who abstains from alcohol is able to get closer to Jesus than person Y who drinks in moderation (never getting drunk).

He also mentioned a youth retreat he went on once and he told all of the youth to bring at least one pair of khakis to wear to their “worship service.” His whole premise for this is that we should not dress like the world, we should be distinct from the world. Stating that the world would see the difference in us and would be able to recognize us as Christians because of what we wear. This argument really falls short for me, for several reasons.

1. The world wears Khakis… if we are called to wear clothes that are not found in the world, then we need to invent new clothes that only Christians can wear.
2. If this principle is true, shouldn’t we wear Khakis everyday? Last time I checked, not much of the world is inside the church building every Sunday.
3. The Church is suppose to be a gathering of your spiritual family. Does requiring certain types of clothing really impress the idea of family? Last time I gathered with my physical family I was wearing a t-shirt and pants.
4. The burden of proof still lies at the feet of the man who thinks that wearing a suit and tie to the church brings him closer to Jesus than the man who wears jeans and a t-shirt (never dressing immodestly).

He did specifically mention those “church-goers” who wear less than modest clothing at the gathering. He said that the man-of-God should not have to deal with seeing that when he is preaching God’s word. Now do not get me wrong, I do agree what we should dress modestly, both men and women. We should not be wearing anything that could cause a weaker brother/sister to stumble. I do have a couple of problems/clarifications with the theology behind his statement.

1. This also applies to what we wear in the world, we should be modest 24/7.
2. In my opinion, the “man-of-God,” is already a one-woman-man and does not have to deal with the lust that his weaker brothers/sisters might be dealing with. If you hold to the idea that preachers should not have to look upon a worldly dressed Christian because of lust, then that same man should not be witnessing/evangelizing the world, otherwise he might lust after those woman too. Surely the prostitutes that Jesus talked with were not wearing their “Sunday’s best.”

I have been thinking about these issues pretty much all night. If you hold to some of these ideas, I hope I have challenged what you think.

Now for business… as I mentioned above I wrote a paper refuting the positions that many alcohol abstainers hold to. I think it is a pretty good paper. I actually gave a copy to Dr. Akin (the SEBTS President) and he commented on it for me. I plan on beefing the paper up and making it the best argument possible. Anyways, I have been thinking about this for about a month now, but I was thinking of writing a book. It will be called, The Old Wives Tales of Christianity or something like that… not really sure yet. Anyways, in this book I will have a chapter dedicated to all sorts of different things that some Christians hold to. One of the chapters will be my paper on alcohol. I was thinking about other things I could write about. For now I have, Gambling and Clothing. If you have any other ideas please send them to me, a three chapter book will be pretty useless.

Well that’s it for now, thanks for reading.