Be in the world but not of the world

Ephesians 5:7-11

Be not ye therefore partakers with them.8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are yelight in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9  (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10  proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (AKJV).

In the book “Record of Christian Work”, Kapitango Kusita, an evangelist overseer of the Dondi Church, Portuguese Africa, was discoursing on following the "white" path, and the "white" path only. It was night, and the crowd of natives sat around the campfire. A native dog passed between the fire and the listeners. "Look at that dog! How many legs has it?" asked the preacher. "Four," came the surprised reply. "Yes, four indeed," retorted Kapitango, "but have you ever seen the four legs of a dog trying to follow more than one path at a time? No, no! The four legs all go together!

But how about us people with only two legs? Isn’t it always easy for us to follow two paths, and even more at one time? We follow two paths more than one time. We follow Christ and follow the world at the same time, we love God and we love money at the same time. Why can’t we be like the dog with four legs, yet all legs follow only one path at a time?

Ephesians 5 speaks about the life that is both in darkness and in slumber (Ephesians 5:8; Ephesians 5:14). Paul, in Ephesians 5:1-14 specifically, considered the Ephesian believers as deep sleeper and spiritually dead with four groups of reasons.

In verse 3, he recognized fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness among Ephesian believers. In verse 4, he identified filthy, foolish talking, and jesting among Ephesian believers as the reasons. In verse 6, there is an easy falling for deception through vain words among the Ephesian believers.

And in verse 7 and 11, Paul talked about a comfortable partaking of the worldly activities and wickedness among the Ephesian believers. This is the fourth group of reasons why Paul considered the Ephesian believers as either spiritually asleep or spiritually dead. Like the Ephesian believers, we also enjoy a comfortable partaking of the worldly activities and wickedness of the world. Paul was very clear in his teaching, in his admonition, in his reminder through this letter. First, we do not take part in the unfruitful works of darkness. Second, we need to expose these unfruitful works of darkness. Simply put, we are reminded to constantly guard ourselves from worldly activities.

We are in the world but we are not of this world.

The Bible describes the “world” into five categories: the physical world, the human world, the moral world, the temporal world, and the coming world.

The physical world is the world that God created (Acts 4:24). When God created this world, He found it to be good (Genesis 1:31). This is the world that God subdued with His glory (Isaiah 6:3), the world of which He is Lord (Matthew 11:25), and the world that He will also judge in due time (2 Peter 3:10).

The human world is the world of humans. It is the kind of world that Caesar Augustus subjected to a census (Luke 2:1). It refers to the inhabited world whose kingdoms were offered to Jesus by Satan (Luke 4:5), the world that is deceived by Satan (Revelation 12:9), the world that will experience great trouble and tribulations in the end times (Luke 21:26), and the one that Jesus predicted to have His gospel preached (Matthew 24:14).

The moral world is the world of people who are indifferent or hostile to God. In the widest sense, it is the world of corrupt and evil men (2 Peter 1:4). It is the kind of world that God destroyed through the great flood (Genesis 6:11). It is the world that hated Jesus Christ (John 7:7) and the same world that will hate His followers (John 15:18-19). This is the world that cannot receive the knowledge of God (John 14:17).

The temporal world is the world that is temporary (Psalm 102:25-27). It is the world that Satan rules (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is the kind of world that a man can gain in exchange for the loss of his soul (Matthew 16:26). It is the world that is passing away (1 John 2:17). It is the world that the believers must not love (2 Timothy 4:10) and the world that believers should not be conformed to its ways (Romans 12:2). It is in living in this world that the believers experience undue hardship in living for Christ (1 Corinthians 7:29-35).

            The coming world is the new world, a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1-5), the home of the righteous (2 Peter 3:13).

Paul here is concerned about the Ephesian believers taking part in the affairs of the world. Paul admonished them not to take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, rather, expose these unfruitful works.

Ephesians 5:11: Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness,

but instead expose them.

The context of world here is “darkness”, which comes from the Greek word “skotos”. From the Greek Lexicon, skotos literally means darkness, to describe either darkness of the night, or darkness of eyesight or blindness. Skotos metaphorically means ungodliness and immorality with the consequent misery in hell. In the context of the Biblical description of the world, this world is the temporal world.

This world is based on the Greek “cosmos” (John 16:8-11; 1 John 5:19; Luke 4:6). This world is the world that is ruled by Satan. Satan rules this cosmos with lies and deception. Satan offers and promises this world, its riches, its powers, and its pleasures, to the believers. No believer can ever say that he or she is immune to deception and temptations of Satan as Satan is so serious about exercising his lordship of the temporal world. Satan even tried to temp and deceive Jesus Christ. Since Satan is the lord of this temporal world that lies in wickedness, this temporal world is a world of wickedness and a world of darkness.

The unfruitful works of darkness have already been mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 5:3-10. These unfruitful works of darkness are fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness, filthy, foolish talking, and jesting and an easy falling for deception through vain words among the Ephesian believers. The unfruitful works of darkness are acts that are associated with every kind of impurity.

Believers should not be partakers of these unfruitful works of darkness or sin. Believers are to avoid the unclean way of life that belongs to sin and unrighteousness.

These works are unfruitful because they produce no benefit to both the body and the soul. These works are unfruitful because they do not bring forth positive advantage except guilt, fear, shame, corruption, and death. This description of unfruitfulness is in contrast with the description of the life that shows the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:9; Galatians 5:22).

There are two words that connect with each other in verse 7 and verse 11. In verse 7, there is the word “partake” and in verse 11, there is the word “participate”. Partake and participate may be similar in a sense. But in terms of practice, partake and participate are different.

To partake means to join in with some people and do what they do. To participate means to share what is common with some people. To partake means one just happens to take part in an activity, maybe for one time or two-times. One may have partaken in an activity or joined in an activity during weak moments. It is taking part in an activity by chance but one is still not convinced that this is what one really wants to do.

But to participate means to share the benefits of the action. Participating means that one shares in what is common with the people who do the act. It goes beyond partaking because one begins to absorb the attitudes and characters of those who do the same acts. Regardless, to partake of the works of darkness or to participate in the works of darkness should not be the life of the believers.

Believers who belong to Jesus Christ are not to be part of the world as the world is committed to its own system. This system of the world has at least four major objectives, according to Charles Swindoll in his book “Living Above the Level of Mediocrity”. Swindoll identified these objectives of the world as (1) fortune, (2) fame, (3) power, and (4) pleasure.

The world system is driven by money as it feeds on materialism. If you have the money, you can have all the material things that you want.

The second objective is Fame. This is another word for popularity. Fame is the longing to be known, to be somebody in someone else's eyes.

The third objective is Power. This is having influence, maintaining control over individuals, groups or companies, or even materials things. It is the desire to manipulate and maneuver others to do something for one's own benefit.

The fourth objective is Pleasure. At its basic level, pleasure has to do with fulfilling one's sensual desires. It's the same mindset that's behind the slogan: "If it feels good, then do it."  

These objectives of the worldly system become the work of darkness because these always drag the lives of believers to impurity and unrighteousness. That is why Paul has this advice to the Ephesians believers and to present-day believers (Ephesians 5:8-9).

            We are in the world that was originally created by God. But through the deception of the Enemy, it is to be destroyed. As believers, we look at the world as a temporary place to live. We are looking forward to the city of the living God, where the spirits of just men are made perfect (Hebrews 12:23), where the saints shall reign with Christ forever and ever (Revelation 22:5). We are looking forward to a city filled with the brilliance of precious stones and crystals jewels. We are looking forward to the city where there are no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow (Revelation 21:12), and no more separation because death will be conquered (Revelation 20:6). We are looking forward to the city where we can behold only the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and come face to face with Him.

If our hope is in this future city, then we can remain in the world but we are not for the world. We can remain in this temporal world ruled by Satan, but we can be comforted and fulfilled by the Spirit of God so that the tastes and desires of the world do not have its power over our lives.

A believer is likened to a SCUBA diver. (SCUBA stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). A SCUBA is an apparatus that allows a diver to breathe underwater. It is an artificial life support system for a human who does not have the capacity for underwater life. When divers dive into the deep, they place themselves in an environment entirely not their own. But the reason why SCUBA divers can remain underwater is because they are not caught up by the strange environment. The scuba divers are alive underwater because they carry in themselves their own environment.

Our Christian life is also like the life of a SCUBA diver. We are not caught up by the environment of the world because we have our own spiritual environment that we carry with us.