11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. (John 17:11-16)
Jesus taught us that the Christian life is both here and not here. We are to live "IN" this world but we are not to be "OF" this world. The missional life understands this contrast.
When I live "IN" this world I keep my priorities straight. I understand that I was not created for the pleasures and achievements of this world. So instead of pursing possessions, positions, power, etc. I pursue God. When I live in this world I daily surrender myself to what God desires to do in me and through me. Surrendering myself to God keeps me from substituting my plans for God's plans. Everyday God asks me to surrender my plans, my hurts, my hangups to him. When I am willing to do this the priorities of my life change. I no longer believe that my happiness or fulfillment is found in the things "OF" this world. It is like the old hymn states when we turn our eyes upon Jesus, "the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace".
But living in the world is not only about surrendering my stuff to God it also includes being a part of God's working. God invites us to be a part of what He is doing in this world. Simply God is on a mission to redeem the lost world to Himself. The material things that we value and collect are, at best, tools God uses to carry out his mission. Think about your job, your neighborhood, or your circle of friends. Those things are not there to serve you, but simply venues to a greater mission. The people that I encounter everyday God seeks to bring them into His kingdom. To be "IN" the world is to join God in his mission.
However; if I am "OF" the world then possessions, positions, power become the ends. In other words I live my life so that I may keep what I have or to gather more. In this affluent Christian society the line between the two becomes very blurred.
My observation is that most of christian teaching seeks to tell us how to "not be of this world" with little emphasis on how to "live in this world". What I mean is we (and I am included in the we) seem to emphasis our teaching on what we should not do. I do not think there is necessarily anything wrong with this teaching, but I do think there needs to be more emphasis on how to live "IN" the world. Missional followers learn how to live in the world without being distracted by the trappings of being of this world.
