How Christians Engage The World

As the disciples listen to Jesus teach them what it means to be identified as part of His kingdom, they are not so pleased to learn that the world will reject and persecute them. At that moment it must have been tempting for them, as it is tempting for us, to start making one of two plans. Either withdraw and isolate ourselves from the world, or compromise and blend in to the world as closely as we can. The world can’t persecute who they can’t find, right? But Jesus doesn’t miss a beat in his sermon, before those options can even be fully considered, Jesus lays down two descriptions of how Christians are meant to engage the world – and neither of them will permit us to withdraw, or to blend in. Christians are going to be as distinct in the world as salt is in the soil of the earth, and light is in the darkness of night.

LifeGroup Handout