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Print As Bible-following Apostolics, we pride ourselves on being separate from the world, but what does this mean? There are few things today that physically separate us from the rest of the world, at least if compared to the Old Testament. I mean think about it. Sure we look a little bit different, our women wear skirts and don’t cut their hair and don’t wear makeup or jewelry. But how separate are we really? I mean, no dietary restrictions, no parapets around the houses, no requisite tassels on our coats, and only common sense to guide the way we treat our livestock (substitute pet Fluffy here for most of America). But does this mean we are to be any less separate? Absolutely not. Part of what separates us from the world is who we are inside: our value system, our attitudes, how we make decisions. If we follow the Word of God, these will truly make us separate (if you didn’t read last week’s article, now would be a good time to go back and catch up).
What do you value? In the world of today, your worth is judged based on how much you contribute to society, how much money you make or what kind of car you drive. Consequently, some people are worth less than others in the eyes of the world. This is the reason that abortion and euthanasia are even able to be debated. The worth of the person is under question. In valuing all people equally, we are clearly separating ourselves from the world.
Who is your master? We allow ourselves to become trapped by the mindset of the world that life is all about consuming and getting things for ourselves. When we do this are we serving mammon instead of God? A godly mindset understands that, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). But it also understands that we are not to be consumed by the things of this world. Instead we are to lay up treasures above that will never pass away. This is why giving is so important in the New Testament church. Not because you need to check the tithing rule off of your list every pay period, but because there are so many people out there who are hurting. What if you went shopping, and instead of buying anything, you just priced out what you would have bought that day, then you went to a homeless shelter, or the American Red Cross, or the United Negro College Fund, or the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation and gave them the money instead? What if, before you went to lunch, you found someone else who was hungry and took them along with you? What if we cared more about helping others with our money than getting stuff with it? Then we would clearly be separate from the world.
We’re on, we’re on, we’re
on a mission Most people in the world lack any kind of mission in life so they simply fall back to the easiest one of taking care of self. Most people have never really thought about their mission in life. Those missions that you do find here and there will typically be very self-serving. On the rare occasion you will find someone who has a mission in life that is greater than themselves, such as saving the whales or stopping AIDS in Africa. But we have been given the greatest mission that ever existed, to make disciples of all nations. Of course the cliché, “Think globally; act locally,” certainly applies to this mission. But when we structure our lives to fulfill such a vast and righteous mission, we are again separating ourselves from the world. My purpose in writing is not to discourage you from doing what you are doing. It is not to say that any of the physical aspects of holiness and separation are in any way invalid. Rather, my purpose is to help you to see that separation is more than just what we do, but it also encompasses why we do it and what we value as well as a plethora of internal aspects that I have no room to mention here. So ask yourself, Mr. or Ms. Apostolic who does everything just right, “Am I truly separate from the world, or am I their identical twin on the inside?”
ninetyandnine.com © 2005, Joshua Remington
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