In his devotional book, Like Christ, Andrew Murray makes this keen observation. “...the more entirely one is not of the world, the more fit he is to be in the world. The freer the Church is of the spirit and principles of the world, the more influence she will exert in it” (60).
Indeed, when Christians are much of this world, when they exhibit the same lust for power and self that is characteristic of the world, they are offering the world nothing. A church that is too much like the world has nothing to offer the world. The world needs an alternative to worldliness. All too often, Christians fail to offer it.
“In the world but not of the world” is not a trite unachievable goal. We are not to be of this world (John 17:11, 14, 16). But we are to be in this world as he was in this world (1 John 4:17). That is, we are to be in this world modelling and demonstrating the life of the other world. Only by doing so can we offer an alternative.