The Forgotten Officer

Of course it must be stated clearly that to live as strangers is not necessarily a call to live strangely. There is a difference between being an alien and being a weirdo. When we begin to die to the things of this world and live for the things of God, our lifestyle will definitely seem strange to the world—but for the right reasons. It will not be strange for the same reasons that some people have reality television shows about themselves.

A simple life in the midst of decadence is strange. A life of self-control in a world filled with self-indulgence is strange. A life of purity in the midst of a world filled with immorality is strange. A life that values those whom society deems worthless is strange. A life that blesses enemies and prays for those who persecute us in the midst of a world that slanders and seeks self-interest above all else is strange.

A life built around proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth in obedience to the command of the risen King will be strange in a world filled with rebels against that King who live to fulfill their fleshly lusts and impulses.

We do not have to go beyond simple godliness to add additional odd behaviors in our attempt to be “different;” living godly in a godless world is different enough.

If you are a Christian, you are called to live for the purposes and glory of God as an alien and a stranger on earth. Living for the purposes of God includes proclaiming the excellencies of God, who has called us out of darkness and into light to be a people for him.

This world is not your home. As the grace of God continues to conform you more and more to the image of Jesus, you should become more and more uncomfortable here. Children of God should long more deeply to be in the undiluted presence of the living God. If you are comfortable in this present world and love the culture, the Bible warns you that you are living as God’s enemy and lovingly calls you to repentance and life in the Savior.

This world is dead and under God’s curse. As a result, when we conform ourselves to the patterns of this world, we are walking in death. In contrast, Christ has called his followers to abundant life. In light of the biblical testimony, this does not mean Jesus is calling us to be filled up with the things this world says are important. Instead, he calls us to know him and be known by him. That is genuine life.

Our culture is inherited; instead of being part of our genetics, we assimilate our culture by growing up in it rather than inheriting it the way we do eye color. If an Asian baby and an African baby are switched, they will grow up with physiological traits based on their genetics, but their cultures will be based on where they grow up.

If you are a Christian, you were born again into the kingdom of heaven. Your citizenship and spiritual genetics now make you a child of God. However, you have acquired a worldly culture by being a part of the world for so long. The biblical plan for acquiring the new, heavenly culture is likewise to grow up in it.

I want my six young children to grow up to full maturity. That’s not to say I want to skip past all the fun things that accompany young kids. In fact, as each day passes I realize how quickly these moments go by. But the march to adulthood is inevitable. My children are growing up whether I like it or not. But maturity is not the same as age; it is possible to get older while never really growing up.

I want my children to realize their potential and grow to be responsible adults. I don’t want my three sons to live in my house indefinitely, expecting their mother to cook and clean for them when they are in their thirties and forties. It is reasonable to spoon-feed infants but not adult sons and daughters.

Part of my responsibility as a father is to steward the children God has so graciously given us so they can be delivered safely into maturity. As Christians, we have a heavenly Father who likewise desires that we grow to full maturity in Christ. As is the case with our natural growth, spiritual maturity is not the same as spiritual age. We are not necessarily more mature simply because we have been Christians for a long time. To think that maturity and age are the same is wrong.

In Ephesians 5:17, the apostle Paul wrote, “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” This is good counsel. To understand what Paul meant about the will of the Lord, we must understand what he had written about in Ephesians—God’s will that the church reach full maturity for the praise and glory of his name. This fullness doesn’t come by accident or simply by passing the time; it comes by walking according to God’s design.

Ephesians 1 is filled with some of the deepest theology you will find in the Bible. It touches on the work of the triune God in redeeming a people for himself from the world, which is the same thing Peter was talking about in his first epistle. Ephesians 1 discusses the Father’s plan to choose a people for himself from before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him (Eph 1:3–4). It tells of God’s predetermined plan to adopt us into his family through Christ to the praise of the glory of his grace (Eph 1:5–6). And it tells us God made known to us his plan and revealed the mystery of his will he purposed in Christ with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ (Eph 1:9–10).

That last part is so important to really understand.