Should Christian retreat or engage?

Without question, Christians face a new reality in post-Homosexual Marriage Turnbull Australia. This PM who has promoted and approved of homosexual sin falls under the condemnation of Romans 1:32. 

Now Christians are wondering how to move forward. They hear some leaders counseling retreat and disengagement from the culture. Send back your marriage license and paperwork, marry only according to Church law and refuse to deal with the Governments new Marriage Act of 2018. 

Christians hear other leaders say that we need to engage the culture war. To fight back with solid arguments, form a new coalition or political party. 

Neither option really captures what Jesus taught us about our enduring relationship with the world. John 17 records the words of Jesus' prayer just before He was handed over to be crucified. His prayer focused not only on the eleven remaining disciples, but also on all those who would believe in Him through His disciples' testimony. 

In short, Jesus was praying for us. Among other things, Jesus prayed that we would be in the world, not of the world, for the sake of the world. 

1. Jesus prayed, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one .... As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world" (vv. 15,18). This means dis-engagement from the world is not an option for Christians. He has sent us into the world knowing full well that we will face opposition: "In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world" (16:33). 

We are to engage. Each faithful believer must then work out the limits and depth of that engagement. 

2. But being in the world does not mean being of the world. In John's gospel, "world" is not a generic word for planet earth. It's a technical term denoting humanity in its falleness and rebellion against God (see 1 John 2:15-17). 

So when Jesus sends us into the world, He knows that He's sending us into a realm of active rebellion against His Father's purposes. But His expectation is that our presence in the world will be a "sanctifying" influence. Why? Because our allegiance to Jesus and His Word "sanctifies" us in the midst of the rot (John 17:16-17)' And that is the point. The world looks ugly, depraved, rotten, immoral - but our presence is needed. 

3. We are in the world yet not of the world for the sake of the world. Jesus says that He sends His sanctified disciples into the world so that "the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me" (v. 23). Ultimately, our sanctification in the world is for a mission: to show the world-in all of its fallenness and rebellion that God sent His Son to die for sinners. Yes, we face a new reality in the aftermath of Turnbull's pro-homosexual agenda - a hardness towards the Christian faith. But this is nothing new. Satan's deception blinds people. Our job is to preach the gospel even when it is rejected and ridiculed. 

But we know how to move forward into this new reality because Jesus has already given us our marching orders. He has shown us that opposition from the world is the norm, not the exception. And we know that we will overcome in the end because Jesus did (16:33).