Jumpstarter 1 of 10

Direct Answer Based on David Bercot’s teaching, Jesus expects Christians to stay in ordinary society rather than physically withdraw, but to be spiritually protected by not belonging to the world’s values and by being kept from the evil one.

Support from Transcript:

• Bercot quotes Jesus: “I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:14–15).
• He emphasizes that Christians are hated “because they are not of the world,” meaning the difference is spiritual and value-based, not geographical.
• He argues Christians don’t need to “live off by themselves in separate communities” or “in remote desert regions or on mountaintops.”
• He says, “You don’t have to try to be different from the world. If you just simply follow the teachings of Christ, you will end up being different.”
• The Letter to Diognetus is used as evidence that early Christians lived in normal cities and “follow[ed] the customs…in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct,” yet still had a “striking method of life.”