Five Keys (Truths) from John:
Sent into the World | John 17:13-21
- John 15:9-11 – HIS JOY
- 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
- Quickly introduce myself or offer greetings
- WHO IS JESUS?
- Week 1: The Lordship of Christ Jesus – Creator, eternal, Lord of all of Creation
- Week 2: The Resurrection and the Life (note of baptisms from previous week)
- Now we make a turn in our series
- If we understand and KNOW not just who this Jesus is but we would declare in faith today that He is that to us, then we must ask what is his will for our lives as his children, as disciples?
- Week 3: Sanctified and Sent
- Church of the Nazarene – Core Values (plug DYC next week with lunch)
- We are a Christian people
- We are a Holiness people
- We are a Missional people
Key Concepts
- In essence, Jesus prays in this way in our text today:
- That His followers have a full measure of joy
- That His followers not be taken out of the world
- That His followers be protected from the work of the evil one in our lives
- That the Father sanctify His followers by His Word (which He has given us)
- That if you are Christ’s, you are on a mission in this world.
MESSAGE: (stand for the reading of the Word)
- (SLIDE) John 17:13-19
- 13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
- The prayer of the Lord specifically is that we may be sanctified because we are being sent into the world on a mission for the Kingdom of God.
- 13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them..
- If Jesus was so concerned for joy among His disciples that He prayed for it, we can know that He is also concerned that we have joy.
- 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one..
- ‘the world’
- Is the world system (set of values) that is ruled by Satan
- John 12:31
- 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
- John 16:11
- 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
- Jesus will tell them before he prays to the Father in their presence
- John 16:33
- “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
- 1 John 5:19
- 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
Illustration
Author and pastor Mark Sayers says there are two stories competing for our minds and hearts. The first story is broadcast loudly across pop culture, social media, and all media. It claims that you and I are the center of the universe. We are unique individuals, and we can be awesome. We just need to create our identities. By making the right choices with our wardrobe and weekends, and by hanging out with the right people and doing the right things, we can be limitlessly happy. The world offers you and me an amazing life; we just have to go out and make it happen.
The second story is quiet. It’s more of a whisper from the back burner in our brains, but it will not go away. It’s there in the quiet, in the middle of the night. It’s the longing when the promises of the first story under-deliver. The whisper tells us we were made for more. In hushed voices, it insists that we have an immovable and important identity, a sort of real home somewhere out there. We’re longing for it, and we know it’s not just in our imaginations. There’s got to be more to this life, it nags.
We continuously suppress that second story, though, largely because the first story is so loud. Everything from Instagram to movies to clothing ads to political campaigns declares that we can be whoever we want to be. Pursuing the second story takes time and intentionality and going against every cultural grain.
- And often times, those living according to the systems of this world will hate you because of it…
- Why?
- “The truth looks like hate, to those who hate the truth.”
- Jesus understand this reality
- He did then
- He does now
- It is one reason He prays what He prays in John 17
- Being taken from the world would secure their safety from evil, however it would leave the world unblessed by their testimony to what Christ had done and was about to accomplish
- If you’re not of the world then the spiritual battle is intense
- Jesus didn’t pray that we would be taken out of the battle, but that we would be strengthened and protected in it.
- He has given you divine weapons as protection from the evil one
- Primarily His word, prayer, and faith
- Warren Wiersbe:
- “How can we be overcome by the world when we have the Word of God to enlighten us, enable us, and encourage us?”
- 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify (Gr. hagiazō – separate out, make holy, consecrate) them by the truth; your word is truth..
- We are in the world but not of the world, and we must not live like the world.
- Sanctify:
- Refers to God’s ongoing work to set His people apart for His purposes—to make them holy as He is holy.
- The Spirit is the one who prompts and tends to this work.
- ‘your word is truth’
- We must come back to embrace the authority of the Scriptures.
- (SLIDE) Romans 12:2
- Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
- Kevin DeYoung (Do Not Be True to Yourself)
- “There is a way that looks like blessing but in the end leads to death, and a way that is more difficult at first but in the end leads to life.”
- OSWALD CHAMBERS
- We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us
- John 8:36
- 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
- 18 As you sent me into the world (Gr. kosmos – humans, ungodly multitude see Matthew 4:8), I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
- As those left in the world to carry God’s message (John 17:17), Christians are meant to continue speaking God’s truth, as Jesus did
- The church is called to be a counter-narrative people in the world in which they live …enlivened and led by The Word and His word
- We are people, if you belong to the Kingdom of God through Christ Jesus today, “under orders” as Wiersbe says and we had better obey!
- Jesus is now “set apart” in heaven, praying for us, that out witness will bear fruit as many repent of their sins and turn to the Lord and find LIFE.
CONCLUSION:
- Mission of our church
- Transformed by God to bring hope to others through Christ.
- Living a biblically missional/SENT life is really all about Lordship – it comes back to week one and two
- It will be impossible, exhausting, and ultimately a foundation-less hope if we are trying with all our best efforts to bring hope to others – yet we ourselves have not placed all our hope in Christ alone as Lord of our life
- You can’t give what you yourself don’t possess
- Is Christ Lord of your life today? Is He the object and expectation of your hope today for your own sanctification and day-to-day living in the world in which he has sent you now?
- If YOU understand and KNOW not just who this Jesus is but would declare in faith today that He is that to you, then YOU must ask your self “what story am I living into today?”
RESPONSE:
- Core Values give us the framework for the second story
- The Gospel story
- CHRISTIAN
- He Pardons by Grace through Faith
- A FREE GIFT – God’s Love FOR us!
- HOLINESS
- He Purifies us by Grace through Faith
- A FREE GIFT – God’s Love IN us!
- MISSIONAL
- He Empowers us by Grace through Faith
- A FREE GIFT – God’s Love THROUGH us!
- We are saved and sanctified and SENT INTO THE WORLD
- God has the purpose to raise up people who are so much like Him, like Jesus, that they actually fulfill the mission of Jesus in the world.
- Richard Foster
- This way of living is not confined to people in religious orders or those who have special skills in spiritual matters. No, this life is also for ordinary people. People who work in high-pressure jobs of information tech and finance. People who are constantly dealing with the stresses of raising children and balancing the family budget. People who teach school and work in hospitals and provide social services and so much more. In short, people just like you and me.
- Is your life an answer to the prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17?