City Life Starter

Written by Jason Scherzer

The Word

¹⁵ I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

Exegesis

In this section of John, Jesus is soon to go to the Cross, and knows that His mission is sure, must be endured to the end, but must also succeed. In Chapter 17, He prays for Himself, prays for His disciples, and prays for all believers in this beloved “Lord’s prayer”.

Jesus was constantly hated by the world during His ministry, specifically by the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were teachers of the Law. We need only to read a few chapters of any of the Gospel accounts to see the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus. As He prays, Jesus tells the Father that the world has hated His disciples just as it hated Him. Quite paradoxically, Jesus asks the Father not to take these disciples out of the world (which He had the power to do instantly and bring them into the security and safety of the glory of Heaven). Rather, He asks the Father to keep them from the Evil One. To God, it isn’t a paradox at all to keep His servants in the world, but to the disciples it certainly is a paradox: Jesus should be with them forever, and so wherever He is going the disciples must also go – how else could they follow Him?

It was essential that Jesus must pray in this way. Without God’s continual sustaining hand, these disciples would quickly be snuffed out by the enemy. When Jesus had sent out seventy-two disciples to do ministry, they returned to Him rejoicing that they had power over the evil spirits. Jesus said in Luke 10:18 –

“…I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

There was a very real and awesome forcefulness with which Satan was hurled down from Heaven, which God saw but that Jesus’ disciples did not know. To what place was the devil cast down? To the earth, where he continuously fights with all of his power against the Kingdom of Christ.

“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”

1 John 5:19

It is the sustaining power, the grace of God that keeps the disciples securely united to the head, which is Christ. Without this sustaining power, that we must not take for granted, we would quickly be lost. In fact we would not have been saved at all without this sustaining power of Christ. He applied this power that keeps us, through prayer to the Father, through His Cross, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father.

In verse 17, Jesus prays that His disciples will be sanctified by the Truth which is His Word. To be sanctified means to be made holy. Holiness is a challenging concept as it is so different from the world in which we live. But it does mean set apart unto God, or reserved to God, in a pure sense that is only like God and no one else. In Jesus’ prayer there is a oneness, a unity that He seeks for His disciples. There always was a perfect oneness in the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but now Jesus prays that all disciples will be one in Him.

They will need to all be one in Him, united with Christ, because He will be sending them into the world, after He is raised from the dead. The victory over sin and death had to be accomplished first. In the mind of God, this victory always was accomplished in advance, and so Jesus prays as though He is in some sense immediately sending them into the world. This is a very serious matter, as the world is enemy territory, with sin, destruction, and death everywhere. The servants of Jesus will be going into this territory occupied by the enemy to reclaim it for the rightful owner.

Jesus had to pray, not because He was ever lacking in power and authority, but because in His ministry on earth, He was completely dependent on the Father. In eternity He is forever co-equal with the Father in every aspect of deity, but in His ministry on earth Jesus made Himself subject to and obedient to the Father. In fact, He was perfectly obedient to the Father so that He sanctified Himself. This made it possible for His servants to also be sanctified – set apart to serve Him.

Application

In what ways is God asking you to be in the world, but not part of the world? What areas in this world is God showing you to reclaim for the rightful King? What are you learning from the way that Jesus prays in this chapter? How are you becoming more like Him in character?

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the perfect ministry of Jesus, who revealed the true Father to us and opened up Heaven for all who believe in faith upon the Son of God. Lead us securely in the path that leads to eternal life. All praise, honor and glory be unto You forever and ever, Amen.