Into the Word, Into the World

Introduction:

Jesus prayed for his disciples for joy in this world.

there is no joy in this world. But Jesus wants his disciples to share his own joy. There is only one other place where Jesus speaks of his disciples sharing in his joy (15:9–11). There he speaks of the need for his disciples to continue in his love as he continued in the Father’s love by obedience to his commands, and concludes, ‘I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete’ (15:11). In another place, without using the word ‘joy’ Jesus says something similar about himself: ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about … My food … is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work (4:32–34). Jesus’ joy came from doing the Father’s will, and the joy of the disciples would come from doing what Jesus commanded

there is a connection between sharing Jesus’ joy and obeying his word. Both come hands in hands. How we are to experience joy in this world depends on how we take His word.

How are we to face this world? our three relationship with the world - off the world, in the world and into the world. By his word. V14 I have given them your word. the word given in greek is a perfect tense, which carries a nuance of permenent endowment and the implication is that the receiver have received it.

The Word is the gift of God to us. The Father gave the words to His Son (John 17:8), and the Son gave them to His disciples who, in turn, have passed them along to us as they were inspired by the Spirit. The Word is divine in origin, a precious gift from heaven. We must never take God’s Word for granted, for those who are overcomers know the Word and how to use it in daily life.

The Word of God enable us to overcome the world by giving us joy in three ways.

The Word reminds us to live off the world (v14)

The Word reminds us of our identity as we are called to live off the world.

living off the world, means we do not belong to the world though we are in the world. because of this reality, the danger we face is real, therefore Jesus’ request for protection is urgent. We cannot be out of the world, but we should have no relationship with this world.

brings us joy by Reminding our identity in the world (v14), so that we will not become of the world. The Word assures us of His love (John 17:14). The world hates us, but we are able to confront this hatred with God’s own love, a love imparted to us by the Spirit through the Word. The world hates us because we do not belong to its system (John 15:18–19) and will not be conformed to its practices and standards (Rom. 12:2). The Word reveals to us what the world is really like; the Word exposes the world’s deceptions and dangerous devices.

The world competes for the Father’s love (1 John 2:15–17), but the Word of God enables us to enjoy the Father’s love. One of the first steps toward a worldly life is the neglect of the Word of God. D.L. Moody wrote in the front of his Bible, “This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.” Just as the pillar of fire was darkness to the Egyptians but light to Israel, so God’s Word is our light in this dark world, but the world cannot understand the things of God

The world hates us for who we are. that is a reality since the day we choose to follow the Christ, but we do not want that to be.

We do not belong to this world. We need God’s Word to remind us over and over again.

The Word protects us to live in the world (v15-16)

The word protects us from deviating our faith away as we live in the world.

being off the world, it does not mean that we are out of the world. Despite the world’s hatred for his disciples, Jesus did not pray that they be taken out of the world. They were to remain in the world as his witnesses

The Christians’ task, then, is not to be withdrawn from the world, nor to be confused with the world (hence the reminder of v. 16, repeating the thought of v. 14b), but to remain in the world, maintaining witness to the truth by the help of the Paraclete (15:26–27), and absorbing all the malice that the world can muster, finally protected by the Father himself, in response to the prayer of Jesus

brings us joy by protecting us from the evil one in the world (v15-16). The case of Judas (12), who had turned aside to do the will of the devil from within the intimate disciple company, was sobering evidence of the impressiveness of Satan’s power. Judas is spoken of in a way that makes clear that Jesus has not been thwarted by this attack (12). Judas’ defection was even foretold in the Scriptures centuries before. Doomed to destruction is, literally, ‘son of perdition/destruction’, which in the Greek may refer either to his character, or, as niv takes it, his destiny. The case of Judas made it clear that the disciples were facing a genuine conflict. Peter, who learned from Jesus, was later to speak of the devil as a ‘roaring lion’ (1 Pet. 5:8). Paul would refer to ‘spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil’ (Eph. 6:12, jbp).

The world and the devil are daunting enemies, and Jesus’ concern about them in his prayer is a summons to vigilance and prayer for protection. D. A. Carson pointedly observes: ‘The spiritual dimensions of this prayer of Jesus are consistent and overwhelming. By contrast we spend much more time today praying about our health, our projects, our decisions, our finances, our family, and even our games than we do praying about the danger of the evil one.’

Jesus does not pray that we are out of the world, as we will never be separated from the world

but he gives us weapon to be in this world - word. The word keeps us safe from the evil one.

The word sanctifies us to live into the world (v17-19)

The Word sanctifies/separates us to save others as we are sent to live into the world.

brings us joy by sanctifying us to be more like Christ in the world (v17-19). Sanctify means to take out of the sphere of the profane and place in the shpere of the divine. it is used of dedication to the servvice of God.

Disciple are sent into the world as Jesus was sent by the Father. The parallelism between his sending and theirs is to be observed. Jesus is the one uniquely consecrated by the Father and sent by him into the world (10:36) to bring to the world the revelation of the Father and his saving sovereignty. His entire ministry was a fulfillment of that calling, and now he stands in the hour of the final accomplishment of both ends; he therefore hands over the mission to his men whom he has prepared for this task. If the aorist ἀπέστειλα (“I sent”) reflects the Evangelist’s post-Easter standpoint, its setting in the Upper Room is nevertheless of fundamental importance. For the disciples’ consecration is dependent on that of Jesus’ in the Last Supper, and it makes explicit that his mission is for the sake of the world, and therefore that their mission, as that of the Church, must be directed to the same end.

In practical terms, no-one can be ‘sanctified’ or set apart for the Lord’s use without learning to think God’s thoughts after him, without learning to live in conformity with the ‘word’ he has graciously given. By contrast, the heart of ‘worldliness’, of what makes the world the world (1:9), is fundamental suppression or denial of the truth, profound rejection of God’s gracious ‘word’, his self-disclosure in Christ.

his dedication unto death is made in order that they too may be dedicated to the same task of bringing the saving sovereignty to the world in like spirit as he brought it.

There are many references in the Fourth Gospel to Jesus having been sent by the Father (3:17, 34; 5:36, 38; 6:38, 57; 7:29; 8:42; 10:36; 11:42; 17:3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20:21). Others speak of what he was sent to do: to save the world (3:17), to speak the words of God (3:34; 14:10), and to display the work of God through miracles (9:3–4; 10:25, 32, 37–38; 14:11). Putting it in general terms, Jesus was sent to carry out the work the Father gave him to do (5:36; 17:4). Apart from the unique work of saving the world through his atoning death, all that Jesus was sent to do he in turn sent his disciples to do. In brief, they were to carry on Jesus’ ministry after his departure. What the Father sent him into the world to do, he sent them into the world to do (cf. 20:21).

v18 we are sent into the world to sanctify the world. We are to finish the task the Jesus Christ has begun.

Conclusion

Let God’s word to bring you off the world, in the world and into the world. The Word teaches us of our identity, protects us from the evil, and sanctifies us to be good.

as believers, we do not find joy in the world, but in the Word.

Disciple Red class’ testimony.

Disciple Green: Into the Word, Into the World.