John 17:17-19 | "Sanctify Them"
[John 17] He Said, "Father" • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 163 viewsSunday, January 2, 2022. John 17:17-19 | "Sanctify Them" At the beginning of each new year, we evaluate a "vision" through personal goals or corporate strategy. We dream about who we hope to be and what we hope to accomplish in a short span of one year. Leaders of local church congregations strive to articulate a clear vision too, but the result is often secular, not sanctified. In this sermon, we stop to ask an all-important question: What is Christ's vision for His Church? Two simple answers emerge through this unfolding prayer of Jesus. May this message encourage you to evaluate your new year's vision in light of God's revealed Word. This message preaches from John 17:17-19. It is part of a preaching series through John 17, "He Said, 'Father.'" The title of this sermon is "Sanctify Them."
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Introduction
Introduction
We are continuing to preach through the 17th Chapter of John.
This is a prayer of Jesus that reveals the purpose for Jesus’ coming into the world.
WHY was Jesus sent by the Father from Heaven to Earth?
WHY did Jesus come into the world?
WHY does this matter for us, Christ’s Church — still in the world, but not of the world?
These are incarnational questions that are answered here through the intercession of Christ.
When we listen to what Jesus prayed, we learn why Jesus came, and what this means for all who follow Him.
Let us prepare our hearts to receive God’s Word now through prayer.
Prayer
Prayer
Our Father — Holy Father,
We ask that Your name and Your Word be set apart as holy in our gathering today.
We ask that Your Holy Spirit would convict us of sin, righteousness and judgment, and that You would lead us into Your will - into everlasting life through the knowledge of God.
Grant us, Your Holy Church, and all who have come to receive this spiritual food —
Grant us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to believe and obey.
May this message on Sunday carry into our Monday.
May Your Word transform us every day into the likeness of Your Son.
May Christ build His Church among us as Your Word is proclaimed.
In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
I. The Reading
I. The Reading
This is a reading from John 17:1-19. Our preaching text will focus on the last three verses, verses 17-19 —
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
[ And now for our preaching text ]
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
This is God’s Word, if you receive it as such, would you Say Amen?
Amen.
Scripture Reading ~ 4 min.
II. The Exhortation
II. The Exhortation
The title of this sermon is the next prayer of Jesus: “Sanctify Them.”
“Sanctify Them.”
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Jesus petitions His Holy Father to “sanctify them” — his followers.
Three times this word appears in our text.
Once in verse 17, where Jesus prays:
John 17:17 (ESV)
17 Sanctify them in the truth...
And twice in verse 19, where Jesus says:
John 17:19 (ESV)
19 And for their sake I consecrate [ SANCTIFY ] myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Three times, Jesus speaks of sanctification.
What does it mean to be “sanctified”?
The word “sanctify” is a very religious sounding word. It is not common in our everyday word usage.
And yet — that is the point of its meaning:
What is "sanctified” is not common. What is "sanctified” is not ordinary.
The word “sanctify” means to dedicate something for an intended purpose. To set apart, as holy, for a purpose.
This is what Jesus wants for His followers — That they be set apart as holy, for a purpose. That they be sanctified.
This is what Jesus desires for His Church.
Richard Phillips, in his commentary on this text, raises a good New Year’s Question.
He observes that pastors are frequently asked: “What is your vision for your church?”
Often times, the end of a year is given over to “vision casting” for the new year.
What is our “vision” as a local church?
A “vision” can be a helpful way to see clearly who we are (our identity) and what we do (our mission).
A vision can be captured in a “vision statement” by which all other activities are evaluated.
A vision can be something that is memorable and transferrable and motivating.
The old King James translation of Proverbs 29:18 is often quoted by vision-leaders:
Proverbs 29:18 (KJV 1900)
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish...
A “vision” can be a helpful way to unite us all with the same strategy so that we don’t attack one another and destroy one another and die!
We think about vision on a corporate level, but we may have a personal vision too.
How many of you have set some personal goals for this new year?
Has anyone written out any resolutions?
These things form a personal vision.
Do I want to gain weight?
Do I want to lose weight?
Do I want to look younger?
Do I want to look older?
Do I want to look healthier?
Do I want to look wiser?
We may have a vision for what we want to look like. We may have a vision for what we want to accomplish as well.
Vision is not a bad thing. It helps us dream, and see what we want to be.
But one problem often pervades visions, especially the vision of a church.
And this is what we should be guarded against:
A vision for a church is often secular, not sanctified.
A vision for a church is often worldly, and not holy.
A vision for a church is often man-centered, not Christ-centered.
A vision for a church is often bad, not biblical.
Phillips draws this out.
He says:
There is a far more important question than what is our vision…and that is what vision does Christ have for his church?”
(my summary of Phillips, REC)
What vision does Christ have for us?
As we hear this prayer of Jesus, I urge us all to ask the right questions about whatever visions we may have, especially in view of this new year:
Not to ask -
What is my vision for my life, but what is God’s vision for the eternal life He has given to me?
Not to ask -
What is our vision for this church, but what is Christ’s vision for his church?
None of us knows what will transpire in a year’s time. And if our vision is not God’s vision, we are wasting away.
History proves this, that this time next year, some of us in this room will not be with us anymore.
Sickness may come and we may not be able to attend church in person any longer.
Are we making the most of the days we can gather with the saints that the Lord gives us?
Are we quick to forsake one Sunday, that becomes two Sundays, that becomes two months and before we know it we’ve been out of church for a year.
That’s happened to some of us, and is happening even now. Does your vision for church reflect the priority of God’s vision for His Church?
Some will be with the Lord at the end of this year.
Are you ready to meet the Lord? It may be by old age, it may be an unknown health emergency, it may be a freak accident. But this time next year, some will be with the Lord.
Does your vision for your life account for using every moment of the life God has given you to bring Him glory through your faith and obedience to His Word?
As a local church, God only knows what might happen this year to Southside Baptist Church!
We could experience a great awakening and revival, or in a moment lose everything we have and it be taken from us.
This building could be taken from us in a storm. Our budget could be exhausted with surprise emergencies.
If God were to take our building, and our budget, what would we have left?
Is our vision built around those things to serve those things?
Or would we still be a church, built on that which can never be taken from us — God’s Word?
Would we still be able to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all Jesus has commanded?
Are we set up for that?
Are we living and operating as a church by God’s Word, or by the agendas of man?
Are we built on sand? Or on solid rock?
One endures, the other falls.
What vision will we adopt?
When, after searching the Scriptures and praying, we discover God’s vision for the lives He has given to us, and for the Church that we are, THEN and only THEN, may we employ God’s own strategy (called obedience to the faith) for us to succeed in that vision.
As we look ahead to a new year, I encourage us all to pray for what God would have us to do — for Jesus prayed here about His vision.
Let us not make plans, as if plans are our own to make.
The Scriptures proclaim “you are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (1 Cor 6.19).
In Christ, we belong to God!
So it is imperative that we pray for God to bring about HIS vision, just as Jesus prayed: “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
And what is God’s vision?
The text before us reveals it to us, in this prayer of Jesus.
In two simple statements, this is
God’s vision for Christ’s followers and Christ’s Church:
That we be —
Sanctified in the truth (v.17)
and
Sent into the world (v.18)
III. The Teaching
III. The Teaching
A. Sanctified In The Truth (v.17)
A. Sanctified In The Truth (v.17)
In verse 17, Jesus prays:
17.17
17.17
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Jesus does not pray “sanctify” or “set them apart” according to customs and traditions.
Jesus does not pray “sanctify” or “set them apart” according to constitutions or bylaws.
Jesus does not pray “sanctify” or “set them apart” according to what the church down the street is doing, or according to the latest scheme for church growth.
Jesus prays “sanctify them in the truth.”
This is the MEANS of Sanctification.
This is the MEANS of Sanctification.
“In a world full of lies, let my people be known by the truth.”
Jesus prays that His followers would be set apart by means of only one way — the truth.
And what is the truth?
He answers:
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
“Your word is truth.”
This is the MESSAGE of Sanctification.
This is the MESSAGE of Sanctification.
The word of God.
I want to remind you at this juncture, that God’s Word is unchanging.
The message that sanctifies us is unchanging.
Peter writes this in 1 Peter 1 —
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
The Psalmist declares —
89 Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Misguided or ill-intentioned people think that God’s Word changes with the times — that God’s Word adapts to remain relevant — That God’s Word is just a matter of someone’s own interpretation.
Church - God’s Word does not change.
It is not subject to one person’s interpretation. It does not need to adapt to remain relevant - it is always relevant. It is truth.
God’s Word does not change with the times - it is timeless. And we are to be changed by it. Our will is to be conformed to it. Our vision is to be submitted to it.
This is what it means to be sanctified in the truth: That what God hates, we hate. What God loves, we love. What God does, we do, as He has empowered us to do it.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
This is not something we can do for ourselves. This sanctifying work is the result of the Holy Father answering this prayer of Jesus to sanctify His followers.
God sanctifies us.
God sanctifies us in the truth of His word.
But the fruit of that sanctifying work is evident in our love for God’s word, and our obedience of God’s word.
Are you regularly in the Word of God? This year, will you resolve to be regularly in the word and prayer?
How else will we be set apart from the world if we are not in the Word? Letting the Word perform a work in us?
If we are not in the Word, we are not being transformed by it.
If we are not in the Word, we are becoming more like the world.
Jesus prays:
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
The Means of Sanctification is the truth.
The Message of Sanctification is God’s word.
God’s vision is that Jesus’ followers be Sanctified In the Truth but also —
B. Sent Into The World (v.18)
B. Sent Into The World (v.18)
God’s word makes it clear that we are sanctified for a purpose. That purpose is so that we might be sent.
17.18
17.18
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
This is the Mission of Sanctification
To be sent into the world, as witnesses to the truth.
Think about how we quarantine when we are exposed to a contagious virus.
For a time, we separate from the world, so that we might get healed, but then when we are healed, we go back into the world again, hopefully resistant to the same attacks.
Christian, the world is a virus of sin, death and destruction.
In the same way, we must quarantine ourselves from the world, coming out of the world for a time, getting into the Word of God, so that we may be sanctified, and get healthy, and continue to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, so that we may then go back into the world again, better able to repel the enemy’s attacks while we witness for Jesus.
Jesus prays —
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
This means that we who are sanctified by the word, share the same mission as Jesus in the world.
Jesus said:
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Just as Jesus was sent into the world to be His Father’s witness, we are sent into the world to be Jesus’ witness in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Just as Jesus was sent into the world to save sinners, so too we are sent to save sinners — by the truth of the Gospel!
Let us look at our new year’s resolutions. Let us look at our goals.
Are they about this mission of Christ?
Do they read as one who is sent in to the world by Jesus as His follower?
Do they have anything to do with being a witness for Jesus or seeking and saving the lost as Jesus did?
We have in the Word, the truth, the message of salvation. The hope of the world!
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Is Jesus our Lord? Or are we the Lords of our own lives?
Southside Baptist Church —
When you prayerfully affirmed and called me to be your pastor over 2 years ago, I said one thing then and will say one thing again now:
Our church has no hope if we do not follow God’s Word, if we are not sanctified in the truth.
The only hope we have for being the Church God has made us to be, is to submit all things to God’s Word without compromise.
And I say this in love — If this is not your vision - to be sanctified in the truth —
If this is not your vision - to be sent into the world with the truth —
Then pardon me for saying this so forcefully, I truly do not want to offend you, I do say this with love — but if your vision is not Christ’s vision as revealed here in this prayer, then we are not on the same side.
I have no interest or patience or desire for your visions. The time is too short!
I implore you — God’s word implores us - get on board with this vision!
With God’s vision!
With Christ’s vision in this prayer - that we be a people, sanctified in the truth, which is God’s Word, and we be sent into the world as Jesus was sent.
The only way we can do this is through Christ.
This brings us to —
IV. The [Christ] Conclusion
IV. The [Christ] Conclusion
Jesus knew what he was about to do - on the cross, and Jesus knew what that meant for His followers.
Jesus knew His death would be required to create the division necessary to separate the world from the word — to sanctify His disciples.
17.19
17.19
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
We have seen in this prayer —
The Means of Sanctification,
The Message of Sanctification, and
The Mission of Sanctification.
But now, Jesus reveals Himself to be
The Man of Sanctification
There can be no sanctification without Jesus.
We cannot live according to the truth without Jesus!
Both the spoken word of God and the written word of God point to the Living Word of God who is — Jesus!
To be sanctified in the truth ultimately means to be sanctified in Jesus. That is why Jesus consecrated, or sanctified Himself.
So that the truth of God’s Word might be revealed when Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
So that the truth of God’s character and unchanging Word might be revealed in the raising of Jesus from the dead!
So that in Jesus, we might be sanctified in the truth, as a people who witness to the eternal life of God in Christ Jesus.
So —
11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
Amen.