Our Place as Believers in the World

Introduction:

We have studied Jesus’ prayer for the unity, protection, and joy of his disciples.

Today, we will learn why those are so important to him.

Why do we need those things?

What prompted Jesus to pray for those things for his disciples.

What is to be our relationship in the world?

We know it is a struggle.

What makes it a struggle.

How do we avoid continuing in the confusion?

Could something be better for us than for us to be removed from the world?

Jesus Has Caused the World to Hate His Disciples

Jesus taught this to his disciples often.

Luke 12:49-53: He is no unifying figure.

Mt. 10:34-36 “Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν· οὐκ ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην ἀλλὰ μάχαιραν. ἦλθον γὰρ διχάσαι ἄνθρωπον κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ θυγατέρα κατὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῆς καὶ νύμφην κατὰ τῆς πενθερᾶς αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἱ οἰκιακοὶ αὐτοῦ.”

Notice that he claims it is his own act by having “given to them your word” that causes the world to react with hatred of those who have been given possession of it.

It also means those in possession of Jesus’ words are no longer “out from the world.”

Being in the world is different from being “out from the world.”

This all corresponds to Jesus’ statements in John 15:18-22 “Εἰ ὁ κόσμος ὑμᾶς μισεῖ, γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐμὲ πρῶτον ὑμῶν μεμίσηκεν. εἰ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἦτε, ὁ κόσμος ἂν τὸ ἴδιον ἐφίλει· ὅτι δὲ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου οὐκ ἐστέ, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ ἐξελεξάμην ὑμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, διὰ τοῦτο μισεῖ ὑμᾶς ὁ κόσμος. μνημονεύετε τοῦ λόγου οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον ὑμῖν· οὐκ ἔστιν δοῦλος μείζων τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ. εἰ ἐμὲ ἐδίωξαν, καὶ ὑμᾶς διώξουσιν· εἰ τὸν λόγον μου ἐτήρησαν, καὶ τὸν ὑμέτερον τηρήσουσιν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα πάντα ποιήσουσιν εἰς ὑμᾶς διὰ τὸ ὄνομά μου, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδασιν τὸν πέμψαντά με. Εἰ μὴ ἦλθον καὶ ἐλάλησα αὐτοῖς, ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ εἴχοσαν· νῦν δὲ πρόφασιν οὐκ ἔχουσιν περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν.”

It is Better for Us to Be Here, for now.

Jesus now explains that His request is not for the removal of his disciples from a hating world.

Jesus has previously made a positive request.

See John 17:9-11.

Notice this one is negated.

There is a play on the phrase “out from the world” taking place here.

While we are not “out from the world” as our spiritual home, we are in the world.

Jesus does not pray for our removal from the world.

He does pray, however, for his disciples’ protection from the evil.

This may mean “the evil one.”

He may also mean the evil as a reality of life in the world.

The world wishes for God’s people to conform to evil.

Jesus’ Identity and Our Identity are the Same

In John 17:16, Jesus makes a one-to-one comparison between us and himself.

Our relationship to the world is the same as his own.

We share an identity relative to the world.

Jesus prays for the Father to “sanctify them in the truth.”

Sanctify means to set aside or distinguish, here.

Jesus prays that His disciples would retain their consecration “in the truth.”

Jesus asks the Father to give his disciples the additional information they need to conduct themselves holily and confidently in a hostile world.

Hence, Jesus observes that he has sent his disciples into the world just as the Father has sent him into the world.

Jesus knew that the consecration of his disciples would only be fully and completely realized in the completion of his own ministry.

Our identity is only valid if his identity is true.

To demonstrate that, he must go to his death and resurrection.