I have been thinking about the Lord Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John 17 and what it represents. This is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus in the New Testament. Yet it is not very long, only 26 verses that can be read aloud in six minutes. But it is profound and rich in significance for us.
You see, when Jesus prayed, his prayer included all who would believe in him in the future (John 17:20). That means his prayer included people today who believe in him. His concern is for his disciples’ lives in this world. His prayer in John 17 mentions “the world” 18 times. This indicates that he intends for his disciples to live in this world without being shaped by the world’s distorted values.
The “world,” as Jesus used the term, is not the world of nature, or the general population of people, We know that God loves people. The term instead refers to society organized without God and against God. “In this world you will have trouble,” he told them in John 16:33. “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
In John 15:19-20 our Lord set his disciples apart with these words, “If you belonged in the world, the world would love its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. . . . If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”
In the world
When Jesus prayed for his men, he prayed specifically about their relationship to the world. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world” (John 17:15). He did not want them to stand aloof from their neighbors like Pharisees, or to withdraw from contact like monastics of the Middle Ages. He wanted them to love their neighbors as they loved themselves. This was how they would bear witness in his name.
Jesus offered them, and us, some benefits that will enable us to bear witness effectively. One is his joy. A joyful Christian is a contagious witness. He prays “that they may have the full measure of my joy within them” (John 17:13). Jesus had already told his disciples, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). Joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24).
Another benefit is God’s word. “I have given them your word,” he prays in John 17:14. The world rejects the word of God and substitutes human wisdom. People of the world cannot understand the word of God apart from the convincing ministry of the Holy Spirit. Believers, on the other hand, aspire to live lives that are regulated by God’s word. They look at life through the lens of scripture. The disciples of Jesus had accepted the word of God and this set them apart from the world (John 17: 6-8).
Not conformed to the world
Jesus said, “They are not of the world any more than I am of the world” (John 17:16). This means that our attitude toward the world should be the same as that of our Lord. It has been said that the closer we are to Christ, the less attractive the world will be.
So Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). To “sanctify” in this context means to dedicate, or to set aside for a special purpose. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “I sanctify myself” (John 17:18). He was dedicated to the special purpose for which the Father in heaven had sent him into the world: to provide eternal life to those whom the Father had given him. Likewise, his disciples are set apart for a special purpose.
Sent into the world
The Lord’s people are being sent into the world on a mission. The word “mission” comes from the Latin word “to send” or “to dispatch.” “As you sent me into the world,” Jesus prayed, “I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18).
Jesus prayed for the disciples that they would remain in the world and be as he was — at the same time “a friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19), and “separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). We are not to adopt an attitude of withdrawal from the world, but neither are we to adopt an attitude of conformity. Rather our attitude should be one of mission: loving service and witness.
James Boice summed it up nicely: “What does it mean to be sent into the world as Christians? It does not mean to be like the world; the marks of the church are to make the church different. It does not mean that we are to abandon Christian fellowship. . . . All it means is that we are to know non-Christians, befriend them, and enter their lives in such a way that we begin to infect them with the gospel.”
Just as Jesus was sent into the world, so we have been sent into the world to represent him with compassion and love. “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).
Pastor Randy Faulkner