The Gospel of John. The Lord s Prayer ~ Part 4 John 17:16-19

Transcription

1 The Gospel of John The Lord s Prayer ~ Part 4 John 17:16-19 S O WHAT IS TRUTH ANYWAY? According to the world there is either no truth at all or all truths are equally true. I don t know about you, but this illogic gives me a headache. Consider a very popular view of religious truths. Swami Vivekananda taught Indians to have pride in their ancient traditions, and faith in what he foresaw as their bright future. With India s economy now booming, this prophecy is rapidly coming true. But Vivekananda had an even more exalted notion of his country s role than becoming a global economic superpower. He was convinced that India was destined to be the guru to the world. Spirituality must conquer the West, he declared. And he called Hinduism the mother of all religions, not because he believed that its doctrine alone is right, but on the contrary, because it makes no such exclusive claims. India alone was to be, of all lands, the land of toleration, Vivekananda remarked. We accept all religions as true. An astonishing claim given the profusion of dogmas, rites and practices of the world s faiths. But underneath these surface differences, Swami Vivekananda saw the universal impulse to commune with the Most High. All religions conceive a Divine Creative Principle at the root of things, although they call it by different names he said. They unanimously testify that one can commune with this Divinity through prayer and meditation. And the broad ethical principles to love and to forgive, to be generous and kind are also shared by all faiths. So given their common impulse, similar methods and shared aims, why do religions clash? Vivekananda answered that they clash because they have lost sight of their own deeper purpose which is returning us to ourselves. For Swami Vivekananda religion was less about worshipping a God out there than recovering a sense of our own innate divinity, which Christian s call the Christ within. Never forget the glory of human nature. We are the greatest God that ever was or will be. Christ and Buddhas are but waves on the boundless ocean which I am. Bow down to nothing but your own higher Self. 1 He [the serpent] said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God (Gen. 3:1 5 ESV). VIII The Upper Room Discourse Chapters F. The Prayer of Christ Chapter Giving Glory to God Verses Giving Words from God Verses Giving a Body to God Verses Schiffman, Richard, Do All Religions Teach the Same Truth?, The Huffington Post, Huffingtonpost.com 12/4/2016.

2 Introduction: The Lord s Prayer presents us with a picture of Jesus heart for His relationship with the Father. We see His heart of love and obedience to the Father. We also see His hope in knowing that both will be glorified through His work on the cross and return to His former glory with the Father. But Jesus prayer also shows us His love and concern for the disciples as He prepares them for the joy, pain, grief and struggle they would be facing their entire lives. Through this prayer He reminds them that the world was going to reject them just as they would reject him. But more importantly, the disciples are reminded that even though Jesus was leaving, He was leaving them in the hands of a loving and protective Father. And He was leaving them with the comfort that comes from knowing they were in God s hands. In this next section, Jesus specifically asks God to prepare the disciples for what would become their new calling. Where He had previously sent them out to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom, now they would be going with the Gospel of Salvation. Where they had previously gone out under His leading and protection, now they continue their ministry under the leading and protection of the Holy Spirit. 2. Giving Words from God: So, picking up where we left off, Jesus emphasizes the truth that the disciples, and by implication, we as validated in Verse 20, are not part of the world. The idea here doesn t relate to physical presence but spiritual distinction. We are not of the world in the same way Christ is not of the world. And as we ve already se, when we live according to this truth we are rejected by the world. This is a good thing because as children of God we should not want to identify with the world as Jesus is speaking of it here. The world, that is the worldly system, is a place of evil under the power of darkness. We must understand this, first and foremost, if we are to understand Jesus next request. Mounce summarizes this truth by noting Over half of the NT s occurrences of kosmos [world] occur in John s gospel (78x) and epistles (24x). There it plays an important role in John s theology. 2 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him (John 1:9 11 ESV). The kosmos resists the very God who created it and his Son (Jn. 1:9 11; 7:7); consequently, this world is ruled by the evil one (12:31; 16:11). 3 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out (John 12:31 ESV). Therefore, while Christians continue to live in this kosmos, they must maintain purity and refrain from being caught up in this world s systems (17:15 17; 1 Jn. 2:15; cf. Phil. 2:15; Jas. 1:27; 4:4). 4 2 Mounce,William D., gen. ed., Mounce s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI, 2006, p Ibid. ) 402 (

3 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4 ESV). One of the important truths here, one which is frequently downplayed because of not wanting to look superstitious or ignorant, etc., is that we really are in a spiritual battle. Just as we talked about last time, there is an actual enemy with His own army. Satan is a major power and he has the authority over this world. Just look around and you can t help but see that evil is rampant in every part of this world. the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2 ESV). Satan s greatest enemy is God and those who follow Him. He wants nothing more than to bring down the Church which he can t. I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18 ESV). Consequently, Satan wants to keep us defeated and ineffectual. We must take this battle seriously, but not be fearful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world (1 Peter 5:8 9 ESV). Parenthetically, as I was writing this it occurred to me that this is such an important subject that I am going to take a break as soon as I finish up this chapter and do a side study on Ephesians 6 starting with Verse 10, The Whole Armor of God. Verse 17: So what is Jesus request? that to be protected in this world God will sanctify us. And He uses His truth to do so. First then, what does Jesus mean by sanctify? Sanctify - to separate, consecrate; cleanse, purify, sanctify; regard or reverence as holy. 5 We are to be separated from the world, that is, worldly values, not from the love of and ministry to people in general. In fact, one could argue that to be sanctified is exactly the opposite. We are not called out of the world but into it for the purpose of offering it the gospel. To be sanctified means to be set aside for God s purposes. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10 ESV). 4 Ibid. 5 Mounce, William D. Mounce, Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI, ) 403 (

4 Again, sanctification isn t a call to isolation. Remember what the world said about John the Immerser and Jesus. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! (Matthew 11:18 19 ESV). John isolated, was called to isolation, because of the very nature of his ministry. Jesus not only didn t isolate, He went out among, by His day s standards, some of the most worldly and corrupt people around. But He was called to this ministry, one that was different from John s, one that was carried out among the people to bring them the hope of salvation. Accordingly, we are sanctified, called out of a worldly system. And how are we sanctified? By having and living according to God s Truth. Paul speaks to this process when he stated Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2 ESV). We ve seen what is meant by sanctify but now what do we mean by truth. From the world s perspective, there are many kinds of truth. In fact, even when they contradict each other they can still be true. And what is the only absolute truth? There is no absolute truth. But Christ means something else by Truth. He is speaking of absolute Truth. This is God s Truth. This is Truth from Him. This is revealed Truth. God s Word is synonymous with God s Truth. Lenski states Thine own word is truth certifies the inerrancy and infallibility of the Word excepting no portion of it. The holy garment of the Word is seamless; it has no rents of error or call them mistakes which hands today must sew up. Thine own word signifies all of it, the Word of the Old Testament on which Jesus placed his approval again and again, plus the revelation that Jesus added in person with the promise of its perfect preservation through the Paraclete (14:26; 16:13). 6 What Swami Vivekananda taught, a view held by many, isn t just wrong. It is the worst kind of ev; an evil, as we saw earlier, coming right out of the mouth of Satan in the Garden of Eden. It is the message, first and foremost, that we are divine and our own little gods. This is a lie people love. Vivekananda s lies are also a direct attack on the actual truths of God, that He is the Creator, that His Son is the only way to salvation. And it is grounded in the foundational sin, the sin of pride. all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires (1 John 2:16 17 ESV). Verses 18-19: And just in case there is any dou, Jesus states that He was sent by the Father into the world. And in turn He is sending His disciples, and us, into that same world for the 6 Lenski, R. C. H., The Interpretation of St. John s Gospel Augsburg, Minneapolis, MN 1943, p ) 404 (

5 same reason. We are to bring God s Word, His Truth, the message of salvation to the lost. Consequently just as Jesus was hated, so shall we too be hated. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you (John 15:18 ESV). It is for us that Christ consecrates Himself. This is essentially the same thought as sanctify. Jesus is consecrated, set apart, to the work of the Cross for our benefit. He provides the gift of salvation and a relationship with the Father which is eternal life. In turn, through that gift of salvation, believers are set apart by God s truth, that Christ is our salvation. And He in turn sanctifies us, sends us out into the world for the purpose of spreading the truth of salvation. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV). Conclusion: As we can see in these few verses, there is and will be, until Christ returns, an ongoing battle between believers and the world. The world can be very subtle in how it conducts that battle. It isn t always overt. Sometimes it is covert and this is why Jesus speaks of the need for His followers to be sanctified. James Montgomery Boice puts it this way. Now we need to ask this question. If holiness has to do with separation (or, better yet, consecration) and if believers are already holy by virtue of their being set apart to God by himself, why does Christ pray for our sanctification? Why pray for that which we already have? The answer is obviously that although we have been set apart to God we often clearly fail to live up to that calling. We are indeed separated unto God but, to paraphrase Wordsworth, it is nevertheless trailing clouds of old commitments, sins and loyalties that we come. We are worldly in the sense that the world s values often remain our values and the world s priorities our priorities. 7 The problem is the world rejects truth and even we in our vulnerability are sometimes sucked into the world s lies. There aren t multiple truths. There is an absolute truth. This is a truth that can t be compromised. This is the truth we are to bring to a fallen, darkened world that lives under the Father of Lies. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44 ESV). But this conflict isn t to be a cause of discouragement. Rathe, it should motivate us to offer God s truth to the lost. It is this truth that not only brings light into the darkness but gives all who accept it access to a joy that is incomprehensible. 7 Boice, James Montgomery, Boice Expositional Commentary, Vol. 18, Peace in the Storm (John 13-17), Baker Books Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI 1999 ) 405 (

6 This is the joy Christ experienced and it is the joy He desires for us. It is the joy that comes from carrying out God s work and from hearing Well done, good and faithful servant. It is the joy He, in this prayer, wants for His followers. these things I speak that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves (John 17:13 14 ESV). This is joy that comes only in dependency on Him in the midst of the circumstances. Joni put it this way. Honesty is always the best policy, especially when you are surrounded by women in a restroom during a break at a Christian women s conference. One woman, putting on lipstick, said, Oh, Joni, you always look so together, so happy in your wheelchair. I wish that I had your joy! Several women around her nodded. How do you do it? she asked as she capped her lipstick. I don t do it, I said. May I tell you honestly how I woke up this morning? This is an average day. After my husband, Ken, leaves for work at 6:00 a.m., I m alone until I hear the front door open at 7:00 a.m. That s when a friend arrives to get me up. While she makes coffee, I pray, Lord, my friend will soon give me a bath, get me dressed, sit me up in my chair, brush my hair and teeth, and send me out the door. I don t have the strength to face this routine one more time. I have no resources. I don t have a smile to take into the day. But you do. May I have yours? God, I need you desperately. So what happens when your friend comes into the bedroom? one of them asked. I turn my head toward her and give her a smile sent straight from heaven. It s not mine; it s God s. I point to my paralyzed legs. Whatever joy you see today was hard won this morning. I have learned that the weaker we are, the more we need to lean on God; and the more we lean on God, the stronger we find him to be. Joni Eareckson Tada, Joy Hard Won, Decision (March 2000) 8 May we depend on the Spirit so we can share in Christ s joy 8 Larson, Cragin Brian and Phyllis Ten Elshof, eds., 1001 Illustrations That Connect:, Christianity Today International, Grand Rapids, MI:, 2008 ) 406 (

7 The Gospel of John The Lord s Prayer ~ Part 4 John 17:16-19 VIII The Upper Room Discourse Chapters F. The Prayer of Christ Chapter Giving Glory to God Verses Giving Words from God Verses Giving a Body to God Verses Introduction: (Genesis 3:1 5) 2. Giving Words from God: (John 1:9 11, 12:31; James 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Matthew 16:18; 1 Peter 5:8 9) Verse 17: (Ephesians 2:10; Matthew 11:18 19; Romans 12:2; 1 John 2:16 17) Sanctify

8 Verses 18-19: (John 15:18; Matthew 28:18-20) Conclusion: (John 8:44, 17:13 14) Personal Application: No matter the circumstances in your life, pray that this week you will experience supernatural you in your life. Prayer for the Week: Father thank You from sanctifying me. Help me live in the reality of my calling. In Christ s name, amen.