Lesson 6 - Johns 17:12-26 - THE DISCIPLES IN THE WORLD
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in John 17:1-11, as Jesus was concluding His farewell dinner with His disciples in the Upper Rome prior to crossing into the Garden of Gethsemane., we heard Him begin what scholars call His High Priestly Prayer. First, He prayed for Himself, asking God to glorify Him so He could glorify the Father, then He began to pray for the faith and courage of His eleven disciples (restored to 12 after His resurrection and ascension). Jesus has done all He can do at this point and soon, He will follow with the absolute completion of His work on the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. Up to this point, Jesus has been the disciples' protector, but now He preparing to depart, so He asks the Father to assume the role of protector over these disciples who are still in but not of the world. Jesus' concern is not so much for the physical danger that these disciples will face (which they will, as detailed in Acts and the epistles), but for their spiritual victory in the face of great trials. The main point of application we learned was that To reach the lost world, God uses people whom He has given to His Son, who know and obey Him, whom He 'keeps' while they're still in this world. God chose not only the apostles, but also all of the modern disciples (that's us) that Christ died to save.
This week, in John 17:12-26, in this last section of His High priestly prayer, we'll hear Jesus continue to pray for the steadfast faith of His disciples' in the face of extreme hardships he knew they would have to endure for His sake. Jesus' fully realized that His glorification would greatly depend on the wellbeing of those God has given Him. As the prayer continues His emphasis expands to include those who will come to faith because of because of the early disciple's teachings and writings.
Read John 17:12 - I WAS KEEPING THEM IN YOUR NAME
12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
v. 12a: "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished" - During Jesus' earthly ministry, He provided spiritual and physical protection to His disciples (the twelve) in a very real sense because He "was keeping them" by being bodily present with them day and night. But this would end in a matter of days.
v. 12b: "but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled." This, of course, refers to Judas Iscariot, whom Jesus specifically excludes from his petition, hence the Eleven. Jesus, who is omniscient, had always known that Judas would betray Him because He was a false disciple who would fulfill the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 41:9: "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me." The term, "son of perdition," describes a person who is destined spend eternity in hell (Rev. 17:8, 11).
Read John 17:13-19 - I HAVE GIVEN THEM YOUR WORD
13 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
v. 13: "But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves." - Jesus undoubtedly spoke this prayer aloud in the presence of the Eleven so that they would hear it. It was as if he were saying to them: "These are the intercessions that I will never stop making for you when I'm in heaven before God. I'm now making them here, "in the world," so that you will understand how I'm planning to support you and your work, which will result in your being large recipients of "My joy." They know that Jesus' will make good on His promises.
v. 14: "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." - This can be a confusing verse. When Jesus says He's "given them Your word," He's telling the Eleven that the teachings He's given them in the world would make it possible for them to remain faithful and loyal and even enable them to be joyful amid trials. By receiving His word, they had also received the essential character of Christ; and because the world hated Jesus, it would also turn against them and hate them for it. The principle here was not so much that the disciple's outlook differed from that of the world-they were still ordinary men-but that their essential character had changed forever because they believed in Jesus as the Son of God.
v. 15: "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one." - Jesus wasn't asking the Father to remove the Eleven from the hostile world which He was getting ready to leave behind, but was petitioning Him to keep them firm in their faith while they continued to live in it. In order to accomplish God' plan for the world, they must be left behind to grow in grace as witnesses for Jesus Christ. But he specifically petitions that they might be kept safe from the "evil one" (Satan) as a request for preservation rather than escape.
v. 16: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." - This places extra emphasis on the thought of v. 14 that the Eleven "are not of the world," yet, must remain in it. Throughout history Christians have sought relief from the world's hatred by withdrawing from it socially and in other ways, or even worse, by compromising with it. Jesus' petition, however, was that his disciples should do neither of these things. He wanted them to remain loyal to God and their mission on earth while continuing to participate in the ordinary human aspects of earthly life.
v. 17: "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." - To "sanctify" (Gk. hagiazo) literally means to be 'set apart' (i.e., made holy) for God's service. Jesus presents to us the perfect example of a sanctified person: He devoted Himself completely to God's will and word in His life with complete perfection. The disciples' means of sanctification was the truth, which Jesus explained was God's word. In point of fact, Jesus came into the world to reveal God's word to humankind. As believers in Christ, it comes to us through the living word of God-Jesus Christ-and Scripture, the written word of God. And the bottom line is that it is essential for us, as disciples of Jesus, to know, understand, believe and apply to our life the revelation that God has given us.
v. 18: "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." - Here, Jesus continues to explain the underlying purpose of sanctification that He requested for His disciples: He has sent them into the world with a mission. And in a similar way, the Father had sent the son into the world with a mission (which he accomplished on the cross). In both cases, personal sanctification was essential to the success of the mission. At the same time, we should not view what He requested for the Eleven as applying to them only. It was intended to be a broadening of the field from the Eleven to the new disciples who would follow them; and this progression-disciples making new disciples continues to the present day. It's the dynamic force of sanctification. All believers in Christ would need to be sanctified by God's word in order to achieve their mission as the Eleven did.
v. 19: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth." - This verse can be tricky. Jesus isn't implying that He needed to make Himself 'more holy,' for He was already perfectly holy; He set Himself apart (sanctified) in order to set the example that makes our sanctification possible. Another definition of sanctification is the individual believer's (me and you) step-by-step progression towards becoming more and more Christ-like during our earthly lives.
Read John 17: 20-26 - THEIR FUTURE GLORY
20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 "O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
v. 20: "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;" - Here, Jesus also includes future believers as the object of His intercession. All Christians today and throughout history have come to Christ either directly or progressively through the witness of the original apostles. Their witness and the witness of the generations which followed them forms the tangible expression of the mission to which Jesus was referring in v. 18.
v. 21: "that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me." - Jesus petitioned for the unity of all believers as well the apostles. This unity rests on faithfulness to God's truth, which comes as an outgrowth of the unity that exists between Father and Son. The underlying purpose of this unity is so that the world might believe that the Father sent the Son-to believe that Jesus is in fact God's son.
v. 22: "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;" - This raises the question: In what sense do all believers share in God's glory? The answer is that the revelation of God results in the glory of God, and when believers understand and believe in the revelation of God, who is Jesus Christ, they become participants in that glory. And this unity is something they also share as unity not only with the Father and the Son but also among one another.
v. 23: "I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." - Jesus wanted the unity among believers to be so great and so clear that by seeing it, the world would believe Jesus' message. The world would also notice that God had poured-out His love on believers as well as His Son Jesus. All three members of the Godhead-Father, Son, and Spirit-indwell the Christian, and God's indwelling both unites believers in the body of Christ and glorifies God.
v. 24: "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." - In this petition, Jesus included the apostles and all the others who would follow in their footsteps-to see Jesus in all His glory. Our glorification, which includes being with Jesus forever, will occur for Christians initially at death or at the Rapture (2 Cor. 5:6-8), whichever happens first. Since Jesus is One with the Father, we can be certain that the Father will grant His petition (Eph. 3:21).
v. 25: "O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;" - During His earthly ministry, the world failed to see God revealed in Jesus; however, His disciples saw it and believed that God sent Him. On the eve of Jesus' crucifixion, there were only a handful of faithful believers in the entire world. Jesus now starts to conclude His prayer as He began it by addressing His Father by name. By calling God His "righteous Father," Jesus affirmed His certainty that God would do what was right. This included glorifying the Son and bringing all believers (then and now) safely to heaven where they would not only behold Him but participate in His glory.
v. 26: "and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." - During His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus had made the Father's "name known to them" (His disciples), and through Himself, had revealed the Father to them, so that His works and words were those of His Father. And in Christ, they beheld the perfect expression of the Father. And through them (and those believers who have followed them down through the ages up to present day), Jesus has continued to "make...known" the Father's name through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Ever since the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47), the Holy Spirit has been teaching believers about God the Father by mouth and through the Word of God. And when people accept the Father as He is revealed by Jesus, they become objects of the Father's love.
APPLICATION-Being in the world but not of the world
1. Christians are to relate to the world as Jesus did-to be in it, but to be distinct from it (vv. 12-19). Jesus came into this world with a clear purpose: to testify to the truth (John 18:37) and to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). John has repeatedly emphasized this by saying that Jesus was sent into the world (John 17:18): "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." The Father had sent His Son into the world with the message of salvation through faith in Him (John 3:16-18). He sends us with the same mission. The way to be a friend of sinners without being corrupted by them is to stay focused on your mission. Your aim is not to party with them (as you may have done in the past), but instead to lovingly warn them of the judgment to come and to tell them the good news of the Savior (1 Pet. 4:1-6). But, don't expect them to welcome you and your message with open arms!
2. Christian unity based on shared life in Christ is the major source for our witness to the world; and is expressed through common love, purpose, and mission (vv. 20-23). First and foremost, while we must strive to love and accept all whom Christ has truly saved, we also must be careful not to compromise essential biblical truth. The more common danger is not the failure to love, but rather the failure to hold onto sound doctrine of the NT. In short, we cannot be one with those who deny the apostolic gospel as expressed throughout the NT. Being one body in Christ does not mean that we all must look alike, talk alike, and enjoy the same kinds of activities. The beauty of the body is that it functions as one body although it consists of many different members. All true Christians agree on the following truths: The inspiration and authority of Scripture; the Trinity; the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ; His substitutionary death on the cross; His bodily resurrection; His bodily second coming; and, salvation by grace through faith alone, apart from works.
3. If you have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, you have wonderful blessings now plus the certainty of being with Him in heaven to see His glory (vv. 24-26). The only way that we can know God is through Jesus Christ, who was sent to this earth to manifest God's name. Through faith in Christ we receive the Holy Spirit, who gives us understanding into the things of God. We know something of God's name. God's name refers to His attributes and character. Here, Jesus addresses Him as "Righteous Father," which is unique in all of Scripture. Knowing God as the righteous Father, along with all of His other attributes, begins at salvation, but it continues as a lifelong quest. Jesus adds (John 17:26) that He "will continue to make it [God's name] known." This began with His love that would be supremely demonstrated on the cross the next day and extends to the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit, who pours out the love of God in our hearts as we grow to know Him more deeply (John 16:12-15; Rom. 5:5; Gal. 2:20).
