WEBVTT 00:00:00.841 --> 00:00:01.947 It's kind of a dangerous prayer. 00:00:01.947 --> 00:00:18.809 Ed asked me what it's been like being back, and it has been really good. 00:00:18.809 --> 00:00:21.489 It's been really rich to see a lot of people. 00:00:21.489 --> 00:00:24.509 We did a three-week road trip. 00:00:24.509 --> 00:00:32.168 We were out of the Chicago area visiting, which was great and also a little challenging with a three-and-a-half-year-old and a 10-month-old. 00:00:34.720 --> 00:00:42.607 But one thing I've definitely learned another thing I've learned over this past three years, beginning this journey into missions, is transitions can be hard. 00:00:42.607 --> 00:01:08.790 So whether it's moving to a new place, changing schools, changing jobs, changing supervisors, moving into a new stage of life, all of us go through transitions and changes at different points, and for Jesus' disciples, as the time came for Jesus to leave earth, it looked like it was going to be a pretty tough transition for them. 00:01:08.790 --> 00:01:10.665 So think about them. 00:01:10.665 --> 00:01:13.828 You have the Son of God physically present with you. 00:01:13.828 --> 00:01:17.865 You're walking with him, you're watching him do all these miracles, you're with him every day. 00:01:17.865 --> 00:01:27.929 You think that he's right now going to restore the kingdom of Israel and then, all of a sudden, he's arrested and he's taken to the cross. 00:01:27.929 --> 00:01:31.548 He's killed by the Romans. 00:01:31.548 --> 00:01:38.332 How would they ever be able to keep going amidst such a seemingly difficult, hopeless time? 00:01:38.332 --> 00:01:47.129 Today we're going to take a look at what Jesus prayed before he was arrested and led to the cross and how it gave hope to his followers. 00:01:47.129 --> 00:01:54.153 So, if you have your Bible, turn it on or open it to John 17. 00:01:54.153 --> 00:01:57.725 John, chapter 17. 00:01:57.725 --> 00:02:05.334 Now, in Jesus' life, in the last hours leading up to his arrest and death, we actually know quite a bit about some of the things that he said and did. 00:02:05.334 --> 00:02:12.193 So this is John, chapters 13 to 17, which I would encourage you to read or maybe listen to this week on your own. 00:02:13.580 --> 00:02:18.639 But a couple of key things that Jesus said to his disciples in that passage were hard. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:20.884 Things are coming right. 00:02:20.884 --> 00:02:22.527 He's about to leave. 00:02:22.527 --> 00:02:25.074 Jesus is going to be betrayed by one of them. 00:02:25.074 --> 00:02:28.606 The disciples are going to be hated by the world. 00:02:28.606 --> 00:02:30.290 They're going to have sorrow. 00:02:32.480 --> 00:02:33.763 He also gives them some commands. 00:02:33.763 --> 00:02:37.830 He says they're to serve as he served. 00:02:37.830 --> 00:02:39.394 They're to love one another. 00:02:39.394 --> 00:02:44.292 They're to remain in his love and from the continual flow of his love in them. 00:02:44.292 --> 00:02:46.479 They're to remain in his love and from the continual flow of his love in them. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.242 They're to go and bear fruit that will last. 00:02:49.242 --> 00:02:52.006 Okay, and he also shares some amazingly encouraging truths with them. 00:02:52.006 --> 00:02:54.830 He tells them hey, I'm leaving, but I'm going to prepare a place for you. 00:02:54.830 --> 00:03:03.987 I'm leaving, but I'm going to send you the comforter, the counselor, who's going to be with you, who's going to lead you into all the truth. 00:03:03.987 --> 00:03:05.955 And, by the way, you know the way to get where I am. 00:03:05.955 --> 00:03:08.085 I'm the way and the truth of the life, right. 00:03:08.085 --> 00:03:20.453 So there's encouraging things that he says to them amidst the challenges that are going to come, and he also told them to pray in his name, in his authority, according to his desires, and that the Father would answer them. 00:03:20.453 --> 00:03:26.420 So, after this teaching, Jesus then prays to the Father out loud in the presence of the disciples. 00:03:26.441 --> 00:03:28.787 This is our passage today, john, chapter 17. 00:03:28.787 --> 00:03:29.969 So stick with me. 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:35.252 I'm going to read all 26 verses of John, chapter 17, starting in verse 1. 00:03:35.252 --> 00:03:41.628 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said Father, the hour has come. 00:03:41.628 --> 00:03:42.992 Glorify your Son. 00:03:42.992 --> 00:03:55.075 That the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 00:03:55.075 --> 00:04:06.021 I have glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do, and now, father, glorify me in your own presence, with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 00:04:06.021 --> 00:04:10.170 I've manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. 00:04:10.170 --> 00:04:13.349 Yours they were and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 00:04:13.349 --> 00:04:24.632 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you, for I've 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. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:09.009 I'm praying for them. 00:05:09.009 --> 00:05:09.790 I'm not praying for Verse 1. 00:05:09.790 --> 00:05:10.267 Themselves. 00:05:10.267 --> 00:05:12.180 I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of this world, just as I am not of the world. 00:05:12.180 --> 00:05:13.351 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 00:05:13.351 --> 00:05:13.747 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 00:05:13.747 --> 00:05:14.884 Sanctify them in your truth. 00:05:14.884 --> 00:05:16.425 Your word is truth. 00:05:16.425 --> 00:05:24.572 As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. 00:05:24.572 --> 00:05:32.492 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, father, are in me and I in you. 00:05:32.492 --> 00:05:39.689 That they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me the glory that you have given me I have given to them. 00:05:39.689 --> 00:05:42.949 That they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me. 00:05:42.949 --> 00:05:58.708 That they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you love me, father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see the glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 00:05:58.708 --> 00:06:17.903 Oh, righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you. 00:06:17.923 --> 00:06:20.833 What an amazing glimpse we get of Jesus' intimacy with his Father and his sincere heart's desire for his disciples. 00:06:20.833 --> 00:06:31.670 We know from the Gospels Jesus often withdrew by himself to pray, but there was something for the disciples here in this that they needed to hear this prayer as well. 00:06:31.670 --> 00:06:42.908 So we're going to look at five heart attitudes for us to embrace today as his disciples in a hostile world, as we also go through transitions in our lives. 00:06:42.908 --> 00:06:52.730 I know, pastor Jim might be a little bit nervous that five points might mean a two-hour sermon, but I promise it's not Promise, so let's jump into it. 00:06:52.730 --> 00:06:59.867 The first heart attitude we see for us to embrace in this passage is in difficult times, seek to glorify God. 00:06:59.867 --> 00:07:02.872 In difficult times, seek to glorify God. 00:07:02.872 --> 00:07:04.184 This is verses one through five. 00:07:04.665 --> 00:07:09.805 In verse 1, it says when Jesus spoke in these words, he lifted his eyes to heaven and said Father, the hour has come. 00:07:09.805 --> 00:07:13.189 Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:20.528 Now, glorify can be one of those churchy Bible words that we don't really use outside of this kind of context. 00:07:20.528 --> 00:07:22.333 So what's Jesus saying? 00:07:22.333 --> 00:07:30.264 Glorify essentially means to honor, to make weighty, to make important. 00:07:30.264 --> 00:07:38.086 Some commentators have said that glorifying God means to celebrate his goodness, his divine goodness, of who he is. 00:07:38.086 --> 00:07:42.434 Now Jesus asked the Father to glorify him. 00:07:42.434 --> 00:07:44.180 Now God doesn't. 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:47.389 He doesn't just celebrate the goodness of anyone, right? 00:07:47.389 --> 00:07:51.466 He doesn't say wow Let me use you as an example Pastor Jim. 00:07:51.466 --> 00:07:53.726 He doesn't say man, pastor Jim is just so good. 00:07:53.726 --> 00:07:56.249 We're just going to celebrate Pastor Jim, which we love, pastor Jim. 00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:59.290 But God doesn't glorify Pastor Jim. 00:07:59.290 --> 00:08:02.309 God doesn't glorify anyone else. 00:08:02.309 --> 00:08:04.507 God actually says he doesn't share his glory with another. 00:08:04.507 --> 00:08:05.410 So what's Jesus doing here? 00:08:05.410 --> 00:08:16.192 Jesus is saying I'm also God, I'm the son of God, I'm part of the Trinity, as part of the three persons of one God who alone deserves glory like we sang about. 00:08:16.192 --> 00:08:20.720 But Jesus' prayer is not just to be glorified as an end itself. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:28.194 He says glorify your son that for the purpose of that, your son may glorify you. 00:08:28.194 --> 00:08:40.851 So Jesus wanted to point to the Father, to honor, to celebrate his Father, even in the pain of his sacrificial death, even in the difficulty of that. 00:08:40.851 --> 00:08:44.966 And then Jesus tells us why he wants to glorify the Father. 00:08:45.006 --> 00:08:46.692 Verse 2, look with me. 00:08:46.692 --> 00:08:50.763 I'm going to tell you to look with me a lot. 00:08:50.763 --> 00:08:52.447 So if you don't have your Bible open, you might as well open it now. 00:08:52.447 --> 00:08:53.591 He says why? 00:08:53.591 --> 00:09:02.107 He says since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him, so look to him, because Jesus has this authority to give eternal life. 00:09:02.107 --> 00:09:03.870 And what is eternal life? 00:09:03.870 --> 00:09:06.094 Jesus defines it for us. 00:09:06.094 --> 00:09:08.201 Verse 3, look with me. 00:09:08.923 --> 00:09:15.323 Jesus says this is eternal life that they know, you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. 00:09:15.323 --> 00:09:21.860 It's easy to know a lot about someone without knowing them right. 00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:27.817 Jesus says eternal life isn't just avoiding punishment in hell. 00:09:27.817 --> 00:09:29.961 It's not just knowing the Bible stories. 00:09:29.961 --> 00:09:36.461 It's not just coming to church, participating in churchy activities, serving giving. 00:09:36.461 --> 00:09:41.494 He says eternal life is not about knowing about him. 00:09:41.494 --> 00:09:44.139 Eternal life is about knowing him, is not about knowing about him. 00:09:44.139 --> 00:09:48.015 Eternal life is about knowing him. 00:09:48.841 --> 00:09:55.831 And for us today, we need to examine ourselves, in our own hearts, in our own lives, and ask ourselves do I know Jesus personally? 00:09:55.831 --> 00:09:59.346 Does Jesus know me? 00:09:59.346 --> 00:10:03.028 Do I really have a relationship with him? 00:10:03.028 --> 00:10:12.451 Well, if you're not sure how to answer that honestly, the good news is that God has made a way for us to know him. 00:10:12.451 --> 00:10:19.466 It's through turning to him and trusting in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of your sins. 00:10:19.466 --> 00:10:31.407 Because of Jesus' sinless life, because of his sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection, and submitting to him and his reign as king of our life, we can know him. 00:10:31.407 --> 00:10:35.660 So if you don't pray to him, get to know him. 00:10:37.947 --> 00:10:52.774 Jesus then says to his father verses four and five he says I glorified you on earth. 00:10:52.774 --> 00:10:57.090 He's finishing his earthly work, he's looking forward to being fully reunited with his Father. 00:10:57.090 --> 00:11:02.893 And Jesus prayed for God to be honored, celebrated, even in his suffering and his death. 00:11:02.893 --> 00:11:07.967 So we have to ask ourselves who does my life honor? 00:11:07.967 --> 00:11:12.528 Who does my life point to? 00:11:12.528 --> 00:11:15.525 What is my life for? 00:11:15.525 --> 00:11:17.706 A lot of people are asking these questions today. 00:11:17.706 --> 00:11:19.905 Who is my life for? 00:11:19.905 --> 00:11:22.947 Does my life do? 00:11:22.947 --> 00:11:30.208 My thoughts, my words, my actions make God known for who he is and celebrated for who he truly is? 00:11:30.208 --> 00:11:41.889 Because the message we often hear today from our modern cultures this happens in Bolivia too, by the way, not just in the United States is that my life is for me to enjoy. 00:11:41.889 --> 00:11:54.364 My life is for me to have as much fun as for me to have as much fun as I can, to make as much money as I can, to fulfill my goals, to be who I want to be, to enjoy life the way that I want to enjoy it, because I only live once. 00:11:54.364 --> 00:11:56.389 It's all about me. 00:11:59.041 --> 00:12:11.807 And in difficult times, under stress, in transition, in change, we can become even more self-absorbed and more prone to focus on ourselves. 00:12:11.807 --> 00:12:17.505 But Jesus we see in his prayer here he's a different priority, right. 00:12:17.505 --> 00:12:25.586 So, in the heaviness of what he's going through, as he's preparing to go and suffer, and we know that it says in other passages that he had this great anguish. 00:12:25.586 --> 00:12:26.548 He knew it was coming. 00:12:26.548 --> 00:12:32.892 He knew his purpose was to glorify, to honor and to make God's goodness known and celebrated. 00:12:32.892 --> 00:13:06.869 So when you acknowledge that God is the eternal king of the universe, then you see your life is not about your own hopes and dreams, your personal aspirations, your preferences, but in knowing this eternal king, knowing Jesus in this real relationship of eternal life, it gives us freedom from our enslavement to ourselves and opens up the ability to do what Jesus was doing glorifying God, celebrating God, honoring God, pointing to him even in the hard things. 00:13:06.869 --> 00:13:14.832 So the first heart attitude for us to adopt is in difficult times, seek to glorify God. 00:13:16.620 --> 00:13:18.524 Jesus then continues his prayer verse 6. 00:13:18.524 --> 00:13:25.331 Here we see the second heart attitude for us to adopt is in difficult times, rejoice you belong to God. 00:13:25.331 --> 00:13:26.575 In difficult times, rejoice you belong to God. 00:13:26.575 --> 00:13:29.384 In difficult times, rejoice you belong to God. 00:13:29.384 --> 00:13:34.663 Verse six I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. 00:13:34.663 --> 00:13:37.971 Yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. 00:13:37.971 --> 00:13:41.846 God, the Father, gave Jesus these disciples. 00:13:41.846 --> 00:13:47.096 The implication there is they're his, they belong to him. 00:13:47.096 --> 00:14:00.267 And I just want to pause on this for a minute, because in our world we seek meaning and identity in so many different ways, right, or maybe we're tempted to. 00:14:00.267 --> 00:14:04.633 But Jesus tells his disciples their identity and it's the same for us. 00:14:04.633 --> 00:14:12.851 Our identity, ultimately, if we are in Christ, is that we belong to him and we are his beloved sons and daughters. 00:14:12.851 --> 00:14:17.525 We have a place with him, we have an identity. 00:14:19.450 --> 00:14:25.486 And Jesus now makes it clear he's praying for his followers who belong to God, and while he's leaving, they're staying in the world. 00:14:25.486 --> 00:14:30.100 And then he says something interesting Middle of verse 11, look with me. 00:14:30.100 --> 00:14:31.284 He tells his father his desire. 00:14:31.284 --> 00:14:36.268 He says, holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 00:14:36.268 --> 00:14:39.081 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. 00:14:39.081 --> 00:14:44.470 I've guarded them and not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. 00:14:44.470 --> 00:14:57.712 So, as he's getting ready to leave them, jesus' prayer is that the Father would keep them, that, even though they're going to be in the world, that he would guard them, that he would protect them, just as he had kept and guarded them during his time on earth. 00:14:57.712 --> 00:15:07.679 So not only we as Jesus' disciples, not only do we belong to God, but as part of that, we're also guarded. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:10.421 We're protected, we're kept by him. 00:15:10.421 --> 00:15:12.721 No one can snatch us out of his hand. 00:15:12.721 --> 00:15:19.642 And he also gives us the why of why are the disciples going to be guarded? 00:15:19.642 --> 00:15:22.543 Why does God want them to keep them and guard them? 00:15:22.543 --> 00:15:26.464 Verse 11, it says that they may be one even as we are one. 00:15:26.464 --> 00:15:33.503 Okay, so the disciples' unity is meant to reflect God's unity, the three in one. 00:15:33.503 --> 00:15:35.427 We're going to come back to that a little bit more later. 00:15:36.235 --> 00:15:39.221 Verse 13, jesus returns the idea. 00:15:39.221 --> 00:15:47.381 He's coming back to the Father, saying but now I'm coming to you, praying to the Father and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled. 00:15:47.381 --> 00:15:52.187 So Jesus had been talking with his disciples. 00:15:52.187 --> 00:15:53.389 Remember starting John 13. 00:15:53.389 --> 00:15:54.051 He's talking a lot. 00:15:54.051 --> 00:15:58.179 He mentions joy, actually a number of times John 15, 11, he says. 00:15:58.179 --> 00:16:06.947 John 16, 20, he says you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 00:16:06.947 --> 00:16:08.794 John 16, 24, he says you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 00:16:08.794 --> 00:16:12.644 John 16, 24, he says until now you've asked nothing in my name. 00:16:12.644 --> 00:16:16.645 Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. 00:16:16.645 --> 00:16:27.317 So, even though Jesus' followers were probably about to go through the most confusing, difficult time in their lives, with Jesus going away. 00:16:27.317 --> 00:16:31.264 They still belong to Jesus and Jesus tells us verse 13,. 00:16:31.264 --> 00:16:32.989 I speak these things in the world. 00:16:32.989 --> 00:16:39.927 He's letting them hear this prayer that they may have, even in the midst of that, jesus' joy fulfilled in themselves. 00:16:45.015 --> 00:17:01.644 My mother-in-law, marilyn who our baby daughter is named after she, passed away eight years ago from cancer and as you can imagine, the grief for the family was hard, continues to be hard and heavy. 00:17:01.644 --> 00:17:04.321 She was in her late 40s. 00:17:04.321 --> 00:17:05.905 She's a believer. 00:17:05.905 --> 00:17:07.961 She knows Jesus face to face now. 00:17:07.961 --> 00:17:15.459 And Gino Eugenio, my father-in-law, he knows Jesus too. 00:17:15.459 --> 00:17:16.824 He loves Jesus. 00:17:16.824 --> 00:17:22.146 And for Marina and I, we've watched him live this. 00:17:22.146 --> 00:17:41.250 We've watched him live joy amidst the pain, watched him live joy amidst the pain, in the middle of the loss, the tears, the weight of his wife dying from cancer, the aftermath of the weeks and months and years that follow. 00:17:41.250 --> 00:17:47.090 We watched him lean into the Lord. 00:17:47.090 --> 00:17:54.375 We watched him pour over the scriptures on his couch in his house. 00:17:54.375 --> 00:17:56.662 We've watched him remind himself that he belongs to God. 00:17:56.662 --> 00:18:19.040 We've watched him make the Lord his refuge and his joy in the midst of what has been a very painful time, even in hard things and even in painful transitions, even amidst a cursed world, where Jesus told his disciples you will have trouble. 00:18:19.060 --> 00:18:27.815 There's a word of hope for us, whatever the circumstance may be that you find yourself going through this morning. 00:18:27.815 --> 00:18:30.009 Maybe you're in a transition. 00:18:30.009 --> 00:18:30.674 Maybe you're in a transition. 00:18:30.674 --> 00:18:33.326 Maybe you're in a conflict. 00:18:33.326 --> 00:18:37.134 Maybe you're grieving as well. 00:18:37.134 --> 00:18:46.978 Someone something In difficult times. 00:18:46.978 --> 00:18:47.862 Rejoice because you belong to God. 00:18:47.862 --> 00:18:50.192 Rejoice because you belong to God. 00:18:50.192 --> 00:19:03.700 Rejoice because you belong to God and, like Jesus told his disciples, belonging to God also means being distinct from the world, and there's where we're going to find our third heart attitude that we need to adopt, and that's in difficult times. 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:06.503 Devote yourself to the God who protects you. 00:19:06.503 --> 00:19:08.423 Devote yourself to the God who protects you. 00:19:08.423 --> 00:19:09.755 Devote yourself to the God who protects you. 00:19:09.835 --> 00:19:10.557 Verse 14,. 00:19:10.557 --> 00:19:15.627 Jesus says I've given them your word and the world has hated them. 00:19:15.627 --> 00:19:20.886 So, yes, followers of Jesus, they have his word, but they're also hated. 00:19:20.886 --> 00:19:26.022 So there's good news you have his word, but there's the bad news you're also going to be hated for following Jesus. 00:19:26.022 --> 00:19:28.083 Jesus says he then says something twice, almost exactly word for news. 00:19:28.083 --> 00:19:28.474 You're also going to be hated for following Jesus. 00:19:28.474 --> 00:19:28.511 Jesus says. 00:19:28.511 --> 00:19:31.089 He then says something twice, almost exactly word for word. 00:19:31.089 --> 00:19:35.040 You might have noticed this when I was reading it, but there's another statement sandwiched in between. 00:19:35.040 --> 00:19:37.942 So look with me the second part of verse 14 through verse 16. 00:19:37.942 --> 00:19:44.563 He says I've given them your word and the world has hated me because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 00:19:44.563 --> 00:19:46.027 That's the first part of the bread. 00:19:46.027 --> 00:19:46.928 Here comes the world. 00:19:46.928 --> 00:19:47.667 That's the first part of the bread. 00:19:47.667 --> 00:19:48.189 Here comes the meat. 00:19:48.189 --> 00:19:52.251 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 00:19:52.251 --> 00:19:55.022 Here comes the second piece of bread. 00:19:55.022 --> 00:19:58.505 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 00:19:58.505 --> 00:20:06.477 Jesus is emphasizing something here In saying his disciples are not of the world, just as he's not of the world. 00:20:06.477 --> 00:20:15.746 Jesus doesn't ask the Father to take them out of this world, but instead he asks for the Father to keep them, to protect them from the evil, and we saw this earlier in the passage as well. 00:20:15.746 --> 00:20:21.070 And sometimes, as Christians, we can read this and say well, yeah, of course you know Jesus said this. 00:20:21.070 --> 00:20:21.912 This is in the Bible. 00:20:29.615 --> 00:20:31.739 But sometimes the way that we actually think and operate is in complete contradiction to what Jesus says. 00:20:31.739 --> 00:20:42.402 We might be tempted to think well, since I'm a Christian, I deserve to be rewarded with God's blessing and God's success, and my life should be smooth sailing Economically. 00:20:42.402 --> 00:20:52.848 I shouldn't have issues, shouldn't have a lot of relational conflict, shouldn't have other circumstances I can't control in my life. 00:20:52.848 --> 00:20:53.471 That might be very hard. 00:20:53.471 --> 00:20:58.002 If I'm truly seeking to worship God in every aspect of my life, why would anything bad ever happen to me? 00:20:58.002 --> 00:20:59.105 Nothing bad ever happened to Jesus. 00:20:59.105 --> 00:21:04.599 Right, Jesus suffered and was killed. 00:21:05.742 --> 00:21:08.936 And for believers, paul told the Philippian church Philippians 1,. 00:21:08.936 --> 00:21:14.685 It has been granted to us that, for the sake of Christ, we should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. 00:21:14.685 --> 00:21:29.105 So Jesus' prayer, his plan was not to take his followers out of the world, but actually for them to stay in the world and even though they would be hated and they would suffer, they would be protected by God for the hope of eternity. 00:21:29.105 --> 00:21:32.480 What does this protection look like? 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:33.357 Verse 17,. 00:21:33.357 --> 00:21:35.324 Jesus is still praying to the Father. 00:21:35.324 --> 00:21:36.838 He says Sanctify them in the truth. 00:21:36.838 --> 00:21:38.525 Your word is truth. 00:21:38.525 --> 00:21:46.203 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. 00:21:46.654 --> 00:21:50.861 Sanctify is another one of those Bible churchy words that we're like okay, what does that really mean? 00:21:50.861 --> 00:21:53.344 Nobody talks like that anymore, right? 00:21:53.344 --> 00:22:02.454 Jesus is saying that they need to be set apart and devoted for a specific purpose. 00:22:02.454 --> 00:22:03.701 Set apart for God. 00:22:03.701 --> 00:22:10.968 Jesus is saying that being sanctified in truth is the way the disciples are guarded by the Father. 00:22:10.968 --> 00:22:18.818 The emphasis on holiness and the set-apart devotedness to God, sanctification this is throughout the whole Bible. 00:22:18.818 --> 00:22:19.682 Right? 00:22:19.682 --> 00:22:22.555 We see this in the Old Testament with the Israelites. 00:22:22.555 --> 00:22:28.067 It's why they had the tabernacle and all the holy instruments and the holy place and the sacrifices. 00:22:28.067 --> 00:22:32.226 That's why Israel is supposed to be separate and different from nations around them. 00:22:35.776 --> 00:22:44.144 Jesus talks to, prays to the Father about this for his disciples, and then on the other side of the cross, we see it in the church, right, god calls us, as the church, to be holy as he is holy. 00:22:44.144 --> 00:22:44.667 That's 1 Peter 1. 00:22:44.667 --> 00:22:45.755 God calls us, as the church, to be holy as he is holy. 00:22:45.755 --> 00:22:49.138 That's 1 Peter 1. 00:22:49.138 --> 00:22:56.009 And there's a phrase that often gets repeated as Christians that as Christians, we are to be in the world, but not of the world. 00:22:56.009 --> 00:22:59.834 You ever wonder where that comes from. 00:22:59.834 --> 00:23:03.499 It's this passage. 00:23:03.538 --> 00:23:07.284 So what does it look like for us on a practical level to live that though. 00:23:07.284 --> 00:23:21.326 So, one, it requires us to be sanctified, made holy by the truth of God's word, and two, it requires us not to remove ourselves from the world completely, as nice as sometimes that may sound, as much as sometimes we may want that. 00:23:21.326 --> 00:23:30.001 Jesus says in verse 18, jesus came into the world and sent his followers into the world. 00:23:30.001 --> 00:23:43.500 Now, when it comes to being sanctified, we have to ask ourselves am I becoming a mature, devoted to God witness of Jesus? 00:23:43.500 --> 00:24:09.154 How might God be calling you to be devoted to him, to walk before him in devotion, seeking to please him in every area of your life For the purpose of honoring him, being his devoted witness and worshiper, ambassador, so that people can celebrate God's goodness? 00:24:09.154 --> 00:24:28.141 Are you being formed by God, through his spirit, through his word of truth, or are you being discipled by the overwhelming fire hose of information that we're constantly receiving, from social media messages, from news, from marketing, from entertainment, by the wisdom of this world? 00:24:30.056 --> 00:24:45.163 Now, if Jesus' purpose was for us, as disciples, not to be removed from the world which he could have done, but he didn't what does it look like for us to be sent into the world In a way that points to and celebrates God's goodness. 00:24:45.163 --> 00:24:46.246 What does that look like here? 00:24:46.246 --> 00:24:55.026 Not just in Bolivia, right, that's part of it, right, and you guys are participating in that as a church, but also right here in Elmhurst, in the western suburbs? 00:24:55.026 --> 00:25:09.247 Could it be that God's purpose for us, as his people, is not just to fall into the trap of the idols of self-protection and comfort? 00:25:09.247 --> 00:25:25.103 Could it be that, rather than seeking to escape from this world and insulate ourselves from any type of risk or discomfort, god wants to use us to seek the holistic good of our neighbors? 00:25:25.103 --> 00:25:28.068 What might that look like? 00:25:28.068 --> 00:25:32.346 What might that look like in your life, in your neighborhood? 00:25:32.346 --> 00:25:40.865 Hedging ourselves from every challenging or risky situation? 00:25:40.865 --> 00:25:46.243 It's not what Jesus did and it's not his design for his followers. 00:25:48.838 --> 00:25:59.818 But when we lean into making all of our decisions out of self-interest, self-protection, self-preservation, we have to wonder could I be? 00:25:59.818 --> 00:26:05.343 We have to ask ourselves, could I be short-circuiting God's plan in my life? 00:26:05.343 --> 00:26:08.962 Could I be leaning on my own understanding? 00:26:08.962 --> 00:26:26.259 Because what we see here is that, instead of us protecting ourselves, god is the one who protects, who guards, who keeps, and he does it by sanctifying us in the truth, in the truth of his word and the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:26:26.259 --> 00:26:32.182 That's the third heart attitude for us this morning. 00:26:32.182 --> 00:26:35.538 In difficult times, devote yourself to the God who protects you. 00:26:35.538 --> 00:26:40.902 Next, we see that the devotion to God is not an end in itself. 00:26:40.902 --> 00:26:46.385 This is the fourth heart attitude we need is in difficult times, be a unified witness. 00:26:46.385 --> 00:26:50.089 In difficult times, be a unified witness. 00:26:50.089 --> 00:26:51.075 In difficult times, be a unified witness. 00:26:51.496 --> 00:26:52.097 Verse 20,. 00:26:52.097 --> 00:27:00.503 Jesus said I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, father, are in me and I in you. 00:27:00.503 --> 00:27:06.384 That they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me the glory that you have given me I have given to them. 00:27:06.384 --> 00:27:14.058 That they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me. 00:27:14.058 --> 00:27:17.185 That they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me. 00:27:17.185 --> 00:27:24.682 So Jesus' desire for his disciples is to be one, to be not uniform but unified. 00:27:24.682 --> 00:27:32.337 And then Jesus explains the basis of this unity, and then he explains the purpose of the unity. 00:27:32.337 --> 00:27:35.084 Okay so, first the basis of the unity. 00:27:35.084 --> 00:27:37.429 How can they be unified. 00:27:38.595 --> 00:27:50.169 Well, in John's gospel, jesus, many times he claims to be God's son, and here he repeats this idea of unity with the Father, and he tells us that the basis and model of unity for his people is the unity he has with the Father. 00:27:50.169 --> 00:27:54.005 He says just as you, father, are in me and I in you. 00:27:54.005 --> 00:28:04.448 And then he says something incredible he actually includes his followers who believe in the unity he enjoys with the Father. 00:28:04.448 --> 00:28:11.448 He welcomes us into this, saying that they also may be in us. 00:28:11.448 --> 00:28:23.970 The triune, united God living in his people is precisely what enables us to be united, to be one. 00:28:23.970 --> 00:28:30.742 But the unity among Jesus' disciples is not the end goal and purpose in itself. 00:28:30.742 --> 00:28:35.259 Jesus then tells them the purpose and he actually repeats it twice Look with me, verse 21. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:42.000 He says that they all may be one, just as you, father, are in me and I in you, that they also may believe in us. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:42.603 And here it is. 00:28:42.603 --> 00:28:45.563 He says so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 00:28:45.563 --> 00:28:46.768 Then, verse 23. 00:28:46.768 --> 00:28:48.974 It says so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 00:28:48.974 --> 00:28:54.535 Then verse 23 says I in them, you in me, there's the unity that they may become perfectly one. 00:28:54.535 --> 00:28:59.944 Here it is again, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me. 00:28:59.944 --> 00:29:01.570 So why has God united his people as one in Christ? 00:29:01.570 --> 00:29:04.755 There's the so that right, the. 00:29:04.755 --> 00:29:13.948 So that the world may believe that Jesus was sent by God, that God loves them and that they may trust Jesus alone for their salvation. 00:29:13.948 --> 00:29:20.025 Unity in Christ is a witness to who God is. 00:29:20.025 --> 00:29:22.804 You can think about this as unity, as evangelism. 00:29:22.804 --> 00:29:26.281 Now think with me for a moment. 00:29:26.281 --> 00:29:32.734 What kind of witness do you and I have as individuals? 00:29:32.734 --> 00:29:45.674 What kind of a witness do you have as a church community or as a bigger body of believers, thinking about Christians in different churches, different areas all over the world? 00:29:45.674 --> 00:29:47.983 What kind of witness do we have to the world? 00:29:49.695 --> 00:29:55.285 Because, if we're honest, a lot of people look at Christians and say those people are just a bunch of hypocrites, right? 00:29:55.285 --> 00:29:57.159 Anybody else ever heard that? 00:29:57.159 --> 00:29:58.604 Okay, I'm not the only one. 00:29:58.604 --> 00:30:06.808 Now, oftentimes, if we're honest, we do fail in many ways. 00:30:06.808 --> 00:30:09.083 We all fall in many ways. 00:30:09.083 --> 00:30:16.508 But the truth is that we can't just obey and get rid of the hypocrisy by trying harder. 00:30:16.508 --> 00:30:19.162 That's kind of what we think usually. 00:30:19.162 --> 00:30:21.442 I think a lot of times we fall into that way of thinking. 00:30:21.775 --> 00:30:29.609 But the antidote to the hypocrisy or to the inconsistency is not greater effort, right, right, it's not. 00:30:29.609 --> 00:30:31.896 I just need to double down and really get serious. 00:30:31.896 --> 00:30:38.597 The antidote is trusting in him for the things that we say we believe. 00:30:38.597 --> 00:30:55.636 It's trusting and really believing that we are forgiven and freed from faking it, from performing and trying harder, because Jesus has already lived the perfect life that we could never live. 00:30:55.636 --> 00:30:57.171 That's such good news for a perfectionist. 00:30:57.171 --> 00:31:05.952 And that on the cross Jesus died the sacrificial death that we deserve to die and that in him we are fully loved. 00:31:05.952 --> 00:31:08.545 We already have full belonging in his family. 00:31:08.545 --> 00:31:14.614 He makes us into this united family who represents the triune God as his witnesses together. 00:31:16.676 --> 00:31:21.027 So the world's reaction to the church, rather than dismissing us, is a bunch of hypocrites. 00:31:21.027 --> 00:31:23.795 People put on one face on Sunday morning. 00:31:23.795 --> 00:31:27.007 The rest of the week life goes about as normal. 00:31:27.007 --> 00:31:50.953 The world's reaction should be an amazement and a hunger to know this God who gives peace and hope and joy to this selfless, humble, united community, who are united by a supernatural power, because each person in the community knows Jesus, walks with Jesus in intimate relationship. 00:31:50.953 --> 00:32:07.053 Nobody has anything to prove, nobody's trying to fight their little battles and stay on their little pedestal, but instead we can walk and love each other selflessly by God's power working within us. 00:32:07.053 --> 00:32:17.298 So true, healthy communion with God and true heart level, deep unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ must go together. 00:32:18.786 --> 00:32:24.739 The fourth heart attitude, then, that we need to adopt is in difficult times, be a unified witness. 00:32:24.739 --> 00:32:34.700 And then the final, the fifth and final heart attitude we need to adopt, based on Jesus' prayer, is in difficult times, put your hope in Christ. 00:32:34.700 --> 00:32:39.234 In difficult times, put your hope in Christ. 00:32:39.234 --> 00:32:52.815 Jesus' final desire in his prayer is that his followers would be with him, but in a fuller sense, even than what the disciples experienced on earth, and in a fuller sense than what we experience right now. 00:32:52.815 --> 00:32:55.127 Look with me, verse 24. 00:32:55.127 --> 00:33:08.131 Jesus desires that his followers, which also include us today his desire was that we would be with him to see his glory the Father has given him, because the Father loved Jesus before the foundation of the world. 00:33:08.131 --> 00:33:17.732 So, because we know him, because then, if we're in Christ, we're trusting him for salvation, we're submitting to him as our king in every area of our life. 00:33:17.732 --> 00:33:29.769 He really wants to be with us so that we can enjoy and celebrate God's goodness, to see his awesomeness and bask in his love and goodness for all eternity. 00:33:29.769 --> 00:33:38.114 And in verse 25, jesus emphasizes while the world does not know him, the disciples do know that the Father has sent him. 00:33:38.114 --> 00:33:52.150 Jesus said he's made God's name, god's goodness, god's essence, god's character and reputation known to the disciples, and he's going to continue to do that, showing them more and more of what God is like, even though he's going away. 00:33:52.150 --> 00:33:56.519 Why? 00:33:56.519 --> 00:34:11.717 So that the love with which the Father loved Jesus may be in them, in Jesus' disciples, and that Jesus may be in them, and then that this will be brought to fruition and fullness in eternity. 00:34:13.306 --> 00:34:32.556 The picture that came to my mind as I was thinking about this is you know, when you go to the ice cream shop and they got the little tiny spoons right and you're like, well, I don't know, I kind of have my go-to flavor, but there's, like you know, watermelon or something that's a little different, and you're like, well, I don't know if I want to get that, let me try it Right. 00:34:32.556 --> 00:34:41.130 So they give you a little different and you're like, well, I don't know if I want to get that, let me try it Right. 00:34:41.130 --> 00:34:43.835 So they give you a little spoon and you get a little taste of it, you experience it to some degree. 00:34:43.835 --> 00:34:44.577 This is what we have now. 00:34:44.577 --> 00:34:52.675 We do get a real taste of intimacy and oneness with Jesus, with the Father, with the Spirit, and we do have that in a real ongoing sense. 00:34:52.675 --> 00:35:15.927 The Holy Spirit, if we're in Christ, lives inside us, but it's just a small taste of what awaits us in the new Jerusalem, when we are fully united with the Lord, when we're rid of our own sinful nature and we can bask in the fullness of his love and his goodness, and when he wipes away every tear from our eye. 00:35:17.632 --> 00:35:40.672 So, in conclusion, brothers and sisters, today we have just scratched the surface of this beautiful passage, john 17, but it gives us a glimpse into what Jesus' deep parting desires were for his followers and what, by power, he enables to be the genuine postures of our hearts, even in difficult times. 00:35:40.672 --> 00:35:47.474 So the five hard attitudes we need to adopt I'm going to say them one more time In difficult times, seek to glorify God. 00:35:47.474 --> 00:35:51.335 In difficult times, rejoice you belong to God. 00:35:51.335 --> 00:35:55.074 In difficult times, devote yourself to God. 00:35:55.074 --> 00:36:03.255 In difficult times, be a unified witness and, lastly, in difficult times, put your hope in Christ. 00:36:03.255 --> 00:36:30.853 May the Lord help us to really internalize these truths and may he transform the postures of our hearts so that whatever changes, whatever transitions, whatever pain we go through in our lives, instead of turning elsewhere, instead of gritting our teeth, trying harder to make it through, we remember that Jesus longs for us to turn to him and humble ourselves before him. 00:36:30.853 --> 00:36:34.500 We can sum it up by remembering this. 00:36:34.500 --> 00:36:42.016 May it ring in our minds and may it be true in our hearts and in our lives In difficult times, turn to God. 00:36:43.766 --> 00:36:47.976 In difficult times, turn to God. 00:36:47.976 --> 00:36:52.467 Father, thank you so much for your word. 00:36:52.467 --> 00:36:54.090 God Father, thank you so much for your word. 00:36:54.090 --> 00:37:01.918 Thank you, Jesus, for your life, your death, your resurrection. 00:37:01.918 --> 00:37:03.920 Lord, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:14.014 Lord, and even though, jesus, you're not with us right now physically, like you were, you've given us the Spirit, you've given us hope. 00:37:14.014 --> 00:37:30.655 And, lord, I pray that, whatever we might be going through this morning, whatever the challenge, whatever the transition or whatever the challenges are that are going to come, help us to turn to you, to remember that you have already turned to us. 00:37:30.655 --> 00:37:32.771 Help us to turn to you. 00:37:32.771 --> 00:37:35.715 Remember you are always wanting to embrace us. 00:37:35.715 --> 00:37:38.492 Thank you, father, in Jesus' name Amen.