WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.360 Well, if you have a Bible, we are continuing our series in the in the book of John. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:09.359 We are in John chapter 17, verses 1 through 19. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:13.199 Today we are, this is called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:16.320 Before we begin, please pray with me. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:26.480 God, I pray for help as we open your word. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:31.199 That your spirit would use this word to speak to us. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:40.159 That we would experience it not just as information, but as living and active, shaping a people for your name. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:47.520 I pray that you would give me the ability to be clear, to convey what is intended by your word. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:52.479 If I were to say something that is not intended by your word, that it would simply miss your people. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:55.200 We rely on you now, Lord. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:56.079 In Jesus' name. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:56.960 Amen. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:05.120 So back during the French Revolution. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:09.200 There's nothing funny about that, Josh. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:11.599 The French Revolution is serious business. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:14.640 It started to go in a really radical direction. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:22.239 And as they went more radical, they actually started trying to abolish the Christian faith. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:28.879 They had actually established a new state religion called the Church of Pure Reason. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:36.959 In fact, uh the famous Church of Notre Dame had become a temple of reason where they held their festivals to reason. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:46.799 Not only that, they were pulling down crosses and statues, and on the cemeteries, they posted signs that said death is an eternal sleep. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:56.640 So the culture of France and especially of Paris was changing radically to the point where they were actively persecuting. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:05.040 Mob violence was committed against nuns and monks and priests, and some of them going to the guillotine, of course. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:10.159 There was an archbishop at the time, a guy named Jean-Baptiste Gau. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:13.120 I'm not going to try to pronounce that last one. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:15.120 Let me just sit right there. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:19.120 He had a name, and it's French. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:21.680 But he was the archbishop. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:29.759 And this guy, you could call him a survivor, and here was his strategy to survive how the culture was changing. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:33.439 It's to compromise, to give, right? 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:36.000 To bend with it. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:41.360 The first thing he did is he took he took an oath called the Oath of the Constitution. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:44.000 And this sounds nice because we like our Constitution. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:50.479 But really what it was is he was acknowledging the French government is the ultimate authority over the church. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:52.639 And he'll do whatever they say. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:03:01.360 And then, you know, he started wearing the uh the the outfit of the working class instead of his bishop garb. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:02.719 This went over huge. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:05.360 He's like, oh, I'm gonna survive this. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:12.080 And um and then uh, you know, he fell in with a group, this radical group called the the Hebertists. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:14.000 I know you don't say the H, I'm not gonna try. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:17.199 I'm not gonna try and say it right, but that they're the Hebertists, okay? 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:21.599 And they came to him one night and they said, Okay, here's what we need you to do now. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:27.360 We need you to go in front of the assembly tomorrow and renounce your office and make a big show of it. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:36.319 So he shows up in all his bishop's garb and he takes his miter, which is this little staff that's a symbol of his office, and he he breaks it and he renounces his office. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:36.879 Okay? 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:41.439 And he's like, Okay, good, just keep compromising to survive. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:50.800 And then one night the leaders of the Hebrantists come to him and they say, Okay, now we need you to get up and renounce the faith totally. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:58.479 So the next day he got up and he renounced that he believed in God at all. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:01.280 And he survived. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:11.439 But then there was a new sheriff, a little guy named Maximilian Robespierre, who did not like the cult of pure reason. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:25.279 He wanted the cult of the divine being or the supreme being, and uh and he took the arch the former archbishop and put him in prison and then executed him for being an atheist. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:30.079 This is a repeating pattern in church history. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:46.959 The culture will change, and there will be huge cultural pressure against the church, and there is always someone who says, you know, the way we're gonna survive this is by compromising, by giving up the bits they don't like. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:53.199 Now, I am not talking about com I'm not talking about changing how the faith is communicated. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:55.680 That is, that goes, that's right from the Bible. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:58.079 You can just look at the gospels, right? 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:04.480 Four different tellings of the story of Jesus, all with different emphases because they're two different audiences. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:09.120 Making the message make sense is something that always needs to be done, right? 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:10.399 I'm not talking about that. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:20.720 I'm talking about not how you communicate the message, but actually compromising the message to get rid of the bits that are found unacceptable by your culture. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.560 The thing is, it never works. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.519 It's been proposed so many times. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:40.560 So, all the way back in the very early church, there were those who were saying, you know, if we want Jews to believe in Jesus, we've got to get rid of this idea that he's God. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:42.240 They're never gonna buy it. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:49.519 And and on the other side, you know, the people were saying, Well, Greeks, they can't believe that God could become human. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:53.680 You've got to get rid of the doctrine that Jesus is truly human. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:01.279 That that uh that long creed we read before, that's what that was all about, is people saying, we've got to compromise to survive. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:07.680 If we want the gospel accepted, if we don't want to get laughed out of Greece or whatever, we've got to compromise it. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:13.439 We gotta change the message so that people will accept it and so that we can survive. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:23.120 During uh there was something called, I have a long list of these, you just can't listen to them during during something called the modernist controversy, right? 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:38.000 In the late 1800s, as as the as modern science was coming into its own, there was those who said, you know, if we ever want to be taken seriously, if we want to maintain any sort of relevancy in the culture, we've got to get rid of miracles. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:42.560 Because as science becomes more dominant, no one's gonna believe in miracles. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:46.480 So we've got to have a version of the Christian faith without miracles. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:49.439 You don't lose too much there, do you? 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:56.639 Just, you know, the resurrection and the virgin birth, and right, it completely changes the message, doesn't it? 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:13.519 Or uh or in the Third Reich, I was just reading the other night, there was there was a lot of churches in the Third Reich, a lot of church leaders that were saying, you know, if we want to survive, if we want the church to survive and thrive, if we want these Nazis to believe, we gotta get rid of everything Jewish in Christianity. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:20.000 So they said, the entire Old Testament's gotta go, and everything written by Rabbi Paul. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:22.079 I don't know why they sing the Paul out. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:26.319 All the writers of the of the Bible were Jewish, and Jesus himself. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:27.360 Right? 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:31.279 Just get rid of the Jewish stuff, it's the whole thing. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:38.639 More recently, uh, there was a high-profile pastor named Rob Bell. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:45.279 I'm not putting them on blast, he published this book, and he would he argued in this book that we've got to get rid of the doctrine of judgment. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:52.639 Because people in in the postmodern, post-everything, feely-feely age, they're not gonna go for it. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:53.519 Right? 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:56.879 You just get rid of that and and the gospel will go forth. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:05.920 Well, not only survival, thrive, if we just compromise the message, because the culture is so against that particular part of the Christian faith. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:13.040 Right now, in the missionaries in the Muslim world are arguing, some are arguing, hey, they won't go for the Trinity. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:17.279 So we just we just preach the gospel and leave the Trinity out. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.360 And you hear it all the time. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:25.759 And the older I get, the more I hear it. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:32.000 People saying, well, the culture has changed, the culture really hates this part of the Christian faith. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:42.159 And so instead of insisting on it, let's just change it, let's just compromise this little bit, and we'll not only survive, we'll thrive. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:46.399 The thing is, it never works. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:57.919 It didn't work for Jean-Baptiste Gobel, it didn't work in any of these other cases where it was tried, and it's not gonna work anytime soon. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:02.799 Because the thing is, you can't save the gospel by destroying it, can you? 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:06.480 It's like saying we're gonna be murdered, we better commit suicide. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:09.600 And even more so. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:31.600 This idea that we need to compromise the gospel in order for the for the church to thrive, for the gospel to thrive, it it rests on a really fundamental misunderstanding about what the church is, the most fundamental part of our understanding of the church. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:39.279 And we see in John chapter 17, Jesus, he he this is called the high priestly prayer, and you know what he's praying for? 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:41.919 He's praying for the church. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:47.120 The first thing that we see here is that the church is his. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:51.200 He has authority. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:59.519 When we look at verses 1 through 3, it says, When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:02.799 Glorify your son that the Son may glorify you. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:15.440 Since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all who you have given him, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:17.360 So we see his authority there. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:17.840 Right? 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.480 It says, You've given me authority over all flesh. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.240 He has the authority to give salvation, and God has sent him. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:27.519 The church is his, he's the one with the authority in it. 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:30.639 And also he founded it by his cross. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:31.919 Verses four and five. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:37.039 It says, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:43.840 Now he is talking about what he's about to do the following day, going to the cross as if it is already done. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:52.559 He says, And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:57.360 So what is bringing about this new people that he's praying for? 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:00.399 It's what he's about to do, going to the cross. 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:08.399 So he has authority, he founded it by his cross, and lastly we see that we belong to him. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:11.440 These people who he's praying for belong to him. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:13.039 In verses six through ten. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:18.720 He says, I have manifested your name to the people who you gave me out of the world. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:23.519 Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:36.240 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you, for I have 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. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:38.159 I am praying for them. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:47.679 I am not praying for the world, but for those who you have given me, for they are yours, all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:57.200 So the most fundamental understanding of the church begins with this: that the church belongs to Jesus. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:08.480 And this impulse that we have to compromise, to change the message, comes from a mistaken belief that the church is ours. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:11.679 Now, is the church ours in a certain sense? 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:18.000 Yeah, it's kind of like um, it's kind of like if your parents growing up, if they owned their house, let's say. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:20.000 Is that your house? 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:20.879 Yeah. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:23.759 I invited my friends over to my house. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:25.440 Did I buy it? 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:26.000 No. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:27.440 Did I pick it? 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:28.000 No. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:30.399 Is my name on the was my name on the deed? 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:30.960 Was yours? 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:31.519 No. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.080 So it's not yours in that sense. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:37.200 Could you call a construction crew to pop the top? 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:40.080 Yeah, this is uh Matt Morginski over here. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:44.080 Um, while my parents are at work, could you please put a wing on our house? 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:46.240 Doesn't work, does it? 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.960 It's not mine in that sense, correct? 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.080 But is it mine? 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:50.639 Yes. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.919 Do I have responsibilities within it because it was my house? 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:54.799 Yes. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:00.879 So we have responsibilities within the church. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:03.679 It belongs to us in that same sense. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:13.039 But in terms of the one who has authority, the one who founded it by his cross, and that we belong to him, the church belongs to Jesus. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:17.200 We need to let him be Lord of the Church. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:32.480 Anything that follows from what it means to be the church, what it means our responsibilities are, has to start with this: that Jesus is Lord of the church, that it belongs to him, and we need to let him be Lord of the Church. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:44.159 Now, about this facing of opposition, you know, because this is usually what triggers this reaction of we've got to compromise, we've got to change radically. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:51.200 So experiencing opposition isn't necessarily a bad thing. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:14:01.200 Sometimes I go to like a public gym, like when I'm traveling or something like that, and you know, just like a pay two bucks and go in there and lift weights. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:06.320 And I I I'm sorry, this is you're gonna make me think less of me, but I'm very judgmental. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:10.159 Um I'm like, you're gonna dislocate your shoulder, you're gonna die. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:31.759 And and inevitably, there's always a guy, and it is a guy who has incredibly light weights and is just burning through sets like this, just like flinging the weights around, and then you know, always looking in the mirror, and then puts them down and is like, and I'm like, you didn't do anything. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:33.759 That was worthless. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:36.159 You might as well have eaten a donut. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:37.600 Why? 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.799 He was experiencing no opposition. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:48.480 You're supposed to feel some opposition, you're supposed to feel some resistance, or else you aren't doing it right. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:49.120 Okay. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:58.159 When we think that the experience of opposition means you're doing something wrong, we have to look at what Jesus says next. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:02.080 That Jesus sent the church into opposition. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:04.639 Look at verses 11 through 14. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:10.879 He says, I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.279 And I am coming to you, Holy Father. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:20.000 Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:24.399 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:30.879 I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that is Judas, that the scripture might be fulfilled. 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:32.720 But now I am coming to you. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:37.200 These things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:44.879 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:50.000 So we have to be very, very careful with the word world. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:58.639 In the New Testament, there are three definitions of the word world. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:02.879 Okay, and it's very important to understand which one of them is being used. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:06.559 The world can mean the physical world. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:10.799 Okay, just the the planet and creation and all of that. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:13.679 It doesn't make much sense in this context, does it? 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:14.320 Right? 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:24.080 Like he's not praying that that uh his disciples and his church would be uh, you know, would would would keep to the word amongst grizzly bears. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:25.600 Right? 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:30.080 It's like, oh no, they're gonna get attacked by lions or something. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:35.759 The second definition is the population of the world, like the whole world is watching. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.480 Okay, it means the the people on the world. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:40.720 That also doesn't make a ton of sense. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:52.879 The third definition is the most frequently used one in the New Testament when it used when it's talking about the world in a negative or oppositional sense, and that is the broken systems of the world. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:59.279 For instance, when we say the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor, that's the way of the world. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:08.160 We don't mean the planet, we don't mean the population, we mean the broken systems of the world, the systems that are opposed to God, and that is what is meant here. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:10.240 That is what Jesus is praying about. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:12.160 And do you see what he says? 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:16.799 He's not praying that God keeps them from opposition, right? 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:21.920 He's saying, I put them in the world, I'm leaving, they're in it, right? 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:29.680 So so Jesus sent us among these systems in opposition, but also among spiritual opposition. 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:32.079 Look at verses 15 and 16. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:38.559 He said, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:41.759 They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:53.599 Okay, so so in addition, and really hand in hand with the broken systems of the world, is uh and and the the systems in opposition is spiritual opposition. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:18:06.720 Now, I know that you know, getting up and saying, Hey, I believe that there's a Satan and demons, some people say, Well, that's kind of weird. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:08.319 It's weird to believe in that. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:17.759 I actually think it's kind of weird not to believe in it, because it's it's it's a lot easier to explain human history if there are like spiritual forces opposed to God. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:20.319 It makes a whole lot more sense when you look, right? 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:22.640 It's it's hard to explain the Third Reich. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:26.880 It's really hard to explain Joseph Stalin if there's not demons active there, right? 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:34.480 Um, but the point is, opposition is not a sign that you're doing something wrong. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:36.960 It's a sign that you're doing something right. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:49.920 It's not a sign that, hey, we need to radically change what we're saying about Jesus, we need to absolutely, you know, throw out everything and start over so that people like it better and we don't experience opposition. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:19:03.599 If you think about this, if the the systems of the world are in opposition to God and you are living as God's people, wouldn't it make sense that you're gonna face opposition from it? 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:09.839 Wouldn't it make sense that that the systems of the world would have some problem with what the church is doing and saying? 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:11.440 Supposed to, right? 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:13.839 That that's a that's a normal thing. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:18.640 Just like, you know, if you're experiencing spiritual attack, what am I doing wrong? 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:20.079 I'm being spiritually attacked. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:24.079 No, you're being spiritually attacked because you're doing something right. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:26.799 Because you threaten the kingdom of Satan. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:31.920 Jesus has sent us. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:36.640 Jesus, who the church belongs to, he has sent us into opposition. 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:39.039 We need to let him be Lord of the church. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:40.960 He has sent us here for a reason. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.680 Experiencing opposition is part of it. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:47.440 But what are we supposed to do in the midst of opposition? 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:59.680 You know, there's there's actually a law of books written and a long debate and many practices throughout church history about how do you manage this relationship between the church and the world? 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:01.839 What how should the church relate to the world? 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:03.680 And there's a few different options. 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:08.240 And just so you know, I'll say the right one last, because that's what pastors do. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.079 One is to say, all right, we need to escape from the world. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:17.359 We need to keep ourselves untainted by it. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:29.440 You can think of the Amish here, or those of you who remember um during the during the Y2K bug crisis, remember this whole thing? 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:30.799 Anybody old enough? 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:31.440 Yeah. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:35.119 So for those of you who don't know, it sounds so silly now. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:42.079 So we were worried that all computer systems across the world were gonna crash on midnight of the year 2000. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:47.519 Um, and like, you know, it'd be it'd be the purge everywhere, basically. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:54.720 And there were a lot of Christian leaders who were saying, well, we need to set up like bunker prepper communities out in the middle of nowhere. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:55.599 Yes, Corey knows. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:56.960 Corey's giving me the amen. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.839 Uh you know, we need to escape. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.920 And it's like, think about that. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:06.880 So the world goes into crisis, and those with the good news of Jesus Christ go, where? 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.039 Out, escape, get away. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:20.160 Or uh there's another point of view that says, well, you need to conform, you need to go with it, right? 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:33.200 You can look at the state churches in Europe, um, you know, where they have sort of official government churches, and what those things are there to do is just kind of like, you know, put on fancy services, but they're they do what they're told. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:35.839 Whatever the government says or whatever, whatever, right? 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.240 They they're not independent of that. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.680 They just kind of go along with whatever is required of them. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:50.000 They say, okay, um, you want us to you want us to um you know uh give up whatever doctrine we can, that's fine. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:52.400 You want us to give up the idea that there's one God. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.559 Oh, okay, sure, we can do that for you. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.720 We're we're happy to get funding. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:21:59.759 Um in in in our country, right. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:08.720 Now there's a lot of churches that are saying, well, whatever the progressives say, we'll do that, or whatever MAGA says, we'll just do that. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:14.480 Never mind if there's stuff in the Bible that militates against both of it, we're just gonna conform. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:22.559 So there's escape, there's conform, and then there's there's fight, you know, sort of an antagonistic stance towards the world. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.880 And if you know, these are the guys who are screaming outside of baseball games. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:35.519 Um, or when I was um when I was a young Christian, you know, there was people discipling me who said, Well, you can't listen to secular music. 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:41.599 No music that's that doesn't come from like a Christian record label or something like that. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:45.359 Or or even, you know, you can only work in Christian spaces. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:54.319 So if like your company isn't Christian-owned, you're you're being worldly, you're in the wrong relationship, you need to be antagonistic, you need to fight the world. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:59.519 But the thing is, all three of these they miss the assignment. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:01.680 They miss the assignment. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:03.839 What do I mean by miss the assignment? 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:18.319 So in the very early days of Grace and Peace, and this person hasn't been on, I doubt anyone remembers this person, I had uh someone assisting me with some of the executive things, because I am not good with details. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:33.279 And uh, you know, they would come in for like three hours a week or something like that, and I'd I'd I'd say, okay, can you enter this data, send this communication, you know, find duplicate profiles and you know, fix that, and then then update the events page. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:33.680 Right? 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:34.240 There you go. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:40.960 Three hours, that's good three hours of work, and you know, getting close to the end of three hours, say, okay, how's it going? 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:44.400 And he'd go, I made a flyer. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:49.039 Did you make a flyer? 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:50.799 You made a flyer, huh? 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:52.799 Okay, did you do any of those other things? 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:55.119 No, what things? 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:56.079 Right? 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.200 It's like completely missing the assignment. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:03.759 Doing something, but not the things that were assigned. 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:06.880 Jesus has given the church. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:08.960 It's not Carolyn, by the way. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:11.119 She is a rock star. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:14.880 And a pop star for that matter. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:19.359 Jesus has given the church an assignment. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:24.640 He has given the church the assignment of representing him in the world. 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:26.000 Look at verse 11. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:31.440 He said, I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you, holy Father. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:39.440 Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:43.920 So what when oh, and then in verse 21, also, this is really key. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.880 And this is looking ahead to next week's text a little bit. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:59.279 It says that they may all be one just 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 have sent me. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:05.920 Okay, so the assignment is to represent Jesus to the world. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:11.359 So when he says, keep them in your name, name doesn't just mean the words that refer to someone. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:15.519 In the Bible, name refers to the entire character, right? 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.960 Praise your name doesn't mean praise the word, it means praise God Himself. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:25.920 Okay, so keeping them in your name means keep them like you. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:29.759 Keep your people reflecting who you are. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:35.519 What in particular does Jesus point out as as the church reflecting? 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:39.680 It's the unity between the Father and the Son. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:46.559 That the unity of the church, I know, we'll talk about it next week, that the unity of the church would be a reflection of who God is. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:47.200 Why? 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.559 So that people in the world would believe. 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:59.119 The reason he has us in the world is to represent God to the world, that people would believe. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:04.559 And also, he is given the assignment of being set apart by the word. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:10.880 In verses 17 through 19, he says, Sanctify them in the truth. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:13.039 Your word is truth. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:23.519 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. 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:28.640 Now just notice these words, sanctified, consecrate, and sanctify. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:29.119 Okay? 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:33.519 These are all from the same word group that means holy. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:37.759 They are the verbal form of holy, to make something holy. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:38.240 Okay? 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:41.039 Jesus is saying, I have made myself holy. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:46.000 I have holied myself by obeying you, holy them by your word. 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:47.680 Now, what does holy mean? 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:49.359 It's a word we hear a lot. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:53.119 Holy has three definitions that are all complementary. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:56.799 One, it refers to God's unapproachable power. 00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:06.480 Two, it refers to God's moral purity, and three, it refers to something set apart for God's use. 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:12.319 Meaning it's special, it's set apart, it's distinct from all other things. 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:17.119 That's why there were dishes that were holy in the temple. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.400 They aren't the dishes that you just serve pot pie on or whatever. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:22.319 They're the dishes that are set apart. 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:23.440 Make sense? 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:26.880 He's saying, let your people be holy. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:27.359 How? 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:28.559 Set apart how? 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:29.920 Distinct how? 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:31.920 By the word. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:35.839 Set apart by the word. 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:47.440 That the defining characteristic of God's people in the world is that they hold to the word, that they are transformed by God's word. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:53.759 So when we look at these options of escape, conform, and fight, right? 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:58.880 Escape, like how are you representing who God is if you're gone? 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:01.599 If you're out of contact. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:09.519 If you simply conform, well, you're in the world, but there's no difference between the church and the world. 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:10.480 Right? 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:17.759 The Apostle Paul in Romans 12 says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:22.480 So being in the world and of the world is not the assignment either. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:27.200 And also fighting, it misrepresents who God is. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:31.680 God is not trying to fight the people who are opposed to him. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.680 He's trying to win them over. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:36.079 He's trying to bring them to himself. 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:43.680 So the correct and last option is that we would transform the world. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:53.440 That by being present in the world, by being, by representing God to the world and being set apart by the word, that we would see and seek transformation. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:29:03.680 That the church would be present throughout every profession, every strata of society, wherever we are, that we would show up and we would be distinct. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:10.559 That we would model, that people could experience the church and experience the character of God. 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:12.079 That's our purpose. 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:15.519 That is the church's assignment. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:19.039 But we made a flyer. 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:23.599 Jesus has given us an assignment. 00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:27.039 We need to let Jesus be Lord of the church. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:33.599 He owns the church, he has sent us into opposition, and he has given us this assignment. 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:36.960 We need to let him be Lord of the Church. 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:45.599 And when when we are just trying to take things into our own hands, we're grabbing onto something that just isn't our responsibility. 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:47.279 It just isn't our job. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:52.160 Have any of you guys ever driven with kids that know how to drive better than you? 00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:53.680 Because I have. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:01.839 I have for many years now, especially my older two who aren't here, so I'm going to talk about them. 00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:03.200 No, I'm kidding. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:04.400 But they're at college. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:05.599 I missed them. 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:09.759 But you know, kind of it was a it was a routine. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:14.079 I'm not gonna say which one said which, but this this is how it would go, right? 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:15.839 Especially when they were really little. 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:18.480 It'd be like, turn right here, dad. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:20.799 I'm like, it's a one way. 00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:22.400 Wrong way or one way. 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:23.440 Not gonna do that. 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:26.480 Or or go, it's your turn, and the light is red. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:30.000 Or um, or we're going in circles. 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:31.519 That was one I used to hear a lot. 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:33.680 We're going in circles. 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:37.759 I'm like, calm down, it's up here about a hundred feet on the right. 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:39.359 We're almost there. 00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:46.559 This isn't the way there, and you know, you just gotta take them aside and say, hush, child. 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:51.119 Hush, listen, you don't know what day it is. 00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:54.480 You don't know what city we're in. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:58.720 You don't know which pedal makes the car go forward. 00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:00.240 You don't. 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:00.880 Okay. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:07.279 In fact, if I did the things that you said to do, we'd all be dead. 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:11.279 Just let me drive. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:12.400 Right? 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:15.119 There's your job and my job. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:21.519 When so when we're when we again hear the counsel, well, the world is changing. 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:24.000 And it comes from a good place, right? 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:27.440 People want to see people receive the gospel, so do I. 00:31:28.079 --> 00:31:30.400 People want the church to survive, so do I. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:32.000 So does Jesus. 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:39.359 The thing is, is if the solution to the change in culture is that we change right along with it. 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:46.640 And we don't just change how we talk about it, but we change the message itself, we change the gospel itself, we are taking the wheel from Jesus. 00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:54.640 We need to let Jesus be Lord of the church because he owns the church, he has sent us into opposition, and he has given us an assignment. 00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:56.160 Please pray with me. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:14.480 Lord, that we would simply receive from your hand the task that you have given us, that we would be at peace, that we would trust you with your church, that we would let you be Lord of the church and ask what is it that you require of us? 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:18.160 We thank you, God, that you have included us among your people. 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:21.759 And pray, God, right now for your church. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:36.400 We pray that your hand would be on the churches in this city, that you would keep them faithful, that you would keep them in your name, that you would continue to grow the church, that you would continue to call a people to yourself. 00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:37.759 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:38.559 Amen.