John 17:6-19 - Sent Into The World
Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien
December 10, 2023
INTRO
Good morning! We are continuing in John 17 this morning, looking ahead in this season of Advent to the coming of Christ as we celebrate the incarnation at Christmas. This is the dawning of God’s redemptive work through Jesus, which culminates at the cross and the resurrection.
If you’re just joining us, we have seen recently in the gospel of John that Jesus has been speaking to his disciples about what they should expect after he ascends to heaven. Here in John 17, Jesus prays that his disciples would be set apart for God’s purposes and protected from the schemes of the evil one as they step in faith into a new era of the church and the mission to spread the gospel.
ILLUST — There is a pastor and theologian named Eugene Peterson who wrote a book more than 40 years ago with a thought-provoking title that has stuck in my mind since I first read it. The title of the book is A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society.
“A long obedience in the same direction” — This phrase has echoed in my mind for years and has slowly re-shaped my picture of the longevity and perseverance that is required for the Christian life.
Just like these first disciples in the Upper Room who were about to be sent by Jesus into a lost and broken world, Eugene Peterson says that each succeeding generation has to deal with unique joys and challenges as we are sent by Christ into the world.
Friends, there are certainly unique challenges as we follow Christ in our generation!
Peterson’s words from 40 years ago still ring true. He said, “One aspect of the world I have been able to identify as harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once,” He says that Christians have become impatient for results, adopting a lifestyle of a tourist who only wants the high points, and they treat their church like a tour guide.
But what if we changed our perspective? What if we stood as a contrast to the world of instant gratification and instant results and instead embodied a long obedience in the same direction, a persistent and faithful walk with the Lord, knowing that God is not in a hurry to bear fruit in us, but that he will prune and cultivate our hearts and our lives for his glory.
Here’s what we are going to see in our passage this morning:
There is a word-play that is happening here using the concept of “persistence”. The word “keep” or “protect” is repeated throughout this prayer of Jesus for his disciples, and it illuminates an important theological reality about being part of the mission of God in a hostile world and about walking in a “long obedience in the same direction.”
Open your Bibles with me to John 17:6-19. Let’s read our text: READ John 17:6-19.
ORG SENT — There are two imperatives, two specific requests, that Jesus prays in these verses. The first is in verse 11 where Jesus says, “Holy Father, protect them.” The second is in verse 17 where Jesus says, “Sanctify them.” We will use these two central requests that form the heart of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in order to help us understand what it means to have a long obedience in the same direction as we join in the mission of God.
MAIN 1 — Protect Them (v. 11). (SLIDE 2a)
Go to verse 6. The NIV has a footnote on the word “you”, and if you look at the bottom of the page in your Bible, you’ll see that the original Greek actually says “your name.” (SLIDE 2b) Jesus prays, “I have revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.”
This is important to know, because the concept of the “name” of God comes up later in the passage. In fact, this is deliberate and intentional. There is an interplay here with the notion that Jesus reveals the name of God, and that later in verses 11 and 12 when Jesus prays that they would be protected by the power of the name.
Now, let’s stop for a moment. What is the significance of this? Why focus so much on the name of God? Why talk about revealing a name and having power in a name?
In ancient near-eastern cultures, it was believed that there was mystical or spiritual power in the invoking of the name of a deity or idol. It was also believed that the name of a king or a royal family had authority and was sacred. It was common for people to think that certain names had mysterious power.
But even more fundamental than that, when we look at the Bible’s account of history, it is clear that when the name of the True and Living God is invoked, it reveals that the God has infinitely more powerful and infinitely more worthy of worship than any other power. There truly is power in the name of God, not because the utterance of language per se is the source of power, but because invoking God’s name is derivative from God himself.
Before we get deeper into this concept of the “name”, I want you to notice a few things about who the name is revealed to. Pick it up in verse 6. READ vv. 6-10.
There is a strong emphasis on the unity and oneness of the Father and the Son. Jesus reveals the Father, the Father gives to the Son, the Son receives from the Father and in-turn speaks the Father’s words and brings about obedience to the Father, thus bringing what belongs to the Father back to him. There is a sense of the unified work of God to bringing these specific 12 disciples to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as truly the Messiah.
And what is true of them is also true of us as disciples of Jesus Christ: You belong to God. (SLIDE 2c) This is a most profound truth. When you become a Christian, you are no longer the king or queen of your own life. You must die to self and take up your cross and follow Jesus, the true King of your life! You can let go of selfish control of your life, He will redeem and preserve you!
ILLUST — It reminds me of the opening lines of the Heidelberg Catechism: (SLIDE 3 and 4) “What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; Indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Jesus Christ, by his Holy Spirit he assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
Friends, you need to know this: (SLIDE 5a) A long obedience in the same direction must start with the realization that you are not your own. Rather, you must realize that you belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to Jesus Christ. Obedience begins with surrender and trust, realizing that you need to get off the throne of your life.
You see, I want you to notice some important words in our text in John 17 that I mentioned earlier would be repeating throughout this passage.
Verses 6-8 describes the 12 disciples as those whom have “obeyed God’s word” and “know that everything comes from God” and have “accepted” the words of Jesus and “believe” that Jesus is sent from the Father. Taken together, these are words of surrender and trust. And yet the dominant word is the word “obey”. This particular word in verse 6 is often translated as “keep”. (SLIDE 5b)
Frequently in the Bible, this notion of “keeping” God’s word means to “persist” in walking according to God’s ways. It is exactly this sense of a “long obedience in the same direction.”
It doesn’t mean these disciples have been perfect, far from it! They have stumbled around and misunderstood and doubted and tried to understand to the best of their ability. But Jesus says here in John 17 that they persisted in sticking with him.
Here’s where the play-on-words comes in. The very same word, “keep,” is used in verse 11 when Jesus says, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name.”
This word “protect” is the same word “keep”, but here Jesus gives a different emphasis. (SLIDE 5c) Here is means “guard” or “preserve” or “keep unharmed”.
KEY: There is a deliberate connection or layering here. The disciples have persisted in walking with surrender and trust. But have they really done this on their own strength? When you think more deeply about it, who is the ultimate source of their persistence, who is the ultimate protector and preserver, who is the ultimate one who guards and guides the disciples in their long obedience in the same direction? It is God himself! He is the ultimate persister, the one who ensures we will be preserved until the end. We simply walk by faith, with hands open to receive and heart softened to call upon him for provision and protection.
This is where we get back to the notion of the “name” of God. Jesus prays in verse 11 that the Father would protect or keep the disciples (SLIDE 5d) “by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” This is a culmination of a trajectory in the Bible of God’s people calling upon his name:
Genesis 4 — In the first generations after the entrance of sin into the world, we see a new phrase, “At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.”
Genesis 12 — After Abraham received God’s redemptive promises, he set up an altar at Bethel and “called on the name of the LORD.”
Genesis 26 — Isaac later confirms the promise of God to his father Abraham, and he built an altar and “called on the name of the LORD.”
1 Kings 18 — When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal, they called on the name of their gods and nothing happened, but when Elijah called on the name of the LORD, God rained down fire on the altars to prove that He alone is God.
Psalm 116 — The Psalmist cried out to the name of the LORD in distress and sorrow, and the LORD graciously brought salvation and protection.
Jeremiah 3 — Jeremiah prophesied of a day when the faithless will return and “they will call on the name of the LORD” as all nations gather to honor God.
Joel 2 — The prophet Joel also looked ahead to a day when there will be an outpouring of the Spirit of God when “everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”
And now this is fulfilled in Jesus Christ! Apostle Paul draws on this very passage from Joel when he writes in Romans 10:9-13 — (SLIDE 6) “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Paul goes on to say that Jesus is “Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
You see, what we’ve seen in the gospel of John is that Jesus reveals the Father to us, he speaks the very words of God, he is the fullness of deity in bodily form, and his name is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow! In other words, when we understand the biblical trajectory in its fullness, (SLIDE 7a) to call on the name of the LORD in the post-incarnation and post-cross and post-resurrection reality is to call on the name of Jesus! There is power in his name!
APPLY — Friends, (SLIDE 7b) the only preserving and protecting power worth trusting is God’s power through his Son Jesus Christ. The text is clear here: When we know Jesus, we don’t belong here anymore. God is preserving us for his Kingdom and for his glory. And yet we will still find ourselves in difficult situations, we will experience failures in this life, and we will frequently encounter opposition in our long obedience in the same direction.
What is the result? (SLIDE 7c) There is joy in these truths. Remember, Jesus is praying these things over his disciples right before he goes to the cross. Yet he says in verse 13 that he wants the full measure of his joy to be with his disciples. Full measure! Not a little joy; a LOT of joy!
ILLUST — I’ve said this before: We need a joy that does not come from circumstances. If our joy came from circumstances, then Jesus would have prayed that we would be taken out of the world so we wouldn’t have to experience difficulty or opposition. But rather, he prays this: READ vv. 15-19.
This is where we see the source of joy, and where we see the second request of Jesus.
MAIN 2 — Sanctify Them (v. 17). (SLIDE 8a)
Let me cut to the chase here: (SLIDE 8b) Our joy comes from a realization that God has set us apart for his purposes and for his glory. Realizing I am not my own is a source of profound joy!
This word “sanctify” is where we get the word “holy.” We often see this word “sanctify” when we talk about God’s redemptive work in our hearts to make us holy in his sight by forgiving our sins through Christ.
But in this context, this word means to (SLIDE 8c) “set apart for God’s holy purposes.” It has a sense of mission, a sense of action, a sense of outward focus as we are sent into the world, just as Jesus was sent into the world.
In other words, (SLIDE 8d) to be sanctified for God’s holy purposes is to join in the mission of God to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom across our local community and across the globe. This sanctifying is founded on the truth of God’s Word, as Jesus says so clearly in verse 17. The mission of God is the proclamation of the gospel so that more people become disciples of Jesus Christ.
Remember, these 12 disciples sitting here listening to Jesus’ prayer are going to be sent in a matter of weeks to go to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth to tell others about the risen Christ. We know from the book of Acts that they have been set apart, sanctified, for a holy purpose: To be gospel witnesses as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission.
They are not removed from the world, but in fact have a special purpose for being in the world: to be salt and light, to be ambassadors of another kingdom, to be witnesses in word and deed to the fact that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
And while they embark on this holy task, God will protect them, he will preserve them, he will keep them to the end.
(SLIDE 9, blank) APPLY: Friends, do you want know the full measure of the joy of Jesus? True joy comes from experiencing the preserving and protecting power of God while being used for his holy purposes to advance the mission of his Kingdom in this broken world.
As God gives you strength to face a relational conflict with grace and patience, you will find joy growing in your heart.
As God gives you encouraging words to say to a friend who is depressed, you will find joy growing in your heart.
As God uses you to speak truth into a situation where there are confusion or lies, you will find joy growing in your heart.
As God helps you endure suffering or persecution with real hope and trust, you will find joy growing in your heart.
And as God reveals the full extent of Christ’s love for you, that even while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you, and as you share that with others, joy will grow in your heart.
In all these ways and more, as God places us in our families, neighborhoods, and workplaces for his holy purposes, even if they are difficult and even if they cause us to suffer for the name of Jesus, may we never lose the joy of knowing that we are protected and preserved by the power of the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ.