Kept and Sanctified
GIST- Jesus prayed for us to be kept and sanctified.
Scripture- John 17:6-19 (Read in context of the entire prayer/all of Chapter 17)
1. Who is being prayed for?
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
I'm going to start a little out of order here. This verse is sort of the peg of Jesus' explanation about who He is now lifting up before the Father. Everything before and after this (from verse 6 through 11) rotates around this. So, let’s just break this down very quickly. First, He says He is praying for them. I’ll get English teachery for just a second a point out that pronouns, with very few exceptions, have antecedents (a word to which the pronoun refers, or that it renames). This is not one of those exceptions. "Them" refers back to the people He has just described in the previous verses (6-8). Specifically, His disciples. HOWEVER, we see in verse 20 (which we’ll tackle next week) that He does not “...ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,”. This means that He is praying for all believers here. INCREDIBLE. Christ is hours aways from His death, and He’s praying for us. That is humbling.
So, what is meant by “the world” here then? In John’s gospel, we’ve seen this word used frequently, and it refers to sin and those trapped in it. Thus, He is not praying for those who do not/will not believe, but rather for those who will. And will is the optimal word here because He says that He has been given those for whom He prays by the Father. We are His.
Ok, so let’s look at 6-8 to see first who is being prayed for. We will also see what He has already done for those.
6 "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
We don’t want to pull this out of context. Remember, He has just been speaking of His glory (the full revelation of His perfect character). Continuing with that thought, Jesus says that He has manifested (made apparent, or clear, or evident, or obvious) God’s name—His person. That is what Glory is all about. And, He has done this specifically to the people He has been given. Now, this doesn’t mean that He did not show Himself to the entire world—He did. However, He is speaking more specifically here because He is about to pray for a group of people, so He’s establishing who they are. His designation is awesome! (Note: John Gill’s commentary is especially helpful on this point.) He speaks particularly of a people to whom He most fully revealed Himself—those who believed and followed, those who the Father gave Him, those who the Father held. What a blessing this is.
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 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.
Here, He continues describing what has already been done. These know that Jesus is from God not because they are intellectual giants, but because He spoke to them. Why did they believe? Why do we? Because God’s Word is powerful. It penetrates. In it, that is in Him, alone is truth. Their belief, and ours, is inseparable from receiving the Word of God.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
We’ve already hit this first verse, but I wanted to show it in context. It is followed by verse 10 which repeats the claim that believers belong to God. We are His. I really want to meditate on this. Do I live like I’m His? Do I understand the implications of that statement?
Furthermore, He says that we are not only His, but that we glorify Him. He is glorified in us. How? We are to be showing the world God. When Jesus takes over our lives, we should allow Him to live through us that the world may 'see our good deeds and praise our Father in Heaven’ (Matthew 5:16).
11a And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
He is about to leave this sin filled place to be with the Father, but we are still here. His disciples then, too, would be staying behind. That is the context. These are the ones He is praying for. Look at what He prays, and remember, if you are a believer, this was prayed by Jesus for you.
2. What is being prayed?
A- Keep Them.
11b Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
Holy Father. This isn’t just an address. It is an acknowledgment. God the Father, the Holy, Perfect One, is being addressed. And He is asked to keep us. Albert Barnes has a helpful note on this statement of keeping us in His name:
“...It is literally “keep in thy name.” And if the term name be taken to denote God himself and his perfections (see the note at Joh 17:6), it means “keep in the knowledge of thyself. Preserve them in obedience to thee and to thy cause. Suffer them not to fall away from thee and to become apostates.”
And why? Why are we to be kept? This part is stunning. We are to be kept so that we can be one with Him. Like God the Father and God the Son are one…a perfect union that we cannot even begin to understand, so we are to be with them. Does this mean we are going to join or be absorb into the Trinity like in many Eastern thoughts? No, but we are to enjoy their fellowship nonetheless. That’s incredible, and I must admit I do not fully appreciate that love as I should.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Jesus protected His disciples and kept them following the truth—because they followed Him. None fell away, except Judas, so that the prophesied betrayal would occur.
And again, He says that these things are being said so that we would have His joy. Knowing His love for us should fill us with joy.
14 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. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
I feel like this passage is very telling about the heart of God. Jesus clearly understands, more than we do, the seriousness and danger of being a true believer in a lost world. Yet, He does not ask that we be taken out of this hardship, but rather kept, in the midst of evil, from evil. We were never intended to retreat, but to shine in darkness. Christians should be present in all wholesome walks of life. While we should not go into places or positions that are by nature sinful (I.e. Don't become a "Stripper for Jesus" or watch dirty movies to be more "in tune with the culture"), we should live in the world instead of isolatating ourselves from it. There should be Christian artist, politicians, businessmen, homemakers, educators, laborers...etc. We are not to be conformed to the world, but transformed by God while in the world He's sent us to (vs18).
B- Sanctify Them.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Sanctify. Set apart. Make holy. How? By the truth? What is truth? God’s Word. It is through His Word, through Him, that we are made like Him, and, thus, set apart. For us, this is a lifelong process- the continual molding of God.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
He followed God’s mission; we are to do likewise.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
For us, He gave Himself fully to God’s purpose—our salvation by His death—that we might be likewise fully given to God’s purpose.
Final Application:
Last week, we talked about how Jesus desires for us to know Him. Thus, we should know that desire in us (to know Him) will be satisfied. Likewise, He desires that we be kept in God and sanctified by His Word. Thus, if we ask the same in His name, we can expect Him to answer. This world is hard. It is easier to fall into its way—not to be kept, not to be sanctified. BUT, we are not doing this by our own strength. Seek Him. He will keep you. He will change you.
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