David Bahn – Reflections

John 17:15-19

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. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Much of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer is for the sake of the disciples – these verses being from that portion of his prayer. It is instructive to me that the Holy Spirit moved John to record Jesus’ prayer. It is quite remarkable that we are able to listen in on Jesus’ prayer. It is not, therefore, a prayer alone; it is also instructive and insightful into Jesus’ heart for God and for his disciples.

Here we learn that Jesus has a future in mind for his disciples that involves their continued ministry in the world. They are to be in the world but not of the world. They are to engage the world and in doing so they will encounter the evil one, so Jesus prays for their protection from the evil one. They will encounter all kinds of people who live apart from the truth, so Jesus prays that they would be set apart and protected by the truth.

Perhaps we need to consider just how we encounter the world today. Do we recognize the dangers there? Do we see it as a place into which we are to be sent? Do we acknowledge that while we make our way through the world, we are not to be shaped by it or have our values set by it.

Our values have been set by the One who was sent into the world, One who held to the truth at all costs, and who held grace and truth in perfect balance. As we encounter the world to day we are to be his representatives, seeking his kingdom’s purposes.

John 17:6-19

“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. ⁷Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸For 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. ⁹I 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. ¹¹And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.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. ¹³But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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. ¹⁵I 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. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.