Called For The World's Belief
We are still dealing with the effects of an ex-President who specialized in misleading his followers and attacking his dissenters. That pattern created an environment of distrust and division. As a result, in this country, there are too many of us lost down the rabbit hole of lies and alternative "facts". Too many people don't know the truth and don't believe the truth, and that is a dangerous thing. In our lesson this week (John 17:14-24) Jesus prays for His disciples to help a world believe the truth about Him and be saved. I pray that God will give all of us wisdom in our daily lives to help ourselves and others to believe on our Lord...The way, the truth and the life.
I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. (John 17:14-19) Jesus was sending the disciples out into the world, even as He was leaving them. Before doing so, He prayed for them to be given the same power and protection in this world that the Father had given Him. Because the world hated Him, it would also hate them, but He didn't ask them to be taken out of the world. He prayed that the Father would keep them in the world and sanctify (set apart; purify) them with the truth, for the work that He had assigned to them to do. The Lord is sanctifying you with the truth of His word for the work He has called you to do in this world.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21) Not only did Jesus pray for His disciples, He also prayed for the success in their calling, to bring others into belief in Him through their message. And having believed, that they would all then be one, unified in the Lord through love and obedience. The example Jesus gave for the unity He desired for believers, is His relationship with the Father. The Lord has prayed for the unity of His church, in Him through love and obedience. And His prayer is also for our success in reaching others for God's kingdom in spite of the opposition of the enemy.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:22-24) Jesus wants believers unified in Him so the world knows that He was sent by the Father out of the Father's love for us. Ultimately, He wants us all to be with Him in heaven and share in the glory that the Father has given Him. Unity is not uniformity. We bring our unique gifts together in unity for the collective cause that Christ has called us to.
America was transported this week from the darkness at the brink of insurrection into a marvelous light, by a young woman named Amanda Gorman. The 22 year old "skinny black girl", the first national youth poet laureate, LA raised and Harvard trained, stepped up to the mic and delivered a soaring call to unity for this nation. Her poem, "The Hill We Climb" was a tremendous success by any measure and evoked the creativity and inspiration of ancestors like Maya Angelou and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. With the world's eyes on us, she reminded us that we will prevail only in unity. Likewise, Jesus' prayer for us is that we would prevail in the calling He placed on us as believers by being in unity with Him. Then and only then, will we successfully show the world the love of the Father, who sent His only begotten Son, so that all who believed on Him, would be saved.
I'll see you in Sunday School!
Blessings
