Defining Realities of the Church
John 17:14–23,
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. 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. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 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. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Last week, I said that John 17 is one of the most amazing chapters in all the Bible (because the whole thing is a prayer that Jesus prays for us). And I just wanna start this week by saying that I’m in no hurry to be done with it. We’re gonna eventually get to Chapter 18, but for the next two weeks we’re gonna stay in Chapter 17, and today I want us to pay special attention to how Jesus talks about us — There is so much in this prayer that we learn about Jesus and about his relationship to the Father, and it’s as deep as it gets! It’s glorious!
But also, as we’re listening in on this prayer, we hear Jesus say some important things about us as his people.
And he doesn’t just say random facts, but they’re more like defining realities of who we are as the church — and they’re defining realities that Jesus gives us in direct connection to himself. We can see that grammatically each time Jesus uses the word “as” or “just as.”
He says three different times about us: “They are this, JUST AS I am this.” Or “AS this is true of me, this is true of them.”
He names three defining realities this way, and I’ll go ahead and tell you what they are. He says:
We are separated.
We are sent.
We are one.
We’re gonna look at each of these. Let’s start with the first.
1. We are separated (verses 14–17).
Look again at verse 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.
We all just heard that. It’s straightforward. Jesus says: “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” And he says it twice, in verses 14 and 16! Which means there’s an emphasis.
If Jesus is our teacher (and he is), and if this prayer is meant to teach us (and it is), then Jesus wants us know about our relationship to the world: We are not of it.
Every Christian must agree with that in principle, because Jesus says it. In basic terms, we as Christians, the church, we have a negative relationship to the world. This same idea is repeated all throughout the New Testament — Pauls says in Romans 12:1, “Do not be conformed to this world…” James says in James 4:4, “Friendship with world is enmity with God…” John says in 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
What Is the ‘World’?
These are strong statements, and clear statements — we just have to make sure we understand the meaning of “world.”
When Jesus says “world,” what’s he talking about?
The best way to think about the meaning of “world” is to think of it as the realm of human values, ideas, and effort that, because of sin, is in active rebellion against God.
The biblical image for the world is Babylon. Or it’s what Augustine calls simply the City of Man. Or another way we sometimes talk about the idea of the world is with the word “culture.”
In fact, back in 1951, theologian Richard Niebuhr wrote a famous book called Christ and Culture — in it he described different approaches the church has historically taken toward culture. But when he defined culture, he defined it as “what the New Testament writers frequently had in mind when they spoke of ‘the world’…”
In the New Testament, the world is not the earth; it’s not a globe; it’s not a bunch of individual people — but it’s a realm. It’s a realm of values, ideas, and effort.
And it’s a realm that Christians are NOT OF — Jesus tells us.
But why are we not of the world?
Called Out and Set Apart
We’re not of the world because, as we saw last week in verse 6, the Father has called us out of the world and he has given us to the Son, who is not of this world. So we now belong to Jesus who is not of this world. That’s how God has separated us from the world.
We belong to Jesus and Jesus has given us his word.
And that is what makes us different! It’s verse 17:
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
We are set apart by the truth: we have the gospel! We have the true revelation of God! We have eternal life! The world does not have this, and in fact, it’s because we have it that the world hates us. That’s verse 14.
And Jesus has already told us this. In Chapter 15, verse 18, he says:
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
Look, I don’t know how Jesus could be more clear.
Christian, you are not of the world … because God has separated you from the world … and the world hates you.
That is what’s going on outside here with these people who line up on Sundays. These people are against you; they do not seek your good; they do not want us here. They’re full of hate. And we’re gonna be okay. Because they’re just proving what Jesus has already taught us.
If we’re paying attention to the New Testament, we should not be surprised by this. The world hates us. Jesus says that. And yet, I’m a little concerned that when we hear this kind of message we can instantly write it off and give it a name like Fundamentalism. We can think: Just relax. You’re overdoing it.
But how dare we think such a thing when our Savior is so clear. Jesus tells us we have a negative relationship to the world in that we are not of the world and the world hates us. We must listen to him. Understand what Jesus is telling us about who we are, and he starts by saying we are separated from the world. We start here.
But then … a second defining reality:
2. We are sent (verse 18).
This is verse 18:
“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
Jesus already said in verse 15 that although we are not of the world, he is not asking the Father to take us out of the world. We’re still in this realm, because Jesus wants that for now. And in verse 18 Jesus says more.
He says: We’re not just here, but he has sent us here. So get this: If you are a Christian in this world, you’re here because Jesus has sent you here. You’re not of the world, but you’ve been sent into the world.
This is the phrase: Not of, but sent into.
Life-Changing Rephrase
For me, personally, that phrase has changed my life. I mean that. True story…
Before I proposed to Melissa, we were in North Carolina, and I told her we were gonna move to Minneapolis for two years. It was gonna be two years for a pastoral training program, and then seminary somewhere else, and then wherever God calls us. That was eighteen years ago.
And under God, one of the big reasons we sensed him calling us here was David and Megan Mathis. Years ago I worked with David at Desiring God, and we did some writing together, and I remember one day David had this idea for a blog series (y’all remember blogs?).
This was gonna be a blog series on the church’s mission, and David’s first article to launch the series was titled “Getting the Accent Right: ‘Not Of, But Sent Into.’”
Have any of y’all ever heard the saying that Christians are “in the world, but not of the world” — in, but not of.
Well, David thought it was inaccurate with what Jesus says in John 17.
So he had this idea: he said let’s change the phrase! Let’s reinvent this popular saying! (David was just 30 back then). He said: instead of saying in, but not of, let’s change it to say not of, but sent into — “not of the world, but sent into the world.”
That’s the new way to say it! We were gonna change the Evangelical church in America!
I don’t know if y’all have ever read David’s article or heard his rephrase, but since that day I have never thought of John 17:18 any other way.
We are not of, but sent into. That’s what Jesus says! That’s why I’m here. That’s why we’re here. Jesus has sent us into this world — and sent us how? Sent us with what?
Sent with What?
Well, Jesus says he has sent us just as the Father has sent him. There is a sameness in our sending. Now we shouldn’t misunderstand the sameness: the Son does what only the Son can do! Only the Son can truly save! But the sameness is seen in our message. Jesus came here to reveal God and redeem people to God. That was his mission, and he now sends us here as part of that mission, to tell of what he did. The Father sent Jesus here to accomplish the gospel. Jesus now sends us here to tell that gospel.
Not of the world, but sent into the world with the gospel.
That’s who we are, church! We are sent — and sent for this purpose.
It is the gospel that makes us unique and different from everything else in the world.
There are lots of other good things a local church might do in a city, but Jesus sets us apart by the gospel. That’s what he says in verse 19. We have been “sanctified in truth” — another word for sanctified is consecrated.
Jesus has consecrated us for the mission of offering life and light to a dead and dark world by pointing to him.
He has sent us here to witness to the surprising love of God — that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
This is the message we carry in our commission to Go and make disciples.
We Must Be About the Gospel
Please understand: this is not optional. Churches don’t get to choose whether they’re involved in this mission or not. To be a church is to have this mission — to be not of, but sent into the world with the gospel.
The stakes could not be higher.
If you know our church, you know that we’re not a ‘political church’ (in terms of what most people mean by that). But instead, we’re all about the gospel. And listen: we must be that. Because here’s the thing: if a church is withdrawn from politics and culture wars because they’re all about the gospel, but then they don’t really go share the gospel, they might as well just be Amish. … I meant that. Because Amish (or Mennonite communities and others like them) are built on a theological approach to the world that is extreme separation. This approach understands the “not of” part in John 17; they’re missing the “sent into” part.
But see, we understand the sent into part. We just need to keep being clear on why we’re sent into the world.
It’s not mainly so that we get to dress the way we do … or cheer on our favorite sports team or drive our vehicles or watch our shows or use our phones … if those are the only reasons we’re not like the Amish, we’re doing it wrong.
Jesus sent us into the world with the gospel! We are here to make him known to everyone who is willing to listen! That is why we are sent. We are separated from the world, yes — and we are sent into the world with the gospel. This a defining reality of who we are.
Now, the third defining reality Jesus gives us …
3. We are one (verses 19–23).
And I want you to hear this again in verses 20–23:
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 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.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
It’s easy to pick up a theme in these verses. The idea of oneness is mentioned four times. And the word we use for this is unity — which is really important. We need to think carefully about it. Two things to consider:
What kind of unity is Jesus talking about?
What is the unity for?
What Kind of Unity?
One thing that the 21st century has in common with the First Century is that our societies both have its own concept of unity. Remember that Jesus is speaking all of this in a Greco-Roman world, and they valued unity. It was a value then kinda like it is today. And you know what I mean.
“Unity” is a buzz word. It’s the kind of word that the NFL might put on their helmets, or make all the coaches to wear a shirt that says “Unity.” We’ve seen this before. And at first glance, we might think: Well this is great! Jesus obviously values unity, and our world values unity, so see the world can’t be that bad. The world has a biblical value.
And that is possible! Over time, Christian values can (and should) influence and transform the values of society (that would be good for society). But just because the same word is used doesn’t mean it’s the same value — the devil is in the details, literally.
And the details of worldly unity is that it’s really about coercive ideological uniformity. Worldly unity is a forced sameness of thought that’s engineered and held in check by social threats.
I remember one time another pastor blamed me as being against broader church unity because I believe what the Bible says about sexuality. He was basically saying I’m against unity because I was unwilling to defy the word of God — but does that mean I’m against unity? … No, I’m against worldly unity.
That’s not what Jesus is talking about, and he understands it exists. He knows he’s in the world. He gets his context. So when Jesus describes unity, he’s clear that it’s unity from him and to him.
The oneness he’s talking about is not so much our oneness with each other, but our oneness with him. Our unity is not a Babel-like ground-up operation. It’s a heaven-sent miracle experienced in our fellowship with the Trinity.
That’s the kind of unity Jesus means — “unity controlled by, defined by, and shared by the unity of the Father and the Son” (Klink, 724).
And it’s unity with a purpose.
What Is the Unity For?
Jesus tells us this twice, in verse 21 and 23:
In verse 21, Jesus asks for the Father to make us one “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” In verse 23, it’s “so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
These verses are saying the same thing. The purpose of our unity is so that the world would see it and know Jesus — so that the world would know that God loves his people … and that those of the world can become his people through faith in Jesus.
People of the world become not of the world when they trust in Jesus.
They’re called out of the world, separated by God, and then Jesus sends us into the world with the gospel. And we do it together with him, filled by his Spirit, welcomed into his fellowship.
Church, this is who we are. Separated, sent, one.
And my prayer is that in these days we would not shrink back from these defining realities, but that we would embrace them anew. That we would not only endure, but that we would advance.
His word shall not fail you, he promised
Believe him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying
His perfect salvation to tell.
That’s what brings us to the Table.
The Table
As we take the bread and the cup, we remember the death of Jesus for us, and we remember who he has made us to be. He has saved us and given us a mission. Grace upon grace.
If you’re a Christian, if you trust in Jesus Christ, we invite you to eat and drink with us and give him thanks!
