John 17:14 – Jesus continues this prayer: “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. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world but You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world, sanctify them by your truth, Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
You see, we are sent, we have a job to do, we are on a mission from God. A rescue operation. The church is not to become a “bless me” club. It is not a place where we come, feel good, and get pampered. Though I think we should feel good when we gather together with God’s people. And God does love to lavish His grace upon us. But we exist in this world not just to radiate the glory of God, not just to reveal His truth, but also to rescue His enemies. Those who are at enmity with God because of their sin.
Somebody once said that church is the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non members. Jesus even taught His disciples not to focus on themselves. He said, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! (John 4:34-36). In other words, they are ready to be picked, they are ready to be rescued. But so often churches turn inward rather than outward. It becomes all about us rather than the needy world. Jesus says to His disciples, “Go into all the world..” We have sort of changed that mandate into “come” rather than going out to them.
I believe that there is a healthy pattern of Christian growth, that is: saved, serving, sent. We get saved, we are excited, we enjoy the benefits of salvation, it’s great to get into the word, it’s great to meet new people, discover all the love that God has for us and what He is going to do for us. But after a while, after having somebody feed us all the time, we now want to discover our gifts and get involved in our local church and serve in some capacity,
we want to give out.
But then there is another element to that. We see the world around us and we realize that they need the family too, they need to belong as well, they need salvation and that takes us out because we discover that our Father has a bigger plan than just for us. One author put it this way, “Christian maturity is being a responsible sons or daughters of God. I think the mature Christians are people who stop being concerned about their own needs and have entered into the global vision of their Father so that they transform a hurting world to accomplish the aim of the Lord’s prayer, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. It is like a son who is being brought into the family business. Instead of racing fast cars and running around with girls, he finally buckles down and says: Dad, I’m a part of it now, it’s my business too and I’m going to work hard and undertake the burden of this work.”
So the church is called to rescue the enemies of God. “Father as You sent me into the world, I sent them into the world”. How do we do it? How do we go about rescuing people who are at odds with God? There are three ways in this chapter:
1. By knowing something
2. By growing in something
3. and then by going.
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