Not of this world

3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the One you sent to earth.

16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do.17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them Your word, which is truth.

21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in us so that the world will believe You sent me.

Main Point: See that Jesus prayed for and speaks to your identity.

We don’t see ourselves how others see us. This is a fact that becomes all the more apparent when you hear your voice recorded somewhere or see certain pictures of yourself. I remember the utter shock of hearing my voice on a message from an answering machine one time. I wondered why no one told me that I sounded like that or was so nasally lol. In my head, I thought I sounded like Barry White or some smooth R&B type cat. The truth of the matter is that we need other people to help bring our lives into better perspective. One major way this takes place in the life of a believer is having others pray for you and speak to your identity.

What greater example of this than Jesus Himself praying for us in John chapter 17? Jesus begins praying for His disciples, but then extends it to consider all believers/future disciples, including us in this modern day. Jesus starts of reiterating a point that has been made throughout our time in John, eternal life is significant and can only be attained through knowing Jesus. He then shares some key points regarding our identity, which will help us all to discover who we are. In verses 16 and 17, Jesus reminds us that we do not belong to this current world we live in and prays for us to be “sanctified”. Sanctify is not a common word we use these days, but literally means to purify, separate for a special purpose, make holy. Jesus prays for it to be clear to us that we are made holy only by the word, not by our own human efforts or striving, and that word is who He is. As we saw previously in chapter 14:6, Jesus is the truth, and John 17:17 makes a connection from that point to Jesus being the word. We are holy by belief in the truth that Jesus is God and came to die for our sins.

Jesus closes His prayer by making a call for us to be united as believers. He states that He desires for us to be one, just as Father God and Him are one. This is an easy statement to overlook, but truly supernatural at its core. The Father and Son are united in every way, completely bound by love, and you literally cannot tell when one stops and the other starts. There is no greater example of unity known to man. Jesus is praying for us, as believers in one church like One Shot, and among all believers the world over to be united in that same supernatural way. Jesus states that this calling will be the way that the world will come to believe in Him. What an amazing calling for us to participate in and way to belong!

Deeper Focus:

- Do you truly believe that Jesus prayed for you? How does reading that in chapter 17 make you feel?

- Let’s take some time today to be like Jesus and pray for someone else. Who could you pray for today?

- Jesus also prays for our sanctification. Are you struggling with feeling guilty/unholy? Pray for God to help you identify with what Jesus prayed for you.

- Unity is extremely significant amongst all believers and the church. How can you be “One” more during 2020? Let’s pray for One Shot Church and all churches/believers to be more unified, just as our savior Jesus did