by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.  During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.  I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.  And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth…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.  “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! John 17:6-19,21-24 NLT 

Our text, John 17:6-19, 21-24 raises posers for each of us to reflect upon.

1. Do you recognise and accept the presence of evil in this world? – I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil – verse 15b;
2. That there is purpose to your being here and living in this world at this time – I also sent them into the world (John 17:18b) – and as such that purpose can only be set by Him who called you and not the world;
3.  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world…That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me… I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. John 17:18, 21 and 23

a. Keeping His word sets me apart to His purpose

b. By living here in unity with like believers who obey and follow the Lord sets the standard by which the people of the world may know that Christ came also to save them.

Our detachment from the world while here is to be free of all sinful passions, living in the world without becoming like it. We must take care NOT to find our purpose and identity in the systems by which the world operates – 1 John 4:4,5; Romans 12:2. We can do this only by being detached in a godly way, not indifferent – 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 – but free from worldly thinking, not removed from the lives of others but grow rather to love them in the similitude of the passion of Christ expressed in John 3:16-18.

Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash