The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord Is Upon You!

John 17: 14-18 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.

In the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John, we see Jesus praying to the Father on behalf of His disciples. In a very personal and poignant moment we see Christ earnestly interceding as we ought to for those who we hold dear in this life. Our key verses today come from the closing of this prayer and reveal some important facts we need to remember as we advance in our walk with God.

Verse 14 states that Christ has given us His Word and that the world has hated us for it. While this prayer was specifically for the disciples the principle holds true for us today as well. As Christians we are not supposed to be of this world anymore. Sometimes during our walk, we can lose sight of the fact that we are in a battle. There is the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of this world:

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. - 2Corinthians 4: 4 (NLT)

It can often become too easy to go to extremes as Christians. We can decide that because the world is so evil, we can have nothing to do with it. We create a Christian bubble to live in. We send our kids to Christian schools, we shop at Christian stores, our mechanic is Christian, our accountant is Christian we walk through this life holding the key to salvation around our neck and never bother to show anyone! This verse from Second Corinthians shows us that the enemy has blinded the minds of those in the world. They do not understand the Gospel:

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1Corinthians 2: 14 (NIV)

To people in the Kingdom of this world, the things of God are foolishness to them. It never ceases to amaze me when Christians become so offended when the world behaves as the world tends to behave. They are walking in complete darkness beloved. Yet light always can penetrate darkness, as Jesus taught:

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9: 5 (NIV)

While Jesus walked the earth He was the light piercing into the darkness of the world. He healed those that no one would dare go near. He broke bread with those the religious experts would typically shun. Because ultimately, you cannot be a light to the world if you are not somehow in the world.

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5: 14-16 (NIV)

Note that here Jesus now teaches that we are the light of the world. Once Jesus goes to the right hand of the Father, the light has now passed to us, as His followers, to be the light piercing into the darkness of this world. When we place ourselves into a Christian bubble however, we extinguish that light. We take the lighted lamp and place it under a bowl where no one can see. The world is desperately seeking beloved. They are desperately seeking a reason to believe and you and the light of Christ within you may be the only light they ever see.

The other extreme Christians can fall prey to is to be so far into the world that they are actually part of it. They key verses clearly state that we are no longer of the world yet in verse 15 we see that Jesus prayer is NOT for God to take us out of the world. Jesus realizes that we need to be in the world if we are to positively affect the world. Instead, Jesus prays that God would provide us with protection from the ruler of the world, Satan. And protection we do need. The world lures us away from God. The world contaminates and poisons our thinking and our faith if we are not careful. Too often we can see well intended Christians start to make compromises in their lives. A little sin here, a little concession there. We can hide behind poor theology like "God knows my heart" as a way to excuse what we know we should not be doing. Paul exhorts us in Romans:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12: 2 (NIV)

And that is the tight rope we walk as Christians. We need to be in the world but not of it. We need to penetrate the darkness with the light of Christ that dwells within us but not allow the darkness to penetrate our lives. We need to renew our minds without allowing ourselves to conform to the pattern or thinking of the world. Why the focus on the mind? Because that is where the attack starts; that is where the sin starts.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2Corinthians 10: 3-5 (NIV)

The struggle is always within our minds and our thought process. Sin starts as a thought, or an idea. It is presented in our mind as something to consider. Our weapons in this struggle however are not as the world would envision them. They have divine power which means they are from God Almighty! The divine power they possess is to demolish strongholds. A stronghold is a line of thinking that runs contrary to what God has already said. But look here how the battle is broken down by Paul. We need to demolish every argument or pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. A pretension is a fancy word for a lie. So the battle is between what God has said and what the world is saying to us; what the enemy wants us to believe. Thoughts that are in disagreement or disobedience to Christ must be made captive until such time that they are corrected to the truth. Remember, it is the Kingdom of God against the Kingdom of the world, who is led by the devil. And this is what we know about the nature of the ruler of this world:

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 (NIV)

There is no truth in the world and the lies the devil wants us to believe. But we have been sanctified by God. That means we are set apart for Him. The key verse reminds us that this sanctification is accomplished through us knowing the truth the truth of God's Word. Think about that for a moment. We are set apart for God but only because we know the truth. We see the darkness for what it is in our lives. The things of God are no longer foolishness to us! But we must hold fast to what we have learned:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8: 31-32 (NIV)

The truth shall set you free from what? From the lies of the enemy. We become sanctified by knowing the truth so that when the enemy whispers a lie into our ears we can respond with the truth of the Word of God; thus taking that pretension or argument captive, and making it obedient to Christ. THAT is where the freedom is. Before we came to the saving grace of Jesus Christ we too were bound in the world and held captive by the lies that it sells. That these mere 80 years or so we get on earth is all there is to life. That we may as well live for the present because there is no future. Lies about lifestyle choices. Lies about sin choices. Lies about our very existence. But for every lie the enemy tries to get us to believe, there is a verse in God's Word that assures us he is lying. The only question is who we believe. When we are in the world, the things of God, such as His Word, are foolishness so we believe the world. When we are sanctified we are set apart by the very truth we need to combat the lies of this world - our faith is in God.

But let us never lose sight of the last verse from our key verses today. The reason for the sanctification. The reason why we are in the world, yet not of it. Unfortunately, Christianity can sometimes become like a social club. Us four and no more. That is the danger of creating the Christian bubble. What if you had the key to salvation for the lost people in your life? What if you had map to direct people out from the pit of hell and into the glorious everlasting life provided by God? Take a good look around the next time you are on the bus or train. What if you had the answer to the misery of the lives you see before you?

Then realize that you do. You have the key. You own the map. You are the answer. Christ in you is the answer! Jesus could have simply prayed that God removed us from the world. But the point is not me or you. We have already been saved by the blood of Jesus. The point is the world beloved. God so loved the world that He sent His only Son.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2Peter 3: 9 (NIV)

The Lord does not want any to perish, none. His desire is to see everyone come to repentance. Our key verses remind us that as God sent Christ into the world so He now sends us into the world as well. When He first started His ministry Jesus read from the Prophet Isaiah in the synagogue:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4: 18-21 (NIV)

This was the role Christ had while here on earth and it is the role He has now passed on to us. We are to proclaim the good news to a world that so desperately needs it. They are prisoners as we once were and we have the key to their freedom. They are blinded by the ruler of the world but we have the balm they need to have their sight restored. They are oppressed and shackled by the world and the lies that it sells but we can set them free. Not by anything we can do personally but by who lives in us! The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is now upon you!

There is a world beyond ourselves. We were saved for a purpose. Jesus prayed that we would not be removed from the world but rather that we would affect the world without being infected by it. As Christians it is important that we walk that tightrope carefully; avoiding the extremes that are so tempting. I leave you today with the words of Solomon:

Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise-- why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool-- why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes. Ecclesiastes 7: 16-18 (NIV)

Reverend Anthony Wade January 21, 2011