For Mission

The Lord Praying PART II
28 June 2015
Rev. John Lin

John 17: 13-23
13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have full measure of my joy within them.  14I 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.  15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may truly be sanctified.

20"My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one--23I in them and you in me--so that they may be brought to complete unity.  Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you loved me.

Prayer of Jesus as he is close to death--most vulnerable.
Prayer begins with glory and ends with mission

NATURE OF MISSION
--Why do Christians feel the need to share their faith, since everything is relative, for example.
--We are always sharing our view of the nature of reality.
--Needs to be shared in a way with humility and respect.
--V.13; an overflowing joy
--V.18; Someone who is sent--I want people to experience this joy of being sent.
--Cause or goal important to attain; may require risk and sacrifice because it's more important than my own comfort.
--Hebrews 12--running that race.
--Joyful life experienced through mission.

CHARACTER OF MISSION
--V15-17; How they are to be sent
--In the world, but not like the world, sanctify them by the truth.
--Jesus is sent into the world.
--Other religions often talk about protection or escaping from the world.
--Material world is inconsequential--often based on moral commands to be rewarded by leaving the world.
--John had a vision that the heavenly city comes down and renews the world.
--Current universe is broken (sin).
--While we are part of the world, we should not be defined and subsumed by it.
--Sanctified means to be holy or set apart for a particular purpose.
--Can be expressed through moral beauty and character.
--People are to be drawn to it because it is beautiful and good.
--Jesus prays for them that they would be beautiful and good, kindness, patience.
--Critical trait of mission is that there is something so beautiful that people would be drawn to them by their character as much as they would be drawn to them by their message.

PURPOSE AND POWER OF MISSION
--V.21; Help people understand Jesus's mission.
--Jesus was sent, not just born into the world.
--Entered into the brokenness of the world and was utterly helpless on the cross.
--Brings a kingdom of a promised of a new world through sacrifice.
--Power comes from belief that we were the goal for what Jesus did.
--V.22-23; Be a part of this mission through intimate community with him and with others.
--Get out of our comfort zone and control.
--Be in community because its something that people are committed to.