Left Behind, But Not Alone.

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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 ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. – John 17:13-16 ESV John 17:1-26

As difficult as it was for the disciples to accept Jesus' admission that He was going to die, it had to be even more unsettling when, after His resurrection, He told them He was going away. They had just gotten Him back from the dead, a fact that had been hard for them to accept initially. But once they had come to grips with the amazing realization that He was alive, He told them that He was leaving. They would be on their own. Left behind to continue the work He had begun. It all had to be a bit overwhelming and confusing. Jesus had known it would be, which is why His prayer for them contained a request that His Father keep them from the evil one. He knew they were going to face all kinds of opposition for His name's sake. As His followers, they were no longer “of the world.” They had become citizens of another Kingdom. But for the foreseeable future they were going to be ambassadors for Christ in this world. Jesus was leaving them behind to continue spreading the news of salvation that His death was going to make possible. The apostle Paul understood that mission well. “So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” (2 Corinthians 5:20 NLT). The disciples and all those who would follow them, have been given the ministry of reconciliation. It is our job to tell the world about how to be made right with God. We have been left behind for a reason. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 29:19 ESV).

So we have a job to do. But we have not been left alone or defenseless. Jesus prayed for us. Yes, we are hated by the world because we are not of this world anymore. We are foreigners and sojourners. We are like aliens living in a strange land. We don't really belong here anymore, but we have a mission to accomplish. And not only does the world hate us, the prince of this world, Satan, is out to destroy us. He despises and loathes us because we are children of God, which is why Jesus asked the Father to keep us from him. The two big threats we face as believers are complacency or compromise. If Satan can get us to lose the urgency of our God-given mission and make it a back-burner issue, he has won. If he can get our faith in Christ to become just another add-on to our already busy lives, he will have made us ineffective and essentially powerless. But another threat we face is compromise. If Satan can get us to fall in love with the world and seek our satisfaction and sufficiency from all that it offers, it will render us useless for the cause of Christ. The apostle John warned, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15 ESV). It is virtually impossible to effectively serve God's Kingdom when we are in love with this one. Compromise and complacency are deadly temptations for each of us as believers. So Jesus prayed that God would keep us from the evil one. He wanted us to remain loyal to our God and faithful to our commission, right up until the end. We must constantly remind ourselves that we are not of this world. We are citizens of another Kingdom. We serve another King. We live according to a different set of standards or rules. But not only are we citizens of a different Kingdom, we are children of the King. In fact, Paul would have us remember, “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering” (Romans 8:17 ESV).

Jesus knew that life on this earth for His followers would be difficult after His departure. That is why He gave us the Holy Spirit. He is to be our comforter, helper, guide, and source of spiritual strength. Jesus understood the dangers and difficulties His followers would face. But He also knew that His Father was fully capable of caring for them and keeping them safe. Our salvation was completely God's doing. Our sanctification or growth in Christ-likeness is His doing as well. Our safekeeping and security as His children is up to God as well. He has not and will not lose a single one He has redeemed. Our faith is secure, not because we live up to a certain standard or keep ourselves from committing certain sins, but because God holds us in His hands and will never let us go. While we live in this world, we must constantly remind ourselves that our real home is with Him. He has saved us so that we might be with Him. Jesus even told His disciples, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going” (John 14:1-4 ESV).

Out of This World.

John 15:18-27

"The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you." – John 15:19 NLT

Let's face it. We love to to be loved by this world almost as much as we enjoy loving all that it has to offer. The world can be an attractive place and there's something inside us that makes us want to be attractive in return. Worldliness, once the bane of the Christian's existence and a temptation to be avoided at all costs, has become not only acceptable, but fashionable. It is in to be of this world. Even as Christ-followers, we have this innate desire to be known by the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the homes we live in, the schools our kids attend, the country clubs we belong to, and even the churches we attend. To many of us, being worldly isn't a sin, it's just good business. It's how you get ahead – in this world. But Jesus gives us a sobering warning in this passage. He blatantly informs us that the world hates us. Why? Because we don't belong here anymore. When He chose us, He called us out of this world. Oh, sure, He left us here. We still have to live in this world, but this is not where we truly belong anymore. We have a home reserved for us elsewhere. Jesus told the disciples, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am" (John 14:1-3 NLT). Jesus never intended for us to make ourselves at home here. Getting comfortable and cozy with the world can be dangerous to our spiritual health.

Peter echoed this idea long after Jesus had ascended back into heaven. "Dear friends, I warn you as 'temporary residents and foreigners' to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world" (1 Peter 2:11-12 NLT). Did you notice what he said? It is worldly desires that wage ware against our souls. John gives some much-needed advice that our generation could stand to listen to: "Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever" (1 John 2:1-17 NLT). Take a second to think about what he is saying here. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. That's a pretty strong statement, and one we tend to gloss over fairly easily. Loving God and loving this world are not only incompatible, they're completely contradictory. As believers, we have three mortal enemies: The world, the flesh and the devil. Cozying up with any of the three is a sure way to threaten your spiritual health and destroy your effectiveness as an instrument in the Redeemer's hands.

In the Garden just before His betrayal and arrest, Jesus prayed to the Father, asking Him, "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" (John 17:16-17 NLT). That phrase, "make them holy" can also be translated, "sanctify them." It simply means to set them apart of consecrate them for a specific use or purpose. Jesus is asking the Father to not only set the disciples apart, but those who would be His followers in the generations to come. He goes on to pray, "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" (John 17:18-19 NLT). Again, Jesus knows that they are going to be left behind when He leaves. But He was not going to leave them alone or unequipped. Goud was going to provide them with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. "But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you" (John 14:26 NLT). They were going to be left in the world, but they would be far from alone and far from defenseless. But they would have to constantly fight the temptation to blend in with and grow comfortable being like this world. Compromise and complacency are both dangerous tendencies that the believer must avoid at all costs. The risk of falling in love with this world is a constant reality for the believer. Our sinful flesh craves it. Our eyes are naturally attracted to all the shiny trinkets it places in front of us. James reminds us that the problem lies within us, not outside of us. "Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away" (James 1:14 NLT). Our sinful human flesh wants what the world has to offer. Like a fish that can't control its insatiable appetite, we are easily lured to our deaths by the things of his world that look so beguiling and appealing. But James warns us, "These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death" (James 1:15 NLT). The world is out to kill us, just like it did Jesus. The enemy is out to destroy us, just like he tried to do to Jesus.

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis chronicles the correspondence between a senior demon and a demon-in-training. This mentor provides his young charge with some interesting and enlightening insights into the methods for destroying Christ-followers. “Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that is ‘finding his place in it,’ while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of really being at home on Earth, which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle-aged and the old.” That is exactly what Jesus was warning His disciples about. And it applies to us just as much today as it did more than 2,000 years ago. Being at home here is not our objective. The apostle Paul sums it up well. "Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ" (Philippians 1:27 NLT).

Father, I echo the prayer of Jesus. Keep me from this world. Don't let me fall in love with all that it offers. Help me keep my distance and maintain my perspective. This world is not my home, I'm simply passing through. Let me live with an eternal perspective, not a temporal one. May I reflect my heavenly citizenship while I'm here – each and every day of my life. Amen.