Jesus' prayer for His disciples at the time of His walk on Earth melts my heart. Just think, He was not just praying for those disciples either, He was praying for us! For us followers of Jesus Christ now, and down throughout the ages of time since then (John 17:20).
S-l-o-w-l-y read John 17. How does it affect you? Jesus is praying for you! For all of you who, Jesus told His Father,
"...believe in Me through Your word..." (John 17:20 ESV).
He asked his Father to,
"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth" (John 17:17 ESV).
As a believer reads God's Word, which is truth, he or she will be sanctified.
That word, or variations thereof, pop up so often. Sanctification and progressive sanctification are big ones. Looking a the root word, sanctify, we understand from Google dictionary, that it is a verb that means,
"set apart as or declare holy; consecrate;...free from sin; purify"
So what did Jesus set His followers apart for? Well, He said to His Father,
"...as You sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world..." (John 17:18 ESV).
His prayer went on to say,
"...and for their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth" (John 17:19 ESV).
Jesus didn't just ask the disciples to be sanctified, He consecrated Himself first.
We know what Jesus' purpose on Earth was. He came to bring salvation to all mankind through His death and resurrection. He never lost sight of that mission; in fact, He set His face towards that end. According to the NIV, we read that Jesus "resolutely set out for Jerusalem" [emphasis mine] (Luke 9:52). The Samaritans didn't like that much. They wanted Him to stay with them! They were upset and didn't welcome Him because of the purposeful direction He was headed. All the crowds, healing and exorcising, didn't distract Him; it was onward-ho!
On top of that, all the while, Jesus remained pure and blameless: The Holy One. Despite His being 100% human being, He was also 100% God and therefore free from all sin. He was pure to the core.
Yet He still "consecrated" Himself for his work. Sounds like the time when He asked John the Baptizer to baptize Him. John the B didn't want to do so as he realized Jesus didn't need to repent of anything. Jesus insisted, saying, He must do so in order,
"...to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15 ESV).
Jesus did this for the sake of His disciples and for all of us who now believe! Showing us the way. Amazing, isn't it!
Jesus example spurs us on towards such sanctification. What are we "set apart" for? We are "made different" for the special purpose of living for Jesus. How do we stretch to that aim? By living in God's truth as found in His Word, the Bible.
Time and time again we hear the "read and obey; read and obey" wisdom from God's Word and from preachers preaching. Is this dutiful, obligatory action?
I want to show you this verse:
"And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you hear from the beginning, so you should walk in it" (2 John 1:6 ESV).
Emphasis on "...this is love". We do this as a reciprocation of His love for us. Of the love Jesus bestowed on us before and after we became "children of God" (John 1:12).
Out of love and gratitude for our Heavenly Father, God, we believers sanctify ourselves through living out the truth we discover in God's Word. Let our hearts be like the wax of a candle, softened by the flaming truth of God's Word and His Holy Spirit's convictions; sanctified in our minds and hearts and sanctified for the purpose to which He has called you.
No doubt it is not easy. It's disciplining ourselves with the help of the Holy Spirit combined with God's Word's direction.
Back in Genesis 4:7 ESV, God is talking to Cain who had murderous intentions,
"If you do well will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it."
Not to be mistaken, Old Testament times were like: do good and good will be done to you; you earn the good life. However, in the New Testament, we learn Jesus has done the work of earning our salvation for us and as mentioned above, we are given the Holy Spirit and God's Word to lead and guide us and help us to make the right choices and to let good "rule over that which does not please God". That's why the consecrating, choice of action comes into play. Make a commitment to consecrate yourself for your own good but also for the benefit of others as Jesus did. Pray that all of God's children will also be sanctified by living His truth as found in God's Word.
Douse yourself with God's truth; live it and be sanctified by it...Jesus prayed for you!
~ERC September 2019~
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