This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. If you have your Bibles, would you open to John 17? John chapter 17. We'll be picking up in verse 11 and reading through to 19. This is the reading of God's word. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled. 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. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself. I sanctify myself. that they also may be sanctified in truth. It's the reading of God's word. Go and have a seat. Would you join me in prayer? Our Lord God, please be with us. Be with us in this afternoon when we're tired, when we're distracted. May our minds and our hearts not go any further than this moment. We pray that you would speak to us through your word, your mighty and powerful and truthful word. May the preaching be faithful. May each one of us be faithful to the preaching. It's in Jesus's name we pray. Amen. So we get to continue on in this high priestly prayer. Last week, we got to talk about a dynamic of Christian life that a lot of people are familiar with. And that's the idea of being in the world. We are in the world is one half of the coin. We are not of the world is how the other half is described, right? So we talked about that being in this world. Well, we live here. but our home is not here. Just as Jesus was sent into the world, Jesus has sent his disciples, his followers into the world. We have been sent here with a purpose. Our lives are actually full of purpose we talked about. No matter what your circumstances are, good or bad, you have a life full of purpose. You are sent just as much as Jesus was sent. You have a calling. You are living it even now. Our father's plans are always at work and we are a part of those in the world. Now we get to focus a little bit more on what life in this world looks like. What are our lives supposed to look like? We said, how can the subjects of the true king keep on living in enemy territory? How do we possibly strike the right balance in that way? See, this has been the situation for the people of God across all time. God has always had a people. He's always had those whom he has chosen out of all the peoples in the world. He has always had a people and has called his people, has proclamation over his people. He said, these are mine. You are my people, he says, and you will live like it. You will look like it. You have been chosen. You have been set apart. You have been made holy. Even though we live in this world, we're not supposed to look like this world. And that's actually a pretty hard thing to accomplish. So what is this going to mean for us that we live in this world, but we are not supposed to be of this world? That's what we get to talk about today. Jumping right into verse 14, I want to show you this. Jumping right into 14, 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. That's what Jesus is saying here. Because of the word he gave them, the world is going to hate them because of his word. Now you might ask, so how did the disciples, because immediately speaking, we are talking about those disciples right there with implications for us down the line. How did these disciples get to the point where they were on such bad terms with the world? How did they get to the point where it's just natural to say that they are hated? Well, it happened when Christ gave them his word. That's when the transition was. When Christ gave them his word, that's when the world started hating them. Because what happened when they received that word of Christ? What happens when a person of the world becomes a follower of God? A participant of that community of God, right? What happens? It's more than just hearing a stray teaching. I was walking by one day and I heard someone talk about John 3.16, right? It's more than that. It's more than even understanding it. It's more than understanding just a single teaching. It's more than being able to understand all of Jesus's teachings. It's not about just mere comprehension. What happened when they received that word? They believed. They believed. And by the power of that word, they took hold of Christ and Christ took hold of them. Something huge happened there. They were born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, made new, given a new heart. Even though on the outside they looked just the same as they had the moment before, they had been transformed. Completely, fundamentally transformed. And as we understand that transformation, that transformation is going to shed all kinds of light on why should the world hate us. If you understand what happened there, because this is what happens, right? Just broad overview. When someone believes in Christ, they become more and more like Christ. They leave everything behind that was once them. and they follow Christ. They partake in his very nature. Before believing in Christ, they belong to the world, they fit in. It was a good place for them, right? After believing in Christ, well, they belong to Christ. Now, why should that be a problem for the world? Well, consider Christ's ministry. Consider the one who we now belong to, right? Christ's ministry out in the world was painful for the world. Christ out there proclaiming the kingdom, lifting up the high and exalted standards of God, that shed painful light on the state of the world. Because the world took this so-called prophet, calling them to faith and an obedience, and they rejected him. The world saw his wisdom, They saw his goodness, they saw his power on display, and they rejected that. You have to be in a very bad spot to reject that. The clearest revelation of God, of who he is, how good he is, of how mighty he is, and to reject that, it showed just what a terrible state the world was in. Well, Christ's people, belonging to Him, having been transformed by Him, following after Him, they're continuing that same ministry, aren't they? What a Christian is to the world is a reminder of Christ. A Christian is continuing to do the same things, except we do it as His followers. We proclaim the Savior that they rejected. Right? We still proclaim the very same standards, but the world, having rejected the one who could offer them forgiveness for breaking those standards, now they can't help but feel condemned. It's not hard to imagine why Christians are not popular out in the world. We want to look at it so simply. Oh, Christians are just trying to love their neighbors and do good by everyone, but there's a lot more going on there. There are sides in the battle here. The world hates Christ's people because the world is fundamentally opposed to Christ. So it doesn't matter how much you have things together. how loving and charitable and great you are, if you belong to Christ and they oppose Christ, they'll oppose you. That is why they are fundamentally opposed to Christians. We discussed this at earlier sermons that when we talk about the world, we're not talking about a location so much, a place or anything like that. We're talking more like sides in the battle. Remember when we were saying that? There is an opposition here between Christ and his people and the world. So what you have is all of us at one point were on that side of the world. We were over there lined up ready to do battle against the true king, right? Well, at some point, Christ in his grace seizes us, saves us, and you can just imagine the reactions. You're lined up with your fellow soldiers, and then you just start walking out across the field to go join the other side. You would be enraged at someone who did that to you, right? Turncoat, Benedict Arnold. That's how we should expect to be opposed. We are those who have left that side to join the enemy. This is how the world will feel about us. As Christians, as followers of Christ. You know, when I'm saying world, it's always good to be clear what I mean by that. We're talking big picture here. When we say the world, we're talking about what the world stands for. Morally, what do they stand for? Spiritually, what do they stand for? Because we're not just talking about individuals. I think that could be the mistake. We're not just talking about a person out in the world. We're talking about the world order, really. Because the truth is, we've all met and loved good, in the worldly sense, good, wonderful people who are just of the world. I wouldn't want it to sound like I'm saying something against that. Because there have been, and there continue to be, wonderful people out there who mean us no harm. Who seem to actually mean us lots of good. I think what you see there, how does that relate to what Jesus is talking about here? What you see here, I think it's just God's common grace still working. It is God's grace that we can still have anything in common with the people of the world. Not to mention we have a lot of things in common. The world in some ways still understands love, loyalty, faithfulness, respect. It's God's grace that we have that. But the most important thing still divides us. Where do you stand with your God? Where do you stand with God? Do you stand reconciled? Are you back on good terms by the blood of the Lamb? Or do you still stand opposed? When there are two sides of the battlefield, which side are you on? If you're not reconciled to your God, you still stand opposed to him and to his people. And so while being hated is no one's goal, it is absolutely a part of Jesus's plan. I want you to see that. Look at verse 15 here. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Do you hear that? Jesus doesn't want us taken off the battlefield, right? Because you can picture that impulse in all of us. I mean, I experience it more and more as a parent, that desire to see no harm come of my child. I do not want him to go through a single bad thing, as unrealistic as that is, right? So if it were up to me, I'd be like, yeah, yeah, get off the battlefield. I've got this one. But God does nothing of the sort. Christ does nothing of the sort. He says, I don't want them in the battlefield. This is where they're meant to be. I just pray that the enemy wouldn't have victory over them. So when you're talking about what it means to live in this world and not be of this world, you have to expect that the society will hate us and understand that that's what Jesus intended. That's what he meant for your life. As hard as that is, we should expect to be opposed. We should expect the world's opposition. You see, in many parts of the world, that opposition is still physical. People fear for their safety. People fear for their health. That's a sobering thing. Just because we didn't look over our shoulders when we came to church today, doesn't mean we're not opposed though. I think if you look at how we're opposed in this country, it tends to be going straight for the jugular. Going for the jugular of the faith. I mean, every single year, it's like, hey, look, someone's going to go and redefine Christianity for us again. Every single year, whether it's a theological journal, or the cover of Time Magazine, or the recent miniseries, someone comes along and says, hey, you've been misinterpreting Jesus all along. What you really need to do is interpret him in light of popular notions today. Voila, you're new and improved Jesus. The opposition is there. Whatever form it comes in, it will certainly come. And when it does, Jesus gives us no option to run away, to stick our heads in the sand. What Jesus seems to, be preparing us for us to say, brace yourself. Brace yourself because the world hates you like it hated me. Brace yourself for a society that's going to be angry at you for believing the word of God. Brace yourself for a world that will resent you for simply disagreeing. Man, those are crazy things. Can hardly imagine that, right? Brace yourself. And brace yourself in such a way that it's not just going to be water off a duck's back. Brace yourself for pain. Brace yourself for heartache. Brace yourself for what it means to have the world hate you. We will face challenges that we would not have faced otherwise, right? Jobs and careers might be threatened. Privileges, pleasures restricted. Relationships that suffer are just outright end. The opposition can come in a million different ways because it's a big world that hates us. It's a bad thing to have the world hating us. I don't think we're supposed to revel in that. We revel in the truth that we're Christ's I don't revel in a world that hates me, that opposes me. I don't think we're supposed to. But the world with all its resources hated Christ. The world with all its resources will hate his followers. And in the face of that opposition, be clear that Jesus does not just want you to be different. Jesus wants you to be like him. Take a look at verse 16. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. We share something in common with our Savior. You kind of want to praise God just for that. We share something in common with our Savior. We are not of the world. Remembering what we just said, right? Remembering what we just said about what happened when we received the word. By trusting in Christ, by following him, we are transformed, right? And so now we belong to his kingdom. Now we belong to his way of life. So the challenge now really comes back to whether we believe that or not. Do you really believe that you are not of this world? Do you really believe that you do in fact belong to a new world? that you belong to a new people, that you belong to your savior. Do you believe it? That's a challenge in this life. Will you live in light of it? See, however much you love the idea that I don't belong to this world, I belong to Christ and his people. However much you love that and your heart is thrilled by it, it's actually a huge struggle to live that out. It is a huge struggle to really live consistently, wholeheartedly with this truth that you do not belong here. You belong to Him. See, Christ is telling us that we are radically different. You may feel very similar, but you are transformed, He says. You are nothing like who you used to be. And even if we embrace that, we find all the things that he says should be natural to us, the righteousness that he says should be natural to us, it feels very unnatural. And you know what feels natural? Getting right back into my sin. Going right back to the world's ways. That feels natural. I speak that language fluently. I could get back there in a second. We find that even though Christ says we now belong in the church, we belong in his body with his people, sometimes we look around and we don't feel like we belong. We don't feel like we get these people. This doesn't feel like home. We struggle to live in light of what he has said is true. Our hearts, our emotions, they're not in sync with the reality that Christ is ushered in, that he has proclaimed over us. One thing that I think flags Christians is spiritual indecision. And it's a spiritual indecision that comes hand in hand with this struggle. See, we amen it. We amen it when Jesus says, you're transformed, you're mine, right? But our hearts doubt that. Our hearts really aren't so sure that what Jesus says is 100% true. So then we live these compromised lives. Here you have transformed true Christians with worldliness in their life. And the thing is too, they can't seem to enjoy the worldliness like they used to be able to. Why? Because they've been transformed. Then on the other side though too, we're not totally trusting in Christ. We're not totally committed to Christ, so we lack the contentment that could be ours there. The satisfaction that could be had in Christ. We get neither of the benefits of being worldly sinners or committed saints. We have none of the benefits. The life of a follower of Christ calls for everything. All in is the only bet that we're allowed to make. demands everything of us. So the question then to us is, how do we intend to live? How will we live? Will we live in accordance with what Christ has said is true? Namely, that we are set apart. Namely, that we are his. Namely, that we are not like this were, we're like him. Will we live in accordance with that? Or are we just going to ride the fence all of our lives? You know, when I was young, I was raised doing taekwondo, right? Which is not an excuse for any of the martial artists to attack me wherever Jeff is. Yeah. But when I, it was, it was when I was young and they train you, they train you among other things to break stuff, right? With your hands and with your feet, you break boards and eventually break tiles. And one of the things you learn about breaking stuff is you have to do it a hundred percent. Because when you line up and you're gonna try and break whatever number boards or whatever, if you go 70% in or something like that, well the chances are one, that you won't accomplish the break, but two, it hurts then. It hurts because you get rejected. You didn't hit it hard enough, you didn't swing through it, and it just hurts. So there you are, unsuccessful and in pain. Right? When you're breaking stuff, there was no room for anything but 100%. Isn't our faith similar? The only way to live the Christian life is completely. The only way to live the Christian life is 100%. See, to do anything different, to hesitate, to second guess, what does that lead to except failures, dissatisfaction, and pain? Riding the fence is not a safe place to be. Riding the fence hurts. And doesn't get you where you're supposed to be. Christ proclaims that we belong to His kingdom. We do not belong to this world. Christian, embrace that. Embrace that you are no longer who you were. and the most powerful and beautiful blessings of the gospel. You are no longer who you were. Your past truly is forgiven. You are a new creation in Christ. And you are no longer defined by what you've done. You are defined by Christ, by what he did. You are not of this world. And so then Jesus comes to verse 17, And he says something just profound and beautiful. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Sanctify them. That's one of those Christianese words, right? Sanctify them just to be set apart for God. That's basically all it is. To be set apart for God. Jesus prays that his people would be set apart as the people of God for the service of God. And we are set apart by the truth. We are not set apart by institutions or traditions or opinions. We are set apart by the truth. The reason Christians cling so tenaciously to Jesus Christ and the truth that is in him is because only he is true. To be anywhere else would be to be in a lie that can't deliver what it's trying to. To be anywhere else is to be in a lie. Sanctify them in the truth and Christ adds, your word is truth. God's Word is a mighty thing. I've gotten to say this before and it's just fun to say again. God's Word is a mighty thing. We see it in creation, what Brian is talking about in this series now, right? A God who merely speaks and it is so. There is nothing like that in creation. There is no human being who speaks and it is so. At best, there are powerful people who have other people who obey them, right? I speak and someone else makes it so. Our God speaks and the very atoms of creation make it so. Creation submits to his very word. We see it in creation. We see it in Christ's earthly ministry. People believing in his word and finding life. Peter says, you Lord, you have the words of life. Again, no one else has that. No one else in creation can make a claim like this. Christ's word brought the world's hatred, but it also brought us life. We have been set apart for God by the truth. We've been set apart by God's own word. And being set apart, we're not supposed to look like this world. We are not supposed to look like this world. Just in the same way that in ancient times, you should have been able to tell who was an Israelite, right? By what they believed, by what they did, you should be able to tell a Christian apart today. By the same measures. By what's in their heart, assuming you could look into it, and by what they commit their lives to with their actions. But the sad truth is that we can all look in the mirror. We can all look in that mirror and see we fall so far short of that. I mean, you take a look at our hearts. You take a look at our hearts and you say, okay, what makes me tick? What do I think is valuable? What am I dedicating myself to? What are goals worth living for? What do I hope for? In a perfect world, all those things in our heart would be just like what's in God's heart, right? In our world, you find that Christians are still drinking the world's Kool-Aid. The things we devote ourselves to, We don't devote ourselves to being content in the Lord. We don't devote ourselves to being built up, edified. We don't even devote ourselves to something so simple as, hey, let me try and go be useful with my life. Think how often we devote ourselves to being entertained. So unworthy of a set apart people. What you find is you look in the mirror and you can find people who are every bit as selfishly obsessed as the culture. We are just as consumed with their desires, desires for wealth, prosperity, recognition. You look in the mirror and you think, God, my heart is filthy. You look at our actions, what I do with my life. You will find Christians still having just as coarse of language as the rest of the world. You will find Christians still having just as destructive of language as the rest of the world. You will find that we don't treat husbands or wives any better than the rest of the world. We spend our time, and so often, almost exactly the same way as the world. We fill our lives with distraction and we starve our souls. I mean, here's just a convicting, humbling little thing to think about. I bet you it's easier for you to think about the last time you talked about a movie with someone than the last time you talked about the wellbeing of your soul. Why should that be, right? Why would we pour our lives and our hearts and our time into things that are just so obviously insignificant? When you look in that mirror and you identify these things in your life, in your hearts, you are seeing the tension that we've been talking about this whole time. We struggle to be a people that is in this world, living in this world, right? Without being a people of the world, without being a people that looks like the world. It is a struggle because how is it that we are supposed to not compromise? And at the same time, we're not allowed to disengage. I want to just run off into the hills and maybe then I can commit myself to a faithful life to God, right? God gives me no option. He says, you are in this world, but you are not of this world. That's hard. But I offer you this hope. Christ understands holiness. Take a look at verse 19. Jesus says, and for their sake, I sanctify myself, same word as consecrate, for their sake I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. You say, whoa. See, I get why I need to learn holiness. I do not look at myself and think, I am good at holiness. I look at myself and I see that as just this foreign alien characteristic and I have almost no idea what to do with it, how to go about pursuing it. I get that I need to be sanctified. Christ sanctifying himself though, that's kind of a head-scratcher. What is Christ? The epitome, the definition of holiness. What is he doing setting himself apart, making himself holy? For the sake of his people, Christ sanctifies himself. Christ is set apart for the work that he came to accomplish. See, basically, His sanctification, His being set apart, is just Him reaffirming, I am willing to do the work that I have been sent here to do by my Father. The work that goes right through Calvary. But then you also recognize that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is being set apart like a lamb for the sacrifice. He is being set apart as a priest for the service. And so then our sanctification is only even a possibility because Jesus sanctified himself. We are set apart as the people of God because of Jesus Christ. And then even from there, so positionally we're in place, but then how do we even pursue holiness? We are only able to pursue holiness because Christ sanctified himself first. Our pursuit of holiness can never stand anywhere else except on the foundation of the work of Jesus Christ, the finished work, the accomplished work. Christians, whether you feel it, or not, you are different from this world. You are not of this world. By the power of God, and by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word who became flesh, and by the Word you believed, you have been set apart. You've been set apart from the world who has nothing in common with Christ. You have everything in common with Christ now. Live in light of that truth. Brothers and sisters, live as those who are not of this world. Let's pray. Our God, give us hearts to believe. I confess, and I think many of us confess, that we do not believe you that we are different from this world. We think this feels a lot like home. Forgive us, Father. Forgive us that we do not believe you. Forgive us that we have not trusted you. Forgive us that we have been riding the fence, refusing to give up what we love about this world and refusing to follow after you. Give us faith to believe that we truly are different. Give us grace and power and help to live like those who are truly different. And our Lord, we thank you. We thank you that you set us apart. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.