October 9, 2023

Unity In Heaven

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:17-21 (NASB)

            I often wonder what happens in the lives of some Christians who accept (or make a profession) Jesus Christ and then do nothing thereafter. Is it because they never made a genuine decision (therefore still unconverted)? Is it because they went back to a life of sin and fell back into their previous lifestyle (therefore possibly still unconverted)? I haven’t mentioned an area which is that of “not knowing how to grow and transform their lives.” I sometimes think this may be a great proportion as I continue to disciple Christians. I know there is a desire (because of the new nature) for the genuine Christian to grow and to please God with the new life. This is a new nature (2 Cor. 5:17), however, there are more and more churches today that do not concentrate on biblical discipleship. Without discipleship, a sanctified life is much harder to attain. Jesus knew this as He prepared His disciples through His life. They would be working in harsh conditions, and they had to be prepared for it.         They would start with the unification with God, and then continue to share the gospel to a world that hated it.

            “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” Unity with the Father and believers is now enjoyed in Jesus’ prayer. The unity of the Father and the Son, are now enjoyed and united by the disciples. As the disciples are joined to the Father and Son, they are now being sent into the world. MacArthur says, “Only sanctified believers are ready to be sent into the world as the Father sent Christ into the world. These words, directed at the eleven, served as a preview of the Great Commission the Lord would give these same disciples following His resurrection (Matt. 28:18-20; cf. Acts 1:7-8). Having been set apart from the world and transformed by God’s grace, the disciples would be the heralds of that same grace to the very world that hated them. In the same way that they were disciples of Jesus, they were to ‘make disciples’ of Christ in ‘all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that [Christ] commanded [them]’ (Matt. 28:19-20). Just as Jesus had been sent to the world by His Father, so now the disciples were being sent to the world by Jesus. Through their witness, the world would be exposed to the gospel and many would come to saving faith.”[1] But none of this would be possible without the death and resurrection. Jesus looked to this coming time. By His death, atonement would be made for the disciples and those who will believe (to present). As they experience this life transformation, they continue to grow in their relationship with Christ, thereby experiencing a life of sanctification (setting their lives aside for the use of Christ, while conforming their lives to the scriptures).

            For over the last 30 years, I thoroughly believe in discipleship. It is the heart of Jesus’s teachings about growth. For someone who came from no knowledge of the Bible, I am who I am today because of someone who invested their knowledge and time with me.

[1] (John MacArthur, 2006), 284.