The Village Church
Jesus Unplugged: His Disciples Pt2 - Audio
to John 17. Last week, Jesus said, He prayed to the Father. He said, "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given to me, so that they may be one." That was Jesus's first request to the Father for His disciples. He prayed for our unity. There would be unity in this church. We saw that this unity among believers, it had a common source, the Father's power, the source of that unity. It had a common reflection. It was supposed to reflect the oneness between the Father and the Son. And this unity has a common witness. It is witness to the world that Jesus is who He is. You see, in this prayer, you can't help but to see the heart of Jesus for His people, for you, the age of you who know Him, that He's a high priest to the end. And He still is our high priest, because we know He's not in the grave, right? He sent Him just right beside the Father in heaven, even as I speak. But now Jesus is not done yet. He's not done with this prayer. He still offers up more requests to the Father on our behalf. And this morning we're going to see Him pray for our identity. Our identity is, believe, who we are in Jesus, what we have in Jesus. So open your Bible to John 17, beginning in verse 13. This is God's Word. Not mine. Small print. I will continue, okay. But now coming to you, in 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'm 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. Please pray with me. Father, as we come to Your truth, to Your Word, we need Your Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Counselor to come, to take what is preached and apply it to the hearts of the pastor, the hearts of the people, so that we, Lord, can know You more, so that we can see more of You, not less of You. We need the Spirit to apply the truth to every area of our life. You know what we need this morning. You know what we need to hear this morning. So Spirit, do what I can't do. Change hearts, change hearts, Christ in my place. I said last week that all believers are in union with Jesus and fellowship with Him. And that means everything about a believer has changed because of that. And when you are in union with Christ, Christ begins to rub off of you, not the other way around. You don't rub off on Jesus. He rolls off on you, on every area of your life. And that includes rubbing off on your identity and who you are and who you think you are. You see these words here in verses 13 through 16, as Jesus actually wanting you to experience what this union means in a real tangible way. What it means to be in union with Jesus. To have your identity wrapped up in Him. First, it means you will have a full measure of His joy, a full measure of His joy. Jesus says, "But now coming to You, to the Father." And these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in them. We see Jesus once again telling the Father, "I'm coming to You Father, I'm departing this world, I'm coming home to heaven." And He did when He had sent it into the heavens after the resurrection. But we also know that the disciples didn't go with Him. This time, they remain. And we still remain physically apart from Jesus. And as a result of Him leaving, He says these things to in the world, which is the same thing as saying, "I'm praying in that presence." Because these disciples were there when He prayed His prayer. Listen to Him. I'm praying these things in that presence. Why? Because Jesus knows that His people are going to struggle. But sorry. He knows that His people are going to struggle with fear and anxiety in this life. One Christian says, "Here Jesus shows the reason why He was earnest and praying for His disciples. It was not that because He was anxious about their future but relative to provide a remedy for their anxiety, to remove for them all doubt, to calm their minds. The remedy for your sorrow, your fear, your anxiety has been filled with this joy that Jesus is talking about here." He prays these things in their hearing for the purpose, for one purpose so that His joy may be fulfilling. Now, don't see fulfillment here as a sense of perfection, because we know we're not going to have perfection until glory, but a sense of a full measure of it. Today we'll be produced in you, given to you, through His Spirit. Because Jesus didn't say, "Father, I pray that they were produced and joined themselves by themselves." No. He's asking the Father to produce it in them. A full measure of it in our heart and our soul. You are a passive recipient of this joy, just like you are a passive recipient of salvation. It's been given to you as it can. If you receive this joy, we can experience this joy. And notice that Jesus says that it's His joy, not yours. My joy, joy is connected to Jesus. He's the object of it, the object of your joy. What did John the Baptist say in John 3 when he saw Jesus? This isn't what John the Baptist says. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy in mind is not complete. You understand what John the Baptist is saying there? He's talking about Jesus. He's the bridegroom. And now, at seeing him, having him arriving on the sea, John has said, "My joy is not complete because I have seen the groom, Jesus." He is the object of the believer's joy. And you can experience this. Here's what I mean. Christian joy, it's a joyous state that cannot be lost, no matter what the falls you in this life. Is you being able to say that it's well with my soul, no matter what happens? Are you experiencing that kind of joy in your Christian life? Are you? I'm not talking about circumstantial joy that we all sometimes have. When circumstances are good, then I'm good. When circumstances are bad, I'm bad. I'm like this. And what happens when circumstantial joy doesn't last? It fades away. Christian joy is not dependent upon circumstances, but it's in Jesus Christ. It's who he is. It's his joy that he gives us through his spirit. Your identity is in Christ. And being filled with his joy basically means you're being filled with more of Jesus and not less of Jesus. Another Christian says, "Christ's great joy was that he knew the Father cared for you." Think about that. Jesus's great joy was that he knew the Father cared for him. He knew it. And that is the joy he shares with you. Do you know that the Father cares for you? Or is that just circumstantial too? When you do well, the Father cares for you. Then when you don't do well, it doesn't care for you. Which is-- do you know the Father loves you, the side of you? One of the songs that we sing here says, "You have seen the depth of my heart." And you love me the same. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? I mean, honestly, you can say it here. I'm talking about in the struggle, in the darkest hour, in those dark moments. Do you believe that he's seen the depth of your heart? And yet, he loves you the same. If you have a circumstantial joy, then you know you don't believe that. You see, it's joy in the midst of the trial, the hardship, the suffering. It's not living in denial of the pain, but it's holding a firm grip on the hope that Jesus will see you through. Joy is not denying it, but it's holding firm that Jesus is going to see you through. That he is still here, that he is still with you. It's holding firm to the promises of the Father to you in this world that he will shepherd you through the highs and lows of life. It's a peace, a peace, that knowing that though your life is not what you want it to be, you are not destroyed. It would not destroy. Because your life is in the hands of a good Savior. The hands of a good Savior, a wonderful Savior. Thank you, Jesus, that's what we all should be saying right now. Thank you. The psalmist says, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." Those words are a reminder that there are times in your life when you're going to need Jesus' joy to be restored in you. Why? Because each of us are prone to one. We're prone to wonder from the Savior that we say we love. We're prone to wonder to other objects of joy. Right? Where do you run when life gets hard? What do you run to? That's your joy. What do you do when your life gets frustrating? When the job gets hard, when the marriage gets hard, when the kids won't listen to you? Where do you go? Where do we all have it? See, we're all like little kids. And one thing we know about little kids, that whenever they see a toy on TV, they got to have it. I mean, the whole world that's playing upon getting this one toy, whole life depends on it. Mom, I got to have it. If you get this for me, I mean, hey, wherever you say I'm going to do. You just got to get me this one toy. My life depends on it. So you get them the toy. And for a few weeks, it's the best toy ever. For three weeks later, they can't find it. It's gone. And not only that, there's another toy that they've seen they got to have that their life now depends upon. And that's what all the other objects of joy are like. They don't last. You're going to hop to another. You're going to lose one, then you're going to find them. You're going to lose that one, then you have to find them. Because they can't do what only Jesus can do. And be your savior. They can't do it. What's your savior? What is it? It's an endless cycle moving from one toy to the next. A passive friend of mine says, all the other things we find joy in have an aspiration they don't. They do. It's going to run out. It's going to run out. And if you're stuck in this cycle this morning, then what do you need to do? Ask the Lord to restore to you the joy of His salvation. Repent. And ask Him to restore. Because you can't do what you say. Your idea is in Jesus. And that first means you've been filled with His joy. Secondly, it means you are no longer of this world. No longer of this world. Verse 14 says, I have given them your word. And the world has hated them. Because they are not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world. But that you keep them from the evil. Chris Dawson brought me a Christian rap CD right from this conference, man up conference. And it's been good. I'm not much into Christian rap, but this is a pretty good CD. And I've been listening to this one song by Tripp Lee called Robot. And in this song, he says, I'm not your robot. I'm not a clone. You're not my puppeteer. I'm not a drone. I've got a new master, and I follow him along. I want a good life till I'm gone. See, the point of that little rhyme there is that he's no longer being controlled by the world, by the fly's flesh, by the evil one. That the old stains are no longer his puppeteer, because he has a new master, which is Jesus Christ. And this is true for each of us, without saving faith in Jesus. He says here that I have given them your word. When he says that, it also implies they have received the word in saving faith. That points us back to verse 8. In verse 8, Jesus says, I have given them your words that you have given me, and they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. So they have received it, and said in faith. And when you're done, that Jesus becomes that master that you follow, and you are no longer of this world. The world's no longer your puppeteer, who have a new master, a new marching order. And the cost of that, the world not hates you. In John 15, Jesus says that the world hates you know that it hated me first. It hated me first. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But the cost you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world that for the world hates you. Remember what I said. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they would persecute you as well. That's exciting. Encouraging. Jesus. So don't expect the world to rejoice because you're a believer. Don't expect the world to get excited because you found this newfound faith and joy in him. It's spent to be hated upon. It's spent hard time. The questions for us as Christians living in America is this, do we believe this? Do we live like we're of the world? Do you-- your life, my life. Do I have an adulterous love affair with my life in this world? Is it just too good for me? Like, I just like it. Man, this gets no better than this life. And for a lot of Christians, yeah, they love it here, man. The best time ever by finishing verbs, the best summer ever. That's it. We love it here. We can't picture a place anywhere else but here. We don't ever think about heaven. Don't ever think about eternity because this is where it's at. And Jesus says, that's you of the world, of the world. As a believer, you have been distinguished from the world for purpose. And that's the influence of the world for good, with the gospel. Gospel deeds, gospel truth. Not to become one life, the world. But to influence it for good on wherever you are, your job, where you're by grocery, where you live. Are you influencing it for good? Are you just jumping in line with them? They see no difference in you. Well, are you just like me, man? What's different about you? You worship what I worship. You do what I do? What's different? Where is Christ in you? Jesus says, I ask that you not take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. You see, we're not called to live in isolation because you can take that verse and make it mean that. Well, that means I've got to be isolated from the world. I've got to go create my own little Christian society where I have no contact with non-believers. I've got to surround my life like that. No. That's not what he's telling us to do. That's not what he's calling us to do. That's not what he's pointing us to do. He's pointing you not to be polluted by world as you live in the world. That's what he's asking the father to do. Don't let him be polluted by it. But instead, let them shine their light in this dark world. That's that. Let our light shine. Let it shine so they can see Christ in us. And so being in the world, but not of the world. So this means that our faith sets the agenda for everything that we do. Everything that we do. You are the cycle of God's kingdom now. Sons and daughters of the kingdom of heaven. No longer do we value and love the things the world of and value. Everything about us is different. And the cause of that, you will be hated. You will be misunderstood. Sometimes you won't be accepted. And that just goes to the course. It just goes with you. You are going against the current of the world. But you know what? When you are current, you know what a current does. When you're in the water in the beach, you try to push you to go along with the flow. The world will try to push you to go along with the flow. It will. And you know what? It's easy to just go with the flow. It's easy to compromise sometimes. So you have to petition the father to give you strength. That's what Jesus asked him. Keep them from the evil one. Keep them from evil. Preserve them to stand firm against all the current things they're going to go, push against their life. Father, give them strength to push it away. Now take them out of the battle, but give them power in the battle. It ain't going to take you out of the battle until you cross over the glory. But until then, you're in it. You either going against it or you going with it. Where are we? Where am I? Sometimes I feel like I'm going with it. And you know if you are, get what you can do. Repent. You got to beat yourself up. Repent and ask the spirit to help you to fight against the Danes that you struggle. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is not a force field. Sometimes I wish it was. A force field around me that protected me from suffering and hardship and disappointment and sickness and death. But the gospel never promises me that. It isn't not a force field. I want to think about the gospel as an antibiotic. That when the world does get the best of me, the gospel is dead to hell. Always. But there's going to be times when it gets where it gets you. There's going to be times when you're wounded. Time when your heart is broken. Time when you suffer great loss. What do you need to do? The gospel. Ask the spirit and minister to your soul. To hear you from the broken. To hear you from the difficult times. Because they will come. We just bear true family members, back to back to back till we give the God. That was hard. But you know what? The gospel can heal or heal our family from that. And the gospel can do the same for you. So you go and ask the spirit to do in your soul and heart what you can't do in your soul. Your identity is in Jesus. His joy and also living for him and the follower. That is prayer. Father God, thank you that Jesus always thinking about his people. That he knows, Lord, what we're going to go through in this life. And he prays for our protection. And I pray that this word would encourage us to press on. To press on. I pray for the struggles and difficulties and that all of us may be going through. Help all of us to know that, Lord, you will bring us through. It might not be how we think it's going to be, but you will bring us out of it. You will see us through it. Help us not to lose hope. Help us not to become hopeless. Help us to stand firm on the promises in your word. I pray you give us a peace of knowing that you care for us. If you didn't promise an easy life, if you didn't promise heaven on earth, that you have promised to never forsake us. And that's what we hold on to, that our God is there in the midst of the struggle. I pray that your joy will be in us. I pray as we go against the current of the world, your spirit will be the way beneath our wings pushing us forward. And when we do fall down and get caught up in world in this, that he will convict us, we'll repent, and move on. Trusting that you will never forsake us. Now pray for all of us, our families, our kids. That you be with us, sustaining us, and reminding us of your constant goodness, practicing my prayer. We please stand as we close at our service.