Sanctify Them By the Truth

October 4, 2022

John 17: 17-19 - Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

John’s gospel is a bit different from the other gospels.  He wrote more like a conversation instead of sharing as many miracles.  He gave us more of what Christ WAS instead of telling us what Christ DID. 

Chapter 17 is called Jesus’ great prayer, or the High Priestly Prayer. This prayer was just before he arrived in Gethsemane. Christ started the prayer with praying for himself, asking for God’s will to be done, then prays for his followers, knowing that it will be their teachings that will lead others to faith in Christ. He prays that these men would be strong in such a hostile world and He sanctified them for God’s use. 

Sanctify means to be set apart for God’s use, set apart from the corruption of the world to be used by God. Jesus didn’t just leave the disciples to sanctify themselves… he prayed for their sanctification.  We can’t do it alone, it’s the work of God in us and through us. 

Jesus was sent to us from God so that we could be His beloved children.  Then Jesus sent His disciples (us included) into the world so that we could show them how they can be different from the world and make a difference in the world. 

His prayer was answered when the disciples turned the world upside down and left a record of God’s word in the Bible.  We have His word. We can also be sanctified in truth. 

Our mission is God-led, God-inspired, and God-willed.