Today we continue our series, “As Jesus Is”, under the banner of the overall series for the year, “Supernatural Manifestation.” We have been looking at 1 John 4:16,17 for over a month now. This week we are looking at John 17 as well. Let’s go back to both passages again this morning.
The Apostle John said:
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
(1 John 4:16, 17 KJV)
The True Lord’s Prayer (John 17)
(verses 1-5)
After Jesus said these things, he looked toward heaven and prayed, “Father, the time has come. Give glory to your Son so that the Son can give glory to you. You gave the Son power over all people so that he could give eternal life to all those you have given to him. And this is eternal life: that people can know you, the only true God, and that they can know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. I finished the work you gave me to do. I brought you glory on earth. And now, Father, give me glory with you. Give me the glory I had with you before the world was made.
(verses 15-23)
“I am not asking you to take them out of the world. But I am asking that you keep them safe from the Evil One. They don’t belong to the world, just as I don’t belong to the world. Make them ready for your service through your truth. Your teaching is truth. I have sent them into the world, just as you sent me into the world. I am making myself completely ready to serve you. I do this for them, so that they also might be fully qualified for your service.
“I pray not only for these followers but also for those who will believe in me because of their teaching. Father, I pray that all who believe in me can be one. You are in me and I am in you. I pray that they can also be one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me. I gave them this glory so that they can be one, just as you and I are one. I will be in them, and you will be in me. So they will be completely one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you loved them just as you loved me.”
So what does this mean to you today? I will seek to glean a few golden nuggets from the statement, “They don’t belong to the world, just as I don’t belong to the world.”
- Jesus made it clear that He was IN this world, but not OF this world. Guess what? He said that we were in the same boat. As He was praying to the Father, talking about us, He said, “They don’t belong to the world, just as I don’t belong to the world.” Jesus did not want us to be taken OUT of the world. But He did want us to live IN this world as a representation of another world!
- The word translated “Born-Again” in the Bible is a Greek word that means: born from above. When you were born of your mother, you were born from this world; born from beneath. But the day you were Borg-Again, born of God’s Spirit, you were born from above. From that moment on, you are IN this world, but you are not OF it. You are a Kingdom citizen on this planet. You are an Ambassador from heaven, living in the earth, as heaven’s emissary. You are supposed to represent the Kingdom of God. This means you are to live every day carrying out His agenda, fulfilling His purpose, and living life on His terms.
- If you don’t see yourself “As Jesus is, in this world”, if you don’t see yourself as ONE with the Father, then you will never truly live any different than the world lives. For you to live different, you must see yourself different. Said another way: you will never transform what you allow yourself to conform to. God wants you to change the world, but you can’t do that if you allow yourself to be conformed by it. Seeing yourself AS JESUS IS, is the first step to living your life in a way that brings about true change in this world.
- God wants you to see yourself “As Jesus Is”, and He wants you to do it “in this world”, not in heaven. When you get to heaven, there won’t be anything to change. When you get to heaven, you won’t stand out from worldly ways or selfish desires, because everything will be heavenly. God wants you to stand out NOW. God wants you to represent His Kingdom plans, purposes and ways, NOW! God wants you to live like Jesus, and to do it NOW, in this world!
- Your life is supposed to show people what heaven is like. Your life is supposed to testify of God’s goodness. Your life is supposed to draw people out of darkness, into light. But your life will never do it, if you live no different than the world.
- The day you choose to live “As Jesus is, in this world” — with the same mindset Jesus lived with, with the same confidence He had in the Father, with the same reliance on the Holy Spirit — will be the day people start seeing Jesus IN you and experiencing heaven through you! This is the way we are called to live!
I will stop here for today.
Closing Confession: Father, this is a year of Great Victory for me. I am just like Jesus, and I am like Him IN THIS WORLD! I am in the world, but not of it. I refuse to conform to this world. Instead, I choose to transform it. I am a world-changer, because I am a Kingdom Ambassador. I live my life as a heavenly thermostat, setting the atmosphere, and not just worldly thermometer, taking the temperature. I live on purpose. I represent heaven in the earth. I am a human conduit of the divine. And I boldly declare: “As Jesus is, so am I, in this world!” I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
