A Kingdom of Priests (15)

 

“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 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.” John 17:15 – 19.

 

John Chapter 17 has been termed, “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.” While it is that, for we see the Son offering Himself as both Priest and Sacrifice, out of the High Priestly Prayer flows a Prayer of Commissioning for us, the kingly Priesthood in Jesus Christ. In John chapters 13 – 17, Jesus Christ gives us commissions of love, unity, and priesthood. We are to love as He loves, live in unity with one another as He and the Father live in unity, and serve as sacrificial priests, sent by God, as He serves as our High Priest sent by God.

 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34 – 35).

 

“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 17:20 – 21).

 

“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18; see also John 20:21).

 

Let’s be clear about something as we read these passages, we are not given the option of saying, “Well, that is Jesus and these passages cannot be fulfilled in my life, or in the life of our congregation, because I (and we) am not Jesus.” Jesus Christ is clear, we are to love as He loves, we are to be in unity with one another as He and the Father are in unity, and we are sent even as He is sent.

 

Now then, while it is true that we are not Jesus Christ, it is not true that these passages cannot be fulfilled in our lives, for in John 15:1 – 11 Jesus teaches us that He is the Vine and we are the branches, that He is our sole source of Life. In fact, Jesus says that “apart from Me you can do nothing.” Throughout John chapters 13 – 17 we see the theme of the indwelling Trinity, of God living in His People, of us being the Place where God lives. Therefore, we naturally ought to be loving as God loves, living in unity as God is One, and serving and going and giving as God in Jesus Christ goes and serves and gives.

 

As the Father is the Way of Life for Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ is our Way of Life.

 

“Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19).

 

To be transformed into the image of the Firstborn Son (Romans 8:29), is to be transformed into the cruciform, it is to live with arms outstretched to both embrace humanity and to receive its nails – this is the body (Body) language acceptable to God in our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence Paul writes, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).

 

Jesus gives us the posture of our commission when He says, “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

 

Here’s the thing dear friends, this is to be our Way of Life whether we are at work, with neighbors, involved in civic life, with family, in marriage, at school, at recreation or entertainment, or gathered with the saints in worship and koinonia and outreach. This is to be the Way of our bank accounts, our calendars, our resources, and the gifts that God has given us – the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ should form and inform all that we have, all that we do, all that we are; our marriages, our families, our friendships, our congregations, our missions.

 

As a holy Priesthood in Jesus Christ, we are both priest and sacrifice, and as such we are called to be set apart, sanctified, devoted, consecrated, for the sake of others, that they may be sanctified in truth (John 17:19; Romans 12:1 – 2). We are to present ourselves as living sacrifices, not being conformed to the present age, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that the perfect and acceptable and good will of God may be worked out in our lives, so that with Jesus we may say, so that in Jesus we may say, so that Jesus in His Body may say, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).

 

Is this the Way we are living?

 

Is this the Way our congregations are living?