Jesus’ Words in Red Sanctified

Jesus’ Words in Red 

Sanctified

For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

The world is full of apples

Some are green in hope of being ripe and fulfilled

Others are rotten because they missed the harvest

And some are red

The red apples are ripe and stand out to the harvester

They are the ones selected

The disciples were sanctified by the Word

The Word set them apart

They were different, they stood out like a red apple

Jesus not only selected them for heaven

But sanctified them, and us, to stay in the world

Setting us apart to be leaders

Leaders of truth so the harvest will increase    

Sanctified

The word Sanctified means: to make holy, i.e.

(ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate:

In other words it means to set apart.

Jesus is praying for His disciple and He says…

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”

The disciples stand out as

different than others in the world.

The reason He gives is…

“I have given them your word and

the world has hated them,…”

The Word of God has made the

disciples so different that Jesus says…

“…for they are not of the world

any more than I am of the world.”

You can pick a disciple out of a crowd.

They stand out.

If you have ever been in a group of

people and you felt uncomfortable…

You felt you did not belong…

You probably wished you were

not there and you were unhappy.

Jesus was like that in the world.

But Jesus was not unhappy.

Jesus says…

“I say these things while I am still in the world,

so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”

How could Jesus be full of joy in a

world that He was so different from?

The answer to that question

is very important to us.

Many Christians are unhappy, they

feel hopeless in the midst of the world.

They don’t like the people they

work with or their neighbors.

They don’t get along with anyone.

 The only place they feel good is in the church.

Jesus did not leave the disciples

in the world to be miserable.

And He did not leave us here to be unhappy.

Being sanctified or set apart

not only means we are different…

It means we are to be leaders.

Jesus said…

“For them I sanctify myself, that

they too may be truly sanctified.”

Jesus sanctification was to make us sanctified.

So what was Jesus’ joy?

Was it hanging around

the prostitutes and taverns?

No, Jesus hated the lifestyle

of the world and sin.

What He loved was seeing people set free, “set apart”

“sanctified”, from the world’s destructive life style.

Jesus describes this joy in Luke 15:10…

“I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence

of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." 

Jesus was not just different, He stood out

as a leader to lead others to be different.

Jesus prays that they be…

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

Be set apart by truth.

God’s Word is truth and the scriptures say…

“Let God be true , and every man a liar. As it is written:

"So that you may be proved right when you speak

and prevail when you judge."  

Romans 3:4

The world is living in a lie.

Some love the deception

and others are lost in it.

Jesus’ prayer is for the disciples who are now

different then the world because of the Word of God.

That sets them apart.

But because of the Word, Jesus sets them

apart to lead others in the world to the truth.

For the disciples, and for you

and I, Jesus wants us to…

“have the full measure of my joy within them.”

Jesus carried that joy all the way to thee cross.

Hebrews 12:2-3

2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Don’t lose heart.

 Don’t blend back into the crowd.

Rejoice that Jesus has sanctified you

to reach the world with the truth.

When the world makes life uncomfortable remember…

 

"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,

because great is your reward in heaven”

Luke 6:23

Scripture Reading

John 17:13-19 NIV

13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.