Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”
What is the sanctifying word of truth that Jesus had in mind? I suggest from John 13-16, the context reveals that the word that God gave Jesus to give to His disciples that sets them (and us) apart to God and apart from this world is this word: “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you. Abide in my love.” I summarize that word with the phrase “live to love with Jesus.”
Jesus asked the Father to set His disciples apart, sanctify them, through His call to love with Him. It is love, the supernatural sustaining of the will toward the highest good of another, no matter what the cost, that sets them apart from everyone who is of the world. Yes, it is true that God’s word, in general, has a sanctifying affect. But the context of this passage reveals that Jesus had a specific “word” in mind, not merely the general word of God. He’s thinking of the specific word that the Father had given Him to give to them. The word that manifested the Father’s name that His disciples believed and received. That word was the new commandment to believe Jesus is God and love with Him.
Stop and think about how everyone who believes that Jesus is God and believes that God is love is believing the truth about God and about life. If God is love and Jesus is God, then what impact would that word have on those who believe? It would change everything! They would be set apart, sanctified out of this world and sanctified to God. As they lived to love with Jesus, it would reveal the truth that Jesus is God, is alive, and God is love! He has died and risen to life. He lives in them! Father, sanctify us with this truth; Your word is truth.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
So we who are following Jesus are in this world, but not of it, even as Jesus was in this world, but not of it. We do not lay in the power of the evil one even as Jesus did not lay in the power of the evil one.
Those who are of this world love themselves and this world. They will not lay down their lives in this world. In contrast, just as Jesus laid down His life in this world, knowing He had a better home and was going to His Father from which He came, so also those who are His willingly lay down their lives in this world, knowing they have a better home. They know this world is not their source of identity or life. They are going to their Father’s house in heaven from which they came.
Where is your identity? Is it with this world or with our Father in heaven? Jesus is from the Father in heaven and so are we if we live to love with Him.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”
This isn’t a new prayer. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, Matthew 6:13 “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Notice again the impact of these words on John as he wrote his first epistle. 1 John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” Those who are in and of the world do not believe and receive Jesus’ words and hate us because they lay in the power of the evil one. So as long as we are in this world manifesting the name and love of Jesus, we need to be kept from Satan’s power. And what is his power? It’s the power to steal, kill, and destroy. We can be confident that as long as we are in this world, as long as we are alive and live to love with Jesus, this prayer of Jesus will be answered. We will not be people who steal, kill, and destroy, but people who give generously, give and protect life, and restore, build up, and encourage.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
The world, those who will not believe and receive the words of God, hate those who speak God’s words. Why? Because the words of God are supernatural and authoritative. The words Jesus spoke were not of this world. If we believe and receive them, it reveals that we are from God, sent into this world by the same One who sent Jesus. As Jesus just said, John 17:6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” So when we speak Jesus’ words and love with Him, it reveals that we, like and with Jesus, are not of this world. We are called today to live to love with Jesus because like He is in this world, so also are we. John wrote. 1 John 4:17 “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.”

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.”
This verse parallels something Jesus told His disciples in John 15:11-12. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” Did you notice the difference? In 15:11, Jesus spoke the things He spoke to them so that Jesus’ joy would be in them and their joy be made full. In this verse, He spoke them so that His joy would be made full in them. When we put them together, both being true, we learn that the words the Father gave to Jesus to give to them were spoken so both Jesus’ and His followers’ joy would be made full in them.
Here’s the reasoning we can be encouraged by. We were created to enjoy God forever. When we enjoy God, He enjoys us. He has told us what He enjoys to the fullest, namely, Jesus, the Son, loving through those who are His own. So let us be encouraged by this: we contribute to and participate in God’s joy and glory as we let Him enjoy us as we enjoy Him by living to love with Jesus. Here’s the idea in an equation. Jesus loving +/with you loving = Jesus’ joy = your joy = the Father’s joy. Here’s another equation. You trying to love in your own strength -/without Jesus’ power to love = 0.
Let’s remind ourselves of the things Jesus spoke in the world so we may have His joy made full in ourselves. He said: Serve one another as I have served you. Love one another as I have loved you. If you believe in God, believe also in Me. My words and works are the words and work of the Father. I go to the Father to send the Holy Spirit to manifest My presence in the lives of all who are His and mine. The Father is the vinedresser, I am the one true vine, and you are the branches. Apart from Me you can do nothing. You are My friends. You can ask for anything you need to believe and love in My name directly from the Father, and I will do it. In this world, you’ll have tribulation, but I have made a place for you in Myself where you have peace.
We could not experience Jesus’ joy nor could His joy be made full if Jesus hadn’t come into this world, accomplished what He was sent to do, which was manifest the name of His Father, the name of love, and then return to His Father with the sacrifice of His life—all for the glory and joy of His Father. Let us rejoice as we live to love with Jesus!

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com