Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 17:19 “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”
There’s a false narrative floating around in the world that Jesus died because He spoke truth to power, not because He was the Father’s sacrifice of atonement to take away sins. This verse exposes and condemns the lie. The truth, right out of the mouth of the Son of God is this. Unlike priests who sanctified both the temple and the offerings unto God, Jesus as our high priest, sanctified Himself, as the offering unto God. He was not a victim. Nothing happened to Him that was not in His control. He set His body, soul, and spirit apart from the common uses in this world and set Himself apart to His Father’s will and purpose.
Jesus was sent into this world by the Father to lay down His life to satisfy divine justice on behalf of those whom the Father gave to Him before the world existed. And this is love: the sustained direction of the will toward their highest good, no matter what the cost. The sustained direction of the will is what it means to sanctify. Jesus determined to love His disciples with the Father, so they could be sanctified in truth and love His own with Him. We are here today because God answered Jesus’ prayer. They were sanctified in truth by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the impact of which has powerfully continued to this day and will continue to the end of this world.

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

John 17:18 “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
Jesus was sent to be the exact representation of the Father, God. His passion was and is the glory of His Father. He manifested the Father’s name, the name of love. He was not alone. He came to love with His Father. He could do nothing apart from His Father. He received the words the Father gave to Him and faithfully gave them to His disciples. In the same way, Jesus sent His disciples into the world to carry His life in them. Their passion was the glory of God revealed in Christ. They prayed and spoke in Jesus’ name, the name of love. They were not alone. They went into the world to love with Jesus. They could do nothing apart from Him. They received the words of Jesus and faithfully gave them to Jesus’ disciples. All these things were true of those first disciples, and they are also true of all who are His disciples throughout the ages—all the way down to us.
Jesus lived in the power of the Holy Spirit because He gave the Father access to all of His humanity. All believers have the same power source dwelling within them. The love of God flows through them as they give Jesus unlimited access to their humanity. Jesus was sent into the world with the life of God dwelling within Him. Jesus has sent us into the world also with the life of God dwelling in us—the life of Jesus Christ, Himself. This is the miracle of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! He came to bring us to God so that the life of God could be revealed in us as we live to love with Jesus. So today let’s remember. We have been sent into the world just as Jesus was sent into the world for the glory of God.

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

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