Pondering Life : Pursuing God

Supporting Scripture

2 Samuel 7:28
And now, O Lord GOD, You are God! Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant.

Ephesians 5:26
to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

Select Commentary

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) Sanctify them through thy truth.–Better, in Thy truth. Truth was the sphere in which their sanctification was to take place. They had through Christ received the Father’s word, which was truth, and had passed into a new region of life, separate from the world (John 17:6-8; John 17:14-16). He has prayed that the Father would preserve them in this, and now He prays further that the Father would in this new region of life set them apart for the work to which He had sent them (John 17:18).

The idea at the root of the word rendered “sanctify,” is not holiness, but separation. It is opposed not to what is impure, but to what is common, and is constantly used in the Greek of the Old Testament for the consecration of persons and things to the service of God. Hence our Lord can use it of Himself in John 10:36, and in this context (John 17:19; these are the only places where it occurs in St. John’s writings). He was Himself “set apart and sent into the world.” He has to send them into the world in the same way (John 17:18, and John 10:36), and prays that they may be in the same way consecrated for their work. . . .

MacLaren Expositions

The position of alienation from the world, in which the disciples stand by reason of their assimilation to Jesus, is repeated here. It was the reason for the former prayer, ‘keep’; it is the reason for the new petition, ‘sanctify.’ Keeping comes first, and then sanctifying, or consecration. Security from evil is given that we may be wholly devoted to the service of God. The evil in the world is the great hindrance to that. The likeness to Jesus is the great ground of hope that we shall be truly consecrated. We are kept ‘in the name’; we are consecrated ‘in the truth,’ which is the revelation made by Jesus, and in a very deep sense is Himself. That truth is, as it were, the element in which the believer lives, and by abiding in which his real consecration is possible.

Christ’s prayer for us should be our aim and deepest desire for ourselves, and His declaration of the condition of its fulfilment should prescribe our firm adhesion to, and constant abiding in, the truth as revealed and embodied in Him, as the only means by which we can attain the consecration which is at once, as the closing verses of the passage tell us, the means by which we may fulfil the purpose for which we are sent into the world, and the path on which we reach complete assimilation to His perfect self-surrender. All Christians are sent into the world by Jesus, as Jesus was sent by the Father. We have the charge to glorify Him. We have the presence of the Sender with us, the sent. We are inspired with His Spirit. We cannot do His work without that entire consecration which shall copy His devotion to the Father and eager swiftness to do His will. How can such ennobling and exalted consecration be ours? There is but one way. He has ‘consecrated Himself,’ and by union with Him through faith, our selfishness may be subdued, and the Spirit of Christ may dwell in our hearts, to make us ‘living sacrifices, consecrated and acceptable to God.’ Then shall we be truly ‘consecrated,’ and then only, when we can say, ‘I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ That is the end of Christ’s consecration of Himself-the prayer which He prayed for His disciples-and should be the aim which every disciple earnestly pursues.

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
17:17-19 Christ next prayed for the disciples, that they might not only be kept from evil, but made good. It is the prayer of Jesus for all that are his, that they may be made holy. Even disciples must pray for sanctifying grace. The means of giving this grace is, through thy truth, thy word is truth. Sanctify them, set them apart for thyself and thy service. Own them in the office; let thy hand go with them. Jesus entirely devoted himself to his undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially the offering up himself without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. The real holiness of all true Christians is the fruit of Christ’s death, by which the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased; he gave himself for his church, to sanctify it. If our views have not this effect on us, they are not Divine truth, or we do not receive them by a living and a working faith, but as mere notions.

My Pondering

Jesus Christ uttered these words as His with His chosen friends was drawing to a close in this mission. He knows we humans oft get confused living in this dichotomous fallen world.

This statement is part of a prayer Jesus made directly with His disciples and be assured, it also applies to His modern day disciples which hopefully include you and I trust me, this writer.

15I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.c 16They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. 18As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.

John 17:15-19

From this passage, comes this tried and true saying.

🌎 Be IN the world 🌍

but

💫 not OF the world 🌟

Jesus want us to be dialed in and laser focused on the purpose we were created for. In order to do that, we must be in the Word to remain in the world without getting lost. We need it’s directing truth. It’s the truth from God which will set us free; Godly wisdom first, foremost and last.

My reader, how often do you eat food?

My 5 times a day? A couple daily meals and some snacks?

Our soul needs regularly spiritual nourishment just as our stomach calls for physical nourishment.

A couple holidays a year or even weekly partakings is no where near enough enrichment. No sir and ma’am, that is severe malnourishment, perhaps walking dead. We need to be consuming God’s spiritual truth regularly as we do eating and drinking.

My Prayer

Good God, feed Your sheep. Make me hungry for your divine food. I require Your truth and nourishment.