The Christian's Love/Hate Relationship with the World (A sermon)
John 17 is set in a context of Jesus praying. Though what follows is framed as a prayer, the instruction of the disciples that began in chapter 13 continues. An important theme in this prayer has to do with the relationship of Jesus’ disciples to the world: v. 6: “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. v. 9: “I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world. v. 11: “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. . . . protect them in your name that you have given me” v. 14: “the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world. v. 15: “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. v. 16: “They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.” v. 18: “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. vv. 22-23: “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that ...