By The Power of Your Name

May 24, 2009   Seventh Sunday of Easter

John 17:11-19 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name– the name you gave me– so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 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. (NIV)

Specific Problems

This world is a dangerous place. We don’t always think of it in those terms, but there is all kinds of stuff happening around us all the time that is very dangerous. There is mayhem and turmoil all around us. Alligators in a local park. Drunk drivers on a holiday weekend. In a split second we can go from feeling safe and secure to being in a position no one desires: fear and trembling and uncertainty.

A first grade teacher remembers one October that she invited a member of the local fire department to bring a truck and talk to her class for Fire Safety Month. The firefighter instructed students what to do in case of a fire. He said, “First, go to the door and feel the door to see if it is hot. Then,” he said, “fall to your knees. Does anyone know why you ought to fall to your knees?” One of the first graders answered almost instantly, “Sure, to start praying to ask God to get us out of this mess!”

Diagnosis

That student had the right idea. We all want to get out of messes in our lives: profound disappointments, family fights, illnesses, financial shortfalls, periods of grief, temptations that you try to resist but they keep coming back. These things come to us all on a regular basis. It was just as true in the lives of the disciples after Jesus ascended. The world in which you and I live is especially dangerous to those who profess faith in Christ.

• It can be dangerous physically, as the Jewish leaders intended it to be for Jesus when they plotted with Judas to have Jesus arrested and crucified.
• It can be dangerous spiritually as it was when Judas allowed highly prized silver to blind him to the value of Jesus, or as it was to Peter when Jesus warned, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32)
• It can be dangerous to our unity as believers, as it was to the disciples trying to jostle for position just prior to this prayer of Jesus in our text. Like them, we are naturally drawn to jealousy, self-centeredness, pettiness, grudges, gossip, and even worse.

Possible Solutions

As these things occur in our lives, we often feel powerless to resist sin and the forces that are at work in us and in our world. We look for solutions. Some determine to go it alone and give up on everyone else. “It’s every man for himself!” Others decided to go along with the world and give up on God. I heard a situation described in which the mother of a young child who was dying had given up on God. A pastor was trying to comfort her by saying, “Isn’t it good to know that even thought the medical outlook is hopeless, we can have hope for our children in such a situation? We can be sure that after our child dies, he’ll be completely well and happy.” The mother responded, “If only I could believe that. But I don’t. When he dies, I’ll just have to cover him up with dirt and forget I ever had him.” Can you hear the despair, the inconsolable grief in her words?

Their Limitations

The possible solutions people try have their limitations. Whether you decide to go it on your own without God or go along with the world and abandon God, either option only multiplies the danger. They both separate you farther from God, from His protecting care, and from your brothers and sisters in Christ who can help you. That separation, whether it is from God or from His people, is wrong. It leaves you isolated. It is just as bad when Christians close ranks and withdraw from the world. That leaves the world in darkness with no help, no hope, the very opposite of why Jesus came.

The Gospel Answer

The better answer — the best answer — for dealing with a dangerous world is to be joined to your heavenly Father by faith. Jesus prayed, Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name … My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

One of the marks of a good family is that it offers a place of protection, safety and security. No matter what has happened in your life, you want to know that among your family you are safe. It is an environment where there is physical, emotional, social and psychological protection from the harshness of the world. To protect our families, we employ home security systems, automobile seat belts and air bags, immunizations, self-defense programs, neighborhood watch and much more. Good families go out of their way to provide protection for the members of the family. That is what every family should do. It is especially true of godly, Christian households.

In the household of God, we know we are covered. We have been granted the highest level of protection. In the face of a dangerous world, we know that we have the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ. His death through the crucifixion has provided us with deliverance from death. His rising to life in the resurrection is what assures us of victory over death and eternal life. By the power of His name, we are convinced that we are safe and secure in the household of God, no matter what problems the world may throw our way. Nothing can defeat us when we are joined to God, part of His family, through faith.

Encouragement

Knowing that you are in the family of God, you can be joyful in the best sense of the word. We rejoice and are happy and secure in the knowledge that for the sake of Jesus, we are forgiven members of God’s household. Even as we remain in the world, where Jesus wants us to live for Him, we can be examples and encouragers to others who still need to find the peace, joy and security we have in God’s family. And we have the promise that at any time, we can drop to our knees and do what that first grader encouraged: Pray to God to get us out of our mess, confident that He hears us for Jesus’ sake and will do what is best.