November 12, 2025 • 42 mins
In this message from John 17:17–26, David Platt encourages us to look beyond the walls of the church to a world in great spiritual need.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly
podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author,
and teacher David Platt.
SPEAKER_01 (00:13):
As we dive into this chapter for the last time in
this series on what it means tomake disciples of all nations, I
want us to start by reviewingand then do something a little
different before we dive intothe word.
We've walked through up to thispoint three different components
of disciple making.
(00:33):
You've got in your notes andyour celebration guide there the
first three components ofdisciple making.
Don't forget, that doesn'tnecessarily mean these are
chronological, but the threecomponents of disciple making
that we have been looking at.
First one is to share the word,second one is to show the word,
and the third one is to teachthe word, which we dove into
(00:53):
last week.
And the final component ofdisciple making that we're going
to dive into this morning, afteras we share the word, we show
the word and we teach the word,we serve the world.
What I want us to do before weread from John 17 is I want us
to get a picture in our mindabout how all of these connect
together.
(01:14):
We've been looking into each oneof these facets of disciple
making, and I hope, realizingthat this is this is something
that's intended to take place,carry out in our lives on a
daily basis, in our everydaylives.
We've been talking every weekabout the people God has
entrusted to us to share hisword with and to show his word
to and to teach his word to,that God has given us people
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right here to do that with.
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Watch this with me.
Praise the Lord.
This is where it works.
What we do here, what we dothere, they come together and
we're impacting the world forthe glory of Christ.
Maybe this mission is what we'resupposed to give ourselves to.
So let's dive in.
I want us to see how these threecomponents we've talked about,
sharing the word, showing theword, teaching the word, relate
(02:19):
to this final component, servingthe world, come together in a
picture, a process calleddisciple making.
I want you to look with me atJohn chapter 17, and we're gonna
we're gonna read uh starting inverse 17, and we're gonna go to
the end of the chapter, andwe're gonna see basically the
conclusion of Jesus' prayerspecifically for his disciples
in verse 17, 18, and 19.
(02:40):
And then we're gonna see howthat prayer plays out in the
lives of believers that wouldcome, succeeding generation of
disciples, including you and me.
Look in verse 17.
Jesus prays, Sanctify them bythe truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, Ihave sent them into the world.
For them I sanctify myself, thatthey too may be truly
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sanctified.
My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who willbelieve in me through their
message, that all of them may beone, Father, just as you are in
me and I am in you.
May they also be in us, so thatthe world may believe that you
have sent me.
I have given them the glory thatyou gave me, that they made me
one as we are one, I in them,and you in me.
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May they be brought to completeunity, to let the world know
that you sent me and have lovedthem even as you loved me.
Father, I want those you havegiven me to be with me where I
am and to see my glory, theglory you have given me because
you loved me before the creationof the world.
Righteous Father, though theworld does not know you, I know
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you, and they know that you havesent me.
I have made you known to them,and will continue to make you
known, in order that the loveyou have for me may be in them,
and that I myself may be inthem.
Here's the climax Jesus and hisdisciples, what he has done in
their life, now reproduced inthe lives of others.
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And what I want you to notice isin those verses we read over and
over again, you see, well, yousee a couple different phrases
repeated, but there's one word Iwant us to focus on, and it's
the word world.
When you look at this chapter asa whole, nearly 20 times Jesus
mentions the world, almost 20times.
And even in the last part here,he mentions it over and over and
(04:30):
over again.
Look in verse 13, and you mightcircle or put a box or a
triangle or something aroundthese words, because we've been
circling a lot of differentwords, so you might want to do
it in a way that differentiatesit from the others.
But I want you to circle or makesome kind of note every time you
see the world mentioned.
Look in verse 13.
He says, I am coming to you now,but I say these things while I'm
still in the what?
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In the world.
Look in verse 14, threedifferent times.
I have given them your word, andthe world has hated them.
For they are not of the worldany more than I am of the world.
Then in verse 15, my prayer isnot that you take them out of
the world, but that you protectthem.
You get down to verse 16.
They are not of the world, evenas not I am not of it.
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And that it at the end of verse16 is the world in the original
language of the New Testament,in the Greek, it's mentioned
there.
So you've got twice there inverse 16.
And you get to 18, which wasjust read, as I have sent them
into the world.
As you have sent me into theworld, I have sent them into the
world.
And you get down to verse 21.
It says, May they also be in us,so that the world may believe
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that you have sent me.
Verse 23, I and them, and youand me, may they be brought to
complete unity to let the worldknow that you sent me.
And then in verse 25, RighteousFather, though the world does
not know you, I know you, andthey know that you have sent me.
Over and over and over again, wesee the world emphasized in this
prayer.
Jesus had said earlier in theprayer, I'm not praying for the
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world, I'm praying for thedisciples.
But we know that he was prayingfor the disciples through which
the world would come to know whohe was, through which the world
would come to know his father'slove.
And so obviously, there's anemphasis here on the end goal of
disciple making, being the worldknowing that God is good and
gracious and merciful.
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And so, what I want us to do isI want us to unpack in this
final component of disciplemaking the end goal, the
ultimate purpose of disciplemaking, where it's all headed,
and I want us to look at it on afew different levels.
Understanding the goal ofdisciple making.
Number one, we are sanctified.
We are sanctified for eachother's sake.
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We are sanctified for eachother's sake.
Now I want you to hear that inJesus' words right at the end of
his prayer, specifically for hisdisciples.
Obviously, the context ofmission is pretty strong.
Jesus says, as you sent me intothe world, Father, I am sending
them into the world.
So this is obviously a prettymissional picture.
But don't miss it.
Verse 18 is kind of sandwichedin between two verses talking
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about sanctification.
It says in verse 17, sanctifythem by the truth.
Then he gives this incrediblymissional statement in verse 18,
and then in verse 19 it says,For them I sanctify myself, that
they too may be trulysanctified.
So this idea of sanctificationis sandwiched in between.
Now, last week we talked abouthow the word was the means by
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which we're sanctified, but wesaid we're going to wait until
this week to really dive intothe meaning of sanctification.
What is sanctification?
And it's at this point we needto realize that the whole of
Scripture basically shows usthat to sanctify something means
to set it apart for a specialpurpose, to fulfill a special
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calling, a special purpose, somekind of service.
So something is set apart forthat purpose.
That is what sanctification is.
You go back to the OldTestament, even the sacrificial
system, and you have Exoduschapter 28 and 29 talking about
how Aaron and his sons needed tobe sanctified.
A word it's sometimes used inthe Old Testament is
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consecrated, set apart forexclusive service to God as
priests.
You see that over and overagain.
People are sanctified, set apartfor exclusive service like that.
Then you see things that arementioned that are sanctified,
they're set apart for exclusiveservice to accomplish some
purpose.
Now that's the meaning ofsanctification we see over and
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over and over again in the OldTestament.
And this is huge for us to getour arms around.
Because sanctification orholiness is most often described
in Scripture as being set apartfor a specific purpose, set
apart to do certain things.
But the way we oftentimes viewholiness and sanctification, we
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view it as we're set apart toavoid certain things.
If you're holy, that means youdon't do this and this and this
and this.
And we define holiness and wedefine sanctification by not
doing wrong things.
As long as you avoid thesethings that we would all
consider would be major sins inour culture today, then you're
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holy.
And at that point, I've got towonder if we are the only
organization in the world, inthe church, that is defining
success based on what we don'tdo instead of what we do do.
Are we really a people that willonly be known for what we
abstain from?
I don't think that's thebiblical picture of
sanctification here.
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Picture is not us, us living ourlives to avoid all these things.
That's nowhere in this prayer ofJesus.
Yes, he said they are not of theworld, but he said they are
right in the middle of theworld.
And we are sanctified not toavoid certain things, we are
sanctified in order to docertain things, to give
ourselves an exclusive serviceto God.
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Exclusive service to hismission.
That's what Jesus is sayingright here.
When Jesus says, I sanctifymyself, it's not that Jesus is
making himself more pure or moreholy.
That's not what he's saying.
He was completely holy, the Sonof God, no sin in him
whatsoever.
So how can he sanctify himself?
What he's saying is hecontinually devoted himself to
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the mission that the Father hadgiven to him.
He was exclusively devoted tothat mission.
And so what I want us to thinkabout when we think about
sanctification is not avoidingwrong things, it's giving
ourselves to something.
What do we give ourselves to?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
When we are sanctified, we arededicated, dedicated,
consecrated.
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We are dedicated to the purposeof disciple making for others'
transformation.
Now that's a pretty loadedsentence, and I want us to think
about it.
We are dedicated.
That's what it means tosanctify, set apart for a
special purpose, dedicated tothe purpose.
What's our purpose?
What we're seeing in the contextof this whole chapter is our
purpose is to make disciples ofall nations.
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We see that in all of theGospels.
It infiltrates Scripture fromcover to cover.
We're supposed to make his gloryknown by reproducing the image
of Christ that's been entrustedto us.
That is the purpose, that is thewill of God for all of our lives
as believers.
And so we are dedicated, setapart to that purpose.
But listen to what Jesus says.
He says in verse 19, hesanctifies himself for who?
(11:14):
For them I sanctify myself, thatthey too may be truly
sanctified.
So Jesus says, I set myselfapart in service to the mission
of the Father so that they mightbe sanctified.
He dedicates himself to thepurpose of making these
disciples so that they might besanctified.
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The term right there in the verybeginning of verse 19, for them,
it's a term that is used indifferent parts of the Old
Testament and the Greektranslation there, when it's
talking about sacrifices, likethe atonement, Day of Atonement,
when an animal was offered on asacrifice for the people, on
behalf of the people.
That's what Jesus is saying.
He's saying we give ourselves tothe mission of the Father for
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the sake of others.
And this is where we arereminded so clearly that the
reason we make disciples, thereason this mission must be
primary in our lives and in thelocal church, it's because of
others' sake.
And I'm convinced this is one ofthe reasons we have such a
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dangerous tendency to ignoredisciple making, because
somewhere along the way we'vegotten the idea that the purpose
of the church is to help us growin Christ.
And I don't think that's thepurpose of the church.
I don't believe the purpose ofthe church is to help us grow in
Christ.
The purpose of the church is toequip us to help others grow in
Christ.
Because if the purpose of thechurch is to help us grow in
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Christ, then what we do in hereis for the sake of us in this
room.
But ladies and gentlemen, we arenot living for ourselves.
We are living for the sake of alost and dying world outside
these walls.
And we live for them.
We've got to get a hold of thefact that this whole Christian
picture is not about you and me.
It's about people whose livesare at stake for eternity based
on what we do with the gospelthat's been entrusted to us.
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We dedicate ourselves to thepurpose of disciple making so
that others might betransformed.
But I want you to see this fromanother angle as well.
Not only do we dedicateourselves to this purpose so
that others might betransformed, this is where it
gets really good.
And this is the crux of disciplemaking.
We've got to get a hold of this.
Second, we are dependent on thisprocess called disciple making
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for our own transformation.
We are dependent on the processof disciple making for our own
transformation.
And when you get to verse 19,what we've got is a picture of
Jesus sanctifying himself as thedisciples are being sanctified.
It's the discipler and thedisciple being sanctified at the
same time.
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This is a picture in thisprocess of disciple making.
Jesus is sanctified.
He sanctifies himself, and thedisciples are truly sanctified.
It goes together.
Now we begin to realize thatthis whole process of disciple
making, living for the sake ofothers, sharing the word,
showing the word, teaching theword with others, actually is a
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part of the process of usbecoming more holy and becoming
more set apart to the service ofGod.
Could it be that disciple makingis the process that God wants to
use in every single one of ourlives to produce holiness in our
Christianity?
I am increasingly convinced,especially in the study we've
been walking through over thelast few weeks, I am
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increasingly convinced that wewill be destined to live dull,
complacent Christianity.
As long as we live our livesapart from this command to make
disciples.
Because we will only go so far,I am convinced every single one
of us will stall in ourChristian lives until we begin
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to rise up and takeresponsibility for sharing the
word and showing the word andteaching the word to others.
I think the evidence is allacross the pews of churches this
morning.
Because we ignore this mission,this responsibility.
We don't have to know thegospel.
We don't have to show thegospel.
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We don't have to teach thegospel.
But when we give ourselves tothis mission, it will radically
change our walk with Christ.
Had conversations with many ofyou, gotten emails as catching
it.
Okay, one email that sticks outto me from one person in this
faith family who has beensharing the gospel over the last
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couple of weeks with a friend.
And the email talked about howhe was seeing his own faith grow
leaps and bounds, how peoplearound him were making remarks
about his walk with Christbecause he was now taking the
responsibility to share Christwith this friend.
And he was realizing I gotta getin the Word, I gotta know this
and that in order to do this.
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He is going to new heights inhis walk with Christ.
Why?
Because he's now living for thesake of others.
We are dependent on the processof disciple making.
That's why the worst thing wecould say when we walk out of
here after this series is tosay, Well, once I get to a
certain point in myChristianity, then I'll be ready
to do what David is telling usto do from the Word.
If we say that, we miss thewhole point of making disciples.
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If we wait until we arrive atthat point where we're now ready
to make disciples, we'll neverget there.
We will stall down here for therest of our Christianity.
And it's possible, don't missit.
It is possible for us to coastout and successful, avoiding
things for holiness,Christianity, and never give
ourselves a dismission.
However, when we rise up and westart to do this, not when we
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wait until we arrive at thatpoint, we say, I want to get to
that point.
Could it be that God wants touse the process of disciple
making to get you to that pointthat you're imagining?
I read an article not too longago from a prominent youth
magazine, and it was talkingabout how we shouldn't tell
students to make disciples.
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Because students aren't ready tomake disciples.
They're not at a point wherethey're they are able
spiritually mature to do that.
And I want you to know thatwe've got a group of students
that is debunking this articlecompletely with the way they're
living their lives right now.
Wish you could hear some of thestories that are coming out in
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these guys' lives.
Here's the beauty of it.
What the writer of that articleor anybody along those lines
thinks is what they're missingout on is the fact that it's
when students begin to rise upand take responsibility for
sharing the word in the school,in their schools, showing the
word in their schools.
Here's what the character ofChrist looks like, teaching the
word to their friends likethey're doing on their ball
teams and in their in theirclass with their classmates.
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When they start doing that,their Christianity is going to
new heights, that it could nevergo apart from this mission.
Now, if that's happening tothem, what about us?
We've got to get that picture.
We're dependent on the processof disciple making for our own
transformation.
The beauty of it is, when wegive away our life, we find
life.
Now that sounds New Testament,doesn't it?
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It makes sense.
Philemon 1.6, this whole sharethe word thing, Philemon 1.6, I
pray that you may be active insharing your faith so that you
might have a full understandingof every good thing you have in
Christ Jesus.
You won't have a fullunderstanding of the gospel
until you start to share thegospel, Philemon 1.6 says.
Show the word, takingresponsibility for showing his
character, teaching the word.
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We talked about that last week.
How the more we we have to teachthe word, the more we have to
learn the word.
This goes together.
We are sanctified for eachother's sake.
For them, I sanctify myself sothat they may truly be
sanctified.
God help us to live ourChristianity for the sake of
those around us.
We're sanctified for eachother's sake.
Second, we are servants.
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We are servants for the world'ssake.
We're servants for the world'ssake.
Now, I want you to see thisunfold in the theme that we see
all throughout this chapterabout how Jesus had been sent
from the Father.
Obviously, it's the thrust ofverse 18.
As you sent me into the world, Ihave sent them into the world.
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But then you look down in verse21.
Jesus reiterates it again.
Said, All of them may be one,Father, just as you are in me
and I am in you.
May they also believe in us, sothe world may believe that you
have sent me.
Then you get down to verse 23.
He says it again.
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Verse 25, he says, RighteousFather, the world doesn't know
you, I know you, and they knowthat you have sent me.
This is a picture we seethroughout the Gospel of John.
That Jesus had been sent on amission.
For God so loved the world thathe what?
Gave his one and only son.
He sent his one and only son.
Very next verse, verse 17.
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God did not send the world andthe son to condemn the world,
but through the world thatthrough him the world might be
saved.
That's why he sent.
Jesus was sent with a commissionto be the Savior of the world.
He summarized it.
Mark 10, 45.
I came not to be served, but todo what?
But to serve.
I am sent to give my life as aransom for many.
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Jesus was sent.
This was his whole commission,sent from the Father to serve.
And the disciples had seen thatplayed out, even just a couple
of chapters before.
As Jesus knelt down and hewashed their feet.
And here the Savior of theworld, their rabbi, the teacher,
who is about to die on a cross,God Himself in the flesh, kneels
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down and he begins to wipe theirdirty feet.
And he'd seen it over and overand over again.
The way he served the crowd, theway he gave his life, the way he
held so loosely to the thingsthat they thought were so
important in this world.
And the way he embraced poverty,the way he embraced spiritual
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things in a way that they hadnever seen before.
That was his whole purpose.
He was sent to be a servant.
But here's where it gets reallygood.
When you get to verse 18, andJesus says, Just as the Father,
you have sent me into the world,now I send them into the world.
And now what Jesus is talkingabout and his mission sent from
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the Father relates to you andme.
I want you to see how thisunfolds.
Number one, Jesus is identifyingus here with his mission.
Jesus is identifying us with hismission, just as you sent me
into the world, so now I amsending them into the world.
Over and over again in thischapter, he's identifying the
disciples with him.
Look back in verse 14.
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He said, I have given them yourword, and the world has hated
them, for they're not of theworld any more than I am of the
world.
We're the same.
You get to verse 16, he says,they're not of the world, even
as I am not of it.
We're on the same wavelength.
You get over to verse 21 through23, it's a whole picture of the
comparison that we have withChrist.
Him and us, and us and him.
Everything that Christ receivedor was treated as in this world,
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we can expect the same.
We are identified with hismission.
Now, the neat thing, when youget to verse 18 there, as you
sent me into the world, I'vesent them into the world.
That word is the word apostello,from which we get the word
apostle.
Literally means sent ones.
Now in the New Testament, we seeapostles referred to in
different ways.
Obviously, the primaryterminology when we see an
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apostle referred to is those whoare eyewitnesses of Jesus, 12
apostles.
These are people who areeyewitnesses to Christ.
However, it also is used in theNew Testament to refer to how
other believers are sent out.
We are sent as representativeswho identify with the mission of
Christ.
And this was at the thrust ofthese guys' entire process of
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discipleship.
I want you to hold your placehere, and I want you to turn me
back to Mark chapter 3.
Look at Mark chapter 3.
I want to give you anopportunity maybe to circle a
few different places where yousee Jesus using the same term
and his identification with thedisciples.
This is Mark chapter 3, the verybeginning of Jesus' relationship
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with these guys.
It's when he's appointing them.
I want you to hear what he saysto them in verse 14.
Well, we'll start in verse 13,just to make sure we've got the
context.
Look at Mark chapter 3, verse13.
Jesus went up on a mountainsideand called to him those he
wanted, and they came to him.
So this is this is the beginninghere.
And he appointed twelve,designating them what?
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Apostles, that they might bewith him and that he might do
what?
Send them out to preach and tohave authority to drive out
demons.
These are the twelve heappointed, and he gives their
names.
They were appointed for apurpose to be sent out.
Now go over one book to theright, and you go to Luke
chapter 9.
Look at Luke chapter 9.
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I want you to see what Jesusdoes.
He's walking around with theseguys, he's showing them how this
mission looks with the way he'sliving.
Then you get to Luke chapter 9,verse 1 and 2.
And listen to what Jesus does.
He pulls them together and hesays, Luke chapter 9, verse 1,
when Jesus had called the 12together, he gave them power and
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authority to drive out alldemons and to cure diseases, and
he sent them out to preach thekingdom of God and to heal the
sick.
Here he is, sending them out,just as he had said he was going
to do.
Then you come back to Johnchapter 17.
Go to John 20.
Look at John chapter 20.
Why don't you look at verse 21?
This is after Jesus has died onthe cross.
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He rose from the grave.
And he's speaking to hisdisciples.
And what does he say?
It says in John chapter 20,verse 21.
He showed them his hands and hisside.
It says in verse 21, Jesus said,Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, I amsending you.
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So the picture is thesedisciples were identified with
the exact same mission thatJesus had identified himself
with.
And that is an incrediblethought.
John 3.16 really comes alive atthis point.
God so loved the world that hesent his one and only Son.
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Could it be that God so lovedthe world that he sends you and
me?
We are identified with the verymission of Christ.
We have an identical purpose ashim.
And this is a much greaterpurpose than living for the next
dollar or living for the biggerhouse or the bigger car.
This is a much greater purpose.
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This is a mission that Christgave himself to, and we were
identified with.
Second, he empowers us for hismission.
He empowers us for his mission.
You saw it in all those verses.
Luke chapter 9, when he'ssending these guys out, he says,
I give you authority to driveout demons.
I give you the authority todrive out spirits.
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These guys do that in Lukechapter 10.
You go and study that passage,and some of you will be doing
that in the small groups thatyou're in.
Luke chapter 10, they go out andthey're they're seeing demons
cast out of people, and they'reseeing people healed, and they
come back and they're like,Jesus, you were right.
This is pretty cool.
You have empowered us to dothis.
It wasn't just Jesus doing itanymore.
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They were getting a glimpse ofwhat would happen when he
ascended into heaven and theHoly Spirit would be on them and
they would be empowered for thismission.
He said, You've got myauthority, my full sponsorship.
We'll see that next week in theGreat Commission, even deeper.
Everything I have is yours toaccomplish this mission.
He empowers them to do mission.
Not only did Jesus model forthem how to do this mission, but
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he empowered them to do it.
It was on-the-job training atits best.
He empowered them.
And third, Jesus unites us inhis mission.
The petition that dominates thelast part of this prayer.
May they be one as we are one.
Now it's at this point that wecould easily go off into a
sermon on how the church needsto be unified.
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And here's what we need to do inorder to be unified.
But what we've got to realize inJohn chapter 17 is he is not
praying for some contrived,manufactured unity that we can
create.
What he is saying is that whenmy people give themselves to the
mission I am identified withthem, then they will be unified.
And this is good.
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Could it be that though we coulddo all kinds of things in a
church like this to promoteunity and to try to manufacture
unity?
Could it be that when we all asa faith family surrender our
lives to the mission of makingdisciples, that we won't have
time to fight with each otherbecause we'll be fighting the
needs in a lost and dying worldwith the gospel of Jesus Christ?
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Could it be that unity iscompromised in the church only
when mission is compromised inthe church?
And if we give ourselves tomission, the byproduct is unity.
He unites us in his mission.
This is what we do (28:02):
Him in every single one of us accomplishing
his purpose.
Now, that's what Jesus does withhis disciples.
He identifies them with hismission, empowers them, and then
he unites them.
Now I want us to think about howthat looks in the way we carry
out this command to makedisciples.
This whole idea that we've beentalking about, dedicated to the
(28:24):
purpose of disciple making,dependent on this process for
our own transformation.
Could it be that God wants us,with the people God has
entrusted to us, to serve theworld with them?
Could it be that what we'reseeing in scripture here is that
it's not just that we'resupposed to serve the world,
it's that we're supposed toequip others to serve the world
(28:45):
with us.
Because if it stops with us,then we've done addition as
opposed to multiplication whereit's spreading through us.
We identify people, people thatGod has put in our our lives.
How can we serve with them?
Instead of just teaching themthe word in a classroom, we take
(29:06):
advantage of opportunities to goand serve with them.
And we empower them to serve.
We enable them to serve, we helpthem to serve.
And in the process, we findourselves in a unity, a
community that nothing in thisworld can even begin to touch.
I know in my own life, thepicture that kept coming to my
mind as I was reading this andpraying and studying this, was,
(29:32):
and you and you've heard me talkabout French Quarter ministry.
I want you to picture this.
Going into the French Quarter inNew Orleans and sharing the
gospel and trying to be a partof making disciples.
I remember when this firststarted to click with me, when I
invited two guys to go alongwith me.
And I walk away from the FrenchQuarter, and these guys have
(29:53):
caught it.
They are zealous.
Man, we need to be down hereevery day.
I'm like, I can't do every day.
They say, Well, we're gonna doEvery day.
And so they start to catch it.
They start to see the need.
And so I go down there with themand along the way pass on
anything that I've learned overgoing down in the French quarter
and the time I'd been downthere.
(30:13):
And then before long, I'mrealizing that I've got to step
it up in order to keep theseguys going.
Now this process is actuallyaffecting my own transformation
to the point where these guysare going to surpass me.
It's just I'm doing the best Ican, but they're going to
surpass me.
And the beauty of it is thatthey begin to take leadership in
(30:35):
that ministry.
They begin to pour their livesinto these guys.
And now I'm teaching a seminaron disciple making miles away.
And one of the guys that I'dtaken down to the French Quarter
brings some of the homeless guysthat he's investing his life
into this disciple makingseminar to learn disciple
making.
Now this picture's starting tomultiply.
And ladies and gentlemen, thatguy, one of those guys that was
(30:57):
going down with me and hearthis.
I messed up plenty of timesalong the way.
It's the beauty of this processof disciple making.
This guy is now organizing anentire home for homeless men and
women to go from New Orleans toreceive help that they need with
all their addictions and alltheir struggles and gospel
teaching.
This thing works.
(31:19):
God does have this thing riggedfor us to depend on others for
our own transformation and us tosee his glory revealed in ways
we never could have seen before.
It's the beauty of how thisworks.
We empower each other inmission.
Now at that point, we'rerealizing that this can't take
(31:39):
place in the walls of onebuilding at one location in a
couple hours during the week.
That's not a full picture ofdiscipline.
We are seeing that, right?
Then I want us to take a littlepause.
And I want to put before us aquestion that I think we need to
(31:59):
ask in the church.
And the question is this are wediscipling or are we
disinfecting?
Are we discipling or are wedisinfecting?
Some of you're thinking, what doyou mean?
Well, glad you asked.
Disinfecting.
What I mean by that,disinfecting isolates a
(32:22):
Christian in a spiritual safetydeposit box called the church
building and teaches him or herto be good.
Disinfecting isolates aChristian in a spiritual safety
deposit box called the churchbuilding and teaches him or her
to be good.
And when we do that, success isdependent on how big a building
(32:46):
we can get to have as manypeople as we can come inside.
So that I read another articlethis last week from a well-known
church leader talking about how,as a pastor, Dave, you need to
dream big.
Picture the thousands of peoplethat can come into your place
and plan for that.
(33:08):
So we we we put all ourresources and energy into that
kind of picture and we bringthem in, and our goal is to help
us be good.
Let's avoid the things that theworld has avoided or that the
world needs to avoid.
Let's be holy, separate, right?
If that's the case, if that'swhat church is about, then we've
(33:29):
got to realize what we wereproducing.
The results are pretty clear.
Number one, the results aredecent church members with
little world impact.
Some of you think that might bea little too strong.
But I believe the proof of thepoint is in the fact that the
majority of the Christians inour culture have no more world
(33:54):
impact today than they did theday before they were saved.
We isolate ourselves in thisquarantined building where the
world is as big as our eyes cansee around here, and all our
energy is made to focus on whatis going on in here.
And as a result, we areinsulated from the spiritual
(34:15):
lostness of the world around us.
And we have little to no impacton our community and the world
with the gospel.
Second, it gets deeper.
Not only do we result in decentcitizens with little world
impact, but second, disobedienceto God's command to reach the
entire world with his gospel.
And we sit in our walls with theGreat Commission, celebrated,
(34:38):
but completely ignored with theway we're living.
And as a result, we'redisobedient to his command to
reach the world with his gospel.
We are decent people with decentfamilies and decent homes and
decent jobs, decent citizens,but nowhere in Scripture is that
(34:58):
what we are supposed to produce.
We are supposed to producedisciples of Jesus Christ who
were radically wholehearted, setapart for the purpose of God to
make disciples of all nations.
Maybe the most tragic result isnot decent citizens with little
world impact and disobedience toGod's command, but I think the
most tragic result may just be awasted life.
(35:24):
A picture where Christianity isall about self-absorption, where
we focus on pastor dream big,bring thousands of people into
your building while there's abillion people who haven't even
heard his name.
I think that misses the mark.
(35:45):
Ladies and gentlemen, I believethat is a far cry from the
discipling process of Jesus.
What is discipling then?
Well, instead of isolating aChristian in a spiritual safety
deposit box called the churchbuilding, teaching him or her to
be good, could it be thediscipling propels a Christian
into the world to risk his orher life for the sake of others?
Now that's holiness.
(36:05):
That's a picture of set apartfor a purpose.
And that is a radicallydifferent way to look at church
because now church is not basedon how many thousands come into
the building, church is based onhow many thousands are going out
into the world with theirdisciples to impact nations for
the glory of Christ.
That's where success begins totake on a whole new shape.
The results are number one,disciples of Christ with total
(36:29):
world impact, where we realizethat it's not going to happen in
one location and one time duringthe week with one teacher
letting us know how to do it.
It's going to happen in multiplelocations all throughout the
week with gospel seed stowersgoing out into the world in this
community, sharing the word,showing the word, teaching the
word, and serving the worldtogether.
(36:51):
Confident, second, in obedienceto God's command to reach the
entire world that when we giveourselves to this plan, when we
give ourselves to this command,he will bless it for his glory
in all nations.
He has promised, based on hisvery character, to bless this
plan for his glory.
What happens when we live ourlives where if this word is not
true, we fall flat on our face?
(37:12):
I've got to believe God ishonored in that kind of
devotion.
And he's promised to bless thatobedience to God's command to
reach the entire world and theresult instead of a wasted life
and abundant life.
What happens?
What happens when the localchurch is a community of
believers united with thedisciples of Christ around the
(37:35):
world, partnering together, likeyou've seen in the picture in
Indonesia, where theseseminaries and the convention
that he talked about is nowusing the curriculum that we are
using.
We are teaching week in and weekout, Sunday morning in, Sunday
morning out, that we're walkingthrough with our small groups,
they're now infusing that intotheir 600 churches that are
(37:56):
spread throughout Indonesia, andnow we're partnering together
with others around the world toimpact nations for the glory of
Christ.
It all comes together here.
Could anything less than that becalled a New Testament church?
This is what it's all about.
Are we discipling ordisinfecting?
(38:16):
Last facet I want us to sing.
We're sanctified for eachother's sake, and we are
servants for the world's sake.
Third, we are saved for Christ'ssake.
As you come to the conclusion ofthis prayer, this climax, this
picture, Jesus begins to talkabout how he desires his
(38:38):
disciples to be with him.
To see his glory and to know hisglory.
He says in verse 22, incrediblestatement, I have given them the
glory that you gave me.
Now, what do you mean we aresaved for Christ's sake?
I want you to think about it.
First of all, we enjoy hisglory.
He has given us his glory.
(38:59):
What's his glory?
It's his character, it's hisperson, his power, his love.
He talks later in this chapterabout how the love that the
Father has for the Son is thesame love that is in us.
Isn't that an incrediblepicture?
The love that is experienced inthe Trinity and the relationship
between the Father and the Sonis the same love that you and I
(39:20):
know and experience and have inus, so we enjoy his glory.
Second, we display his glory.
The whole purpose of the unityof the Father and the Son and in
us is so the world might knowthat he is good.
Verse 20, the whole purpose isworldwide evangelization, so the
world might know that thegospel, the truth.
We magnify Christ, we displaythe glory of Christ by making
(39:41):
disciples, so we enjoy hisglory, we display his glory, and
then third, we will see hisglory.
We will see his glory.
He says, Father, I want thoseyou have given me to be with me
where I am and to see my glory,the glory you have given me
because you loved me before thecreation of the world.
Let me give you a little pictureof where this whole
sanctification thing is headed.
(40:04):
Sanctification thing is headednot just to a time when we will
be free from sin and free of allthe wrong things, although that
will be a very good thing.
But the sanctification thing isall headed to the day when there
will be a multitude that no onecan count from every tribe,
every nation, every people, andevery language, standing before
the throne and in front of theLamb, wearing white robes and
holding palm branches in theirhands, crying out in a loud
(40:25):
voice, Salvation belongs to ourGod who sits on the throne into
the Lamb.
The whole goal of sanctificationis not our perfection and
holiness.
The goal is we are now bowingaround the throne of Jesus
Christ with multitudes that noone could count from Indonesia
and East Timor and from rightacross the road who are
worshiping Christ for thesalvation He has given.
That's where the whole pictureis headed.
We will see his glory.
(40:47):
We will enjoy it forever.
We will display it on our facesfor all of eternity.
That's where this whole thing isheaded.
The end of disciple making isthe earth spread with the
knowledge of the glory of theLord, just like the waters
covered the sea.
Impact in the world is the goalof this whole picture.
(41:10):
And church at Brook Hills, wewill not settle for any goal
less than that.
So what now?
I believe it comes down to twothoughts that go together.
First of all, my encouragement,my challenge for you is to let
Jesus empower you to serveothers.
(41:30):
Let him empower you to serveothers, to be sanctified for
others' sake.
But then don't let it stopthere.
Let your life empower others toserve the world.
And together we're a part ofthis thing called Making
Disciple.
John 17's good.
(41:50):
Incredible text, incrediblepicture.
SPEAKER_00 (41:54):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of
David Platt Messages.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radical.net.
You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly
podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author,
and teacher David Platt.
SPEAKER_01 (00:13):
As we dive into this chapter for the last time in
this series on what it means tomake disciples of all nations, I
want us to start by reviewingand then do something a little
different before we dive intothe word.
We've walked through up to thispoint three different components
of disciple making.
(00:33):
You've got in your notes andyour celebration guide there the
first three components ofdisciple making.
Don't forget, that doesn'tnecessarily mean these are
chronological, but the threecomponents of disciple making
that we have been looking at.
First one is to share the word,second one is to show the word,
and the third one is to teachthe word, which we dove into
(00:53):
last week.
And the final component ofdisciple making that we're going
to dive into this morning, afteras we share the word, we show
the word and we teach the word,we serve the world.
What I want us to do before weread from John 17 is I want us
to get a picture in our mindabout how all of these connect
together.
(01:14):
We've been looking into each oneof these facets of disciple
making, and I hope, realizingthat this is this is something
that's intended to take place,carry out in our lives on a
daily basis, in our everydaylives.
We've been talking every weekabout the people God has
entrusted to us to share hisword with and to show his word
to and to teach his word to,that God has given us people
(01:35):
right here to do that with.
(01:58):
Watch this with me.
Praise the Lord.
This is where it works.
What we do here, what we dothere, they come together and
we're impacting the world forthe glory of Christ.
Maybe this mission is what we'resupposed to give ourselves to.
So let's dive in.
I want us to see how these threecomponents we've talked about,
sharing the word, showing theword, teaching the word, relate
(02:19):
to this final component, servingthe world, come together in a
picture, a process calleddisciple making.
I want you to look with me atJohn chapter 17, and we're gonna
we're gonna read uh starting inverse 17, and we're gonna go to
the end of the chapter, andwe're gonna see basically the
conclusion of Jesus' prayerspecifically for his disciples
in verse 17, 18, and 19.
(02:40):
And then we're gonna see howthat prayer plays out in the
lives of believers that wouldcome, succeeding generation of
disciples, including you and me.
Look in verse 17.
Jesus prays, Sanctify them bythe truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, Ihave sent them into the world.
For them I sanctify myself, thatthey too may be truly
(03:03):
sanctified.
My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who willbelieve in me through their
message, that all of them may beone, Father, just as you are in
me and I am in you.
May they also be in us, so thatthe world may believe that you
have sent me.
I have given them the glory thatyou gave me, that they made me
one as we are one, I in them,and you in me.
(03:26):
May they be brought to completeunity, to let the world know
that you sent me and have lovedthem even as you loved me.
Father, I want those you havegiven me to be with me where I
am and to see my glory, theglory you have given me because
you loved me before the creationof the world.
Righteous Father, though theworld does not know you, I know
(03:47):
you, and they know that you havesent me.
I have made you known to them,and will continue to make you
known, in order that the loveyou have for me may be in them,
and that I myself may be inthem.
Here's the climax Jesus and hisdisciples, what he has done in
their life, now reproduced inthe lives of others.
(04:08):
And what I want you to notice isin those verses we read over and
over again, you see, well, yousee a couple different phrases
repeated, but there's one word Iwant us to focus on, and it's
the word world.
When you look at this chapter asa whole, nearly 20 times Jesus
mentions the world, almost 20times.
And even in the last part here,he mentions it over and over and
(04:30):
over again.
Look in verse 13, and you mightcircle or put a box or a
triangle or something aroundthese words, because we've been
circling a lot of differentwords, so you might want to do
it in a way that differentiatesit from the others.
But I want you to circle or makesome kind of note every time you
see the world mentioned.
Look in verse 13.
He says, I am coming to you now,but I say these things while I'm
still in the what?
(04:51):
In the world.
Look in verse 14, threedifferent times.
I have given them your word, andthe world has hated them.
For they are not of the worldany more than I am of the world.
Then in verse 15, my prayer isnot that you take them out of
the world, but that you protectthem.
You get down to verse 16.
They are not of the world, evenas not I am not of it.
(05:13):
And that it at the end of verse16 is the world in the original
language of the New Testament,in the Greek, it's mentioned
there.
So you've got twice there inverse 16.
And you get to 18, which wasjust read, as I have sent them
into the world.
As you have sent me into theworld, I have sent them into the
world.
And you get down to verse 21.
It says, May they also be in us,so that the world may believe
(05:34):
that you have sent me.
Verse 23, I and them, and youand me, may they be brought to
complete unity to let the worldknow that you sent me.
And then in verse 25, RighteousFather, though the world does
not know you, I know you, andthey know that you have sent me.
Over and over and over again, wesee the world emphasized in this
prayer.
Jesus had said earlier in theprayer, I'm not praying for the
(05:55):
world, I'm praying for thedisciples.
But we know that he was prayingfor the disciples through which
the world would come to know whohe was, through which the world
would come to know his father'slove.
And so obviously, there's anemphasis here on the end goal of
disciple making, being the worldknowing that God is good and
gracious and merciful.
(06:17):
And so, what I want us to do isI want us to unpack in this
final component of disciplemaking the end goal, the
ultimate purpose of disciplemaking, where it's all headed,
and I want us to look at it on afew different levels.
Understanding the goal ofdisciple making.
Number one, we are sanctified.
We are sanctified for eachother's sake.
(06:39):
We are sanctified for eachother's sake.
Now I want you to hear that inJesus' words right at the end of
his prayer, specifically for hisdisciples.
Obviously, the context ofmission is pretty strong.
Jesus says, as you sent me intothe world, Father, I am sending
them into the world.
So this is obviously a prettymissional picture.
But don't miss it.
Verse 18 is kind of sandwichedin between two verses talking
(07:01):
about sanctification.
It says in verse 17, sanctifythem by the truth.
Then he gives this incrediblymissional statement in verse 18,
and then in verse 19 it says,For them I sanctify myself, that
they too may be trulysanctified.
So this idea of sanctificationis sandwiched in between.
Now, last week we talked abouthow the word was the means by
(07:22):
which we're sanctified, but wesaid we're going to wait until
this week to really dive intothe meaning of sanctification.
What is sanctification?
And it's at this point we needto realize that the whole of
Scripture basically shows usthat to sanctify something means
to set it apart for a specialpurpose, to fulfill a special
(07:43):
calling, a special purpose, somekind of service.
So something is set apart forthat purpose.
That is what sanctification is.
You go back to the OldTestament, even the sacrificial
system, and you have Exoduschapter 28 and 29 talking about
how Aaron and his sons needed tobe sanctified.
A word it's sometimes used inthe Old Testament is
(08:04):
consecrated, set apart forexclusive service to God as
priests.
You see that over and overagain.
People are sanctified, set apartfor exclusive service like that.
Then you see things that arementioned that are sanctified,
they're set apart for exclusiveservice to accomplish some
purpose.
Now that's the meaning ofsanctification we see over and
(08:24):
over and over again in the OldTestament.
And this is huge for us to getour arms around.
Because sanctification orholiness is most often described
in Scripture as being set apartfor a specific purpose, set
apart to do certain things.
But the way we oftentimes viewholiness and sanctification, we
(08:44):
view it as we're set apart toavoid certain things.
If you're holy, that means youdon't do this and this and this
and this.
And we define holiness and wedefine sanctification by not
doing wrong things.
As long as you avoid thesethings that we would all
consider would be major sins inour culture today, then you're
(09:05):
holy.
And at that point, I've got towonder if we are the only
organization in the world, inthe church, that is defining
success based on what we don'tdo instead of what we do do.
Are we really a people that willonly be known for what we
abstain from?
I don't think that's thebiblical picture of
sanctification here.
(09:26):
Picture is not us, us living ourlives to avoid all these things.
That's nowhere in this prayer ofJesus.
Yes, he said they are not of theworld, but he said they are
right in the middle of theworld.
And we are sanctified not toavoid certain things, we are
sanctified in order to docertain things, to give
ourselves an exclusive serviceto God.
(09:46):
Exclusive service to hismission.
That's what Jesus is sayingright here.
When Jesus says, I sanctifymyself, it's not that Jesus is
making himself more pure or moreholy.
That's not what he's saying.
He was completely holy, the Sonof God, no sin in him
whatsoever.
So how can he sanctify himself?
What he's saying is hecontinually devoted himself to
(10:09):
the mission that the Father hadgiven to him.
He was exclusively devoted tothat mission.
And so what I want us to thinkabout when we think about
sanctification is not avoidingwrong things, it's giving
ourselves to something.
What do we give ourselves to?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
When we are sanctified, we arededicated, dedicated,
consecrated.
(10:29):
We are dedicated to the purposeof disciple making for others'
transformation.
Now that's a pretty loadedsentence, and I want us to think
about it.
We are dedicated.
That's what it means tosanctify, set apart for a
special purpose, dedicated tothe purpose.
What's our purpose?
What we're seeing in the contextof this whole chapter is our
purpose is to make disciples ofall nations.
(10:50):
We see that in all of theGospels.
It infiltrates Scripture fromcover to cover.
We're supposed to make his gloryknown by reproducing the image
of Christ that's been entrustedto us.
That is the purpose, that is thewill of God for all of our lives
as believers.
And so we are dedicated, setapart to that purpose.
But listen to what Jesus says.
He says in verse 19, hesanctifies himself for who?
(11:14):
For them I sanctify myself, thatthey too may be truly
sanctified.
So Jesus says, I set myselfapart in service to the mission
of the Father so that they mightbe sanctified.
He dedicates himself to thepurpose of making these
disciples so that they might besanctified.
(11:34):
The term right there in the verybeginning of verse 19, for them,
it's a term that is used indifferent parts of the Old
Testament and the Greektranslation there, when it's
talking about sacrifices, likethe atonement, Day of Atonement,
when an animal was offered on asacrifice for the people, on
behalf of the people.
That's what Jesus is saying.
He's saying we give ourselves tothe mission of the Father for
(11:57):
the sake of others.
And this is where we arereminded so clearly that the
reason we make disciples, thereason this mission must be
primary in our lives and in thelocal church, it's because of
others' sake.
And I'm convinced this is one ofthe reasons we have such a
(12:19):
dangerous tendency to ignoredisciple making, because
somewhere along the way we'vegotten the idea that the purpose
of the church is to help us growin Christ.
And I don't think that's thepurpose of the church.
I don't believe the purpose ofthe church is to help us grow in
Christ.
The purpose of the church is toequip us to help others grow in
Christ.
Because if the purpose of thechurch is to help us grow in
(12:40):
Christ, then what we do in hereis for the sake of us in this
room.
But ladies and gentlemen, we arenot living for ourselves.
We are living for the sake of alost and dying world outside
these walls.
And we live for them.
We've got to get a hold of thefact that this whole Christian
picture is not about you and me.
It's about people whose livesare at stake for eternity based
on what we do with the gospelthat's been entrusted to us.
(13:04):
We dedicate ourselves to thepurpose of disciple making so
that others might betransformed.
But I want you to see this fromanother angle as well.
Not only do we dedicateourselves to this purpose so
that others might betransformed, this is where it
gets really good.
And this is the crux of disciplemaking.
We've got to get a hold of this.
Second, we are dependent on thisprocess called disciple making
(13:28):
for our own transformation.
We are dependent on the processof disciple making for our own
transformation.
And when you get to verse 19,what we've got is a picture of
Jesus sanctifying himself as thedisciples are being sanctified.
It's the discipler and thedisciple being sanctified at the
same time.
(13:49):
This is a picture in thisprocess of disciple making.
Jesus is sanctified.
He sanctifies himself, and thedisciples are truly sanctified.
It goes together.
Now we begin to realize thatthis whole process of disciple
making, living for the sake ofothers, sharing the word,
showing the word, teaching theword with others, actually is a
(14:11):
part of the process of usbecoming more holy and becoming
more set apart to the service ofGod.
Could it be that disciple makingis the process that God wants to
use in every single one of ourlives to produce holiness in our
Christianity?
I am increasingly convinced,especially in the study we've
been walking through over thelast few weeks, I am
(14:33):
increasingly convinced that wewill be destined to live dull,
complacent Christianity.
As long as we live our livesapart from this command to make
disciples.
Because we will only go so far,I am convinced every single one
of us will stall in ourChristian lives until we begin
(14:54):
to rise up and takeresponsibility for sharing the
word and showing the word andteaching the word to others.
I think the evidence is allacross the pews of churches this
morning.
Because we ignore this mission,this responsibility.
We don't have to know thegospel.
We don't have to show thegospel.
(15:15):
We don't have to teach thegospel.
But when we give ourselves tothis mission, it will radically
change our walk with Christ.
Had conversations with many ofyou, gotten emails as catching
it.
Okay, one email that sticks outto me from one person in this
faith family who has beensharing the gospel over the last
(15:36):
couple of weeks with a friend.
And the email talked about howhe was seeing his own faith grow
leaps and bounds, how peoplearound him were making remarks
about his walk with Christbecause he was now taking the
responsibility to share Christwith this friend.
And he was realizing I gotta getin the Word, I gotta know this
and that in order to do this.
(15:56):
He is going to new heights inhis walk with Christ.
Why?
Because he's now living for thesake of others.
We are dependent on the processof disciple making.
That's why the worst thing wecould say when we walk out of
here after this series is tosay, Well, once I get to a
certain point in myChristianity, then I'll be ready
to do what David is telling usto do from the Word.
If we say that, we miss thewhole point of making disciples.
(16:19):
If we wait until we arrive atthat point where we're now ready
to make disciples, we'll neverget there.
We will stall down here for therest of our Christianity.
And it's possible, don't missit.
It is possible for us to coastout and successful, avoiding
things for holiness,Christianity, and never give
ourselves a dismission.
However, when we rise up and westart to do this, not when we
(16:43):
wait until we arrive at thatpoint, we say, I want to get to
that point.
Could it be that God wants touse the process of disciple
making to get you to that pointthat you're imagining?
I read an article not too longago from a prominent youth
magazine, and it was talkingabout how we shouldn't tell
students to make disciples.
(17:04):
Because students aren't ready tomake disciples.
They're not at a point wherethey're they are able
spiritually mature to do that.
And I want you to know thatwe've got a group of students
that is debunking this articlecompletely with the way they're
living their lives right now.
Wish you could hear some of thestories that are coming out in
(17:24):
these guys' lives.
Here's the beauty of it.
What the writer of that articleor anybody along those lines
thinks is what they're missingout on is the fact that it's
when students begin to rise upand take responsibility for
sharing the word in the school,in their schools, showing the
word in their schools.
Here's what the character ofChrist looks like, teaching the
word to their friends likethey're doing on their ball
teams and in their in theirclass with their classmates.
(17:45):
When they start doing that,their Christianity is going to
new heights, that it could nevergo apart from this mission.
Now, if that's happening tothem, what about us?
We've got to get that picture.
We're dependent on the processof disciple making for our own
transformation.
The beauty of it is, when wegive away our life, we find
life.
Now that sounds New Testament,doesn't it?
(18:08):
It makes sense.
Philemon 1.6, this whole sharethe word thing, Philemon 1.6, I
pray that you may be active insharing your faith so that you
might have a full understandingof every good thing you have in
Christ Jesus.
You won't have a fullunderstanding of the gospel
until you start to share thegospel, Philemon 1.6 says.
Show the word, takingresponsibility for showing his
character, teaching the word.
(18:29):
We talked about that last week.
How the more we we have to teachthe word, the more we have to
learn the word.
This goes together.
We are sanctified for eachother's sake.
For them, I sanctify myself sothat they may truly be
sanctified.
God help us to live ourChristianity for the sake of
those around us.
We're sanctified for eachother's sake.
Second, we are servants.
(18:49):
We are servants for the world'ssake.
We're servants for the world'ssake.
Now, I want you to see thisunfold in the theme that we see
all throughout this chapterabout how Jesus had been sent
from the Father.
Obviously, it's the thrust ofverse 18.
As you sent me into the world, Ihave sent them into the world.
(19:09):
But then you look down in verse21.
Jesus reiterates it again.
Said, All of them may be one,Father, just as you are in me
and I am in you.
May they also believe in us, sothe world may believe that you
have sent me.
Then you get down to verse 23.
He says it again.
(19:30):
Verse 25, he says, RighteousFather, the world doesn't know
you, I know you, and they knowthat you have sent me.
This is a picture we seethroughout the Gospel of John.
That Jesus had been sent on amission.
For God so loved the world thathe what?
Gave his one and only son.
He sent his one and only son.
Very next verse, verse 17.
(19:50):
God did not send the world andthe son to condemn the world,
but through the world thatthrough him the world might be
saved.
That's why he sent.
Jesus was sent with a commissionto be the Savior of the world.
He summarized it.
Mark 10, 45.
I came not to be served, but todo what?
But to serve.
I am sent to give my life as aransom for many.
(20:11):
Jesus was sent.
This was his whole commission,sent from the Father to serve.
And the disciples had seen thatplayed out, even just a couple
of chapters before.
As Jesus knelt down and hewashed their feet.
And here the Savior of theworld, their rabbi, the teacher,
who is about to die on a cross,God Himself in the flesh, kneels
(20:34):
down and he begins to wipe theirdirty feet.
And he'd seen it over and overand over again.
The way he served the crowd, theway he gave his life, the way he
held so loosely to the thingsthat they thought were so
important in this world.
And the way he embraced poverty,the way he embraced spiritual
(20:55):
things in a way that they hadnever seen before.
That was his whole purpose.
He was sent to be a servant.
But here's where it gets reallygood.
When you get to verse 18, andJesus says, Just as the Father,
you have sent me into the world,now I send them into the world.
And now what Jesus is talkingabout and his mission sent from
(21:18):
the Father relates to you andme.
I want you to see how thisunfolds.
Number one, Jesus is identifyingus here with his mission.
Jesus is identifying us with hismission, just as you sent me
into the world, so now I amsending them into the world.
Over and over again in thischapter, he's identifying the
disciples with him.
Look back in verse 14.
(21:39):
He said, I have given them yourword, and the world has hated
them, for they're not of theworld any more than I am of the
world.
We're the same.
You get to verse 16, he says,they're not of the world, even
as I am not of it.
We're on the same wavelength.
You get over to verse 21 through23, it's a whole picture of the
comparison that we have withChrist.
Him and us, and us and him.
Everything that Christ receivedor was treated as in this world,
(22:04):
we can expect the same.
We are identified with hismission.
Now, the neat thing, when youget to verse 18 there, as you
sent me into the world, I'vesent them into the world.
That word is the word apostello,from which we get the word
apostle.
Literally means sent ones.
Now in the New Testament, we seeapostles referred to in
different ways.
Obviously, the primaryterminology when we see an
(22:27):
apostle referred to is those whoare eyewitnesses of Jesus, 12
apostles.
These are people who areeyewitnesses to Christ.
However, it also is used in theNew Testament to refer to how
other believers are sent out.
We are sent as representativeswho identify with the mission of
Christ.
And this was at the thrust ofthese guys' entire process of
(22:47):
discipleship.
I want you to hold your placehere, and I want you to turn me
back to Mark chapter 3.
Look at Mark chapter 3.
I want to give you anopportunity maybe to circle a
few different places where yousee Jesus using the same term
and his identification with thedisciples.
This is Mark chapter 3, the verybeginning of Jesus' relationship
(23:09):
with these guys.
It's when he's appointing them.
I want you to hear what he saysto them in verse 14.
Well, we'll start in verse 13,just to make sure we've got the
context.
Look at Mark chapter 3, verse13.
Jesus went up on a mountainsideand called to him those he
wanted, and they came to him.
So this is this is the beginninghere.
And he appointed twelve,designating them what?
(23:32):
Apostles, that they might bewith him and that he might do
what?
Send them out to preach and tohave authority to drive out
demons.
These are the twelve heappointed, and he gives their
names.
They were appointed for apurpose to be sent out.
Now go over one book to theright, and you go to Luke
chapter 9.
Look at Luke chapter 9.
(23:54):
I want you to see what Jesusdoes.
He's walking around with theseguys, he's showing them how this
mission looks with the way he'sliving.
Then you get to Luke chapter 9,verse 1 and 2.
And listen to what Jesus does.
He pulls them together and hesays, Luke chapter 9, verse 1,
when Jesus had called the 12together, he gave them power and
(24:15):
authority to drive out alldemons and to cure diseases, and
he sent them out to preach thekingdom of God and to heal the
sick.
Here he is, sending them out,just as he had said he was going
to do.
Then you come back to Johnchapter 17.
Go to John 20.
Look at John chapter 20.
Why don't you look at verse 21?
This is after Jesus has died onthe cross.
(24:37):
He rose from the grave.
And he's speaking to hisdisciples.
And what does he say?
It says in John chapter 20,verse 21.
He showed them his hands and hisside.
It says in verse 21, Jesus said,Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, I amsending you.
(24:59):
So the picture is thesedisciples were identified with
the exact same mission thatJesus had identified himself
with.
And that is an incrediblethought.
John 3.16 really comes alive atthis point.
God so loved the world that hesent his one and only Son.
(25:19):
Could it be that God so lovedthe world that he sends you and
me?
We are identified with the verymission of Christ.
We have an identical purpose ashim.
And this is a much greaterpurpose than living for the next
dollar or living for the biggerhouse or the bigger car.
This is a much greater purpose.
(25:40):
This is a mission that Christgave himself to, and we were
identified with.
Second, he empowers us for hismission.
He empowers us for his mission.
You saw it in all those verses.
Luke chapter 9, when he'ssending these guys out, he says,
I give you authority to driveout demons.
I give you the authority todrive out spirits.
(26:02):
These guys do that in Lukechapter 10.
You go and study that passage,and some of you will be doing
that in the small groups thatyou're in.
Luke chapter 10, they go out andthey're they're seeing demons
cast out of people, and they'reseeing people healed, and they
come back and they're like,Jesus, you were right.
This is pretty cool.
You have empowered us to dothis.
It wasn't just Jesus doing itanymore.
(26:23):
They were getting a glimpse ofwhat would happen when he
ascended into heaven and theHoly Spirit would be on them and
they would be empowered for thismission.
He said, You've got myauthority, my full sponsorship.
We'll see that next week in theGreat Commission, even deeper.
Everything I have is yours toaccomplish this mission.
He empowers them to do mission.
Not only did Jesus model forthem how to do this mission, but
(26:44):
he empowered them to do it.
It was on-the-job training atits best.
He empowered them.
And third, Jesus unites us inhis mission.
The petition that dominates thelast part of this prayer.
May they be one as we are one.
Now it's at this point that wecould easily go off into a
sermon on how the church needsto be unified.
(27:04):
And here's what we need to do inorder to be unified.
But what we've got to realize inJohn chapter 17 is he is not
praying for some contrived,manufactured unity that we can
create.
What he is saying is that whenmy people give themselves to the
mission I am identified withthem, then they will be unified.
And this is good.
(27:26):
Could it be that though we coulddo all kinds of things in a
church like this to promoteunity and to try to manufacture
unity?
Could it be that when we all asa faith family surrender our
lives to the mission of makingdisciples, that we won't have
time to fight with each otherbecause we'll be fighting the
needs in a lost and dying worldwith the gospel of Jesus Christ?
(27:48):
Could it be that unity iscompromised in the church only
when mission is compromised inthe church?
And if we give ourselves tomission, the byproduct is unity.
He unites us in his mission.
This is what we do (28:02):
Him in every single one of us accomplishing
his purpose.
Now, that's what Jesus does withhis disciples.
He identifies them with hismission, empowers them, and then
he unites them.
Now I want us to think about howthat looks in the way we carry
out this command to makedisciples.
This whole idea that we've beentalking about, dedicated to the
(28:24):
purpose of disciple making,dependent on this process for
our own transformation.
Could it be that God wants us,with the people God has
entrusted to us, to serve theworld with them?
Could it be that what we'reseeing in scripture here is that
it's not just that we'resupposed to serve the world,
it's that we're supposed toequip others to serve the world
(28:45):
with us.
Because if it stops with us,then we've done addition as
opposed to multiplication whereit's spreading through us.
We identify people, people thatGod has put in our our lives.
How can we serve with them?
Instead of just teaching themthe word in a classroom, we take
(29:06):
advantage of opportunities to goand serve with them.
And we empower them to serve.
We enable them to serve, we helpthem to serve.
And in the process, we findourselves in a unity, a
community that nothing in thisworld can even begin to touch.
I know in my own life, thepicture that kept coming to my
mind as I was reading this andpraying and studying this, was,
(29:32):
and you and you've heard me talkabout French Quarter ministry.
I want you to picture this.
Going into the French Quarter inNew Orleans and sharing the
gospel and trying to be a partof making disciples.
I remember when this firststarted to click with me, when I
invited two guys to go alongwith me.
And I walk away from the FrenchQuarter, and these guys have
(29:53):
caught it.
They are zealous.
Man, we need to be down hereevery day.
I'm like, I can't do every day.
They say, Well, we're gonna doEvery day.
And so they start to catch it.
They start to see the need.
And so I go down there with themand along the way pass on
anything that I've learned overgoing down in the French quarter
and the time I'd been downthere.
(30:13):
And then before long, I'mrealizing that I've got to step
it up in order to keep theseguys going.
Now this process is actuallyaffecting my own transformation
to the point where these guysare going to surpass me.
It's just I'm doing the best Ican, but they're going to
surpass me.
And the beauty of it is thatthey begin to take leadership in
(30:35):
that ministry.
They begin to pour their livesinto these guys.
And now I'm teaching a seminaron disciple making miles away.
And one of the guys that I'dtaken down to the French Quarter
brings some of the homeless guysthat he's investing his life
into this disciple makingseminar to learn disciple
making.
Now this picture's starting tomultiply.
And ladies and gentlemen, thatguy, one of those guys that was
(30:57):
going down with me and hearthis.
I messed up plenty of timesalong the way.
It's the beauty of this processof disciple making.
This guy is now organizing anentire home for homeless men and
women to go from New Orleans toreceive help that they need with
all their addictions and alltheir struggles and gospel
teaching.
This thing works.
(31:19):
God does have this thing riggedfor us to depend on others for
our own transformation and us tosee his glory revealed in ways
we never could have seen before.
It's the beauty of how thisworks.
We empower each other inmission.
Now at that point, we'rerealizing that this can't take
(31:39):
place in the walls of onebuilding at one location in a
couple hours during the week.
That's not a full picture ofdiscipline.
We are seeing that, right?
Then I want us to take a littlepause.
And I want to put before us aquestion that I think we need to
(31:59):
ask in the church.
And the question is this are wediscipling or are we
disinfecting?
Are we discipling or are wedisinfecting?
Some of you're thinking, what doyou mean?
Well, glad you asked.
Disinfecting.
What I mean by that,disinfecting isolates a
(32:22):
Christian in a spiritual safetydeposit box called the church
building and teaches him or herto be good.
Disinfecting isolates aChristian in a spiritual safety
deposit box called the churchbuilding and teaches him or her
to be good.
And when we do that, success isdependent on how big a building
(32:46):
we can get to have as manypeople as we can come inside.
So that I read another articlethis last week from a well-known
church leader talking about how,as a pastor, Dave, you need to
dream big.
Picture the thousands of peoplethat can come into your place
and plan for that.
(33:08):
So we we we put all ourresources and energy into that
kind of picture and we bringthem in, and our goal is to help
us be good.
Let's avoid the things that theworld has avoided or that the
world needs to avoid.
Let's be holy, separate, right?
If that's the case, if that'swhat church is about, then we've
(33:29):
got to realize what we wereproducing.
The results are pretty clear.
Number one, the results aredecent church members with
little world impact.
Some of you think that might bea little too strong.
But I believe the proof of thepoint is in the fact that the
majority of the Christians inour culture have no more world
(33:54):
impact today than they did theday before they were saved.
We isolate ourselves in thisquarantined building where the
world is as big as our eyes cansee around here, and all our
energy is made to focus on whatis going on in here.
And as a result, we areinsulated from the spiritual
(34:15):
lostness of the world around us.
And we have little to no impacton our community and the world
with the gospel.
Second, it gets deeper.
Not only do we result in decentcitizens with little world
impact, but second, disobedienceto God's command to reach the
entire world with his gospel.
And we sit in our walls with theGreat Commission, celebrated,
(34:38):
but completely ignored with theway we're living.
And as a result, we'redisobedient to his command to
reach the world with his gospel.
We are decent people with decentfamilies and decent homes and
decent jobs, decent citizens,but nowhere in Scripture is that
(34:58):
what we are supposed to produce.
We are supposed to producedisciples of Jesus Christ who
were radically wholehearted, setapart for the purpose of God to
make disciples of all nations.
Maybe the most tragic result isnot decent citizens with little
world impact and disobedience toGod's command, but I think the
most tragic result may just be awasted life.
(35:24):
A picture where Christianity isall about self-absorption, where
we focus on pastor dream big,bring thousands of people into
your building while there's abillion people who haven't even
heard his name.
I think that misses the mark.
(35:45):
Ladies and gentlemen, I believethat is a far cry from the
discipling process of Jesus.
What is discipling then?
Well, instead of isolating aChristian in a spiritual safety
deposit box called the churchbuilding, teaching him or her to
be good, could it be thediscipling propels a Christian
into the world to risk his orher life for the sake of others?
Now that's holiness.
(36:05):
That's a picture of set apartfor a purpose.
And that is a radicallydifferent way to look at church
because now church is not basedon how many thousands come into
the building, church is based onhow many thousands are going out
into the world with theirdisciples to impact nations for
the glory of Christ.
That's where success begins totake on a whole new shape.
The results are number one,disciples of Christ with total
(36:29):
world impact, where we realizethat it's not going to happen in
one location and one time duringthe week with one teacher
letting us know how to do it.
It's going to happen in multiplelocations all throughout the
week with gospel seed stowersgoing out into the world in this
community, sharing the word,showing the word, teaching the
word, and serving the worldtogether.
(36:51):
Confident, second, in obedienceto God's command to reach the
entire world that when we giveourselves to this plan, when we
give ourselves to this command,he will bless it for his glory
in all nations.
He has promised, based on hisvery character, to bless this
plan for his glory.
What happens when we live ourlives where if this word is not
true, we fall flat on our face?
(37:12):
I've got to believe God ishonored in that kind of
devotion.
And he's promised to bless thatobedience to God's command to
reach the entire world and theresult instead of a wasted life
and abundant life.
What happens?
What happens when the localchurch is a community of
believers united with thedisciples of Christ around the
(37:35):
world, partnering together, likeyou've seen in the picture in
Indonesia, where theseseminaries and the convention
that he talked about is nowusing the curriculum that we are
using.
We are teaching week in and weekout, Sunday morning in, Sunday
morning out, that we're walkingthrough with our small groups,
they're now infusing that intotheir 600 churches that are
(37:56):
spread throughout Indonesia, andnow we're partnering together
with others around the world toimpact nations for the glory of
Christ.
It all comes together here.
Could anything less than that becalled a New Testament church?
This is what it's all about.
Are we discipling ordisinfecting?
(38:16):
Last facet I want us to sing.
We're sanctified for eachother's sake, and we are
servants for the world's sake.
Third, we are saved for Christ'ssake.
As you come to the conclusion ofthis prayer, this climax, this
picture, Jesus begins to talkabout how he desires his
(38:38):
disciples to be with him.
To see his glory and to know hisglory.
He says in verse 22, incrediblestatement, I have given them the
glory that you gave me.
Now, what do you mean we aresaved for Christ's sake?
I want you to think about it.
First of all, we enjoy hisglory.
He has given us his glory.
(38:59):
What's his glory?
It's his character, it's hisperson, his power, his love.
He talks later in this chapterabout how the love that the
Father has for the Son is thesame love that is in us.
Isn't that an incrediblepicture?
The love that is experienced inthe Trinity and the relationship
between the Father and the Sonis the same love that you and I
(39:20):
know and experience and have inus, so we enjoy his glory.
Second, we display his glory.
The whole purpose of the unityof the Father and the Son and in
us is so the world might knowthat he is good.
Verse 20, the whole purpose isworldwide evangelization, so the
world might know that thegospel, the truth.
We magnify Christ, we displaythe glory of Christ by making
(39:41):
disciples, so we enjoy hisglory, we display his glory, and
then third, we will see hisglory.
We will see his glory.
He says, Father, I want thoseyou have given me to be with me
where I am and to see my glory,the glory you have given me
because you loved me before thecreation of the world.
Let me give you a little pictureof where this whole
sanctification thing is headed.
(40:04):
Sanctification thing is headednot just to a time when we will
be free from sin and free of allthe wrong things, although that
will be a very good thing.
But the sanctification thing isall headed to the day when there
will be a multitude that no onecan count from every tribe,
every nation, every people, andevery language, standing before
the throne and in front of theLamb, wearing white robes and
holding palm branches in theirhands, crying out in a loud
(40:25):
voice, Salvation belongs to ourGod who sits on the throne into
the Lamb.
The whole goal of sanctificationis not our perfection and
holiness.
The goal is we are now bowingaround the throne of Jesus
Christ with multitudes that noone could count from Indonesia
and East Timor and from rightacross the road who are
worshiping Christ for thesalvation He has given.
That's where the whole pictureis headed.
We will see his glory.
(40:47):
We will enjoy it forever.
We will display it on our facesfor all of eternity.
That's where this whole thing isheaded.
The end of disciple making isthe earth spread with the
knowledge of the glory of theLord, just like the waters
covered the sea.
Impact in the world is the goalof this whole picture.
(41:10):
And church at Brook Hills, wewill not settle for any goal
less than that.
So what now?
I believe it comes down to twothoughts that go together.
First of all, my encouragement,my challenge for you is to let
Jesus empower you to serveothers.
(41:30):
Let him empower you to serveothers, to be sanctified for
others' sake.
But then don't let it stopthere.
Let your life empower others toserve the world.
And together we're a part ofthis thing called Making
Disciple.
John 17's good.
(41:50):
Incredible text, incrediblepicture.
SPEAKER_00 (41:54):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of
David Platt Messages.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radical.net.
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