John 17:13-21 New International Version
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^[a] 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.

– (Jesus Christ’s prayer spoken regarding his disciples. John 17:14,16 )

What does it really mean to be no part of the world?

How many excuses are we going to make for our participation in things of the world before we recognize Jesus as our King for real – not just in word but also in deed?

How many reasonings are we going to use to justify our lack of faith that Jesus IS Lord and KING? 

Is it that we do not know what it means to be NO PART of the world?

Is it that we all have different opinions on what it means to be a part of something?

Does God’s Word make clear what it means to be no part of something? 

I find myself looking closer at what Jesus said at John 17:14-18

John 17:14-18

14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so, have I also sent them into the world.

He said that we were not to be of this world even as he is not of the world. 

What does that mean? 

I am looking to God’s Word for the answer

To the religious leaders of his day, Jesus said to them that they were going to die in their sins. Why? Because they didn’t believe Jesus to be whom he claimed to be and he showed the difference between them when he said to them that he is from above but they are from below (John 8:23)

Why that stands out to me, I am not sure. It was one of the references.

What is he saying to us?

In John 15:19, we are told that we are no part of the world and that we have been chosen out of the world. 

We were chosen out of the world he said. 

I think of a basket of apples on the table. If I choose an apple out of the basket that Apple will no longer have anything to do with the rest of the apples in the basket on the table because it was chosen out of.

We were chosen out of the world. 

Colossians 1:13 says that we were transferred from the authority of darkness and into the Kingdom of the Son of his love

So, if I was once under the authority of this darkness but is now transferred into the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love then why would I reach back to try to participate in the things that I am no longer a part of.

I am transferred. 

Do I understand what it means to be transferred? 

Transferred is defined as

1a: conveyance of right, title, or interest in real or personal property from one person to another

B: removal or acquisition of property by mere delivery with intent to transfer title

2a: an act, process, or instance of transferring: TRANSFERENCE sense 2

B: the carryover or generalization of learned responses from one type of situation to another

3: one that transfers or is transferred

especially: a graphic image transferred by contact from one surface to another

4: a place where a transfer is made (as of trains to ferries or as where one form of power is changed to another)

5: a ticket entitling a passenger on a public conveyance to continue the trip on another route

So, if I understand transfer right then what it means is that I have nothing to do with what I was transferred from anymore. For example, if I was to sell my car and transfer the title of the car to the new owner then I will have nothing more to do with the maintenance of the care because I no longer own it. 

What has been transferred no longer is attached to what was left. 

So, now having been chosen out of this world (John 15:19) and having been transferred from the authority of the darkness to the kingdom of the Son of his love (Colossians 1: 13) I have nothing left to do with this system of this world. 

Do I understand what a kingdom is? 

Kingdom: 1: a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen

So, I have been transferred out of the authority of the darkness to the kingdom (government) of the Son. (Colossians 1:13) So, why would I have anything to do with the governments of the authority of this darkness.

The question is, do I understand what it means to be no part of this world?

Am I a part of Jesus Christ Kingdom or not?

• Jesus said that his kingdom is no part of this world (John 18:36)
• Jesus is a King (Daniel 7:14)
• Jesus’ Kingdom is going to crush and put an end to the kingdoms of this world (Daniel 2:44)

I am now reminded of what was told to those who still wanted to play church. They were told to come out of Babylon and in Revelation 18:4 they were told why, ‘ Get out of her my people if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.”

This principle as it pertains to false religion, wouldn’t it also pertain to kingdom issues?

Is this why God said that whoever wanted to be a friend of the world is constituting (think of constitution when you read that word) themselves an enemy of God? (James 4:4)

God was clear that we were to be no part of the world. (John 17:14, 16)

If I am sitting on the fence with one foot in the kingdom of the Son of God and the other foot under the authority of this darkness, then when the kingdom of the Son crushes the kingdoms of this world then I would get crushed too. 

Therefore, I cannot sit on the fence of this world. 

The same choice that is given to me is given to the rest of this world

Joshua 24:15 ” Now if it is bad in your eyes to serve Jehovah, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods that your forefathers who were on the other side of the River served, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are dwelling. But as for me and my household, we shall serve Jehovah.”

I have made my choice. 

In this world my choice is unpopular

But guess what

I don’t care about this world and their opinion any more

Jesus prayed for me

Jesus said, “I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them, because they are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world. (John 17:14)

He continued in his prayer for me and those like me who are not aligning themselves to have anything to do with this world,

“I request you, not to take them out of the world, but to watch over them because of the wicked one. They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world. Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me forth into the world, I also sent them forth into the world. And I am sanctifying myself in their behalf, that they also may be sanctified by means of truth…” (John 17:15-19)

God’s Word is truth. 

I believe God’s Word. 

UNEQUIVOCALLY

Plus I wouldn’t want Jesus to say to me, because I wanted to be in His kingdom while making decisions and being a part of the governments of this world, the following:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or else hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say: I am rich and have acquired riches and do not need anything at all, but you do not know you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich, and white outer garments that you may become dressed and that the shame of your nakedness may not become manifested and eye salve to rub in your eyes that you may see. (Revelation 3:15-18)

Is God’s Word true or not? 

I believe that God’s Word is true.

That is where I stand