They
were Yours, You gave them to Me . . . —John 17:6
A
missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this
realization: “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, “I am not my
own,” is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature
of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving
up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is
Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me
to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His
showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He
had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples
had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that
He said, “Go” (Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).
John
17:6-19New American Standard Bible (NASB)
6
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they
were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they
have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the
words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly
understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 I
ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You
have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours,
and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the
world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy
Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may
be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your
name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished
but the [a]son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
The
Disciples in the World
13
But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may
have My joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the
world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them
[b]from [c]the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me
into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I
sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Matthew
28:16-20New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The
Great Commission
16
But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had
designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given
to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 [a]Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with
you [b]always, even to the end of the age.”