(#1570) Day 16. We Are To Be Sanctified By Truth (12/10/26)
Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional (currently posted on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) as we continue our 9-week series: Fresh Vision From Jesus' High Priestly Prayer from John 17.
This week, we finish our three-week focus on John 17:6-19, the second section of Jesus' High Priestly Prayer, where we see that genuine Christian fellowship ('One Anothering') is essential to God's vision for our lives and the local church.
To watch this devotional, go to:
Please read John 17:6-19
As we continue reflecting on the second section of Jesus’ prayer, and how this relates the the second aspect of our vision, One Another - we discover that becoming the kind of church Jesus desires requires continual transformation. Jesus prays that His people would be sanctified by God's truth.
1. We all need to improve
Every day we are bombarded with advertisements promising to improve our lives. Just before writing this, I watched yet another AI-generated advert. A middle-aged man was portrayed as unsuccessful at work, a loser in relationships, disrespected at home… and the solution? Spend fifteen minutes a day learning how to use AI!
Most of us recognise that we need to grow and improve. But the deepest and most important change is not found through self-help, technology, or personal achievement. It comes as God sanctifies us through His truth.
Jesus prayed:
‘“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”’ (John 17:15-18)
2. What Is Sanctification?
The word sanctify (hagiazō) means to set apart, make holy, consecrate, or purify. Here, Jesus is speaking about the lifelong process by which God makes His people more like Christ.
I love the picture Isaiah gives us:
‘"Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”’ (Isaiah 64:8)
Like a skilled potter, God patiently shapes us into the likeness of His Son.
Notice, however, that Jesus is praying not simply for isolated individuals but for His people together. He wants each believer to grow in holiness, but He also wants His church to become a holy community.
This is why the idea of the ‘holy hermit’ falls short of Jesus' vision. Personal sanctification is never an end in itself. God transforms each of us so that, together, we become a church that reflects His character.
3. We Are Sanctified By Truth
Jesus tells us the primary means God uses to transform His people:
‘“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”’
When I was at college, I studied ceramics. A potter uses a variety of tools to shape the clay into the desired form.
In a far greater way, God shapes His people through His Word. As the Holy Spirit applies the truth of Scripture to our hearts, He renews our minds and transforms our lives.
This is why we should devote ourselves to reading and obeying the Bible personally, while also sitting under the faithful teaching of God's Word in the life of the church. Christ has given pastors and elders to teach the Scriptures so that His people may grow to maturity together.
Jesus also reminds us that His people are to be distinct from the world:
‘“They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”’
The church community is called to be a holy people - a light shining in a dark world. We are not to be shaped by the values of the culture around us, but by God's truth.
As Paul writes:
‘“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”’ (Romans 12:2)
Moment To Reflect
Our Father desires His people to be sanctified by His truth so that we might reflect His character to the world.
Do you understand that God's Word is His primary means of transforming His people? How is God speaking to you through the Scriptures at the moment?
How can you encourage the sanctification of your church family, not just your own spiritual growth?
What would a church that is sanctified look like to the watching world?
Download the booklet
Below is the link to download the devotional booklet: Fresh Vision From Jesus Prayer. This is a series of 27 devotionals based upon Jesus' High Priestly Prayer in John 17.
This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of CCP; to watch our anniversary video, please select the link below:
Community Group Study
This week, due to our 50-hours of prayer, we will not be meeting in our groups.
Please see our Church News, or contact the church office (office@communitychurchputney) for information.
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