Sermon Notes + 6.30.2024
The People You Gave Me
John 17:6-8
Dr. Tony Chute, Lead Pastor
Overview: As Jesus prays to the Father prior to going to the cross, His attention turns to the disciples for whom He will soon give His life. Jesus acknowledges that they are separate from the world, having been given to Him by the Father. He has made the Father known to them and they have received God’s word and have kept God’s word. They believe that Jesus has come from the Father, such that all they find in God, they find also in Christ. By describing His disciples in this way, Jesus shows us the essence of what it means to be Christian and invites us to give our lives to Him.
01. The people of God are separate from the world and belong to the Triune God.
02. The people of God know God and are known by living according to God’s Word.
03. The people of God should make God’s name and God’s Word known to all the world.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION & DISCOVERY
1. What are the characteristics of the people of God, according to our passage? What does Jesus mean by referring to the disciples as “the people whom you gave me out of the world?” What does it mean to not be of the world? What evidence is there in your life that you belong to God and not to the world?
2. One understanding of Jesus manifesting the name of God to the disciples is that He “put the character of the Father on display and lived in accordance with the Father’s priorities.” What would we not know about God if it were not for Jesus? What attributes of God are most evident in the life of Jesus? How did Jesus prioritize the mission of God in His lifetime?
3. Jesus states that His disciples have received God’s word and have kept God’s word. Does your attitude and approach to God’s Word give evidence of the fact that you belong to God, not to the world? What passages or verses from God’s Word help you to live for the Lord and reject the mindset of the world?
4. Note how closely Jesus parallels His ministry and teaching with the person and character of God. Verse 7, for example, states: “Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.” And, verse 8 states they “have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you have sent me.” What do these passages suggest about the need to follow Jesus in order to know God and have eternal life? What would you say to a person who says they are a Christian but whose lifestyle does not resemble the teachings of Christ?
5. What are we to make of the fact that Jesus’ high praise for the disciples (“they have kept your word”) does not easily correlate with what will soon take place (they will flee from Jesus upon His arrest)? What does this disparity suggest about how God sees us in Christ even though we may outwardly fail? Give thanks to God for graciously saving us from our sin and from ourselves and for looking only at the righteousness of Christ as He sees us.
For Further Reading: A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (Harper & Row, 1961)