5 May 2024

LIVING A BALANCED LIFE

Speaker: Fred Sigle

SUNDAY LESSON, 5/5/24
LIVING A BALANCED LIFE
John 17:9-19 (selected passages)
There is a very real sense in which Christians live in two worlds. As followers of Christ, we live an earthly life but at the same time our “citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20).
Knowing that His disciples live in the world that is controlled by Satan, the prince of the world, Jesus lifts them up to the Father and prays, “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” (John 17:15-16). So, Jesus says of His followers that they are not to be part of the world, but must still live in the world.
Jesus left His church on earth for the sake of the world. That’s why Jesus sent out His disciples with the commission to “go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Therefore, we must learn how to relate to the world, but not become part of the world. That calls for “BALANCE”. Relating to the world without compromising our relationship with Jesus.
Come join us Sunday as I attempt to answer the question: “How do we live in the world and not be part of the world?”
JOHN 17:9-19

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[a] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[b] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

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[c] 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.