The Truth That Reaches the Heart — The Prayer He Prayed for You

The night before he died, with the cross filling the whole sky in front of him, Jesus stopped and prayed — and partway through, the prayer turned toward you.

I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. (John 17:20)

Isn’t it interesting as to what Jesus asked God to give them? He didn't ask that we'd be comfortable, or successful, or even safe. He asked that we'd be holy: Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)

Look at who does the work: "You — sanctify them." In Jesus' prayer, the Father is the one who sets his people apart and claims them as his own. That doesn't leave us passive — we answer him in faith, in repentance, in baptism into Christ — but our obedience is the glad response of people he has already claimed, never the price we pay to get him. We belong to God, and a holy life grows out of that belonging.
 
And the truth that does the sanctifying isn't a file of facts you carry around. Think of the difference between a flashlight and a sunrise. A flashlight is yours — you aim it where you want and switch it off when it's inconvenient. The dawn is nothing like that. You don't carry the sunrise. It rises on you, warms you, and shows you the road you're actually standing on. That's the truth Jesus is praying about — and it turns out to have a face.

On Sunday, we'll walk through John 17:17 and find something bigger hiding in plain sight: you cannot make yourself holy by gripping the truth tighter. You're made holy as the Truth — a Person — takes hold of you. A religion of effort has you clutching. The life Jesus actually prays for has Holiness laying hold of you.

This is the close of our June series, The Truth Will Set You Free. Truth frees you; truth has a face; and this Sunday, truth reaches the heart.

Come join us at Cornerstone this Sunday!
5051 Wilmington Pike, Centerville 45440
cornerstone-coc.com

1. Jesus prayed for you the night before the cross — and asked not for your comfort or success but for your holiness. How does it change
things to hear sanctification as something prayed over you rather than achieved by you?
2. The grammar matters: the Father sanctifies, the disciples are the object. Where are you most tempted to make holiness a summit you
climb instead of a gift you receive?
3. Flashlight or dawn — which has the truth more often been for you? What would change if you let it rise on you instead of carrying it in
your pocket and aiming it?
4. “Your word is truth” is the same construction as “the Word was God.” Why does it matter that the truth that sanctifies has a face —
that it’s a Person, not a file?
5. Jesus prayed for a unity so visible the world would believe. Where have we used 17:17 to draw swords instead? What would laying the
sword down look like for us?