“Not of the World” (John 17)
John 17
“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 the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (Jn 17:13–18)
In John 17 we find Jesus is praying for his disciples just before his arrest. It’s an intimate, raw, and deeply revealing moment—Jesus isn’t teaching or explaining here, he’s simply talking to the Father in the presence of his friends. He begins by acknowledging the moment: he’s leaving, but his disciples are staying. His request to the father is simple: “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name… so that they may be one as we are one.” The prayer is for unity, but it’s also for endurance. He’s asking that they wouldn’t be swept up in what’s coming, and that they would respond faithfully rooted in the truth they’ve received, and that they would hold fast to his way.
Jesus says plainly that the world has hated his disciples because they are no longer “of the world”—just as he is not. He doesn’t ask for their escape, and He doesn’t pray that they’d be removed from danger or hidden away from conflict. Instead, he prays that they’d be protected while remaining right where they are. That they would be kept from the evil one—not by fleeing the world, but by faithfully standing in it.
This is where that old phrase comes from: “in the world, but not of it.” While not a direct quote from Scripture, it captures the tension that Jesus names in John 17. Followers of Jesus are meant to be present—engaged with their neighbors, immersed in culture, building lives—but not shaped by the power structures, values, or fears that define the world around them. We live here, but we don’t belong here in the same way everyone else does.
Jesus frames this by using the language of being “sent,” “as you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world (Jn 17:18).” This means our lives are not just about survival and comfort. We are participants in a larger story than that.
Our calling is not to blend in or pull away, but to live a different kind of life right in the midst of things.
This identity as a “sent people” has deep roots. The early church drew from the story of Israel’s exile—especially the words of the prophet Jeremiah, who told the exiled people to seek the good of the city they lived in, even though it wasn’t their true home. The idea wasn’t to overthrow Rome or withdraw from it, but to live faithfully within it. To be a distinct people, shaped by love and justice, for the good of their neighbors.
That’s still the call today. The danger isn’t just in public opposition, it’s in forgetting who we are. In becoming indistinguishable from the world we were sent to serve. There’s a quiet temptation to assimilation. Sometimes it shows up in how we chase success, or how we absorb political ideologies, or how we measure our lives by the same metrics as everyone else.
Jesus prays that we’d be protected from that. That we would remember our identity. That our unity, our faithfulness, and our sacrificial love would be a witness to a different kingdom.
House Church Discussion Questions
Jesus prays for protection, but not removal. Have you experienced that?
Where do you feel the tension of being “in the world but not of it”? What helps you navigate that tension faithfully?
Jesus prays for his followers to be “one.” What kind of unity is he pointing to here? How is that different from just getting along?
Are there ways you’ve felt pulled toward assimilation or compromise in your faith? What wakes you back up to who you are?
What might it look like to “seek the good of the city” in your own neighborhood or context—without losing your identity as a follower of Jesus?