Branded by Christ

 

But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." --1 Peter 1:15-16

The phrase “he’s a real company man” is a colloquial way of saying that someone is loyal, dependable, and committed to the organization or group they work for. It often implies that the person is not driven by personal ambition or outside interests, but by a genuine sense of duty and professionalism toward their workplace or team.

According to Wikipedia, Company man is a term for the loyal employee of a large corporation that was in use from the early 19th century to the late 20th century. It was often used to describe an individual who had worked for the same company for their entire careers, and whose identity was thus closely tied to their employer. In the context of corporate United States, the term was used to describe an implicit social contract that emerged in the 1950s, between a middle-class worker who was willing to sacrifice some measure of autonomy in return for a steady salary from their employer, along with benefits, bonuses, promotions, and a secure retirement.

Being called a Company Man can be a compliment. It could mean that you were recruited and trained by a business to represent the Company's image, and to promote the idea that if you placed your trust in a particular business or product, then you could trust an employee or salesman associated with that business or product. However, it can also have a negative connotation. If the business or organization is corrupt, then their members would be smeared with that same broad brush. More recently the term came to describe someone who might be overly focused on pleasing management at the expense of integrity or personal values.

Being called a Christian means being called by God, sort of like being recruited by a big firm. It means being trained or discipled in godly living so that you can represent Christ to others. It also means being set apart or sanctified--made holy--to the glory of God.  Being called a Christian can either be a compliment or a condemnation, depending upon one's level of dedication to Christ or the worldly perspective of the one making the observation.

When Jesus prayed for His disciples in John 17:6-29, He asked that they would continue His work.

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. (John 17:6-8).

Here Jesus is giving what amounts to a graduation speech. He has shown the disciples the Father. He has given them His words, the words that the Father had sent Him to give to them. Their training is complete.

To be sure, the final exam will come in the next hours and days when Jesus is arrested, tried, and crucified. For now, though, their training is complete. Jesus prayed that they would remember all that He told them, and that God would be glorified in them, just as the Father had been glorified in the Son.

Next, Jesus focuses His prayer for the disciples and their mission.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. (John 17:9-10).

For sure, Jesus came into the world, so that the world through Him might be saved (see John 1:10-23, 3:16-18). However, this specific prayer was made for these specific people, the eleven who had followed Him faithfully for a little over three years. David Guzik writes, "When Jesus said, I do not pray for the world it was not because He did not care for a lost and fallen world; it was to focus on His own disciples. 'He was praying for the instrument He was creating, through which He would reach the world.' (Morgan)."

Irish theologian Adam Clarke put it this way: “I am now wholly employed for my disciples, that they may be properly qualified to preach my salvation to the ends of the earth. Jesus here imitates the high priest, the second part of whose prayer, on the day of expiation, was for the priests, the sons of Aaron.”

What does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be Company Man for Christ. His glory should be evident in us, and we should not be tainted by the world.  The Apostle Paul later understood this, using phrases such as "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27) and noting that God’s work in us moves "from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Jesus prayed that the disciples would be kept.

Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You have given Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the sone of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. (John 17:11-12).

Jesus was speaking as though He had already left them. He knew that His time was short, and that the disciples would not need to go and find another Rabbi once He was taken from them. Jesus prayed that God would keep them. What does this mean?

David Guzik writes:

We need Jesus our intercessor (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25) to pray for us, asking God the Father to keep us. Our continuing on in Jesus is not left to our own efforts alone. The world, the flesh, and the devil are so mighty, so pervasive, and so seductive that we could never keep ourselves in our own efforts. If we stay with Jesus, it is because Jesus has prayed for us “Father, keep them.”

• We need keeping from division: Keep them that they may be one.
• We need keeping from error.
• We need keeping from sin.
• We need keeping from hypocrisy.

We should be careful not to read into this passage false doctrine. Jesus did not mean that they could fall away, that His disciples were in danger of losing their salvation. Many Scriptures speak of the security of the believer. Our names are written in the Book of Life (see Luke 10:20, Philippians 4:3, and Revelation 3:5). Scripture indicates that this Book was written before the foundation of the world (see Revelation 13:8).

Many tend to look at Judas, the "son of perdition", as a disciple who walked away from God. They infer that those who come to Christ can somehow walk away from God or lose their salvation due to unconfessed sin. The truth is that Jesus can forgive sin. The truth is that it is God who keeps us, not ourselves by our own confessions or our own good works. The truth is that Judas was not a true disciple, and that his name was never written in the Book of Life; rather, it was written that Judas would betray Christ before Judas was ever born.

Let's move on. Jesus prayed that His disciples would continue in His joy.

But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (John 17:13-15)

We preach that Jesus was a "Man of Sorrow, acquainted with grief." And so He was. But we can also rest assured that the joy of the Lord was upon Him. Again, from David Guzik's commentary:

Jesus had a life filled with joy; He could speak of My joy. If He did not, this part of the prayer would make no sense. Truly Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). Nevertheless there was a joy and a satisfaction in the life experience of Jesus that surpassed the joy of any other who ever lived.

• His joy was rooted in unbroken fellowship with God His Father.
• His joy was the fruit of true faith and confidence in His Father.
• His joy came from seeing the great things God had done.
• His joy was never diminished by His own sin.
• His joy was never diminished by deception.
• His joy was never diminished by allowing even the smallest foothold to the devil.

Jesus knew that in a short time He would be taken out of this world, but the disciples should remain in it. His prayer was that they would remain untainted by the world while they remained in it.

Finally, Jesus prayed for their sanctification.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. (John 17:16-19).

Sanctification is the process of being made holy. Jesus said we are made holy and set apart from the world by holding to the truth found in God's word. Conveniently for us, the word of God is now written down for us. It is the Bible. 

We should read our Bible and take its words to heart daily. This is the only way we can keep ourselves unstained by the world. It is the only way to stay humble, to not try to glorify ourselves but to glorify Jesus every day in every way.

We are ambassadors for Christ. When people look at us, they should see Him. That is our purpose, to His glory.