"It's Us Against The World"
NO...IT'S NOT.
John 17:15-26 - Jesus prays for his followers from the perspective of a citizen of heaven reflecting upon those who are still somewhat rooted in the world.
"I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth."
Jesus was returning to the Father, but the disciples were remaining behind in the world. The world is that group of people who have no respect for, or care about the things of God. As recipients of God’s Word, the friends of Jesus could no longer be described as of the world, and consequently they were targets of the world’s hatred. There is always that push and pull going on in the affairs of mankind. There's a lot of different human responses to this social pressure. And often among the people of faith, there is this tendency to withdraw. For many religious people there's this idea of salvation by segregation. Like the Pharisees of the Old Testament, and their radical separation from the world. Drawing away from the world to protect against its sinful poisons and pollutions, and unconsciously they become cold, heartless, out of touch, and ultimately not kept from evil. They forget, the evil is not a free radical in the world like a virus, the evil comes from within. They lose focus on the transformation of their hearts and minds, and instead focus on straining gnats and wiping away filths from their bodies. They focus on the surface issues and lose sight of what's within. It's the birth of a hypocrite.
Jesus prays that his friends not be taken out from this world, but only that they'd be protected from the evil that exists in each of them that might draw them back into slavery to the world. Jesus wanted them to be protected from being sucked in by the spirit of the times, he wanted them to be protected from being taken in by whatever is expected of them in the contemporary era. His means for survival was sanctification in "the truth", by means of the holy gospel word. No other religious exercise was given such a role in the transformation of the hearts and minds of the citizens of heaven. No holy clothing could do it. No cleansing ceremonies and rituals can do it. No elimination of exposure to temptations could accomplish it. Only the logos, the word of God, is of and from the Spirit, and therefore given that power of transformation from God to overcome the battle for the mind and hearts of the world. The word of God is the power supply that electrified the Apostle's and the young church in the first century, and it continues to this very day, to be the power behind the faith of those...as Jesus said, "those who believe in me through their (the apostle witnesses) word" (John 17:20).
Jesus didn't pray this blessing over them because he wants his friends to be "of the world", he doesn't want them to be slaves again to the age, but he does want them to come back into the world and see it as God sees it. He wants them to come out of the world in the sense that they become reborn in the Spirit, but then in order that they mature, growing in holiness, he sends them back into that world and becoming the conduit between the Spirit and the world. They are sanctuaries for the word. And they are sanctified by that same word, especially when they are sharing it, and God is sanctifying the world through them.
Jesus had glorified the Father on earth by completing the work assigned to him. And likewise he expects the same from his friends. The world is the sphere of ministry, as it had been Jesus', and he asks that they be protected from the evil one while they are still in it. He doesn't ask his friends to dress up, he asks them to word up. He asks them to give up, and to love up. And probably equally important, Jesus told them to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and he prayed that they do it in unity through the Spirit. Unity was equally important.
Why?
Think about this from the perspective of the world. If you're a demon and you're trying to sow confusion and conflict among the people, what better way then to encourage mischaracterizations of the word by the friends of Jesus. By making the glory of God, found in his word, into individual messages of personal interests and satisfaction, the devils weave little webs of disunity that reflect anything but glory to an unbelieving world. These webs blur out the glory of God. Cobwebs form everywhere in time. And the world is turned off by all the messy stuff going on among the friends of Jesus.
Jesus prayed for the unity of the future generations of Christians knowing that they'd fall prey to the darkness of confusion and fear. They were going to face trials and tribulations, tyranny and death, and it wasn't unlikely that they'd react to these pressures with world-like enthusiasm. Maybe perverting the truth by making the world part of their message, and trying to blend the world's interests into their narrative. Effectively creating divisions and disunity.
The most important thing to take away from all of this...Jesus prays for them to stay in the world, but not to be of its evils. And he prays they'll be unified in the truth. No sugar coating to fit into the world, and likewise no darkness creeping in to get inbetween them and the truth. Unity in truth cures that mess. The unified, genuine word of truth sanctifies the world. Light removes darkness. No false light, this isn't invented human ingenuity kinds of light conjured up by ad agencies, this is Son light. Heavenly light. God's truth. Only this heavenly light can defend against the evil one. Jesus said it, prayed about it, and blessed his friends with it.
Look for that light.