35. Jesus Sends Me
We now see a pattern of three in John’s gospel – (1) source, (2) made like, (3) sending. Coming out from the Father and from fellowship – being made like the Lord Jesus – sent by the Spirit in the same way and for the same purposes that Jesus was sent. These three correspond with all of God’s threes throughout the Bible, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
John gives us the fulfillment of Tabernacles as rivers of Spirit flowing out from us, yet he ends his gospel with a specific focus of that going forth, that we are SENT. We are about our Father’s business.
Looking Forward. We also want to consider a different set of three before tackling this Jesus Secret page. – John’s gospel, John’s letters, and John’s vision. We will not say that these three correspond to the first three, source – made like – sending. Rather, we see all of John’s sharing of these three aspects of the Christian life woven together throughout his three approaches to the gospel. – Narrative – Explanation – Prophetic Word.
As the final lesson of John’s gospel, we are looking towards our next study, John’s letters. We will view John’s letters from two perspectives, first as an expansion of our sending and ministry, and second as a bridge to John’s vision.
To His Church. We would expect that, as John finishes his gospel, two strong impulses are governing what he includes and how he frames everything. John’s first motivation is to show the drive of Jesus, not to His disciples, but THROUGH His disciples to His Church. The first part of Jesus’ own ministry has been to prepare Himself for the Day of Passover and the second part to prepare a people for the Day of Pentecost.
John’s second motivation is the realization that he wants to say a whole lot more about this sending – thus the need to write 1 John is found in the completion of his gospel.
Two Levels of Knowing. For this reason we can legitimately say that the things John includes in Chapters 14-17, and 20-21, that pertain to this sending, will also be the fabric of 1 John.
Before considering the Jesus Secret page, let’s set out a number of points from these chapters that pertain to our being sent by Jesus in the same way Jesus was sent. It is also important for us to realize the two levels of knowing operating throughout Scripture, the surface level and then deep calling to deep. On the surface, John’s purpose is – …that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in believing, you may have life inside of His name.
We Are Pure and Devoted. But consider our primary verse. – Jesus then said to them, “Peace to you; just as the Father sent Me forth, so I also send you.” These words (and much of 1 John) take the initial purpose, “whosoever will believe,” to the deeper level.
Point 1: Jesus makes Himself pure and devoted to God that we also might be the same as we are sent into the world. – Just as You sent Me into the world, in the same way I also send them into the world. For their sakes, I make Myself pure and devoted to You, that they also might be made pure and devoted inside of the truth (John 17:18-19).
Out from Divine Fellowship. Point 2: Jesus sends us into the world out from our continual participation in the fellowship of Father and Son.
The glory which You have given Me, I have given them, that they might be one just as We are one; I inside of them, and You inside of Me, that they might be brought to full completion inside of one, that the world might know that You sent Me, and have loved them in just the same way that You have loved Me (John 17:22-23).
Jesus sends us in the full possession of the very GLORY belonging to Him with the Father, separate from all created things. We possess Jesus’ glory. Somehow – that escaped our notice up until now.
With the Father, by the Spirit. Point 3: Jesus sends us out from a God with whom we relate in every way just like Jesus. – Go to My brothers and sisters, and say to them, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.
Point 4: Jesus sends us from the moment we are conceived of God, yet also through the power of the Devoted Spirit. – “Peace to you; just as the Father sent Me forth, so I also send you.” And having said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive Spirit Devoted.”
Here the disciples are “born again,” but prior to Pentecost.
Our Confident Authority. Here is the same thing in the first creation. – And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). Yet there is a difference. In the new creation, the “dust of the ground” is mixed with the water of the Word, with the Blood of redemption, and with the Devoted Spirit – the Church.
Point 4: In the sending, Jesus places His blessing upon those who move in all confident authority based on His Word alone. – “Blessed are those who believe without having seen.”
Abundance of Word for the Church. Point 5: Part of the authority Jesus gives us in His sending of us is to ask and to receive in all expectation of abundance. – And He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat and you will find some.” They cast in response and were not able to haul it in from the multitude of the fish.
Point 6: Jesus’ earnest entreaty of us as He sends us is that we give to all who belong to Jesus His Word to eat as Jesus Himself. – Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” – “Feed My sheep.” – Cause My Church to know Me as Word and as their Life.
Sent Personally, Sent Together. Point 7: Although there is a togetherness in our being sent, yet Jesus sends each of us personally and uniquely and instructs us not to compare “sendings.” – Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I desire him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
Point 8: Jesus sends us just like Himself and as the revelation of Jesus Christ. – “Just as the Father sent Me forth, so I also send you.”
Let’s go next to the enflowing of word for the Jesus Secret page.
The Enflowing of Word. ~ God makes me pure and devoted to Himself inside the truth. I am devoted to God; I belong to no one and nothing else. God is always with me; Jesus always gives me peace. Jesus sends me forth in the same way that the Father sent Him forth and for the same purposes. As Jesus sends me, so He also makes Himself pure and devoted to God that I also might be pure and always devoted to God. I am in the world that the Father might be known through me. I am sent. ~
The Jesus Secret Page. I have just created a problem for myself in writing the Jesus Secret page, one which we will ignore. I included only the paragraph of verses surrounding “So I also send you.” And thus the statements of faith in the side bar are only from those verses. Yet every one of these eight points is critical to our sending, and thus I have expanded our scope on the page.
There are three boxes, then, following the enflowing of word, first “To Send” from the dictionary, second, “Our Sending,” and third, “Our Church,” that is, our focus. I feel to leave these as plural, rather than just ‘I’ am sent.
Defining “to Send.” Send (Webster’s 1926): (root – journey) 1. To cause to go in any manner; specifically, a. to commission or direct to go; to dispatch, as, to send a messenger. b. to cause to be borne or carried; to procure the going, delivery, or transmission of, as to send a message. 2. To impel, throw, hurl. 3. To cause to become; to make, to send one mad, to send about one’s business.
There is so much in these definitions. First, the one who sends is primary; the one who sends always sends with purpose, and the one who sends causes the action of going. Then we see that, in a sense, the messenger, the one who is sent, is also the message and is carried or caused to become.
Just As. The Greek verb, apostelló, means the same thing, with the same focus on the connection between the one sending and the one being sent. The same word as a noun becomes “apostle,” one who is sent with a specific commission.
In order to understand this sending, however, we turn to the Greek word, kathos, or “just as,” meaning – “corresponding to fully and exactly.” Our sending by Jesus is exactly the same as Jesus’ sending by the Father. Whatever is true of Jesus’ purpose and mission is true of ours.
Definitions of Separation. In unbelieving Christianity, the word “apostle” is reserved only for the twelve disciples, with Mathias replacing Judas, Paul, and Jesus’ brothers. These were purported to have a “special” connection with God that none of us could possibly have.
In recent moves of the Spirit the place of “apostle” has been restored, but still, there is a strong distinction made between the “apostle” and the “rest of us.” These definitions of separation are important to keeping Jesus far away from the average fleshy Christian. – “Not here, not now, and certainly NOT you.”
In the Fear of Christ. Yet we place against this false paradigm the other falseness, even worse, the falseness of Korah. – “God speaks to everyone, Moses, who do you think you are?”
Yes, God sends each one of us for a specific purpose and mission. And each of our purposes differs from one to the other. Nonetheless, I receive you who are sent entirely inside my fear and regard for the One who sends you.
Submit one to the other in the fear of Christ (Ephesians 5). – We take to ourselves in all confidence everything God means by being sent, and we extend the same to all and to each.
Those out from God. Consider this line as it appears in the Jesus Secret version. – Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been conceived out from God, and everyone loving the One conceiving [the Seed] also loves all others who are being conceived out from Him (1 John 5:1).
Those who are truly “coming out from God,” that is, who are SENT, receive fully all those who are also “coming out from God” in their sending. This is truly what John is emphasizing in the last chapters of his gospel and then repeats again in his letters, that the sending of the Church out from God is everything.
To Send. ~ Jesus causes me to go into my world just as the Father caused Him to go. Jesus makes Himself pure and devoted to God so that I might be kept pure and devoted to God as I am about my Father’s business. Jesus as every word God speaks is the message I carry as He sends me forth. I am become the message I carry. Jesus commissions and directs me to go; Jesus impels me and even hurls me into the Father’s purposes. Jesus sends me for the same purposes that He was sent. I am sent as the visible representation of God-Love. ~
The Points of “To Send.” Let’s list the points coming out from these dictionary definitions of “ to send.”
1. Our sending is a journey, the way coming out from Life, every step we take with Father forever. 2. The One who sends us is above all. 3. We are sent with great purpose. 4. We are sent with great drive, even pro-determination, “thrown into,” so to speak.
5. The One who sends us causes us to be all that we are. 6. We are carried by the One who sends us. 7. We are the message as well as the messenger. 8. We are devoted to the purposes of the One who sends us.
The Points of Our Sending. Then, let’s bring back in the points regarding our sending from the last chapters of John’s gospel.
1. Jesus causes us to be devoted in our sending. 2. Jesus sends us out from divine fellowship. 3. We relate with God just as Jesus relates with God. 4. We are anointed to accomplish our sending right from the start.
5. We ask for word fulfilled and receive all abundance. 6. We give the words that are Jesus to all as the Bread of Life. 7. We are each unique in our sending, yet also together. 8. Jesus sends us just as He is sent; Jesus sends us as His revelation, as Father made known.
A Complete Framework. This gives us two different perspectives of the same thing, with eight slightly different points for each perspective. We now have a complete framework to understand our sending by Jesus into our world, that we might have all confidence in our purpose.
We are about our Father’s business. That means we never think of or present our “own business” as if it stands as something separate from God’s sending of us.
We also have a complete framework in place for our study of John’s letters, with the realization that the PURPOSE for which we are sent is the Apocalypse, the revelation of Jesus Christ, that is, John’s vision.
Our Sending. ~ I am pure and devoted to God as I am sent, for Jesus makes me so. I am sent by Jesus out from the fellowship I share with God. I relate with God in the same way Jesus relates with God. I am anointed to fulfill all God sets before me; rivers of Spirit flow out from me. I ask God to fulfill His word in completion inside of and as me. I am sent as abundance of Word. I give the Words that are Jesus to others as their life. I am unique in my sending and in God’s purposes for me, different from all others. Nonetheless, Jesus sends me always together with my brothers and sisters. ~
~ We are sent together. Jesus sends us just as He is sent; Jesus sends us as Father-made-known. We are sent on a journey, every step coming out from the Life we share with God and with one another. Jesus sends us out from His name above all names, out from His glory. We are sent together with great determination and purpose. We are impelled into the Father’s business. Jesus causes us to be all that He is and carries us every step. We are the message as well as the messengers. We are devoted to our Father’s purposes. ~
The Heart of Everything. We now come to the heart of everything, our sending as firstfruits. This is a wondrous truth that I have been pondering for some time and that has been growing in wonder inside my knowing. In fact, God’s turning of me in “a new direction,” beginning in December 2020, is this very heart of all.
When Jesus said that He wants us to be with Him inside the Father to share His glory, a big part of His desire is that we share fully with Him as the Redeemer. Jesus’ desire is that the same passion He carries for His Church, we also might carry. – “Feed My Sheep.”
Our Ministry to the Church. In Jesus sharing with us His work of redemption, we are thinking of nothing outside of Paul’s phrase in 2 Corinthians 5, “the ministry of reconciliation.” That is, we are not “little saviors” now come to do what Jesus did not complete. We never think such absurdity. Rather, inside that “ministry of reconciliation” is a sharing of being and essence with Jesus beyond anything we have known. We are just like Him as we know Him as He is.
What I am saying is that we are the second witness of Christ in the wrap-up of this age, and that God has placed the turning of everything upon our union with Jesus.
Three into One – the Church. Seeing the blood and the water flowing out from Jesus’ side into the earth, representing His Church, His Bride, all who belong to Jesus, so impacted John.
This is the one who has come through water and blood; not inside of water only but inside of water and inside of blood. And the Spirit is the One testifying, the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. The Spirit, and the water, and the blood – and these three are penetrating with purpose into one [the Church] (1 John 5:6-8).
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And the one hearing, let him say, “Come!” And the one thirsting, let him come; the one desiring, let him receive the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).
Our Church. ~ I look upon the Church of the Lord Jesus as she is drawn out from Jesus’ side, out from the blood and the water poured out into the earth. I look upon her always with those of like hearts who stand as the firstfruits of Christ. She is our church, every one across the earth, small and great, who belongs to Jesus. The victory of the Church in this final hour is the focus of our sending, that she might know the Lord Jesus whose glory she bears, that she might bring forth the knowledge of God in the earth. For her sake, we give our all. ~
A Jesus Secret Box. To close out this page, I also included a Jesus Secret Box, Jesus, speaking to us, His very Heart.
~ My dear one, l have made Myself pure and devoted to God so that you also might be made pure and devoted in the same way. As I am, so are you. I send you into your world every moment fully prepared to be our Father’s business. I send you with all abundance of Word, with Spirit flowing out, with Love outpoured. I send you to redeem, to reconcile, to reconnect each one with the Father. Be confident in Me, for I am always with you as you go. ~
Looking Ahead. In this final lesson of our studies in John’s gospel, we have listed the many critical points of our being sent by Jesus in the same way that the Father sent Him. Yet we have not included any depth or expansion of those points, as important as each one is.
There are two reasons for that. First, Symmorphy VI: Mankind and the upcoming Symmorphy VII: Completion are actually studies of this very sending. And second, the next two series, Studies in John’s Letters and Studies in John’s Vision, will be, as we hope by God’s grace, the full development of the meanings of our sending.
Reading for Next Time. We are now finished with John’s gospel. I will finish up the introduction and will soon have the completed PDF ready. In our next session we will begin Studies in John’s Letters. This will be its own zone on the website. For this first session read all of 1 John in the Jesus Secret Version. It is a short book, and I want you to have the whole picture.
The first session is titled “I Fellowship with God.” – Truly our fellowship is companionship with and among the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. – The source of our ministry is always this Fellowship.
Let’s Pray Together. Our prayer this time is metamorphy. Let’s set aside our intercession for the Church and focus on our personal intimacy with Jesus, that we might KNOW His sending of us.
“Lord Jesus, we know and believe that You have sent us into our world for the same reasons and in the same way that God sent You into the world. We know that God is inside of us reconciling the world to Himself. Lord Jesus, You are always with us even as You send us. You are our fellowship and our life. It is Your purity and devotion to God that becomes our purity and devotion to God in every forward step. It is Your Spirit, shared freely with us, that pours out from us as Rivers.
“Lord Jesus, You have filled us with Your Word, the Words that You are and speak. You have made us the very message of God that all might know the Father. Lord Jesus, we came out from Your side as members of Your Church. We came into the earth upon Your Blood, as Your Word, and by Your Spirit. Lord Jesus, You send us.
“Yet we also see our brothers and sisters across the earth who do not know Your glory, though You dwell inside of them just as much and are their life. Lord Jesus, we ask that You give us Your very heart towards Your people, small and great, that our every step would be for their sake, that Father might be known through His Church by our own devoted lives. Let it be so; it is so.”