Your Word is Truth Part 1

In John 17 we read Jesus' High Priestly prayer.  In the prayer Jesus prays for several things: He prays that he will glorify the Father, He prays that we would know that He (Jesus Christ) is the only true God sent from the father, He prays that he would finish his work on earth and return to the glory he had before creation.  Jesus then goes into a section where he talks about Christians and how we are saved by His name (Jesus) and how he and the Father are one, and how the Father sent Jesus.  Jesus makes a statement that He isn't praying for the entire world, but only those who are believers.  Near the end of this prayer Jesus talks in more detail about how we are to live in this world.  

John 17:14-18 

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.  ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Jesus prays here that we would live by the "word" which he gave us.  He tells us that when we receive the "word" the world will hate us, b/c we aren't of this world.  A lot of Christians stop there and conclude that since we aren't of this world then we should separate ourselves from the world.  But Jesus doesn't stop there.  In verse 15 He continues by saying that he isn't praying that God the Father would take them out of the world, only that He (the Father) would keep them (us as Christians) away from the evil one (Satan).  Then Jesus prays these words: Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  Focus here on two words, the word THE and the word IS.  Jesus says that there is one truth, and that the "word" is truth.  Jesus isn't saying that the "word" (The Bible)  holds exclusive truth, but that the "word" is truth.  Let me say it another way, Truth will not contradict the Bible, because there is one truth and, the Bible is truth.  Truth can be found in other places, but for it to actually be truth it won't contradict other truth, namely the "word" (Bible).  

So we are to live by the Truth, and we are sanctified or made more like Jesus by the Truth.  The reason we live by the Truth is so that we can live sent lives...more on that later.