“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33
 
Immediately following, we have Jesus’ prayer to His Father in the presence of His disciples!  How reassuring this is to all Believers through the ages. To these men who probably didn’t understand it right then, but soon would know the reality of His prayer and their relationship with the Father and Himself.
 
The first five verses of John 17, Christ prays for Himself.  Verses 6-19, Christ prays for His disciples and verses 20-26, Christ prays for all Believers.  Let us spend time with His disciples as they had just heard that there would be tribulation ahead for them.  (It is a vast subject so this is only a brief look.  Hopefully, it will spark a personal study.)
 
Verse 6 starts right off letting them know that they are different.
“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.”
 
Notice, Jesus says that the Father gave them to Him.  Jesus didn’t introduce them (or us) to the Father.  That means they were the Father’s to begin with.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…”  Ephesians 1:3-4
 
Why do you think the Father gave them to Jesus?  
To show us God’s love,
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God!  Therefore the world does not  know us, because they did not know Him.”  1 John 3:1
 
John 14:8-9 tells us another reason.  To show us the Father.
“Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not  known Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
 
It is Jesus the Son of Man who shows us God’s way and how we should walk (conduct ourselves) in this world.  The Father has said,
“…This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  Hear Him!”  Matthew 17:5
 
To know the Father is to know and follow Jesus!
 
Look at John 17:6  above.  Jesus speaking of the disciples ‘the men You have given Me out of the world.’
Again, Jesus speaks of the fact that they are not of the world in this portion of His prayer:
In Vs. 9, He says,
“I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”
 
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just I am not of the world.”  Vs. 14
 
Then Jesus prays,
“I do not pray that You should not take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”  Vs. 15-16  
 
Concerning Christians and the world Scripture tells us,
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2
 
“…Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself and enemy of God.”  James 4:4
 
In 1 John 2:15-16 we see,
“Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
 
Our God of love desires that none should perish,
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:9
 
Jesus words to the disciples as recorded in Matthew 28: 19-20,
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 
 
Thank You, Most Holy God; Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit, for John Chapter 17!  Amen