LEarning about prayer from the Master: Jesus - John 17

Sermon Introduction

This morning we are continuing to examine the key means of grace of prayer. What a blessing we have to come before the eternal God of the universe who possesses all power, all wisdom and all love and commune with him in prayer, thanking him, worshipping him and brining our requests! This morning we are going to look at Jesus’ prayer life, in particular his high priestly prayer in John 17. Before we turn their, let’s go to God in prayer.

Text

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ² since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. ⁶ “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸ For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹ And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. ²⁰ “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:1-26 (ESV)

1. Intro – the beauty, Uniqueness & importance of this prayer

Jesus prayer in John 17 is unlike any other in all of scripture. We have looked at the prayers of Paul and the prayers of Daniel. You can find many other instances of the prayers of God’s people throughout the bible. The Psalms would be one place to find many and we actually did a series on the Psalms a couple of years back. But of all the prayers in the bible this recorded prayer stands out as unique. It is unique in it’s beauty.

1.1. It’s Unique in its Beauty

It is the actual prayer of the second person of the trinity, God the Son, to the first person of the trinity and in this prayer we get a glimpse in the most amazing relationship in all of history – that eternal relationship of the Father to the Son. Here is the Son asking for the Father to be glorified through the glory of the Son, here we have the longing of Jesus to be with his beloved Father once again and to share their glory as it was before the foundation of the earth, here we have the Son talking about their eternal plans to redeem a people for themselves from the corrupt world, here we have the Son speaking of their perfect eternal unity as One and here we have Jesus speaking of that perfect love shared amongst the triune God. It is truly an amazing privilege to have this recorded prayer of Jesus that gives us such a profound glimpse of the most beautiful relationship in all of the universe!

1.2. It’s Unique in its Importance

And this prayer is offered just at the climax of all history itself – the death and resurrection of the Son of God. So in studying the various prayers of the bible this one stands out as particularly holy and awesome. Though we will learn some lessons from Jesus prayer here, in many ways it stands out as unique to him alone. And that is a good thing – for because of Jesus’ prayer here we have confidence to go on and pray ourselves. In this prayer Jesus prays for you and me and all of God’s people. In this prayer he prays for God’s perfect eternal plan to glorify his name through winning and preserving his people to be successfully accomplished. All our prayers in a sense flow from this high priestly prayer of Jesus. You see, if there is anyone who was heard by the Father it was the Son. Hebrews 5 says, "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence." (Hebrews 5:7, ESV) Elsewhere we learn that the Son always did what pleased the Father and the Father himself said more than once that he was well pleased with the Son. And because he pleased the Father in every way, when he pours out his heart, God hears him. In in this prayer he pours out his heart on our behalf.

Isn’t that amazing! Can you imagine if for some reason Jennifer Katharine Gates, Bill Gates oldest daughter took a liking to you? And she decides to go ask her father for something on your behalf? Wouldn’t you be pretty psyched? Can you imagine? “Jennifer, could you ask your dad if he would donate 1% of his prophets to our church’s mission fund? Wow, what we could do with that!! Of maybe you were thinking of asking for something less spiritual – a new car, a home – whatever. Either way, you would be pretty psyched!

Well, the very Son of God, the perfect One who has his Father’s ear above all others has asked the Father for the very best for you. That is reason for great joy in life and great boldness in praying in line with all that he has asked.

You see - The prayers of the very Son of God are both our great confidence and our great example in praying to God. Because Jesus himself prayed we too can pray confidently and wisely.

So let’s look at what he has asked that we might confidently ask in line with what he has already requested.

2. Jesus prayed for God’s glory

Did you notice the key sentiment of this prayer? Much of what is prayed, even all that is prayed in this prayer by Jesus is about the glory of God. Jesus wants to see the Father glorified and he wants to experience that glory himself and through his own glory to glorify the Father. The glory of God is on the heart of Jesus and this permeates this entire prayer. As a matter of fact, the desire for the glory of God permeates Jesus’ entire being, his entire life, his entire mindset. If we are to understand Jesus rightly we must understand that God’s glory affected everything about him.

Now you probably are familiar with the concept of God’s glory and perhaps familiar with the idea that Christ lived for the glory of the Father. But if you are like me, you probably struggle sometimes to grasp what this really means. I mean, we don’t usually go around saying I am living for glory. Glory is a word we use usually to speak of conceit. A glory boy is somebody that lives for their own fame in a vain glorious way. So given we can misunderstand what glory is it is important that we get this right.

In scripture glory has to do with the greatness of something. To say something was glorious is to say it was significant. In the Old Testament the word for glory is related to the word for weight or heaviness. Back in the ‘60’s people would say, “That’s heavy man.” Which meant that is deep or very meaningful – or that is glorious. In some sense there is glory in everything in creation. What I mean is that there is meaning and significance in every created thing. The glory of water is that it is wet. But water is also glorious in many other ways. It is virtually impossible to squish water. Isn’t that amazing? As slippery as it is you can’t squish it. As a result water can carve rock – that is why we have sandy beaches and smooth round stones, that is why we have rivers that cut through gorges. That is the glory of water. There is much more glory in water but this is a message on John 17 and not water. Let’s just say that we could spend hours investigating the glory of water.

Now, who made water? That’s right, God did. Who made the first successful light bulb? That’s right, Thomas Edison. When we look at a light bulb do we give praise to the bulb? No. If we are excited about light bulbs we will probably give credit to Thomas Edison. Well, God made water so all the glory of water is rightly God’s glory. And we can extend this principle to all things, for all things were made by him. So, by necessity, he is the most glorious being in the entire universe.

Now, a successful life is one lived for a worthy cause. Is that not true? And when I say worthy I can also say significant, or, I can say glorious. So a successful life is one lived for a glorious cause. Right? We honor those who choose wisely this way. Mother Theresa and the poor, American soldiers and their country’s freedom, Fireman and Policeman and their communities safety, Mom’s and their families are all examples of this. We honor them because they give themselves to a worthy or glorious cause. Well, above all these causes there is one most worthy, most good, most lovable, most right, most pure, most kind, most praiseworthy, most enduring, most magnificent. God is by nature the most worthy cause in all of creation. He is most glorious and living for his glory is the most successful goal of any life.

Jesus knew this, Jesus lived this from beginning to end. And Jesus prayed this fervently. “Father, glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you!” Jesus prayed for the glory of the Father. So we too, are to focus our lives on God’s glory and ask him in every aspect of our prayer life that he would be glorified. He is most worthy, this is the wisest and purest way to pray.

And something that goes with this that is very important for us to understand is that God has chosen to show his glory most supremely in rescuing a people for himself. So the second thing Jesus prayed for in John 17 is that God would bless his people and through this he would be glorified.

3. Jesus prayed for God’s people

3.1. Jesus’ descriptions of God’s people.

Much of this prayer is about Jesus’ followers, God’s people. As he prays for his people Jesus describes his people. They are a unique people, special to Jesus and on the heart of God. There is much here we can learn about the people of God. Notice how they are described. They are ones given eternal life from the Son. They are ones who have the unfathomable privilege of knowing intimately and experientially the only true God and Jesus Christ, the sent One of God. They are ones who have belonged to God, even before the universe began, and they are given to Jesus from the Father. They are the ones who hear the words of Jesus, given to him by the Father. They hear and they believe that Jesus is the Sent One - God the Son. They are not of this world, although they dwell in it. They are even hated by the world like Jesus is hated by those who reject God. We could spend hours contemplating the unique and marvelous qualities of God’s chosen people. These are the ones for whom Jesus is praying. And remember, he is praying these things that God might be glorified in his own people.

3.2. Jesus asks that God keeps them.

What specifically does Jesus ask for his people that God may be glorified? He asks that God might keep his people for himself. He prays, “Holy Father, keep them in your name.” Jesus knows he is going to be leaving his disciples to go to be with the Father. While he was with them he kept his disciples, except the false disciple, Judas, the son of destruction. He kept all those given to him from the Father and he desires that they still be kept after his ascension to heaven.

What a wonderful comfort to know that Jesus himself prays for his followers, and that would include you and me, that we might be kept in God. I many times wonder if I will continue to follow God. I am concerned whether there might be some trial or temptation that would successfully lead me away from God to deny my faith and God’s people. Have you ever worried about that? What a comfort to know that Jesus himself has prayed that God keep us from falling away. He prayed that God would keep us from the evil one who would seek to destroy our faith. What a comfort to know that over and above all these temptation, over and above the efforts God calls us to in working out our salvation, over all these thigns is the prayer of our Savior wafting into the ear of the Sovereign Father – “keep this one – he is mine, he is ours. Keep this one despite the trials and temptation – she belongs to me.” Because he prayed for Peter, Peter was kept even though he denied Jesus. Because he prayed for you, you are kept, though you should wander or even deny his name. Thank God for the prayers of Jesus to keep us! Thank you Jesus!

3.3. Jesus asks that they be sanctified

Jesus prays in verse 17 that God sanctify his followers in the truth. What a wonderful request and so key for us to understand. This word sanctify means to set apart for special use. Jesus asks this in the context of his prayer where he acknowledges that the disciples are in the world but not of the world and where he speaks of sending them out into the world even as he was sent into the world. So in the context of their life and mission in the midst of the world Jesus asks God to sanctify them.

And he prays for this sanctification by the truth and then goes on to proclaim that God’s word is truth. Folks, this bible is very powerful. When Jesus prayed that we be set apart for God in life and mission he knew what would successfully accomplish that. This bible is like dynamite to sin. When we fill our minds and hearts with its truth it is a powerful remedy for sin. We are sanctified by the Spirit-empowered application of God’s word. And the central part of the word is the wonderful Gospel. For later on in verse 19 Jesus links the disciples sanctification with his consecration to the cross and the accomplishment of the gospel work.

Folks, if you are struggling with sin and devotion to God memorize verses about the gospel, memorize the promises of God, memorize the truth of God and meditate on these truths. You will find life-changing power to resist sin and follow God. You can not simply pick yourself up by the bootstraps, you need the power of the word in the hands of the Holy Spirit.

“How can a young man keep his way pure?” Psalm 119:9 asks. “By guarding it according to you word.” Is the answer. And then in verse 11 it says, “I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” You wouldn’t walk into a dangerous place without some sense protection. If you were a soldier you wouldn’t be behind enemy lines without your weapon. Neither should we be in the world without the sanctifying power of the word of God!

3.4. Jesus asks that they be one.

Along with this prayer that we be kept in God Jesus prays that his people might be one people. He prays for the unity of God’s people to reflect the unity of the Father and the Son. In verse 11 he prays, “that they may be one, even as we are one.” Part of being kept in God is being kept together. It is a contradiction to have a people who claim to be one with the Father and the Son yet are not one with each other. It is an essential characteristic of a Christian to be united with other Christians.

Now, first and foremost this is to happen within the local church. What a terrible hypocrisy to have folks in the same local church claiming to belong to the same God yet living separately, disunited and unloving. So Jesus has asked in prayer that his people might be united. And I believe that this prayer is being answered. For a matter of fact, that is one way we show that we are indeed God’s people – we love one another and are united with one another. And if we do not show this quality it is right to question whether we belong to God. Unity and Christianity go hand in hand.

Beyond the local church this unity is expressed differently. We don’t see the NT church united institutionally but relationally. Each local church operated somewhat automonously yet still was united with other churches. It would be an error to think Jesus is praying for institutional unity here. He is praying for fundamental unity as God’s people. And this fundamental unity is not built around a common institution or denomination but a common Savior and a common God, a common word of truth and a common experience of eternal life. So, this some love and fundamental agreement must extend beyond the local church. To belong to God is to love other Christians and walk with them in unity around the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus has prayed this and it is fulfilled wherever you find genuine Christians. A disunited church is a contradiction. A Church that despises other Christian churches is a contradiction. This is in full accordance with Jesus prayer for his people.

3.5. Jesus asks for their joy.

One more thing Jesus asked for in this prayer. In verse 13 he prays that we may have his joy fulfilled in us. Wow, what a prayer! Do you think Jesus is joyful? Do you see him as somber and despairing or do you see him as full of great joy? While Jesus is certainly stern when needed, underlying who he is is a heavenly joy that is full. Why is his joy full? Because he has finished the work the Father gave him to do. He is now working out all things according to the Father’s will and they will work out perfectly to maximize the glory and worth of the Father. The Father is being most glorified and his people are being most blessed, therefore the Son of God is most joyful. And he has asked and I believe is asking, that our joy might be full in him! He is asking that we experience the same level of joy as he does. This is our destiny folks – full and perfect joy in him.

Oh, how important this is. This past week I believed the Lord reminded me of this important truth. Let me read to you from my journal what I believed God was speaking to me. “..I did not call you to suffering and trials per se but I call you to me. And in me is fullness of joy, so much so that when the world would destroy you with its evil and brokenness you will know victory and even joy. Beware of trial without joy, this is not of me. So know me and know fullness of joy, overcoming joy, hilarious joy, overflowing joy – even today. I call you to joy in the manifold fullness of grace that daily floods your life – open your eyes to see it, enjoy it, proclaim it and be strengthened in it – even today. Know joy, know me and live..” Whether or not that was a valid prophetic word or not isn’t the point. It represents a scriptural truth. It represents Jesus’ prayer. Life isn’t about trial and suffering, though it may be full of these. Life in Jesus is about knowing and enjoying and glorifying God in and through these trials and showing the worthy of life in him through joy. He has created us for a joy so powerful that it shines forth even in martyrdom, whether a gradual martyrdom or daily sacrifice or a sudden martyrdom – joy is to shine forth. This is what the Savior prayed for, this is what we have in him.

4. Jesus prayed for God’s mission

4.1. The three purposes

There is one final aspect of Jesus prayer in John 17. He has prayed for God’s glory, he has prayed for God’s people and he has prayed for God’s mission. Three ways to pray – God’s glory, God’s people and God’s mission. These are the three purposes of the church. They are part of our mission statement and a great way to pray. If you want a handy way to remember them think of them as Worship, Walk and Witness, the three W’s of the Christian life. Jesus prays in line with these three purposes here in John 17 and because he prays we know God will indeed accomplish these three purposes.

4.2. Jesus prayed for future believers.

In verse 20 Jesus prays not only for the present disciples, the 120 or so, but also for all believers through all time. That includes you and me. Isn’t that fantastic! He asks for the same things for us he prays for the disciples. He is looking forward to the mission of the disciples to preach the gospel to all peoples making disciples in all the earth. Jesus sees no disconnect between the purpose of God’s people and the purpose of God’s mission. The mission is about rescuing God’s people and God’s people are about the mission of reaching more – they go together inseperably. So he prays for those who will come to him through his people, through his disciples.

4.3. Jesus prayed for the church’s witness through love and unity.

One of the chief ways Jesus prays for the mission is that the church would demonstrate love and unity in such a way that the world would know that he is God the Son and therefore the gospel is true. Do you see that? Look in verse 21, Jesus prays that we might be united in God so that the world might believe that God sent Jesus. Later in verse 23 he prays that the world would know God loves the Son and loves his people and in the last verse of the prayer Jesus promises to continue to make the love of God known.

Jesus prays for the unity and love of the church that the church might be a witness to the world. You can have all the evangelistic programs in the world, you can have all the greatest traveling evangelists, you can have all the best tracts – all good things, but Jesus’ prayer is that the church would be the most winsome testimony to the truth of the gospel. In order for the world to know that the truth that Christ died for sinners there must be love and unity in the church. You can have all of the best of the rest but if we do not have love and unity we fail to be effective witnesses.

4.4. Jesus prayed the world would know he is from God

And Jesus’ objective isn’t simply that people would acquiesce to the fact that he is God. He wanted people to be converted as a result and become genuine believers. For the result of people witnessing our unity and love is that they would know that Jesus was sent by the Father. That is the very description of a genuine believer that Jesus gives in verse 8. So he is asking for the witness of the church that it might draw people to saving faith in the Sent One, Jesus Christ, the only Savior and Lord! Thus the mission and the people of God are tied tightly together.

5. Conclusion

So, we have seen our great Savior’s great high priestly prayer. We have seen that he prayed for our witness, our walk and the worship of God. We have seen that this prayer stands alone in uniqueness, beauty and importance. We have learned that because Jesus prayed these things they will surely happen. This gives us great joy and confidence in our own prayers and it gives us wisdom to know how to pray like Jesus – for God’s glory, God’s people and God’s mission.

Let us close in worship, thanking God for this wonderful prayer and the promise to fulfill everything the Savior has requested so that we can be confident and wise in our prayer. Because Jesus prayed we pray.