Famous Last Words

Devotions - Leadership Team

John 17:20–26 NIV

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

I like to look at tombstones. I'm not morbid okay. But I like to see some of the comments, some of the quotes from the people that have passed on. There's some funny ones online,for example, 'See, I told you I was sick.' I think I'd like to have that one on mine. Or what about famous last words. You know people that know that the time is near often has words of wisdom. They really focus in on what's important. Normally the bravado gets stripped away. Here are a couple of quotes from some famous people.

There was a guy who faced the firing squad in America. His name was James W. Rogers, as he faced the firing squad his last words were, "I done told you that my last request was for a bullet proof vest." I like that one. Closer to home - Ned Kelly, legend has it that he said, "Such is life." What about our former Prime Minster, John Curtin, who said just before his death, "It looks like it's curtains for me”. Okay. I made that last one up. It's a bad joke, okay, don't roll your eyes so hard.

And even though we come to this part of the prayer that Jesus would pray. Jesus knows that his time is near, he knows that he will face an angry mob. He would give Him his life up willingly. He would go the Garden straight after this and sweat drops of blood as He's praying to the Lord. He would be betrayed, He wouldn't say too much more, apart from when He's talking to His disciples when He's upon the cross. But here is a prayer, a man stripped away of all things. The time is near what does He want to talk about, His family? How hard He's been mistreated? Does He want to say to the Father, Lord, I've done all I can, can I come home now? No He is wanting to show his love for us. So let's today just soak in that prayer. Because often when we get prayed for, we get comforted, there's a vulnerability. There's gratefulness. We feel honored that someone would take the time to pray. There's humility. And also sometimes there's an awkwardness, but appreciative. Right? We may feel all of those today. But these words just flow over you. There is much divisions, Politics for example. Just look around you know, the whole debate about abortion. The whole debate about marriage, about gender identity, these sort of things. There's is division in that. Division of religions. Of course we have the new Atheism that's alive and kicking. We have different religious beliefs that divide us. And can I say to you, unfortunately we also have division in Protestant churches over key factors. So we need a prayer for us is to be unified, and reminded we are loved.

We are a Team You see I'm a basketball fanatic, The Detroit Piston in the 80’s were dominate. even though they were a team of nobodys. They weren't really famous. But what they had was a good coach. They had a coach that taught them to be united and to listen and to trust him. They were a tight team that would do and function in that manner. And that's not to say that they lost their identity, each one of them had a function within that team. Defense. Offense. Running plays. Helping out your team mate. We've seen a much bigger understanding of this. Jesus is who we look to. Him and the Father are one. And if we look at the Godhead itself, both Jesus and God are inseparable, but they're distinguishable. They are distinct but unified. We too as we call into this message of hope and message of future salvation, as well as for now, we function in a church in the same way. We may not all have an amazing role, we may not be famous, but we are distinct. We are distinct. We are uniformed, but not uniformed. Here is the beautiful thing. We have been invited as a guest into this love between the Father and the Son. And the Holy Spirit. You see that love and that relationship for each other is not static and yes they are distinct but they are one. They're not needing anything else. And we get invited into this dance. This flowing relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and us. And that happens through the message of salvation in the gospel message. You see it's that future hope, that future glory that we see in Revelation where there are no more tears. Where there is no more pain. But just a whole family under the Father forever and ever and ever. The only reason that we are able to sit in that future hope, is because of what Jesus has done on the cross. Therefore, it's His glory that we get to partake of. It's His glory that we get to see because we are part of that story. See we glimpse the wonders of Christs' glory now in each other, in the gospel message. Those who love Him, and share the love of the Father. You see we are a loved, elect group. For the hearts that are awakened by the gospel, are united to Christ's love and Father's love. And therefore we have a love for each other. That's why you can cross a city and come to a church and feel like you're at home, because you are. You feel the love of the brothers and sisters of that local church because you're connected. You can go on mission trips and met Christians over there that don't speak English. But there is a bond and a connection. Now this is not really a conclusion in verse 26, it's sort of an extra thought, but I want to use it as a conclusion. "I have made you known to them." To who? Us. And there is a no end date to that. This love is real and like I said before this is for us to soak in today. This is for us to breathe in. This is for us to recognize that we are united to others that are loved by Jesus. To recognize that this prayer is one of these last lots of prayers and sayings that He would have going to the cross. And He chose to speak to us today about that. To know that we are loved, that we are connected, that we've been invited into this relationship of the God head, even though they don't need us, they desire to have us because they created us in their image.