Jesus' Prayer for You
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
This morning we are going to turn to John chapter 17.
This is one of several prayers that we have from Jesus — The Model Prayer is another (Matt. 6:8-13); we could look at Jesus’ 7 sayings on the cross, and some of those 7 sayings I think we can safely say were prayers:
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.”
“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
We could look at John chapter 11 — Right before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He prayed to the Father - “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” (He had told them that if they believed, they would see the glory of God!)
So we could look at these prayers of Jesus, and others as well, and learn a lot from them!
Another prayer of Jesus from which we can learn a lot is in John chapter 17, and the sermon is entitled this morning: “Jesus’ Prayer for You.”
John 17:1-26:
John 17:1-26:
What we have here is a prayer from our Savior shortly before He is going to go to the cross.
(Read John 17:1-8).
John 17:1-3
Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 17:4-6
I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. “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.
John 17:7-8
Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
So, what we have here is an acknowledgement from Jesus — God the Son — that He has accomplished the Father’s will.
Now, He’s going to pray specifically for His apostles.
(Read John 17:9-19 — Jesus prays for His apostles’ sanctification, their stand for His truth, and speaks to the fact that they are “IN the world, but not OF the world.”)
John 17:9-11
“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.
John 17:12-13
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
John 17:14-16
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. I do not pray that You should 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.
John 17:17-19
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Finally, we’re going to get to the part of John 17 that I have entitled — “Jesus’ Prayer for You!”
The reason for this — Jesus says, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” (That’s US!)
This is where we want to spend most of our time this morning:
(Read John 17:20 — This is how we know that Jesus transitions from praying for the apostles, to praying for US — and all Christians for all time!)
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
(Read John 17:21-23 — Here we have the “why” for the UNITY that Christ is praying for, for you and for me!)
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
How many times does Jesus use the word “one” in this prayer? If you count them — 1 (way back in v. 11), then 2 & 3 (v. 21), 4 & 5 (v. 22), and 6 (v. 23) — *SIX TIMES Jesus uses the word “ONE” in characterizing His desire for His followers — SIX TIMES — Must be pretty important!*
What about the “why” for this unity?
Here it is — (V. 21) — “That the world may BELIEVE that You sent Me.”
And here it is again — (V. 23) — “And that the world may KNOW that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me,” Jesus says!
We often sing — “They’ll know we are Christians by our love” — That song is based directly off of John 13:35 - “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
A very similar concept is found here in Jesus’ prayer for You and Me — The oneness — the unity that is to characterize the body of Christ — that WE are supposed to strive for — is for the purpose of the world BELIEVING and KNOWING that the Father sent Jesus!
And for the purpose of the world knowing the LOVE that God has for us as well!
Now, what do you gather?
Hopefully you gather that the very Gospel message of the love of God for mankind can either be MANIFESTED (made clear) by Christian unity, or the Gospel message can be HINDERED by LACK thereof of unity!
That’s the message of Jesus’ prayer!
(Read John 17:24-26 — Jesus concludes His prayer, expressing a desire for Christians to one day be with Him in heaven, to behold His glory, and He acknowledges that the WORLD doesn’t know Him, but HE knows the Father, and so do Christians!)
“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
And v. 26 — Jesus finishes the prayer by, more or less, by acknowledging that the Gospel message of God’s love should live on through US!
Application:
Application:
Question:
Does the Gospel message live on through the way you conduct YOUR life?
Does the way you present yourself, Christian, point the world to Christ?
Do your attitude and actions and priorities show that Christ is worth believing in?
That we can KNOW who He is, and the love that the Father had for us in sending His only begotten Son?
Do you live out John 3:16 every day?
Are you dwelling in the body of Christ as ONE, just as Jesus prayed almost two thousand years ago — Saying SIX TIMES over the course of this chapter that He desires His followers to be ONE?
Are you fulfilling Christ’s prayer as it pertains to your life and your responsibility in the body of Christ, or are you the metaphorical “thorn in the side” of the body of Christ?
Fulfill Jesus’ dying wishes in His prayer for YOU in John chapter 17!
Be ONE, as the Father is ONE in Christ, and He in the Father, “that they also may be ONE in Us,” Christ says, “that the world may believe that You (the Father) sent Me.”