Three Things Jesus Prays Desperately for Us: F.R.O.G

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INTRO:
Church it’s good to be here this morning. I got the opportunity last week to be with my brother at his church for the first time and it was so neat to be there. We were running late and so we came in right when they were starting the announcements so if I have ever give you a hard time for coming in late and not hearing the announcements I am sorry. That’s our family too. Ryan preached in Eph 4 and I think that is where the Lord will have us next week. One of the things my brother talked about and that was sticking with me was Unity. So the Lord began even then to stir my heart about unity and church just be honest the enemy, this week has been trying to cause division even in our staff. I don’t say that to call out anyone from the stage, or to get you fearful of what going, I say that because I want to be real about the things that we are going through and experiencing and to look to the Lord in the midst of division and conflict to allow Him to do whatever He needs to do to get us aligned with Him. The Lord has pressed John 17 on my heart and mind this week and its a look into what Jesus desperately prayed for His disciples. So join me as we jump into John 17:11-26
John 17:11–26 ESV
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. 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. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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 ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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. 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. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 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.”
So I have read this several times and always enjoyed this passage, I think it just reveals Jesus’ love, care, and Him shepherding those that follow Him, by praying for them. What I had not realized before though was that this was shortly after, some scholars believe it was directly after the Last Supper with His 12 disciples. Really from John 13 to the end of John 14 Jesus is at the dinner table of the Last Supper (Jesus last meal with His disciples), and the last verse of 14 Jesus says lets leave this place, and in John 18 Jesus and His disciples are headed to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus gets arrested and from there would go on to be beaten and crucified, and praise Jesus, He rose from the dead!!
Jesus, in this passage, prays for His disciples and for those that would later become His disciples right before He goes to the garden and gets arrested. So He knows what is about to happen and He takes time to pray with His disciples.

Three things Jesus desperately prays for His disciples:

To Be....

Protected

The ESV uses the word keep here. It says, John 17:11
John 17:11 (ESV)
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.
New Living Translation (Chapter 17:11)
Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.
Then he goes on to say a similar statement in John 17:15
John 17:15 (ESV)
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
New Living Translation (Chapter 17:15)
15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to [keep] them [safe] from the evil one.
In these similar statements, Jesus is praying first off that God would keep us in Him SO THAT we may be unified, That he would keep us or protect us from wandering off into evil that causes division not only with Christ but with fellow believers.
I saw this picture by a guy I follow on social media, He’s pastor and he had put a picture of his daughter protecting his adopted son, who is in a wheel chair and has unique needs and I thought it was a great way to show how the Holy Spirit also works in our lives to protect us in practical ways. You see this Pastor and their family, They often get asked “how did adopting a child with unique needs affect their other children?” So he posts this picture and says, his adopted son has actually helped protect them. Protect them from letting us worship comfort, protecting them by helping them trust God and not fear the future. He protected them by not letting them forget that all people are made in the image of God - no matter their race, ability, or age.
Jesus is praying to the father that we would be kept by Him in Him however you want to put it. When we have relationship with Him we should be sensitive to the things in our lives He is trying to protect us from like finding comfort in anything other than Him, protecting us from living in fear, protecting us by helping us not forget all people are created in the image of God, and even in this particular context, He wants to protect us or Keep us in Him so that we are not divided with one another, and fighting each other rather than working together to fight the real evil one.
and
not only this, He also prays to protect us or keep us from the evil one.
If you look at the text the first time he says Keep them or protect by your name He goes on to say, John 17:12
John 17:12 ESV
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.
The one that the scripture fulfilled that would betray him, “that has been lost”, was Judas and literally sometime this same evening before Jesus prays this prayer for His disciples, the word says, in John 13:27
John 13:27 ESV
Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
You see those who truly follow Jesus, Jesus protects. You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit so no evil spirit can come in,
2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
Jude 24 ESV
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
Both of these passage are speaking of some perseverance in the midst of evil. When we rely on the Lord He is able to protect us.
But if you have not invited Jesus in, so as to follow Him, your life is empty which is a open vessel for the evil one to have access into your life.
If you have not surrendered your heart to Christ I invite you to now. You don’t have to wait until the end of service. Christ doesn’t wait to save until I am done speaking, if you call out to Him now He will save.
But be careful how you listen. When it talks about the evil one in this passage it actually cross references to Matt. 13:19
Matthew 13:19 ESV
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
Don’t let the evil one distract you from finding life, hope, peace, help to walk through this messy broken life.
Call on Jesus, God I need help. The enemy is tempting me, I feel trapped. Lord save me I feel lost, I am hopeless. I need peace God. God that person that was just a jerk to me, protect me and guard me from giving them a piece of my mind, Lord help me to have your mind.
Jesus prays keep them, protect them and from what we know His disciples are listening , they are there, they are with Him and He says in John 17:13
John 17:13 ESV
But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Again Jesus is not going to be with them in the flesh much longer, and He’s saying these things and praying for God’s protection on them so that they may have joy, that they may remain unified together to help one another and not let the evil one divide them.
Then Jesus continues to pray and ask for us to be

Sanctified

John 17:17–19 (ESV)
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Sanctify - to make holy.
“The sanctification of Christians is a lifelong process.” Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2059.
Man the men’s retreat was good this weekend, and Brother Hal on Night 1 led us through parts of the book of Proverbs and you know what was clear is that God’s word leads to life, it gives wisdom, it is always true. One of the things he said was something along the lines of
“Your flesh will fail you, but it is the word of God that will strengthen and encourage you, ”
God’s word is truth, it is not something that just has some truths, it is true.
I heard these questions given on podcast I was listening too and it was “why do you come to the word of God?”
Do you come to the word and read it to accommodate something? Like are you just trying to justify something you are doing?
Do you come to the word and read it to preserve something? Like are you just trying to keep your traditions because that is all you have ever known.
Or are you coming to the word and reading it because you want to obey Jesus? Because this is a right posture to come to God. Not God I know whats best for me and I’m going to keep living how I want to live, but I am coming laying down all that I have my ideas, my ways, my struggles, my traditions, my preference and God I just want to follow you?
Y’all I think we’ve got to learn from the mistake of the Rich Young Ruler who came to God with his agenda. The Rich Young ruler thought he was good, yet there was part of him that knew something was missing, he comes to Jesus saying what must I do, what more can I do? The rich young ruler basically says he has never done wrong. But when Jesus asked him to hand over the things that he loved, he chose not too and he turned away from Jesus. Part of me thinks the Rich Young ruler was coming to Jesus just to hear Jesus say that he was good, but Jesus spoke up and pointed at the thing that wasn’t good, wasn’t healthy in His life, but again he chose not to listen to the Lord.
Jesus prays and asks God for the word to sanctify our lives. Like Jesus said Your word is truth.
Truth = Your Word so we can place Your Word in where Jesus says Truth because that is what it is. So Jesus is literally saying Sanctify, Make them Holy in your Word. Like God may Your Word that you have spoken, that actually became flesh and dwelt among us (JESUS), Make them more holy everyday.
SO I think the Lord is inviting us to come to Him, His word, and say Jesus sanctify me, in other words. Jesus make me Holy like you.
This connects so much to what Jesus prayed first. Keep or Protect them, because if we are being made more like Him in His word , it reveals we are remaining in Him and unity is the result of being with Jesus.
Which leads to the last part of Jesus’ prayer where he asks us to be...

Unified

John 17:20–23 ESV
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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.
You know as you read this chapter it seems clear that Jesus’ prayer for His disciples is so that we can be unified in Him and also with each other.
WHY? WHY is Unity so important? Hopefully you have kept hearing that word throughout this message because Jesus emphasizes it over and over again why?
BECAUSE if we are unified the world may know God have sent Jesus and God loves them as He has loved His own Son.
IF we are not unified we could be distorting people’s view of Jesus and God’s love for the world.
So what do we do with this?
Church thank God for his work and help to protect us from stumbling and from the evil one. For His word that is active and alive to help make us more like Him.
Repent of wrong motives, or coming with our agenda.
Call on the Lord to save you.
Pray for unity in our local church body but also unity in the global Church.
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