Uncompromised

INTRO / HONOR

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Incredible missionary who won a nation. He was a slave to the Irish, escaped , but later returned to the very people that enslaved him to preach the Gospel to them.

He deserves to be celebrated - and we should have the right focus on this day.

Turn on your Bibles to John 17 - We are going to start making our way towards the Cross

This is Christ’s High Priestly Prayer and really a summation of the entire 4th Gospel.

Its themes include Jesus’ obedience to his Father,

the glorification of his Father through his death,

the choosing of the disciples out of the world,

their mission to the world,

their unity modelled on the unity of the Father and the Son,

and their final destiny to be in the presence of the Father and the Son

This prayer captures all of that and is the ultimate setup for the climax of John’s Gospel, which is of course the Cross.

So as we are weeks away from Easter, which is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection — the most important moment in all of human history as Paul said

1 Corinthians 15:17 ESV

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

without the Cross we are NOTHING!

So as we draw closer to the Cross let’s look at Jesus’ last prayer before His betrayal and arrest

PRAY

John 17:1–5 (ESV)

1 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.

Jesus’ first words of this prayer he creates this parallel for His purpose and the purpose of the Gospel

Verse 1 — Glorify your son — (WHY/PURPOSE?) that your Son may glorify You // Jesus is not out for personal gain or even recognition. He only wants to be obedient to the Father and is modeling for you and I what real obedience looks like: death on the cross.

Verse 2 — this is a parallel. SINCE (kathos) Given Christ all authority — (WHY/PURPOSE?) that He will give eternal life to us. THIS IS THE GOSPEL

That since the beginning of time Christ has had all authority — and He is using that TO DIE. SO THAT you and I could live.

The Gospel is that I'm far worse than I can imagine, but I'm more loved than I'll ever know.

The Gospel is that I had to admit that I had more problems than I could recognize, and that Jesus had infinitely more satisfying solutions than anyone could offer.

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

If you don’t know God - you can only end up in confusion.

The knowledge of God is the only way to life

Ephesians 4:18 (ESV)

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Eternal life only comes to the humble. Those that know they are broken and know they need God.

When we constantly fight for our own way and try to see how much wiggle-room we have in the Bible.

“Do I really need to forgive this person?”

“Do I actually have to tithe?”

“How far can I go with my girlfriend before its actually sin?”

“Are these commands or just good suggestions?”

Theses are not question born out of humility but pride

John 17:4–5 (ESV)

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.

The work is complete! Jesus did it!

Verse 2 — All authority is Christ’s! All everything is Christ!

Think of how John opens his Gospel …

John 17:24 (ESV)

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.

Jesus is God.

Jesus is Lord.

We are not copying just a human example — But God actually put skin on, dwelt among us. lived with us, and then died for us — So that we - who murdered him - might live.

‘wow… God, you did that for me?

Seeing this — you can look at St. Patrick and start to understand how he could return to his slavers… to set them free.

If God was willing to die for me, whose very sin is an abomination to Him - yet in spite of me - he saved me.

If God could love ME in this way — who am I to NOT LOVE anyone this way?

Who am I to hold grudges?

Who am I to curse people?

Who am I to stay angry?

Who am I to harbor bitterness?

If God has extended that Grace you and I — we have NO RIGHT not to walk in love

Jesus, in this prayer, begins to turn from praying for Himself - to now praying for His Church, His followers.

John 17:8–11 (ESV)

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.

What was it that caused us to believe? THE WORDS OF GOD. We must live by God’s Word

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.

What an incredible comfort to know Jesus is praying for you and I. There is something so encouraging to get a text from a friend that says “I’m praying for you!”

andrew Nemeth calling me

How incredible - That Jesus Himself is praying for His Bride, His Church — SO MUCH SO that He is actually glorified in us!

That we are His hands and feet in this world!

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.

St. Patrick — He didn’t stay separated from the world — HE WENT IN THE WORLD. To the very people that enslaved him. Hated him. Belittled him.

What does it say of our mission and placement in this world — if in Jesus’ own prayer He recognizes WHO IS THE ONE IN THE WORLD?!

St. Augustine said in his commentary of the Gospel of John…

“For if He is the head, we are the members: the whole man is He and we. This is what the Apostle Paul saith… “Until we all come together into the unity of faith, and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.” The fullness of Christ, then, is head and members. Head and members, what is that? Christ and the Church.”

It is THE CHURCH - that is the hands and feet of Christ on the earth today.

Jesus is no longer in the world — it is now YOU AND I who are in the world!

We are always one generation away from losing Christianity.

We have a job to do in this earth and Christ has commissioned us (HIS CHURCH) to continue His work.

Jesus is not discipling people like He used to. He isn’t here. He came, he accomplished what God commanded Him to do (verse 4) and now He has commissioned us to continue.

and so how are we to continue?

John 17:14–18 (ESV)

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.

In the world and yet uncompromised.

In the world and yet pure.

In the world and yet holy.

How do we remain in this world? THE WORD

Verse 17!

The Word of God is what keeps us pure in the world

we all struggle to remain uncompromised by the world —WHY? BC we ALL struggle with sin

Because we don’t always do things God’s way

Because sometimes I like the way David does things and I want it that wayyy

this is why we must live our lives submitted to Gods Word.

that is the truth I live by above all other truths

John 17:20–21 (ESV)

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.

through THIER (THE CHURCH) WORD

What we speak

how we walk in love

through the relationships we build

Just as Christ and the Father are united — so YOU AND I are united in Christ.

WHYY??

So that THE WORLD may believe in Christ and come into unity with Father

The closer we get to the Cross the more urgently clear our mission should become.

WORSHIP / EQUIP / REACH

Just like St. Patrick returned to the very people that took his natural freedom, he returned to preach a Spiritual Freedom —

SO YOU AND I ARE TO BE PRESENT IN THIS WORLD, not to become a slave to it, but to FREE THOSE WHO ARE SLAVES TO SIN through the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

… stand …

ALTAR:

Know Christ / Target 5 / be a student of the Word

come forward for special prayer —

‘SHOUT OF HALLELUJAH