John 17.1-26

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Intro: Famous Last Words

Famous last words have a certain power. The last thing you say to someone tends to reflect what you think is most important.

In fact later on in April we’re going to have a little series called ‘Famous last Words’ looking at the last things different Bible writers said to their listeners or readers - Jesus, Paul, Peter etc.

Famous words can also be banal of course… apparently the last words of Winston Churchill were just “I’m bored with it all”…

Apparently Oscar Wilde said “either this wallpaper goes or I do…”

Anyway… these words before us aren’t quite Jesus last words to his disciples, there is more to come…. Nonetheless we are getting to the business end of John’s gospel… things are drawing to a climax…

It’s striking that throughout the Gospel we have been repeatedly told by Jesus that his “hour” has not yet come… the time for his death and resurrection is not YET here…

From right back at the beginning, at the wedding at Cana when his mother asks him to help with the embarrassing business of the drinks having run out… he replies

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John 2:4 NIV

“Woman,  why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

Five times in fact Jesus says his hour has not yet come… but now here at the start of chapter 17 we read

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John 17:1 NIV

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

You will have noticed that this entire section is a prayer… Jesus turns from addressing is disciples… to addressing his Father (although remember of course that the disciples hear all this - they are still present).

So this section is Jesus praying…. And you’ll see from the headings that this is all about Jesus praying that the father would…

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Jesus prays that the Father would…

Jesus prays that the Father would…

…bring glory to him (the son) and

…Do good (in various ways) to his people.

First then… the prayer that the Father would..

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1. Bring Glory to the Son

So again read from v1

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John 17:1 NIV

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

DId you notice - the HOUR has come…. The time which the Father appointed for is Son to go toward the cross… the event that God planned and ordained…

So what does Jesus do as this God-appointed moment approaches? - does he have a kind of resigned fatalism? Oh well… this is the time… I have no choice… I better get on with it… NO! The God-appointed hour leads Jesus to God-directed prayer.

This is a sidebar really but it’s a point worth observing… I think our tendency is to think the opposite way.

Have you caught yourself thinking… oh well, if God controls and ordains all things… if he knows the end from the beginning anyway… what’s the point of prayer?! The trouble with thinking that is that Jesus appears to think exactly the opposite!

Precisely BECAUSE the hour for his glorification has come… he prays for that to happen… it’s God’s appointed hour, we pray for God’s will to be done.

Don Carson puts it this way….

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“As so often in Scripture, emphasis on God’s sovereignty functions as an incentive to prayer, not a disincentive.” DON CARSON

God’s in charge of all things - if that’s a reason for JESUS to pray… then ALL THE MORE reason for us to pray.

He prays (back to v1 now)…. SLIDE

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John 17:1 NIV

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

That the Father would glorify HIM.

This gets developed more - read from v4

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John 17:4–5 NIV

I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

From all eternity past… from before the world began (as Jesus says) Jesus has been glorious - the only begotten Son of God… in eternal relationship with the Father and the Spirit - fully God - glorious in every way.

And yet in his goodness he has stepped down… brought himself low… taken on flesh (The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us).

In part (for those who are willing to look) this enables us to SEE his glory (as John1 goes on to say).

But for many Jesus (in his incarnation) has been “just another man” to dismiss… worse than that (in the eyes of some) an enemy to destroy - what a dreadful blasphemy! Mere creatures wanting to bump off their creator…

Jesus has, of course, been bringing glory to the Father in all the work he HAS DONE up until this point.. But the crowning, glorious act is yet to come…

And… irony of ironies… Jesus will be MOST glorified… most glorious… at the moment he looks most weak and human and defeated - in his shameful crucifixion and death.

But as Jesus comes through the cross… and through the resurrection… and as he ascends back to the Father they glory he had from all eternity will (in a sense be restored to him) - and this glory will come to be recognised and acknowledged by more and more and more expel.

Don Carson again sums it up so well…

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“The very event by which the Son was being ‘lifted up’ in horrible ignominy and shame was that for which he would be praised around the world by men and women whose sins he had borne.” DON CARSON

But for Jesus - even his own glorification at the cross an all that follows is, in a sense, a means to an end… look at v1 again…

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John 17:1 NIV

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

Glory brought to Jesus who went to the cross… bring Glory to the Father and the Spirit too - who planned and empowered all of this before all ages began.

And this is a familiar theme in the whole of John’s gospel - how often do we hear Jesus talking about his own relationship with the Father? How he and the father are one… how he onl passes on what his Father has told him…. Even last week we saw the Spirit involved as well - the Son returns to the Father so that the Spirit can come… and the Spirit will lead the disciples into all truth - but only the truth that the Spirit has received from the Father and the Son.

Sometimes perhaps we find these repeated references back and forth between members of the Trinity confusing… but what they make abundantly clear is the eternal relationship of LOVE which lies at the heart of God - this is who God IS in himself… a united family of three in one.

And that, I think explains v2 and 3 as well….

Have a look John 17.2-3 SLIDE

John 17:2–3 NIV

For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Isn’t that interesting? If you or I had to complete the sentence THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE… (dot, dot, dot)… I think we would say “life that goes on forever”… “life that is eternal…” And, of course. At one level that’s perfectly true….

But the thing that is SO glorious about eternal life… the thing that Jesus emphasises here… the thing that is BEST about it…. Is not merely it’s lENGTH… but who it’s LIVED WITH - This is eternal life - this is the ultimate prize… the greatest blessing THAT WE KNOW GOD, and JESUS CHRIST WHO HE SENT.

The ultimate end here is the glory of God… God is glorified by sinners like us being saved… and what’s so glorious about that? Eternal relationship… being welcomed into these glorious relationships of Father, Son, and Spirit - which predate and produce the world.

Jesus prays for the Father to glorify him in all these ways… but secondly…

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2. Do Good to his People

I’ve used that phrase ‘DO GOOD’ because Jesus prays so MANy different GOOD THINGS for his people here…

RIFF - These are things Jesus prays for - we ought to pray this way (when we ask… ‘how can I pray for such and such…?)

RIFF - These are for all disciples.. c.f. V6 / v20

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John 17:20 NIV

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,

For what does Jesus pray? What GOOD does he ask the Father to do for his people… for us? First..

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A) To Know God

Read on - v6

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John 17:6–9 NIV

“I have revealed you  to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.

There’s more here of Jesus relationship with the Father - ‘everything you have given me (says Jesus) comes from you (the Father).

But see the emphasis… Jesus has REVEALED the God to to his disciples….

They now KNOW everything that Jesus has given them… has come from the Father, from God.

They now KNOW and have ACCEPTED Jesus words…

They have BELIEVED that the Father sent the Son…

See the desire… that the disciples… that we KNOW, ACCEPT, CHRIST - and all that is revealed in him and through him.

The theme returns - v14

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John 17:14 NIV

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

SO the WORD comes to us… so we might know God… and believe in Christ… and that WORD (the message of Jesus, the message of the gospel) transforms things - it calls us OUT of the world, to belong to God.

Of course… in one sense God has ALWAYS known who will be his people…. More than that - in an ultimate sense he has chosen them… he has ‘given them’ as it were to believe in the son.

This should be tremendously comforting to us.

Jesus wants us to KNOW God through his word… next…

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B) To be protected by God

See how he goes on… v11

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John 17:11–12 NIV

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

The one lost to destruction is, of course, Judas…

Bu the emphasis is a prayer for protection, for those who really do belong to Jesus.

Notice the specific language… Protect them BY THE POWER OF YOUR NAME.

Now, at one level this simply means protect them by your power. In the Bible a name is always more than just a name… someone’s ‘name’ is a shorthand for who they are - none more so than with God. His NAME signifies all that he is - great in power and glory, able to protect his people - not so they have a life of ease (we’ve already seen that isn’t promised) but so that they are ultimately, spiritually safe - kept by God’s power for all eternity.

But there’s a little more to this phrase…

If we want to be kept by God - by his name - by his power… we need to stand firm in our allegiance to him. If the Lord is the only literately safe place - then we need to stick with the Lord!

And there’s a link there to our next point… the next theme of Jesus prayer…

He prays that WE might have…

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C) To have unity in the People of God

You see this note of unity… middle of v11

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John 17:11 NIV

…Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

The unity between Christians is to reflect the unity within God himself…

You see this theme again - skip down to v20

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John 17:20–21 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.

We SHOULD be concerned for Christian unity. We should be distressed when we see a lack of Christian unity. We should strive for true Christian unity.

Of course we DO need to ask… what IS real Christian unity? What unites us?

Our previous two points are instructive - just think back…

Jesus has prayed that we might BELEIVE in him (the real Jesus)… and therefore might really know the Father. He wants us to know the real Gospel… found in the real Word of God.

Likewise Jesus prayed that the Father would protect us… but part of the protection is us staying faithful to God and to his word.

And it’s important to stress this because there are many folk today who will wax lyrical about Christian unity - but they’ll mean unity with the wrong people and for the wrong reasons.

We live in a pluralistic society… which is often anti-doctrine.. and anti-Bible (doctrine divides people say… - we’re going to see actually the OPPOSITE is true). Often times I wonder if the clamour for Christian unity ISN’T because Jesus prays for it… but because we’re influenced by our secular pluralistic society.

And so people will say… well we should be united with EVERYONE and ANYONE who calls themself a Christian.

The trouble with that, of course, is that all sorts of people, who believe all sorts of (sometimes) radically different and contradictory things, CALL themselves Christian.

So what creates unity? Doctrine actually creates unity… that is… wherever we see fellow CHristian’s who clearly hold the WORD of God in high esteem… who know the real Jesus… and believe his gospel… we should do all we can o promote unity.

On the flip side we cannot have unity with those who abandon the word… and disbelieve the gospel..

We’re doing various things to work with Bible-teaching churches a Christians in Moray

- Rooted, SU, etc.

Next Jesus prays we might be…

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D) To be Sanctified by God

Read now from v15

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John 17:15–17 NIV

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

In the word (no choice)

World will oppose us (like Jesus)

Protection AND sanctification

Sanctification… (being more and more set apart)

Notice ‘Holy Father’.

immersed in the word (given by the apostles Under the guidance of the Spirit)

We have that same Spirit to help us as we hear the Word.

You simply cannot overstate the importance of the WORD in CHristian growth and change.

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E) To Witness for God

Look now at v23

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John 17:22–23 NIV

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.

We are to shine out with the glory of God… a witness to the world… holding our the words of truth `the gospel) which has reached us… bearing witness to it…

One part of that witness is our unity (a church full of in-fighting and factions.. works very quickly to repel people away from Christ - a church united by the gospel… and therefore giving a clear and unified gospel witness… in a community of love and fellowship - does more than anything else - in the power of the Spirit - to draw people to Christ).

So, as we bring this in to land…

Want to know what to pray for yourself and other believers? - Pray like Jesus! Pray this!

Pray for each other to KNOW (and increasingly know) the Lord - through his word.

Pray for each other to be protected from the evil one - his schemes - his prowling around beleiviers to throw them off course.

Pray for CHristian unity… in our congregation, and between fellow Bible-Centred churches.

Pray for ongoing sanctification (how often do we pray for exam results… or worldly progress for our children or grandchildren for example).

Pray for our witness - to shine the light of the gospel to a needy and watching world.

Final word to Don Carson - who sums up Jesus prayer and the CHristian life like this…

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The Christians’ task, then, is not to be withdrawn from the world, nor to be confused with the world, but to remain in the world, maintaining witness to the truth by the help of the Holy Spirit, and absorbing all the malice that the world can muster, finally protected by the Father himself, all in response to the prayer of Jesus. DON CARSON

May it be so for US in our lives today. let’s pray.