That They May Be One (Part 1)
High Priestly Prayer • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction and Context
Introduction and Context
Jesus’s prayer in John 17 is called the High Priestly Prayer because in it, Jesus is performing the two essential tasks of a priest of Israel.
The first is to make a blood offering for sin; to satisfy the just requirement of God.
The second is to make intercession for the people on the basis of that sacrifice.
The great Puritan writer John Owen set nothing less than the hope of every Christian upon these two works undertaken by Jesus; his death and intercession for the Church.
John, Volumes 1 & 2 (Chapter 113: The High Priestly Prayer (John 17:9–13))
“By the one he hath procured all good things for us, and by the other he will procure them to be actually bestowed, whereby he doth never leave our sins, but follows them into every court, until they be fully pardoned and clearly expiated.”
The High Priestly Prayer has ongoing significance for the church because it opens a window for us into the heavenly courts, so that we might see an example of the work that Jesus is still doing to this day on our behalf.
The prevailing theme is unity
There is great blessing in the unity we have with God through Jesus Christ’s priestly work.
John Flavel (Paraphrase)
John, Volumes 1 & 2 (Chapter 113: The High Priestly Prayer (John 17:9–13))
“In this prayer he gives them a specimen, or sample, of that his glorious intercession work, which he was just then going to perform in heaven for them.”
Unity With God in Christ
Unity With God in Christ
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.
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.
In the vv.1-8, Matt showed us how Jesus prayed for his own consecration…in preparation for the first step of His priestly work.
Now he undertakes the second step; praying for us, the people whom He has been appointed to represent.
Those who He has been given by the Father.
The Father gave Jesus a people before the foundation of the world. Eph 1:4
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Those for whom He will give up His life.
Jesus’s prayer is not for the world in general, but for these people in particular.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
He prays for the Church because these are the ones He was sent to redeem.
The gospel is offered to all the world; the free offer to repent and believe.
This is the message we carry forth into all the world.
But the sacrifice Jesus is about to make is for the Church, for her cleansing.
Those who are given to Christ
Whom He will never cast out.
Whom he will surely raise up on the last day.
Why does he only pray for the church?
Because His people belong to the Father and were given by Him.
Jesus has been entrusted to accomplish their salvation.
He treasures what the Father has entrusted to him.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Now he is about to lay His life down for His sheep, the church.
Eph 5 25b
…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Christ has a special, devoted love for those whom the Father has given Him.
Like a husband has for his wife.
Salvation in that we see that it is an act of the Triune God.
All three persons of the God head working in concert and agreement to accomplish the work of our redemption.
The Son promised to send the Spirit in John 16:7
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Now He is fulfilling His promise in asking the Father to save and preserve the church.
The unity within the Godhead is the foundation for the unity in the church.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally exist in a state of self-giving love that manifests in perfect generosity.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are unified in our desires.
This leads us into the same kind of self-giving love. And in that, we glorify God.
Jesus is glorified in us…how can this be? That such sinful people can be to the glory of Christ?
He is glorified in His work of salvation; saving unworthy and ill-deserving sinners as an act of grace.
He is also glorified to the degree that we, sinners saved by grace, conform ourselves to His likeness through holy lives and good works.
14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
This is an encouragment to us to live lives full of good works in His name.
He is glorified when we boldly confess our faith.
There are to be no “secret christians.” The Christian life is lived publicly before the world.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
He is glorified by our work in extending His kingdom into all the world.
In this, we recover the work of our original father, Adam.
Unity Brings Security
Unity Brings Security
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.
12 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.
This is Jesus’s plea on our behalf.
He is about to give His life, suffering and dying for our sin, but His care is that He is leaving His people in the world and He wants His Father to protect them.
Protect them from what? There are many dangers that threaten the flock.
First, the world; the external evil. There is the corrupting influence of worldliness.
The world is full of temptations great and small.
Jesus wants us to be fit for the purpose we have been saved for, so he prays that we would not fall into temptations.
(Paraphrase)
John, Volumes 1 & 2 (The Second Petition)
“The Lord does not ask riches for them, or honors, or worldly influence, or great preferments, but he does most earnestly pray that they may be kept from evil, separated from the world, qualified for duty, and brought home safely to heaven.”
The second danger is internal—Disunity and disharmony within the body.
Unity in Christ is not a matter of a monolithic denomination; a collective hive-mind into which all individuality is lost.
It is a beautiful unity of spirit, where diverse people build one another up in the faith and in our shared witness before the world.
That said, neither can we remain independent.
The isolated Christian, separated from the life of Christ expressed in the Church, become vulnerable to the world and to sin.
To our great joy, this prayer is sure to be answered! Our safety is not a matter of possibility, but certainty.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
What comfort to the Christian who doubts and struggles to endure in the faith—our survival, our perseverance is not ultimately about how strong or capable we are. It is a matter of Christ’s sufficiency.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
The road may be rocky and hared, but Christ will keep us until the end. This promise is sufficient hope to keep going forward one step at a time.
“Keep them in your name, which you have given me.”
God’s name is powerful for salvation.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
The prayer to be kept in God’s name is a prayer that we would not fall away.
Matthew Henry:
John, Volumes 1 & 2 (The Second Petition)
“Keep them in the knowledge and fear of thy name; keep them in the profession and service of thy name, whatever it costs them. Keep them in the interest of thy name, and let them ever be faithful to this; keep them in thy truths, in thine ordinances, in the way of thy commandments.”
Unity Brings Joy
Unity Brings Joy
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Why is Jesus praying? For our joy.
He desires that as he leaves the world, that those who are left behind would have joy.
Joy is a happiness that is not rooted in the present circumstances of our lives. It is rooted in a person, Jesus Christ, and his redeeming work.
For the church that would endure in the world, joy is crucial. In fact, it is a command.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
It is our privilege and our duty to respond to God’s grace with heartfelt joy and thanksgiving.
Jerry Bridges:
“To be joyless is to dishonor God and to deny His love and His control over our lives. It is practical atheism. To be joyful is to experience the power of the Holy Spirit within us, and to say to a watching world, ‘Our God reigns.’ ”
Joy is a powerful testimony to a suffering world.
Not only is our joy found in Christ, but it is His joy.
The joy Jesus possesses in himself; that flows from the unity of character, purpose, and self-giving love that He perfectly shares with the Father.
He wants us to experience the perfection of joy that is a result of eternal life (the life of Christ).
We find it through living in communion with Him through His word and prayer.
Our joy is also found in the fact of our calling, that we have been made a nation of priests after His likeness.
The joy of the church is produced and shown when we share the same oneness of character (Christlikeness) and purpose (godliness).
When we are united in our devotion to Christ and walking in obedience to Him.
Unity in God’s Word
Unity in God’s Word
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.
Jesus then presents his vision for the church. That we would be marked by holiness and truth.
Holiness
What Jesus has given us in His Word is a doorway to another world right here in this one.
The Word of God distinguishes us from the rest of the world.
It changes us and shapes us in a heavenly way of thinking, living, and being.
This “otherworldliness” breeds hatred from a lost and broken world.
We no longer agree with the world’s way of thinking, acting, and living.
Our affections, thoughts, actions, and entire way of life are a reminder that we are fundamentally different.
We are born again to eternal life, transformed from the inside out.
The world resents the Christian because our existence is a constant reminder that they are a people under the judgment of God.
Their deep desire is that we could be made to fall into sin and so be brought down to their level.
So, God’s intervention on our behalf is necessary.
Our hope in this is that God will not allow for us to be overcome by the world.
14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
The world cannot do anything to us in its hatred of Jesus that God does not permit.
So, we should not expect or even desire to completely avoid persecution, affliction, or difficulty.
Jesus’s prayer is not that we would be delivered from these evils, but preserved safely through them.
Jesus prays that we would be preserved against moral and spiritual corruption.
The evil one (Satan) attempts to corrupt the church and cause it to fail.
The most insidious of his schemes is to infest the church with worldliness; to compromise our convictions.
Compromise in the church takes on many forms, usually accompanied by an “-ism.”
Materialism—compromising for comfort/success.
Focusing on numbers, buildings, revenues, etc.
Relativism—compromising truth for what maintains our reputation.
Sensualism—compromising for the sake of what makes us feel good.
Humanism—compromising the truth for the sake of what humanity prioritizes.
Creation, gender, sexuality, environmentalism, et all.
Consumerism—What sells well; the customer is always right. (Church for the unchurched)
The church should be focused on different things; better things: a growing esteem for Jesus Christ, a discernible spirit of repentance, a dogged devotion to the Word of God, an interest in theology and doctrine, and an evident love for God and neighbor.
That we would be like Him; not of this world.
We are not delivered out of the world, so we must be prepared to live in the world.
We cant be isolationists (monks/enclaves).
A modern day example is the Amish.
Never the less, we must not permit ourselves to be of the world—to become just like the rest of the world.
The church becomes secularized (worldly) when we adopt the worlds wisdom, theology, agenda, or politics.
A church that looks just like the world will never be able to change the world.
We impact the world for Christ by remaining different in the only way that matters; by committing ourselves to obey God’s Word.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Paraphrase)
John, Volumes 1 & 2 (The Church and the World)
“when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first.… It should not be our ambition to be as much like everybody else as we can, though we happen to be Christian.… Our ambition should be to be like Christ, the more like Him the better, and the more like Him we become, the more we shall be unlike everybody who is not a Christian.”
Sanctify them in truth, your word is truth.
If we would remain free of corruption and secularization (distinct from the world), we must remain people of the Book.
We are set apart by God’s Word, which transforms us from the inside out.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
By submitting ourselves to the authority of God’s Word we raise a bulwark against the flood of worldliness.
But dutiful obedience to God’s Law is not enough, we must embrace God’s Word for its goodness and wholesomeness.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
Let our wisdom, theology, agenda, and methods be informed by God’s revealed pattern. For wholehearted devotion to God’s Word leads to eternal life, saving faith, and transformed living.
God’s Word produces holiness in us.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
It does not fail.
Unity on Mission
Unity on Mission
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
In the final portion of this section contains Jesus’s prayer that we continue in the life of God, by following Jesus’s path after he departs.
God sent His son into the world as an agent of reconciliation.
Now, Jesus is sending us out into the world on the same mission.
Jesus is about to give His life so that we might be transformed and equipped for this work.
He consecrated Himself by living a perfect holy life under the Law (active obedience) and by offering His life in sacrifice for ours.
Our sanctification is a result of His sanctification.
Through this, we are sanctified in truth. What does this mean?
If we did not have Christ, the truth would not sanctify us, but doom us. God’s Word exposes our sin, and God’s holiness wrath without any hope for the sinner to make right. It is only through the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are given hope.
Christ’s work on the cross allows for us to be cleansed of sin and set apart for good works.
Good works are what please God and accomplish His good purpose in the world.
The purpose of our sanctification is that as we are one with Christ, as we have new life in Him, as we are made holy in the truth, we now share in His mission.
Three points about our mission.
Christ is sending us.
We are carrying on His work.
We are sent to the world…again, isolation is not an option.
James Montgomery Boice
John, Volumes 1 & 2 (The Fourth Mark of the Church: Mission)
it is possible today “to be born of Christian parents, grow up in that Christian family, have Christian friends, go to Christian schools and colleges, read Christian books, attend a Christian country club (known as a church), watch Christian movies, get Christian employment, be attended by a Christian doctor, and finally, one may suppose, die and be buried by a Christian undertaker on holy ground.”
All these things we might do, but we will not have obeyed Christ if we have not gone into the world.
Our thinking of the world must be shaped by Jesus’s missionary calling…we must live and interact with the world as his witnesses.
James Montgomery Boice:
John, Volumes 1 & 2 (The Fourth Mark of the Church: Mission)
“We are to know non-Christians, befriend them, and enter into their lives in such a way that we begin to infect them with the gospel, rather than their infecting us with their worldliness.”
Christ is sending us as He was sent by the Father.
In subjection to His Will
Obedient servants.
Called to labor, not to comfort.
Sacrificial.
Putting off heaven.
Making the most of the days.
Accepting humiliation.
Enduring all suffering.
Our mission is essential—We are God’s chosen plan for the salvation of the world.
Christ is sending you to the world around you to be the heralds of good news.
The Gospel communicates the perfect love of God and the good news that the worst sinner can be reconciled to a holy God through repentance and faith.
Then the same sinners become emissaries of that hope to the glory of God.
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Let us be faithful in following the pattern of our Savior.
Striving in the unity of the Spirit He has sent among us.
Living joyfully before a lost and broken world.
Holding fast to the truth of the Gospel.
Continuing the mission of peace He has entrusted to us.
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
