Engage the Mission

ILLUST - My Pulsar NX (first car) - not setting parking brake - transmission was disengaged - (world only needs to be on a slight tilt) coasted down driveway and into neighbor’s yard - barely missing house.

<<Disengagement is the cause of coasting. The world only needs to be on a slight tilt and coasting will take you to a place you may never intend to be.

Engagement in the mission of what God is doing in the world is important because we will see that ** We are both the product and producer of Jesus' legacy of discipleship.

Watch for certain key words: glory, word, sent. These will be key for understanding how we engage on mission.

John 17:1–26 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. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 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. 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 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. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 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. 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. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 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.”

** How did Jesus see the purpose of his life at the end of his life, and what legacy did he hope to leave?

Flow of Jesus’ prayer:

1-5 Jesus prays for himself. (the man)

6-19 Jesus prays for his disciples. (the mission)

20-26 Jesus prays for the future church. (the legacy)

Our legacy begins and ends with Jesus. (1-5)

Through the first section of this prayer, Jesus expresses that the ultimate aim of his life was to glorify God.

English Standard Version Chapter 17

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

English Standard Version Chapter 17

4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do

“Everything is traced back to the Father: he assigned the work; he has given the people; he is the one to whom Jesus is about to return; and he is the recipient of Jesus’ petition.”

Morris

ILLUST - the answer is always, “Jesus” - (Anthony).

Jesus is God.

English Standard Version Chapter 17

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

John 17:24 ESV

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 asking for the glory of the Father that he had before time began - a glory only God can have.

‘Our legacy begins and ends with Jesus’ because Jesus is everything!

The legacy of Jesus was a picture of the Father. The lasting mark of our legacy is the image of Jesus that we leave with others.

Jesus gives eternal life.

English Standard Version Chapter 17

2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

‘Our legacy begins and ends with Jesus’ because there is no salvation apart from Jesus.

John 17:24 ESV

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.

Acts 4:12 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

john 17:24

*For us to live for ourselves is to live for something less than God created us for, and something not really worth dying for.

Don’t forget the context and timing of Jesus’ prayer. Following this prayer will be a precipitation of events that will leave Jesus betrayed, alone, hurting, and eventually lifeless on a tree.

Look at the heading of Chapter 18 - Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus - It doesn’t get any better from here. And yet, Jesus’ prayer is not that God would make life smooth. Instead, Jesus’ prayer is over and over that God be glorified in his own life and in the lives of those with whom he is leaving a legacy.

>> While we may plan for our legacy, God determines the events of our lives. If the goal of your life is something other than to bring God glory, you will very likely be disappointed; however, if the prayer of your heart is to continue the legacy of Jesus and bring God glory - you cannot fail, no matter what the events of you r life may bring.

Philippians 1:21 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Paul makes this statement as he sits in prison pondering what the outcome of his life may be.

>> What are you living for? Is it worth Jesus?

Are you in the place you aught to be with the focus you ought to have? If God had called me somewhere else - I’d be less fruitful here than I would be there.

For Jesus, leaving a legacy is about making disciples. (6-19)

English Standard Version Chapter 17

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and

Jesus spent 30 years living a life, three years pouring it out, and one day stamping it with the power and approval of God.

Jesus’ legacy is about disciples who:

Trust in and reveal the glory of God.

(Change in knowledge)

English Standard Version Chapter 17

6 “I have manifested your name

English Standard Version Chapter 17

10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

the name of God is tied to the character of God.

Psalm 9:10 ESV

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

ps 9

Know and are changed by the Word of Truth.

(Change in affections)

English Standard Version Chapter 17

Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 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;

English Standard Version Chapter 17

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. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Are unified in love and sent.

(Change in actions)

English Standard Version Chapter 17

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.

English Standard Version Chapter 17

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world

Unity in love is a mark of a true disciple

The New Bible Commentary 17:1–26 The Prayer of Jesus

The cycle here is faith leading to unity which leads others to faith. Another aspect of the unity theme is glory, a theme which is echoed from the opening words of this prayer. The suggestion is that the glory of Christ engenders unity. Not only must the unity be complete, but it must be shown to the world. If we pause to reflect on the church’s record of disunity, we can easily see how far we have fallen short of Jesus’ requirements.

Jesus prayed for and expects the legacy of discipleship to continue. (20-26)

English Standard Version Chapter 17

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

Don’t miss the profound truth that Jesus has prayed for you.

Specifically, Jesus has prayed for you that his legacy might continue through making disciples.

To be a disciple is to be a disciple maker.

If we do not make disciples, Jesus’ legacy ends with us.

Notice how Jesus expected the legacy of disciplemaking to continue:

English Standard Version Chapter 17

23 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.

HOW do we make disciples? (put on a robe, call people to follow us, speak profound thoughts?)

As we live lives that bear the marks of discipleship,(see above) we are seen as being markedly different than the rest of the world (See below)

>>We are to live lives that beg the question and then give the answer that points to Jesus.

In Acts: (reference?) they had three things:

A story (God’s and theirs) - square

The Spirit - triangle

A circle of people that don’t know Jesus - circle

** We are both the product and producer of Jesus' legacy of discipleship

Conclusion

Joy of Engagement

This is Jesus‘s statement of legacy. He states that he is praying this for the purpose of your joy. Jesus wants you to have joy.

Jesus is already prayed for our protection, our unity, our success in making disciples. Now he prays for your joy

The joy Jesus wants you to be fulfilled with today may require you to commit to whatever he is speaking to you today, to continue his legacy through making disciples. No matter what context, what struggle, betrayal, trial, difficulty You face, you can have Jesus’ joy filled in you.

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