Jesus Prays for You

Intro:

Set the stage — context of prayer — Jesus prays this right before he is betrayed & killed

I want us to jump into the heart of Jesus as he is praying

Listen to his concern & and requests to God before He is betrayed

Read prayer again

Two things permeate this prayer by Jesus

Unity

Love

Transition: Jesus prays with purpose in His final prayer before he is betrayed and it is for you. Unity and Love.

Unity

vv 20b-23a:

I pray also for those who will believe (that’s us!) in me through their message (the proclamation of the gospel [the disciples proclamation]), in order that all of them may be ONE, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. In order that, they might also be in us, in order that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them glory that you gave me, in order that, they may be ONE as we are one — I in them and you in me — in order that, they may be brought to COMPLETE UNITY.

1st have of prayer is focused on unity — being united as one unit/family

Not only united together

but united to the Father through Jesus

Jesus calls us to unity

Honest reflection of this — Are we united completely as Jesus prayed?

Christian unity is sorely lacking these days

the church over history has been fragmented into so many different denominations

Churches have split because they were divided

people within their own church families have bit and devoured each other fragmenting the unity

I lament and mourn the fact that over time, concern and care for individual family members has lacked or quite frankly disappeared!

And honestly we all have had our part and contributed to this fragmentation and lack of unity! — myself included!

sin — selfishness — concern for number one — has crept in and swept its way across the world fragmenting the church

causing worship & time together as a family & God capped at 1 hr or 1 1/2 on Sunday morning —

w/pockets of other time throughout the week if time in our schedules allow it…

[before you stone me — and jump at me — I’m included in this] —

— I can get fragmented in time slots, bitterness, & concern for myself

— That’s what sin and selfishness can do! —

BUT — go back to the moment Jesus prayed — remember his heart’s concern and the time at which he prayed this prayer.

Jesus could’ve prayed more about His situation rather than ours in the 2000+ year future — but he didn’t

His gracious heart was concerned about you… about me… about us… before he died

His desire is only that we are united as one body and united with God.

And he does/did exactly what it took to make it happen

He endured separation from God

fragmentation from God (loss of unity in that moment)

separated from God on the cross in order that we would be reunited to God AND to one another.

His entire mission is one of bringing back together what sin and death have torn apart (fragmented) — not only for his bride — the church — but also for everyone in the entire world — in Estevan Saskatchewan!

He desires unity within the church — so that the church would be the beacon of His light to the world — so that the world would believe and know that God sent Jesus and has loved them just as he has love Christ!

Be united together as Christ is united with His Father — every church everywhere (this one included) must let go of that which separates and fragments our unity — the world needs us now more than ever to be the light and love of Christ — to be His bride and the family he loves and prays for!

All will know they are loved deeply by God by our unity — which can only come by deep Christ love for one another

Transition: That is the other focus of Jesus’ prayer — God’s love dwelling and expressing through each one of you to each other and those outside these walls.

Sacrificial Love

read & unpack as you read the love verses from 23b - 26

Jesus’ love for people motivated him to come to earth and ultimately die on the cross for you.

Without a doubt, love for people motivates God.

Does love for people motivate us?

This prayer is an intimate look into the heart of the saviour and one of the things revealed is a heart of love that begins with the love Jesus has for the Father, and the Holy Spirit which then flows to God’s love for his believers and extends to his love for all people.

We cannot overstate this love.

1 John 4:8b puts it simply when it says “God is love.”

It is a divine love

Jesus goes on to pray that this divine love, which emanates within God, would flow from the Father to the Son and then on to those who believe in Jesus.

Love is not to be kept or hoarded but shared.

The Father shared it with the Son; the Son wants to continue passing it on to his believers.

This means that we must keep passing on that love to others as well.

We cannot keep God’s love contained. We must share it and pass it on.

It is a call to humble and sacrificial love for one another — as brothers and sisters in Christ!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in The Communion of Saints:

“The community is constituted by the complete self-forgetfulness of love.

The relationship between you and me is no longer essentially a demanding, but a giving one.”

Jesus practiced true self-forgetfulness of love for you!

In His prayer before he was betrayed

On the cross by taking your sins and brokenness and shedding His blood for your sake.

Ultimately restoring your relationship with God and each other by His giving of Himself.

Now he sends/calls each one of us to give ourselves self-forgetfully to one another in order that all of Estevan — all the world — may know Him [Jesus Christ] and believe.

In order that all people would know that God loves them so deeply and wants every single person to know him, love him, and be united with Him… — Forever!

Conclusion

That is the heart of Jesus’ prayer — unity & love — they go together and should never be separated!

Jesus himself is in you — you are loved deeply by him — and you are loved deeply by your united family in Christ

My prayer is that I will always remember the love Christ has for me and continually pray that I may love as He loves as He dwells within me.

And be one with Him and with each one of you — my family in Christ — !

I Love you all

Amen.