Down to Earth Prays Up to Heaven

It is a demonstration of Jesus interceding for God’s glory, petitioning to the Father on behalf of His disciples, and praying to God for you and for me

Matthew Henry referred to it as “The most remarkable prayer”

But he is not alone, many theologians over the years have summarized this prayer in powerful ways

Arthur W. Pink said, “In this wonderful prayer there is a solemnity and elevation of thought, a condensed power of expression, and a comprehensiveness of meaning, which have affected the minds and drawn out the hearts of the most devoted of God’s children to a degree that few portions of Scripture have done.”

Martin Luther commented, “This is truly, beyond measure, a warm and hearty prayer. He opens the depths of His heart, both in reference to us and to His Father, and He pours them all out. It sounds so honest, so simple; it is so deep, so rich, so wide, no one can fathom it.”

A lesser known Reformer, Philip Melanchthon, shared in his final lecture, “There is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruitful, more sublime, than the prayer offered up by the Son to God Himself.”

Anglican Bishop, JC Ryle stated, “The chapter we have now begun is the most remarkable in the Bible. It stands alone, and there is nothing like it!”

Assemblies of Brethren scholar, William Kelly said, “Next follows a chapter which one may perhaps characterize truly as unequaled for depth and scope in all the Scriptures.”

More recently Bible translator and professor, Philip Comfort has written, “It is universally felt that in some wonderful sense, the seventeenth chapter of John’s Gospel is the sanctum sanctorum of Holy Scripture—the holy of holies. Here our Lord treats the Cross as behind him and permits us to hear him commune with the Father as from the other side of the torn veil. This chapter of twenty-six verses is a prayer—yet there is something so entirely beyond what constitutes prayer for us that we may call this communion.”

And lastly, looking toward the cross, Baptist Pastor, Matt Carter, writes, “It’s the fulfillment of a promise made in the garden [of Eden] that God would send a Rescuer to save humanity from sin. It’s the moment when everything will change—when sinful creatures can once again enjoy fellowship with their Creator, when spiritual life triumphs over spiritual death. At the climax of the story, Jesus stops to pray. He pauses at the doorway to the cross to take a moment and cry out for the Father’s help.”

This is the passage that lies before us this morning

So, like Jesus, let’s stop and pray to God before we look at Jesus’s prayer to the Father

WE:

This chapter is one of my favorite portions of Scripture for much of the reasons mentioned in the variety of quotes I shared

We will see one of Jesus’s key focuses in His prayer is for unity amongst believers

So, I believe it is no coincidence that the many theologians from diverse doctrinal convictions all seem to be united in their appreciation and understanding of Christ’s High Priestly prayer in chapter seventeen

But before Jesus prays for believers, His prayer begins as a prayer for glory

So let’s look at Jesus’s prayer for glory in ;

John 17:1–5 ESV

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, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Our chapter starts by saying “When Jesus had spoken these words,”

Jesus’s prayer in this chapter is the consummation of the narrative of Jesus’s teachings known as the upper room discourse that began all the way back in chapter 13

chapter after chapter, Jesus was teaching His disciples in an intimate setting

and now, He concludes with this prayer

As we have highlighted throughout John’s Gospel

Jesus was sent by the Father down to earth

and while Jesus was down to earth He glorified the Father

We see at the start of this chapter, Jesus, down to earth lifted up His eyes

and prays up to heaven

And His prayer begins with a caring and empathetic request;

“glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you”

This request reveals the first theme of Christ’s prayer

Glory

But not just glory in general, the Father’s glory

DA Carson defines the glory of God as His “display of divine goodness”

It is God’s majesty, His splendor

Here Jesus is asking the Father in heaven to honor and magnify Him, as the Son of God

so that, as the Son of God, He may honor and magnify the Father

and He has the authority to make such a request, because He is the Son of God

But He is not just talking about the glory of God

He is asking that God be glorified

the glory of God is a noun

glorifying God is a verb

God being glorified is the appropriate response to His “display of divine goodness”

To summarize it simply, the glory of God is His divine goodness displayed

glorifying God is His divine goodness celebrated

Jesus is praying that His divine goodness would be both displayed and celebrated

Just before this request, Jesus again brings the hour of His death to the forefront of our minds

This is His final mention of His hour in John’s Gospel

As He is readying to die, He stops to pray this prayer to the Father

Jesus is basically saying, Father, it is time for me to die, use my death for your glory

Jesus is asking the Father to display and celebrate His divine goodness through Jesus’s death

a puzzling request, yes, but a request that has been realized nonetheless

It is also worth briefly acknowledging that Jesus begins His prayer by focusing on God’s glory

demonstrating what He taught His disciples in when He told them they should start their prayer acknowledging that the Father’s name is hallowed

that God is holy

Then we get to vs. 3

where Jesus explains what eternal life is

to know God and the One God sent, Christ

And to know here, as it is often in Scripture, does not simply mean to grasp intellectually

no, when Jesus says to know God and Christ, He is implying affection and commitment

As one NT dictionary puts it,

“Faith’s knowledge focuses on Jesus Christ, the incarnate God and the mediator between God and man. Faith seeks specifically to know Christ and His power. As Jesus taught in , it is reciprocal, ‘He knows us and we know Him.’”

To put it more simply, their is a connection, a relationship, between knowing and believing

This parallels what Jesus taught in John 3

As says,

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Then in , Jesus says

John 3:19 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

So Jesus taught what the judgment was in chapter three

But prior to that He said whoever believes, will have eternal life

then using the same structure, Jesus says in ,

and this is eternal life

to know God and to know Christ

In John 3:19

So whoever believes in Christ exercises faith in Christ

and those who believe, who have faith in Christ

will know Christ and know God affectionately

We who believe, will get to have a relationship with God and Christ

As Augustine expresses it

God created us for Himself

“Life consists in fellowship with God ‘who created us for Himself, so that our soul is restless unless it finds its rest in Him,’ as Augustine expressed it. Knowledge, here as so often in Scripture

Our soul is restless until it finds rest in Him

So life is a relationship with God

Pastor Matt Carter expands upon this;

“Eternal life is a relationship with the everlasting God. Eternal life is forever delighting in the manifold glories of God. Eternal life is seeing God and rejoicing forever in his presence. Eternal life is living how we’re created to live—in fellowship with our Creator.”

As the Apostle John teaches in , eternal life is the promise that God has promised us

and Arthur Pink also comments on this truth;

“Eternal life consists in knowing, living on, having communion with, and enjoying endless satisfaction in the Triune God through the one Mediator.”

And that Mediator, is Christ, Who is the one praying this prayer right now

a prayer for God’s glory

Which, if we look at how this gospel started in , we see God accomplished this prayer

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We have seen His glory, glory of the only Son, from the Father

Just as Jesus prayed

And worth noting also, is Jesus’s priority in prayer

Above all else, He is praying to bring glory to God

Not only is this an intimate prayer, but it is an example for us

So if we want to pray as Christ prays

Our highest priority is praying to bring glory to God

Bring glory to God in our worship, in our celebrations, in our relationships, in every detail of our life

We are to, as the Psalmist wrote, taste and see that the Lord is good

This is our act of glorifying God

and we should invite others to see and celebrate the glory of God

for them to taste and see that the Lord is good

GOD:

Jesus then transitions from His prayer for glory into a prayer for those given in , let’s continue reading our High Priest’s prayer;

John 17:6–19 ESV

“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. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 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. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 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. 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. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Those given to Christ in this context are the eleven disciples

So, this part of His prayer are specifically for those disciples, because they have been given to Him by the Father

Glory was the first theme seen in this prayer and though given is the second theme, it is mentioned the most frequently

sixteen times in his prayer, Jesus uses this verb, given

This speaks to God’s role of sustainer and provider

He grants, He produces, He allows, He draws unto, He appoints, He supplies, He delivers

In this prayer, Jesus is specifically praying to the Father for the disciples that God has drawn unto Christ

He is modeling spiritual warfare in this prayer based off what He prays for the disciples

Because, not only does He acknowledge they have been given by God, but He is praying that God would keep them

He doesn’t pray God would take them out of the world

But that God would keep them in His name

that they wouldn’t stray from God

But it is somewhat strange Jesus would pray this because back in , Jesus said,

John 6:37 ESV

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

If all who the Father gives to Christ will never be cast out, why is Jesus praying that God would keep all He has given Him?

Well, to answer that we have to zoom out a bit

The Bible starts in saying, “In the beginning, God created”

says, “God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.”

Ephesians 1:4 ESV

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

So before the beginning, before

God has chosen who would be given to Christ

and all who are given to Christ will never be cast out

and despite all these truths

Christ still came down to earth

Christ still told His disciples to follow Him

Christ still gave them the gospel

and Christ still prayed to the Father

Despite knowing everything, the truths of the Father, those whom the Father has given Him, He did all these things

And He is an example for us

Despite the fact that God has chosen who He has given to Christ before

we still pray that God would keep them

we still give the gospel

Because that’s what we see Christ do

And the result will be God drawing followers unto Christ

God draws, we respond

We see how the disciples respond in Christ’s prayer

at the end of vs. 6, Jesus says the disciples have now kept God’s Word

Which, as we stated earlier, in vs. 8, we see that Christ gave God’s Word to the disciples

and what did the disciples do in vs. 8?

they received the words and understood the words and believed God’s Words

So the disciples were responsible to believe

but their belief was the result of what God said and what God did

Picture with me an infant

he’s cleaned, fed, and dressed

So it’s true that the infant took a bath, ate a meal, and got dressed

but the infant didn’t do the work himself

no, his parent is the one who bathed him

his parent is the one who prepared the meal and fed it to him

his parent is the one who picked his outfit and dressed him

He simply responded to the work the parent did

And this is the reality of Jesus’s prayer in vs. 6-11

we are the infant

God did the work, and God used His Word, we simply respond

That is what happened with the disciples, God gave the disciples the word, God sent Jesus

The disciples responded by keeping the word God gave and believing in Jesus, whom God sent

Vs. 6-11 focus on what God has done

then, vs. 11-19 Jesus prays for what God will do through the disciples

That God would keep the disciples

That He would guard them spiritually

We have assurance that the Father answered this prayer

Earlier in the Gospel, in , Jesus told the disciples,

John 6:37 ESV

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

Those who the Father gives to Christ

Those who come to Christ

Those who believe in Him

Those who will never be cast out

are united together into the community called the church

The church is to demonstrate a unity, built around the truth of God’s Word, that reflects the oneness of the Father and the Son

Jesus alludes to it now in His prayer for those given

But it becomes the focus of His prayer later as He prays for us and all believers

If you’ve ever seen rowing in the olympics

You may have noticed there is one person who sits in the back of the boat not rowing

instead, that person has a microphone and repeatedly yells “Stroke! Stroke!”

And all the rowers are rowing in unison to that persons voice

Their speed comes from being able to row in unity to the voice of the caller

And it isn’t something where they just hopped in the boat and began rowing in unity

They had to repeatedly get into the rhythm of listening to that voice and rowing in unison through hours and hours of practice and countless mistakes

but the end result is both graceful and effective

They glide across the water smoothly at incredible speeds

As disciples submit to the voice of God

we grow more and more into unity

with the end result being Grace-Full and effective

We reflect God’s glory to the world

The only disciple not kept was Judas

Jesus acknowledges Him as the son of destruction in vs. 12

and acknowledges it is for the fulfillment of

the same reference Jesus gave when He sent Judas out from dinner to follow through on his betrayal

But immediately after this acknowledgment, Jesus prays what He just taught on in the previous chapter

That the disciples may have joy from Christ fully

Which is truly a testimony to God’s grace and goodness

He is the one who does all the work so that His disciples will get to receive joy

But He continues in this prayer because of the dangers His disciples will face in this world

This world is a spiritual battlefield

But what does Jesus say in vs. 15

He doesn’t pray for God to take His disciples out of this world

Instead that God would keep them, just as He prayed earlier

But this time, specifically that God would keep them from the evil one

That He would keep them from the devil

And He continues this prayer in vs. 17-18

Requesting that God would sanctify His disciples in the truth of His word as they are sent into the world

That God would set apart His disciples to be instruments in His hand for His plan to rescue those He has given to Christ before the foundation of the world

And these disciples, here specifically with Jesus

are who God used to start His church

So while they are sent into this world, God uses them to be witnesses of His

and their example is an example for us

The idea of being in the world but not of the world

Pastor Matt Carter describes three different approaches Christians tend to take in regard to the idea of being in the world but not of the world

first is isolation

We need to protect the gospel

we need to protect the church

we need to protect ourselves

being faithful to God’s Word means we disengage from non-Christians

We keep from falling away by being as far away from temptation

The tragedy of this is that a well-intentioned desire to remain faithful to God’s word has resulted in disregarding God’s mission

The second approach Carter describes is what he refers to as inoculation

which is the belief that the gospel has created some type of immunity from the temptations of the world

We need to fully immerse ourselves in the world

We need to reach the world by blurring the lines that set-apart Christians from non-Christians

we’re not different from non-Christians

we’re all sinners, so we can minimize our sin if it will reach non-Christians

The tragedy of this approach is that a well-intentioned desire to remain faithful to God’s mission has resulted in disregarding God’s word, especially in regard to sin

The third approach, Carter proposes as a better approach, and he defines it as insulation

focusing daily on the gospel protects us from temptations as we seek to share the gospel

This is a diligent balance between being faithful to God’s word and God’s mission

Christians should be different from non-Christians

Jesus prayed we would be set apart, sanctified in God’s truth

But we aren’t set apart by removing ourselves from non-Christians

Jesus prays this sanctification would happen in the midst of the world so that we can be used by Him for His mission

Church, we must engage with the world

the temptation is to just wish all the ungodly, unethical, corrupted influences in your world would just be taken away

and that you could just forsake the world

But We have been given a mission to live out and share the gospel in the world

Jesus prayed this specifically for the disciples that God had given Him

And God answered by using them to build His church that we are now a part of today

YOU:

So, after praying for those given

Jesus concluded His prayer by praying for all believers

for use today

Jesus’s prayer here is a prayer for you

And what about you is Jesus praying for?

Jesus prays a prayer for unity in

Follow along with me as we read

John 17:20–26 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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. 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. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 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.”

in vs. 21, Jesus prays for us, that we, as well as every other believer, would all be one, as He prays in vs. 23, that we would be perfectly one, just as the Father and Christ are one

and why does He pray this?

at the end of vs. 21 He says, so that the world may believe that you have sent me

Us being unified is more than just making life easier for ourselves

It is imperative that we become unified so that the world may believe the Father sent to Son to die for them

So is our preference or opinions about anything so important that we are willing to hold to that at the cost of souls being cast into hell?

our opinion about

Absolutely not.

And we need to understand this imperative

that there is greater implications to our disunity

and we need to have the urgency toward unity for the mission God has given us

Jesus stopped to pray about this before He went to the cross

It. Is. Important.

Because our unity not only accomplishes the mission set before us

but it also fulfills the first part of Christ’s prayer

it glorifies God

Jesus is praying this prayer with loving-concern for God’s glory but also for us

Because unity is a struggle

Satan understands unity glorifies God and accomplished His mission

So he will seek to attack it

He wants to place disunity amongst believers any way he can

and we can’t give satan any momentum in this

Jesus prayed for this and we need to do likewise

We need to pray for unity

Because God, with His Word, through the Holy Spirit can unify us in Christ

WE:

We need to be praying that God would glorify Himself by uniting His Church

Specifically ask the Spirit to reveal where am I not being unifying? and ask Him to bring about unity

Pray that God, who gives abundantly, would be glorified by uniting His Church, in Christ.

As the Apostle Paul wrote in

Romans 15:5–6 ESV

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus stopped and prayed this prayer the night He was betrayed

We also know that while He was with His disciples the night He was betrayed

He shared the Last Supper with them

And at the Last Supper Jesus gave His disciples a command

to Do this in remembrance of Me

He tells us

So we do

Yes, out of obedience

but also out of a realization that we need to

Because we need to remember Christ

We are talking about , and praying for unity

because we forget how to be unified

The Apostle Paul wrote about the Lord’s Table in and if you start in vs. 18, the Apostle writes;

Disunity was what was taking place at the church in Corinth which spurred the Apostle Paul to write about the Lord’s Table in 1 Corinthians 11

“For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are division among

We see God’s people in the Old Testament going through this continual cycle where they forget and God calls them back to remembrance

So we observe the Lord’s Table to obey Christ who commands us to

and because we are forgetful beings

and we need to remember the Lord’s Table and Who it’s about

It is about Jesus Christ

Once the hour of His crucifixion has come, He prayed for the Father to glorify the Son so that the Son would glorify the Father

Jesus death on the cross glorifies God

So Scripture tells us to examine our heart, to bring us back to glorifying Christ and His grace demonstrated by taking God’s wrath for us on the cross

and because we are forgetful, He gives us the bread and the cup because it appeals to our senses, which helps us remember better

We can touch, feel, smell, see, taste, the bread and the cup

and as we do, we are able to more vividly remember Christ’s body breaking for us

His blood being poured out for us

Going back to , the Holy Spirit wrote through the Apostle Paul for the church;

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

So for believers, the table is now open

if anyone is here and is not a believer, today is a wonderful day

The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is why we celebrate the Lord’s Table

It is the realization that I have sinned because I have fallen short of God’s perfect standard

but because of God’s great love, He has sent the Son, Jesus Christ, to come down to earth and die for you

After being laid in the tomb, Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death and making eternal life available to all who believe in this truth

So if you haven’t believed yet and your here today, this is why today is a wonderful day

because you can put your faith in Christ today, right now

In your heart you believe this to be true, and you confess that you believe Jesus Christ is Lord

and you are invited to come to the table and celebrate the grace and goodness and glory of the Lord, Jesus Christ

As you come to the table, if you could stay toward the one side of the aisle that way there is room to return down the other side

and if you are unable to come to the table there are a couple of trays that will be coming around

once you have the bread and the cup, it is time for you to glorify God

Jesus modeled an intimate prayer to Father for us in , if you need any help, we can use His example as we pray

after everyone has the opportunity to celebrate and enjoy God’s goodness and glory, we are going to close in a song together and a reading of Scripture