John 17:21-26
Notes
Transcript
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.
“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.
Jesus prayed for all disciples, present and future, that they might be one.
Jesus is clarifying here that all of His previous prayer is not just for the 11 disciples.
How does it feel to know that you have been prayed for?
loved
understood
more confident
growing wiser because hearing the prayers of others helps me grow
more courageous
gain perspective
This prayer of Jesus brings Him directly into relationship with us.
It also indicates with other scripture that there is another generation of believers forthcoming:
They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
for he has done it.
Psalm
I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
The idea of ONENESS really stands out here. Divisions of the heart among the believers is not part of the will of God.
The continuing presence of Jesus brings unity in the church and shows God’s love in its fullness.
Jesus expects us to lead others to the Lord by being ONE with Him and the Father.
If we are one with the Father and with Jesus, we will be ONE with other believers.
Oneness will be named 3 times:
One in Faith ( vs. 20-21)
One in Glory (vs. 22)
One in Obedience (vs. 23)
We who are in Christ have the same spiritual DNA.
ONENESS includes being incorporated in one body:
and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.
to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
ONENESS includes being incorporated by One Spirit; Our union includes Father, Son, and Spirit!
But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
ONENESS includes being knit together with ONE heart.
In judgement and sentiment
In disposition and inclination
In design and direction
In desires and prayers
In love and compassion
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John
until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
The ONENESS also gives credibility with its message:
They are ONE in design, ONE in operation.
ONENESS, Him in us and us in Him, means we have a CLOSE union, a HOLY union, a COMPLETE union.
The center of the ONENESS is ONE GOD, ONE MEDIATOR and ONE SPIRIT.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
The union produces union with Christ, union with God through Christ, and union with other believers.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
There is a holy duty assigned with this ONENESS. There is a calling to be ambassadors to the world. As ambassadors, we are called to be more like the ONE who called us and less like the world in which we live.
“The more Christians are taken up with the glory Christ has given them, the less desirous they will be of vain-glory.”
---Matthew Henry
What is glory: Glory refers to the manifestation of God’s character or person.
It is found in the love between God and Jesus:
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:23
I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
It is found in the signs that Jesus performed:
This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
It is found in the HONOR bestowed on Jesus:
I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.
Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.
It is found in the exaltation of Jesus:
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
John
As we grow in Christ, the Glory of the Lord grows within us. This gives people the opportunity to see the world of the Lord and not ourselves.
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
1 Corinthians
I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Reiterating ONENESS: A measurement of it is given, COMPLETE.
What does it mean to be COMPLETELY united with Christ?
The purpose of being complete with Christ is that He was sent by the Father to love and the Father loves.
Ephesians 3:17b-
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
There is also a beautiful dose of encouragement: “that the world know you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”
Union with Christ results eventually in sharing the eternal presence with Christ. Heave will be the eternal glory of Christ.
Romans 8:17;
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
God has made His love known through Christ.
In turn, Christ has made His Father known to us as believers.
And Christ will continue to make His Father known to us.
It is ONGOING.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
And therefore, we ought to see a difference in who we are, what we are and how we are.