When Jesus prays
Notes
Transcript
The pandemic has reached its tentacles into just about every area of life at this point. Far from wreaking just medical havoc, it’s also affected many other realms—the economy, likely for some time to come, and mental health, as many have felt already. For those who have lost their jobs, the psychological devastation is obvious. For those who are simply stuck indoors, the effects may be less severe, but not insignificant—particularly if mental health problems already existed.
A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that the mental health burden is increasing for just about everyone. In a mid-March poll, 32% of people polled said that worry and stress about coronavirus had a negative impact on their mental health. Two weeks later in late March, this number had risen to 45%.
And women appear to be suffering more than men. From the most recent KFF poll, women were 16% more likely to say that coronavirus-related worry or stress had had a negative impact on their mental health, compared to men (53% vs. 37%). Compare this to polls two weeks earlier, where the gender gap was just 9% (36% vs. 27%).
For the parents of kids under 18, the numbers are even more dramatic. At the end of March, 57% of mothers vs. 32% of fathers said their mental health has gotten worse because of the pandemic. Two weeks earlier, there had been just a 5% difference between the genders (36% vs. 31%), suggesting that mothers may be bearing a disproportionately large part of the burden as time goes on. - https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2020/04/08/coronavirus-lockdown-is-taking-a-toll-on-mental-health-especially-womens-study-finds/#4c7e16d12d1f.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus is about to go on lock-down, and worse. We have been sheltering-in-place in our own homes. Jesus is about to be arrested, taken away from His disciples, family, and friends. Then, in fulfillment of the will of the Father, he will be mocked, beaten within an inch of His earthly life, and crucified. With all these things weighing upon Him, Jesus speaks encouragement to the disciples, and then He prays for them:
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.
What does this mean, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent?” Isn’t salvation a function of believing, not of knowledge? Do we have to become spiritually deep in order to have eternal life?
He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
Sometimes we promote Bible study on the grounds that the more Scriptures you know, the better your life will be. This, because you can use the Scriptures in your prayers to entreat or even compel God to do things that are desirable, and perhaps even laudable. Another reason given is that there are “biblical" or “Kingdom” principles that you can use to cause things to go more positively in your life.
Now Bible study is useful, and it has practical value. It is true that the more that you know from God’s Word, the more focused you will be regarding His will. Like any other relationship, if you are only looking for information that will benefit you, you will only learn so much. If you are seeking to know someone, then you need more than facts and figures; you need to find out who they are, what makes them tick, how they view life.
God gives us the Scriptures that we might know Him, not just so that we could avoid going to Hell. In fact, given what the Bible says about the place, it’s kind of ironic that so many people think that the whole point of being a Christian is avoiding hell.
Jesus, in His 2nd coming parable about “sheep and the goats,” makes a rather interesting statement:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
That’s right, the eternal fire, the “gehenna of Hell,” the lake of fire, and the 2nd death where the wicked are cast in the book of Revelation, was not made for us. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. your ultimate destination was not God’s primary motivation when He sent His only Son into the world.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
To fully grasp this, you must really understand what happened at the Fall. For many, Genesis 1-3 is not history, its an allegory, a myth designed to introduce the story of Israel’s self-importance. The story of the man and the woman eating the forbidden fruit is just a symbol of mankind evolving out of ignorance into self-determination. The “fall” wasn’t a “fall” at all; it was mankind coming into his full capacity as a human being. He isn’t broken, and there is nothing to fix. The serpent did us a favor, if there even was such a thing.
The end of such thinking is to convince you that there is nothing wrong with you. Nothing wrong with the things that you do which are contrary to God’s commandments, and no reason why you should think that you need a savior. Of course, that also means that Jesus Christ did not do what the Scriptures testify that He has done - save us from our sins.
“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.
Jesus Christ, the Son of Man came to reverse the curse that Adam, the original Man, loosed upon the earth. He came to restore the family relationship that had been broken by Adam’s transgression in the Garden. Heaven is just part of the family estate. In this passage, He prays for those who will carry forward His message:
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.
This prayer would preserve the Apostles during that time period between Jesus’ ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. When they could have been tempted to drift away, instead God kept them on one accord in prayer as they waited for the fulfillment of the promise:
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
That Apostolic ministry, the continuation of the work of the prophets whom God sent to declare His purpose, was the foundation upon which God is building His Church, the Gospel of Jesus Christ:
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Why does this matter to you, since you are not an apostle, nor are you a prophet (that is, unless God has called you to that work), Why should you care about this prayer?
Everything that we believe, teach, and confess about salvation is what the Church has passed on of the teaching of the Apostles. Their ministry was important enough for Jesus to pray for them on the eve of His bitter sufferings and death. the continuation of His Mission was important enough for the Father to answer it, sending the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in fulfillment of His Son’s departing promise. Their engagement in Christ’s mission was important enough for the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem in obedience to their Lord and Savior until they received power from on high:
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The late Keith Green sang, “If you love the Lord, then you will love His will for you.” It is His will that we should be fruitful unto every good work. In fact there is a prayer in Scripture addressing that very thing:
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Jesus’ prayer laid the foundation for the Church; that’s why the Holy Spirit inspired John to record it for us to read it. Our presence shows that God the Father said “yes” to God the Son. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has prepared for us to walk in.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.