The Perfect Prayer of Christ-Part 3

There was once a little girl whose prize possession was a necklace of plastic pearls. She loved her pearls dearly. Her father had given them to her, and she never went anywhere without them. She wore them to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She wore them swimming. She wore them to bed.

Her father loved her dearly. Each night he would come to her to tuck her in to her bed. He would read her a story and give her hugs and kisses. And each night, from the very first day that he gave her the necklace, he would ask her the same question:

Do you love me? To this, the little girl would always answer: Oh, daddy, you know that I love you.

To this, her father would reply, “then give me your pearls.”

Each night, it was the same, the little girl would cling to her pearls, and say “oh, no, daddy. I could give you my teddy or my dolly, but not my pearls. I could never let go of my pearls.”

And so, night after night went exactly the same until more than a year had past. But one night, as her father entered into her bedroom, he found his beloved daughter crying in bed.

“What’s wrong, my love? he asked as he sat down beside her.”

“Give me your hand,” she sniveled, as she held out her fist, tightly clinched. Her father held out his hand. She placed her hand in his, opening it slowly.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she said to him “I love you daddy.”

Her father looked down at his hand and smiled as in his palm sat his daughter’s pearls. He wrapped her in his arms in the tightest hug that she had ever had. And then, he pulled a small black bag from his pocket and gave it to her. As she opened the bag, she gasped. For inside the bag was a beautiful strand of genuine pearls.

Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to John, chapter 17. We’ve been together in John 17 over the last several weeks. We’ve been considering together what is known as the High Priestly prayer, and we’ve been talking about it as a model of perfect prayer. Last week, we compared the Lord’s prayer from Matthew 6 with the prayer that Christ prays in John 17. And as we looked at it, we saw three parallel sections between the two prayers.

And you’ll remember that we said that Jesus first gave us a formula for effective prayer, and then, in John 17, He modeled it for us as to what it might look like. We’ve already looked at the first two sections, and so today, we’re going to pick up right where we left off last Sunday, and the prayer of Jesus is going to turn toward a focus on the sure future of God’s continued eternal reign as the All-powerful and glorified King of the universe.

So, let’s read together from John 17, starting in verse 20. And I invite you, beloved, if you are able, to stand with me as we honor God at the reading of His Word:

John 17:20–26 NASB95

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for Your Word and for Jesus Christ, Your Son, the One who is Your Word made flesh. Thank You that through Him we can have a relationship with You. It is a deeper relationship with you that we are here to pursue this morning. As Your people enter into the study of Your Word, Lord would you help us to know You more fully through it. Would You bring us to new levels of understanding, and challenge us to step forward in faith to do the things You are calling us to so that You might be glorified in us. It is in Jesus’ Name we ask these things, Amen.

Thank you, you may be seated. For the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory are Yours, now and forever, Amen. God is the King of the universe right now. He is glorified right now. He is all-powerful right now. All of these things are true right now, this very moment, but you and I have only just now begun to taste of the goodness of who He is.

You see, we live right now in the beauty and splendor of God’s creation. As we wake up in the morning, He causes the sun to rise overhead, its light streaming through the trees and illuminating the vibrant colors of flowers. We hear birds sing, see the majesty of mountains and the power of the ocean, and we marvel at these things that God has made for a moment, before we allow them to slide into the distance and out of our minds. We live in the immense blessing of God. The most impoverished family in our church body is extremely wealthy by world standards, with running water, electricity, air conditioning, food enough to eat, a roof to protect from weather, flushing toilets in our homes, and such luxuries as television, cell phones, and wifi.

We have modern healthcare. When we get sick or something is wrong, we go to the doctor and expect him to have answers. If he doesn’t have answers, we go to a different doctor. We turn to the internet and find the culmination of thousands of years of information at our fingertips. We pursue homeopathic cures and supplements. Each year, Americans spend 1.5 billion dollars on vitamins. Recent research suggests that the average american household will spend more than 18,000 dollars a year on superfluous spending, like cable television, streaming services, subscription boxes, and eating out.

We are immensely blessed. And we should enjoy these things, because our heavenly Father has given these things to us so that we can enjoy them. However, over the last couple of weeks, as we have gone deeper and deeper into this prayer of Christ from John 17, I have become acutely aware, perhaps more so than ever before, of just how much of our lives are dedicated to these things, and nowhere does this hit home more than it does in our prayer life.

Be honest with yourself. Right now, where you are, ask yourself this question: what percentage of my prayer life is focused on health, wealth, and the pursuit of happiness, either my own or for others around me? How much of my prayer life is focused on the pains of this life and this world? How much of my prayer life is focused on knowing Christ and making Him known? How often do I pray for the present, coming and everlasting power and glory of God?

You see, here is the thing, beloved, we started off this morning with a story about a little girl, her daddy and her pearls. And might I suggest to you this morning that you and I are the little girl. And God, our Father, has given us these wonderful plastic pearls of the here and now. We have the plastic pearls in the form of this life, this time, right now, and we are fixated on them. I mean, how could we turn our attention to anything else? They are splendid and lovely, and shiny.

And our Father is beckoning us to give them back to Him. He is asking us to surrender our lives, and all of our comforts, and all of the things that we love so much, because what He is waiting to give real life, genuine life, life that is everlasting and is infinitely better than the imitation that we are clinging to. But you and I are too focused on trying to hold onto our plastic. We love our plastic far too much to let go of it, to really and truly step into the blessings of our Father.

And what I want you to see this morning is that as long as our prayers are focused on this plastic life, we will never come to know the fullness of true life, and the thing is that until we can truly enter into Him, we don’t even really know what real life looks like. Let’s look at the last part of Christ’s prayer this morning, and I’ll show you what I mean. Verse 20.

John 17:20 NASB95

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;

My prayers tend to focus on what I’m dealing with in the here and now. I need help in what I’m doing, or someone is hurt or sick or in danger, or suffering loss, or I don’ know how to deal with the stress or anger or frustration of the moment. I have something in front of me that I don’t want to face, so I pray it goes away. I have something that I really want to happen and so I pray that it does.

And I want you to hear me say that it is important to take these prayers and petitions to God. He cares for us, and He wants us to bring these things to Him, they should be a part of our prayer life…A PART.... Not the whole thing.

The prayer of Jesus has been focused on the glory of God from verse 1. And as He continues into this final section of prayer, and the focused center shifts towards God’s continued future reign, the first observation is this, that

Christ prays for all believers

Jesus says, the prayer I’m praying, Father, I’m not just praying for those with me, but for those that are going to hear from these that are here. And because they heard the Word, they are going to believe. And because they believe, they will share in all of the things that these share in, because God will be glorified in all generations.

You and I are sitting here today, because this prayer was answered. Beloved, there is a line of believers that you are a part of. There is a line of people, one after another that shared the Gospel, that shared the Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ with one after the next after the next. And if you were able to trace your heritage back from the person that led you to Christ, that line goes all the way back to the 12 disciples. It goes all the way back to Jesus and the life that He poured out for us. And if you are true to who you are supposed to be in Christ Jesus, that long and beautiful life of changed lives won’t end with you. And this points us to a point about effective prayer,

Effective prayer seeks salvation of the lost for the glory of God

Remember that we’ve been talking about the fact that you were saved for a purpose and that purpose is to glorify God in knowing Him and making Him known. You were chosen by God and saved from your sins so that you could enter into an intimate relationship with God that would bring a fullness to your life both now and for all of eternity. You were saved so that you could tell others of the joy that you have found in your salvation through Jesus Christ, and help them to become maturing Christians that are growing in their relationship with God as well.

And if that is our purpose, if it is what we are made for, why we are saved, and what we are to be striving for, wouldn’t it make sense that our prayers to our Father in heaven would be centered on doing what He has called us to do?

I have heard many pastors say that we don’t pray for lost people and we don’t share the Gospel with lost people because we don’t love them enough. And this is probably part of our problem, but I think that there is more to it than that. See, I know people that I love dearly that don’t know Jesus, and I should be sharing with them every chance that I get, and I should pray for them non-stop but I don’t. Have I shared with them? Yes. Have I prayed for them? Yes. But they are not at the center or focus of my prayer life most of the time. Most of the time, my prayer life is more focused on these things we’ve talked about. The health, wealth, and pursuit of happiness kind of things. The pains and heartaches of this life that are mine and are those who I know and love.

But I want to take you to two verses, because I think they show us something interesting: First, I want to point us back to something that Jesus said in verse 13 of this prayer:

John 17:13 NASB95

“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

Jesus has told us these things, and has shown us these things so that our joy may be full. Our joy may be complete. Now, I want to take you to a verse that we studied together on Wednesday night. Let’s go to 1 John 1:3-4

1 John 1:3–4 NASB95

what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. These are song lyrics of beloved hymns of the faith, and they point us to the deeper truth that you and I have to get to from these verses.

We hear these things so that our joy made be complete. We share these things so that our joy may be made complete. Yet, what we pray for are not these things. We pray for healing, that we may find joy in it. We pray for financial stability so that we can be content. We pray for all of these different things related to our life right here, clutching our plastic pearls. And these verses just told us that there is a better life.

These verses tell us that the more we know Jesus and the more we make Him known, the more and more joyous in Him we will become. Why should you pray for the lost? Because their salvation will complete your joy as God is glorified in you!

When I was a kid playing sports, we always hated it if someone complained that they were hot or thirsty or tired, because coaches answer was always the same: we’re going to do this again and again until you are no longer hot, thirst, or tired. And as a kid, I never got that. How is more work going to make me less of any of those things. And it wasn’t until years later that I truly got it.

See, it wasn’t about building our endurance, though that happened. It was about where our minds were. Where is your focus? Because if you are complaining about the heat and tired muscles and thirst, you are focused on yourself and not on the job and the team and the purpose of what you are doing.

Have you ever been so intensely engaged in doing something that you were injured and didn’t know it? Someone points to you and says, “you’re bleeding,” and you didn’t even know it because you were so fixed on what it is you are doing? This is what Christ has prayed for you. This is what we’re talking about. The deeper you go into your relationship with God, the more you become consumed in sharing Christ with the lost in the world around you, the more your concerns and desires will be fixed on Him.

Your pain won’t go away. Your problems won’t just vanish. They just won’t matter to you anymore. Your prayer life will be consumed with knowing Him and making Him known. You’ve seen this before. You’ve witnessed it, you just didn’t realize it. You’re sitting there with a health problem or being tired from a hard night’s with no sleep, and you are feeling sorry for yourself and complaining about it and focused on the pain, while someone else with much worse health issues, much deeper exhaustion, and much stronger pain is running circles around you with a smile on their face as they serve Jesus.

The deeper you go with Jesus, the less the struggles of this life will concern you. You’ll be to busy knowing Him and making Him known. And this lead us into our next point. Verse 21:

John 17:21–23 NASB95

that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

As Jesus continues to pray for God’s eternal glory and power, the next thing we see is that

Christ prays for unity in the body that reveals who He is

It has always amazed, challenged, and humbled me to think of the oneness Christ talks about in these verses. How could you and I be one with Christ as Christ is one with the Father? How could you and have any place in the glory of God, even in the reflection of it. And for us to understand this, I want to give you an illustration:

Many of you know Frank and Dottie Barfus. They have been a part of our church family for a long time, and they have been together for a long time. In fact, they had a wedding anniversary recently, 64 years I believe it is. And something that is true about Frank and Dottie is true about most people that have been married a long time: they look like they belong together. In fact, it is quite common as couples mature in their marriage for them to begin to look like each other in mannerisms and expressions and in ways of doing things. They have become part of each other. Bethany and I have been married only a fraction of that time, and yet most of the time we know what the other one is thinking before we ask. Men, have you ever gotten in trouble for something you thought and didn’t say? I didn’t say anything!, NO, but you were thinking it!

And the reason that this happens is that the two truly become one. The closer and more intimate you become in relationship with someone, the more you begin to know them and understand their thoughts and ways of doing things. And so it is with God. The closer to Him we become, the more we begin to see the ways He moves and the things that He is doing. The more we pursue Him, the more we reflect Him to the world around us.

And the more we are one with Him, the more our focus as a body of believers will be about Him and not about us, and the more He will be glorified in us. And this why we must pray for it.

Effective prayer seeks the unity and perfection of the body of Christ

See, when I’m focused on my plastic pearls, my plastic life, my prayer life reflects that. My desires and my actions in the body of Christ reflect that. Let me show you what I mean. When I am at the center of these things, my concern is for the type of music I like in worship. It is for the building improvements that matter to me. It is for the church to do things for me, things that benefit me. It’s for the position or the power or the happiness that I get or have or desire.

But when I am pursuing the glory of God. When I am fixated on knowing Him. When I am willing to let go of my plastic pearl life, and I drop it in His hands because I love Him, then my concern is how to know Him more deeply. My concern is how I can lead others to Him. My concern is what will help others to taste and see that the Lord is good as they visit our church family. And when you have the same pursuit as I do, we get in sync. And we might not agree on everything, but people look and they see you and me, and we may not have anything in common but Jesus, and that’s enough. And we’re loving each other, and serving each other, and forgiving each other, and putting up with each other. And when we do that, God is glorified in us, and lost people are led to Christ, and younger Christians mature.

Friends, that is something worth praying for. Jesus said in Mark 3:25

Mark 3:25 NASB95

“If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

Jesus knew that you and I would not be able to stand if we were focused on this plastic strand of pearls. That is why He prayed for our unity. Unity with Him, and unity with each other, and our prayer needs to echo His because as long as each of us is chasing after the things that we want, the farther we will be from what He wants. Effective prayer seeks unity and a perfect relationship with Christ, where He is all that matters and His glory is our end! Let’s continue, Verse 24:

John 17:24 NASB95

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

As Jesus focused on the eternal glory and power of God that will be forever and ever, He prayed for all believers, He prayed for our unity with Him and each other, and now we see that

Christ prays for us to see His glory in heaven

Moses asked to see God’s glory once. And God told him no because it would kill him, but he past by, covering Moses in the cleft of the rock, and allowing Moses to see His back. And God met with Moses as a man with His friend, in the tent of meeting, and Moses had to wear a veil because of the glory of God reflecting from His face. Truly, friends, the glory of God is something to behold.

I have not seen the fullness of Christ’s glory. I wish that I could, for I know that I would not be able to look away again. How could any man see Him and be the same person? I have not seen the fullness of His glory, and yet I have seem glimmers of it, dim reflections and shimmers; mere hints of who He is, and they are spectacular.

I have seen it in the moment I led someone to Christ. I have seen Him prevail in leading His beloved out of a sin habit. I have seen Him move powerfully in transforming lives as His church serves others. And every time I have seen a glimpse of His glory, it has changed me. It has drawn me into a deeper place with Him. It has fixed my eyes on Him with undivided attention for a time…until I allow my concern for these plastic pearls to get in the way. And this is the thing, friends, that our most effective time in life and ministry come in those moments when we are living in light of the glory of God revealed in our lives. And like Christ, we need to pray for His glory to be revealed.

Effective prayer longs for the revealed glory of God

God’s glory is a show stopper. It is like the alien space craft at the beginning of Independence day. It stops you in your tracks and demands your undivided attention. You cannot help but to be enraptured by it, and all a sudden, nothing else matters. Your troubles, your problems, your afflictions are eclipsed by the glory of God. God’s glory changes everything, and it is at the very center of His plan.

That means, that if we pray for it in our lives, God will most certainly give us what we are asking for! And as we see His glory revealed more and more, it will become easier and easier for us to give Him the plastic we are clinging to in exchange for the real life only He can offer.

And that is what this is truly all about for us. Knowing God more and more will make knowing Him all that matters to us. Look at the last couple of verses:

John 17:25–26 NASB95

“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

As He closes out His prayer, in His last few moments with His disciples before the crucifixion,

Christ declares He knows the Father and will make Him known

What is the result of growing closer, and more intimate with the Father? What happens when we seek unity with Him and His people? How does the revelation of God’s glory in our lives change us and the way that we live? These things will change our purposes for His. Christ’s purpose on earth was to know the Father and to make Him known. He pursued and completed His work in His time here on earth. He pursued and completed His work through His death, resurrection, and ascension. He is working now to complete His work in the world today through the lives of those He has saved, and He will complete it forever in the hour of His return.

Friends, if Jesus came to know the Father and to Make Him known. If His prayer culminates to this; If this is His focus throughout eternity, then as His followers, as those that call on His name and strive to be like Him, this must be our mission. It must be our drive, our desire, and our deepest prayer.

Effective prayer seeks to know Him and to make Him known

Don’t you see this morning that those plastic pearls aren’t what you want? Don’t you see that this plastic life is not what you want? Don’t you see, beloved, that there is nothing here in your wants and desires, your passions and pursuits, your hopes and your dreams, your hurts and your struggles that is worth holding onto over Jesus.

Give your plastic to the Father, friends. Give this shadow of life to Him. Lay it down. Unclasp your hands. Let it go. Let it fall into the arms of Jesus. Don’t settle for plastic when in Christ Jesus, you can have the genuine article! Why settle for the pitiful leftovers of this life when you can live in the splendor of the King for eternity. I don’t know what pearl you’re clinging to this morning, friend, but if you love your heavenly Father, it is time for you to give them to him.

Do you love your Father? Do you love Him? Do you love Him? Then this morning, come to the altar and give Him your pearls.

Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And with every head bowed, every eye closed, right where you are, right now, clasp your hand closed. And now, I want you to reach out in front of you, and I want you to open your hand. Now tell Him, I love you, Daddy. I love you. I love you.

And as we go to Him together in prayer right now, whatever pearls you just gave to Him, I want you to let Him have them, and just see what better things He has for you. Let’s pray together:

Lord, Jesus, I am sorry. I am sorry for loving my plastic pearls more than You. I’m sorry for the way that I clung to the things of this life, afraid of what I might lose, locked in the misery of my pain and my suffering, unable to see Your glory unfolding because my focus was in all the wrong places. But Jesus, sweet Lord Jesus, today I want that to change. I have given my pearls to you because I love you more than them. I give them to you. Please take them and use them however you see fit. I don’t want them anymore, at least I don’t want to want them. Would You help me to fix my eyes on You. Would you make everything else fade away. This morning, I’m ready to find true life, the life that can only be found in You. You promised You would give it to me if I asked You for it, and so this morning, I’m asking. Be glorified in me. Help me to know You and to make You known. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.