Glorify
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION: Welcome -
Correction from weeks ago about protests...
Book recommendation - Urban Legends
Pray
Open to John 17...
We’re in the midst of a break from 1 & 2 Samuel
Next week Nate Palmer, Youth Pastor from Faith Free in Sparta will be preaching
Followed the next two weeks by Jared, one of our elders
Our passage, John 17, is the final chapter of what is often referred to as the “Upper-Room Discourse” of the Gospel of John which starts back in John 13.
It is in 13 that we read about Jesus and his disciples are the middle of the Passover meal in the evening… which by the other Gospel accounts we know was held in an upper-room.
At which time Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and with that illustration begins the “Upper-Room Discourse”
The discourse goes from serving and loving one another followed by the announcement that one of the disciples will betray Jesus, another, Peter, will deny Jesus.
Jesus then seeks to encourage the disciples in chapter 14-16, by reminding them of the power they have, the works they will do, the Spirit that will be sent to them when Jesus is gone, and the necessity to remain in Christ by obeying His commands.... as well as reminding them of the hatred and evil they will face from the world.
At the end of all of this Jesus closes in a prayer, a prayer spoken not only for the benefit of Jesus, but for the disciples and for us...
It is that prayer that we read here in John 17
We’ll read the whole chapter, and in this chapter there are 3 imperatives, that is 3 commands in the Greek. These commands are our focus here this morning… they are Glorify, Keep, and Sanctify.
As Jesus prays for the Father to glorify His Son, He asks the Father to do that by Keeping and Sanctifying His Church, His people.
Now, before we read… consider who is praying this prayer...
A man who is about to be betrayed, denied, falsely accused, blasphemed, tortured, and suffer a horrible painful death...
This is not a prayer of rainbows and butterflies… but a prayer of preparation… a prayer of protection… a prayer for a fight, for a war… for a struggle… but remember this… victory is guaranteed.
As hard, and as convicting as the words of Christ may be… they are rooted in absolute victory, in absolute truth.
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.
“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.
“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.”
Glorify Your Son
Glorify Your Son
Why?
Verse 1 - so that the Son can glorify the Father…
The time has come… the hour is here… Jesus is of course referring to his coming arrest in a few hours, followed by His trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection.
Now, the Son desires to be by the Father’s side in the very glory of which He once was in before the Creation of the world…
This statement speaks to the pre-existence of the Son before He took on flesh… this echoes John 1:1-2… in reference to Jesus...
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
But at the same time Jesus desires that the Father would glorify Him for the hour that is at hand… Jesus has already glorified the Father… verse 4...
And how has He done that? Through obedience… by doing the work of the Father… accomplishing all that the Father desired Him to do up to this point...
And in order for that to continue… Jesus is asking the Father to assist Him for the trial ahead… so Jesus is linking glorification with obedience to God’s will...
You want to see the glory of God? Obey Him.
This falls in line with the things Jesus has already said in this discourse back in John 14 and 15...
But even here in His prayer, Jesus speaks of how this glorification has happened and will happen...
Jesus roots His request to be glorified in the fact that the Father has given Him, the Son, authority over all flesh… so that He may give eternal life to those whom the Father has given Him.
Therefore, since this is the purpose of the Son, to give eternal life… in order for that to happen, the Son must be glorified...
What exactly is eternal life though?
Eternal life is to know, see, and experience the glory of the Father in a personal intimate way… the same way the Son experiences the glory of the Father…
A glory that is experienced, (6-10)through the knowledge, the manifestation, the revelation of the Father
The very thing that Jesus does and did for those of whom the Father gave to Him… specifically the 11 disciples that are with Him at this meal...
Jesus has done this by revealing the Father’s Name to them
To speak of God’s Name… is to speak of His character, nature, His will… the power of praying in Jesus’ name is not saying the name of Jesus… but praying in accordance to His will, His character.
And Jesus has revealed the character of the Father b/c Jesus is the “Name” of God in the flesh… He is the Word Incarnate… John 1:1, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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.
In doing so, by knowing the Name of God… and seeing the character of the Father in Christ, and believing in Him… they have eternal life...
Apart from this knowledge there is no eternal life… John makes this point explicitly clear in his first epistle, 1 John
But here’s the thing…
Though Jesus came and died to take away the sin of the world, and has been given authority to give eternal life… Jesus isn’t praying for the world in this regard, verse 9… He’s praying only for those whom the Father has given the Son… only those whom the Father has chosen, or elected out of the world to be given to the Son...
The fact that God’s people are ultimately the Father’s, is the basis for why the Son prays for them...
Jesus isn’t praying for them b/c they are good people...
That they are people with good hearts… who happened to be broken, or wounded… or mislead… or misunderstood…
No, the grace extended by the Son here is not rooted in that… it’s not even rooted in the love Jesus has for them… it’s rooted in the fact that they are the Father’s… and the Son cares deeply about what belongs to the Father.
Jesus was able to call upon them to be disciples as He did in the manner as it was recorded in the Gospels because before Jesus even called them… they already belonged to the Father… Jesus just came along and collected what the Father was giving Him. This echoes John 10:29
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
And this is how Jesus knows these are the ones the Father has given them…
End of verse 6, “they have kept your word”...
Notice the singular usage here… this refers to the Gospel Message… the point of Jesus coming
To accept the Father’s Word… is to accept Christ… and who is Christ? The Word of God...
Therefore, they believe the Son and all the words that He has given them… has come from the Father… a truth Jesus spoke about earlier on this evening in John 15:15, John 16:27
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
B/c of their faith and belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Jesus is glorified in them.
All of the disciples given to Jesus, are the Father’s… and what is the Father’s are the Son’s… and in them, in the disciples, in those who believe in Christ as the Son… the Son is glorified v. 10.
Therefore, since the Son is asking the Father to glorify Him, so that the Son may glorify the Father… and the Son is glorified through those whom belong to the Father which the Father has given the Son… the Son petitions… the Son intercedes on their behalf… on our behalf… on behalf of the church and He starts out by asking that the Father in verse 11 would Keep them...
Keep Them
Keep Them
This word for keep (τηρέω) can also be understood as guard and preserve, the NET translates it well when it says “keep them safe”
And the purpose of keeping them safe is so that they may be one… as the Son and Father are one…
How is this done?
By keeping them in the Father’s Name… and notice the name Jesus just used of the Father in v. 11… “Holy Father”...
For Jesus to say, “that they may be one, even as we are one”… is to also say, “that they may be holy, even as we are holy”… Lv 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16, Mt 5:48
For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.
since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Now, this request for protection is not only for the 11 disciples here… but as verse 20 tells us… it is for all those who come after who believe their word...
Whose word? The Apostles, the apostolic message…
There are no “new apostles”...
There is no need for further revelation… the Old and New Testament is enough.
This request… this prayer… all of it… is for us as well… at least those of us here who have accepted the Apostolic message… which is the New Testament… all of it… rooted in the Old Testament.
Jesus asks the Father to protect them for He, the Son, has done so faithfully Himself, only Judas, the betray, the son of destruction was lost, but now the hour is here, and He is leaving them…
That is why as we read in verse 13, He says this prayer aloud and has spoken the things that preceded the prayer in chapters 13-16…
Also, so that they may share in His joy despite the pending suffering that is to come… a point He mentioned earlier in the discourse in John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
And suffering will come… not only for these 11… but for all believers… all who belong to the Father who have been given to the Son
B/c the church is not of this world though it lives in this world…
And since those of the church belong to the Father… the world hates us… the world will not love us… the world will never love the true church of God… John 3:19-21
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. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Jan Huss
William Tyndale
Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer
While the world may hate us, Jesus also specifically prays that the Father would keep us from the evil one (v. 15)
This is our assurance...
This is the victory we put our hope
This is the light of the star we keep our gaze on when the night tarries and the dawn delays...
No matter how hard life gets… no matter how much hatred comes out against you b/c you are faithful to the full consul of God’s Word… the devil can make no claim on you…
The Son of God is your intercessor… the Creator of All Thing… intercedes on your behalf not simply in prayer… but on the cross… justifying you before the Father… making you righteous in His eyes for all of eternity… never to be lost again.
And we need this assurance, we need this protection… because for what Jesus asks the Father to do next is the very thing that turns the temperature up and riles up the dogs to seek out the church...
Sanctify Them
Sanctify Them
Since we are not of this world, we must be sanctified… so Jesus asks that we are sanctified.
Sanctify means to be set apart… or made holy… to say that God is holy is to say there is none like Him… He is different from all things…
So, Jesus asks the same for those who have been given to Him
Again, how is this to be done… Jesus again, does not leave a mystery here...
We are to be sanctified in the Truth… which is the Word of God...
Sanctification, cannot happen apart from us conforming to the Word of God… something Paul reminds us of in Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
A sanctification, a holiness that is rooted, again v. 11, in the Name of God as revealed via His Word… His Son
We are to be sanctified, b/c as Jesus has been sent into the world so are we… John 15:26-27, 20:21
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
And being sent into the world, Jesus knows the danger and the risk of us being pulled back into lives of depravity of idolatry… as proven by the history of Israel… so Jesus specifically prays that the Father would keep us separate keep us holy as we go into the world to do His work....
Now, back in verse 13, Jesus asked that the Father would keep us in His name so that we may be one as the Father and Son are one. Again, this is the same reason we are to be sanctified...
If we are to be holy, as the Father is holy, then we will be one, just as the Father and Son are...
Verse 21, this is why Jesus asks on our behalf… that we may have this experience of Trinitarian unity within the body of Christ...
But again… we must understand this… there is no unity apart from the truth...
I once was part of a church that believed unity at all costs… even at the cost of the truth… which is why I left.
We seek unity, we seek love, and if it is true unity, if it is true love, it is rooted in truth, in the Word of God…
Unity here in John 17, and throughout Scripture is not rooted in the world’s idea of “love”… but a unity rooted in Truth as verses 6 and 8 tell us...
This is how we know the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares...
A point Jesus expounded on earlier in the discourse in chapter 14, John 14:21, 23
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Love for God inevitably leads to obedience to Christ...
Those who have been sanctified in their obedience to Christ are those who will experience unity with the Father and the Son as they make their home within us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
And where God is so is His glory...
The glory of the Father given to the Son given to the church is what unites us...
The glory of God is the revelation of His Name, His Nature…
His will, His actions… is in itself glory… to gaze upon His works is to gaze upon His glory...
When God moves… He moves gloriously… when God speaks… God speaks gloriously...
Therefore, in order for the church to be witness of God’s glory we must be unified with the Father and the Son… they must take up residence among us… which cannot happen if we are not sanctified in accordance to the name of Jesus Christ… in accordance to this prayer...
A sanctification that is rooted in the truth, a truth that unites us despite our differences...
Despite our sins...
A unity kept not because of the work of man, or the programs the church offers… but because of the truth we believe and we proclaim… the Word of Christ… the good news of the Kingdom...