Jesus Prays We Would Know
Notes
Transcript
This is our last week studying the High Priestly prayer of Jesus. Along our way we have picked up on some core themes and words that intertwine Jesus’ final moments of prayer before his journey to the cross. We have found the themes of glory, unity, and sanctification in his prayer. In fact, in our last stanza of study today Jesus re-emphasizes some of those same words for us.
In this section we find our last keyword for Jesus’ prayer- know.
At the heart of this passage Jesus wants us to know God, and know him well. But that will lead us to ultimately ask some other questions- like how and why. So those are the questions that we will attempt to answer today- how do we know God? And, why would Jesus want us to know God?
So, how?
Well, just a few moments ago you witness Jayden and I engage in a riveting game of Guess Who. In case you are unfamiliar with the game, the point is to narrow down the list of possible people by asking a series of questions about your opponent's character of choice until you narrow down the field to one person who you think your competitor has chosen. A fun game, but not very helpful in identifying God.
But this is how many people attempt to get to know God. They wonder in their mind and ask questions and try to narrow down their belief about God by some kind of process of elimination based on how the world works and how people behave.
Other’s believe it is impossible to know who God is. They simple do not engage this conversation because they either believe there is no God, or that whatever God is out there is unknowable.
One of the most challenging aspects for those who are seeking to find the God of their understanding for the first time is His formlessness. It can be difficult to believe in, and connect with, something that cannot be seen. Perhaps this is because although God is in all things He is felt and experienced on levels that relate directly to the condition of our own hearts.”
― Marta Mrotek,
Instead, Jesus tells us that we can know God by knowing Jesus. He said so himself a few times during his Earthly ministry. Listen to 2 occasions, both found in the Gospel of John:
John 8:19 19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also
John 14:9-10 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority
So, for all those skeptics that say “We cannot know God” we say- we know God through Jesus. Our journey of faith is marinated in this fact- the more we know Jesus the more we know God, and the more we are like Jesus the closer we get to God.
Arthur Burns was chair of the Federal Reserve in the 1970s and a Jewish economist of great influence in Washington during the tenure of several Presidents. Burns was once asked to pray at a gathering of evangelical politicians. Stunning his hosts, he prayed thus: "Lord, I pray that Jews would come to know Jesus Christ. And I pray that Buddhists would come to know Jesus Christ. And I pray that Muslims would come to know Jesus Christ." And then, most stunning of all: "And Lord, I pray that Christians would come to know Jesus Christ."
The Bible tells us that the Word of God is the why we know Jesus- because as John 1 puts it, Jesus is THE WORD. At it’s core, Bible Study is not an act of self improvement, or an exercise in increasing our morality; or an attempt to grow our knowledge or intellect. No, primarily Bible study is about knowing God.
“Bible study without Bible experience is pointless. Knowing Psalm 23 is different from knowing the shepherd.”
― Kingsley Opuwari Manuel
We must remember, though, that seeing the Word of God through Jesus is not a one way street, it is a window. If we want to know what Jesus is like, we look through the lens of the Bible. Also, if we want to know how to interpret and apply the Bible, we look through the life of Jesus.
But why? Why is it so important for us to know God? To move past knowledge to relationship? Jesus answers that too in verse 26- and honestly I think this might be the core of God’s will for his people- that our lives might be filled with the love and presence of Jesus.
Jesus’ prayer for his people says some things, but perhaps it is also important to notice some of the things it doesn't say.
Jesus does not pray that our lives would be easy; or that we get all the material blessings we want; or that we would have prosperity and live “our best lives now.” No, his central prayer is that our lives are filled with the love and presence of God.
I want to read some passages for you...
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus’ prayer for us was about eternal things. Most of the things people pray for are not eternal.
Possessions come and go...
Health rises and falls...
Money increases and decreases....
But the presence of God and the love of Christ are forever.
Or as Jesus once said “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and yet forfeit his soul?”
What a thought, what a prayer for today as we celebrate our graduates! That we, as a church, would pray blessings and success over them, that we would pray for good employment, and that all the doors of life would open for them--- But before that, and more than that, we would pray that the presence of Christ, and the Love of God would envelop them wherever life takes them, and that they keep that promise central in their hearts.
Brent Earles once wrote some words to remind us that the presence of God is everywhere:
The stars are God's fingerprints. The sun is a mere smidgen of his radiance. The moon is to remind us that he doesn't sleep at night. The vastness of space proclaims the infinity of his wisdom, while the sand pebble indicates his thoroughness with the puniest details. The lion hints at his fearlessness, the bear at his power, the hawk at his keen insight. And yet, those possess only a tidbit of God's omnipotence and omnipresence. Every tree points toward heaven; every bird has a song to sing; even every moment of wind goes in some direction. There is nothing chaotic about our beautiful designed world. All creation has a message to tell. It says, "Listen, there is a God. There is a God!"
But friends, take note of the last 3 words of Jesus’ prayer- I IN THEM.
At the end of the day, friends, the greatest truth of the Gospel is not that there is a God out there, or a God around us, but that there is a God that will live in us.
Yes, at Christmas we celebrate Jesus as Emmanuel- God with us. But he is not just God with us now, he is God in us.
