Sermon Tone Analysis

Topic: "The Prayer Life of Jesus"

Bobby Earls ( adapted from a similar sermon by Dr. Ernest L. Easley)

July 5, 2000

Text: John 17.1-5

Next month, we're going to begin to refocus our church toward our prayer ministry here at First Baptist Church.

I am convinced that God wants us to become a prayer-driven church!

In fact, we'll never reach our potential without it!

I said that for a long time.

In the past I’ve talked about being a Soul-winning Church and a Disciple Making Church, and a Giving Church among other things.

The conclusion I’ve drawn is that we can never become anything close to what we ought to be unless we are a Praying Church!

Think about the lives that will be transformed through our prayer ministries!

Think about the souls that will be won through our prayer ministries!

Think about our ministries that will become energized through our prayer ministry!

Never forget that prayer can do anything that God can do and God can do anything!

I get excited when I think about the early church as recorded in the book of Acts.

The early church was a prayer-conditioned church!

Prayer was their focus and their focus was prayer!

God took what little they had and empowered them to do great things for Him!

And for that reason, they did so much with so little.

Today, we're doing so little with so much.

And for First Baptist to minister effectively in this new millennium, we must become a prayer-driven church.

So today, we're going to listen in on the greatest prayer ever prayed!

That's right!

The greatest prayer ever prayed!

It's not a prayer prayed by a saint!

Nor is it a prayer prayed by a sinner!

But it is a prayer prayed by the savior!

And that prayer is recorded in the gospel according to John.

So take your Bible and join me for a few minutes tonight in John 17.

For the next few Wednesday nights, we're going to be learning some things about the prayer life of Jesus!

If we're going to become a prayer-driven church, then we need to learn some things about prayer.

And I don't know anybody who couldn’t learn more about prayer from than the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're thinking tonight about "The Prayer Life of Jesus" from John 17.1-5

Now if you keep reading down through this chapter, you're going to find that this chapter is a prayer of Jesus.

The first five verses we find Jesus praying for Himself.

Verses 6-19, He prays for His disciples.

And then beginning in verse 20 through verse 26, He prays for us!

In our time together tonight as we learn some things about The Prayer Life of Jesus, we're going to zero in on His prayer for Himself.

And as we do, I want to raise three questions regarding His prayer.

First, I ask: Who did the Praying?

Second: What did He Pray?

Third: When did He Pray?

WHO DID THE PRAYING?

Verse 1, "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: 'Father, the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You."

That's what makes this the greatest prayer ever prayed!

Jesus, the Son of God is praying!

And did you notice His posture as He prayed?

John tells us that he "lifted up His eyes to heaven."

Most us have been taught that the proper posture of prayer is our eyes closed and our head bowed.

Now I understand that.

Closing your eyes prevents distraction.

Bowing your head provides a backup in case you peek!

I have to tell you that some of my best prayer times is with my eyes opened, my head tilted upward, along with my hands, looking into the face of God!

1 Kings 8.22, "Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven: and he said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like you..."

Nehemiah 8.5-6, "And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.

And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.

Then all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen!

While lifting up their hands.

And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground."

Psalm 28.2, "Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary."

I can guarantee that a Baptist didn't write those words!

But I can tell you who did: an anointed Jew!

It was normal for the Jewish people to lift their hands up to God giving Him praise but also because they expected to receive something from Him! "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven..."

WHO DID THE PRAYING?

WHAT DID HE PRAY?

And here's what He prayed beginning in verse 1, "Father, the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You," Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and prayed, "Father."

Not "Our Father", simply, "Father."

In fact, not once do you find Jesus praying, "Our Father."

Somebody says, "What about the Lord's prayer back in Matthew 6? Didn't He pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be You Name?"

Not exactly.

If you go back and read the whole thing, you'll find what Jesus said was this: "This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name."

You never find Jesus praying, "Our Father" though He instructs us to pray "Our Father" and I'll tell why: God is our Father by grace.

God is Jesus' Father by nature.

Jesus couldn't pray, "Our Father", because Jesus is God!

You say, "Pastor, I'm having difficulty following what you're saying."

All right then consider this: three times in this chapter Jesus uses the word "pray."

Verse 9, "I pray for them."

Verse 15, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world."

Verse 20, "I do not pray for these alone"

Now the Greek word He uses here is not the same word that's used when we pray.

This word literally means "to request from an equal."

It was used to describe somebody making a request from somebody on the same level.

That's why Jesus never prayed, "Our Father" but simply "Father" because God the Father and God the Son are on the same level!

They are equally God eternal!

Jesus Christ is as much God as though He wasn't a man and He is as much man as though He was not God.

He is the God-Man!

So Jesus simply prays, "Father, the hour has come."

What hour is He talking about here?

The hour for which He had come into the world!

The hour of His death and burial and resurrection!

Prayer helped prepare Jesus for the cruelty of the cross and the triumph from the tomb.

The best preparation for anything is prayer!

"Father, the hour has come, Glorify Your Son that Your Son may glorify You."

Now learn this about prayer: prayer is not to get our will done in heaven, prayer is to get God's will done on earth!

Jesus could pray in the will of God because He lived in the will of God!

And if you're struggling tonight about God's will for your life, then make sure you're living in the will of God for your life.

God's will is not a road map, it's a relationship!

It's when you're walking with God in sweet fellowship that allows you to pray in the will of God and prayers offered in the will of God and in Jesus name are always answered "Yes."