The High Priestly Prayer

Introduction

If you only had one night left before you die, what would you say to your husband? Your wife? If you had one night left where you could be with your Kids, grand kids, your siblings or parents? Close friends?

If there were only a few more hours -

- Would you be direct and to the point?

- Would you communicate what you believe to be the most important information you have to offer?

- Would you make one final investment that prepares them to continue without you?

For the past nine weeks we have been in a study called “The Closing Crescendo in the Upper Room.” The first week of that series, Pastor Tim shared with us about the final night he had with his dad. The night was very different than other nights and very memorable.

In this series, we are evaluating the final hours of Jesus’ life. Jesus knew the moment was coming, He warned the disciples about it numerous times. He wanted them to be prepared so he informed them weeks and months in advance. Then in this final night with the disciples, Jesus didn’t waist a second of time. He took time to sit and eat celebrating the passover meal. I am sure in that night there was laughter, connection with each other, and reverence before God. But Jesus also took this as a time to teach. He had more to share with them and His pointed teaching from that night - continues to leave a profound impact.

Today, is Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem riding on a young donkey and people were lined up praising Him as they fell down in worship. In wanting to stay with the sequential order of the series, today we are studying John 17. This specific passage is known as “The High Priestly Prayer.” The setting of this scene is that Jesus and the disciples had already celebrated passover together, had a time of teaching and were now walking from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was while they were walking that Jesus began to pray.

- There are some who have rightly identified that this was perhaps the greatest prayer ever prayed. A prayer that is from one person of the triune God to another and it is recorded for us to receive, to study, meditate on, and then utter these same words up to God in prayer.

If you have your Bibles with you I would like to ask you to turn with me to John 17. Lets pray as we prepare to study this amazing passage.

“Father in Heaven, you are the all powerful creator… the sustainer of life. Who are we to come before you? May you be lifted up this morning and exalted. May you be seen and known, let us respond to you in worship. We know that you are the only one worthy of praise, adoration, and exaltation. Lord, bring light to this passage to help us see your significance. Your worthiness. God we commit this time to you and we pray that it would be used for your glory.”

1. Jesus Prays for Himself and the Father

As we begin to read this, I want you to notice that there are three sections to this prayer. In the first, we find Jesus praying for Himself and the Father. Take a look,

John 17:1–5 (ESV)

1 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, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

This opening of Jesus’ prayer shines immense light on the nature of the Triune God. In other words, we know God to be one God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each member of this Trinity is distinctly its own person while at the same time being the full representation of God.

Here Jesus says “The hour has come.” If you were to study through the book of John, we would see His letter is written according to some kind of divine timeline. Three times Jesus says “My hour has not yet come.” It wasn’t until one week prior to His death on the cross that He began to say “My time has come” Or in this case, with more urgency “The hour has come.” So Jesus is well aware that there is a specific time in which it will be His time. To do what? - You may be asking.

- The second part of John 17:1 tells us “Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” So when Jesus’ time comes, He is referring to the moment in which He will be glorified by dying the cross in order to give Him the authority to grant eternal life to anyone that the Father has given Him. It is the moment in history where He will suffer and die, rising again three days later. He will simultaneously defeat death and sin.

Notice the purpose that Jesus has in being glorified. It is not so He can take all the glory and the credit but rather so that He can turn and use this glory received through the redemption of mankind to glorify the Father! He is looking to the Father saying “God, glorify me that you may be glorified.” He is speaking to the very nature of the person of God. That there is this perfectly shared affection for each other where each member purposes themself to bring glory to the other.

- Think about how counter cultural this is to us! We in a culture of people seeking notoriety, desiring credit for everything they do, and every accomplishment in life. If we feel like others haven’t given us enough attention we find a way to draw their attention to ourselves..... It is in our sin and wickedness that we give into these tendencies. Not realizing we havent accomplished anything apart from God. He deserves the credit, He gave you the idea, the vision, the work ethic and the breath in your lungs. He designed you the way you are which means you really didn’t do anything, not of your own ability, but buy what He gave you!

Thankfully, God is not like us in this way. When we look at the person of God, we see that His purpose is not to get attention from others but rather to bring glory to the other members of the Trinity.

- Jesus goes a step further in verse 4 “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” How did He glorify the Father? - by doing the work that was given to Him by the Father.

What we see in the threeness of God is that each member is intimately aware of how to Love, serve, and honor the other two. It is because of this that we say that “God is love”......... Because by His very nature of being three in one, His existence exudes perpetual love and affection within Himself. Jesus speaks to this in verse 5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” He is saying “I am coming home and I am so looking forward to existing within your presence again, having the perfect love and perfect unity that we have had and known since before the world was ever created.

What we find in the trinity, is that each member loves to love the other. And it is out of that perfect love, that God has loved us!

There are several elements to this opening prayer that we could evaluate and consider further. But we need to keep moving forward. As we step into the 2nd and 3rd sections of Jesus’ prayer, pay attention to how the foundation has been laid in the opening five verses. This first section gives clarity and reason for everything else we are about to read. The second portion of Jesus’ prayer,

2. Jesus Prays for His Disciples.

John 17:6-8 “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. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 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.”

There is a clear shift in Jesus’ prayer. The central focus is no longer on the relationship with the Father. While the Father and Jesus are both involved by exchanging gifts still - the focus centrally lies on the disciples. Jesus claims the disciples were given to Him by God and they were taken out of the world. Meaning that there was a change in status a change in position before God. Previously, they were in the world and of the world. But God! But God pulled them out and gave them personally to Jesus.

This again speaks to God’s love and affection for Jesus as well as His love and affection for those He has pulled out of the world.

They have shifted in possession and now belong to Jesus. Notice how Jesus says these people who are under a new possession have responded to this new status, “They have kept your word.”

Friends may it be said of everyone of us one day as we stand before the throne that we have kept His word!

Not only did they keep God’s word but they received them personally and had come to know the truth about who Jesus was and what He came to do.

What we find in the disciples is not perfect followers of Jesus who never messed up. In the coming hours they would prove to be less then exemplary..... But they recieved the word of God, they personally believed in Jesus as the son of God, and that He came from God the Father.

Keep in mind that the disciples are listening to all of this. In fact, because we are reading it here today, they are clearly taking note of it. I have to imagine to hear Jesus pray this way on your behalf is widely encouraging. To think that the son of God, Jesus the Christ!!!!........ would spend time before God the Father praying for you personally! What a gift! What a tremendous gift, to be able to listen in on the prayer of Jesus to the Father!

Listen carefully to these next words.

John 17:9-10 “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.”

There are two points of emphasis here. The first, is that Jesus wants to make it abundantly clear to the disciples that He is praying for them. He is being specific and thoughtful in what I believe is meant to encourage and build them up. But He is also genuinely praying for them.

The second is verse 10, in fact, its the first real insight of how the foundation laid in verses 1-5 carry through the rest of the passage. Jesus says five simple words “I am glorified in them.”

- What does that mean? That Jesus the son of God receives glory from a lowly and sinful people. A people that has rejected Him over and over. Who has never measured up to God’s law or turned and worshiped other gods.

This statement is significant to our understanding of exactly what Jesus came to do and how He is working in us today! And let me be clear, I am no just referring to salvation. The work that Jesus did on the cross was so significant and the greatest reward for us was absolutely salvation. But there is more to the work that was done and I think we often miss it or downplay it.

Watch this. Jesus started this prayer by asking God to glorify Him. The reason in which Jesus wanted to be glorified is so that He could properly and appropriately glorify the Father. And this speaks to their perfect unity. Within the relationship is this perfect cohesion where they bless, honor, and point to each other is the definition of perfect love. They have the same mission and focus along with the same detailed plan of how to carry that mission out. When we talk about the Trinity, we are talking about the definition of alignment.

When Jesus says “I am glorified by them.” It gives us a connecting piece that when we come into a relationship with Jesus, when we confess our sinfulness and repent from it, seeking forgiveness from God, and believe.... I mean truly believe that Jesus is God..... We are saved from the punishment we deserve. But salvation is not just our ticket into heaven! Its our ticket into a personal relationship with God who loves perfectly and wholly. And He wants to invite us into that same type of unity, blessing, and honor. He wants us to have a role, a invitation into this exchanging of glory within the person of God.

How do we do that? How do we join in to rightfully glorify Jesus? - Look how Jesus glorified the Father in verse 4: “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”

God has called each one to Himself. He does not desire that anyone should go to hell but that all would come to Him. and when you choose to come to Him, to seek Him with your life, He wants to do a work in you. He wants to take you and shape you into the image of Jesus. He wants to teach you how to enter into this perfect unity and perfect love by shaving off the rough edges of your life.

He has called each one of us to play a different role in the building of His kingdom. He has gifted us, positioned us, and given us GP’s which are God Promptings. He asks us to step into the direct work of building His kingdom so that we may glorify Jesus and in turn Jesus will glorify the Father. God has a purpose and a plan for your life and the question is “Are you in step with His Spirit?”

If you are, you are bringing glory Jesus!

Now, we are going to read through the end of the chapter and pay attention because Jesus has just started praying for the disciples and there are Eight specific ways in which He prays. We will acknowledge each as we read it.

John 17:11–26 (ESV)

11 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.

Jesus is praying for them to have the same type of unity that is known between Jesus and the Father, but specifically that they would be kept in unity with the Father. Keep them from evil, keep them close, keep them in alignment.

12 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. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

2. Jesus desires for His followers to experience and know the same joy that He has.

14 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. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

3. There is recognition that evil and Satan are real and powerful. So Jesus prays that God would personally offer His protection.

16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

4. Use your word to make them Holy - Make them like you!

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

3. Jesus Pray’s for All believers

5. All believers at all times. The eight specific ways Jesus is praying is for every believer always. Which means that as you read this prayer, you are reading a prayer that is from Jesus the Son of God to the Father on our behalf!

21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us,

6. Here it is, a prayer of invitation, that the father would teach us as the church to be one. To start learning how to share in the same type of unity that God has experienced within Himself for all of eternity’s past. So that for all of eternities future, we will be prepared to be one congregation before God praising and exalting Him as the worthy King who is perfect and Holy.

At this point I have to make an emphatic point. In no way, is Jesus saying that we as humans, followers of Christ will become one with God in the same way that Jesus is one with God. They are one in nature and in person. Just as we each are one individual human being. We are made of a different substance. We become one with God in the sense:

“God is in us in that He is in His temple, and we are in God as the creature is in its creator.” - St. Augustine.

What happens when we become one with God and one with each other in the way that Jesus is calling us?

so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

The very reason and purpose for our unity goes far beyond our local church. When the unity of God is put on display by the children of God the world will be influenced so strongly that they will, at least on some level believe.

22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 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. 24 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.

7. “Father let them be with me where I am” Jesus desires to be with us to the point that He is willing to come and die on the cross for our sin. Our wrongdoing. His love for us is greater than we can imagine and His desire is to be with anyone who would put their faith and trust in Him.

25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 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.”

8. Jesus desires for each of us to know and experience the very love and affection of God.

Roman’s Church:

I asked my 5 year old son Roman to build me a church.

Legos are pretty cool toys.

One lego - There is a sharpness, a rigidness, it doesnt create anything on its own, its just another piece.

“Human history is a story of sin’s disruption of God’s ordained unity. God’s ideal for marriage is for husband and wife to experience unity of life, “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). Sin in the garden bred mistrust and accusation (3:12). Stubbornness of will (“hardness” of heart, Mark 10:5) continues to disrupt God’s desired unity in marriage.” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary

All together - builds a church that can drive and fly at such speeds it will just swoop people up in the front doors!

so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

In conclusion:

We the church are called to live in the same type of unity that is demonstrated in the trinity. A unity that is in perfect alignment and seeks to encourage, bless, and honor each other. We learn to enter into this unity not by seeking it but by seeking to glorify God. We glorify God by receiving His word and obeying it and responding the prompting of His Spirit. If we do this, we will begin to find alignment and unity with one another as we come together in mission to glorify the high king of heaven.