Jesus Tattles

John 17

Jesus has faithfully fulfilled his teaching ministry and successfully prepared his disciples. Now, in his final moments, he prays for them and for all his disciples.

He prays that there will be only one…

one heart, one mind,

unity with one another, unity with God.

Kids

Dad… Arabelle did this. It’s always something bad.

Jesus is talking about you. To his Dad. “Dad…” But of course, it’s Jesus… so it’s good.

Jesus’ Closing Prayer

We have heard a lot from Jesus. Like a sermon.

Holy Spirit. (God is moving in).

Loving abiding obedience.

The world will hate you (but only if you look like Jesus).

And free refills on joy.

Here is his closing prayer.

He is going to cover many of the same themes, but now he is talking to his heavenly Father about his disciples. Interceding for them.

The Prayer

Part 1 – Complete the Mission for his glory

Part 2 – Preparing the disciples for the mission

Part 3 – The method of the mission

Unity with one another.

Unity with God that reflects the unity in the Trinity.

11

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.

21-26

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

Part 4 – Praying for us

Jesus is praying for us.

Hebrews 7 speaks of his role as high priest, that he is ever alive and ever interceding for us at the right hand of the Father.

1 John 2, likewise, that Jesus is still and always interceding for us at the right hand of the Father.

The first 5 verses of Jesus’ prayer is him praying for the completion of his mission.

The next 20 are him praying for his disciples… and explicitly including us in that.

He turns to them in verse 6

6 “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.

And then explicitly includes all of us in verse 20

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

So here we read about Jesus, speaking about us to the Father. And we hear that this conversation continues in the presence of God… always.

Which means there is this conversation, not just in the presence of, but in the very being of, within the Trinity, a conversation between Father and Son about you. And oh, by the way, the Holy Spirit is chiming in with the wordless desires of your soul.

A conversation in the very being of God for you. For your good. For the fullness of your joy, we read last week.

Or, in a beautiful kind of definition of Christian maturity:

That you might be one in heart and mind. One with one another. One with God.

Someone is Talking About You

Interviewing for a job at GateWorks. Actually the decision has already been made, Ryan has been talking about you non-stop.

Interviewing for a job at AlphaTRAC. Kelly already worked there for years, Jono had worked there for 6 months. I don’t know how I got hired, actually. Maybe they needed someone to keep Jono in line.

If you ever feel overwhelmed by the call to maturity and ministry… picture Jesus, as he is right now, at the right hand of the Father, praying for you, interceding for you.

Overwhelmed by your next step… or even the idea that there is a next step. There is Jesus, lifting you up in every way, including this ongoing conversation about you in the very being of God.

Let Jesus Pray Over Us

John 17

1-5 Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:

Father, it’s time.

Display the bright splendor of your Son

So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.

You put him in charge of everything human

So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.

And this is the real and eternal life:

That they know you,

The one and only true God,

And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

I glorified you on earth

By completing down to the last detail

What you assigned me to do.

And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,

The very splendor I had in your presence

Before there was a world.

6-12 I spelled out your character in detail

To the men and women you gave me.

They were yours in the first place;

Then you gave them to me,

And they have now done what you said.

They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,

That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,

For the message you gave me, I gave them;

And they took it, and were convinced

That I came from you.

They believed that you sent me.

I pray for them.

I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world

But for those you gave me,

For they are yours by right.

Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,

And my life is on display in them.

For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;

They’ll continue in the world

While I return to you.

Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life

That you conferred as a gift through me,

So they can be one heart and mind

As we are one heart and mind.

As long as I was with them, I guarded them

In the pursuit of the life you gave through me;

I even posted a night watch.

And not one of them got away,

Except for the rebel bent on destruction

(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).

13-19 Now I’m returning to you.

I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing

So my people can experience

My joy completed in them.

I gave them your word;

The godless world hated them because of it,

Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,

Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.

I’m not asking that you take them out of the world

But that you guard them from the Evil One.

They are no more defined by the world

Than I am defined by the world.

Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;

Your word is consecrating truth.

In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,

I give them a mission in the world.

I’m consecrating myself for their sakes

So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

20-23 I’m praying not only for them

But also for those who will believe in me

Because of them and their witness about me.

The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—

Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,

So they might be one heart and mind with us.

Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.

The same glory you gave me, I gave them,

So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—

I in them and you in me.

Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,

And give the godless world evidence

That you’ve sent me and loved them

In the same way you’ve loved me.

24-26 Father, I want those you gave me

To be with me, right where I am,

So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,

Having loved me

Long before there ever was a world.

Righteous Father, the world has never known you,

But I have known you, and these disciples know

That you sent me on this mission.

I have made your very being known to them—

Who you are and what you do—

And continue to make it known,

So that your love for me

Might be in them

Exactly as I am in them.