Untitled Sermon

This is our third and final week in John 17. Before we go forward let us first look back.

As we mentioned the first week, this is the real “Lord’s prayer.” Ironically, the Lord’s prayer that is written in Matthew 6 cannot be prayed by our Lord! He is actually the only one in history that can’t pray “forgive me as I have forgiven others” because Jesus never sinned. John 17 is the Lord’s prayer.

Instead, John 17 has been referred to as the “High Priestly Prayer.” Jesus is the one and only true and perfect prophet, priest, king. Many have noted the gifts at Jesus’ birth represent his role. Gold of course is aligned with his kingship, Frankincense, an aromatic resin, is usually identified with a priestly role, and Myrrh is a representative of the prophets. John 17 is THE high priestly prayer.

Last week we read Jesus’ prayer for his disciples. Of course, there are things in that prayer that are applicable to us today, but in the strictest sense of the interpretation, we are not the immediate audience. The subject of the last section of the prayer, its horizons, need expending. These 6 verses do that exact thing. Jesus begins to pray for us. A wild thought.

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million of enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; He is praying for me.”

—Robert Murray McCheyne

John 17

“I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them, and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.” -- John 17:20-26 (CSB)

Lord, even know, teach us. Help us. We want to know you. We long for your salvation, we put our hope in your word. We want to hear from you. Teach us. Give us. Form us. By your grace and for your glory, amen.

We should remind ourselves what is going on. This prayer sits in the gap of the farewell discourse (the past four chapters of John) and the betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion of Jesus. Right in between his greatest words and teaching and his greatest act, he prays. And John writes it down. What will Jesus pray for?

I’m sure most of you in the room would recognize the song “7 Nation Army” but here Jesus prays the 7 ation prayer. We have already hit 4 of them. He prayed for the believer’s preservation (that God would keep them), jubilation (that we would have his joy), liberation (from the evil one), and sanctification. Today he will pray for our unification, association, and glorification.

Or, if it helps you, it helped me, you can picture this prayer as 3 circles. At the center of the circle, Jesus kneels, alone, praying for himself (1-5). As the circle expands and the prayer becomes a little broader, he begins to think of Peter, and James, and John, and the rest of his disciples and he pleads with the father that they would be one and sanctified and set apart and sent out (6-19). Finally, the circle expands way out, and the eyes of Jesus scan the centuries as he presses to his loving heart all his true followers as if they are all being saved at the very moment of this prayer… “Lord may they be one.”

You’ll have to hang on today because instead of a nice and neat line by line sermon, this passage is like a thematic tornado. Admittedly, this text is a bit confusing at first glance. There are so many repeated words. If I were to read this passage too quickly, it kind of just sounds like someone put some words in a hat and drew out of it: love, father, united, one, as you, sent me, known you, know me. There are 5 phrases containing the word “know” and 5 times the word “love” is used. This is significant because there are only 6 verses. What is the text trying to communicate?

We are going to see a few ideas and words appear multiple times. So, what I would like to do today is unpack the ways in which Jesus prays that we are one. I read the text and I see three things that Jesus is calling us to. First, he is calling us to be ONE in communion with Christ. Second, he is calling us to be ONE in mission. Finally, in the last two verses, he calls us to be one in glory.

Jesus prays that His church would be one in communion with Christ

20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word.

For the third time Jesus begins a little section by stating what he is NOT praying for. In verse 9 he was NOT praying for the unbelievers, in verse 15 he was NOT asking God to take the disciples out of the world, and now he prays NOT ONLY for his disciple now, but the ones to come! Although the vast majority of these believers had not yet been born, they were already on the heart of Jesus. When our great high priest entered into God’s presence, written on his breastplate, right on his heart, was the name of every person who would believe on Jesus. Are you tired this morning? Can I just encourage you? Jesus prayed for you 2,000 years ago, and if we can be sure about anyone having their prayers answered, it is Jesus. But this was not a one time event. No no no. Hebrews 7:25 says, “He always lives to make intercession for us.”

Who is this “us?” Well it is those who “believe” in Jesus. Not the grandkids of those who believe in Jesus. Not those who attend church every Sunday. Not those whose report card says they have done more positive in the world than negative. Those who BELIEVE on Jesus. Which, again, is the point of the book. John will write later that “these have been written so that you may believe.” Salvation comes through faith alone, so that no man may boast (Eph 2:9). By the word of the apostles’ testimony, many others believe in Jesus. Now what?

21 May they all be one,

Jesus has been exemplifying this prayer for his whole ministry. Let’s start to zoom out. This has been a main discussion point of this chapter already. In John 17:11, Jesus prays the same thing for his 12 disciples. He prays that, “they may be one as we are one,” talking about the Godhead.

But if we step back further, we see that this whole book has been a unifying force. After Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, he gives them a new command in John 13:34 “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples— if you love one another.” -- John 13:34-35 (CSB). Francis Schaeffer used to call this the “final apologetic.” It is the only thing the world needs to see, the only evidence they need to believe.

Back out even further and you’ll see that all of the Gospels champion a unifying effort. Have you met Jesus’ disciples? Matthew, the tax collector, the betrayer of the Jews, teams up with Simon, the zealot, trained to violently cleanse Judaism. Simon would have vowed to kill those who have pledged their allegiance to Rome. Matthew was working for the Roman government! Jesus has been working for and praying for the unity of His people the whole time! We shouldn’t be surprised by the contents of this prayer.

But we also shouldn’t be surprised by the model or example of the prayer. He prays in verse 21, “like we are, Father, make them.” In John 14:10 the father is so much in the son that the text records that it is actually the father who is performing Jesus’ acts and saying his words. In addition, the son is so in the father that Jesus is completely dependent upon and reliant on and obedient to the father. Jesus is in glad submission to the father while simultaneously being the word that created all things. They are separate but they are one. They are distinct but one. The son is not the father. But they are one.

This is what God would have us be as His church. Look around this room. We look like a bag of skittles poured out on some red carpet. Some of us have some money. Some of us not so much. We have some military, some teachers, some medical, a lot of green thumbs, some construction workers, and Jesus is praying that we would be one. Some of you are really organized. I’m not. We have members who are so faithful and gifted in prayer and tithing. I still struggle. We have such an incredible tech team back there. There are a few people in this room that would terrify me if they stepped foot back there. Maureen and Elom and Alex and Robin are so musical. Some of you (Caroline how does the expression go?) “can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” We all, individually, have a unique set of talents, passions, and personalities. But we are to be one. The Father and the Son are distinct, yet one. Church, I pray, as distinct as we are from one another, that we would be one. We are called to oneness. Not sameness! Still distinct. But oneness.

Not just BCC but every true Christian church, even across denominational lines. All true Christians are united spiritually by regeneration in their salvation in Jesus. This is why I had so much in common with people in India! There was a girl who helped lead worship one night. She told me after service that she used to be completely paralyzed but God healed her. She was a different gender, a different ethnicity, she spoke a different language, she ate really weird food, but when we got to the church, and she started talking about her love for Jesus, I got it! Because I love Jesus! Completely distinct, but unified.

We shouldn’t really be surprised about this. Paul outlined it in Ephesians 4:4-6.

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

He said there is “one body,” the body of Christ, which is comprised of all believers since the Spirit fell at Pentecost in Acts.

There is “one spirit,” the Holy Spirit, apart from whom no one can believe in Jesus Christ.

There is “one hope,” in the promised eternal inheritance guaranteed to every believer by the Spirt.

There is “one Lord,” Jesus Christ, who is the head of the body. We love the idea that the Lord is our shepherd but let us not forget that the shepherd is our Lord. Our one Lord.

There is “one faith,” as Jude says, “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”

There is “one baptism.” The baptism of a believer as they publicly confess their faith in Jesus Christ and identify with his death, burial, and resurrection, into new life.

There is “one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” The one true God is sovereign.

All true Christians are united spiritually by regeneration in their salvation in Jesus into this oneness.

21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me

22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.

23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one,

The unity of Jesus, the son, with the father, is very, very important. If you remember way back in John 5:16, Jesus claimed a sort of equality of God that essential gave him the same authority, purpose, power, honor, will, and nature, as God the father.

John 5:17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

The Jewish people did not like this claim and this is what eventually led to His crucifixion.

The point is, the unique and beautiful trinitarian relationship shared between the Father and the Son and the Spirit serves as a model for the believers in the church. It displays 5 key features that we ought to adopt and be presenting to the world: Motive and Mission, Truth and Holiness, and Love.

Motive- To glorify God

Jesus begins this pray by praying, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you.” In verse 5, he adds, “Now Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Now, in verse 24, Jesus expresses to His father, “so that that they may see my glory which you had given me.” John 7:18, John writes that Jesus was not seeking his own glory but rather the glory of the one who sent him. John 8:50 reaffirms that, Jesus did not seek his own glory because it was the Fathers. At the raising of Lazarus in chapter 11, both the son and the father were glorified. In John 12, another prayer of Jesus, he prays, “Father glorify your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven, picture this scene, and the voice says, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” Jesus was all about the glory of God the father.

But so is the church. 1 Corinthians 10:30, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the….” Don’t forget to please God.

Mission- Redeeming the Lost

2 Peter 3:8 Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

God desires that all would come to repentance. And can we just agree, it is a good thing he is patient.

The church ought to be the same way.

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Truth

The Father and the Son are united in truth. “The words which You gave me,” Jesus said, “I have given to them” (17:8). He adds in verse 14, “I have given them Your word.” In verse 17, Jesus prays, “sanctify them by your truth.”

Paul instructs the church at Rome

Romans 15: 5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.

A commitment to proclaiming sound Biblical doctrine is a defining mark of the church.

Holiness

Did you see how Jesus has been addressing the Father in this chapter? In verse 11 he says, “holy father,” and in 25 he calls him, “righteous father.” From Genesis to Revelation, cover to cover, the Bible is crystal clear regarding the holiness of God. His absolute separation from sin.

When a church is dedicated to the pursuit of holiness, unbelievers will be drawn to Christ. When a church tolerates sin, it not only obscures the glory of Christ, but it faces the discipline of the Lord of the church. They become lukewarm and get spit out.

Love

3-person dance of the spirit that we are invited to. Love of the Godhead creates everything. Michale reeves. You and I are invited into that.

Jesus is hours away from the cross. It seems that as Jesus heads to the cross with the weight of the world’s sin on his head he has the unity of His church on his mind.

Jesus prays that His Church would be one in mission

21 May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.

23 so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

The Screwtape Letters, written by C.S. Lewis, is a magnificent piece of satirical religious writing. It portrays the life of a human from the vantage point of a character named “Screwtape” who is a high-ranking assistant to “Our Father Below.” He is a veteran demon. Each chapter is a letter that has been written to his trainee, Wormwood.

It is a fiction book, but I think it is a bit more accurate than we would like to admit. I listened to it on audio book several years ago and it was creepy.

“One of our greatest allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners, penetrating the darkness of our father. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately, it is quite invisible to these humans.”

What is he saying? They are NO MATCH for a united church. The church is a mighty army with banners!! Satan must keep up fighting one another, biting one another, and stirring up division or else there will be a lot of damage done to the kingdom of darkness.

I pray that this would be BCC. That we would never become like wolves at home. Over the past year especially I have grown to love this illustration. When a pack of wolves are in pursuit, when they are on mission, they are swift, organized, tactical, unstoppable. When they are sitting back home at the cave, they lay there and growl at each other. The bite each other.

Jesus prays that His church would be one in glory

24-25 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation.

Can I share a concern I have? When the church loses sight of heaven, Christians become materialistic. We become spiritually weak. We get consumed with apathy. We lose sight of an incredibly important truth— this world is not our home. The less heavenly minded we become the more earthly minded we are. Maybe that is why Jesus prays like this here.

Earlier Jesus taught the disciples to store up their treasures in Heaven (matt 6:20-21)

In Psalm 16:11 David, referring to heaven, says

And paul, well you just couldn’t keep him quiet. His desire was “to depart and be with Christ, for this is very much better (Phil 1:23) and “to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).

All Christians should long for Heaven like David and like Paul. So, Jesus prays, “Father I pray that they would be with me where I am”

Again, in three verses, Jesus gets betrayed. This is his final plea

HOW STAGGRERING IS THIS! Do not read this text with a prideful heart. The proper response to reading this is not “Well yeah, of course Jesus wants me.” No.

We don’t know how sinful we are like a fish doesn’t know how wet it is

If we could record your thoughts and play them at church you would be mortified

I would be mortified

Romans 5:10- Enemies of God

Ephesians 2-

Eph 2- separated from Christ, excluded from His people, strangers to His promises, have no hope and without God in this world

You had fallen short of the glory of God

The wage of His life was death

Titus 3-

But that wasn’t the end of my story, and it doesn’t have to be the end of your story! Believe on Jesus and your story can be HIStory

But God being rich in mercy

Because of his great love which he Loved us

Even when we were dead in our transgressions

Made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved

God raises us up and seats us next to Jesus.

God forgave me. He can forgive you.

And not ony does he forgive repentant sinners he goes even further and adopts them into his family. Jesus takes you to the courthouse, pays your debts, you are justified. Those of you who have believed in Jesus are as righteous as your savior is! Spotless! White as snow! But he doesn’t leave you on the street! He justifies you at the courthouse and then he adopts you and places you in his living room. 1 John 3:1

“I want them to be with me” Jesus prays. Our response is not wow is me!

Thank you for this love, Lord

Thank you for the nail pierced hands

Washed me in Your cleansing flow

Now all I know

Your forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb

Seated on the throne

Crown You now with many crowns

You reign victorious

High and lifted up

Jesus Son of God

The Treasure of Heaven crucified

Worthy is the Lamb

Worthy is the Lamb

25-26 Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.

The Chapters closes with a short summary or Jesus’ life as he looks forward to his last moments before the cross. His mission was to lead lost sinners into a personal relationship with God, which comes only through the knowledge of Him. Jesus makes the Father known at the moment of salvation, continues to make Him known through our lives, and finally, will one day usher us into the Father’s presence. We like to say that he set us free from the penalty of sin, he is setting us free from the power of sin, and one day he will set us free from the presence of sin.

Application

Strive for Unity

What is driving a wedge between your unity? Politics? Do your lost friends know you more for your political conviction or your love for Christ and the church? Drama? Is their unforgiveness living rent free in your heart? What are you most visibly portraying to the world? What is this church displaying? Jesus has prayed that it is our unity.

Be Intentionally Sent

The fact that Jesus proceeds to this section of the prayer argues strongly that he foresees a period in which witnesses will spread the wonderful truth of the Gospel. This may be too cheesy but if it helps you remember, great. The Great Commission (Matt. 28) is a sequel to this Great Assumption. If Jesus assumed that we were going to be witnesses to His life, death, burial, and resurrection, then church, what are we doing? Jesus looks beyond his disciples to a lost and dying world, a world in desperate need of Gospel witness, an unconverted, wicked, generation, and he prays that his church would be a united force SENT into the darkness. What are you doing? Where are you letting your light shine? Who will be in heaven because of your testimony? Will you be the answer to God’s prayer?

Long to experience God’s glory

Church, he is on the front lines.