John 17:1–26 - The High Priestly Prayer

Introduction

Illustration: Two Missionaries

Some years ago there were two groups of missionaries that went to Thailand. And there was a phd student who ended up doing his dissertation on the differences in approach and results of those two groups. One of the groups relied solely on what I call Cold Turkey Evangelism. They would go out every day and share the gospel with strangers. If you know me you know I love cold turkey evangelims, and I believe it is a healthy part of a Christian diet to know how to speak to people about Jesus. And I like to take teams out evangelizing. The other group of missionaries set out to love people radically and to bless them. There was not a focus on evangelism per se, rather the focus was on engaging people where they were, loving them, and as opportunities came to to share the gospel, taking those opportunities.

The results were fascinating. The two groups were measured on two different scales. The first scale measured the impact on the community, the social value that each group of missionary brought after two years to their communities. The group that relied almost entirely on Cold Turkey Evangelism (negligible impact). The group that set out to love people, the entire community knew of their presence and had had their life somehow improved as a result of their impact on the community. Secondly, they then measured converts. First group of Cold Turkey Evangelists, 2 converts. Second group of those that set out to love people, 100 converts. A difference of 50 to 1.

Personal

What might it look like if an entire Church, right downtown Chicago, got it in them that they were going to live salty lives of Biblical community and mission and loving and serving others? What would happen if each person in this room became those missionaries to their neighbors? What if each person here today bought into a vision, a vision set by Jesus Christ, and repositioned their life, and reprioritized their life to show the world the power of Christ at work in them? My aim today is to get us that alignment. My aim today is to so empower us with the tools we need to be that community and to see those kind of results here in Chicago.

Context

This is a fitting sermon as next week we kick off a new series that will last about 8 months as we will go verse by verse through the book 1 Corinthians in the New Testament. Before we get into that series, I wanted to take one week to lay a bit of foundation, to get us back to the grassroots. 1 Corinthians is going to give us an inside look at a Church, a Church in the city of Corinth, and Paul’s advice on how to handle all the challenges they were facing as a Church in their context, and it will speak volumes to many of the challenges we face as a modern Church dealing with our modern problems. But first I want to look at Jesus Words in a very famous prayer he prayed in John 17. This prayer over the years has been given the title ‘The High Priestly Prayer.’ In fact, every Christian should know that the High Priestly Prayer is found in John 17. This is a prayer that Jesus prayed shortly before his crucifixion. He specifically prayed it over his disciples and the work that they would do after He left them. But in it, he also prays for us, as at one point he literally prays for those that would believe in the gospel in later generations through the preaching of the Apostles (that’s you and me). This chapter is worthy of weeks of sermons. I’m going to try today to pull out three vital qualities of the Authentic Church. And as I do that, I’m going to aim to pastorally guide our Church into our hopes and prayers for this year.

John 17 “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. 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. 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. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for th…”

Idea 1: We are a Bible-Rooted Community

First, the Word of God Directs All We Do.

John 17:6-8 “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. 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.”

Receiving and Keeping God’s Word

In this section Jesus has just got done giving a brilliant insight in the nature of the Trinity. And out of that he flows into these verses around His Church both receiving and keeping Jesus’ Word. To receive His Word means that your heart is not cold to God and how He might speak into your life. You embrace God’s wisdom. To keep his word has the idea of guarding, of protecting, and obeying. And if you follow His logic what he is saying is that because his disciples have received the words of Jesus, a number of direct results have occurred. He says, “Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.” In other words, they are more confident in who Jesus is, as the only Son of the Father, the second person of the Trinity. Because they received the words of Jesus, they have learned to trust Jesus. He then reiterates this exact idea in verse 8.

We Are Passionate & Jealous For God’s Word

The question becomes are you as a follower of Jesus Christ receiving and keeping/guarding/protecting God’s Word? Let me walk through a bit of big picture here, things that those who have been around for quite some time in this Church already know very well. In this Church, we are passionate about God’s Word. In fact the Biblical Word that I like to use is that we are “jealous for God’s Word.” What does it mean to be jealous for God’s Word. Well, we’re not speaking of a trivial jealousy. To be jealous for the word of God is to be so passionate about God’s Word that we do not put up with anything that in any way attempts to usurp or negate His Words. In other words, we are not passive in our obedience to God’s Word, rather we guard it, we keep it, we protect.

Illustration: Phinehas

There is a story in the Old Testament of a man named Phinehas. Phinehas among the people of God and saw someone among his tribe doing something that was obviously against God’s Word. In the middle of a day of repentance for sin, a man had taken a woman who was forbidden into his tent as if he didn’t a care in the world. Phinehas, in Numbers 25, when he sees this, he so jealous for the Word of God, that he takes matters into his own hands and corrects the situation. We read God’s commendation of Phineha’s actions in Numbers 25:10-11.

Numbers 25:10-11 “10 And the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.”

This Book

Here at this Church, it is our aim to raise up a generation, both of children coming through our children’s ministry, and adults who are members of this Church, to passionately keep God’s Word. This Bible is more than a nice book that gives good advice. This Bible is God’s Living Word. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:16 that,

2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

Individually, if you want to know God, grow in real faith, see your family and your community around you transformed, you cannot do it apart from the Scriptures and the God whom the Scriptures reveal. Communally as a Church, you need to know that we are jealous for God’s Word. We want to take all of our marching orders from this book. How do we structure our leadership, the Bible has all of that information. How do we handle cases of Church Discipline, the Bible has all that information. What does it to love one another, the Bible has all that information. How do we step into injustice, the Bible has all of that information. What should we expect of government, the Bible has all that information. Too many modern Churches, in an effort to win people over, have detached themselves from the Word of God if not fully then partially. Not here. The Bible has full authority over every area of our lives and of our Churches, and therefore we aim to bring every thought and feeling and idea and hope into alignment with what it teaches. Charles Spurgeon once said,

“Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord…”—Charles Spurgeon

Application: 1 Corinthians

Let me share briefly two ways you are invited into this pursuit this year. First, as many of you already know next week we begin an nine month sermon series through the book of 1 Corinthians in the NT. We will be going verse by verse through this book. This book of 1 Corinthians is all about life in the New Testament Church, how we relate to each other, how we resolve conflicts, how man and women are to relate to each other, how we use our spiritual gifts. There are so much to work through. Every person that came in today should have received a 1 Corinthians journal. We want you to bring this with you every week. This is us investing in you. We want you to take notes in the sermon, and then bring to your Small Groups through the week and take notes in your Small Groups. This is how passionate we are about this.

Application: The Academy

Secondly, last year we launched the Academy. This is for those who are looking to take that next step and really go deeper in a classroom environment. The Academy is a series of classes aimed at equipping to know the Word in a way that forms deeper worship and stronger mission. We have live classes on Wednesday nights starting in just a few weeks. But we also have put a lot of classes online that can done on your own time. And our big hope is that you do that you do these classes alone, but that you see these as opportunities to disciple one another. So for example, perhaps two people are interested in learning more about theology, might together take the ten week Systematic Theology Part 1 class online. Each week, they do their reading, they watch the lecture together, and then use the discussion questions to help each other grow. This is about the community growin in Christ together.

Here’s the point. The Word of God directs all we do!

Idea 2: We Are a Counter Cultural Community

Thirdly, we are intentionally counter cultural.

John 17:14-19 “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. 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. 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.”

The World Has Hated Them

Jesus uses quite strong language in this passage. Jesus is picking up on this idea of a people who are jealous for God’s Word. And he says in verse 14 that as a result of faithfully guarding God’s Word, the world is going to hate them. Let’s work that a bit before we look at verses 15-18. My third idea I am going to show you is all about how we lives that love other people radically. We’re going to get there. But my second idea, and my third idea are not contradictory, Jesus is not contradictory. Across our culture right now are all sorts of places and ways for a people who are jealous for God’s Word to boldly and carefully and humbly, and faithfully stand upon God’s Word. Let me give you three examples. And when you do that, 100% of the time, there will be those who are in the world, who are being led by the spirit of the AntiChrist that will hate you and what you stand for.

Illustration: I Don’t Have Any Enemies

I remember years ago when I first started pastoring, teaching on how Jesus told us to love our enemies, and thinking at the time that I really didn’t have any enemies. There was no one who wanted to destroy me and what I stood for. And slowly over time I realized the reason I didn’t have any enemies was because I was not living in a way that was jealous for God’s Word. I was faithful and loved Jesus, but I also was a very strong People Pleaser. And now I can joyfully confirm that I have a number of enemies. I say that truthfully and jokingly. What is incredible is the opportunities that arise in your life to love your enemies once you have a few.

In the World but Not of the World

Jesus goes on to essentially say that He has called to be in the world but not of the world. Verse 18 goes so far as to say that we are “sent into the world.” This is where the idea of being counter cultural comes in. Our lives are intended by Christ to have a peculiar aroma to them. Your life, if you are a Christian, ought to be so marked by Jesus and the grace of the gospel, that your neighbors and your co workers and your friends notice the difference between you and them.

The Gospel

The Gospel states that your life was purchased at a great cost. Jesus, God in the flesh, suffered one of the painful deaths in human history underneath the wrath of God for you. In that moment as He died he was carrying the weight of your sin. And when you place your faith in Christ, the Scriptures that all of your sin is forgiven, and that God gives you a new heart. The language of the Bible is of New Birth, is of death to the old and birth into the new. It’s from Dark to Light. It’s from being an enemy of God, to a beloved child of God. That’s your story if you’re a Christian. The challenge is that so many Christians in this world live as if there is nothing actually new about them at all. It’s as if the Gospel is bluster in the background and not actually true in their life.

Illustration: David Kinnamen

There’s an old book called Unchristian, where author David Kinnamen runs the data on people’s lives and does a comparison about whether Christians lives are really any different on the whole. This is from 2007, so its 15 years old. He summarizes,

"...born-again believers were just as likely to bet or gamble, to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them, to consult a medium or psychic, to physically fight or abuse someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal, nonprescription drug, to have said something to someone that was not true, to have gotten back at someone for something he or she did, and to have said mean things behind another person's back.... No difference."—David Kinnamen

Saltiness

As I reflect on that reality, my aim is not to produce a guilt in you that you’re not doing enough. Guilt is not the right motivator, it doesn’t work. What I want to do is fan the flame of your heart, to stoke the embers of your soul, and invite you into something different, something Biblical, something bigger than you. Jesus is doing something right now. The culture around us, and the silly culture wars taking place, we are ripe for an explosion of the Gospel. Because what’s happening in culture is that a lot of people are realizing the worlds ways of doing things lead to chaos, and they are looking where to turn. During Covid, Google reported astronomical upticks in searches for “prayer” for “spirituality” for “churches.” The moment is right now. And I want you to see it. If you have been a nominal Christian for a long time, someone that maybe has lost your saltiness (as Jesus said), this Church is inviting to learn what it means to really follow Jesus. We are a counter-cultural community.

Move 4: We Are a Missional Community

Lastly, we are a Missional Community.

John 17:20-21 “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.”

Those Who Will Believe Through Their Word

Did you see in verse 20 that Jesus in that prayer was praying for those who would believe in Christ through their testimony. He’s praying, his last prayer over his disciples before his death, and he prays for their mission. He’s praying for the future generations that would believe on account of their life, and their testimony, and their love. Jesus is looking down the scope of history, and he’s seeing every member of the Church, across all time, and all cultures, and all nations. And he says that you have a, “so that.” There is a reason you’re here. There is a reason you have been sent by Jesus here, to Chicago. So that… your neighbors might know that the Father sent the Son. So that, your co workers might know that the Father sent the Son. This is your mission. This is your great honor.

The Mission Has Not Changed

Park—the mission has not changed. Christ’s prayer has not changed. This Church is not about a holy huddle, us four and no more. No no no we get out of the walls of the Church. Sunday is just the celebration, but all through the week live on mission, we live salty compelling lives.

Remember the Opening Missionaries

Remember those opening missionaries I told you about. This year, we are going to implement a strategy through our entire Church that I am praying deeply emboldens every person here. That not one person would be off the hook. I believe if this Church can truly get this, and own this, and be joyfully excited about this, I suspect that like those missionaries, we may discover a wonderful harvest that awaits if God so permits. I’m asking you to live on mission, but what does that mean? Well we’ve taken an acronym that I believe is so simple an obvious and Biblical, that every person here can do this in their own way. It’s called BLESS

Application: BLESS

Walk through the slide of how we do this practically step by step...

Closing

Before the sermon began I shared that I had been in a pretty bad car wreck yesterday. By God’s grace I’m alive, and aside from some scratches and bruises, I’m in pretty good shape. The reality is that each of us are going to one day walk across that finish line and meet Christ face to face. And on that day, I pray that my life will have counted for service in His Kingdom. I don’t want to scrape by in this life. I want every moment that God affords me to be poured out in love to God, as I love others. And my prayer for this Church is that as a community we might have an ‘every moment counts’ mentality. A hunger for God’s mission He has assigned us. A refusal to go down without fighting. May God get all the glory as He empowers this Church for a life on mission.