Kaleo San Diego Church

INTRODUCTION

We continue this morning in the Gospel of John.

Last week we finished chapter 16 and learned a great deal about the Holy Spirit, and about Jesus’ desire to give us joy and peace, to take grief and make is joy. We finished chapter 16 with Christ telling the disciples that they will have tribulation, but they should be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world.

Jesus is well aware that these are the last few hours of life before His crucifixion upon the cross.

Jesus also knows that His disciples are going to be very confused without Him. He realizes they will have tremendous sorrow over what is about to take place, but there is a greater work that Christ must do.

Jesus turns His eyes from His friends and lifts them to the Father to pray.

This is where we find ourselves in Chapter 17, verse 1.

Jesus is praying to the Father as our High Priest. He gave us a glimpse here of what is happening for eternity as His sits at the right hand of the Father as our advocate.

 

Jesus prayers always have the same 3 elements to them: Proclamation, Petition, and Revelation.

I want us to pay close attention to Jesus’ petitions of the Father in this prayer. It is the longest prayer of Jesus recorded in Scripture. John is the only one that records this prayer, and it is perhaps one of the greatest portions of Scripture to teach us the heart of Christ and His relationship with the Father.

I want us to pray that God helps us to listen to these words and Jesus shows us how He prays to the Father.

Let’s pray.

Jesus begins by praying for Himself.

Verse 1

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,

This is Jesus ministry, this is His ultimate driving desire for everything He does.

Many think it’s because He loves us, yes that is true, but that is not the main reason.

Many think it’s because He wanted to have a relationship with us, yes that’s true, but that isn’t the main reason either.

The main reason Jesus did and does everything He has ever done, from being a perfect loving Son, that always obeys the Father, to creating all things as Colossians 1:16 tells us, to dying upon the cross and redeeming us, is for the purpose of the Father’s glory. That is His main drive and deepest desire, that the Father would be glorified.

This words “glory, glorify, glorified” are used 8 times in this prayer. This is obviously a significant thought upon Jesus mind as He prays with His men for the last time before His death.

The word “glorify” in Greek (doxazo), means to show the dignity or worth of something or someone to others. It means to praise, to magnify, or to honor something of unsurpassable worth.

This is Jesus first petition of God, “Glorify Your Son,” show the worth and dignity, the honor and magnificence of Your Son, so that, as Your only Son, I can do what I always desire and long for “that Your Son may glorify You.”

As this is Christ first request in His prayer and in His life, we should also desire the same as His followers. That Christ may be glorified in our lives, so that we can glorify the Father through the Son.

This thought should immediately bring to mind the question: Am I doing all that I can in my life to glorify Jesus? Is my first desire and deepest joy and longing for the glory of the Father?

Verse 2

2 "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

Jesus moves from His first petition, to a proclamation of His Kingship in salvation.

He proclaims that the Father has given Him total and complete authority over all flesh for the sake of salvation for as many as the Father gave to Him.

It is this beautiful picture of a loving Father choosing a bride for His Son, and this Son will give Himself to marriage to the one His Father has chosen.

The Son’s love for His Father results in love for His bride. So it is that Jesus so loves His Father and seeks to glorify Him above all else, that His love creates a great love for His Father’s chosen. He demonstrates this by going to the cross for His bride, to redeem that bride to Himself for eternity.

Verse 3

3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

What is the eternal life that Jesus speaks of? It is knowing the Father. To know Him in a personal, intimate way. Not to know about Him, or to know of Him, but to know Him. This word “know” means the same as a man and woman “knowing” one another in a marriage. It is one of the deepest, closest union that two people can share.

Jesus says that this is our eternal life, “knowing” God, “knowing Him” in a deep, intimate way.

Verses 4-5

4 "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Jesus continues to speak of how He glorified God on earth by keeping His law perfectly. He was able to do what we couldn’t.

As His work is done on earth, Jesus looks forward to going back to the exalted position. He cries out “glorify Me together with Yourself,” as He thinks of the relationship He has shared with His Father for eternity.

He tells us in Revelation that He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

He humbled Himself, took on the form of a servant, was scorned and mocked, has been hated, and now He looks to the cross in the next few hours as a way to return to glory.

Jesus, this great God who has existed for all eternity, is about to return to His exalted position, added to Himself the experience of human suffering and pain. His scars will remind us of His great love and sacrifice for His bride.

Jesus now prays for His disciples.

Verses 6-9

6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 "Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 "For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

Jesus tells them and us that the mark of a chosen child of the Father is that they will keep the Father’s word.

As we are taken out of this world and purchased by Christ’s blood, and have become His bride, we will keep His word. In so doing, we will know Him. We will know that Christ is true. We will believe Him and His word, and we will follow Him.

Jesus then prays a strange paradox.

Verses 9-10

9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 "And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.

Jesus shows two kingdoms.

One is the world, which is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The world is a way of thinking, of acting, of behaving that is diametrically opposed the things of God’s Kingdom. It is an enemy of God.

The other Kingdom is ruled by a perfect Father, who places His children in a position of privilege, where they actually glorify Jesus in their lives.

These children, for the first time, can oppose the things of the world and follow the pattern of glory as they honor and pursue glory for Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t pray for the world. This world is so corrupt that Peter tells us the only thing God is going to do with this world is destroy it and start over.

He is going to hit ctrl/alt/delete and begin again. He isn’t going to give it a makeover, He is coming to destroy all things and create anew.

This is why we need to die to ourselves and begin again. He doesn’t heal the sick, He kills them, then gives them new life. This is the entire meaning behind being born from above.

God comes in and breathes life into our dead and decaying souls. He gives us His Spirit and we become brand new creatures that are created for His glory.

So Jesus doesn’t even pray for world, He just prays for those that the Father has given to Him.

John says in His first letter “If anyone loves the world or the things in the world, the love of the Father is not in Him, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world, and the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Verse 11

11 "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

Jesus now calls His Father Holy. He prays the Father will make them one, just as He and the Father are One.

Jesus is praying for our community. He is asking the Father to keep us close to one another. And in so doing, we will be a reflection of His perfect community that He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Do we have any concept of what it means to be “one” as Jesus and the Father are one?

What should a community that is going to follow Christ’s words, and be one, look like?

Verse 12

12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

 

Jesus says that He has faithfully kept each of His disciples, except the one that was destined for perdition, to fulfill the Scriptures.

Zechariah 11:12-13, speak of this betrayer that will sell out for 30 pieces of silver that will be thrown to the potter.

We see this being fulfilled hundreds of years later in Matthew 27:3-10, when Judas betrays Christ for 30 pieces of silver.

Judas had the jersey on, but he wasn’t part of the team. Looked great on the outside, but was a betrayer at heart.

Jesus faithfully keeps those that are truly His.

John 6:39 Jesus says "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

Jesus also tells us in John 10:28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

Jesus has never lost any of sheep.

Jesus prays for their joy because of the coming hatred of the world.

Verses 13-15

13 "But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 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.

This is why we need protection as Christ as our King, the world hates us. Jesus prays for us.

He says that were going to be hated, but in the middle of being hated we will experience joy because He has prayed for us.

He begins to bring us to a place of tension. You’ll be hated, but have joy. You’ll die, but have life. You’ll be last to become first.

God’s kingdom is so different in how it operates from ours. He flips everything we thought we knew upside down, only to straighten us out.

The Gospel is a pharmacon. It is where we get the word pharmacy. As the gospel comes it brings life and death.

For some, this gospel will save them and be the perfect antidote to their terminal sin, for others it will bring death.

It is both a cure and a poison.

As you bring this pharmacon, some will love you and some will hate you.

He continues in this idea of tension:

Verse 15

15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

This is where we take great comfort in what we do at Kaleo.

As Jesus is praying to the Father, He says that He is not praying to have us taken out of the world, but that the Father will keep us from the evil one. He will keep us from Satan and all his ways.

What does this mean?

It means that Jesus desire was that we would stay in the world. Why? Because the world is jacked and needs the Gospel. Jesus was “sent” by the Father to do the work the Father gave Him, and Jesus realizes that we also have work to do.

But we can’t do that work if we remove ourselves from the world.

It is yet again a great point of tension for believers that misunderstand this.

Liberals think that everything in the world is lovely and permissible. That we should engage in every type of sin to demonstrate our freedom. We certainly shouldn’t have any absolutes, or make any claims that Jesus is the only way, or that God is going to judge each and every sin. Or that they are heading for hell.

No, no, that is way to intolerant. We need to be more tolerant of all views and beliefs. We should never say anyone is wrong.

Liberals have no lines drawn, except that no lines should be drawn, that is their only line.

On the other hand, you have militant conservatives that think that every thing needs a line. They have more lines than a geometry test. Everything is black or white, everything is right or wrong, there is no discussion, there is no room for gray.

The church battles between these two camps. Either on one hand you have those that have married the culture so much that you can’t tell they are Christians except for their cross on their church, or you have the fundies that take the “fun” out of fundamentalism.

The fundies think everything we do in this life should be worked down to a list of does and don’ts. There is no way that you should have instruments in worship, there is no way you should ever listen to secular music, there is no way you should ever see a Disney movie because you will be infected with Satan and toss your faith aside and worship Mickey! No liberty, only law.

Both are in tremendous error. Jesus desired that we would be in this world to reach the world, and that world contains sin, because it contains sinful people. We aren’t suppose to treat a sinner like they have the ebola virus and we’re going to catch it if we don’t stay away from them.

What He prayed for was that we would be kept from the evil one. That we would not fall into sin as we live our lives in mission to those that are in sin.

That we would be kept separate, but not be physically separated.

These two teams come to John 17:15 and pick one of two sides. Guess which side picks which part of the verse.

What do the fundies pick? “Keep them from the evil one.” They immediately assume that means stay away from all sinners. Good luck to that!!!

What do the liberals pick? “not to take them out of this world.” So they stay in the world, so much so they really are no different than the world.

Here is the problem, you can’t pick sides. It is not either/or, but both/and.

Verse 16

16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

He tells us that we are not of the world, just as He is not of the world. Yet did Jesus come to this world? Were we sinners when He came to us? Praise God He did that. Amen?

Think of where you were when the gospel was preached to you, then think of how alone you would have felt if everyone that knew the Gospel kept it as their own little secret and never befriended you, or shared the good news with you.

Jesus then prays for our sanctification.

Verse 17

17 "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

To be sanctified, means to be set apart for something special. For us it means to be set apart for God’s work. His word is truth, and this truth sanctifies us and transforms us as we are let into it by the Holy Spirit.

Why do we need to be sanctified? What work are we to be sanctified for?

Verses 18-23

18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Jesus prays for our sanctification so that we can be sent. It is about His mission in evangelism. This is our mission at Kaleo.

We desire to see people move from death to life, from God’s enemy, to His child, and in so doing we realize that we need to look more like Christ for us to be used effectively.

Jesus prays for His disciples as they are going to be sent to spread this word to others. Did they spread the word? Obviously, the fact that it left Jerusalem from just a few simple men, and found its way generation upon generation of believers to us today, means that Christ’s prayer was answered.

Jesus is essentially praying for us. He has us on His mind the night before His death.

He then prays again for our unity. That we would be ONE! Undivided, single in purpose and focus. We would demonstrate truth about Him in how we live our lives with one another.

Verses 24-26

24 "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 "O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Jesus asks the Father to bring us to the place that He will dwell. That we will see His glory that was given to Him from all eternity.

Jesus says that the world has not known the Father, but He does, and we do to since we know Jesus.

Jesus then finishes this prayer by asking for the same love that the Father has for Him, to be in us, and that Jesus will be in us.

How much do you think the Father loves His Son? Yet Jesus prays that the Father will love us with the same love.

Do you think Jesus prayer was answered? I have come to believe it always is.

Jesus starts by praying for the Fathers glory, His glory, then prays that we will remain faithful and glorify Him, and then He prays that we will do His work in this world as His sent people, all finishing with a prayer that the Father will love us.

Let’s pray.

Communion and tithe.

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