Thursday - Jesus Prays for His Disciples and Us

Okay, we are in John 17 this evening and so encourage you to find John 17 in your Bible. We are coming close to the end of Thursday evening as we trace our Lord steps in the last hours now of his life and we are in the upper room with the Lord Jesus. We have seen several events take place there in the upper room. Jesus has begun the Passover meal with his disciples. He has shortly into that meal washed their feet. Judas then has left the room after Jesus dropped that startling announcement that there would be a betrayer and Judas has then left left the room. Jesus after Judas leaves the room, institutes the Lord's supper and using the elements of the Passover feast to do so and then following that he predicts that they will all deny him. Of course they protest that and Jesus said to Peter who protested the loudest before the cock crows three times you will deny me or before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times. There is one more thing that Jesus does actually after the talking about the denial, Jesus gives the upper room discourse in the upper room and that is what we just kind of scanned through last week in chapter 14 through 16 but there is one other thing that Jesus does before they leave the room and that is that he prays. In John chapter 17 we have that prayer amazingly recorded for us. It is amazing that we even have this prayer record. I mean think of it. Jesus is stopping with these men before they leave the upper room and go to the garden of Gethsemane and he prays for them and God saw fit for that prayer to be recorded in his word but it is there because he not only prayed for them he also prayed for us and so the prayer is really not only for the disciples the eleven apostles left in the room but also for us today and we will see that is very clearly laid out in the prayer. This is truly a great chapter in God's word. It is as I said last week right up there with the favorite chapters that you would express. Psalm 23 and Romans 8 and chapters like that John 14 maybe. This chapter is right up there with that because it is just an amazing revelation of the heart of Jesus for his own, for his people and he is feeling this way. He is saying these things just within hours of the cross. It is an amazing, amazing prayer. Everything he prays in this prayer has to do with what is going to happen after the resurrection and so Jesus is already looking beyond his death and beyond the resurrection to what will happen after that and that is what this prayer is all about. There are two main things that Jesus will focus on in the prayer in the first five verses he will pray for one thing and then he will transition to the main thrust of his prayer in verse 6 and the rest of the chapter will be about that. But the first thing he prays for is worth spending some time on so we are going to do that in the first five verses. His first request is a prayer for his glory. So this prayer for the disciples and us begins actually with a prayer for himself. It is a prayer for God to glorify him. Notice how that is stated in verse 1. After Jesus said this, speaking of the comments that he is made in chapter 14 through 16, after Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he may give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. So Jesus prays that God will glorify him. Notice that they are in verse 1. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. That is the main request in this part of the prayer. Now what does it mean for Jesus to ask God to glorify the Son? What does it mean to glorify the Son? What do we mean when we say we want to glorify God? What does that mean? Okay, what we have done for him to mean something in heaven? Good. Yes. What else? What else is included in glorifying God? Worshiping him, praising him, yes. There's still something else I'm looking for. Being obedient, yes. That certainly is part of it, Amanda. Okay. Okay, that's really what I'm driving at. And all of these things are included, no doubt, in glorifying God. But at its essence, at its core, to glorify God means that we live in such a way that we reveal to other people his character. We point to him. We show what he's like. And so to glorify him means that other people can see what God is like in us. That glorifies him, that shows his character, shows who he is. That's how we glorify him. Now when Jesus then says, Father, glorify your Son, what is he asking? Is he asking that God will actually be seen through Jesus, through what Jesus does, to both glorify him, but also that God will show through Jesus his glory. Glorify your Son, show the true nature and character of who I am so that when people see that, they will also see you and that I will glorify you. See that's both things together. They're glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. And there are three ways that Jesus glory is going to be displayed. And Jesus asks in these three ways that his true character, his true person will be revealed. That the Father will reveal to everyone who Jesus is, glorify the Son. The first one is Jesus will be glorified through the cross. Notice it's mentioned twice here. First of all, Jesus begins in verse 1 by saying, Father, the hour has come. Now that obviously is a reference to the cross. Jesus throughout the whole book of John throughout his whole ministry has been saying, my hour has not yet come. And finally, then in chapter 13, when they go into the upper room, he knows that his hour has come. And we saw that when we entered the upper room with him. And now in his prayer, he admits to his father. He says, Father, the hour has come. The time for me to die has come. But he also mentions it in verse 4. He says, I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. Now when did Jesus finish the Father's work that the Father had given him to do? When he was on the cross and he said it is finished, okay? It almost sounds like Jesus is saying here, I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work. It almost sounds like he's saying it's already finished. But I think he's saying this in the context of the hour has come. And the work will really not be finished until the cross. Now obviously Jesus finished all that God wanted him to do in his ministry up to this point. So that's in the past. The work that Jesus or that God sent him to do really culminates in the cross, doesn't it? That's the whole purpose for him coming. That's the whole reason why he was sent to the earth. And that's why Jesus would say those words on the cross, it is finished. Because when he died, that's when the work that he was sent to do was finished to pay for our sins. So I think he's speaking of the cross here. The hour has come talking about his hour of death and he's going to finish the work that God gave him to do on the cross. Now when you think of the cross in terms of glorify your son, in other words show the true character of your son through the cross so that through what the son is doing, Jesus says, you will be glorified. People will see you. What is it about God that people can see that we can see in the cross? What about the nature and character of God do we see at the cross? His love for sure. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And so that the ultimate sacrifice of love is to give his son to die for our sins. There's no greater love than that. Certainly you see the love of God there. What else do you see? His humility, okay? Yes. That God would stoop down to become one of us and give his life for us. Certainly. Forgiveness. You see God's gracious heart of forgiveness at the cross for sure. What else do you see? His justice. God will not let the penalty of sin go unpaid. It has to be paid or he's not a just God. So you see his justice at the cross. Anything else? There's something else I'm thinking that's closely tied to justice. Anger? Yeah? God's anger against sin? What about holiness? Certainly his holiness is seen, isn't it? That he must punish our sin even if it costs the life of his own son. He is so holy that he cannot allow sin into his presence in heaven. And so he cannot let us in any other way than that sin is properly atoned for. It is properly paid for. And so his holiness is seen. So God's glory is reflected through Jesus' work on the cross. There's a lot you see about God's character and nature through what Jesus did on the cross and also a lot about Jesus. So Father glorify me so that I may glorify you. Jesus' character and nature is seen on the work on the cross and the Father's is also seen there. So both are glorified in what happens at the cross. So the first way that he prays for his glory is through the cross. Anything else there before we move to the second one? Okay, the second way that Jesus prays that he will be glorified so that he can glorify the Father is through his gift. Here is gift and notice he mentions this gift in verses 2 and 3. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. And what is the gift? Eternal life, isn't it? The gift is eternal life. All right, now let's unpack that for a minute. What is eternal life? What is this gift that we are being given? Eternity in heaven with God, okay? It's obviously that. That when we die, we will simply be in the presence of the Lord for the rest of eternity. We will live forever with Him. Is there anything else involved in eternal life? Escape from torment, certainly. Escape from judgment. We focus from what Allison said on the word eternal, focusing now on the word life, its life instead of death. So both are true. It is living forever with God in heaven and it is forever escaping the punishment of hell. It is life rather than death. But there's even something else in the concept of eternal life and it's something that's not talked about a lot. Eternal life is not just heaven. Eternal life begins at the moment of salvation, obviously. And while we are here, eternal life in the scriptures also refers to a quality of life. Not just the duration of life, but the quality of life. In fact, the very Greek word that you used highlights that fact that it is the quality of life that is different from life without Christ, different from life on this earth only. So it means that we have life that has an eternal perspective. We have life that has an eternal focus. We have life that can be infused with eternal joy and peace and all that we will experience in heaven can actually be a part of our life here to some degree. And we can live a different quality of life from eternity's perspective, not just that we will live forever, duration wise, but the quality of life is eternal as well. And so this is a wonderful gift. It's a gift for now and forever. It's a both-and kind of deal. And so this great gift that he's given, Jesus says, is eternal life. Now notice that it is a gift. That's something we, I hope we all know in this room. If you don't know that, you need to understand that eternal life is a gift. It is not something you earn. It's not something you work for. It's not something you merit because of anything you've done or how good you may be in your moral character. Eternal life is a gift. It is a gift that is graciously offered to us by God. No strings attached. There are no hidden clauses that say, I will give you this, if you do this, if you do that, if you live up to this, it is a free gift and we simply receive it by faith. We don't pay for it or merit it or earn it in any way. It is that initiative of God in salvation that is stressed here. Notice how Jesus stresses that. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Speaking of those that will have eternal life as being those that the Father has given the Son. He will say that two or three more times in this prayer, it is an emphasis of this prayer that those who are given eternal life have been given to the Son by the Father and he will even say later, they were already yours and you've given them to me. Initiating or highlighting God's initiative in salvation, that God is the one who initiates salvation not us. He is the one who initiated salvation from eternity past. I mean, that is clear in the New Testament. Romans 8 gives us the order of salvation, whom he forenew, he predestined, to be conformed to the image of his Son, whom he predestined, he called, whom he called, he justified, whom he justified, he glorified. That is the order of salvation. He forenew us, which literally means he chose us, set his love upon us in eternity past, then he predestined, marked us out for a purpose, then he called us, that is the work of the Holy Spirit calling us to the Savior, then he justified us, that is the moment of salvation, then he glorified us in God's mind. Glorification is also in the past tense. It is just as certain as all the rest of those steps of salvation. What Jesus is focusing on here is God's initiative in giving us to Jesus. Now Jesus is going to die for those that will have eternal life. That is the emphasis of this passage. The eternal life is a gift, but notice what eternal life is, he says in verse 3, this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So eternal life is knowing him. It is knowing God through his Son, Jesus Christ. That is eternal life. That is the only way you can get eternal life. So God is going to be glorified, and Jesus is going to be glorified through this gift. It is a gift of eternal life that is going to be purchased for us at the cross. Any question about that part of this prayer for God's glory of God to glorify His Son? The third way that he asks that he will be glorified is through his exaltation. Verse 5, and now Father, glorify me in your presence. This is a different kind of glorifying now. Glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Now he is thinking about the glory that he had in heaven before the world was ever created. This is an eternity past when Jesus was with the Father and the Spirit in heaven. And there were no other created beings. The angels had not even been created yet because they were created on the first day of creation. So there were no other created beings. But in heaven the Father, the Son, and the Spirit existed throughout eternity past, and they shared the same glory. But it was that glory that Jesus laid aside when he came down to earth. He did not lay aside his deity. He was still God, but he laid aside the outward display of that deity, the glory that he shared with the Father in heaven. And now he is asking that he will receive that glory back again. Now when is that going to happen? The resurrection is the first step when he ascends to heaven. That's where it's really finalized. Now it obviously begins with the resurrection since he has glorified body now. But the full glory that he shared with the Father in heaven doesn't happen till the ascension. Since we're close, let's look at a couple of passages that talk about that. It's in Philippians chapter 2. Familiar passage about the humiliation of Christ is coming to this earth. Begins of verse 6. Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. This is his leaving the glory in heaven and coming down to become one of us. By taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, the stress is on the outward display. The glory is no longer there. He looks like any other man. There's not even a halo around his head. Contrary to a lot of the pictures you see, the Bible pictures Christ in physical appearance as looking like a normal man. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross. Now look at verse 9. Here's the exaltation. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that is the name of Jesus every nation bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now the other passage describes more clearly when that happened Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Paul is praying for the Ephesians that they might know the great power of God. Verse 19, his incomparably great power for us who believe, that power he says is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. After the resurrection comes 40 days later the ascension where Jesus ascends back into heaven and takes his seat at the right hand of the Father. Okay that's what this is talking about. Far above all rule and authority power and dominion every name that is invoked not only in the present age but also in the one to come and God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. So Jesus is exalted to that place of authority and power and glory once again and that's what Jesus is praying about the night before the cross. Glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world began and that prayer will be answered in the resurrection and the ascension and exaltation of Jesus back to the right hand of the Father. So it's an amazing prayer even to this point we haven't gotten to the part that affects us yet in a direct sense but the fact that he would pray for his own glory through the cross and through his gift of eternal life and through his exaltation. It's an amazing prayer. Pardon me? I think he did it for the disciples benefit in the upper room that night but I think also Jesus did it for his own benefit. But remember that Jesus was fully human as well as fully God and there's a way of looking at the humanity of Christ that I think is very special and that is that Jesus drew strength and power to live his human life through the Holy Spirit. That's why the anointing of the Spirit came on him at his baptism. So Jesus through critical points of his ministry would turn to his Father in prayer for the strength that he needed for the next task. And I think there's a very real sense here which Jesus is refocusing his heart and mind in all the distractions of what's happened in the upper room, Judas leaving, you know, telling disciples about the betrayals, the dials and all that. And Jesus is now before he moves out of that room refocusing his attention on what he's doing. I'm going to the cross, Father, I need your help glorify me to finish the work you've given me to do. I think there's in a real sense it's for his own benefit too in his humanity. He needs this time with the Father to be able to proceed on. And he will need it again in the garden, right? He'll need it again when he gets in the garden of Gethsemane and does battle with the devil in prayer there. Okay, good question, thank you. Okay, let's move to the next section of the prayer which I know we're not going to finish tonight because this is just a shot full of heavy, tough, delicious meat. Okay? It's good stuff. He prays for his people here and throughout the rest of the chapter verses 6 through 26, he prays for his people. Literally, verses 6 through 19, he's praying for the apostles. And then in verse 20, he begins praying for us. And you can see that very clearly marked in verse 20 where he changes the wording. My prayer is not for them alone, the ones in the room with him. I pray also for all, for those who will believe in me through their message. And that includes us. So he's praying literally for the disciples up through verse 19. Then he begins praying for us along with him in verse 20. But I want to apply the whole prayer to us. By way of application, the whole prayer does pertain to us because what he prays for the 11 apostles is also true of us. And in a sense, this prayer is so special that it's recorded in God's Word because it may reflect the way Jesus is praying for us even now. So that's what I want you to think about as we move through these requests he makes for his people. This is probably the kind of prayer Jesus is still praying for us now. And so we have a glimpse into what Jesus' heart is for us as he intercedes for us even now. Okay, what are the things he prays for? Well, first of all, he identifies who he's praying for in verses 6 through 10. And let's just take a look at that and how he identifies the people he's praying for. He says, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours. You gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you've given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew a certainty that I came from you and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you've given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours and all you have is mine and glory has come to me through them. Now, there are basically three things he says about these people that identify who he's praying for. It's obvious that it's believers, specifically the 11 apostles, but it also applies to us. One of the ways he identifies us is again, he says, we are given to him by the Father. He says it three times. He says, verse 6, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours. They were already yours. And then he says, you gave them to me. So how did Jesus find the apostles? God revealed to him who they were. In his humanity, Jesus didn't know. Remember he prayed, Luke 6, all night before he chose the 12 apostles. God revealed to him who they were already in God's mind. God had already chosen them and God gave them to Jesus. And so he says that he says it again in verse 9, I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. So these people are first of all identified as those given to Jesus by the Father. Secondly, they are identified as people who have accepted the Word. You see it there in verse 6, in verse 6. You gave them to me and they have obeyed your Word. Now they know that everything you've given me comes from you. So these are people who have been given to Jesus by the Father. But they have believed the Word. And the third thing about them is they have accepted Christ. They've placed their faith in Christ. Verse 8, for I gave them the Word you gave me. They accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you and they believed that you sent me. That's one of those formulas, a ways of saying in the gospel of John, that you trusted Jesus, that you believe he was sent by the Father from heaven to die for our sins. So the people he's talking about, these are believers. They are given to him by the Father, emphasizing again God's initiative in salvation. But he also emphasizes our responsibility. We have accepted the Word. We believe the Word and we placed our faith in Christ. That's a beautiful description of believers. God saves us and we turn in faith, receiving His Word and Christ as our Savior. And that's how we're saved. Okay, it's both hand. It's again that work of God which is done in conjunction with us receiving Christ as our Savior. And so He's describing very beautifully what salvation is. What it's like to be a believer. Those are the people He's praying for. Any question about that before we get into what He's praying for for us? Okay, the first request He makes for us and this is so wonderful to know that He prays this for us is for our protection. He prays for our protection. And He prays for protection from four things and they may not be the four things you would think. You know, we would think Lord, I want protection from ill health and protection from car accidents. That's what I'd like protection from. Well, that's not necessarily what Jesus is praying for. It's not necessarily His heart for us. Because God sometimes through illness may glorify Himself more than through health in our lives. But notice what He does pray for protection from the first thing, verse 11, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me. And here's the reason so that they may be one as we are one. The first thing the Father prays or Jesus prays for protection from is protection from disunity. Protection from disunity. He is praying that they will be protected so that they may be one even as the Father is one and Christ together are one in unity. But Jesus knew that the disciples would face trouble of their own making. They had already demonstrated it in the upper room. They were arguing over who's going to be first in the kingdom. So He knows they're going to argue about other things too. Jesus knows our human nature and He knew the disciples would squabble over things. He knew there would be problems in the book of Acts over the feeding of the widows, over the issue of Gentiles need to become Jews. He knew that Mark and John Mark would cause a little squabble between Paul and Barnabasha. Jesus knows our human frame. He knows that we're but dust. And so He knew that we would have squabbles. And He knew that not only would the disciples have squabbles, He knew that we would have squabbles, that we would have trouble with each other. That we would squabble over points of interpretation of Scripture, that we would squabble over mode of baptism, that we would squabble over translations, that we would squabble over the color of the carpet. He knew that we would do all those kinds of things. And so the first thing He prays that we would be protected from is disunity. He wants us to be one. And notice something that may escape your attention if you're not really looking for it. And I think it's the key to what He's praying about for unity in verse 11. He says, holy Father, protect them by the power of your name. What name? The name He just used. Holy Father. And I think with the use of that name and saying that we will be protected by that name, Jesus is zeroing in on like a laser beam, the two things that will produce unity, a pursuit of holiness and a recognition that we have the same Father. Okay? Let's never forget those two things. Remember we get out of sorts with each other about whatever and we will, we're sinners, we'll do that and we'll say things that we regret and we'll do things that we would regret. Whenever that happens, what we need to come back to is that we are all believers who are pursuing holiness. We want to be more like Christ. We want to be more godly. And we may have differences of opinion about lots of things but we are one in this. We all want to be more like Christ. And then we all are in the same family. Okay? We're brothers and sisters and it is those two things that really kind of highlight like a laser beam, bring us back to the focus of what unity is all about. Yes, it involves unity of purpose and goal and that kind of thing. And it all begins with the recognition that regardless of whatever differences we may have, the goal for us is all the same and that is to be holy, to be more like Christ, to be made in his image because that's God's goal for all of us. And then we are all in the same family. We all claim the same Father. And so if we can come back to that, that will help minimize the squabbles and the disagreements that we may have. If we come back to the basics and so Jesus prays for protection from disunity around those core truths that we have one goal, one purpose that is to be more like Christ, be holy. And we do that in the same family as brothers and sisters. And you know, just like in a natural family, a physical family, you have difficulties in problems and fusses and that kind of thing. And then you realize, you know, we are of the same blood. We belong to each other. And it's sad when families can't come back to that recognition that we are brothers and sisters. We are parents and children. We are of the same blood. We need to be one. That's the way it should be in the family of God too. Okay? Any question or comment there before we look at the second one? Yes, sir. You see him, his protection found in the Bible. Things he's warned about, all this, he talks about people being deceivers and leading people straight away. So his protection was left for us and appeared in a way. Yeah, you're right, John. The means that God uses to protect us is his word. Interpret it. Correct. Yes. Yes. We do. There are, I'm thinking of, hmm, it's a deep subject to get into. There are, correct and incorrect ways to interpret the Bible. But there are some passages that are fairly unclear and are difficult and we may differ on how we view them. I'm thinking of a passage I'm going to preach Sunday morning and I've been wrestling today with three views of that passage and trying to figure out, man, what is, what really is Solomon saying here? And you'll figure out why I wrestled on it Sunday morning because it is a tough passage. It's probably the most misunderstood passage in book of Ecclesiastes and there are good, credible scholars that take different sides on that. And it's because the Hebrew words don't appear very often so you don't know really what they mean in some cases. That's the way scholars determine what language means is because of the way it's used. Well, when it's only found once or twice in the Old Testament, it's hard to tell. And so, you know, there can be differences of opinion in some interpretations, but on basic doctrinal truth, yeah, we've got to have the right interpretation, correct interpretation. And that unity is found in God's Word and we'll actually touch on that later when he talks about the unity that the Father and the Son have. It's a doctrinal unity. So yeah, long answer to a good question, but unity is and protection from this unity is found in the Word. Okay, let me just mention the next one in verse 12 and that is protection from destruction, from destruction. Verse 12 says, while I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. That's obviously a reference to Judas. Okay, none of the 12 has been lost except the one that the Scripture's prophesied would be the betrayer. And so the one who because prophecy fulfilled and also because he chose that path, he was doomed to destruction. That's the only one that's been lost. But those that have been given to him by the Father, none of them will be lost. And that is true of every believer. So Christ is praying for protection for us from destruction. It is His power that keeps us spiritually safe. It's clear that Judas was never saved, never saved. So it's not like he was saved and then got lost. So what Jesus is praying here really is a prayer of security for us that we will be kept from eternal destruction. I've protected them and kept them safe. None has been lost. Okay, our time is up. You have any quick questions before we go and we'll pick back up with this prayer next week. All right, well let's pray then. Father, we're grateful for this glimpse into our Savior's heart. And potentially I think Lord quite probably a glimpse into the way that He prays for us even today. He just began that night praying for those that you'd given Him, those that were His followers. And that prayer continues right on. I thank you that He cares for us as you care for us and that you do protect us through your Word. Thank you Father for this glimpse into our Savior's heart and what that means to us in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.