John 17 - True Unity Can Only Come Through Jesus Christ!
As Jesus concludes the Upper Room Discourse in chapter 17, we get insight and a look into His prayer life. Jesus gave us the Lord's prayer as a model for prayer, but we also learn a lot as we look at this prayer time with the Father today!
Jesus Prays to Be Glorified
17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
The hour had come to complete the work the Father had given Jesus. Going to the cross in a few hours would accomplish his life saving mission on earth. Jesus' prayer is that He would glorify the Father. This is a great goal for our lives that we would give glory to the Father through Jesus. By finishing his work on the cross, gave Jesus the authority to give eternal life to all who the Father had given him.
We don't get many explanations of what eternal life means, but Jesus defines it here. He says eternal life is to know God the Father and God the Son. One of the greatest aspects of eternal life is that we will be in God's presence forever. For now we follow Jesus by faith, but one day we will see him face to face. What a day that will be! After studying, writing, preaching and teaching, and following Jesus for all of my life, I can't wait to meet him!
Jesus reminds us that when Ge returns to the Father, He will be glorified in the same way He was with the Father in the beginning. This is another reminder he is God.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 “I have revealed you[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 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[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
First, Jesus prays for his disciples. The most important thing he can say about the disciples is that they now know Jesus came from the Father. They know that everything Jesus taught them came from the Father. They know Jesus is going back to the Father, where He was when the world began.
Jesus' relationship with the Father was one of mutual sharing. Everything the Father had, He shared with the Son. As He was about to return to the Father, Jesus prayed the Father would protect his disciples. Importantly, as He and the Father were one, He wanted the disciples to be one.
Though the church started as ONE, over the years division and denominations have threatened our unity. Some of it was necessary to correct errors in the church, but Jesus' prayer is that we could be one as He and the Father are one. If that is Jesus' desire and prayer shouldn't it be ours?
I have really treasured when church in a local area comes together for fellowship, prayer, and ministry together. The church is bigger than any one church. Last week several churches gathered for the National Day of Prayer in Fallbrook. It was very powerful. There was a sense of the power of God, as we came together in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! We need to do more of this!
There was a movement called the "Ecumenical Movement", which 20 years ago sought to do this. But unfortunately it became more about political and social agendas. Because it wasn't centered around Christ it failed. The only true unity we have comes from Christ. He is the source and protector of it.
Pray for unity in the church! The evil one loves to sow seeds of discord and disunity.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Once again Jesus wants his disciples to experience the same joy he does in communion with the Father. He doesn't just want them to have a little joy but to be full of joy. Jesus knows as they are in the world that the evil one will try and steal this joy. He knows a sad Christian is not usually a very effective one. It is the joy of the Lord that draws people to Jesus through us.
Though we are in the world, we are not of the world. While we are in the world, we will always be tempted to conform to the world and its desires, which are passing away. But Paul says in Romans 12:2,
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind".
Congratulations. One of the ways you renew your mind is by being in God's Word on a daily basis. We train our mind to think through the words of scripture by reading and memorizing portions of God's Word, especially those sections pertaining to Jesus. I.e. the gospels
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Jesus' mission was to reach the whole world with the Father's love. He was only man, so he had to have a strategy realizing his public ministry would only last three years, and then he would go back to the Father. So Jesus' prayer includes all of those who would come to know him through the apostles.
We see in the book of Acts the explosive and exponential growth of the church empowered by the Holy Spirit. Over the last 2,000 years Jesus has been praying for all of us to be disciples. Isn't it amazing that the Father and the Son are praying for us right now to be one. We are also given the Holy Spirit, who reminds us of these truths and gives us evidence of His presence through the fruit of the Spirit. I.e. Love, joy, peace ...
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Jesus wants the apostles (and by application us) to see the glory he had with the Father, before the beginning of the world. You see this message repeated throughout John's gospel that Jesus was with God the Father when the world began. Theologians call Jesus the "pre-existent" Word.
John 1:14 it says it best,
"The Word was with God and was God! The Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth!"
Pray for the unity of your church and THE church. Give thanks that no matter where churches gather in Jesus' name are One as the Father is One! One day in heaven every nation, tribe, and language will worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with One Voice! I can't wait!
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
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