John 17:24-26 'jesus Desires' Series

John 17:24- 26' I Desire'.

What is your desire today? Your desires will tell you a lot about yourself, & your relationship with God. We all desire something, but the question we need to ask ourselves , ‘are those desires of mine, are they in line with Gods will for me? (Lord’s Prayer; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ - In the context of our daily living). If were honest our desires are so often earth bound, material, self gratifying & promoting, ‘It’s not thy will be done, but my will be done’ we have it so often our own way. We live out our lives with God as a mere convenient add on.

I believe the challenge for us, is to have desires and live our lives before others, which are in line with will of God for our lives which will bring Glory to God.

.

Here in these verses we see Jesus expressing His desires in prayer 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Jesus desire or Lit – ‘I will’ is deeply spiritual, other people centred, becoming embraced in his love & glory, its completely God glorifying; The desire of Jesus is of course in line with the will of the Father also; (4:34; 5:30; 6:38) . His desires are so unlike our desires, ours are often centred around the ego ‘I’ , His are other people centred v24 -26, our desires are material & earthly, his are spiritual & heavenly 24-26 ours are self glorifying, His are God glorifying v24-26. As Gods people, we need to be those whose desires are in line with God’s which brings glory to the Triune God.

Let’s unpack what Jesus desires, for us as believers.

1. He desires that we Belong with Him v24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am.

Belonging is so important isn’t it we are made for belonging? It’s seen everywhere, in public bodies, Institutions, organisations, in our communities, as nations. A good example In our families, it forms our identities, a sense of who we are it brings security & purpose? When we are separated from our families whether at birth or later in life, a dysfunction becomes apparent. (I speak as one with personal experience).

That’s why children who are bereft of a father or mother will often go looking for their biological parents. Don’t underestimate the desire for belonging, it’s within us all. We are made for belonging & the family unit is fine example, but nowhere greater is it seen, in our need for belonging to the transcendent consider the Religious institutions with billions of adherents seeking to belong whether to ( Islam, Hinduism, Catholicism, Judaism or the hundreds of cults, people want to belong.

The good news is that Jesus desires human beings to belong also; To Him, He seeks us out, (No-one finds Him unless that’s the case) this is in line with the Fathers will. You see we were made for family (Image of God) but that relationship became dysfunctional (the Fall) & Jesus the 2nd Adam came and made it possible for our true identity to be restored through His perfect obedient life, His atoning death & justifying resurrection. As a result we can belong again to the Divine, a relationship restored, this was Jesus overriding desire, before the Father, that we belong to Him. V24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am.

a) But we can only belong to Jesus because we have been given by the Father, to the Son, Jesus desires that those who have been given will belong to Him. This is only possible because Jesus has made it possible for us to belong; this is in line with the Fathers desire/will. It confers with what is said earlier in the prayer, of Gods electing love upon individuals (9) In reference to his disciples - he makes a distinction, with the world. Again in (v24, 25) between those who have been given by the Father (all believers) & who know God & the world. We only belong because we have been given by the Father John 10:29 to the Son, as a result of His Redemptive plan in Jesus Christ. There is no other way to belong.