Living For One Purpose

Living for One purpose

John 17:1-5

Today I want us to think about the one sole purpose, the one passion that we live for. What is it that gets us out of bed in the morning and motivates us through the day

at the same time I want you to consider if that purpose is bringing you joy and fulfillment

In this passage today Jesus is getting really close to his arrest and going to the cross

He has finished his conversation with the disciples and he closes it with this pray, which he spoke out loud for the disciples to hear.

We have a lot of accounts of Jesus praying

He prayed on the mountain when he asked his disciples to watch and wait, he prayed in the garden, he prayed in front of the tomb of Lazarus but this pray is unique, in that we have all the words the he spoke

I personally think that chapter 17 should be labeled the Lords pray and the prayer that we commonly call the Lords prayer should be labeled a model prayer. The reason being in the model prayer he was teaching his disciples how to pray and he taught them to pray and ask the Lord for the forgiveness of their sins, that's not something that Jesus had to pray for because he was without sin

This prayer has three parts which we will look at over the next three weeks. The first thing that Jesus prays for is his glory, second he prays for the disciples and then he prays for all believers. We also should first receive Christ for ourselves and then reach out to those around us and then whole world

look again at these first five verses that we read this morning and notice how many times Jesus mentions the word “Glory”

in verse 1, “glorify your son, that the son may glorify you. Verse 4, “I have glorified you on earth and verse 5, “now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world began.”

Jesus mentions the glory of the father and his glory five times in these verses, no doubt he wants us to see this message

Jesus lived for one purpose, and this was it! Notice in verse 1 he says, “The hour is come.”

Jesus' sole purpose everyday was to give the father glory by doing His will.

Even as a young child Jesus told Mary and Joseph

Luk 2:49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

Matthew lets us know that before Jesus went to the cross he also prayed to the Father and said

Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

Notice again that Jesus' sole purpose was doing what the father wanted him to do in order to bring glory to God

Even in the model prayer that Jesus taught us to pray he closed it with

Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This word “Glory” is all throughout the Bible its even in our songs when we sing “To God be the Glory.” but what does it mean?

The word glory means “to magnify! give the highest praise , to worship, to put the spotlight on, to give first place “

Jesus was always putting the spotlight on the father by doing Gods will and showing us what the father really was like, that he wasn't like anything the religious people were teaching. Jesus lived in a way that magnified Gods greatness and at the same time magnified Gods grace and love to the lost world

Some people even in the church have trouble with this they say it makes God sound selfish, or one with an ego problem if he wants all the glory

but in reality, the reason he wants us to give him glory is for our good.

Its sort of like if you were walking by the beach and the ocean called out, “stop and look at me, see my greatness and my waves, look at the dolphins and the sunset.”

if you stopped and looked out over the ocean you get joy and take in its splendor you get joy for doing so. That's why people travel for hours to the ocean in the first place of hours to see the mountains or the grand canyon. Because we get satisfaction in doing so

The glory of God is the same. When we see his glory and give him that glory we find joy and fulfillment in life because it is the whole reason for our existence.