Sermon Preached at Grace Community Church (EPC)
Sun City Grand, Surprise, AZ
Sunday, June 5, 2011
by the Reverend Cooper McWhirter
“Praying … Not Preying: The High Priestly Prayer” [Part Five]
John 17:20-26
It seems only fitting that we conclude this sermon series on prayer with Jesus’ closing words from His “High Priestly Prayer” recorded in John chapter seventeen. In these closing verses the Lord expresses His love, His concern and His deepest empathy for all who would come after Him; those, who by virtue of their faith in Him, would come to believe, though sight unseen.
Following His death and resurrection when the Lord first appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room, Thomas, also called Didymus, was noticeably absent. But when the disciples told Thomas that they had seen the risen Lord, Thomas replied: “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” [John 20:25].
A week later Jesus appeared again to His disciples where He summoned Thomas to come forward and to touch His hands and His side which prompted Thomas to exclaim: “My Lord, and my God!” [John 20:28]. Whereupon Jesus said to him: “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” [John 20:29].
In these closing verses of Jesus’ prayer we discover first of all the importance of: OUR BELIEF IN CHRIST (repeat).
Jesus neither requires, nor does He demand that we succumb to some kind of “blind allegiance” as critics and scoffers of Christianity advocate. No, from the outset Jesus says in verse 20: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message.”
Now previously, in verses 6-19, Jesus prayed for His disciples, but now He was turning His attention towards believers in future generations where He says, “…for those who will believe in Me…”
And though we ourselves have not seen the Lord “face to face” like that of Thomas and the other disciples, nevertheless, we believe their message to be true! We believe in God, and we believe in His Word. We have not been coerced or coaxed into believing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Quite the contrary! Instead, the Holy Spirit has irresistibly drawn us towards the truth; for just as it says: “Sanctify them by Thy truth; Thy word is truth” [John 17:17].
Skeptics have come to look upon Christianity as nothing more than “Easy believeism”! And perhaps in one sense they’re right. It is easy to believe once a person is exposed to the light of God’s truth. But truth, as in God’s truth, is never easy to follow, or for that matter, easy to swallow. God’s truth provokes us, it convicts us and, if left unabated, it will most assuredly condemn us!
In all honesty most people do not seek the truth; nor do they desire to know the truth even when it is offered, simply because they are afraid of what the truth will reveal about them! Like that of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, who when questioning Jesus about His kingship, the Lord said to him: “You are right in saying that I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth” to which Pilate asked not inquisitively but sarcastically: “What is truth?” [John 18:37, 38].
On the last night of His life, Jesus took time to pray for those who would believe in Him through “their message” meaning the Gospel of the New Testament. But as one Bible commentator wrote: “There’s only one thing that will compel the world to believe … a supernatural oneness in the family of God.”
And so in this prayer we also discover the importance of: OUR ONENESS IN CHRIST (repeat).
In verses 21-23 Jesus uses the word “one” repeatedly in reference to the oneness enjoyed by both the heavenly Father and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Since before the creation of the world they, along with the Holy Spirit, were united as one divine entity; three Persons in one God, forever!
Then twice in verses 21 and 23 Jesus speaks of this “oneness” as the means by which the world might know that the Father has sent His Son to be its Savior. And this oneness, this unity, is not just some lofty ideal we should aspire to attain. No! Jesus speaks of this as an imperative! The Church of Christ must, at all costs, be united as one body, one Church, in Christ.
But we live in a world that is unarguably fractured and disjointed. You don’t need to look very long or very far to see the disunity in our homes, our families, our workplace. Why even local, state and federal agencies are at odds as to how best to serve its constituents!
And as for the visible Church, it is more divided, today, than ever before. We have more denominations, today, than at any time in church history. Surely no one believes that such disunity is in accordance with God’s will. No, the problem rests squarely with us!
Preaching from this same text, one Reformed minister posed this question to his congregation. He asked: “Would you strike down the cross of Calvary?” “Or, would you roll back the stone that sealed the tomb?” “Would you say to the Holy Spirit, ‘Go back to the Father; leave us as we were before Pentecost!’ ?” “Of course you would not say it, or even think it!” the pastor said. He paused for a moment, peering out over his congregation. He went on to say: “But according to my understanding of Jesus’ prayer, if we do not reflect the unity He demands, then we might as well strike down the cross, roll back the stone, and send the Spirit away, because the world cannot, and it will not, believe that the Father sent His Son until and unless we demonstrate it by our spiritual oneness.”
John Calvin, the great 16th century Protestant Reformer, believed that Satan’s most cleaver ruse is to disrupt, divide and cause discord within the Church. In a letter to a trusted colleague Calvin wrote: “Among Christians there ought to be so great a dislike of schism...that they may always avoid it as best it lies in their power to do so ...” Calvin went on to write: “There should be such a reverence for the Word and the Sacraments that wherever they perceive these to be in place, there the church must be also.”
But as the old saying goes, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat!” Being in oneness and being united are not always one and the same. By way of example, you can tie two cats together by their tails end to end and then set them free. Oh, they’ll be joined together all right, but they’ll be clawing at each other as to where they should go! In order for us to be one in Christ our whole body, mind and spirit must be singularly focused upon God’s Word and the message of salvation it heralds [image on the screen].
But not only must we believe in Christ, and be in oneness with Him, but we must also discover the importance of: OUR LOVE IN CHRIST (repeat)
When all is said and done the message of salvation rests solely upon God’s redeeming love for mankind. Jesus employs the word “love” three times in verses 23, 24 and 26 where He speaks of the Father’s love for His Son; a love that existed since before the creation of the world. A love that has now been manifested in the flesh in the Person of Jesus, the Christ.
The word for love as it appears in this passage is the highest form of love. It is agape love, which is all-together charitable, selfless, sacrificial and benevolent.
And this highest form of love, God’s love, has been graciously extended to us; not because we are lovable, or worthy of such love, for just as it says: “God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” [Romans 5:8]. In other words, while we were still alienated from God; while we were still “children of wrath”, Christ died for us!
Dear ones, the best way, perhaps the only way, we can demonstrate our gratitude for what Christ has done, is to extend this same measure of love towards one another! And just as before, this is not just some lofty ideal. Jesus extends His love to us and He expresses it in the form of an imperative. You’ll recall that on the night in which He was betrayed He washed the feet of His disciples. Yes, even the feet of the one who would betray Him with a kiss! Afterwards, Jesus stood among them and said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” [John 13:34].
But in our fallen condition mankind is incapable of expressing such selfless love. It is, therefore, a gift from God. A gift bestowed upon all believers by way of the Holy Spirit who disperses all spiritual gifts. And when we exhibit such love towards one another, then and only then, will the world come to know: that we are believers, and because of what we believe, we are united, and as one body united, we thus become empowered to love others just as Christ has loved us.
My friends, what God has commanded, He will bring to pass! The only question remaining is this: “Will it happen … here?” “Will it begin with … us?” Just as the song goes: “Bind us together, Lord; bind us together with cords that cannot be broken …” Indeed, “A cord of three strands is not easily broken” [Ecclesiastes 4:12].
Let us pray …
