Introduction:
How shall we feel if we received a letter/ email from President Trump or PM Trudeau that he is praying for us? In John 17, we have the King and Kings Lord Jesus Christ’s longest recorded prayer. We are so blessed to have the highest authority (Jesus) praying and interceding for us. He is our mediator and intercessor before God. 1 Timothy 2:5
A person's prayer is the reflection of his heart.
1. Context of Priestly Prayer:
John 17:1- After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed. That means it has reference to what He said before prayer in John 16.
a. Promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit
b. Jesus foretold about His death and leaving the earth
c. Jesus foretold that disciples will have persecution and will have troubles. Christian life is not free of troubles but Jesus promises His peace in troubles. He said, “don’t worry about the troubles you will have in the world, I have overcome the world and you will also overcome the world.”
2. 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 glory of God the Father is the highest priority of Jesus. It is a mutual glorification- Father glorify the Son and Son glorifies the Father- because they are in the perfect unity of Trinity.
How Jesus brought glory to Father? By finishing the work Father gave Him to do (v 4), the work of dying on the cross for the salvation of mankind, by choosing 12 men to continue His mission after His return to God the Father.
Remember, before taking the form of a man, Jesus was with God the Father and shared the same glory of Father. When He became man (Philippians 2:1-10) He left His glory behind to be the servant. Now the time had come to return to Father and so He prays for restoration of His original glory. He and Father enjoyed the same state of glory at the time of creation (John 1:1-3).
Glory of God is Jesus’ priority and prayer. He wants us to glorify God through our lives. How? By doing and completing the work God has given to each one of us. When we faithfully do and complete the work God has given us, that gives glory to God. We have been created for God’s glory. When we glorify God in and though us, we become an answer to Jesus’ prayer for God’s glory. Isaiah 43:7
B. 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.
1. Jesus prayed for the protection of His Disciples:
V 11- Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me,
V 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.
The purpose of protection is the unity among the disciples.
V 15- My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
Jesus wanted disciples to stay in the world to spread the gospel so He prayed for their protection against evil.
2. Jesus prayed for His Full Measure of His Joy within the Disciples:
V 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.
John 15:11- I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
3. Jesus prayed for the oneness and unity among His Disciples:
V 11- They may be one as He and Father are one.
4. Jesus prayed for the sanctification of His Disciples:
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. 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.
Sanctification is the process of being holy as the Lord is holy. The world is against God and hates us. The world is under the authority of Devil right now and it is absolutely corrupt and defiled. God wants us to be holy in unholy world. What is the agent of sanctification? The truth (Jesus is the Truth) and His Word. Jesus lived a perfectly holy life in the world and is our example of living holy life in a Godless society.
C. Jesus Prays for All the Believers and Future Church:
1. Jesus Prays for the unity and oneness among 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.
The aspects of unity- Jesus is in the Father/ one with Father
Father is in Jesus/ one with Jesus. Christians are united in the unity of Father and Son-Jesus Christ. We are one in God.
There are two types of unity:
a. Positional unity: We are united as one body in the church- the body of Christ. He is the head of the body (I Cor. 12:12, Eph. 2:21-22)
b. Proactive unity: Unity we need to strive, make efforts to maintain the unity (Eph. 4:2-3). It needs some work and efforts to maintain the unity of the Spirit.
Why is the unity so important for us? The purpose of the unity of believers is in verse 21- May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Christian unity is the actual demonstration of the gospel.
As per Rev Dr. Steve Andrews (Senior pastor Alabaster Baptist Church, Alabaster, Alabama) using the word, UNITY, as an acronym, we can identify several characteristics of Christ-honoring fellowship.
Upliftment
One way to develop unity within the body of Christ and in your home is to make a commitment to follow the commands of God to uplift one another.
Need
God has placed us here so that we can meet the needs of others. Unity becomes possible when we acknowledge our personal needs and our responsibility to help other with their needs.
Integrity
Jesus says, "I have given them glory" (17:22). Glory calls attention to the holiness and the purity of God. Jesus represented the glory and the holiness of God, and we have received the call to represent that same type of integrity or holiness. Verse 19 says that they would be sanctified in Christ. I John 1:7 says if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Unity flourishes when we live holy, clean, and pure lives. The dictionary defines integrity as a state of being that is complete or unified. Integrity means wholeness or completeness. The Bible reveals that Christ fills the longing of our soul, binds up broken hearts, or makes our life complete.
Trust
When there is integrity, the saints of God are willing to trust one another. The experience of unity is accompanied by a confidence in your brothers and sisters to fulfill their responsibility without being coerced or begged together.
Yielding
Two areas of our lives require yielding. First, we yield to the Lordship of Christ. Because God has exalted Christ, we submit our life to the authority of Christ. Jesus is Lord. Then, having yielded to the Lordship of Christ, we have the capacity to yield to one another in the glorious cause sharing the gospel. The driving call is "that the world may know." We should be willing to yield our selfish desires to the greater goal of extending the love of Christ to a lost world.
2. Jesus Prays for our Eternal Abode with Him:
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.
John 14:1-3- His promise of eternal home
3. The work of Jesus Continues in us:
V 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’ desire is that we may continue to reveal us God and things of God. He is not doing it now because His already left the world. Now He operates in our life through the presence of Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God continues to reveal us the glory of God and His character through teaching of God’s Word.
John 16:13- 15- But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Conclusion:
Shall we make a commitment to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer for the unity in the body of Christ?
