He Prayed for Us
CCCAG December 2nd, 2018
Scripture- John 17
It was May of 1996 when 17 people walked into a classroom to take the state test to qualify for their paramedic license. It had been almost a year since they had begun the process that got them to this point. Almost 2000 hours of classroom instruction, hundreds of hours of ride time and clinical training at the hospital, and now they needed to prove to the state of Wisconsin that they can operate in the back of an ambulance when somebody's life was on the line.
At the end of the day, everyone had passed their test and before we all left to our individual celebrations our lead instructor brought us back into the classroom for a few final words.
He told us congratulations on passing your test and that he knew we would all make excellent paramedics. He also left us with one final piece of advice. Paramedic school wasn't about just being able to put a Patch on your arm and a license in your wallet.
He said this last year hasn't been just about teaching you how to pass a test.
This last year has been preparing you to be the person that stands between your future patients and death. Remember the privilege you have earned, and the responsibility you now bear.
Those were our chief instructors last teaching to us.
Today we're going to be looking at Jesus’ last teaching to his beloved disciples. John chapter 17 is the end of the upper room discourse and this chapter of the Bible has its own special designation.
John chapter 17 is known as Jesus’ high priestly prayer.
Stop and think what is going through Jesus’ mind right now- he is walking toward Gethesmene where He will wrestle in prayer against the devil himself. He also knows on the other side of that- Judas and the guards are coming.
Jesus doesn’t pull out a motivational book, he doesn’t psych HIMself up for what He is about to go through- he stops and gathers his friends around HIM to pray.
I think that's pretty significant.
This morning we are going to look at Jesus’s high priestly prayer. What we will learn from it how we can pray for ourselves, pray for our friends and our families, and even pray for those who don't know Jesus yet.
I do want to make one point before we begin this morning.
This entire message assumes that you are a person who prays.
If you don't get anything outside of today's message, I hope you would get this one point right now you need to be a person of prayer.
I'm not talking about just someone who prays over there meal or whispers a short sentence before falling asleep at night. I am talking about someone who is committed to spending quality time with God both in Bible reading and just talking to him.
This whole message this morning will be instructional of how to make that time with God the most special time of your day.
Let's start by asking God's blessing in prayer
Prayer (last days imperative)
Whenever you bring up Jesus to somebody the topic of conversation often revolves around what he did for us, specifically him dying for sins and rising from the grave so that we know that whosoever would believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
And that is good news!
However, when we look at the life of Jesus we see a common theme throughout all the gospels. The gospel speak of his miracles, they record his words and we get a glimpse into his personality.
But the one thing we often miss is how often Jesus prayed.
The gospel writers would record that Jesus would be off praying somewhere but it would be such a short little verse we often miss that vital fact that Jesus is life. Jesus did not do anything without spending considerable time in prayer.
Some notable examples-
Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the desert praying before confronting Satan
Jesus prayed before he fed the 5000
Jesus prayed before raising Lazarus from the dead
Jesus felt prayer was so important HE gave His top three leaders Peter James and John a glimpse into his prayer life on the Mount of transfiguration
Many books have been written about the prayer lives of Saints who have gone before us; mighty men and women of God who absolutely should be emulated in what they accomplished for the gospel and the Kingdom of God.
But how much more should we look through the author and perfecter of our faith- our LORD Jesus in seeing how we should pray?
This morning we're going to start out by looking at how Jesus prayed for himself
I. How to pray for yourself
Jesus prays for himself in 2 very distinct yet very profound ways that are instructional to us this morning. The first way is found in verse one of John chapter 17
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you
Many of you may be thinking That asking God to glorify you is taking away something from him, but that is not the case.
Let's do just a little word study here and what the Bible means to glorify
In the Greek language the word to glorify means to positively recognize or esteem one's character nature or attributes.
Most of us look at ourselves and say there's nothing within us that's worthy of glory.
I would say you're absolutely right if you're looking only at yourself and who you are as a human being. However, if you have made Jesus Christ your Lord and savior you are born again your spirit has been renewed and is day by day hour by hour moment by moment being conformed into their likeness of Jesus Christ. The Bible says you have not been reborn of perishable seed but of imperishable seed. Therefore, the same spirit that rested in Christ rests in you.
When I was wrestling in prayer over how to present this to you this morning the Holy Spirit gave me a thought
He told me that the finest most treasured glory you can give to God is a life that is yielded to him. (Repeat)
You know- Our Father treasures you so much that HE would give away this entire universe and all of the wonder majesty and riches that it contains if it meant that you would live a life of faith and trust in him. How do I know that?
Because God gave us his Son - Jesus the son of God is worth infinitely more than 1,000,000 universes.
So asking God to glorify you so that you may glorify him is an incredibly personal and intimate way to express your love for God.
In practical terms it is saying God “I don't have much to give but what I do have to give, if it is endowed with your power, can cause a mountain to be lifted up, unrooted and move to the opposite side of the planet.”
May your receive the Glory you are due through my life.
The second way we pray Ourselves is Found in verse 5.
Jesus said 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Jesus is referring to the fact that he is always existed in perfect unity with God the father and God the Holy Spirit. But what HE is also referring to is that God has had a plan from the beginning of creation for exactly how Jesus was to be used within his creation and plan of Salvation.
Do you know that God had that same kind of plan for you and me?
Most of us doubt that God can do anything with us. We see ourselves as nothing special or useful.
If that is you today I have good news -You're not the first person to believe that.
One of the most famous prophets who wrote one of the longest books in the Bible was named Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet that was always dealing with self-doubt. You see it throughout his prophecies you see it within the narrative parts of his book, and you see it even toward the end of his life.
But despite all that God still called him to be a prophet and used him in mighty ways.
When God called him to the ministry, He told Jeremiah this-
Jeremiah 1 verse 5
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew h you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
That's an incredible thought. God look forward and saw this young man that is willing to be used by him. Even with all of Jeremiah’s doubts, even with all of Jeremiah’s questioning, even with all of Jeremiah’s failings- God still called him, and God still used him.
Listen to me very closely right now. God is no respecter of persons. God does not play favorites.
This truth that we see in Jeremiah also applies to you. God is calling you just as he did Jeremiah to do a specific thing in a specific place during a specific time and if you are still breathing God's good air right now that calling remains active.
So when you're asking or wondering how you should pray for yourself it boils down to this-
God may you get all the glory you can from
my trust in you,
my obedience to the calling you have placed in my life,
and my faith in you while I live on this earth.
The second thing we see from Jesus’ high priestly prayer is
II. How to pray for family and friends
After praying for himself Jesus also gives us some very practical ways that we can pray for those we love whether they be family, friends or even coworkers.
3 quick ways to pray for those we care about
A. That they will see God as their source vs 7
7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
I go early to school on Thursdays and spend a few hours studying because we always have a test of some type that night. During the last 30 min, I close up my books and walk to some chairs right outside the classroom and just close my eyes and relax and let my mind shut down and process everything I just read. This last week, my instructor saw me there and sat down to talk. He runs the tech at his church in his been on the board of other churches that he has belonged to. He said that at his last church he was the chair of the financial committee and part of his job was to oversee the giving in the congregation. He told me that every church he has belonged to he sees the same pattern- that 90% of the church’s funds come in through 10% of the people. He told me that he's not sure why that happens or how people think their church stays open and is able to pay their bills.
I replied its probably many factors but it all boils down to one.
They don't acknowledge or even worse do not trust God as their source.
Let me illustrate this a little further by asking a question. How many people here struggle with worrying about things?
If that is you raise your hand and don't be ashamed were all family here and frankly we already know those who struggle with worries you might as well admit it.
Let me do just a little teaching here
Worry stems from a lack of trust. I know for some that's a very hard pill to swallow but really that is what worry is it is a lack of faith and trust.
Jesus said this about worry- “Who by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” The answer is no one, and actually if we talk about the physical and mental affects of worry, it’s the exact opposite- your worry causes you to live in fear, doubt, and unbelief and that will actually shorten your life.
One more thing to worry about- you’re worrying about everything.
Do you want to stop worrying? Then pray. You might think- that’s just too easy. You’re right, it is easy which is why you struggle with wanting to do it.
Worry is satan's way of destroying your faith while prayer is God's way of focusing you on him and what he can do for you.
That very thought should permeate your prayers for others and especially those you love the most. Your prayer should be a cry of your heart that the person you're praying for will see God as their one and only source of everything in life that is worth having.
The second way we can pray for others that we love
B. That they live lives that glorify God
10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
I won't spend a lot of time here because we already talked a lot about this in the front part of the message but it does bear repeating.
I'm going to stop here and ask you to just close your eyes and think about the person you love the most in life
Then ask yourself what would bring that person the greatest joy the greatest fulfillment and the greatest reward?
Allow me to give you the answer. What would give them the greatest joy the greatest fulfillment and the greatest reward would be to live a life that glorifies God and sees his Kingdom expand on this earth.
Often, we take prayer requests we focus on very specific things for people, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that- it is proper and good that we do that but really what we should be praying for is that no matter what happens in any given situation that they would glorify God with it.
The third way we can pray for others is for their protection
C. Protection
11. Holy Father, protect them by the power of 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 that name you gave me.
(skip)
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
We don't talk a lot about spiritual warfare in our church. I hesitate to dwell on it only because it can cause an unhealthy focus or fascination with The Kingdom of darkness.
One of Pastor Ron’s favorite sayings was at the fear of the devil is lost in the wonder of the Lord. So my focus is always to get us to dwell on Jesus and his goodness to us.
Saying that there is also a reality that we should talk about this morning and that is we are at war.
There is a real Kingdom whose sole purpose is to destroy you in every way it can. Satan is real, his demons are real, and the spirit condition of evil is very real in this world today.
The good news is that Jesus is already overcome them for us.
We participate in that overcoming by trusting him and spending alone time with HIM in prayer that keeps us focused on HIM.
Jesus’ first priority in life was prayer
In the early church, prayer was the first priority. And you see the results of it- we are here today because their focus was on prayer.
You see the results of their prayer in the Book of Acts- in many cases all they had to do was show up and demons would run screaming. Oftentimes we wouldn’t even have to say a word because the tangible glory of God filled them so much that all the enemy could see was the blinding light of God’s presence in their lives.
That is how you overcome the forces of darkness. The weapons you fight with are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds.
You don't have to spend hours upon hours of learning to use a sword, you don't have to study the tactics of how to move formations around in battle, and you don't even have to understand the intricacies of how to fight your enemy. Jesus is already done all of that for you.
All you have to do is stand, lift up your hands in worship and pray until something happens.
Jesus prayed for us in three ways- God be our source, live lives that glorify him, and protection from the evil one. The three ways that Jesus prays for us shows us how we can pray for our loved ones.
But there is another thing that Jesus wants us to pray about-
III. How to pray for others
When we talk about others, we are referring to potential future believers- in other words, those who don’t know Christ yet.
The motivation for that prayer is found in
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.
Everything that Jesus did for us had one purpose and that was to save us for me to eternity in hell so that we could spend an eternity with him in heaven.
That is why he ends his prayer with this thought
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
This last week I had to help one of the charge nurses do a mental health assessment on several of the departments in our hospital. The reason we were doing this is because the Joint Commission is coming and these are the people who certify hospitals as being compliant with federal regulations. One of the things that we have to make sure we're compliant in is safety for mental health patients and so we had to look at all the rooms and list all of the things within that room that a person could use to harm themselves or others with.
As you would imagine within a hospital room there is a ton of things that can be used to harm people, so we have to make some adjustments in how we design and set up rooms for these types of patients.
As we were going through the rooms someone found a Gideon Bible in one of the drawers and said wow this thing is could be incredibly dangerous.
I replied to them you have no idea. They looked at me and kind of rolled their eyes because they knew what I was saying.
But they are right- the word of God can be incredibly dangerous to the Kingdom of darkness. The Bible says of itself at the word of God is living and active sharper than any double edge sword it penetrates the dividing of soul and spirit joints and marrow it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
When we pray for those who don't know Jesus Christ we should be praying the Bible and the truth into their spirits.
The parable of the seed in Mark Chapter 4 shows how important it is for the soil of their hearts to be prepared to receive the word, and we do that through prayer.
There are people right now that God wants to call into HIS Kingdom, but He has to get HIS people to pray them in. Let’s be a people that pray for those outside of the Kingdom.
I’m going to close today with this-
There is one final prayer that Jesus had that is often been said is his only unanswered prayer. This prayer should be a priority in our lives, and in our prayer closest.
It's found in verse 22 of John chapter 17
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.
There is nothing that be destroys A churches affectedness in a community then disunity. While I’m not saying this is an issue here, it bears saying just as a reminder.
The message of the Gospel and of Jesus is tested by our actions and words as we interact with the people around us. Remember that when we speak of each other and our church family.
Just a few thoughts
My hope my prayer in my heart for this church family is that Jesus is final prayer for us will be realized among us.
Amen?
Lets rise
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