JESUS PRAYS FOR HIS DISCIPLES
John 17:6-19, NKJV
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: NONE ARE SHARP
1. A man was describing his multiple jobs to his Cantonese coworker, “I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none!” “Oh,” he said.
2. “We have a similar expression in our culture, “Equipped with knives all over, but none of them is sharp!” [RD]
B. TEXT
1. 6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. 9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. John 17:6-19, NKJV
C. THESIS
1. We’re going to look at the High Priestly prayer of Jesus Christ in John 17, just as He was about to have to leave His disciples and return to Heaven.
2. We learn that we are His treasured possession that the Father gave Him. He prays for our unity and that we might be kept by God until we can be reunited with Him.
3. The title of this message is, “Jesus Prays for His Disciples.”
I. THE SAINTS: CHRIST’S TREASURED POSSESSION(6-8)
A. WE ARE GIFTS TO CHRIST
1. “Father, You gave them to Me,” vs. 6. Jesus speaks as a man who has been given precious jewels. When He knows He’s going to have to die and then ascend back to Heaven, He doesn’t want His treasures unguarded. So He prays and entrusts them back to His Father for safekeeping.
2. It is like a husband who has obtained his bride, but finds that he must go away. He gives her back to her father who originally gave her to him, and says, “Take care of her for my sake. As you love me, take care of her.”
3. We are talking about you – believers in Christ! What a wonderful communication we get to hear, between the Father and the Son. The Father gave you to Jesus because He loved Jesus. He wanted Jesus to have something which would give Him the most happiness, and that something is YOU!
B. WE KEEP CHRIST’S WORD
1. In verse 8 Jesus prays, “For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.” We can see the impact that hearing and receiving the Word and Person of Jesus have upon us.
2. The Word alters and transforms us. It is life to those who find it. All that receive Christ’s word, and believe in him, are taken into covenant-relation with the Father, and are looked upon as belonging to God.
3. Our attitude toward God’s Word is of the highest importance! “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father...” John 14:21.
4. Praise God we have such a wonderful promise!
II. JESUS PRAYS FOR OUR UNITY(9-11)
A. UNIFIED IN LOVE AND PURPOSE
1. Jesus prayed, “that they may be one as We are,” vs. 11. Jesus had talked about how He and the Father were one; He now prays that His people also may be one in minds, hearts, purpose, and energy to reach the world.
2. It’s a wonderful thing when a fifty people agree about something for fifty weeks. Christians are such a diverse group of people that it’s more of a surprise that we don’t continually disagree!
3. I praise God for the years our church has labored in spiritual harmony. When you take into account our imperfections, our tendencies to promote our own interests, and how easy it is to misunderstand each another, it’s marvelous how the Holy Spirit helps us to love one another and work together!
B. THE DANGERS OF DISUNITY
1. An Australian biologist has exploded the myth that bees are a hive of order, finding them to be scheming and factional. Dr Ben Oldroyd, a senior lecturer at Sydney University's School of Biological Sciences, says a genetic mutation can make usually sterile female worker bees rebel and lay counterfeit queen bee eggs, causing chaos and destruction in the colony. Normally, only the queen is allowed to lay eggs.
2. If a worker produces any, they are quickly eaten by "police" workers. But in anarchist colonies, rebelling workers lay eggs that are indistinguishable from the queen's. Her power is lessened, workers stop working and the colony - "a scheming mass of conflict with factions trying to outdo each other" - rapidly disintegrates. How sad! May it not happen in Christ’s Body!
C. HUMOR: THE TEAM IS WHAT’S IMPORTANT
1. At one point during a game, the baseball coach said to one of his young players, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?" The little boy nodded in the affirmative.
2. "Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?" The little boy nodded yes.
3. "So," the coach continued, "when a strike is called, or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?" Again the little boy nodded.
4. "Good," said the coach. "Now go over there and explain it to your mother" [SOURCE: Pastor Tim]
III. WE MUST BE KEPT(11B, 12-19)
Even though we’ve been quickened with the divine life, and desire to live holy, we still must be kept. You may have been purified in heart, but you still must be kept. We have an enemy who is still trying to tempt us, so we must be kept!
A. HE ASKS GOD TO KEEP US IN HIS ABSENCE
1. Jesus says, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them.” During His earthly life, Jesus was carefully watching over His disciples. Loving them as His own, He loved them to the end. Even when He faced imminent death, He didn’t forget His responsibility, but interceded to His Father for His disciples that they would be kept in His absence.
2. What great lesson can we glean from this? That we never outgrow God’s watchful care! If Jesus’ early disciples needed keeping, you and I do too. We’re not any better than Thomas the doubter, or Peter the impetuous, or Martha the complainer, or John who wanted to call down fiery judgment on those who didn’t cooperate.
3. We too are full of flaws and failures, right? If God wasn’t watching out for us we’d all be in trouble! It’s wonderful to contemplate the sweet thought that the whole time the Lord was here, He kept those whom the Father gave into His custody. The Good Shepherd watches over His sheep; His eyes are on them and their needs are constantly on His mind.
4. Jesus’s care was successful; of the eleven not one was lost. That’s amazing because those eleven were fickle, prideful, and extremely ignorant. They were also strongly tempted. Thousands who crowded Jesus went back and no longer followed Jesus, but those closest never would leave Him; they were kept.
5. However Judas, once called “one of the twelve,” did not last, because he was never a true disciple. This is a warning for us to make sure our hearts are always true to the Lord.
6. We will be tested. A ship is built in drydock; it may be completely finished and perfect in every detail. But the day must come for it to be launched, jostled and jolted, in the tempestuous sea. Dangers may face it, but the ship was built for that environment and that is its destiny. It will never be fulfilled until it achieves the purpose for which it was designed. The same is true of us!
B. HE KEEPS US IN TWO WAYS: NAME & WORD
1. The two great powers by which Jesus & the Father keep us are His Name (6,11,12, 26) & God’s Word (6,8,14,17,20). It requires the very name of God to keep a Christian.
2. By the word “name” is sometimes meant the whole character of God, the whole royal power and prerogative of God. Frequently power is meant by the word “name.” There is no keeping one of us, much less all of us, unless the sacred name of God shall be exerted all its power to keep off our foe.
3. God is concerned for the honor of His name. Old Testament saints often pleaded “for thy name’s sake!” Samuel said, “For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people” (12:22).
4. We are also “Kept” by His Word. If we’re people of the Word and the Word is abiding in us, and all God’s promises (to those who obey His Word) are working in our behalf, we can’t help but be kept!
5. “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your Word IS Truth” (verse 17). The disciples were sanctified, for they were not of the world. Jesus prays that His Father may sanctify them, that is, strengthen their faith, inflame their good intentions, and rivet their good resolutions.
6. As Jesus is the Author of our faith He must be the finisher!
C. KEEP THEM FROM THE EVIL (ONE), (15)
1. We have a great enemy of our souls – Satan. Martin Luther, in his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” wrote;
2. “For still our ancient foe, Does seek to work us woe, His craft and pow'r are great, And armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide
Our striving would be losing, Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God's own choosing, You ask who that may be Christ Jesus, it is He; The Lord of hosts His name. From age to age the same, And He must win the battle!”
3. Thank God we have the RIGHT MAN on our side! With Him we will win the battle. We also are resisted by a fallen world. The Spirit of Christ in us is opposite to the spirit of the world. The world will hate us for it first hated Him. There is danger in this world, but thank God, we are KEPT!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: WHEN GOD FROZE THEM IN PLACE
1. When missionary Rowland Bingham went into the King of Iwo’s territory (Nigeria), he went before the Muslim king to ask permission to preach the Gospel. The King told him “no” and to leave their territory the next day.
2. As he was leaving from his audience with the king, large crowds were on both sides of the street. A man stepped out into the middle of the road, pointed at him, and then uttered a string of curses in the name of Allah against him.
3. Rowland stopped, not knowing what to do. Then the man raised his arm and thrust it down, giving a signal. No one moved. The man looked wildly around and gave the signal again. But no one moved. Disgusted, the man spat toward Rowland and walked away.
4. That night two men came to his tent, “You are lucky to be alive. There is some kind of magic around you?” “What makes you say that,” said Rowland.
5. “That man who spat at you is the head man at the mosque. He stirred up the people and organized them to stone you to death as a warning to other missionaries not to enter Iwo territory. But when he gave the signal to rush at you, a great fear came over the people and no one moved. Afterward, they said magic held them back, and even the angriest were forced to step aside to let you pass. Even the King is scared of you!” (pp. 12-14)
B. THE CALL
1. Remember that Jesus speaks of double protection in John 10:28-29; “They shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”
2. Let’s determine to be in unity in the body of Christ. Whatever your situation, pray and trust in God, because He, the Great Keeper of Israel, does neither slumber nor sleep. He will watch over you in all your ways! PRAYER.
[I drew on some thoughts of C.H. Spurgeon and Matthew Henry.]
