The Prayer Jesus Prays for Us
Text: John 17:13-23
(Give Thanks and prayer)
Let’s go ahead and open up our Bibles to the Gospel of John this morning… John 17, and while you’re turning there I want to ask you a question – What should a Christian look like? What should the Church look like? I’m not talking about the design of the building, this building is simply one of the places where members of the Church meet… But the Church is you and me – it’s those who have been saved by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a gathering of believers called out by God. Called by God, saved by God, and being sanctified by God. So what should that look like? A football game? A rock concert? A political rally? I mean… people gather at those… they whoop and holler, and shout… they get emotional… but is that really what the Church should look like? Is that what Christians should look like?
Well in John chapter 17 we see the answer to that question, and it comes in the words of Jesus’ prayer. In you look at verse 1 (John 17:1), you’ll see that’s what Jesus is doing here in this chapter. He lifts His eyes up to heaven and begins praying. And I point that out to you, because I want you to understand that this is a prayer that Jesus is offering up. He begins by praying for the glory of God to be made known and manifest, and then in the second half of His prayer He begins praying for His followers… His disciples, His Church. So let’s go ahead and look at our text this morning. It’s there in John 17:13-23 (READ).
Right off the bat, there in verse 13, Jesus prays that His joy would be fulfilled in His disciples. So let me ask you – what is “JOY”? Is that what you feel when the Sooners or ‘Pokes win a big game? Is what you feel when someone gives you a gift you had been hoping for? Not exactly. A while back my wife bought me a 6.5 Creedmore rifle. I’d been wanting one for a while, and it’s nice, and I was very happy to get it. Very appreciative and thankful, but that’s not the kind of joy Jesus is talking about here. The joy or happiness we might feel when our team wins a bowl game, or we get a gift we were hoping for is common to all of humanity. A person can feel that kind of joy without being a Christian; but the kind of joy Jesus is talking about here is only for Christians. If you notice, Jesus says it’s “HIS” joy.
So that’s not something that you manufacture. It’s not something that the world can give you, and it’s not something you get just because you wish for it.
Both of my daughters are very talented and very good at what they do… the oldest one is an artist, and the younger daughter is a chef, and I’m not just saying they’re good because they’re my kids… they really are goodand very skilled at what they do… but they didn’t get that way by just wishing they were good. They both practiced, went to school, put in the work to develop their talent and ability. And that’s a Biblical thing. You see; the Bible teaches that God not only ordains the ends, but also the means to those ends. Think about it… if you’re going to grow a flower bed, you have to plant the seeds, fertilize it, water them. Those are the ordained means that God has provided to reach the ordained ends, which is a flower bed full of pretty, beautiful flowers. If you don’t put in the work, you end up with a bed of weeds, not flowers. So in this verse, the ordained end is the joy of Christ in the believer, but the ordained means God uses to bring about that ordained end is faithfully living for Christ.
Turn back with me a few chapters to John 15:10-11 (READ).
Jesus is saying that in order for our joy to be full, HIS joy must be in us, and for His joy to be in us, we need to be faithful followers. It’s like the hymn says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way… to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.” And I’m not talking about works here, or anything like that. I’m talking about the way that God has designed this to happen. The Joy of Jesus comes as we know Him and follow Him.
Now… it’s interesting, because most people feel like obeying God and following God is actually going to hamper your joy. They think that being a faithful Christian is akin to some kind of drudgery or some kind of joy sucking experience. But the reality is that the exact opposite is true.
The one who has the deepest joy, the lasting, real, true joy is the one who faithfully follows Jesus. King David said it like this in Psalm 19:8, “The precepts of the Lord are right, giving JOY to the heart!”
So this mark of being a Christian – this joy that we are to have… it comes from knowing Christ, and from following Christ. It’s not something the world, or the things of the world can give us.
The second mark or characteristic we see here is holiness.
If you go back to our text in John 17 and look at verse 17, Jesus says, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.” Now to be sanctified means to be set apart for holy use. Jesus is praying that we as Christians would be set apart, and distinct from the world. In verse 16 He just said that, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” So He’s saying, we are to be different than what we see in the world. We should think differently, talk differently, behave differently. We are being set apart from the non-believing world, for a holy purpose. So we are within the world but set apart from it, because again in verse 15, Jesus says, “I do not ask that You take them out of the world…”
So what Jesus is praying here is that His followers, and His Church would be marked by a distinction. That we would be in the world, but not of the world. That we would be set apart, and distinct. That’s the ends. And the means to that end, is the sanctifying power of God’s Word, which is the truth.
Now I want you to notice that the first mark – JOY – comes from obeying God’s Word, and following Jesus… this second mark – HOLINESS – is also related to submitting to God’s Word, and as we learn it, and know it, and live it, yes the world hates us, but we grow in this process of sanctification.
So it’s like the old Scottish reformers used to say, “Jesus died not only to save you from the wrath of God you were due because of sin, but to make you holy and happy.”
THE CHIEF END OF MAN IS TO GLORIFY GOD AND ENJOY HIM FOREVER!
And so the Church is to be marked by joy and holiness, but also thirdly; It is to be marked by unity!
Look at verses 20-23 (READ John 17:20-23).
Three times there Jesus prays that we – meaning all believers – would be made one. That’s talking about unity. But you notice that this unity is unity IN CHRIST. Jesus prays that we all would be made one in HIM. So it’s not unity for unity’s sake. It’s not, “Let’s cooperate with this group over here so that we can get more done.” Nope! That’s pragmatism… and that’s worldliness. Jesus doesn’t need our pragmatism. He doesn’t need our programs. He’s almighty God, and God’s ways are not our ways. He’s the God who delivers His people out of Egypt with plagues not programs. He’s the God who defeats giants with teenagers, not team meetings. He doesn’t call CEO’s to lead His Church, He calls pastors.
In-fact; that’s what Paul gets at in Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul says that God calls Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastor/Teachers “To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the Body of Christ, UNTIL we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” That’s Christ-likeness… and God does this so that… “We may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes, but rather, we speak the truth in love, and we grow in every way into Him who is the Head… Into Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, and when each part is working properly, makes the Body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
This is unity in Christ Jesus… not unity simply for the sake of being agreeable. And who is Jesus?
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by Him. And we should be unified in that… IF this group over here thinks that Jesus is “A” way, and we’re saying, “No He’s the ONLY way.” We can’t be unified with that other group. Jesus is God the Son, who came in the flesh, lived a perfect, sinless life, and then died for our sin in order to propitiate the wrath of God. And He was raised from the dead three days later because He had met the righteous demands of the Father, and brought justification to us. And we; as His Church, are to be unified in that.
We are to believe and confess that. And so if there’s a group over here that says, “Well we think Jesus was created by God” and we’re saying, “Nope, Jesus IS God.” We can’t be unified with that group.
So the Church is to be marked by unity, and that is unity in Christ.
Let me give you an illustration… Let’s say you have a guitar and it’s out of tune… in order to get it in tune, you don’t tune it to another guitar… you have to have a tuner. If you had 100 guitars and you tuned them all to each other, their sound would be off… but if you tuned those guitars to a tuner, they’d all be accurate. They’ll be right, and correct, and actually; they’ll be tuned to one another as well. So in the same way; unity in the Church isn’t trying to be like everyone else, and it isn’t trying to BE LIKED by everyone else. It’s being tuned to Christ. It’s growing in Christ-likeness. It’s being united in the truth of God’s Word. It’s being united as we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness together as one Body of called out believers.
Now… here’s the cool thing about all of this… it’s in the last part of verse 23. You can check it out if you want. Jesus is saying basically here: If you and I, and the Church are marked by these characteristics, something happens. Remember ordained means and ordained ends? Jesus says that if we are marked by these characteristics – “The world may know that God sent Him, and that God loves us, even as He loves Christ.”
That’s exactly what Paul was saying in Ephesians… that when the Church is being equipped for the work of ministry… when IT is being set apart and brought to maturity in Christ… when IT is being united in truth and love – the Body grows, IT enlarges, IT is built up.
So please hear me this morning… again… I’m not talking about us somehow manufacturing these characteristics… or pretending to have them. These marks or traits, or characteristics all come from knowing Christ, and walking faithfully with Him. They flow out of a changed heart.
The Bible says that if “any man is in Christ; he is a new creation.” It says that we are not be “conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.” In other words, we are to be tuned to Christ. We are to be marked by joy, holiness, and unity in Christ. And the way we reach those ordained ends is by applying the ordained means.
The joy we have as Christians comes from knowing Christ and faithfully applying and obeying His Word. The holiness we have as Christians comes from knowing Christ, and being set apart by the truth of His Word. The unity that we are to have as Christians comes from knowing Christ and being unified in the truth of His Word. And so when we get right down to it – IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!
Do you know Him today? Maybe you do, but you’re out of tune… the way to get back in tune is to repent and get into His Word. Read IT, study IT, learn IT, and obey IT.
That is Jesus’ prayer for us, that we would have His joy, that we would be set apart for holy use, and that we would be united together in Him – all for God’s glory! That’s my prayer for you all this morning, and I hope that’s your prayer as well
CLOSING
