REVEALING THE HEART: You can learn a lot about someone from how they pray for you.
- John 17:9.
- I learn a lot about people when I ask “what’s the most important thing I can be praying for you?” That tells me a lot about what their priorities and loves are.
- Do they ask for prayer for their family, their career, their health, their spiritual growth?
- Along the same lines, you can learn a lot about someone’s heart by hearing their prayer (for you or in general). It’s almost certain that you’ll learn a lot about where their heart is by what they pray about.
- This is an interesting and important passage because we have Jesus praying for His disciples at that time as well as those who will believe through them (that is to say, the church down through the ages).
- Well, here we have Jesus saying (v. 9) that He is praying for us. That should provide some important information about His heart!
WHAT JESUS DOES NOT PRAY FOR THE DISCIPLES: He does not pray that the disciples would be removed from the world.
- John 17:15.
- We start with what Jesus specifically says that He is not praying for.
- This is important, first of all, because Jesus is about to be removed from the world. That’s because His mission is just about done and it’s almost time for the Holy Spirit to come do His job.
- Second of all, knowing the ugliness and sinfulness of the world, it’s a constant temptation to want to withdraw and pull back. Jesus is explicit that this isn’t the plan.
WHAT JESUS DOES PRAY FOR THE DISCIPLES: He does pray that the disciples will be protected from Satan.
- John 17:15.
- We are in a war. We remain in the world and that means that there are struggles and problems.
- Why do we need to still be in the world?
a. To have a chance to witness.
b. To have time to grow spiritually.
- At various points, there has been a desire to retreat from the world. Monasteries are perhaps the most obvious example. It happens in less pronounced way, though, in many churches. They get a “circle-the-wagons” attitude and they retreat. It’s safe inside the church walls, so they don’t engage with the world’s needs and problems.
WHAT'S THE GOAL OF THE PROTECTION FOR THE DISCIPLES? Interestingly, that they may be one.
- John 17:11, 20.
- This is not what we would expect. We would expect the protection to keep us away from temptation or to make our lives easier.
- But, no, both for the disciples (v. 11) and for us (v. 20), He prays that they might be one.
- Why? What’s the importance of that?
a. It’s essential to their witness.
- v. 21b.
b. It’s essential to their love.
- John 15:9, 17.
c. It’s essential to their spiritual growth.
- The whole plan of the church is founded on the need we have to be surrounded by those who can help us grow.
- This should speak a strong word to us about how essential unity is. We (especially Protestants) are far too dismissive about unity. We split over nothing. We argue over nothing.
- This passage should chastise us about the ease with which we dismiss unity and the priority that Jesus puts on it.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THAT WAS ANSWERED? Deep connection and joy.
- John 17:13, 21-23.
- The joy is referenced in v. 13. That verse is a conclusion to the above verses, including v. 11.
- The connection is reference in vv. 21-23. Those verses flow out of v. 20 and speak of living in the deep connection of relationships.
