Jesus Prayer for the Church
Turn this morning to John 17:13-23 (READ)
This morning I want to speak to you concerning what makes a great church. By looking at Scripture, what is it that makes a church great? This morning, you may be wondering, is Ballard Assembly a great church. I have found through all the books I have read many definitions of what makes a church great. There are a lot of people who do not know what makes a church great, they know where they have been but they are not sure where they are going.
I am afraid a lot of churches are like Charlie Brown whom one day just could not get his act together. I don’t know if you read Peanuts, I am not sure just how educated many of you are. One day Charlie Brown just could not handle it any more. Life just didn’t have any purpose or meaning to it so he went over to Lucy and anyone who has read Peanuts knows you have to be pretty desperate to go over to Lucy. He went over to Lucy and she had her psychiatric booth set up and was charging the fee of ten cents for advice that day. And he said, Lucy you are going to have to help me out, I don’t know anything about my life, I don’t have any meaning and purpose in it and he said you are just going to have to help me put my act together. And she looked at him in her know it all, sarcastic way and she said, Charlie Brown, life is like a deck chair. She said life is like a deck chair on a ship. Some people take their deck chair to the back of the ship, and they unfold it and they sit there looking at where they have been. She said other people take their deck chair, and they unfold it, and they put it on the front of the ship to look and see where they are going. Now she said, Charlie Brown, life is simple, where is your deck chair? She looked at him in desperation, and frustration was on his face and he scratched his head and said, Lucy I don’t know because I have never been able to get my deck chair unfolded.
A lot of churches are like that. They are not sure where they have been and they are a little fuzzy about where they are going. We turn to the Scripture to answer the question, why are we here today, why have we come together on Sunday morning, what is it that makes a great church?
And Jesus prayed for us in His prayer in John 17, and that is what we are going to be looking at, for Jesus makes gives us some points as to what we are supposed to be doing, what we are to be working in to be a great church.
Understand, this is a triumphant prayer. If you look at the last verse of chapter 16:33 you would read these words, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
When Jesus comes into chapter 17 in prayer, understand this church, he is coming in confidence, He is coming into prayer acknowledging that He is an overcomer, and He is also coming expressing His confidence in the Father. In John 17 there are 9 verses where Jesus makes a request to the Father for the church. Jesus is constantly in His prayer going to God the Father and asking for something special for us.
And then Jesus expresses confidence for you and me. Look at verse 20, My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, and in verse 20 He states, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. There is a confidence that Jesus has for you and me, a confidence that He is expressing here, that we will carry out his message to fruitation. And He prays that the Father will help us. Two Thousand years ago, Jesus looked and prayed for this church, for all the churches that exist today. That’s awesome!!!
Jesus had prayed for the church all those years ago and said I will build the church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now there is a two-fold purpose found in John 17.
1. Jesus is reporting in prayer that He has fulfilled the Fathers purpose. He is reporting back and saying, Father, what you have given me to do I have done. Look at verse 4. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you have gave me to do. Verse 6 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. vs. 8 For I have them the words you gave me . vs. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me vs. 14 I have given them your word vs. 18 As you send me into the world, I have sent them vs. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me vs. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may Be in them.
Eight times in this prayer, Jesus reports back to the Father and says I have done what you have asked me to do. But there is another purpose I see in this prayer.
2. Jesus asks that the work He started will be continued in the church. I am concerned this morning, not with what Jesus reported to the Father that He had accomplished the task given to Him. No, this morning I am concerned about the fact that Jesus prayed for you and I and in that prayer He asked that the work that He had begun and went to the Cross and died for, that this work would continue years down the road, that it would be actively happening.
Church this is a great prayer, and Jesus comes to a place where he asks 5 things of the Father for us, and I want to give them to you today.
1. He prays that you and I as the church will sense the glory of God. As He begins to pray he says Father I want them to sense your glory. In verses 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 24, seven times the word glory or glorified is used. Look at verse 4, 5. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
The Father is to continue to glorify Himself in the church and Jesus is asking the Father that those in the church will sense, and feel, and experience, and know His glory.
The word glory in the Greek comes from the word doxon from which we have the word doxology from which we sing Praise God from whom all blessings flow. And that word glory means the visible manifestation of the power and the glory and the radiance of God. In essence Jesus was praying to the Father and asking that they might see manifested in their midst His splendor, His power, and His radiance. That the people in the years to come will continue to feel and sense His presence.
We find an example of this in the Old Testament when Solomon dedicated the temple and it says the glory of God came upon him. What it was saying is that all people there at that dedication ceremony sensed anew the manifestation and the presence and the sweetness of God. And Jesus when He prayed for us, prayed that we would sense that presence. In other words, spiritually speaking, when God comes down within the church, spiritually we go up. I am talking about us coming into this place and experiencing Jesus, not a program, not an order of service, but experiencing the presence of God. If there is anything beautiful about this service today, its Jesus. If there is anything beautiful about the worship, it’s Jesus. If there is anything beautiful about the message this morning, its Jesus. If there is anything beautiful about the prayers, it’s Jesus. And if there is anything that we should have in our hearts today, let it be that same spirit the Greeks had when they came to Philip and Andrew and said we would see Jesus. And every Sunday morning when we come to church, and Sunday night when we come to church, we should be saying in our hearts that we are coming to Ballard Assembly to see Jesus manifest in the midst of the believers. And if you come with that sense in your heart, Jesus will come and meet your personal needs here, what ever they may be. When He is lifted up, all kinds of beautiful things begin to happen.
2. Jesus prayed that we would not only sense the presence of God, but that we would follow the Word of God. It is in verse 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20. He prayed that we would become followers of the Word of God. Verse 8 For I have 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 Do you see that word, and they accepted them. When the disciples received the word of God it gave them a] meaning for life. And they understood and when they understood that Jesus truly came from the Father in heaven, it gave them b] motivation for life. And when they believed the Father sent Jesus it gave them c] mission for life. You see, when you get into the Word you begin to have meaning in life and then when you understand and the word comes alive, and it becomes personal, you can claim it and it will motivate you and when you see it will touch lives and gives you and I, the church mission in life. I wish I had more time to spend in this thought this morning. Look at verse 14, what does it do for us, it separates us. 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. When you get into the Word, it gives you a different value system and it begins to separate you. In verse 15, the word of God strengthens us My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. That is why the Psalmist would say, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.
In verses 17 and 19, the word of God sanctifies us. Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth...For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
In verse 20, the Word of God saves us "My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. It is the word of God strengthens us, it is the word of God that saves us. It is the word of God that satisfies us. It is the word of God that establishes us and we need in this generation that has no priorities, in this generation that has no guidelines, we need to establish ourselves in the Word of God and be established in the Holy Spirit as we read it. That is why it is important to bring your Bibles to church.
3. Jesus prayed that we would become united in the love of God. Verses 11, 12, 21, 22, 23. Let me read 21 to you. 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. That is why we are united, so the world may believe. vs. 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. That prayer was answered in Pentecost when they were united in love. Let me give you a statement about being united in love. Spirit filled Christians, united in love, guided by a purpose they truly believe in, can do anything. Let me ask, do you really believe that? The problem in too many churches is that too many people want to beat the big drum, and too few want to face the music, and nobody wants to play second fiddle. But when you get the body united in love, then God begins to do great things.
4. Jesus prayed that the church would begin to move in the mission of the Father. vs. 2, 3, 15, 17,18 The word sanctify means not only to consecrate, but it means to equip. What is that mission. Verse 18, As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. Jesus said, as you send me into the world to seek and save those who are lost, I also send these into the world for the same purpose which I have fulfilled for them with my death on the Cross. To seek and save those who are lost.
5. Jesus prayed that we would experience the joy of God. Verse 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 joy within them. Let me ask you a question this morning? What gives a congregation the joy of God? I believe the answer has already been given. When we sense the presence of God, when we follow the Word of God, when we united in the Love of God and when we go forth in the mission of God, then as a body of believers we begin to experience he joy of God. Isn’t that Good. That is what Jesus prayed for.
Lets bow our heads. Jesus prayed for 5 things. He prayed that Ballard Assembly would experience the presence of God. He prayed that we would follow His Word, that we would unite in the love of God, that the people of Ballard Assembly would go forth in the mission of God and that we would experience the joy of God. Now the congregation of God is made up of individual believers. Can I ask you a question this morning with every eye closed and every head bowed. This is just between you and the pastor. How many would slip up your hand this morning and say Pastor, I know what Jesus prayed for, and I see it in a new light this morning, and what I desperately want is to experience the glory, the presence of God in my life. Perhaps, you have not experienced it as you have in days past or perhaps you never have experienced it. How many would say this morning, I want to experience the presence and the glory of God in my life today, you would slip up your hands so I can pray for you.
How many would raise you hands and say Pastor, I want to become a student of the Word and I have not been living in the word, I have not been having daily devotions and feasting on the Word, but I know now that Jesus prayed that I would be one so I am slipping up my hand and saying today I am going to begin to be a student of the word.
How many would slip up your hands and say I want to be united in the fellowship of God. I don’t want any jealousy or fighting with brothers and sisters to hinder.
How many would raise you hand and say I have not gone forth with the purpose of the church, but I want to go where Jesus went and I want to share the good news with other. Pastor pray for me.
Before we stand to close, How many would just raise you hand and say Pastor, I have lost the joy of God in my life. That inward joy that springs forth in happiness. I have lost the joy of my salvation. Just raise you hand.
Stand for closing prayer---- open altars for people to spend time with God for their commitment.
