February 22, 2004
Morning Worship
Text: John 17:20-26
Subject: Jesus’ Prayer for Believers
Title: What Will It Take?
I look back on our 2-½ years here at First Assembly and a lot of good memories begin to flood my mind. I think about the newlywed game at our first Christmas party and I laugh at the mental pictures I get. I rejoice at the new church members that came in the first year and the baptisms out at the lake that summer. I remember the work done on the sanctuary and the parsonage when we first arrived. I look back on the encouragement I have always received when a new face shows up in church. I especially remember the morning that three received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. But most of all I look back and see a change in your attitudes and your willingness to move forward.
But as I reflect on all these good things I also have to look at the present situation of the church and wonder what I have been doing wrong. Now before you start shaking your heads and saying that the problem isn’t the pastor (not everybody is going to say that, but many of you have) stop and consider this. I have and I take this very seriously. If we had not been appointed to this church, if you had voted us in, after the first year, would you have voted to retain us? (probably, giving us the benefit of the doubt.) With the progress, or lack of, that came in the second year, would you have voted to retain us? (maybe) Now as we go into our third year, I look around and see pretty much the same faces that were here when we got here. It’s true that if we had those people who have attended in the past on any given Sunday morning all at one time, the church would be full. But it isn’t. So how would you vote at the end of three years? Listen, don’t get nervous. We aren’t going anywhere. But I just want you to know that I see a problem and am serious about fixing it.
It is not an easy fix. It is not one that I can accomplish by myself. It is a problem that can be dealt with once and for all. And it is going to be done through prayer. Our Sunday night emphasis has been on prayer and it will continue to move in that direction. Whatever is going to happen in this church is going to come about through much prayer and fasting.
A little girl went to her mom and said, “Mom, I guess everybody up in heaven must think I am dead.”
“Why would you say that?” Mom asked
“Because I haven’t said my prayers for over a week now.”
I want to begin today by stressing the importance of prayer. Jesus thought it was important. Before He began His earthly ministry, He went to the desert for 40 days. No, it wasn’t a vacation. It was for prayer. The disciple saw the importance of prayer in Jesus’ life and said, “Lord teach us to pray.” Jesus often got away by Himself to pray. In Luke 22 we see, “He went out to the mount of Olives as He was accustomed…” This particular time of prayer in Luke was right before the biggest trial of Jesus’ life – His arrest and crucifixion.
We pray! I don’t have a doubt that each of you prays every day. You have established a good habit. Now we want to find direction and to put wings on our prayer for the building of the kingdom.
I am going to read to you today all of John Chapter 17 and I want you to understand what Jesus is saying and doing.
Prayer is central to the accomplishment of God’s plan for this church and this community.
I. PRAYING FOR YOURSELF.
A. Glorifying God. Verse 1. If you are like most people, you consider prayer for yourself to be last on the priority list of things to pray for. I want you to notice where Jesus put prayer for Himself. It is at the beginning of his prayer. All our work for the Lord must be bathed in prayer. If we don’t cover ourselves in prayer, what is going to happen? I am sure that the impact you will have on the world will be less than if you had begun in prayer. John Bunyon said, “You can’t do anything more than pray until you have prayed, but you can do more than pray once you have prayed. It is not selfish to pray for yourself. It could be considered vain not to pray for yourself. Don’t let pride enter into your prayer life. When it came right down to the end of Jesus’ life, His prayer was that He would be glorified so He could glorify the Father. Listen to what Jesus said when predicting His death. “Now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father save Me from this hour? But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Are you willing to face opposition, oppression, or even death so that God may be glorified in you? If not, then pray that you can stand up to the trials you will face. Then God will be glorified in you.
B. Winning souls. Verses 2-3. Do you know that you have been given authority on earth? Jesus said He had authority over all flesh. The Greek word translated “flesh” is sarx and it speaks of the body as opposed to the spirit and soul. It usually refers to man’s human nature which is fallen. We have been given authority over our fleshly nature through the work of the cross. Jesus prayed here that His desire is to give the gift of eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. What should your prayer be? Have you not been told that you have a job to do? Have you not been given a commandment to go and share the gospel? Did Jesus not leave us with a great commission to fulfill? Are you not adopted sons and daughters of the King of creation? Then you have a job to do – to tell people about eternal life. To God be the glory!! I like what Paul says about the intent of the gospel message. “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Winning souls requires taking control of the flesh – no fear for perfect love casts out fear – and bringing people to eternal life, to the glory of God.
C. Finishing the work. Verses 4-5. Jesus finished His work on earth, culminating in the cross and resurrection. But He never finished without prayer. Are you going to be able to remain faithful to the calling? Not without prayer in your life. Are you going to exhibit power in your life? Not without prayer. Will you be able to be an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony? Pray. If you have any desire to finish, then you must take these three necessary steps. 1) pray. 2) pray! 3) pray!!! Before you ever consider doing the work of the Lord, you must go to the Lord of the work. Are you ready to be glorified? I find it interesting that we often pray that we get a glimpse of God’s glory in our services. Of course, we want to see the shekinah glory of God in our very midst. But consider this. Jesus saw God’s glory when he was placed upon the cross. God was glorified in the completed work that was done when the price for our sin was paid. Then three days later that glory was magnified in power with the resurrection. God’s glory is often seen in our brokenness. “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Finish your work. Glorify God. Remember to pray for yourself.
II. PRAYING FOR OTHER BELIEVERS. (6-19)
A. For Revelation. Verses 6-8. Jesus says, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me…” When we trust Christ one of the things that happens is that the Holy Spirit begins to quicken our spirits to a new understanding of scripture. But Paul prayed that the church in Ephesus would receive revelation. “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…” (Ephesians 2:8-9) We need to pray for one another. Are we serious about seeing full-blown revival break out? Pray for those sitting nest to you. Pay that God would reveal Himself to them in dreams, visions, prophecy, and especially His word. Regardless of your age, God desires to use you for His purpose – to seek and save that which is lost. Receiving revelation builds you up so the kingdom can be built.
B. For Holiness. Verses 9-12. Recognize your brothers and sisters in Christ for who they are and to whom they belong. “I pray for them. I don not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” Your wife/husband is your sister/brother in Christ. They belong to God. And if they belong to God how are they expected to act out their earthly existence? By living lives that are holy and pleasing to God. Can they do that on their own? You are saved by grace and sanctified in grace. You are also kept by grace. We cannot live the Christian life without God’s grace actively working in our lives. How can we keep a continual flow of grace coming to us? By praying for one another. Paul saw the need: Romans 15:30, “strive together with me in prayers to God for me.” 1 Thessalonians 5:25, “Brethren, pray for us.” Philemon 25, “I trust that through your prayers I may be granted to you.” And as well as asking for prayer, Paul began nearly every one of his letters by commending the readers and assuring them that he was praying for them. It was not just a nice way to begin a letter. Paul recognized the need to pray. Prayer keeps us close to the Father in order to help us recognize our sinful nature. It keeps us close to the cross to remember that Jesus paid the ultimate penalty for our sin. Prayer keeps us in spiritual contact with our brothers and sisters that we never forget to lift them up. Jesus said in verse 12, “while I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name…” verse 13 “But now I come to You…” Jesus was asking God to keep them because with their lives they glorify Christ.”
C. For Safety. Verse 14, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of this world…” Those who are effective for the kingdom will experience these things; 1) The world will hate them. That is being exemplified in the news broadcast every day. Christians are standing up against homosexual marriage and the world brands them as bigots. Christian judges are standing for the Ten Commandments and being forced from office. Mel Gibson has produced The Passion of the Christ and is proclaimed as anti-Semitic. Since the world has no understanding of spiritual things, they take every advantage to bring harm to Christianity in the name of civil rights. Of course, we see Christians around the world being murdered for their faith. Pray for them. Missionaries go into dangerous situations every day. Pray for them. You in this church face witnessing opportunities every day. Pray for one another.
D. For Sanctification. We have been set apart. Sanctified! Pray that the sanctification process will continue in every one in this church. We are sanctified by truth. That’s God’s word. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete until the day of Jesus Christ.”
III. PRAYING FOR THOSE WHO WILL BE SAVED. (20-26)
A. For Unity in the Body. Verse 21-22. I know without a doubt that each of us has something that bothers us concerning others. It may be appearance. A young man with an earring or a girl with a nose ring or other body piercing. It may be long hair. It might be the color of someone’s skin or their accent. Maybe it is an alcohol problem or drug abuse. It may be a mixed marriage. Whatever it is that you don’t approve of I urge you to let God be the judge. You just continue to pray for unity in the body of Christ. You see, unity is not when everybody else thinks like you do. Unity is when you see all others with the eyes of Christ. I used to pray this prayer, “God, give me your heart.” The results were so consuming that I stopped. I began to see people with God’s eyes and with His heart and it really hurt. It is time for all of us to begin to pray that prayer. When we do, unity will not be a problem as the next generation of believers comes into the church. Jesus says we can be one as He and the Father are one. We have the mind of Christ now. How are we going to pray? That we see others through God’s eyes with His heart.
B. For the Perfecting of the Saints. Verse 23 says that because Jesus is in all believers, and the Father is in Him, we can be made perfect. The word translated “perfect” means to complete, accomplish, or consummate something in a person’s character. When we are perfect, we will have God’s heart. In Colossians 1:28 we read, “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Jesus has given us His glory. Glory brings unity and perfection. Perfection comes in the cleansing power of the cross and the blood and not in our own works. Perfection(sanctification) is an act of grace.
C. For Mutual Love. Jesus prays that the Father will love believers the same way that He was loved by Him. It is an eternal love (before the foundation of the world). Jesus had just finished speaking to the disciples about love. 15:12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” 13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” When we look at the commandment of Jesus to love one another, we tend to look at love as a reciprocal act. If you love me, I will love you. That is not what is expected from Christians. We are to love with the love of Christ. That means unconditional love. When someone makes a mistake in their life, we continue to love them. When someone steps away from the faith, we keep loving them. When someone hurts you – now it’s getting difficult – we are called to keep loving. Jesus was so transparent with His disciples. He didn’t hide anything from them. He did not put up walls of defense. He never rejected them. He loved them. Can you love with that kind of love? Not without prayer. Not without empathy. Not without the heart of God. Paul said, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Otherwise, it is not love. “God demonstrated His own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That is perfect love.
So how important is prayer? When Jesus finished praying in the upper room they left and went out to the Garden of Gethsemane and did what? He prayed some more. If we are to ever make an impact in our world, it has to be bathed in prayer.
1) Pray for yourself. Do you think that without praying for yourself first that your prayer for others will ever be effective? Pray that your life would glorify God, that you would be a soul winner, and that you would finish strong.
2) Pray for other believers. They need your prayer support the same way you need theirs. Prayer is mutually beneficial. Pray that the gifts of the Spirit would be manifested through others. Pray God’s protection over them. Stand in the gap for them as they are doing the Lord’s work. Pray holy fire into their lives.
3) Pray for those who are yet to be saved. Persistence is the key. Pray for the unlovable. Pray for the vile. You never know whom it is that God is going to save. Pray that your love for all people would be unwavering.
Five young college students were spending a Sunday in London, so they went to hear the famed C.H. Spurgeon preach. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked, "Gentlemen, let me show you around. Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?" They were not particularly interested, for it was a hot day in July. But they didn’t want to offend the stranger, so they consented. The young men were taken down a stairway, a door was quietly opened, and their guide whispered, "This is our heating plant." Surprised, the students saw 700 people bowed in prayer, seeking a blessing on the service that was soon to begin in the auditorium above. Softly closing the door, the gentleman then introduced himself. It was none other than Charles Spurgeon.
Our Daily Bread, April 24.
Last week when we saw Jesus cleanse the temple, we read His words, “My house shall be called a house of prayer..” We come and this place becomes a house of fellowship, a house of worship, a house of teaching. This morning, and from now on, let us make it a house of prayer first. Let’s begin to cry out to the Lord. Pray church. Pray like you’ve never prayed before. Pray for yourself. Pray for others. Pray for the lost. Pray in faith believing that God hears and answers prayer.
