“I’ll pray for you.” Those are comforting words, aren’t they? We take it as a sign of love when someone offers to take the time to pray for us. When a friend, or a relative, or a brother or sister in Christ says, “I’ll pray for you,” we are always thankful for their thoughtfulness.
Although our prayers for each other are motivated by love, the Scriptures also command us to pray for each other. James 5:16 says exactly that, “pray for each other.” In 1 Timothy 2:1 the Apostle Paul urges that, “requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.” In addition to directives like those the Scriptures are also filled with examples of people praying for others.
“I’ll pray for you.” How would you feel if Jesus said that to you? I know it would sure put a smile on my face! My Savior praying for me sounds pretty awesome. It would show his love and concern for me. And of course just knowing who he is and what he can do, would add to my appreciation of his offer to pray for me.
Thankfully the idea of Jesus praying for us is more than just wishful thinking. The Bible tells us that Jesus does pray for us. Since he has risen from the dead and has ascended into heaven he takes what we express in prayer (our needs, our hopes, and our fears) to his Father on our behalf. Hebrews 7:25 tells us that Jesus “lives to intercede” for us. And in 1 Timothy 2:5 we are told that Jesus is the “mediator between God and men.”
But Jesus does more than just act like a transmitter for our prayers. He has specific things that he too wants to see happen in our lives. And so he also prays for us in addition to bringing our prayers to God the Father. Of course the whole idea of Jesus praying for us when he is true God and one with the Father and the Holy Spirit boggles our minds. How can God pray to God? But may the truth still be a comfort to us. With childlike faith may we accept the awesome truth that our Savior prays for us.
So what does Jesus say when he prays for us? The Word of God that we will consider in our sermon this morning lets us listen in on at least one of Jesus’ prayers on our behalf. Listen to John 17:20, 24-26. (Read text.) We ask the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts through these words so we understand more clearly our Savior’s love for us. Today may each of you:
“HEAR JESUS’ PRAYER FOR YOU”
I. He wants you to grow in faith and love
II. He wants you to be in heaven with Him
Whenever we read or listen to something our Savior said we naturally consider the setting for his words. To whom was he speaking? When was he speaking? What did he say before and after? Context is especially important in the case of this prayer for you. Jesus spoke these words on the night he was betrayed in the upper room where he instituted the Lord’s Supper. He was just minutes away from the horrific events leading up to his crucifixion. And yet even then he was thinking of you—he was praying for you.
It is also worth noting that what Jesus was about to do would make the answer to his prayer possible. Experiencing God’s love and having a relationship with him was never going to be a possibility for humans unless Jesus went forward with his mission. His suffering and death in the place of those who had no hope of getting to heaven would allow them to go there just as Jesus prayed they would.
I.
Since there is a progression to the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer for us who believe in him let’s look at the last part of his prayer first. Jesus prayed, “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 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 and that I myself may be in them.” As you hear Jesus’ prayer for you realize that he wants you to grow in faith and love, as you know God the Father’s love better. He also wants to dwell in you more completely.
How has Jesus made his Father known to us and how does he continue to make him known? He does that through the Scriptures. In the record of what Jesus said and did we have learned about God the Father’s deep love for him. And every time we read or study that Word our knowledge of God grows and our faith in him increases. Then as Jesus makes his Father known to us more and more we share more fully in the love between them.
So is there anything that could possibly prevent Jesus’ prayer from being answered in our life? You are looking at him and I am look at him and her. Yes, we can stand in the way of the answer to Jesus’ prayer. Jesus doesn’t make his Father known to us through any other means than the message handed down to us by the apostles. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” The Apostle Peter reminded us of this when he wrote, “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:17-18) As you hear Jesus’ prayer for you realize that he has placed the answer to his prayer right in front of us. Through the Word of God alone Jesus makes the Father’s love known to us and puts it in us. And through that same Word he lives among us. That is why Paul told the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)
Sadly our response to the Word doesn’t always reflect what we know about it. We let days or weeks go by with no contact with the Word. Our sinful nature shows its “know-it-all” attitude as we tune out the message from our Savior. We become content with a plateaued knowledge of God instead of hungering to know more. In our rugged pride we may at times try to “go it alone” without the love of God revealed in the Bible. As hard as it is to admit and accept we have stood in the way of the answer Jesus offers to the prayer he prayed for us. As a result we don’t know the Father as well as we could. Jesus’ presence in our lives isn’t as complete as it could be. And God’s love doesn’t shine as brightly as it could in our thoughts, words, and actions.
Thankfully Jesus continues to pray this prayer for us. Although this prayer in John’s gospel is almost twenty centuries old its content is current. This is the wish Jesus still has for us. Today he wants us to grow in faith and love. And so he forgives our sins of standing in the way of his prayer and sets the answer in front of us once again. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known.” Jesus brings us back to know his Father’s love better. If we let him answer his prayer for us then we will see the results he prayed for, “in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” As we grow in faith and love Jesus’ prayer for us is answered.
“I’ll pray for you.” I can’t imagine that any of us would tell someone not to pray for us. And wouldn’t it be unthinkable for us to reject the answer to a prayer on our behalf when the person who prayed it had the power to answer it? So then may you and I hear Jesus’ prayer for us. He prays that we grow in faith and love. And then he offers to answer that prayer through the Scriptures.
II.
From growth in faith and love we now turn to the goal of our faith. After all that Jesus did to make heaven a possibility for us it shouldn’t surprise us that he wants us to be there with him. He prayed, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” As you hear Jesus pray for you I hope you catch the deep love he has for you. He wants you to be with him forever in heaven. If it weren’t for his patience, which lets the world continue so that more and more people learn about his love, he would put an end to the old order of things. And if it weren’t for the fact that he has a mission for us to accomplish in life he would gather us all into heaven without delay.
In addition to making heaven a possibility through his suffering and death he also sent out his disciples with the message about how to get there. Jesus began his prayer for you by saying, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…” Centuries after the disciples joined Jesus in heaven there message is still bringing people to faith. In that way Jesus’ prayer for you has been answered. Through the Means of Grace (the Word and Sacraments) you were brought to believe in Jesus so that you can join him in heaven.
And yet Jesus’ prayer for you hasn’t been answered. We aren’t in heaven yet. And as we just recognized about the other part of Jesus’ prayer for us we can stand in the way of the answer he offers. I recently read about a Christian teacher who asked everyone in his class to raise their hands if they wanted to go to heaven when they died. Everyone put their hands up. Then he asked them, “How many of you want to go to heaven today?” Most of the students hesitated. They all weren’t ready to go. Obviously the things of the world held their attention and love. In a similar way we may not always be longing for our heavenly home. In our ignorance we may say, “Heaven sounds kind of boring.” In our lust for pleasure we may be thinking, “Some day Jesus can take me to heaven but right now I am having too much fun on earth.”
Once again we are led to see how we can become an obstacle to the answers to Jesus’ prayer for us. May we be led to change our thinking and our attitude so that our desire for being in heaven matches or Savior’s desire to have us there.
I am sure that many of you heard about the television show called, “The Apprentice.” A group of applicants competed for a chance to work for Donald Trump. The second place finisher, Kwame Jackson, reflected on what he would have done had he had gotten the job. He said that he would also have picked the chance to oversee a 90-story building project in Chicago instead of managing a Trump-owned golf course in California. He said, “If you can look back at a city skyline and say 10 years from now, ‘I redefined that,’ that’s a lifetime legacy and I think it’s great for Bill (the guy who won.),” he said. Then he was asked what people will connect to him a decade from now? He is quoted as saying, “A tropical drink, a tropical island, a happy man. That’s what it’s about, living well.” So many people have that exact attitude toward life. Sometimes we are among them. We only see our existence as a chance to enjoy the good life. Jesus would have us look at life very differently. It is the time in which we are being prepared to enter heaven. We are just passing through this life. He is praying for us to be where he is and to see his glory.
Doesn’t that help to put our lives into perspective? Jesus has one great desire for us. He wants us to be with him in heaven and see his glory and he will work things out in our life to make that happen. So Jesus will use any troubles, pain, suffering, good times and bad times to steer us in that direction. To a certain extent nothing else matters. 1 Corinthians 1:8 reminds us, “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude 24-25 offers this encouragement, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy--to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” And in 2 Timothy 4:18 we are told, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.”
That leads us to the last action Jesus will take to fulfill his prayer for us. When he decides the time is right he will take us to our eternal destination. We may live to a ripe old age. Or we may die what the world would say is an “untimely death.” But either way Jesus will then receive us into his glory. Then the prayer he prayed for us so long ago, and continues to pray for us, will be fulfilled.
“I’ll pray for you.” We love to hear those words. They are even more precious when our Savior speaks them. Today I pray that each of you hears Jesus’ prayer for you. Hear his desires for you. He wants you to know his Father’s love and let it shine in your life. He wants to live in you. And finally he wants to never be separated from you as you live in the place he has prepared for you. As you hear Jesus’ prayer for you accept the answer he provides in the Scriptures. Amen.
