LISTEN, JESUS IS PRAYING
John 17
“Some brethren pray by yard; but true prayer is measured by weight, and not by length,” so spoke Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The greatest prayer ever recorded is found in our text, and it takes about six minutes to reverently read it aloud. There is not much length, but there is certainly a great deal of depth and weight.
Chapter 17 allows us to eavesdrop on the greatest prayer ever prayed. What is it about this prayer that makes it so great? Let me suggest several reasons. FIRST, it is great because of the PERSON who prayed this prayer. SECONDLY, it is great because of the PERIOD in which it was prayed: just hours before the cross.
If Neil Armstrong had made the statement, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” while he was playing hopscotch with children in his neighborhood, nobody would remember his words. But he made that statement as he stepped from his spacecraft, as the first man to walk on the moon. The occasion of the words gives them weight. THIRDLY, it is great because of the PETITIONS in the prayer. As Jesus commences in prayer, He prays for himself. As He continues in prayer, He prays for His disciples. As He concludes His prayer, He prays for us.
What we will discover from the prayer of Jesus can change our lives. It is truth that can alter your life forever!
I. DIRECTION that He considered (1)
He looked to Heaven and spoke to His Father. In a time when he needed direction, He looked to God.
Where do you look for direction? Where do you look in times of distress? Where do you look in times of discouragement or distress?
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry,
Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.
Prayer is not like those little red boxes we see in buildings, marked USE ONLY IN EMERGENCY. We should be looking to God hourly. If prayer is an interruption in our life, then something is wrong.
If Jesus the Son of God saw the necessity of prayer, how much more should we. If Jesus depended on prayer during His life and ministry on earth, how much more should we. If Jesus with all of His power and perfection, depended on prayer. how much more do you and I, with our multiplied imperfections and weaknesses, need to depend on prayer!
A. Prayer is a necessity because it is COMMANDED of Saviour
B. Prayer is a necessity because it is the CHANNEL of supply (blessing)
God will supply that for which we have K’NEED.
A little boy was helping his father clear a lot. He was trying very hard but failing to lift a big stone. “Are you using all your strength?” asked the father. “Yes, sir,” answered the boy. “No,” said the father, “you are not. You have not asked me to help you.”
None us us all our strength, live up to all our potential, or take advantage of all our means until we have called upon our heavenly Father.
C. Prayer is a necessity because it is the COMFORT of the soul 1 Peter 5: 7 informs us to unload our care upon God.
1. The ACTION - “casting” 2. The AMOUNT - “all your care” - Philippians 4:6
3. The ADVOCATE - “upon 4. The AFFECTION - “for he careth for you”
II. DESIRE that He cherished (2)
Jesus desired - wanted to glorify the Father. His desire should also be our desire. He wanted to magnify, praise, and ascribe honor to the Father.
I Corinthians 10:31
A. God’s glory should be the GAUGE that is applied to life
Paul introduces a gauge by which all things should be evaluated and assessed in a Christian’s life.
B. God’s glory should be the GUIDE that is adopted in life
Let God’s glory be the rule we measure things by in our behavior.
C. God’s glory should be the GOAL that is assumed for life
Is God glorified in your actions, attitudes, and ambitions?
To glorify His name means to direct attention to the One of that name. The glory of God comes through the manifestation of His nature. It signifies showing forth. When the Christian is Christ-like, he glorifies God.
Are you doing everything for the glory of God?
A customer in a restaurants once asked the waitress suspiciously after seeing the menu, “Why do you call this ‘enthusiastic stew?”
The waitress explained, “The cook puts everything he has into it.”
Are you putting your everything into the glorifying the Lord? Glorifying the Lord is the right attitude, the right action, and the right aim of life.
III. DESTINY that He completed (4)
Jesus came to earth for a purpose. He had a work to do. As the hour for finishing his work had arrived, Jesus speaks of it as already finished. Though not yet an accomplished fact, it is completed in the will and intention of Jesus. The predetermined , burial, and resurrection are already settled in the mind of Jesus.
His whole life was taken up with the work of the Father.
Luke 2:49 “And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
John 4:34 “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”
A. It was and is a PRIVILEGED work
He was representing the Father. He that hath seen Jesus hath seen the Father. He was showing the world that God was love!
He was sent by the Father (18). Five times in this chapter Jesus calls Himself the sent one. We are sent as He was. We have a work to do as He did. We have a calling common with Him, and therefore we should give ourselves up wholly to God, as did Jesus to do the will of the Father.
It is a privileged work to represent Jesus. See 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.
B. It was and is a PERSONAL work
Nobody else could do what Jesus Christ did. Nobody else could do His work. He alone could do it. It was destiny God gave the Son to fulfill. It was a task given of the Father to the Son. See Hebrews 1:3.
Jesus accepted the assigned work and brought it to a successful conclusion.
Every man has his own work, his proper work, assigned and appointed him by God. You should strive to fulfill that work God has given you every day.
Turn to John 21:15-22. To finish the task God has given you, you will need to concentrate on doing your duty the best you can regardless of what others are doing or how well they are doing their task. Be chiefly concerned about what Christ told you do and leave the care and concern of others to the Lord.
Listen to the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 4:6-8. “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” It is a blessed thing at the hour of to be able to say in sincerity and uprightness, that you have finished the work which God appointed you to do.
Can one individual make a difference? Yes, God does not call committee meetings. He calls individuals to do His work. When He wanted to deliver the Jewish nation from , He called Moses. When He wanted to take the gospel to the Gentiles, He called Paul. He calls individuals to do His work
Conclusion:
May we determine now to make the practice of Jesus our practice, the desire of Jesus our desire, and the destiny of Jesus our destiny.
