The Time Has Come To Pray #6 Series

November 19, 2003

Title: The Time Has Come...To Pray #6

Text: John 17:9-11

Introduction

1. Jesus is praying to His Father...

and we have the opportunity to look on...

and listen in as He is speaking to God...

2. Let’s hear His prayer...

and allow it to speak to us this evening.

Read Text: John 17:9-12

1. Jesus is on your side!

A. Jesus is praying to God for the disciples.

He says, "I pray for them"

Hebrews 7:25 says, "he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."

Hebrews 9:24 says, "For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence"

Not only was Jesus praying for the disciples...

those that were right there hearing Jesus pray...

But His prayer is also for His future disciples...

And in fact, even today, Jesus is "ever interceding, to the Father for His children"

and the prayer that He is praying for the disciples and us...

is that they and we would have a spirit of unity

(more about that in a minute)

B. In verse 9, Jesus also says, "I am not praying for the world"

When you first read this...it may strike you as being out of character for Christ...

In fact, many of the commentators go through quite the gyrations to explain away this phrase...

Obviously Jesus doesn’t mean that He will "never" pray for the world...

because toward the end of this prayer, He does indeed pray for the world...

and remember Christ on the cross, prayed, "Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing"

In fact, the very reason Christ was here...

and the reason He died on the cross...

was for the world...

"For God so loved....the WORLD"

So, obviously, there must be another explanation...

and the explanation is that Christ is simply not including the world...

in this particular part of the prayer...

He is not praying that the world would have unity with Christians...

because He knew that was impossible...

at least until the world was willing to submit to Christ...

and then, once people embrace Christ...

then He includes them in the prayer for unity...

when Christianity and the world collide...

there can be no unity...

it is only when we turn from the world...

and embrace Christ...

and we can truly be made one...

one with Christ...

and one with each other.

2. Being "In" the World and not "of" the world

A. In verse 11, Jesus indicates that He is no longer in the world...

His time for earthy ministry has come to a close...

In the next few hours, Christ would close out His ministry...

by completing the mission that God had for Him to do...

He would provide for our salvation by His death on the cross...

and Jesus said, "I am coming to You"

So Jesus was going to be leaving this world behind...

B. But the disciples were going to remain behind...

their time had not yet arrived for them to be taken out of the world...

You have probably heard the saying, "in the world, but not of the world".

There is great truth in that...

First of all, we are expected to be in the world...

we are not to remove ourselves to some utopian set up...

we are not to go live in some spiritual "wonder-land" and have no interactions in the world

sometimes I think Christians attempt to do just that...

they treat their churches like it is some sort of spiritual "club" that is closed to outsiders...

they close off their lives to all people except those that belong to their circle of faith...

they refuse to have dealing with non-Christians...

or even Christians of another denomination...

Christ expects us to be IN the world...

He expects us to have interactions with sinners...

He expects us to even have friendships with sinners...

that’s the very example that Christ provided by His own life...

and that is what He expects from us...

why would Christ want us to be "IN" the world?

what is the purpose in that?

Well, I think the answer is pretty obvious...

It is by living for Christ IN the world...

that we are able to show the world who Jesus is!

How can they learn about Christ?

How can they learn what Christ is like?

If they never see any Christians in action?

If they never have the opportunity to get to know them?

Christ expected that Christians would have interactions and relationships with Non-Christians

C. But Christ also prayed that God would "protect them"

Christ recognized that this is a delicate balance...

since Christians are expected to be IN the world...