Protected, united, dedicated (Sermon at FFMC 16/5/21)
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.[a] 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them[b] in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself,[c] that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:6-19)
It is the night of His betrayal. At His last meal with His friends, in that room only Jesus knows that He will die the next day. Everything He does that night is done because He knows what is coming. In the middle of dinner, He takes off his outer clothing, wraps a towel around His waist, and washes their feet. Then He dresses Himself and resumes dinner. During the meal, He takes bread and wine and speaks about a new covenant. Afterward, he starts speaking to them. He has many things to tell His friends. There are words of rebuke and encouragement and warning. There are commands, and there are promises. (John 14-16). This is a time of sweetness and pain. Jesus has never been so clear before with His disciples before (Jn 16:29). And then, finally, He prays. This prayer is recorded In John 17 - the “High Priestly prayer”, Jesus prays for himself in v.1-5, then for his disciples present and future in v.6-26. This is His Church. These are those who:
· know the Father’s name through Jesus (v.6, 26),
· know/believe the Father has sent Jesus (v.8, 20, 25)
· display His glory (10. 22)
· are in the world (v.11, 22-23),
This prayer is for us.
3 observations about Jesus’ prayer:
1. Jesus’ prayer is out of love. “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (Jn 13:1)
2. Jesus’ prayer is always answered (c.f. Jn 11:42). He always asks according to His Father’s will. He always pleases the Father.
3. Jesus’ prayer is important. The time is short “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming” (Jn 14:30)
So when Jesus prays, we must sense the importance of what He is asking for us. This is not a casual prayer. These are critical things that will not happen unless He prays for them. They are supernatural things that will not happen unless God does them. So our understanding of Jesus’ prayer items must be guided by this double understanding: the absolute necessity of the granting of the prayer, and the supernatural power required to do what He prays for.
Jesus could have prayed for many things in this prayer. He does not pray that the disciples (and we) will be joyful, or prosperous, or effective, or that their programmes will be successful or even that they will have great spiritual power. He prays for 3 things:
- Safety
- Solidarity
- Sanctification
These are the inner workings of the Church – what lies under the surface. They are the unseen spiritual realities that make the Church unique – different from every other organization.
1. ]Jesus prays that we may be protected – our safety
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one (v.11)
While I was with them, I kept them in your name (v.12)
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. (v.15)
· What does it mean to be kept?
Jesus had taken care of His disciples when he was physically with them, but He knew that their normal life was going to end in a few hours. He was going to die. He could say. “I am no longer in the world” (v.11) but ‘they are in the world’. Without Him, they would be exposed not just to human, but to demonic opposition. To be kept is to be kept ‘safe’. Not always physically, but always spiritually. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.( Lk 21:16-19). Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy (Jude 24).
· What does it mean to be kept in the Father’s name? (v.11, 12)
This is the name Jesus manifested (made known) to His disciples and to us (v.6, 26)
It is the name The Father gave Jesus. (v.12)
A ‘name’ represents all that that person is. It is a short-form for one’s person. To be kept in the Father’s name is to be kept by the Father’s personal care and authority. Jesus had kept His disciples as if the Father Himself was keeping them.
It is to be kept in the Father’s power (Ps 20:1, Prv 18:10).
It is to be kept for the Father’s purpose.
· Why do we need to be kept?
Jesus ‘sent’ His disciples into the world, but the world ‘has hated them’ because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world (v.14). Our true home is no longer the world.
We need to be kept because we are in the world but not of the world.
We are physically in, but spiritually distinct from, the world. Our values, priorities and behaviours are different. Our true home is in heaven. The sufferings of this world and the world itself will pass away. Jesus will keep us for heaven.
Jesus could have avoided the problem by asking that we be removed from danger, but instead, He says,” I do not ask that you take them out of the world” (v.15), but that we be protected in the midst of the danger of the world that hates us and Satanic opposition. We are not kept like precious jewels in safe deposit boxes out of sight. Our worth and value is displayed for all the world to see.
Why are we still in the world? The implication is that we have a role to play in the world. The Father’s purpose is “that the world may believe that you have sent me.”(v.21) “that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”(v.23). I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message” (v.20).
2. Jesus prays that they we be united - our solidarity
Holy Father, keep them in your name… that they may be one, even as we are one. (v.11)
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, (v.20-21)
The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one (v.22-23)
This is another purpose of the keeping by the Father.
Why? The Church is to show the unity (v.11, 22) between the Father and the Son. We are to be come perfectly united as the Father and Son are united.
We also receive and show
- the glory of (v.22, 24) -
- and love between (v.23, 26)
the Father and the Son.
Jesus was not praying for organizational unity. In the second half of the 20th century there arose a movement saying that we should fulfill Jesus’ prayer (“that they may be one.”) and that all churches should forget differences of doctrine, and simply love each other for Jesus’ sake. The early church would never have thought in those terms. They would have seen Jesus’ prayer was being fulfilled in Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free men loving one another for Jesus’ sake. In His death and resurrection Jesus had created something new and beautiful - His Body, His Bride. That unity proves that the Father sent Jesus (v.21, 23) and loves Jesus (v.23)
It is true that each individual is saved. (Gal 2:20). It is false to say that “if I were the only sinner on earth Jesus would have come to die for me”. This implies that Jesus would be happy and satisfied in His redeeming work to have only us be with Him in glory. But “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Ro 8:29) We are saved as individuals, but into a community. It is even more important when attending church now means for many people that we just switch onto a Sunday service. A solitary Christian cannot show the glory and love of God the way a community does.
To be united in community means that we have deep relationships (including intergenerational relationships) that cause us to truly suffer together and rejoice together (1 Cor 12:26).
3. Jesus prays that they may be dedicated – their sanctification
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
What does it mean that Jesus ‘consecrates’ Himself?
Jesus does not sanctify himself in the sense of making himself more holy. Rather, what he means is that He sets Himself apart to do His Father’s will. He offers Himself in sacrifice in obedience to the Father. He also does this for us: “For their sake” I sanctify (Gk hagiazo) myself,” he declares. But the purpose of this is “that they also may be sanctified in truth”, or ‘truly sanctified’ (Gk hagiazo).”
What does it mean to be sanctified?
We are made holy - which carries 2 related ideas: we are set apart, and we are purified. We all have been sanctified in the first sense. For example Paul can call the very immature Christians in the church at Corinth ‘sanctified’ ‘saints’ (1 Cor 1:2). “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, (Eph 5:25-26)
We are already sanctified in this sense because Jesus submitted to His Father’s will and redeemed us. But we are also to be sanctified in the sense of being purified and transformed. This is an ongoing process. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes 5:23). “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16)
How are we sanctified?
· Through the redeeming work of Christ
· “in the truth”, in the Father’s “word”.
“For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you” (17.8)
This refers to the entire body of Jesus’ teaching. By extension if refers to all He continued to teach by His Spirit through His apostles and to all the Spirit led the prophets of the OT to teach. The Bible is the source of ultimate truth. It does not contain the truth, but is truth.
We are not made holy simply because of life experience. Neither do we become holy by praying, fasting and spiritual disciplines. Most relevant of all, we are not made holy through our relationships. Both young and old believers can fall into the trap of valuing relationship over truth. We need good relationships, but we are not made holy because of them. We need both relationship and truth
And knowing the Bible is no help if it is not applied. It is truth obeyed that transforms, not truth learned. (Rom 2:23 “You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law”; James 1:22, 2:17)
Conclusion
What do we do with the truth that we are protected, united and sanctified? Do we even need to do anything? If the Son of God prays and it is a done deal, what practical application could there be? We could just sit back and let God work out everything! God not only answers prayers, but also determines the ways those prayers are answered. In other words, God uses our actions to fulfill the prayer of Jesus. And He is the one who enables us to take these actions. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Cor 15:10)
• Being protected leads us to trust and boldness in God
• Being united leads us to share life with one another in church
• Being sanctified leads us desire and apply the Bible to our lives.
In this High Priestly prayer, we see the love of our Saviour. We also see the will of our Saviour. He spent a good part of the last hours before His death on this prayer for us. So let us be bold, be real and be in the Bible.
Video here
Comments
Post a Comment