John 17
For the past few weeks, the Weekend Sermon has focused on Jesus' teachings on the subject of prayer. In that study, we examined the importance of prayer and how to use the Lord's Prayer as a pattern for prayer. Last week, I discussed the matter of being persistent in our prayer lives and never giving up.
This week, I'd like to talk about a prayer Jesus prayed which takes up an entire chapter, chapter 17 in the Gospel of John. Some bible scholars refer to this prayer as the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus because, as we will see, Jesus prayed to the Father on behalf of those who did and who would believe in Him.
Jesus' prayer in John 17 comes immediately following a long teaching Jesus gave known as the Upper Room Discourse. Before He was betrayed by Judas, Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover in Jerusalem. During this time, Jesus gave His disciples a substantial body of teaching. John chapters 14, 15, and 16 contain the teaching of Jesus on this occasion.
Jesus began His prayer by, "lifting his eyes to heaven and praying to the Father."
Jesus asks, "Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me your presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed."
This passage is an absolute affirmation of the deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus was asking that He be glorified and have the glory He and the Father shared before the creation of the world. This is reminiscent of John chapter one when it states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is claiming that He is God. It distresses me greatly when I hear those claiming to be Christians deny the deity of Jesus. The belief in the deity of Jesus Christ is an absolute essential belief of the Christian faith. Jesus makes it clear who He is. To deny the deity of Christ is to call into question Jesus' character.
All authority has been given to Jesus, and He has the power to grant eternal life to those who believe in Him and call upon His name. Jesus says that He will judge the earth because all judgment has been given to the Son by the Father.
Jesus says that eternal life is to know God. We have the opportunity to have a personal relationship with the King of all the universe because of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. The thought of this is amazing to me when I think of the vastness of space and realize the awesome power of God. Just to think that this God loves me and wants me to spend eternity in His presence is more than humbling. Praise be to God.
In verse four Jesus says, "I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do." In verse six, Jesus spells out the nature of this work when He says, "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. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 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."
In His earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed His message through His actions, the miracles He performed, and through His teachings. Jesus' twelve disciples were the one's who received the bulk of His teachings. Part of Jesus' ministry on earth was to train those who would go into the world after He was gone and spread the same message Jesus came to proclaim. Jesus had to clearly demonstrate to the disciples that His message was true and that His message was divine and not merely human in origin.
Jesus accomplished the task. The disciples recognized who Jesus was, and they believed His message. It took them a long time, and often Jesus became frustrated at their lack of progress. But during the Upper Room Discourse, the disciples(except Judas)said the following as recorded in John 16:29-30, "Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech. Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God." Peter also expressed the fact that he knew who Jesus was when he made his confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
It may not seem by the world's standards that Jesus teaching of His disciples was a big accomplishment. But after the Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, these eleven men spread the message of Jesus Christ all around the world. From this band of eleven followers, the message of Jesus is now claimed as true by roughly 30% of the world's population.
Beginning in verse 9, Jesus begins His intercession on behalf of His disciples. In verse 11, Jesus asks the Father to keep them. This means that Jesus is asking that their faith would be preserved to the end. He was praying that none of them would fall away from the faith or turn from His message. We know that none of them ever did.
Jesus continues in verse 11 by asking the Father that the disciples might be one, even as the Father and Son were one. There can be no greater unity than the unity among the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the level of unity Jesus desired for His disciples. He wanted them to work together to proclaim His message. And, they were one.
Jesus knew that divisions and fighting among His followers would only bring the name Christian into disrepute. Those who followed Jesus' teachings should be filled with his love and be able to love one another. For a better understanding of this read I John chapter 3.
I believe one of the great hindrances to people coming to know Jesus today is the great level of disunity and disharmony in churches. There are so many different groups and denominations it boggles the mind. This ought not to be. All that this factionalism does is turn people away. If the church is just like the world, why would anyone want to become part of it? The Bible says that they will know we are Christians by our love for one another. It is something to consider and correct.
Next week, Lord willing, we will continue studying the prayer of Jesus.
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