Welcome to this message from the teaching ministry of University Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Florida Under the leadership of senior pastor Mike Osborne All right turn in your Bibles please to the book of John John chapter 17 Is where we are this morning John 17? It's found on page 1,070 1,070 of the Bibles that you have up underneath a chair near you 1,070 We are in a series that we're building up until Easter Sunday called the Passion and What we're looking at each Sunday during the month of March is one of the events that took place in the life of Jesus Just prior to his resurrection and then on Easter Sunday, of course, we will We will culminate this series in the resurrection story itself So today we're looking at John 17 and if you'll just take a look at that you'll see that what this is is a prayer in My Bible it's all in red Because this is a prayer of Jesus Some people have called it the high-priestly prayer of Christ An interesting side note is that John Knox wonderful Scottish Light of the Reformation and of church history asked that this prayer John 17 be read as he lay dying and So it's a very precious precious bit of God's word and frankly, I'll tell you that I struggled with a sermon on this chapter because how do you explain An intimate conversation between Jesus Christ and his father How can you provide commentary on that? One day I was having lunch over at Panera my other office and I was sitting next to I believe a husband and wife and They were engaged in a most intimate and Deep and important conversation right next to me I'll have to say to you. I felt almost embarrassed to be in to be overhearing it I Felt an urge to get up and leave the room Because I thought this is too intimate. This is just for them between a man and his bride Well, Jesus doesn't want us to feel embarrassed as we listen in on his conversation with his father He doesn't want us to leave the room in fact, it's fascinating to me that he prayed this prayer out loud Presumably in the upper room Just after celebrating the last supper with his disciples his best friends and just before Leaving there and going over to the Garden of Gethsemane. He wanted it heard and John the Apostle who wrote this gospel was there He was one of the eleven disciples who was there and he he was able to write it down because God wanted us to know that His son prays for us and not only that he prays for us, but he wants us to know what he prays for us and so without embarrassment and Without leaving the room. Let's listen in on this most intimate conversation between our Savior and His father. I'm going to read the whole chapter Let's listen as Jesus Christ prays for us
John 17 verse 1 after Jesus said this he looked toward heaven and prayed Father the time has come Glorify your son that your son may glorify you For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you've given him Now this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you've sent I've brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do and Now father glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began I've revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours You gave them to me and they've obeyed your word Now they know that everything you've given me comes from you For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them They knew with certainty that I came from you and they believed that you sent me I Pray for them I'm not praying for the world, but for those you've given me for they are yours All I have is yours and all you have is mine and Glory has come to me through them I will remain in the world no longer But they are still in the world and I'm coming to you Holy Father Protect them by the power of your name The name you gave me so that they may be one as we are one While I was with them I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me None has been lost except the one doomed to it destruction so that scripture will be fulfilled I'm coming to you now But I say these things while I'm still in the world So that they may have the full measure of my joy within them I've given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one They are not of the world even as I am not of it sanctify them by the truth your word is truth as You've sent me into the world. I have sent them into the world For them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified My prayer is not for them alone I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one father Just as you are in me and I am in you May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me I've given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one I in them and you in me May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you've loved me 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 Righteous father though the world does not know you I know you and they know that you've sent me I've 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 The word of the Lord. Let's pray Lord a little bit ago. We sang Something that we now pray to you Let now our hearts burn with a flame Consuming all for your sons holy name, and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen You know sometimes what you really need to hear from someone you love and someone who loves you are Just five little words I Will pray for you in our prayer earlier we pray for David and Lynn Santa Lepa a lot of you know David and Lynn But you don't know that this Friday was probably the worst day of their lives Because not only did their granddaughter Olivia who is Disabled get killed by a truck But also their son and their daughter-in-law's Unborn baby died in their daughter-in-law's womb same day and It was their son's birthday as well So it was a horrible day and I was able to contact David by phone before they left for the Carolina's to go visit with their daughter-in-law Heidi and I Expressed to David our collective sorrow and I said to David I will be praying for you and I said David on Sunday morning. We your church family will pray for you and David will a lump in his throat just said Thank you. Thank you very much. That's exactly what I need I will pray for you In John 17 Jesus says that to his church and He's still saying that To each one of us Because in Romans chapter 8 it says that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father and is also Interceding for us So what is Jesus praying for as he prays for his people? Well at least three things and I could have gone on with more But time would only permit us to look at these three three things that we see Jesus is praying for out of John 17 First Jesus is praying for our survival He's praying for our survival Look at verse 11 where he says I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world and I am coming to you Holy Father Protect them. That's the word in the in IV It might in your Bible say keep them or guard them Keep them protect them by the power of your name and again in verse 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one They are not of the world even as I am not of it You see Jesus saw as perhaps no one else can the reality of the battle that his followers would face after his departure Friends do you understand That you have an enemy who is alive and well and fierce and hateful and cunning That you have an enemy who is hell bent on your destruction An enemy who knows your every weakness knows your every soft spot knows your every failure and Enemy who hates you hates your parents hates your children hates your marriage hates your church hates your Bible hates your God and Enemy who never sleeps never stops never surrenders until he has done Everything he can to ruin you to trap you to harm you to exploit you to Addict you to damage you to disarm you to discourage you and ultimately to destroy you Do you understand that? Do you know that? That you have an enemy like that An enemy named Satan who together with his demons wants to rid you of your faith and lie to you and Tempt you to sin and hopefully even to deny your savior because he thinks that if he can do that if he can take down enough Christians he can stop the advance of the gospel and win the world to the dark side. Do you know that? You should If you're a follower of Christ Jesus certainly did to understand that And not only does Satan oppose us, but in his prayer, Jesus even says that the world does too Do you see that in verse 14? The world has hated them Speaking of us the world has hated them for they are not in the world even anymore than I am of the world See, there's a world system that resists the reign of God and is hostile to those who want to live for God's glory So we're in a spiritual war, aren't we? A war over our hearts That's why Jesus prays father protect them Guard them keep them safe make sure they get home Help them be alert father help them be strong help them be courageous in the face of temptation and in the face of persecution and in the face of danger And I noticed as I was studying John 17 one of the specific things that Jesus wants us to hear him praying is Who we are our identity in other words? Five times in this prayer we are said by Jesus to be the ones Whom the father has given him first two You granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you've given him Verse six, I've revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world Again in verse six, they were yours. You gave them to me Verse nine, I'm not praying for the world, but for those you have given me They are yours and finally verse 24 father. I want those you have given me to be with me where I am Broken record right For those of us who know what records still are Over and over those you've given me father you have given me the certain people and I am praying for them So do you see who you are? Do you see your identity? You're the people of God chosen before the creation of the world to be God's prized possession To be his chosen people his elect Verse 23 says that God loves you just as he loves his son Jesus Doesn't that give you great hope that God is going to guard you and keep you and bring you home one day? He'll get you there Verse 11 says that we are the people who have the very name of God in blazing upon us Says in verse 11 protect them by the power of your name See in the Bible one's name sort of encapsulated their entire being who they are And so you have the name of God upon you the brand of God you belong to God and you have all of God's inheritance awaiting you That's your identity and this ought to give you great courage for the fight the fight against your enemy the devil You're fight against the enemy of the world. You don't face these enemies in your own name But in the name of God he has an investment in your victory He's not a soldier in your army. You're a soldier in his army He's not fighting for your cause. You're fighting for his cause. He's he's the one He's the his name is over you not your name You don't stand before Satan in your power. You stand before him and God's power Do you remember what David said to Goliath the giant as he faced him in battle? Just before he sank a stone into his forehead He said you come against me with sword and spear and javelin but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied So this morning. I don't I don't know what kind of battle you're in engaged in right now Perhaps it's a personal battle with discouragement or with temptation or maybe with a lifelong sin that threatens to capture you yet again Maybe in some of your lives there are people who are standing against the things you believe in and are begging you to give up your Christianity to join them in their sin and stop doing this church thing that you've gotten involved in Well, keep fighting Keep going Don't give up be faithful be obedient why? Because Jesus Christ says to you in John 17 I am praying for you. I am praying for you He's praying for your survival second the second thing. I see that Jesus is praying for in his high priestly prayer is he's praying for your sanctification He's praying for your sanctification Look at verse 17 where he says sanctify them by the truth Your word is truth and again in verse 19 For them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified So there's this word what does sanctify mean? Well, it means to set apart from common use It means to consecrate If you're familiar with that word it means to separate from Common use for a special use of God in other words, it means to make holy H.O.L.Y holy sanctification is one of the fruits of our union with Christ It means to die more and more to sin and to the old you and to live more and more to righteousness and godliness and to the new you that God has Created you to be in Christ. So what Jesus is praying for in John 17 is for the Father to Conform you more and more into the likeness of his Son in other words to make you more like Jesus in your conduct Right in your words in your thoughts in your attitudes and your desires and your ambitions Jesus is praying that you will be different from the world That you will stand apart from the crowd Not being weird, but being holy Like he is holy He is praying that you will stop pursuing vain things that pass away and Start pursuing and being dedicated to things that really matter Jesus is praying that God will shape you and mold you and form you into a person fit for the master's use Just as Jesus in this prayer is Consecrating or sanctifying himself to God He is praying that you and I will consecrate ourselves to God Jesus longs for that He longs for you and may to be holy He longs for us to be like him He wants us to be reflecting his image. He wants to see his image or his likeness reflected in us. Why? Why is this so important to him that he would pray for his people Lord sanctify them in the truth Why is that vitally important? It's because of the mission that he has given us Verse 18 says as you father have sent me into the world. I have sent them into the world And so our likeness to Christ is all tied up with our mission You know when our American president sends an ambassador to another country. He wants that ambassador To represent him accurately doesn't he he wants that ambassador's words to be aligned with The president's words. He wants that ambassador's behavior to bring honor to the president as though the president himself was in that foreign country Well, the same is true about us We are Christ's ambassadors in this world We are here to complete the work that Jesus Christ began. We are here to disciple the nations We are supposed to speak and to act as the representatives of Christ not to speak and act in ways that would contradict our Savior or bring dishonor to our Savior Again, this is hard, isn't it? This is hard. It's just like fighting the enemy of the world and of the flesh and of the devil This this too is hard some days. You're going to feel like you're going backwards in holiness instead of forwards But be encouraged by John 17 Your sanctification is not all up to you You know Jesus doesn't just look at you and sigh and say There she goes again, you know, when is she going to get her act together? When is when is that guy going to be going to try harder to be holy? You know, he doesn't shrug his shoulders at you and wonder What's the deal? You know, no, instead he he is for you He is praying for your holiness Pulling for you cheering for you Interceding for you on your behalf. He knows That you're going to go out of this room today and meet up with something that's gonna tempt you to to be acting out of the flesh And so already your savior is praying father Will you be with him will you be with her help spirit of God strength and holiness in that beloved child of mine? And so be encouraged today pursue holiness press on because Jesus Christ says to you in this prayer I will pray for you and then finally what else does Jesus pray for we've seen Your survival your sanctification third thing he's praying for very loudly in this prayer is your solidarity With your fellow Christians He's praying for our solidarity Look at verse 20 he says my prayer is not for them alone and he's speaking about his Best friends there in the room the 11 my prayer is not for them alone I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message That all of them may be one Why Verse 21 so that the world may believe that you sent me And then he prays again in verse 22 I've given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one I am them and you and me may they be brought to complete unity Again, why? To let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you've loved me See do you get the importance of unity here the importance of our oneness in Christ Unity among Christians is a powerful testimony to the reality and the truth of the gospel and And by the same token we would have to say that division among Christians that is Bickering and fighting and separating over non-essential matters Is a big reason that unbelievers reject the gospel Have you ever talked to a non-Christian who said to you? Well, I don't really want to be a Christian Because I don't get why you guys can't stay together I Don't get why there's so many Divisions and denominations and groups and sects and all of this all of this division you talk about God's love But you can't get along with each other have you ever heard that it's a very common complaint among non-Christians Thomas Martin the Puritan preacher said division in the church breeds atheism in the world And that's true when God's people don't get along Satan is happy Unbelievers look at us and they say well if that's what Christianity does to people. I don't want it I don't need that. I've got enough of that in my office at school and even in my home or something like that Solidarity Means to stand together as the people of God It means to work together as a body as a unit as Troops in the same battle every one of us contributing to the advance of the gospel every did you hear every one of us Contributing to the advance of the gospel using your gifts in some capacity to see to it that more and more disciples are made and matured But look it's very rare It's very difficult to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace You've probably heard the joke about two Baptists in a room. I don't know why Baptists are always the subject of these jokes Do Baptists talk about Presbyterians the way we talk about them? I don't know But you've heard this joke about two Baptists put two Baptists in a room and what do you get three opinions? What do you get here's another one? What do you get when a traditional church tries to start a contemporary worship service? A church plant I was I know because I was a part of one of those one time um But truthfully division is not funny Division this unity in the body of Christ is not funny Why are you aware that even in the upper room Before Jesus prayed this high priestly prayer the disciples were bickering and arguing with each other
soon after the resurrection division would become a problem in the early church The Apostle Paul had to write several of his letters To warn Christians about division and disunity and following one party or another And so it's been with us the history of the church is dotted with splits and schisms and mudslinging and disagreement all down through time Now listen, I want to say some of it was justified Because false doctrine should not be tolerated When heresy and sin creep into the church, it's got to be dealt with and that might indeed cause some people To part with other people But when Christians divide over things that don't really matter it grieves Jesus very very much Because his gospel is about reconciliation Not separation Notice in this prayer the model and the basis for our oneness with each other Is the oneness that Jesus himself has with his father That's the template For how we are to experience unity it says in verse 21 that all of them may be one father just as You are in me and I am in you may they also be in us So that the world may believe that you sent me see unity And be sure you know this unity does not mean uniformity Jesus and the father are not the same They are distinct persons within the godhead Just in the same way that you and I we and the body of Christ around the world are not the same We're all different very different gifts very different perspectives and personalities But we work together in concert for the advance of the gospel just as the father and the son and the spirit work together In concert for the advance of the gospel What does this mean in practice this matter of unity? Well, it means that we're going to distinguish always between Open-handed issues and closed-handed issues. I don't know if you've ever heard that terminology But I find it really helpful There are open-handed issues That we can talk about and debate about and even disagree about quite often things like What Christians ought to wear to church on Sunday morning Things like how you educate your children You know homeschool private school public school things like how loud the volume of worship music ought to be Things like even biblical topics like the length of the days of creation or Eschatology, you know pre-mill post-mill omel pan mill it'll all pan out in the end um things like Even baptism we're going to have a baptism in our in our late service today And a lot of people in our church don't buy into infant baptism Well, guess what that's an open-handed issue mature godly people down through time have differed about things like that and much much more So on those matters we're going to accept one another We're going to learn from each other teach each other and worship god together Why because there are more important things to worry about What Mike things like people dying and going to hell Those are the things we need to care about the most and what the Bible has to stay about say about them But we're going to stand fast Over those closed-handed issues The deity of Christ the reality of heaven and hell the inerrancy of the Bible The truth about the resurrection and things of that nature Open-handed issue. No We're going to respect each other and live together about things like that closed-handed. Yes We're going to join forces and shoulder-to-shoulder work together to bring in the kingdom of god And we'll be able to do that We'll be able to be one Why because we will all just be so great and so perfect and so godly know We'll be able to be one because Jesus says in John 17 I am praying for you for your survival for your sanctification and for your solidarity I love what Jesus says to his father near the end of this prayer Uh my goodness we could preach have many sermons about this chapter But I love what he says to the father near the end of the prayer. He says father I want those you have given me to be with me where I am And to see my glory Jesus is passionate About his glory so passionate That he wants to share it with you And one day you will see him in his glory. I don't know how to even talk about that It's going to be so magnificent And he he is so passionate about you seeing his glory That he he can't wait. I can imagine Jesus bursting With impatience in heaven right now as he is on tiptoes waiting for you and me to be with him where he is and to behold his glory But in the meantime He is praying He is praying for your protection He's praying for you to grow more holy And he's praying that we will put our hands together shoulder to shoulder And work together as one So let's join him in prayer pray with me
Lord Jesus. Thank you. It's just uh astounds us to think that this is One of the many ways you love us You pray for us all the time And so or Jesus we Take heart today. We take heart because of your prayers They will be answered Thank you that we're safe And so father for anyone here today who feels vulnerable Who feels that she or he is falling all over themselves failing here failing there subject to temptation open to the attacks of Satan help them to know that you're praying for them If someone here today feels very unholy and is so bent out of shape because of how far short they fall help them take heart because you're praying for their holiness And father for us at UPC who We like anybody of Christians are tempted to Separate from one another to be upset with one another and to forget the main things We pray that we'll remember that you're praying that we be one just like you and your father are one And so Lord Jesus. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your prayers We need them desperately We ask in Jesus name Amen We at University Presbyterian Church. Thank you for listening to this message Our mission is to help people know God grow together and serve others To learn more about the church or how to have a vital relationship with God Visit our website at www.uPC-orlando.com Or call our offices at 407-384-3300