[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday, the 22nd of March, 2015.]
As I told the kids [in the Children’s Time], Jesus prayed to God, a lot. He not only taught us how to pray, what we call the Lord’s Prayer, but He prayed too, frequently and fervently.
Listen to a part of one prayer that John recorded in his Gospel account in chapter 17, verses 20 through 26, the true Lord’s prayer, the “Holy of Holies”…
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
--John 17:20-26 (NKJV)
Let us pray... Almighty God, Creator of all, Father of our Lord Jesus, open our eyes that we might see only Your Son. Open our ears that we might hear only Your words. Open our minds that we might receive Your message. Open our hearts that we might share Your love. In the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
A true believer was on a plane seated beside an intellectual (which I’ll define as someone educated beyond his intelligence). He sneered at this Christian reading her Bible and asked if she really believed what she read?
"Yes", she replied softly, looking up for a moment.
"Even that whole business about Jonah and the whale?” the man persisted.
"Yes, even the story of Jonah and the great fish.”
"And just how do you think that happened?"
"I don't know for sure, but I'll find out when I get to heaven."
"What if Jonah isn't there?” the man teased.
The woman replied with a kind smile, "Then I guess you'll have to ask him for me."
Now that’s faith!
Beginning just after the completion of what we now call our Lord’s Last Supper, the Apostle John recorded for us a very long discourse between Jesus and His twelve closest disciples. Over the length of this discussion, Jesus foretold of His betrayal by Judas, of Peter’s denial, of the only way to the Father, of His own persecution and death, of His suffering to come and a glimpse of what would follow.
And then Jesus prayed. He began by praying for Himself. We know Jesus came to serve, and not to be served. And He pretty much always put others ahead of Himself. This was an exception, though. This time He prayed for Himself first.
But it was not a selfish prayer, not by any means! Hear how John opens the 17th chapter, in verses 1 and 2…
A true believer was on a plane seated beside an intellectual (which I’ll define as someone educated beyond his intelligence). He sneered at this Christian reading her Bible and asked if she really believed what she read?
"Yes", she replied softly, looking up for a moment.
"Even that whole business about Jonah and the whale?” the man persisted.
"Yes, even the story of Jonah and the great fish.”
"And just how do you think that happened?"
"I don't know for sure, but I'll find out when I get to heaven."
"What if Jonah isn't there?” the man teased.
The woman replied with a kind smile, "Then I guess you'll have to ask him for me."
Now that’s faith!
Beginning just after the completion of what we now call our Lord’s Last Supper, the Apostle John recorded for us a very long discourse between Jesus and His twelve closest disciples. Over the length of this discussion, Jesus foretold of His betrayal by Judas, of Peter’s denial, of the only way to the Father, of His own persecution and death, of His suffering to come and a glimpse of what would follow.
And then Jesus prayed. He began by praying for Himself. We know Jesus came to serve, and not to be served. And He pretty much always put others ahead of Himself. This was an exception, though. This time He prayed for Himself first.
But it was not a selfish prayer, not by any means! Hear how John opens the 17th chapter, in verses 1 and 2…
1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”
--John 17:1-2 (NKJV)
Jesus asks His Father God to glorify Him so that He might in turn glorify God. And more importantly for us, so that He might give eternal life to all those who have been given to Him by God.
Who exactly are these people Jesus is talking about, all those who have been given to Him? We can begin to answer that question by examining who He prays for next. Let’s read just a little further into John’s chapter 17, looking at verses 6 through 8, and remember: Jesus is still praying to God…
Who exactly are these people Jesus is talking about, all those who have been given to Him? We can begin to answer that question by examining who He prays for next. Let’s read just a little further into John’s chapter 17, looking at verses 6 through 8, and remember: Jesus is still praying to God…
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.”
--John 17:6-8 (NKJV)
Did you notice the use of the past tense there? "The men You have given Me”. "They were Yours". "They have believed”. Jesus is talking about His disciples, and specifically His twelve closest – yes, even Judas Iscariot who He has already said will soon betray Him. Jesus is now praying for these men God pulled out of the world and gave to Him, to follow Him, to learn from Him, to carry on after He leaves.
And it really should come as no surprise that Jesus would pray for them, because He loved them so very much. Just how much we can see from John’s opening to this long passage in his Gospel. Hear what John said back in the 1st verse of chapter 13…
And it really should come as no surprise that Jesus would pray for them, because He loved them so very much. Just how much we can see from John’s opening to this long passage in his Gospel. Hear what John said back in the 1st verse of chapter 13…
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
--John 13:1 (NKJV)
“Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” Isn’t that beautiful?!
Jesus loved these men. They were plucked from out of this earthly life by God and placed in Jesus’ care for three years. And He loved them dearly, even to the very end.
So this must be who He meant when He prayed to god for all those given to Him, right? Let’s look just a little further. Continuing John’s account of this holiest of prayers, in verses 14 through 18, Jesus goes on to say to His Father…
Jesus loved these men. They were plucked from out of this earthly life by God and placed in Jesus’ care for three years. And He loved them dearly, even to the very end.
So this must be who He meant when He prayed to god for all those given to Him, right? Let’s look just a little further. Continuing John’s account of this holiest of prayers, in verses 14 through 18, Jesus goes on to say to His Father…
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 pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
--John 17:14-18 (NKJV)
It still sounds like He’s talking about His twelve disciples, doesn’t it? Jesus taught them, gave them God’s word. The world hated them because they are not of this world, having been pulled from it by God. And isn’t this truly prophetic, when we look at the fate the disciples suffered at the hands of the world after Jesus ascended back into heaven?
Now notice that Jesus didn’t ask God to take them out of this world, which would spare them from any suffering to come. He only asked that the Father keep them from the devil, keep them out of Satan’s clutches. They were His and His alone, and Jesus wanted to keep it that way.
Family, Jesus wasn’t just praying for Himself. He wasn’t just praying for His twelve disciples or even for all the other disciples that joined Him during those three years of His ministry on this earth.
Didn’t John also describe us in that last passage I just read? We are not of this world, but have been pulled from the world by God’s wonderful redeeming grace. Our very name here – Pilgrim Church – gives testimony to our temporary journey through this world, this life, on our way to something far better.
So even though Jesus is speaking in the past and present tenses there, talking about what God has done and what He – Jesus – is doing with these His closest disciples, can’t we see that it applies to us as well? Can’t we just go ahead and assume He is praying for us too?
Well, brothers and sisters, we don’t have to make any assumptions. We don’t have to guess who Jesus was praying for. Look again at verse 20 from today’s reading: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me.”
Jesus says quite clearly He is praying to His Father on behalf of any and all of God’s children that will believe in Him, from that point on, until the very end of time when He returns to take His church home! And that includes you and me! Our Lord and Master was praying for us. Jesus Himself was lifting us up in prayer to our God.
Pay attention to those three little words there at the end of verse 20: “through their word”. Now Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, but I don’t believe Jesus is referring to us, or to our word. I think the “they” He is referring to are the same ones He was praying for before turning His attention to us – His disciples and their word.
Think about it for just a second… How do we know Jesus, particularly Jesus the Man, or the Son of Man as He liked to call Himself? Don’t we get the most information about Him from our Holy Bible, and most specifically, the New Testament of our Bible?
Well, those books in the New Testament were all written by Jesus’ disciples. Even the Apostle Paul can be considered one of these disciples because Jesus came to Him in a very special way and shared so much with him that it amazed even those who had walked alongside the Lord. It is by their word - the accounts of Jesus’ life contained in the four Gospels, the activities of the Apostles after Jesus’ death, the letters Paul, John, Peter, James, and Jude wrote – it is through all of this that we come to know Jesus and to believe in Him, just as He said.
The rest of today’s scripture tells just how much Jesus loves us, a deep and abiding love displayed in His prayer and in the very fact that He prayed for us. We can see that love exemplified in verse 21 by His desire for us to be one with Him and with God – all of us together as one, just as He is one with the Father. Now part of the reason for this plea is so that the world will know that God indeed sent Jesus into the world. But what is the rationale for that except that more of the world might believe in Him and be saved!
If that isn’t enough of a sign of His love for us, then consider verse 22, where Jesus tells our Father that He gave to us all the glory that God gave to Him! Everything God gave to His Son, Jesus gives to us. Why? Verse 23: so that we might be made perfect, joined as one with Jesus and with God.
Want more? How about verse 26? Jesus asks His Father to love us with the same love with which He – God - loved His Son. That’s a mouthful, but Jesus prayed that God love us just like He loves His only begotten Son. He prays for that true and ever faithful love to be within us. That He Himself may be within us.
Jesus loves us so much, He came to us when we were filthy in our sin, dead in our sin against God. He loves us so much He prayed for us that night long ago, long before we were ever born, knowing just who we would be and that we would be His. He loves us so much, He wanted His Father to love us with all the love in all of creation. He loves us so much, He chose to live within us.
Let us be worthy of His love.
Amen.
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, You bless us every day, but the greatest blessing You could ever give was that of Your Own Son, sent to us from heaven, sent to us when we were lost in darkness, sent to be a Light unto this world, a beacon of hope for the hopeless, a means of redemption for those not worthy of being saved. Thank You Father, for loving us that much, for loving us as You love Your own Son, for loving us as Jesus asked You to.
Hear us now, O God, as we approach You in the silence, with bowed heads and humble hearts…
Lord Jesus, You gave everything for us, just so we could be one with You and our Father in heaven. You love us so much You prayed to God for us, that He would love us too and have mercy upon our sinful condition. May we in turn give our all to You – following You, serving You, loving all others as You love us. In Your beautiful name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Now notice that Jesus didn’t ask God to take them out of this world, which would spare them from any suffering to come. He only asked that the Father keep them from the devil, keep them out of Satan’s clutches. They were His and His alone, and Jesus wanted to keep it that way.
Family, Jesus wasn’t just praying for Himself. He wasn’t just praying for His twelve disciples or even for all the other disciples that joined Him during those three years of His ministry on this earth.
Didn’t John also describe us in that last passage I just read? We are not of this world, but have been pulled from the world by God’s wonderful redeeming grace. Our very name here – Pilgrim Church – gives testimony to our temporary journey through this world, this life, on our way to something far better.
So even though Jesus is speaking in the past and present tenses there, talking about what God has done and what He – Jesus – is doing with these His closest disciples, can’t we see that it applies to us as well? Can’t we just go ahead and assume He is praying for us too?
Well, brothers and sisters, we don’t have to make any assumptions. We don’t have to guess who Jesus was praying for. Look again at verse 20 from today’s reading: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me.”
Jesus says quite clearly He is praying to His Father on behalf of any and all of God’s children that will believe in Him, from that point on, until the very end of time when He returns to take His church home! And that includes you and me! Our Lord and Master was praying for us. Jesus Himself was lifting us up in prayer to our God.
Pay attention to those three little words there at the end of verse 20: “through their word”. Now Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, but I don’t believe Jesus is referring to us, or to our word. I think the “they” He is referring to are the same ones He was praying for before turning His attention to us – His disciples and their word.
Think about it for just a second… How do we know Jesus, particularly Jesus the Man, or the Son of Man as He liked to call Himself? Don’t we get the most information about Him from our Holy Bible, and most specifically, the New Testament of our Bible?
Well, those books in the New Testament were all written by Jesus’ disciples. Even the Apostle Paul can be considered one of these disciples because Jesus came to Him in a very special way and shared so much with him that it amazed even those who had walked alongside the Lord. It is by their word - the accounts of Jesus’ life contained in the four Gospels, the activities of the Apostles after Jesus’ death, the letters Paul, John, Peter, James, and Jude wrote – it is through all of this that we come to know Jesus and to believe in Him, just as He said.
The rest of today’s scripture tells just how much Jesus loves us, a deep and abiding love displayed in His prayer and in the very fact that He prayed for us. We can see that love exemplified in verse 21 by His desire for us to be one with Him and with God – all of us together as one, just as He is one with the Father. Now part of the reason for this plea is so that the world will know that God indeed sent Jesus into the world. But what is the rationale for that except that more of the world might believe in Him and be saved!
If that isn’t enough of a sign of His love for us, then consider verse 22, where Jesus tells our Father that He gave to us all the glory that God gave to Him! Everything God gave to His Son, Jesus gives to us. Why? Verse 23: so that we might be made perfect, joined as one with Jesus and with God.
Want more? How about verse 26? Jesus asks His Father to love us with the same love with which He – God - loved His Son. That’s a mouthful, but Jesus prayed that God love us just like He loves His only begotten Son. He prays for that true and ever faithful love to be within us. That He Himself may be within us.
Jesus loves us so much, He came to us when we were filthy in our sin, dead in our sin against God. He loves us so much He prayed for us that night long ago, long before we were ever born, knowing just who we would be and that we would be His. He loves us so much, He wanted His Father to love us with all the love in all of creation. He loves us so much, He chose to live within us.
Let us be worthy of His love.
Amen.
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, You bless us every day, but the greatest blessing You could ever give was that of Your Own Son, sent to us from heaven, sent to us when we were lost in darkness, sent to be a Light unto this world, a beacon of hope for the hopeless, a means of redemption for those not worthy of being saved. Thank You Father, for loving us that much, for loving us as You love Your own Son, for loving us as Jesus asked You to.
Hear us now, O God, as we approach You in the silence, with bowed heads and humble hearts…
Lord Jesus, You gave everything for us, just so we could be one with You and our Father in heaven. You love us so much You prayed to God for us, that He would love us too and have mercy upon our sinful condition. May we in turn give our all to You – following You, serving You, loving all others as You love us. In Your beautiful name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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