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"The
Lord's Prayer, Pt.2" • 2.23.20 • Calvary Christian
Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- We stopped near the middle of the Lord's prayer last week, having
listened in, as the Lord prepared Himself for a return to His previous place of
glory in verses 1-5.
- With all that He is about to
suffer, He knows that His mind will need to focus upon that future. The
disciples however, would not know that glory immediately.
- Beginning at verse 6,
Jesus begins to pray for His disciples, who have believed and received His
word. He prays for their protection from the enemy.
- He continues to expand upon what
that will entail, beginning in verse 13.
Text
• John
17:13 : "But now I come to You, and these things I speak
in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves." : Jesus could have prayed silently, but
much of what was being said was for their benefit.
- He has a purpose in doing this. In the midst
of whatever difficulty awaits them, He wants them to experience His joy.
- Jesus wants His disciples to possess, to take
hold of His own joy! Jesus was a man that experienced great sorrow, but He also
knew the heights of joy!
- I'm certain that He wouldn't want to share
His joy if He did not have any! He wants them and us to have His same joy and
he doesn't want us to have it in part.
- He has shared these things with them that His
joy would be theirs to the greatest measure! The word conveys the idea of a cup
that is so full, it continually spills out in every direction!
- It is not merely a joy that is poured upon
them, but a joy that is emanating out of them! The source of His shared joy is
being expressed from within them!
- The fountain of living water that Jesus
promises will flow from a believer's life is connected by the Holy Spirit, is
always flavored with the peace and love of the Father and the joy of the Son!
V. 14.
• John 17:14-16 : "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. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the
world, just as I am not of the world." : Jesus had delivered God's word, His "logos" to them.
- This is the same word that John applies to
Jesus in chapter one. These men knew the person that embodied God's
"logos." Jesus is God's message!
- He is the final word given to the watching
World that they must either accept or reject.
- The context here suggests that this
"word" be thought of, not specifically referring to the person of
Christ, but to the divine plan and purpose of God, central to the Universe.
- That is how Heraclitus used the term when he
coined it in 600 B.C. The disciples have been let in on the very intent of God
in creating the Universe and in sending Jesus into it!
- What had been the result? What is the cost of
this knowledge? They world has hated them!
- Those that are dominated by the world, the
prevailing system of thought, eventually detest those that have believed in the
God that will not accomodate Himself to it!
- The world's ideology persists in the belief
in it's own superiority and independence from God!
- Those that are dedicated to that set of
beliefs look upon His disciples with disgust. For all of their talk of
tolerance, the one thing the world cannot tolerate is a person committed to
God's ways!
- These men were not a part of the world's
system of thought, in the same way that Jesus was outside of it. These men would
not conform or allow the world to shape their lives.
- Consequently, these men were hated, but the
Lord doesn't pray that they be taken out of the world. The disciples must
remain to provide eyewitness testimony to this very same world.
- Their words and work have touched every one
of our lives, 2000 years removed from the events that they spoke about! We are
being touched by John's recording of this prayer today!
- Consequently, the Lord did not pray for their
escape, but for their protection while they remained. Jesus prayed that the
Father would guard them against the evil one!
- If you have ever wondered about whether or
not it's rational to believe in Satan, keep in mind that Jesus believed in him
enough to pray against him!
- How should they be protected from Satan and
why would he attack them? They would be attacked because of their identity!
Satan's forces will attack anyone who is not of this world!
- This is why Jesus repeats that they are not
of this world as He was not of this world! Their identity and relationship to
Him, made them a natural target for Satan's Kingdom!
- How then does God preserve and guard those
that seek to remain identified with their Master? What is their defense? Verse 17.
• John 17:17 : "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." : Satan's attacks are rarely centered upon the body. His
playground is the human mind!
- The greatest threat to a Christian is not
going to come necessarily from physical persecution, but through lies and false
ideologies that often serve to cripple a believer's witness.
- Take suffering for example. When a person
suffers in a fallen world, where does the blame often fall? People will say,
"If God loves me, why is this happening?"
- The devil is taking that thought and offering
theories that conflict with reality. He wants us to believe that God couldn't
care for us and often the believer is stumbled. What is the antidote? Truth!
- "Sanctify them by Your truth."
Purify. Cleanse. Consecrate these disciples by the means of Your, the Father's
truth!
- In case there is a question of what truth
Jesus refers to, He specifies that God's word is truth! God's command to them
is their center.
- What the disciples communicated to their
world and what we now hold as a completed canon of scripture, is the sum total
of God's truth for His people to live by!
- It is not the disciple's truth. It is not the
truth of tradition. It is not the truth of an established religious hierarchy.
It is God's truth! I can almost hear the questions now and I understand.
- "If God's truth is knowable and
objective, how do people arrive at such different points?"
- I'd suggest that there are two answers that
you must comprehend and realize the dangers of.
- First, please remember that every person
coming to Christ will be coming in to Christ at a different vantage point from
you and will be exposed to certain truths earlier or later than others.
- Unfortunately, I have seen young people
exposed to ideas that are less focused on the Bible and more upon certain
teachers or systems of theology.
- Many have been spoiled by attempting to
systematize their faith before they even know the substance of it! They believe
they are receiving God's truth, but have often been lead to man's plan!
- I remember hearing a Pastor exhort his
congregation to read their Bibles five times before consulting theological
luminaries in order to keep them from error. I believe that to be a valid
point.
- The second reason Christians adopt wildly
different interpretations of scripture relates to the cavalier approach to
scripture that infects many Churches today.
- Most pulpits cherry pick their scriptures,
minimizing doctrinal teaching for practical "talks" about mastering
certain parts of a person's life.
- "Selected scriptures" and
"topical series" preaching gives the impression of Biblical honor,
but is betrayed when the Bible is divorced from it's original setting for the
sake of a Pastor's agenda.
- All that being said, let it not be said that
it is entirely the fault of faulty Pastors and false churches. Believers are
also guilty of shirking their responsibility to learn God's truth.
- The Barna Institute is a reputable analytics
company which tracks trends within the evangelical church. They identify five
groups in the church by their attitudes toward the Bible.
- The spectrum runs from "Centered"
to "Disengaged." The Bible Disengaged group covers those who admit
that they interact with the Bible infrequently and that it has no impact on
them.
- On the other side of the spectrum, the Bible
Centered group interacts with the Bible frequently and notes that it's dictates
rule over their relationships and choices.
- Wanna know the numbers? 5% of the people
surveyed believed themselves to be Bible Centered. 48% put themselves in the
Bible Disengaged group![i]
- Is it any wonder then that there is such
confusion over sexual ethics, the morality of abortion or the origins of our
universe? People will not find the answers if they won't simply read them!
- Pastors can teach the truth until they are
blue in the face, but if the congregation refuses to submit and commit
themselves to finding it themselves, they have no chance of standing!
- In order to be cleansed, a Christian needs an
entire diet of God's entire revelation! Anything less will leave holes in your
absorption of truth!
- You need God's whole counsel if you will be a
whole Christian! This is our defense against our enemy's tactics! Remember that
Satan has been a liar from the beginning! (John 8:44)
- Aside from that, knowledge of the truth
precedes being effective in Christ's call. Verse 18.
• John 17:18,19 : "As You sent Me into the
world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their
sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth." : Jesus is the original Apostle, the
original "sent one!" The Father sent the Son into our world with the
full authority of heaven. Now, Jesus is sending these men into their world!
- They are "delegates,"
"representatives" of their true home country, authorized to speak and
act on behalf of their governing body and their reigning King Jesus!
- They will be charged with
transmitting information and official communiques, endorsed by the Godhead.
First and second Peter. John. Acts. All 27 NT books are official Kingdom
documents!
- They will act in the same way
that they saw Jesus act! The Lord did not act from His own authority. He did
what His Father gave Him to do and spoke what His Father allowed Him to say.
- Just as Jesus acted with the full
authority of the Father, so also will the Apostles act and speak with the full
authority of their Master! It is for them that Jesus sanctified Himself.
- It is on their behalf that the
Lord "consecrates" Himself. (ESV) The NLT renders verse 19,
"And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them."
- We set ourselves apart,
consecrating ourselves spiritually unto the Lord. Jesus is speaking of this
literally! He will be the offering for them, in order that they might be made
holy by the truth!
- That work is possible for
believers because of what Christ was about to perform! He will provide the
means by which they will be kept by Father!
- They will be kept in the world, to show the
world what it is like to be in, but not of the world. They will be kept from the world, purified by
the truth of God's Word.
- And, as we see from verse 19,
they will be kept for
the world, as ones who are sent on an Ambassdor's mission to the world! Verse 20.
• John 17:20,21 : "I do not pray for these
alone, but also for those who will believe
in Me through their word; 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." : In verses 1-5, Jesus prayed for Himself in preparation
for glory. Verses 6-19 reveal the Lord praying for His disciples, who
must be prepared for their enemy.
- We enter into this final section,
in which the Lord prays for His church, you and I! Notice that Jesus accounts
us as His disciples! Look at the emphasis in verse 20.
- You could almost say it like
this:"I do not pray for these disciples alone, but for those disciples who
will believe!" We do not believe in apostolic succession, but there is
discipleship connection!
- We are disciples of the Lord who
have believed in Christ on account of the disciple's word! - We are extensions of their work! Every person
here that has come to believe upon Christ, has done so through the sole source
of the writings contained within the New Testament!
- Whether it was their direct writing
or the beliefs and teachings that arose from the implications of their witness,
the New Testament is essentially their word!
- Jesus identifies us as those who
believe in Him through the word and these act like Him with regard to
community! He prays that we will be unified as the Godhead is unified!
- That unity is preserved in the
Godhead. In other words, our unity will not be in a stringent behavior code, or
upon uniformity in every non-essential belief.
- We are united in the eternal
Godhead, the Father who chose us, the Son who redeemed us and the Spirit who
sealed us! "May they always find their unity in Us!" What is the
purpose?
- That the world will believe that
God sent Christ! Interesting, Jesus does not pray for the world, but for the
impact that the church would have upon their world!
- He sent the original disciples
out and prayed that they would impact the world. It follows that He has the
same intent when He prays for us!
- The greatest benefit of the world
is Jesus Christ and He is known through the faithful, united community of
believers that represent Him with their lives of love! Verse 22.
• John 17:22,23 : "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 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." : Here is an interesting thought: The
Father had given the Son "glory." That word speaks of an estimate of
reputation.
- The Father gave to Jesus a
reputation of being connected to Divinity through His works and words. The
people reported things like, "Only God can..." or "Nobody has
ever spoken like this."
- In this way, there is a high
esteem of Christ, even among those that hated Him. To those that loved Him,
that esteem led to their belief and worship. To fail to believe led to their
hatred.
- God had given this to His Son and
the Son gives this same weight of reputation and esteem to the Apostles! The
world will look at them as having had a connection with the Lord!
- God has done this throughout
history when employing men to work on His behalf.
- When God sent Moses to speak to
Pharaoh, God made Moses seem as "God" to Pharaoh. (Exodus 7:1)
This sense of reputation didn't stop with Pharoah.
- Exodus 11:3 exclaims that
Moses was very great in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the
people of Egypt! Can you imagine what it was like to follow Moses leadership?
- God knew that it would be
difficult for the people to transition themselves mentally over to following
Joshua, so what did God do for Joshua? Right before they crossed the Jordan,
God said:
• Joshua 3:7 : "And the Lord
said to Joshua, 'This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel,
that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you." : There was a transference! God let the
people know that He was with Joshua in the same way that He had been with
Moses! Jesus is giving that to the disciples as well!
- Essentially, through the gift of
the Holy Spirit, people will assume that these men have an "in" with
God! Isn't that exactly what they said of the Apostles?
• Acts 4:13 : "Now when they saw the boldness of
Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they
marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus." : The world around them believed that
the Lord was working in them!
- God has given them this
reputation in order that they might be unified together and with one another,
that they might be thoroughly complete together! Why?
- In order that the world will know
that the Father sent Him and that His love flows through His people! Verse 24.
• John 17:24-26 : "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. O righteous Father! The world
has not known You, but I have
known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 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." : What a
beautiful way to end this prayer. Jesus desires that the ones given to Him
might be with Him where He is!
- The Son's desire is to enjoy the
fellowship and love of His beloved forever in eternity!
- Imagine this request especially
from the Lord's present vantage point. He has spent 33 years away from His
glory, in abject poverty, harassed by the religious establishment of His own
people.
- By His own admission, Jesus was a
man without a place to lay His head while He lived on Earth! Wherever He slept,
it was borrowed or granted to Him by His followers.
- He is within hours of beings
subjected to utter humilation and even worse, becoming the sole weight bearer
of the sins of all of His people for all of time!
- The disciples will have to
"see" Him endure this indignity. No wonder He longs for them to see
the glory that He had, that was bestowed on Him by God, that He had before the
world was!
- This destiny is for those that
have the Lord has intimately known and loved! These men have entered into that
love through their Savior and we have entered in as well!
Conclusion
- When Jesus prayed for Himself, He prayed that
He would be prepared for glory. Even as He suffered, His mind was on the glory
that He would return to, that was rightfully due to Him.
- When Jesus prayed for His disciples, He
prayed that they would be prepared for their enemy. God would keep them in the
world, from the world and for the world!
- What does He pray for His church, the future
disciples, a distinction presently occupied by those that are believing in Him
today? He prays that they would be prepared for eternity!
- Jesus wants us to remember that this world is
not our home, that our suffering is not all that there is and that when this life
ends, our true life begins with Him!
- Let that light shine forth in your spirits
and may your hearts be further tuned to your home!