John Talk 5 - Ch 17

John 17; "I pray father..."
Introduction;
There are two big questions you need to ask about life, and they aren't optional. If you have been given the gift of life, it is incumbent upon us to ask these two questions, but more than that I think even the harsh pragmatics of this life bear their weight upon all of us at some point, and compel us to find answers to these two questions;

1. who am I?
2. what is my purpose?

The first question, "who am I?" Is a question of "being", who am I to be?
The second question, "what is my purpose?" Is a question of doing, what is my function, My goal, my purpose from being?

These are two massive questions, and these are the most important questions and the foundations of any life.
And do you know what most people I suspect particularly in Australia would answer to those questions?
I suspect they would say, "don't know really, I haven't given it much thought!"

The philosopher Socrates in around 300 BC said of this kind of attitude, of a hand to mouth approach to existence, he said, "that the unexamined life is not worth living".

And we find ourselves amongst such an age, that seems to be endemic with scepticism at best, but a profound apathy at worst -- how can we find an anchor to ground our existence.?

Well as Christian people we know the answer don't we? The answer of our existence is the revelation of our own creator to us. The revelation of the word become flesh, God incarnate, the light of life, the word of truth from the father, full of grace and truth, Jesus Christ.

The anchor of our existence is Jesus Christ, but how can we as Jesus followers earn his truth a hearing in this sceptical and apathetic culture which we find ourselves planted within.

Well the answer comes today as Jesus answers the questions for us, when he tells us of our;
1. Being -- who am I?
2. Doing -- what is my purpose?

Lisa Simpson once said, "prayer is the last refuge of the scoundrel".
And at one level we all know what she means, it is where people turn who have run out of other "earthly" options -- they pray to God for divine intervention.

But the thing about the pressure of situations that would turn even a scoundrel to Prayer is, that it strips back the froth reveals the true heart of the persons concerns. Prayer under extreme pressure seems to have a clarity and focus that makes it the most honest and raw form of communication a human is capable of. And we see that today, as we see Jesus heart laid bare in prayer to his father for himself and for us.

This passage is the longest of Jesus prayers in Scripture, as he faces the impending trial, hardship and persecution of the Cross the next day. And Jesus High-priestly prayer in the face of that tremendous pressure and anguish is not for deliverance for himself, but to bring the father glory, and also that his disciples may persevere, so as to also bring the father glory.

Now in context you may remember from last week in chapter 16, Jesus plans for his return to the father, so that he and the father may send the spirit. In this chapter's prayer Jesus prays for the work of the spirit in his followers -- so that;
1. they may know who they are -- their being
2. they may know what they are called to -- their purpose

Jesus knows who he is, and he knows his purpose, and because of that we can know ours too!
But in this first section, that we will look at today, Jesus actually prays for himself.

1. Jesus prays that the father may glorify him, so that he may glorify the father! (Verse 1-5)
Which I will point out, is not exactly the request of a scoundrel is it?

NIV John 17:1
After Jesus said this,
he looked toward heaven and prayed:

"Father, the time has come.
Glorify** your Son,
that your Son may glorify you.
2 For you granted him authority over all people
that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
3 Now this is eternal life:
that they may know you,
the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I have brought you glory on earth
by completing the work you gave me to do.

5 And now, Father,
Glorify** me in your presence
with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Twice Jesus requests the father to glorify him, in v1 and V5.
The glory of Christ is of course a theme that has been developed throughout the Gospel of John, but Christ's glory itself is where people see him for who he really is. People see the glory of the Christ, when they realise he is the revelation of the father, the one sent from the father -- the word of God, who was with God, the word who is God, and the word of God who dwelt amongst us full of grace and truth.

In this section we see the nature, the "being" of our God laid bare, the triune God reveals his servant nature or that characteristic of being "other person centred". The Son wants glory from the father, but only so the son can give glory to the
Father. All three persons of the Trinity are "other person centred" in their deep relational unity, it's like a mutual appreciation Society. Our God is a relational God, the one triune God who is three persons in a deep relational, "other person centred" unity.

Christ's glory is revealed in his being, and also in his authority ,that he is the Lord from the beginning we read in V5, and he is the Lord over all people we read in verse two. But Jesus Glory is also revealed in his purpose, to bring glory to the father by completing the father's work of saving sinful men and women.

Christ's glory is revealed most pointedly in his purpose of salvation.

And Christ reveals his understanding of his true self to us in his prayer. And in the process of revealing himself, he also reveals the reality of mankind's being and doing. Our being and doing are inextricably linked to Christ's being and doing, which is unsurprising given he is our creator.

Christ’s being is to be the son of the father,
our being is to now be children of God, in a deep personal relationship with God through the holy spirit.


Christ's purpose is to bring the father glory by saving the lost,
our purpose is to bring the father of glory by testifying to the saving son in the power of the spirit so the lost may be saved.

If you are being honest, what would you say your answers to the questions;
1.who am I?
2.what is my purpose?

If your answer is "don't know"
let me ask the question in a different way, which is, what do you pray for?
Answer that question, and I think you have answered what is really your answer to the other two as well!


2. I pray for them...not " them", the other them! (Verse 6-11)

It seems in the cataclysmic battle that is going on in John's gospel ‘the world’ are on the side of evil, the world does not want the son and because of this the son does not pray for the world, but to those who have been given to him and come to him out of the world.
6 "I have revealed you to those
whom you gave me out of the world.
They were yours;
you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
7 Now they know that everything you have given me
comes from you.
8 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.
9 I pray for them.
I am not praying for the world,
but for those you have given me,
for they are yours.
10 All I have is yours,
and all you have is mine.
And glory has come to me through them.
11 I will remain in the world no longer,
but they are still in the world,
and I am coming to you.

Christ’s people see him revealed in his words. They see, they know, they believe that he is the Christ, sent from the father and they obey his words. And because of this they are his, and he will pray for them. He will pray for them because as we learnt last week Jesus is going to the father. And now both the father and the son send the spirit to carry on God's work in God's people.

In being who we were made to be -- We bring Christ glory.

Christ's return to the father means "the world" no longer has any hold on him, but he prays for us because we remain in the world, but he prays that we would not be "of the world".. which we will see in the next section.
Jesus lives now to intercede for us, and what did he pray?

3. "father, protect and sanctify them in the truth.." (versus 12-19)

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.
12 While I was with them,
I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.
…..
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world
but that you protect them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world,
I have sent them into the world.
19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus asks his father had two clear things on behalf of his disciples
1. protection (or keeping)
2. Sanctification
Both of these are integral aspects of our "being" and "doing" as Christians, integral aspects in our answer to the question of, who am I? And what is my purpose?

Well in praying for protection Jesus tells us that we are God's possession, we are set apart from the rest of fallen creation for God's purpose and glory.

I. protection in the world
Now I am only guessing, but I reckon if you were the disciples, up until this part in the Gospel you would be feeling pretty confident about facing life wouldn't you?
After all Jesus has cured sickness, healed the lame, given sight to the blind, calmed a raging sea, and only recently raised the dead, not to mention he sticks it to the religious leaders every time they try to catch him out.

Life is sweet isn't it, and on top of that he has given you power over the demons -- you don't need to fear anyone do you?
You are king of the hill, you walk the streets and everyone knows you, and even your enemies cannot touch you.
And then -- Jesus dies.

The whole power structure will change won't it?
How are you going to feel then?

I suspect extremely vulnerable, is the answer, because the one who had protected them will be gone.
And the world that killed him because of his word, will be looking at you next because you are now the keepers of his word.
The world will hate you because the world hated Jesus.
The devil will persecute you, because the devil persecuted Jesus.

But Jesus knows the fear and trial that will come the way of his followers and so he prays to his sovereign father to protect them by sending them the holy spirit. Jesus Disciples are held safe in the depths of the sovereign father (even while they are still in the world!) By the intimacy of the relationship we have with the sovereign father, through the son in the holy spirit.

The sovereign lord is our father and because of that we are protected from the evil one even while we are (in the trial, temptation and persecution), that it is, to be ‘in the world’.

Christ prays to his father for the power of the holy spirit to protect or keep his disciples in their relationship with God.
Who am I?
In Christ and by the spirit, I am God's possession and he will hold me fast in the face of opposition and trial.
That is who I am.

II. Christ prays that they may be sanctified by the truth
Christ not only prays that we would be his possession, but he also prays that we would be his people!
Christ prays that we may be sanctified and that we may be sanctified by the truth.

So firstly, what does sanctified mean?
Sanctified is the action of holiness,
Great what does is that mean?
Well to be sanctified, is to be holy-ified -- if I can make up a word!
It means made holy.
And holiness involves two things;
1. being -- who I am!
2. doing -- what is my purpose!
God is HOLY in the very depths of his being and doing.

In his being he is just, right, pure and good -- he is HOLY.
And in his doing, in creation, Judgment, Salvation and Providence -- he is HOLY. And he is the one person, who is utterly consistent in themselves, between their being and their doing. God is HOLY in his doing, as he is in his being.

All Holiness in this world is received from, (and is a derivative of), God's holiness. And we see that in verse 19, that Jesus sanctifies himself for us. Now clearly, he was already holy in his being (and was never otherwise), but now he will go to the Cross, the ultimate expression of his Holiness in doing, so that we may be made holy, that we may be truly sanctified.

To be holy means Firstly and foremost to be without sin. Christ prays for those who believe in his name, and then acts for us, so that we may have no sin. That our sin would be taken away and dealt with at the cross.
The sin was absolutely ours and our doing, but he bore it in his body on that bloodied Cross and because of that, (and by believing in his name), we are without sin and being made holy.

In our being (if I can use those terms) our sin is dealt with, the cross has dealt with our sin in our relationship with God, and yet in our doing, we still sin don't we?
We are not separated from the presence of sin this side of Christ's return.

So Where does that leave us?
Justification -- is the Bible’s legal term for the penalty of our sin being paid by Christ at the cross. He paid our debt and we are justified before God.

Justification is one of the benefits that comes to us through Christ, and another benefit is of Sanctification.

Sanctification -- is the process of being made holy, we are being changed in our minds, our actions, and our character to conformed to the family likeness. To be sanctified is to be holy like Christ our brother, and like God our father.

And how does Sanctification happen?, well it happens by being exposed to, and change by, the truth. The truth is of course Jesus himself. Jesus sanctifies his people and he does this through the truth of his word exposed and empowered by the spirit himself upon our lives and being.

As we learnt last week Christ rules his church, by his word and by his spirit. And he rules and changes his people in the very same way!
Sanctification is a “being” related to our character, but it is also a “doing”. To be holy or sanctified is also a doing, of being set apart for God’s purposes, set apart from the world. Sanctified people are in the world, but they are not of the world. God sanctifies us so that we may make him know in this world, and that is what Jesus prays for his disciples to be and to do.

Sanctification is foundation and primarily a being, but it is a being that is integrally, essentially and explicitly a doing. We are being made holy to please and serve God by being his witnesses to a lost and watching world.

And We are going to have a little think about that in the next section, but before we do, let me ask you this,
how serious are you about holiness?
One theologian has said, "holiness is not a condition into which one drifts!"
So are you serious about holiness?
Are we as a congregation serious about holiness?

We are Christian aren't we?
Holiness is who we are!
Holiness is what we do!

Holiness comes by being sanctified by Christ's truth, his word and his spirit acting together.
Do you soak yourself in Christ’s word that you may be changed?
Do you earnestly pray for the holy spirit’s work that you may be conformed to the family likeness?
This is in an essential aspect of the Christian life, it is not an optional extra.

Sanctification or holiness is about our identity & it is pleasing to God, but it is also so we can do his will, so we can fulfil our purpose.

4."father, I pray that they may be one, for my glory in the world!" (V20 to 26)

20 "My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
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 have sent me.

Now we are running a little short of time, so we will just touch on this section briefly.

Firstly, if you have a pen, you have my permission to cross out the title on this section of the NIV, it is totally misleading at this point and makes it look like this is the only section that applies directly to us. But the whole prayer is Jesus prayer for all of the disciples -- yes there are distinctive elements for the first few disciples -- particularly in terms of their witness and message -- but the bulk of the prayer is for all Jesus Disciple's.

So V20 would be truer if it started "my prayer is not just for them alone" and that just makes quite a difference in how we understand who and what Jesus is praying for.
Now leaving that aside for the moment, Jesus prays for the believers, that the depth of their relationship in Christ, (their relationship with the father, through the son in the holy spirit), would be expressed in the unity of their relationship together as believers.

That is who we are to be, and this also is for a purpose, so that the world may know Jesus and see his glory. And that the world may believe that he is the one sent from the father, the one full of grace in truth, the one who brings eternal life.

So what does this Oneness look like?
Well we don't have time for a thorough and detailed conversation now, so let me leave you with a couple of ideas.

-- we are to have a oneness of being ‘in Christ’. Being ‘in Christ’ is a description of reality now. A Oneness in the truth of Christ found in his word applied to our lives by the holy spirit -- that is the being of oneness in Christ

-- it is also a oneness of doing for Christ. We are to be one in action for Christ in seeking to bring him glory by testifying the truth of the Gospel of Christ in Word, character, actions, and our relationships to a watching world.


SO let me ask you a question to ponder through this week,
how do you think we are going as a congregation in our being in doing for Christ?
And what are you going to change as a result?
Conclusion;
People, both Christian and non-Christian, always want to know what God's will is for their life. Well in his prayer to the father, Jesus reveals God's will for our lives. He prays that through glorifying him we may bring glory to the father, and that we may be kept from evil and be sanctified in the truth by him, that we as a congregation of Believers would testify to the watching world the truth about Christ, through the unity of our being and doing.

That is Jesus foundational prayer and will for your life.
Is that your foundational prayer and desire your life as well?
Who are you?
And what is the purpose of your life?