Series: Conversations with Jesus
John 17
INTRO
Last week we looked at this dilemma of unanswered prayer
-sometimes prayer goes unanswered because they are so frivolous
-help me to get an A—even though I haven’t studied
-help my team to win today (okay-some of these aren’t frivolous prayers)
- sportsmen who pray for victory over the other team
Part of the problem is that prayer is often about us
-our self absorption takes on religious expression
-and we move downstream
-informing God of our plans
-pleading with God to see things our way
-cutting deals—fruitless whining over our wants
-seeking for God’s blessings on our own endeavors
-when what we need to do is start upstream—where the flow begins
-authentic prayer begins with God—for it’s all about Him—not us
-this is what Jesus shows us in His prayer in John 17
It’s in this chapter Jesus’ prayer brings to closure this long discourse—that began back in chapter 13
-the hour now has come
-from here-everything will move in quick succession-arrest, trial, execution
So Jesus prayed— (read 17:1-5)
1. the first thing that is striking is that Jesus invites us into His prayer life
-where we gain a rare glimpse
-up till now—we have only caught snippets of His prayers
-now we hear the whole of what He prayed
-He invites us into His prayer closet—wherein we hear the deepest parts of the
soul
-for this is what prayer reflects
It’s as if wants us to hear, write it down, ponder it
-because in fact—He does!
2. the second thing is this—this prayer defies easy analysis
-for us concrete sequential types—linear in our approach
-prone to outline, systematize
-this prayer will not allow it
-there is a certain flow—and yet a certain randomness to it
But then-most prayers are like this
-most of mine have all of the skeletal structure of an amoeba
-like His discourse-it is rambling and unsystematic
-there is no outline-no smooth transitions
-for after all—He is not teaching how to pray as in Matt 6
-He doesn’t begin with—“When you pray, say…”
-He is simply letting us listen in as He pours His heart out to God
-and yet—and here’s the third thing we can’t avoid
3. this prayer was intentionally given for our teaching
-for it was recorded and entered as part of Scripture—which Paul told Timothy is
given for our instruction—that we might be competent for every good work
-that we might be competent for every good prayer
-all of which leads to a fourth observation
4. the driving force of Jesus’ prayer is the GLORY OF GOD
-this is how He begins—glorify Your Son
-but this must have as its ultimate goal—that He might glorify You We should not be surprised
-from the beginning of His earthly ministry—this has been Jesus’ single aim—
His obsession
-that whatever He does—it will bring glory to God
-His hesitancy to respond immediately to Lazarus was so that the Father’s reputation would be enhanced-11:4
-His encounter with the blind man of John 9 was so that the work of God “might
be displayed”
-His determination to go to the Cross was based ultimately on this one aim—to
glorify the Father’s name-12:28
-even here in 17:1-the glory that comes to Christ is all for this—it might glorify the
Father
For God’s chief end is to glorify God
-it is an unmistakable theme that dominates every other theme—running from
Genesis to Revelation—GOD’S GLORY
-the essential mission of God—the essential pursuit of everything that exists—is
to bring glory to God
-in everything God does—His purpose is to preserve and display His
inexpressible majesty
A. THIS IS WHY ALL CREATION EXISTS—
-Ps 19:1-God made the heavens and earth to recount, declare God’s glory—
God’s immensity
-everything is created to point to Him
B. THIS IS WHY WE EXIST
-Isa 43:7-those called by My name I have created for My glory
-Rom 9:23-He has prepared us for His glory
-the Westminster Confession declares-“The chief duty of man is to glorify God
and enjoy Him forever”
-we were made to showcase God—not ourselves
-made to magnify Him—make Him famous—not ourselves
C. THIS IS WHAT SCRIPTURE CALLS US TO LIVE FOR—
-I Cor 10:31-whatever you do—in word or deed—do all to the glory of God
-whatever says there is nothing too big—nothing too small that cannot—should
not-have God’s glory stamped on it
-I Pet 4:10-11-whoever speaks or serves-in all things-glorify God
-Matt 5:16-let your light shine so that they may see your good works and glorify
God
-I Cor 6:20-you have been with a price-glorify God in your body
-Col 3:17-and whatever you do-whether in word or deed—do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus
D. THIS IS WHAT SHOULD CHARACTERIZE OUR PRAYERS
-that our passion in life would be for God’s reputation
1. that our defining prayer request—under which every other request is secondary is that God be glorified in our lives
2. no-better—that everything we pray would be “framed” in the context of His glory
-God-take take this relationship I am praying for and magnify Your name through it
-God-take this illness and come out of it famous
-God-take this job, this career, this education, this day, this body, these gifts—
and exalt, elevate, increase Your status, Your standing
-take my parenting and elevate Your stature through it
-take St John’s vision an fulfill it—for your name
-take whatever glory that comes to me for anything I have done well—and magnify Yourself instead of me
We need to frame things this way
-for the world, flesh, and devil collude to suppress—not exalt the glory of God
-there’s nothing they hate more—than the glory of God
-every sin’s ultimate aim is to deny God the glory due His name
-hence Paul writes--for all have sinned and continue to fall short of the glory of
God-fail to live according to His purpose-Rom 3:23
-so we are tempted to live for our glory
-to be enamored with ourselves—pray mainly for ourselves and our interests
-live to make a name for us—make much of us—live to be noticed
-live to be god
-Madonna ends her Confessions Tour by symbolically being crucified on stage
-she wraps her singing in religious symbols—but it all about her
But this is to waste life—get things out of focus
-more—it is to take on more than God ever intended
-to live to glorify God invites us to take a break
-to play truant
-we can stop doing all of these important things we have to do in our capacity as
god—and leave it up to Him to be God
-we can uncreate our world that we have carefully fashioned for our glory
-and get in step with the one God for whom it is all about His glory!
Beginning our prayer this way not only frames our requests
-it frames the direction of our lives (read vss 2-4)
Because Jesus was passionate for God’s glory—everything He did was all about
fulfilling the will of God
-work the adversary tried to get Him off page from completing
-but Jesus would not be deterred from His work
-nothing gets in the way of bringing glory to God
And so He completed the call of God on His life—and this is what brings God glory
It is the same with us
-bringing God glory is about completing the work He has called us to do
-for all of us have been extended two calls
-a call to receive His saving forgiveness
-a call to follow His will to personally penetrate this world and live for Him
-a call of God that says—this is the work I formed you for—saved you for
-a call so decisive that everything we are, everything we do, everything we have
is invested with a special devotion in response to this summons (Guinness)
-that is not so much a journey of self discovery (it may not have anything to do
with this)
-but more—simply living life in faithfulness to God, responding to what He brings my way
This is the work we are called to complete
-loving the relationships He gives me
-reaching lost people
-raising the children God gives us
-offering grace to those who have failed, fullness to those who are empty
-exercising what spiritual gifts He has given me
-living out the uniqueness for which we were created for
In essence-living large on the stage we find ourselves (White)
-so that at the end of it all—we can like Jesus declare—
I have brought you glory by completing the work you called me to do
CONCLUSION
Let me ask you this morning—
-who are you living for
-whose glory are you passionate for
-how it you are framing your prayers?
-this is what will revolutionize our world—but far more—this is what will bring
glory to God
In such a life—such a prayer—we climb above timberline and look down at the speck
that is ourselves
-we dwell on His glory—not our own
-and life again gets centered
-and prayers get answered
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO DO THIS?
-Jesus prayer tells us
1. HIS PROTECTION-vss 11-15
-for the evil one’s primary mission is to do whatever it takes to rob God of His
glory
-that is-everything to distract us from our calling
-and so He prays—
-protect them-keep, watch over, guard-vs 11
-keep them in tact from the evil one-vs 15
-not in an insulating way—but keep us from distraction
-from his subtleties—that lead us to live for ourselves—pursue our own glory
-that only will lead to dysfunction
What is ultimately behind the mess of this world
-representatives exchanges despicable stuff on e-mails, people killing little girls,
people taken to garbage dumps and executed (just a typical random week of
news)
-people living lives ambivalent to the call to live for God’s glory
-point us to the spiritual weapons they we will need to successfully fight this
spiritual battle
2. OUR HOLINESS-vs 17
-Jesus prayed that we would be set apart, saturated in the context of truth
-may we be grounded in Word—distinguished by His word
-which will enable us to pursue His call—live for His glory
3. OUR ONENESS-vs 21
-this implies we are to live as community
-as we should—must
-the church is first and foremost a community—a collection of people who belong
to each other because they belong to God
-God’s mission for us is to be a people
-people who are undivided—determined to live out the love of God
-for division not only nullifies the witness of our union in Christ
-will keep us from the work
-will keep us from glorifying God
-it’s hard for us to grasp this sense of corporate identity today
-we have been so soaked in individualism that our image of church is a collection
of isolated individuals all doing their own thing
-but this misses the work God has called us to do
-if we are to preach grace, reconciliation, love—than we have to model it
-or we will not glorify God
One’s prayer life tells us a lot about what is important to a
-we live in a morally disordered universe
- murders, rape, children suffering horrible painful deaths
- fritzl and his daughter
-what all have in common—beyond unspeakable evil
-a failure to live out our ultimate purpose-to glorify God
In the process of doing it—Jesus Himself took on a certain glory
-a glory that comes from living in union with God—in complete harmony with His purpose
-this is why John writes—and we beheld His glory-1:14
-but not of the dazzling, splendorous kind
-the sort that God shielded Moses from lest he be consumed-Ex 33
-the glory of God is more than the show of greatness and magnificence
-it is also a show of humiliation and lowliness
-Jesus’ glory was not conspicuous, glamorous—glory noticed by fashion
designers
-glory that flatters our lusts and egos
-Jesus redefined glory—but not many saw it
-this was a glory that moved into the neighborhood
-that occasionally revealed itself in the spectacular-Jn 2:11-in this first of His
miraculous signs, He revealed His glory
-but it was more often a glory that included obscurity and humiliation
-a glory that was not, in the eyes of the world, necessarily impressive
-as part of His glory-Jesus was dismissed, derided, marginalized, rejected, put to
death
4. THIS IS WHAT WE DO!
This is Jesus’ longest recorded prayer. Jesus has allowed this prayer into John’s gospel not as a model prayer but as an expression of how much he loved the Father, the disciples, and those who would believe in the centuries to follow. He reveals to us a special something that is the key to our life, his singular passion to glorify the Father in all he has done, is doing, and will do. With the glory of God as central, control is released and we can rest.
The Glory of God:
• is why all creation exists
• is why we exist
• is why scripture calls us to this continual action
• is why we must share the same passion as Jesus when we pray
So, how do we make sure we bring God glory? In the same way Jesus spoke of:
• by completing the purpose for which he was sent
• by not allowing anything to get in the way of that completion
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