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John 17:6-19 "Jesus Prays"
"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. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 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. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition , that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are 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. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 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. (John 17:6-19)
Faith is believing that God who we can’t see is
really active in this world and in our lives. There are many things
that we cannot see that we believe in simply because we see the results
of their power. No one doubts the power of electricity, though no one
has actually seen it move. No one doubts the power of the wind though
it too is invisible to the eye. I do not doubt the power of God because
I see the result of His work all around me. Electricity moves the train
that brings me to and from work each day. If the electricity failed
and we all had to get out and push, the train would go nowhere fast.
It is the same way with the church. If God is not involved and we are
pushing our own program then the church does not get anywhere. It is
the same in each of our spiritual lives. We cannot do God’s work
for Him, we need Him to work in our lives. In John 16 we found out three
things that the Holy Spirit does in the world. Three things that we
cannot do ourselves. The Spirit convicts the world of sin and righteousness
and judgement. If we short circuit the Spirit by trying to do these
things ourselves we will end up being spiritually electrocuted. We don’t
point out people’s sin, we don’t point out our own good
works, we don’t judge anyone, because the Spirit does all of these
things much better than we can.
In John 17 we find out what God is doing in the lives of Christians.
Jesus asked the Father to do some specific things for His disciples.
Again these are things that we do not have to do for ourselves, we can
trust God to do these things for us. If God is the power behind these
things the results will be fantastic. But if we try to do these things
ourselves we will see little progress. However before we get to those
specific things I need to ask you a question. Are you a Christian? Jesus
said, "I pray for them, I do not pray for the world." The
specific things that Jesus prays here only apply to His followers. What
does it mean to be a follower of Christ. Do you have to join a special
group, give away all your money, do good works, or quit smoking or drinking?
What do you have to do? Well, Jesus describes Christians as those whom
the Father has given to Him out of this world. It is as God went to
a store to buy a present for His Son and picked out exactly the right
thing to make Jesus happy. Does He choose only the good, only the most
holy, only the best workers or the most beautiful musicians. No, God
chooses those who have faith. Jesus said, "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." (v.8) If you believe what Jesus said, that He
is the Son of God, that He has risen from the dead, then you are His.
Being a Christian is not about what you have done for God. It is all
about what He has done for you. If you want to be a strong Christian,
find out everything that God has done for you. Become a student of what
He gives. One of our members at the Sangenjaya chapel recently published
a book on how to get scholarships. It turns out that there are thousands
of dollars of scholarships available that people don’t know about
and never use. Likewise, God has given to us so many blessings that
we miss because we are not expecting to receive anything from Him. Jesus
Christ prayed to the Father for us and we can expect to receive everything
that He asked for.
In verse 11, Jesus asks the Father, "keep through Your name those
whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are." We can
expect God to defend us from attack. We can expect God to keep us as
a mother hen keeps her chicks safe and secure. We are the children of
God. We bear His name. My friend Duane Clark sings a song on one of
his albums about the people who bear his name, his son and his daughter
and his wife all have that last name of Clark and hold a precious place
in his heart. We are Christ-ians and God feels the same way about us.
The result of God’s protection is that we will be one, just as
Jesus and the Father are one. Catch this Christians. If God protects
us, we enjoy perfect unity with each other. But if we try to protect
ourselves, watch out. Soon we will be at each other’s throats.
This happens all the time in my family. When mom and dad aren’t
looking Gracie toddles over and grabs the toy that Keita was playing
with. Keita gently protects his territory with a "no, Gracie"
and snatches the toy back. Gracie protects her "toy" –
after all she was holding it- with a bite to her big brother’s
hand. The result is chaos. When mom or dad is keeping watch they play
together just fine. When Gracie grabs a toy that is not hers, Keita
looks right to me and complains, "Dad!" Christian, what Jesus
prayed is that the Father would keep watch over us! This means that
when someone else hurts you, when someone else sins against you, when
someone else tramples over your feelings, you do not have to protect
yourself from them. You simply run to Daddy, and He will make it right.
Jesus also prayed that God would sanctify us by His truth.
Sanctification means that we are separated from this world. We are no
longer like this world. Jesus asked God to do this for us and we can
trust that He will. However, many Christians try to make themselves
holy by their own strength. This is like pushing that morning train
to work. You end up very tired without getting very far. Holiness is
so hard to do on our own because at the same time that we are supposed
to be separated from the world God is also sending us into the world.
It would be easy to be holy if we could come to church every day, sing
worship songs and pray all day long and never have to go to work or
see anybody else but other Christians. In fact some religious groups
do exactly that. But this is not what God wants. He wants us to be salt
in a world that lacks the flavor of God. He wants us to be light in
a world full of darkness. He wants us to be His hands and His feet to
spread the good news of His love. We cannot do any of that if we escape
to some holy commune. And yet this world makes it very hard for us to
truly be holy. It is an impossible tension. Impossible for us, but not
for God. God sanctifies us through two things. God’s Son Jesus
lived a completely holy life and we can share in His righteousness.
When we invite Jesus into our hearts we invite Him to be righteous through
us. The second part of sanctification is the word of truth, the Bible.
When you read God’s word, He renews your mind. Without the word,
we continue to think in the old way of the world. But with the word
we no longer conform to the world’s ways but realize that God
has a better way. When you read something in the Bible that is not part
of your life, don’t try to do it by your own strength. Instead
knowing Jesus is alive in you, and that He has asked the Father to sanctify
you, ask Him to help you keep His word. Ask God to separate you from
that particular sin and to replace it with His truth.
"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
Jesus not only prayed for the disciples but also for everyone
who would hear their word and believe. Again the only requirement to
be a follower of Christ is to believe. It is God’s work to save
us. We don’t have to save ourselves. All we have to do is believe
that He can do it. If you want to be saved choose today to put your
faith in Jesus Christ. Choose to believe that He is really working in
your life, that He hears and answers your prayers. Choose to believe
that He will protect you. Choose to believe that He will sanctify you
and make you holy. When you make your choice you will start to see His
work, and then an amazing thing happens. Because God is doing it, you
can let go. Because God is your protector you can relax, let down your
guard, and rest in peace knowing that He is keeping watch over you.
Because God is your righteousness you can relax and stop struggling
to measure up. You are free to love as Jesus loves, knowing that Jesus
Himself is loving through you.
Copyright 2000 Jonathan Wilson
All Rights Reserved
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