The The Longest Longest PrayerPrayer

John 17:1-John 17:1-2626

The Holy of Holies of the NT

• The real Lord's Prayer

• Ends upper room discourse

• Precedes the cross:– Gethsemane

– Arrest

– Trial

– Crucifixion

“Longest Prayer” for two reasons

• Jesus’ longest recorded prayer– Inner thoughts & relationship with Father

• Longest scope– Twenty-one centuries – apostles & us

Three things Jesus prayed for:

• Himself – that he may be glorified

• Apostles – for protection & sanctification

• Church through the ages – unity

Jesus’ Jesus’ Prayer for Prayer for HimselfHimself

John John 17:1-817:1-8

John 17:1-8 NIV

• 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.

John 17:1-8 NIV

• (5) And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. (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.

Jesus asks to be glorified through the cross

• “The time has come” – He has been moving

toward this time

– Time when he confronts powers of darkness

• Not a selfish prayer– By his death he will glorify

the Father

Glorified! What does that mean?

• Reveal hidden beauty

• The sun is a glory – Its gases burn in

brilliant light

Jesus is glorified that way

• John 1:14 NIV The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

• God’s grace and truth became visible

• Jesus prays that something hidden to the world will be revealed by the cross

His glory – God has given him the right to rule

• After the resurrection, Jesus says:– Matthew 28:18 NIV … "All authority in heaven and

on earth has been given to me.

• Paul makes this point:– Philippians 2:9-11 NIV Therefore God exalted him

to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

His prayer has been answered!

• Jesus holds the reins of the nations and all the forces at work on the earth– Colossians 2:15 NIV And having disarmed the

powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

• In the cross: – Jesus was glorified

– His Lordship was revealed

The cross reveals Jesus as both Lord and Savior

• In the cross of Christ I glory Towering o'er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime

His glory – backward & forward

• Crucifixion – redemptive glory – John 17:4 NIV I have brought you glory on

earth by completing the work you gave me to do

• Ascension – creative glory – John 17:5 NIV And now, Father, glorify me in

your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

He is about to return to that glory

• Hebrews 1:3 NIV The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Prays to resume creative glory because redemptive work done

• John 17:6-8 NIV 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.

Jesus’ Jesus’ Prayer for Prayer for the Eleventhe Eleven

John 17:9-John 17:9-1919

Jesus’ Prayer for the Eleven divides into three sections

• He prays because they belong to him

• He prays for their protection

• He prays for their sanctification

John 17:9-11a NIV

• 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.

Two reasons for this prayer

• First –disciples are a gift from the Father – He spent 3-1/2 years with them

– He knows them & loves them

• The way we pray – first for those we love– Man: “I pray for my wife and myself, my son,

John and his wife – us four and no more”

– We pray for more, but start with those we love

David Roper told his wife …

• “I pray God will keep you while I am away” – Her response: “Who

do you think keeps us when you are here?”

• Jesus is leaving – Commends them to

the Father's care

– Father had kept them when he was present

John 17:11b-13 NIV

• 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. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. (13) "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

First he wants them to be protected by the Father's name • Name stands for all God's power & ability

• Asks God to protect them while he is away– “Protect them … so that they may be one

even as we are one”

– “While I was with them, I protected them … by that name you gave me”

• We should pray as Jesus did – It is God who must protect those we love

Second, protection from world's hatred and devil's enmity

• John 17:14-16 NIV I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. (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.

Jesus saw the terrible danger these men faced

• The world would hate, fight & undermine them every way it could. Why?

• He had given them the Father's word

• Scripture is the focus of enemy's hatred

• Can’t destroy it – tries to dilute its impact

Student to teacher …

• “What should I do when I have studied a Scripture text, learned what it means and found that I do not agree with it?”

• “I would ask myself ‘What is wrong with me that I do not agree with this passage?’”

Problem is not the Word, but us

• Resistance to truth and feeling we know everything

• That is part of the enemy’s attack on the Word

• Jesus says the apostles will be hated because they speak the truth

He prays then that they will be protected in the world

• Growing up, I was taught to steer clear of the world and have nothing to do with it – Don’t go where worldly people go

– Don’t have contact with non-Christians

– Don’t make friends among them

• Families remove children from the world – Christian schools or home schooling

Jesus did not teach isolationism

• Matthew 10:16 NIV I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.– No sensible shepherd would ever do that

– Our safeguard – Shepherd’s promise to be with us and in us

His second request for them is that they be sanctified

• John 17:17-19 NIV 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.

Consecrate and sanctify are the same word in Greek

• People misunderstand sanctification– Not religious fumigation eliminating evil

– Not situation where one incapable of sinning

• Living with people who think these things– Like living with people who never bathe

– They never think they need to be cleansed

– Carey & Louise Looney

What does sanctification mean?

• Set apart to a specific purpose– You sanctify your seats as you sit on them

– You sanctified your car as you drove here

– I sanctify my comb when I comb my hair

• Putting something to its intended use

What is man’s purpose?

• To manifest God’s character

• To be God’s instruments

• When you do those you’re sanctified

• In context, synonymous with commitment– Personal agreement with that purpose

– Determination and willingness to do it

• Jesus’ prayer – that these men personally commit to being used by God

Jesus’ Prayer Jesus’ Prayer for the Coming for the Coming ChurchChurch

John 17:20-John 17:20-2626

In the last section of his prayer

• Jesus’ words reach out to the whole church of all time including us this morning

• This section is also in three divisions – He prays for the unity of the church

– He prays for its ultimate destiny

– He prays for its present intimacy

John 17:20-23 NIV

• 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. (22) I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: (23) I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Note the inclusiveness

• Previous words – prayer for the eleven

• These words – prayer spanning centuries– For millions who have come to believe

– For the eleven and us

– That they may all be one

• We share common faith with the apostles

The church’s spiritual unity

• John 17:21 NIV “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.”

• As Father and Son share life, all believers share the same life, the Son in us

• Makes us brothers and sisters wherever we are in the world – Different skin color or background yet brother or

sister – we share an inward life

The church’s ultimate destiny

• John 17:24 NIV Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

• Other Scriptures interpret this – 1 John 3:2 NIV Dear friends, now we are children

of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Postscript – the church’s present intimacy

• John 17:25-26 NIV Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. (26) I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

Intimacy with the God is the key to vitality and fruitfulness

• Begins – recognizing Jesus sent from God

• Grows –awareness of Father's power and love and the presence of Jesus within

• Love is the hallmark of the true church

• We must be a loving community if we want the world to believe we’ve been with Jesus

• May Jesus’ prayer be our reality!