The Most Powerful Prayer Ever Prayed - John 17:20-26

Video

OPEN- Love All, Hate None. This is a mantra of the left and a pervasive theme in our culture, but the reality falls short of the mantra. Many who would say this, love to hate people who disagree with them. If you don’t completely agree with me and my life choices you hate me and I hate you. And the left are not the only ones who are guilty of this. This is no less true in my country than it is yours, but the days we’re living in may be the most polarized they’ve been since the founding of our nations. Divisiveness RAGES in our world today based on who you vote for, how much money you make, what colour your skin is, and more. In a world of such hostility, the church is called to stand out. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ calls people from every racial group, language, socio-economic class, age bracket, ability. Where else in the world could this wide assortment of people come together but to be the church of Jesus Christ. I’ve only just met you, but one thing is certain across the Canada-Texas cultural divide… we share Christ. We’re one in him. And it is awesome to think about the fact that Jesus prayed for us to experience this oneness, saying in Jn17, that they may all be one. Gospel-centred people and churches will be marked by the answer to that prayer, and that’s what we’ll see in our passage this morning. [READ Jn17:20-26] [SLIDE] Jesus prayed that I would be one with all believers… 

[SLIDE] Believing the gospel. In 17:20 Jesus transitions from talking primarily about his disciples to praying for those who will believe in me through their word… that is those who will come to hear and believe the gospel which includes you and me in 2023. He prays with divine foresight to see all those who would hear his gospel and respond to it in faith from his disciples through every succeeding generation until he returns. If you have heard the gospel preached, shared, texted, posted, proclaimed, and responded by repenting of your sin and through the Holy Spirit received the work Christ did on your behalf reconciling you to the Father then Jesus prayed for you in this prayer. // And having rec’d this gospel, we live this gospel out by being the answer to Jesus’ prayer 

17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 

In the first part of his prayer in 17:1-5, we see that upon believing the gospel not only are we welcomed into the family of God, but we’re welcomed into a unity that has its foundation in the relationship that exists in the Trinity. The perfect unity that exists between Father and Son (and the Holy Spirit) is the basis for all oneness between Christian brothers and sisters and between us and God. I know that b/c I believe the gospel, I am in Christ, Christ is in me. 

[SLIDE] Gal2:20, I have been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. By virtue of my union with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection, I am united in relationship with God the Father and God the Spirit. You can’t be one with Christ without being one with the Father and Spirit, because Father, Son and Spirit are one. And then as the body of Christ, the church as a whole is in Christ. There’s so much diversity in that Body (Canada isn’t Texas), but we are brought together in Christ, and given the same mission to make disciples. Different gifts, passions, abilities, backgrounds, appearances, but brought together in and through Jesus Christ. Unity not uniformity. We’re not called to look the same, sound the same, dress the same. But we’re called to a deep and abiding personal relationship with the Lord, founded on our belief in the gospel and the love that exists perfectly in the Father, Son and Spirit as the source and the standard of our unity. The more we believe in and put the gospel at the centre, the closer we’re naturally going to drawn to one another. 

Jesus also prayed that our oneness would be [SLIDE] Reflecting his glory. 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. 

The glory of God is the manifestation of his holiness, the radiance of all that he is in his absolute perfection being revealed. The glory of God with respect to his mere presence is so awesome that Moses glowed seeing only the passing glance of it. Isaiah and Paul were taken to the edge of death at seeing the glory of the throne room of God. And John writes of the incarnate Son, [SLIDE] 

Jn1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

When we look at Jesus, as presented to us in the gospels, we see the awesomeness of the radiance of who God is. In his words, character, relationships, conduct, miracles, sacrifice, resurrection, ascension, and in the sending of the Spirit, we see the glory of God, and we share in that together with other believers who have seen God’s glory through Christ and responded to it in faith! // Does your life reflect that glory? 

There are so things that people can find a sense of community in doing: hobbies, interests, passions, fandom. eg. a club called “The Not Terribly Good Club” for people who weren’t good at things. To join you go to a mtg, explain your failure, and the group votes on whether or not you were good enough at not being good enough to join. If that piques your interest, I’m sorry to say that the Not Terribly Good Club disbanded after membership surged, so it was determined that they were too good at being a Not Terribly Good Club, so the club itself was ineligible to exist any further. 

Is there a point to that story? As believers, let’s find something more important to unify over; something great, transcendent, eternal. Something that is not in danger of being shutting down. // The oneness we are called to have as the church will come in our lives as we grasp the reality of the glory of Jesus in a deeper way. As we see the power, majesty, compassion, goodness, grace, and mercy of Jesus and are compelled by him to live out these same characteristics to each other, to the world, we will reflect the person of Jesus. The more you see the glory of God in Jesus, the more that’s going to change you, the more you’re going to reflect it in your life. The more, naturally, you’re going to be united in oneness with other believers who are reaching for the same. // Why is this so critical? Because like Jesus, we’ve been given a mission. 

Jesus’ prayer in Jn17 was for the disciples who would be send out after his crucifixion and resurrection to tell everyone about him. Jesus prays this so that you and I would be… 

[SLIDE] Impacting the world. Our unity is missional. We’re together because we have a mission to fulfill! We skipped over it in 17:21 where Jesus says our unity is…so that the world may believe that you sent me. And in 17:23 he says I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, repeating the theme NOTICE so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. We know the Matt28:19-20; Acts1:8 Great Commission passages. We are sent ones. Called to be witnesses and to make disciples. This is where we take stock of how we’re doing as Christians; are we, as Paul says, Eph4:3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? How can we expect to fulfill our mission of telling people about God’s love in sending his only Son for them if we’re doing nothing but arguing, back stabbing, gossiping, slandering, or fighting with on another! 

That can apply in any given local church and between Christians in a city/area, or how they conduct themselves on social media. I often ask myself as I’m thinking about posts on FB and such; always so tempted to critique such and such a ministry or respond to a controversy, and I think, you know, my brother sees my posts, my cousins who don’t know Jesus, others I know who aren’t saved. What will they think if they see this post. I’m not talking about holding back on sharing the gospel…that I do liberally…I’m talking about critiques of secondary and tertiary positions and opinions. ASK: When the world around you looks at the relationships that you have with believers, would they want what you have? Do people see unity and glory? 

MLJ said, [SLIDE] The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it—Martyn Lloyd-Jones. And he means different in the good way! Unless we get this right, we should expect little to no success in our efforts to reach ppl with the good news of Jesus. // Now, if this is up to you; if there’s anything you need to own, then repent—agree with God about these things and make a turn. If there a matter of division, a conflict, estrangement, a sharp disagreement, that is hindering your mission to share Christ with others, make it right so far as it depends on you. // NOTEthat we are never talking about compromising truth for the sake of unity. The point has already been made: the gospel has to be at the centre of our oneness. Perfect unity only comes when it is founded on the truth. If we have a unity based on a compromised gospel, we have nothing to share and no one is getting saved. 

Finally, Jesus prays that we’ll be [SLIDE] Immersed in his love. In the end, all of it comes back to the love of God, doesn’t it? In 17:24-26 we see 3 aspects of his love that tie it all together. These are the closing words of this most powerful prayer that has ever been prayed. In a matter of a few hours, Jesus will be viciously crucified…but his torture and death will become the greatest expression of love the world will ever know. 

LOOK (1) His love guarantees glory: Jesus prays in 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. We’ve talked about his glory, but now Jesus ties it in with his love, and together they point to our eschatological hope. For those who love him, he says [SLIDE] Jn14:3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 

What Jesus said earlier in the discourse, he prays for here. Immersed in his love, we live with a wonderful promise of an expectant hope that we will share in the glory of Jesus Christ as our Saviour, because of the great love with which he has loved us. (2) His love reveals righteousness. Jesus says, 17:25 Righteous Father as he prays pointing to God as the just and perfect One, a fitting description given what he says next: even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. Jesus draws a line between 2 distinct groups: the world (the God-opposed, Jesus-hating, Sin-sick human society which does not know God) and the ones who do know him. Jesus has lovingly and graciously revealed the Father to us, so that we may be restored to him, reconciled to him, and know him ourselves. His love reveals righteousness.

 1Cor5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (3) His love leads the way. 17:26 I made known to them your name, he fulfilled his mission and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Twice now, here and in 17:23 we’re told that we’ve been brought into the love that exists between Father and Son, which only happens through Christ’s selfless, loving sacrifice, and so that same supernatural, selfless, sacrificial love must characterize our lives; moments before he’s said to them, Jn15:13, greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. In Jn13:35 he said, By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 

So, as recipients of his love, guaranteed glory, his righteousness on us, we follow Jesus’ lead: Bear one another’s burdens Gal6:1; Instruct one another Rom15:14; Forgive one another Eph4:2; Pray for one another Jam5:16; Submit to one another Eph5:21; Encourage one another 1Thess4:18; Stir one another up to love and good works Heb10:24—adapted from Matt Carter & Josh Wredberg. To be immersed in Christ’s love results in us living out with each other the same love he showed us. 

CLOSE – It’s awesome to think about Jesus praying for us, isn’t it? I don’t think it is inappropriate at all to imagine him saying your name as he prays, to think about him praying this for your church. Perhaps this week you could re-read this passage and insert your name and names along the way, and listen as the Saviour prays to Father for you. And let me pray for you now…