If you were to leave the country for a number
of months, what would you do? Of course, you would pack your bags, but
besides that what would you do?
You would take time to say goodbye to family and
friends. You would tell each one how much you love them. For those looking
after your house while you were gone, you would leave detailed
instructions. You may have a little party with cake and very often you
would join with family and friends and pray. You would commend your friends
to God, asking God to keep them. You would even ask for blessings for
yourself - for protection, for help and the presence of God as you travel.
Well this is what we see happening in chapters 13-17
the gospel of John. There is no cake, but there are friends and farewells
and there is prayer. It is at this point that we find ourselves entering at
chapter 17. We see Jesus at prayer, and it is a most holy moment. We dare
not enter into this passage unthinkingly or brashly. We are given the
privilege of overhearing God the Son speak to God the Father. We are given
a glimpse of that intimate relationship and the conversation between them.
There are a few recorded prayers in the Bible. We are
told that Jesus prays to God alone often. Sometimes He calls His disciples
aside to pray. He obviously modeled a prayer life for His disciples that
was so dynamic and so alive that His disciples said, “Lord, teach us to
pray.”
In the gospel of Matthew we have what we call the
Lord’s Prayer – which really should be called The Disciples’ Prayer. We
have the prayer that Jesus prays at the graveside of Lazarus. We have the
prayer that Jesus offers in the garden of Gethsemene where we are told He
sweat great drops of blood, His anguish was so intense.
But here we have a substantial prayer of our Lord and
when we are told in Hebrews 7:25 that our Lord always lives to make
intercession for us, we are given a glimpse here of the content of that
intercession. We are given a clue as to what that prayer looks like.
The prayer can be divided into three distinct parts –
in verses 1-8 Jesus prays that God the Father would be glorified. In verses
9-19 Jesus prays for His disciples and in chapters 20-26 Jesus prays for
those who will believe through the disciples’ witness.
We don’t have time today to examine the whole prayer.
In fact I preached on a portion of this prayer in November – the whole
section in which Jesus prays for the unity of the church. So this morning I
want us to focus on the first part of the prayer – on verses 1-8.
And like all our studies so far I want us to focus on
these verses with the intent of getting to know Jesus. With the desire to
deepen our belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by
believing you may have life in His name.
I know we want application, I know we want principles
for living the Christian life, I know we want lessons to learn. But
sometimes (and this is one of those times) we need to stop looking for
principles and lessons and steps and simply see Jesus. We need to allow
ourselves to fall deeply in love with Him and grow in our relationship with
Him.
What is it that we learn about Jesus? In verses one
through five we learn about His character. In verses 6-8 we learn of His
nature.
Consider what we learn first about His character.
Verse 1 - “After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and
said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may
glorify you.”
We learn first that our Lord’s first concern is that
God the Father be glorified through the cross. He begins the prayer by
saying, “Father, the hour has come.” All through the gospel of John
we have read about this hour. It refers to the appointed time for Jesus’
death, when the perfect sacrifice would be offered for the sin of the
world. For four thousand years, creation and human kind has waited for this
hour. It has finally arrived when the seed of the woman would crush the head
of the serpent by dying as our substitute and redeemer.
Up to this time the hour has not come. But now it has
arrived –we read back in chapter 12 that the hour had come - and Jesus prays
that through it He would be glorified and in so doing that He would glorify
the Father.
We have seen how that word glorify means to
reveal the character of God. We have also seen how it grew to be a word of
praise. But in this context it means splendour – we will see this
especially in verse 5.
Jesus is asking that in the cross that the splendour of
God would be revealed, that God’s character would be seen. He is asking
God the Father to bring Him through the cross and the grave to a triumphant
completion in order that the splendour of God’s holiness, His justice, His
mercy, His faithfulness, would be seen and the world would see that He is a
just God, a holy God, a merciful God, and a God that keeps His word.
“Finish your work in me, that your splendour may be seen by the world.”
Is it any wonder that the cross has been the center of
our faith for all these centuries? Our Lord’s prayer is answered. Our
Lord’s desire is for God to be glorified through the cross.
We see next that our Lord has been given authority to
give life. “Since you have given him authority over all people, to give
eternal life to all whom you have given him.” He is the way the truth
and the life – no one comes to the Father but through Him. The very keys of
heaven are in His hand. Only He has the authority to give eternal life.
And this is eternal life that they may know the only true God and Jesus
Christ.
Notice it is not that we just know God, it is that we
know God and Jesus Christ. There are millions of people who claim to know
God but they don’t know Jesus Christ. To claim to know God but deny the
truth, the authority the deity of Jesus Christ does not lead to life but to
death.
2 Corinthians 5:19 says, “God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself.” And of course to know God and Jesus
Christ means so much more than simply having a head knowledge of God. It is
more than being familiar about God. It is to have a relationship with Him
that is close and intimate. Knowing God is listening to His Word and
receiving it as the Holy Spirit brings it to our hearts. Knowing God is
recognizing God’s character as it is revealed in His word. Knowing God is
following God in obedience. Knowing God is recognizing His divine love for
you and rejoicing in it.
I heard the story the other day of a grand mother who
was visiting her 8 year old grand daughter. The grand daughter said,
“Grandma, do you know me in a second?” “Yes, dear – I know you in a
second.”
“Do you know me in a minute?” “Yes, dear – I know you
in a minute.”
“Do you know me in an hour?” “Yes, dear – I know you
in an hour.”
“Do you know me in a day?” “Yes, dear – I know you in
a day.”
Finally the grandmother said, “I know you little one –
I’ve known you for a day, a week, a month a year. I’ve known you even
before you were born. I known you when you were born. I know you that
well.”
So the granddaughter said, “knock, knock,” and the
grandmother said, “Who’s there?” And the granddaughter said, “I thought you
said you knew me?”
A believer would never fall for that knock-knock joke
if God were to tell it! We would be able to say, “Lord it is you – come
in!” To know God is to be in relationship with Him. This means that eternal
life does not refer so much to quantity but a quality. Eternal life is a
quality that we can possess right now. It is a quality of life that is
available to us now through faith in Jesus Christ.
But there is more. Verse 4 tells us that Jesus Christ
was obedient to death, even death on a cross. “I glorified you on earth
by finishing the work that you gave me to do.” From the cradle to the
ascension, Jesus glorified the Father. He finished the work that God called
Him to do.
True, a crucial part of it lay ahead of Him, but Jesus
puts it all in past tense. In the words of John Phillips, “There would be
not wavering, not turning back, no failure. He was wholly committed to the
work of the cross, as he and his Father both knew. The agony of the garden
would not shake his resolve. The indignities and injustices of the trial,
the horror of the cross, the silence of the grave were stepping stones on
the predetermined way.”1 The Lord would carry the divine purpose
out to fulfillment – His obedience would stand the test.
And He would be able to say, as He breathed his last, “It
is finished.” And that is good news. Our Lord in His obedience has
completed the work. There is nothing more for you to add for your
salvation. There is nothing more for you to do for your salvation, it is
finished. Jesus Christ has completed the work that God the Father gave Him
to do. There is nothing left to do.
Then there is one more lesson about His character and
that is that He is pre-existent. Verse 5 - “So now, Father, glorify me
in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the
world existed.”
Clearly He is asking that the splendour that was His in
heaven would be His after the cross. He is asking God to take Him through
the pain of the cross, the awful separation of the cross as He took on the
sin of the world and that it would not result in defeat but that He would
have the splendour that was His before He stepped into the world.
In praying this prayer, Jesus shows us that was
pre-existent - long before David, long before Moses, long before Abraham,
long before there humanity and creatures roamed the earth, long before the
stars were in the sky and sand on the beach.
Before there was anything there was God – existing in
perfect community and harmony - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit. It is a great mystery. But it is a truth that only God the Son can
pray.
Indeed this whole prayer shows us the God like
Character of Jesus. He wants to glorify God. He has authority to give life.
He is fully obedient, enabling Him to finish the work of redemption. He is
pre-existent. That is His character.
Verses 6-8 point us to His nature. As you read those
verses, does a question come to mind? Who is Jesus talking about? Is Jesus
talking about the same disciples that we know? Do you hear what He says
about them in verses 7 and 8? It’s a bit of stretch, don’t you think?
Sure we read in the last part of chapter 16 the
disciples’ declaration of faith. But surely they don’t deserve this
estimation that Jesus is giving? Is He talking about His disciples? Yes.
Well, does He know that one of them will deny Him three
times? Does He know that all the rest will leave Him and run away in fear
in His hour of need? All weak in their faith and testimony. And this is
what He says of them?
Truly we are given a glimpse of our Lord’s nature. It
is one of grace. Abundant grace, that He would have this estimation of His
disciples.
In John 16:29 we read of their confession of Christ,
but it doesn’t ring with certainty, and it certainly is not a full
declaration of who Christ is. And yet Jesus receives it in His grace. He
receives this small mustard seen like faith and He says, ‘They are mine.”
There is a great lesson here for us. We look at our
faith and our service to God and we often belittle it. We think we don’t
have a strong faith, we don’t do great things for God, our offering to God
isn’t much. But our Lord in His grace receives it. Even the smallest act of
service, a cup of water offered in His name deserves merit. He is that
gracious toward us. He is that favourable. Whatever it is we have to offer
even if it is as small as a grain of mustard seed, He receives it.
Now as soon as we say it we have to be careful that we
don’t think, well, I can offer to God the very least. I don’t have to give
Him my best. I don’t have to offer the first of my time, talent and
resources because He is gracious … I don’t need to have a strong faith in
Him. No, no, no. It’s not believing less. It’s not doing less. It’s not
settling for second best.
It is understanding that in our sinfulness, our meager
offering (and any offering we give to Him is meager in comparison to His
great sacrifice for us ) He takes our meager offerings and receives them and
says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Don’t belittle the faith you have in Him. It may seem
small and weak, but if it comes from the heart, it means the world to Him.
Don’t belittle the service you give to Him. Jesus in His grace receives it
as wonderful offerings to Himself.
I pray that you allow yourself to see Jesus. I pray
that you will allow yourself to fall ever more deeply in love of our Lord -
the one who seeks to glorify God the Father, the one who is able to give
life, the one is obedient and finishes the work of salvation for you and for
me, the one who is the pre-existent one, the one who responds in grace to us
again and again as we offer to Him our life, our soul, our all.
Copyright MBC and Rev. Dr. Tom Cullen -
March 2009
-
John Phillips, Exploring the Gospels, John (Neptune, New Jersey:
Loizeaux Brothers, 1989) 320.
