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John – From the Upper Room... (12 of 12)
Jesus Prays for All Believers
John 17:20-26
Proverbs 31:30 (ESV) –
“...a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
We’ve been walking through Jesus’ final instructions to His disciples in John 13-17. The setting was Jesus and His disciples celebrating the Passover in an Upper Room of a home in Jerusalem and then walking from the Upper Room toward the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to go to the cross.
John 13:1 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”
John 17:1 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you...”
John 7:30 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“...they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”
John 2:4 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’”
John 17:20-26 (ESV) –
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 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. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, 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.”
John 17:25-26 (ESV) –
“O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, 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.”
As Jesus prays for all who will believe in Him in the future we’re reminded of our mission to share the salvation He offers with the world. The Father sent His Son for the purpose of salvation. When believers are united in love for one-another, this is a testimony to the world.
1. Jesus prays for His disciple’s unity. His prayer looks beyond the eleven (that’s the twelve minus Judas) to all future believers.
John 17:20 (ESV) –
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word...”
Every Christian in every generation is included in – Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. Looking forward to future generations of believers assumes a fruitfulness to the disciples’ witness.
John 20:21-22 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you’. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) –
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
John 17:20 (ESV) –
“...those who will believe in me through their word...”
Ask – Am I embracing the reality that I’ve been sent?
Romans 10:13-15 (ESV) –
“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”
As Jesus prayed, His gaze was fixed beyond the immediate circumstances. He prayed for all future believers – praying specifically for their unity.
John 17:21 (ESV) –
“...that they may all be one...”
John 17:11 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”
John 17:21 (ESV) –
“...that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
John 17:23 (ESV) –
“...that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
John 13:34-35 (ESV) –
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
How will the lost world know we are Jesus’ followers? By our love!
John 17:21 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“...so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
John 17:25 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“...and these know that you have sent me.”
John 3:17 (ESV) –
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
1 John 4:14 (ESV) –
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”
1 Timothy 1:15 (ESV) –
“...Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...”
Consider the unity that exists between all believers: there is only one way to be saved, we share the same salvation and all believers are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. We’ll be together in heaven for all eternity. The unity of being in Christ transcends secondary differences.
Being united doesn’t erase all differences, it rather sees them in a proper perspective.
John 17:21-23 (ESV) –
“...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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
Statement of Faith – Article 1: God –
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
When the unbelieving world sees the loving and united relationships of Christians, this prepares them to hear the Gospel. All believers have been sent to proclaim the message of Christ and His atoning death and victorious resurrection to the world and our visible love for fellow believers (or sadly the lack of it) has a lot to do with how the message of the Gospel will be received.
John 17:22 (ESV) –
“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one...”
John 1:14 (ESV) –
“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.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) –
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
2. Jesus prays that all believers will be with Him and see His glory.
John 17:24 (ESV) –
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am...”
John 17:24 (ESV) –
“...to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
John 17:5 (ESV) –
“And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
John 1:1-3 (ESV) –
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
John 14:2-3 (ESV) –
“In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And 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.”
John 14:3 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“...I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
John 17:24 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am...”
Jesus was returning to the unrivaled splendor that rightfully belongs to Him as the Son of God and our blessed hope is that one day we will see Him face-to-face and experience this glory.
1 John 3:2 (ESV) –
“Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
The world is characterized by sin and unbelief and desperately needs to be saved.
John 17:26 (ESV) –
“I made known to them your name, 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.”
John 1:18 (ESV) –
“No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.”
John 14:16-17 (ESV) –
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth...”
Our awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit changes everything.
1 John 4:19 (ESV) –
“We love because he first loved us.”
As Jesus prays for all who will believe in Him in the future we’re reminded of our mission to share the salvation He offers with the world. The Father sent His Son for the purpose of salvation. When believers are united in love for one-another, this is a testimony to the world.
• All of us need to sit with Jesus in the Upper Room and we do so through the lens of Scripture, through God’s Word.
Where does my thinking need to be challenged and changed so that it aligns with what God says? What truths do I need to believe and embrace? What commands do I need to obey? Where does my thinking and perspective need to be corrected and transformed?
• Christian unity is essential and as we think about unity, we must understand that unity at the expense of truth isn’t true unity.
Galatians 1:6-9 (ESV) –
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
We must understand that as Christians we cannot afford to fight with each other, it ruins our witness to a watching world and it displeases God.
Where the Gospel is shared there ought to be respect and unity even in the midst of diversity but the Gospel MUST to be shared.
Where are my attitudes and actions damaging the unity that we are called to? Where am I being wrongly critical? Where am I wrongly trying to preserve unity where there isn’t unity?
• We need to remember that our hope isn’t located in this world, this world isn’t our ultimate home. Our hope is in Jesus Christ!
John 17:24 (ESV) –
“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.”
John 17:16 (ESV) –
“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
Jesus is coming back and all who know Christ as Savior will be with the Lord forever.