John 17:1-26

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to John chapter 17.

I’ve been drawn to studying John 17 in depth. And Lord willing I’d like to preach a few sermons on the chapter. I’m inspired by a pastor I know who preached a 13 sermon series on chapter 17. So there is definitely enough depth here for a amatuer like me to get a few sermons.

You might ask “What’s the draw for you?” Well, we read a lot in the gospel accounts about how often Jesus would take a couple disciples with him (or go alone) off to a place to pray. It happened a lot. It seems like everytime they turned around the disciples found Jesus was off praying someplace. But there is a scarce number of places where the gospels tell us “what” he said and did in those prayers. This chapter, John 17, is one that is devoted to what He prays when He prays. That makes this a precious chapter because here is a recording of what Jesus said to God when he prayed. This is an example of “how” He spoke to the Father.

There is a second reason I’m drawn to it. This is a prayer in which Jesus prays for his followers, and we will see that Jesus even includes us, more than 2,000 years later, in that group of followers. So here is a prayer Jesus prayed for us. I want to know how he prayed for me. Additionally, the Bible tells us that Jesus is our advocate, our high priest, in heaven. Ever wonder how he is advocating for on your behalf? Well, John 17, this prayer is a good indicator of what he is praying for us right now in the Father’s presence. That makes me interested.

Finally, one of my most common prayers is that I would know the will of God for me. Well, here is what God/Jesus is praying for me to God/the Father. That seems to indicate that His will for my life is going to be visible to see in this chapter.

So that is why I’m drawn. And I hope it piques your interest too.

Tonight, I’m going to read the whole chapter. We aren’t going to go in depth into every verse tonight, because we don’t have time and because I plan, Lord willing, to take a few more goes at it later.

But before I read it I want to give you a high altitude view of the chapter. You know when you are flying over the countryside or looking at a map you have a chance to see structure and patterns that get lost at lower altitudes when you are in the thick of it.

So, in this chapter I see four main sections. I won’t claim this is the only way to look at it, but it has been helping me.

The first section is verses 1-5. These verses give a very short context note and then Jesus dives right in to making a request for Himself. That is just the easiest way to say it. It isn’t just for Him, but it is the one paragraph in the prayer that is directly for Him.

The second section is verses 6-19. These verses look like one or maybe two paragraphs where Jesus prays for his disciples. Maybe the eleven right beside Him or maybe the hundred or so that have been fixtures in His group during His public ministry. This section includes three main petitions. And each of the petitions are that God would continue to do three things that Jesus says that He has been doing while He was on earth. So this is Jesus praying for His people that they would continue to be cared for when He is physically apart from them.

The third section is verses 20-24, In this paragraph Jesus includes us, followers who come later, into the petitions of section two. And importantly, He adds a conversation with the Father which allows us to see, or notice, or test whether we are living in the answer to His prayer.

The fourth and final section (verses 25 & 26) is a reiteration of what Jesus says He has been doing and what He is seeking (the big picture) by praying what He has prayed.

OK. let’s pray and then I’ll read John 17.

– prayer –

– read –

My intention for tonight was to cover the first section. After finishing we will see that I will really just go into depth of verse 1 and just scratch the surface of the rest. Tonight I will concentrate on how Jesus prays with the intention of showing how it is a model for us when we pray. This is not all that is here, but it seems like a good place to start.

So to begin, let’s identify Jesus’s petition. What is He asking of God in the first section? In the first sentence He says, “glorify your Son.” And then in the last sentence of this section (v 5) “glorify Me.” This is what he is asking for.

What is glory? “Glory” is one of the central words in the gospel of John. It is used more times than “grace” in John’s gospel. In this chapter alone it is used 8 times. Glory has a big role in this prayer.

The Hebrew word translated as glory (kavod) is the most common word of praise in the Old Testament. It’s meaning includes shades of “importance”, “weight”, “deference”, “heaviness”, “respect”, “honor”, and “majesty”. Jesus here is asking for God to give Him importance, respect, honor and majesty. We will see more about this in a few minutes.

Now we have identified “what” he is asking for. The rest of tonight we will concentrate on “how” he asks. To start let’s notice that he takes 5 verses and a lot of words to ask for one thing. Why do you think he spends so many words to ask for one thing?

Let’s look at what he does say. In verse 1 Jesus lists three reasons for God to glorify Him. First, He calls God “Father”, second he says “the hour has come”, and third He says “that the Son may glorify You.” These get filled out in the rest of the section, and really the whole chapter. Let’s take them in turn.

“Father.” Jesus starts with relationship. Jesus is not manipulating, but rather He’s joining with God. He is talking about the relationship that He has experienced. Jesus was within the Godhead until he left, for a time, to become human and to walk the earth as a creature. Jesus was there in the Godhead, an active partner in designing the path of redemption for the fallen human race. In the Reformed tradition we like to find covenants, and the foundational covenant we point to is the Covenant of Redemption made between the three persons of the Trinity to bring about the redemption of humankind.

The Trinity, all three persons of the Godhead are God, and they have planned and covenanted to the plan for redemption of creation. Jesus has played his part to this point in the plan and now is looking to God the Father and saying, remember our covenant. Remember the plan. I call you Father. You call me Son. I set aside my glory and came down, and now I am asking for that glory to be given back to me.

This is leaning into the relationship. It is trusting the other. It is speaking truthfully. This is talking about what you have done for me in the past. The gifts that have been given. Showing that you know how the other has blessed you. This is not about feelings or emotions. And this is not legal or contractual. It is personal. This chapter is full of Jesus recounting what God has already given to Him. v2 “You gave Him authority over all flesh.” v4 “work which You have given Me to do.” v6 “Men You gave Me.” v8 “Words which You gave Me.” v11 “the name which You have given Me.”

Jesus’s prayer is full not of the problems that have come against Him. It is not full of the ways he has been attacked. It is not full of pleading and grovelling. It IS full of recounting all of the ways that God has given things to Him. And also it recounts how He made use of the gifts He was given.

How much different would my prayers be if I spent 90% of the prayer looking at the gifts I have already received. And what if I did talk about how I had made use of those gifts. Would that be bragging? No, I don’t think so. And speaking honestly, in many ways I would have to change how I live, to be able to talk about how I used His gifts. Sometimes I don’t even recognize I’ve received a gift let alone actually make use of it.

When I was a kid, my mom always had my sister and I write thank you notes for gifts received from family and friends. And it normally meant that I needed to use or play with the gift so that in my thank you note I could describe what I did with the gift. Maybe even include a photo of me using it. Isn’t that what you want to hear and see as a gift giver. You want gratitude and acknowledgement, not just because, but because your gift was good and used. Isn’t that the biggest incentive to give the next gift? Knowing that it was received and used and appreciated? That is the way relationships are solidified. What better way to ask God for another gift than to show how His gifts have changed how you live because you used them?

This prayer is an example of this. Jesus is pointing to the relationship, the covenant He had entered into with the Father. He expected to receive what He asked for because He knew the Father and He could show how He has used the gifts he already received.

We are in a covenant with God too. The gospel of John is in a section of the Bible called the New Testament. Testament and Covenant are pretty close to direct synonyms. We as Christians have entered into this New Covenant with God through Jesus. We have bound ourselves up to God by the covenant. And He has condescended to bind Himself up to us. (Let that just sink in for a minute. He has bound Himself to us in a covenant. That should blow your mind.) And we can ask things of God specifically because we are in covenant with Him. Without that covenant we have NO claim on God. At all.

Let’s skip to Jesus’s third reason from verse 1 “That the Son may glorify You,” because it is directly related.

This reason is also about the covenant between the persons of the Godhead. Jesus is saying I desire to do what I’ve covenanted to do. I desire to glorify You, Father. And I need this thing I’m asking for to enable Me to do that fully. It is always about glorifying God. That is what the world needed. The world needed to see God glorified. And Jesus wanted to do His part and he needed God’s gift to be able to do it. That is why he is asking. He will personally receive the gift, sure. He will benefit from a gift from God. But THE reason for asking is because he wants to glorify the Father.

This is also true for us. We are in a covenant with God. In the last few months the greatest commandment has come up a lot. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is mirrored in the first question in the Westminster Catechisms.

Here is question 1 from the Larger Catechism:

What is the chief and highest end of man?

And the answer:

Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.

Words to live by, quite literally. And it puts us in the same place as Jesus when we pray. When we pray we are asking for gifts that are needed so that we can do just that. When we receive a gift we are receiving a gift of grace that is for us personally, but will be given to us so that we can live out our “chief and highest end.” It will be a gift to help us obey the great commandment.

When we pray we should be saying, like Jesus, I desire to do what I’ve covenanted to do. I desire to glorify You, Father. And I need this thing I’m asking for to enable Me to do that. It is always about glorifying God. That is what the world needs. The world needs to see God glorified. And we should want to do our part and we need God’s gifts to be able to do it. That is why we ask.

Let’s move to the last reason in verse 1 that Jesus gives for God to answer His prayer. “The hour has come”. The “hour” or “time” is a familiar idea in the gospel of John. In the gospel of John the change from “the hour has not yet come” to “my hour has come” is a major transition point.

Before that point, Jesus says “My hour has not yet come” in chapter 2 when he is speaking to his mother about a wedding that has run out of wine. In chapter 7 Jesus is told by his brothers that he should go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths but Jesus says “My time has not come” and when he does end up going he is not arrested because “his hour had not come.” And finally in chapter 8 Jesus teaches in the temple treasury and the authorities who desired to arrest Him could not because “his hour had not yet come.”

Then there is the transition and starting in chapter 12 we start to hear that his hour has come. After some Greeks come to speak to Him, Jesus’s response is “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” And moments later he prays in the presence of a crowd “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

The author of the gospel is being very deliberate to make this “hour” a hugely important point in history.

And it is clear that the hour would bring about cosmic changes. In chapter 12:31,32 Jesus says,

“Now is the judgement of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” That is an earthquake, that is a new world. In this hour Satan is cast out and when he is lifted up (in the gospel of John this refers to the cross) he will draw all people to himself. And let’s not forget that it is the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified.

And back to 17:1, the hour has come, that the Son may glorify the Father and in verse 2 that to all whom you have given Him, He may give eternal life. What does this all point to?

The cross. The world sees Jesus on the cross as only humiliation. It was humiliation, but not just humiliation. It was the point the the Covenant of Redemption had planned so carefully and completely.

On the cross the Father glorified Jesus. On the cross Jesus glorified the Father. On the cross Satan was cast out. On the cross Jesus defeats death so that He can give eternal life to those God gave him. On the cross…

In this prayer Jesus is praying that the Father would do what was in the plan. That in following the plan Jesus would receive back the glory He had set aside. That in following the plan Jesus would glorify the Father. Jesus is asking for something that He knows the Father intends to do, but He still asks the Father to do it. He still asks. He still asks.

Do I still continue to pray for something as it is being answered. I’m afraid I often slack off. I will pray for something and then turn my eyes back down to what is going on around me. And when the prayer is answered I will pray in thanks, if I remember to. But, Jesus is still praying and asking when he had no doubt about what was going to happen. As it is happening. What does this show? It shows that Jesus continues to trust and depend on the Father in the midst of a prayer being answered. He is not distracted from who is giving Him a gift.

What difference can following Jesus in this pattern of praying make for us? Here are four ideas. FIrst, it keeps our eyes on God. We will not get confused about why a gift has been given to us. Second, it makes the time between praying and receiving shorter, so we have less time to forget who provided for us. Third, because we don’t forget we can glorify God and find joy in Him and live in gratefulness. And finally, if we do this regularly we will become bolder in the way we live for God. Because prayer and God are THE reason for what happens. No one else.

So church let me sum up. Let’s pray like we are praying to someone we know. Let’s pray like we are in covenant with God. Let’s pray to receive gifts that will help us to live out our highest purpose, to glorify God and enjoy Him. And let’s pray for things we know God is providing us. So that we live boldly in Him now, knowing that the world shifted when Jesus was lifted on the cross, knowing that there is nothing that will keep God from giving us what we need to glorify Him in every hour, every minute, every second of our lives.

Amen

Preached at Holiness Fellowship on March 28, 2021.