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Introduction John 17

Today we get to eavesdrop on one of the greatest recorded prayers ever prayed. And we are going to tackle this great prayer in two sermons which feels to me like trying to eat an elephant in two bites.

Now, if you are a normal human being, your brain is going to rebel and resist some of the concepts in the message today. The concepts are not intuitive. What is supposed to be beautiful, attractive and deeply satisfying may not appear that way to you. In fact, you may even feel offended. You may just be confused or disoriented. But don’t trust that reaction. Just because something doesn’t initially look good doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Our feelings sometimes lie to us.

For example, when I first heard about the concept of sushi, I thought it was the most disgusting thought ever. Raw fish? Are you kidding. That’s gross. But people kept on telling me it was amazing. I kept looking at it from a distance wondering what I was missing. And once I finally dove in and was able to open my mind to it, it’s not just palatable, it’s now my favorite food.

What this passage does is teach us to love the glory of God. Maybe you already love it, or you are learning to love it, or maybe you looks at it from a distance like raw fish. Why would I want that? That’s okay because by default, our spiritual palate isn’t adjusted to it.

We say things like, “Isn’t that kind of arrogant of God to want his own glory? God is jealous for his own glory? What kind of monster says that?” Of maybe you say, “Well if we are allowed to talk like that, then if I’m honest, I kind of like it when I get glory. Can I be jealous for my own glory?””

But believe me, loving the glory of God is so much more delicious than loving your own glory.

And let me give you an example of how that can be. Just give me 3 minutes. Here’s a video of our sun. Every second of this video is one day of footage.

The sun is amazing. There’s so much power here, it just boggles the mind. It’s about the equivalent of 1,820,000,000 of the most power nuclear bombs ever invented every second. Temperatures inside the Sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius. The sun generates this intense solar wind which is a stream of charged particles that travel around 450 km per second through the solar system. And of course the size! This one star is very large compared to our earth. About a million earth’s could fit inside the sun.

But it’s very small compared to other stars.

And of course that’s just one star in our galaxy that contains 200 billion stars.

And of course that’s just one galaxy in the estimated 200-400 billion galaxies.

A star is an amazing thing.

But what IS a star?

In C.S. Lewis’ story, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there’s a conversation about the nature of stars. In C.S. Lewis’ world of Narnia stars are very different than the stars in our world. And so one of the characters named Eustace points this out. Eustace says, “In our world, a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.” And then there’s this powerful line, “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of.”

What is a star? In other words, what is it for? What is its purpose? What is the meaning of a star? The Bible has an answer for this:

Psalm 19

A star is glory-beacon proclaiming the power of God. When I look at a star, I realize that there’s a massive God out there and it isn’t me. There is a being out there with serious glory.

When we look at a star and we think how massive and powerful that is and we think, “God made that?” Suddenly he has GLORY in our thinking. He has gravity in our mind. If God is that powerful, he matters. His opinion ought to heavily factor into my decision making. Right?

What is a star? It’s a glory-flashlight. It’s a glory-syringe to inject the towering majesty of God into our imagination. That’s what a star IS. That’s the design, purpose, meaning.

Now the reason I bring this up is because most of us can appreciate the glory of God, the WEIGHT of God by looking at stars. A star is a glory-beacon. That’s what it is. We like that kind of glory.

But at the end of the day, that’s what everything is. Why does anything exist? Why is anything the way it is? Why is there suffering? Why is there mountains? Why is there simplicity and complexity. Because in the end, it all brings God glory. The Bible teaches us that all of history, all of activity, our life, the birds, whales, our life, everything points to the glory of God, is about the glory of God. Passage Today Now the passage today teaches us this: The very pinnacle display of the glory of God, the very height, the towering peak of the glory of God is not stars or galaxies or supernovas or black holes as amazing as they are. It’s not whales or the human genome. The very pinnacle of the glory of God is the love of God. And the most GLORIOUS display of the love of God is the cross.

So, when we look to the cross, and see the supreme, ultimate love of Christ, we are beholding the most brilliant, blinding glory point in all the universe. The love of God for sinful men is like a giant star that shines forth the glory of God. It’s massive, bright, and eye-watering. It’s the loudest proclamation of the weight, splendor and GRAVITY of who God IS.

That’s what God IS. God IS LOVE and THAT is GLORIOUS. That’s the main point of the high priestly prayer. So first, it’s important that you just see that with your own eyes!

Now you can see the glory of God everywhere in this section.

But we need to see that the glory mentioned here is linked to the love of God for us via the cross. And the way to do that is to note something we pointed out clear back in the beginning of John. All through the book of John, Jesus’ life is threatened in some way or some sort of expectation is thrust upon him and Jesus keeps saying, “My hour has not yet come,” (2:4; 7:6; 7:8; 7:30; 8:20). And every time John uses this phrase, he’s referencing what? What’s the hour? The hour of death? The hour where he will be crucified.

But look at what he says here. Now what does he say? The hour has come. It’s time. The hour has come to what? To be glorified… So therefore, the hour of maximum glory is the hour he hangs in death because it’s through the cross that the love of God is manifest. The cross will be the stage upon which the glory-love of God is revealed.

Do you see that? The greatest evidence of God’s glory is his love and goodness to undeserving people. Has someone hurt you badly? Have you felt betrayed, injured? Think about how hard it is to forgive that person much less love them?! Much less die for them! That is GLORY my friends. GLORY!

I want to point out something you may have never noticed before. Do you remember in the OT when Moses was trying to lead a bunch of rebellious people? I mean these guys were outright criminals. And he needed some encouragement. Man, is this whole leading your people thing even worth it?

Exodus 33

What is the response to the request of Moses? God show me just how amazing you are. Show me your gravitas. Show us that thing about you that would just blow my mind. Show me the thing about you that makes you the most glorious being in the universe.

How does God respond? Does he give Moses a glimpse into the center of a star, the center of a galaxy? No, look at this.

You want to behold the glory of God? God says, “Look at my goodness. Look at my graciousness. Look at my mercy. You want to behold the glory of God? Then look at my love.” Moses asks for glory; God gives him just the trailing edge of his goodness.

We see the full splendor in the cross. It’s true. In some ways, we probably see more than Moses. Seeing and beholding and reveling in the glory of God is the entire point of history. In Habakkuk 2 when Habakkuk looks forward to a day of restoration, do you know how he describes this future kingdom day of joy? Habakkuk 2:14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

What does that mean? That means, the whole earth will know the height and depth and length and breadth of God’s love. They will see, according to this passage, the trinitarian love of God how the Son loves the Father and the Father in turn loves the Son. And they will see how the trinitarian love of God spills over into his love of humanity. And when we see that love, when we see that GLORY, we will worship.

Now until that day, Jesus is going to pray for his followers, 5 things. There’s 5 things for which Jesus petitions the Father.

Now the reason this protection is necessary is twofold. Jesus as their direct protector is going to be leaving the world. But more significantly, the world is going to hate them.

You see the world as defined by John is this domain that exists in open hostility to the kingdom of God. So the picture is you have two countries with their respective citizens living in them. And those countries are at absolute war with one another. It’s Ukraine and Russia. The tensions are building. All the guards are up. The propaganda of the one country teaches you to hate the citizens of the other country.

Now let’s say you are a citizen of Russia right now working in the highest level of Russia’s military headquarters. And then all of a sudden you flip allegiances. Uh, that’s a problem. You have gone from an important executive with power and respect to a traitor. Your actual life is at risk.

And that is exactly what happens when you become a follower of Jesus Christ. You are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the beloved Son in Christ Jesus. You are perceived as a traitor. Your loyalty is now with another. You are praising the King of another country. You follow his orders. You love their values.

And because of that you now become a threat to a way of life and everything valued in that country. Why would you desert our country? You too good for us? Let’s kill him. And so Jesus prays for our protection knowing the world will always be hostile to the message of the gospel.

Now, here’s just an aside. Ukraine and Russia are heavily in the news right now and we need to pray for them. But I want to instruct us how to pray.

We’ve supported Vladamir and Yulia Vlashenko. Years ago they were serving in Cremia in the southern part of Ukraine before it was Annexed by Russia. Now they are in Poltava which is close to the Eastern border with Russia. Recently we’ve received an update from Slavic Gospel Association that they are safe but things are changing hourly.

Now Bret Laird who is a good friend of mine was our connection to Ukraine. He served in a seminary there for 15 years. We visited him on several missions trips. He’s preached here at this church on several occasions.

So there’s very few people more qualified to comment on this and here’s what he says in a post from this week:

To understand what is happening and why, we need to look beyond the physical warfare which fills our screens to the spiritual warfare that is unseen.

Ephesians 6:12 reminds us: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

When the Soviet Union collapsed, and with it the state-imposed atheism of the Communists, there was a great spiritual harvest. Millions came to faith in Christ. And while the Lord brought in a harvest from all over the former Soviet nations, by far the greatest number of conversions occurred in Ukraine.

Ukraine has always been the “Bread Basket” of eastern Europe, and that is true not only agriculturally, but spiritually. Ukraine is truly “The Bible Belt”–not only of the Slavic countries–but now of Europe itself. And beginning in the mid-2000’s, churches all across Ukraine began sending missionaries to the least-reached and hardest to reach peoples of the world. The Bread of Life is going forth from the fertile spiritual soil in Ukraine to every continent on earth.

THAT beloved, is what Satan is desperately trying to stop. THAT is the spiritual warfare behind the physical warfare. Satan’s primary strategies have always been to POLLUTE the message of the gospel or to PERSECUTE the messengers of the gospel.

But here’s the good news: The Word of God cannot be chained. As millions of Ukrainians flee the violence, there will be many born-again believers among them. And they–just like they did in the first Russian invasion in 2014–will carry the gospel of Jesus Christ with them wherever they go.

What men intend for evil, God will use for good.

I lived among these believers. I know them. I’ve seen how they respond to war and to life as refugees. I’ve seen their courage and their devotion to Christ firsthand. So I am confident–and praying–that they, like the refugees from the church in Jerusalem described in Acts 8:4, will take the gospel with them wherever they are scattered by this invasion.

“Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.” -Acts 8:4

THAT is what GOD is doing.

What better way to apply the sermon that to pray for protection for these brothers and sisters. Let’s just take a second mid-sermon here to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Ukraine. Jesus prays for protection. Let’s pray that for them.

Now I won’t say a lot about this now, because next week this is going to be the focus of the sermon. I told you this was a prayer broken into two sermon-sized bites and this point will be the second bite.

The one thing we will say today is that true Christian unity finds its power in the very nature of the Godhead and flows out of the love of God for us. That’s the nuclear core.

It’s so incredibly different than ANY other kind of unity. The power is there and we are praying for God to do this work among us as a body.

Now the word sanctify in English comes from the Latin word sanctus which means holy. So really it’s a word that means holify. And the word holy means to be separate or to set apart away from common use.

So take it out of the realm of religion for a moment. In our home we have a cupboard with all our cups. And they get used constantly. There are some plastic cups and some thick glass cups. They are strong, durable. They get kicked around.

But then when my daughter has a birthday party with her friends, out come the tea party cups. And these are super fragile, beautiful thin walled cups with ornate decorations. These cups are set apart. They are holy unto tea-parties. That’s what the word HOLY means. Set apart unto a very special purpose. There’s common use cups. And then there set apart, holy cups. Do you see the difference?

So God all through the Bible is called holy. In fact, that’s how Jesus addresses the Father at the beginning of the prayer, “Holy Father.” He’s set apart from humanity. There’s common man. And then there’s God. Totally different. Totally other.

You have common power. And then there’s God’s HOLY power. Separate and distinct and totally other.

You have common love. And then there’s God’s HOLY love. Separate and distinct and totally other.

And so Jesus here is praying that we would be sanctified, holified in truth. You see, the way this sanctification happens, the way this holification happens is through the truth, through the WORD OF GOD.

All through the Bible it is the Word of God which sanctifies his people: Joshua (Joshua 1:8–9), an Israelite king (Deuteronomy 17:18–20), and any faithful believer (Psalm 1:2).

But it is a very specific truth of the Word of God that ultimately SANCTIFIES us. And we can discover what Jesus is referencing specifically by asking ourselves this question: “What does Jesus mean here by sanctifying himself?”

You don’t see as obvious in the English translation. The translators tried to make this less confusing by using the word consecration. But it kind of masks an important concept.

Notice the ESV says consecrate (Jesus says, “For their sake I consecrate myself,”). But that’s not what the Greek says. The Greek word is sanctify.

So what does it mean that Jesus sanctifies himself? Obviously, it can’t mean to get rid of sin since Jesus had no sin to eliminate. No, instead what he means is that he sets himself apart from common activities of man to do his Father’s will, and his Father’s will alone — and that means he willingly, gladly goes to the cross, however repulsive and horrifying the prospect is. Do you see the idea?

If I sanctify myself for the purpose of the father, namely going to the cross, then it will be through my sanctification, that my followers will be sanctified. The obedience of Christ makes sinners holy.

Because unlike Jesus, we can never be sanctified, set apart for God, without Christ first setting himself apart to do the Father’s will.

That is the good news; that is the gospel; that is the truth. That truth is what truly sanctifies us.

This whole prayer is about us patterning ourselves after the Godhead. Do you see it? Christ’s sanctification mission becomes now becomes our mission. Because Christ set himself apart from common activities of the world to do the father’s activity, namely to save us, we now as saved people set ourselves apart from the common activities of the world to pursue the father’s activity of sharing the good news with others.

So what does that mean for you? You don’t do what the world does with your time or your money. Your time is sanctified, set apart for God. You don’t run your business like other people run their businesses. You don’t work for your boss like other people work for their bosses. Why? Because you are set apart. It’s redeemed for holy purposes. So take a look at what you do? How much of it is sanctified and how much of it is common? How much of it advances the mission of God? That’s the only question that, in the end, truly matters.

Jesus is here praying for our joy. That is wonderful. That is so encouraging. Do you feel like you lack joy right now? Jesus has prayed for you that the same joy that he experienced might be experienced in you.

Do you want to be as happy as Jesus? Jesus has prayed for you that it might be so. Now don’t think that means that you will be free of trials. Jesus praying for the disciples joy does not mean that they will be free of uncomfortable circumstances. Literally the verse before this prayer Jesus says, “In this world you will have tribulation.”

2 Timothy 3:12 says, “All those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Persecution, suffering, trials does not equal joyless living. Do you believe that? Jesus is praying for the kind of joy he had. Was that circumstantial?

Hebrews 12

There has to be a lot of joy in front of a person to endure the cross. Don’t you think? What was his joy? His joy was the glory of the Father. The glory of the Father flooded his horizon so that was all he could see. Do you see how beautiful that is? Do you see how marvelous and glorious that is? And what is the ultimate glory of the Father? What is the most GLORIOUS attribute of the father? His Love. Jesus saw the LOVE of God and is praying that you too might see the Love of God and be transformed by it.

Is that not incredible?

Jesus’ own joy in doing his Father’s will was based on his ability to see the love of God for him. And that is where our joy comes from as well. As we see the glory of God which really is another way of saying, as we see the love of God, we are delighted and thrive regardless of circumstances. Even though the word joy isn’t used, look at verse 24. You can hear it just oozing out of the text.

Jesus just longs for his followers to see the love of God. That longing to be with the father, to do the will of the father who loves him so much. That is what he wants. This is the joy that Jesus prays for his disciples.

Fifthly and finally, Jesus prays that we would be with God forever in heaven. That we would have that eternal life that has been such a focus in the book of John.

Again, what is life? THIS is eternal life: that they KNOW the Father. This is the goal. This is the end. This is heaven. Knowing God. That’s it. There’s nothing better. There’s nothing more infinite.

If you’re picture of heaven is camping or sitting by a pool or enjoying great food, you are a million miles away. You are nowhere in the zipcode of heaven. What is life? What is eternal life? What is heaven? KNOWING GOD. Reveling and basking in the glory of God. That’s what it means to GLORIFY God, to simply recognize what is. To simply acknowledge his otherness, his separateness, his supreme attractiveness, his worth, his towering love, his infinite love, his life-giving, bitterness-melting, overflowing love. That is heaven.

That’s why everything is about glorifying God. We come back full circle to the glory of God. Look at the picture of the throneroom in Rev 4.

Revelation 4-5

And then he describes 24 thrones with elders and four living creatures who were praising God. And then you get this climactic scene at the end.

This is life: that they might know the father. This is eternal life: knowing that God. FCBC, this is life; there is no greater life. Jesus says, I am the way the truth and the life. Why is that? Because life is in the father. No man comes to the father except through me.

Thus the ultimate petition, the final petition, the mega-petition is to see the glory of God which is to say, that the final petition, the mega-petition is to see the love of God in sending his Son to be the Savior of the world. Application Now, I want to pause for a moment. I mean this kind of thinking is so lofty. It’s so grand. But just stop for a moment. Think about who Jesus is praying for. You know who these people are; you’ve been reading about them. All they ever do is quarrel. All they ever do is doubt. They gossip. They whisper in secret about whose better. All they ever do is scramble for preeminence. And worse still. They’re about to desert him and deny him within a matter of hours.

And for these people he’s praying for protection, unity, sanctification, joy, life. The disciples were a train wreck. They were a mess. In a strange sort of way, that is a tremendous comfort.

Because we are a mess. Who here comes without significant embarrassment in the dark corners of your life? Who here has it all together? Who here is free from sin? We are all a mess. If being broken and sinful describes you, welcome to the party. Jesus is praying for you. Jesus is interceding for you. Jesus is your advocate. Jesus is your defender. It is through Jesus that you will see the father and fall on your face and cry out HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!

You see at the end of the day, it’s not that you accept Jesus into your heart. Jesus places you into the Father. You did not choose me. I chose you. Jesus is doing the work. Do you not see, that no matter what goes down in your life, Jesus loves you. You can’t separate yourself from the love of God. And the glorious, brilliant, blinding, star-like nature of that divine, perfect love is going to gnaw at those places of rebellion and break it down and it’s going to grow and grow and grow until your entire horizon is filled with it and then it’s going to leak out of you and into others and the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of his Glory and the experience of his LOVE.