Meeting Jesus Week Six - Jesus Prays for Us: John 17:6-19
“Can you pray for me?”
This one line is so much more than just a request for some nice words.
It is a plea to be ministered to by the living God.
When people ask for prayer – they are asking for God.
I have discovered throughout my time in ministry the power of personal prayer. Those five words open a world of possibility – “Can you pray for me?”
I think that one of the most powerful things we can do for someone is to pray for them personally. To ask what their needs are, to listen carefully, to then pray in the name of Jesus for them.
Prayer in this way is an act of love and care. We effectively stand before God asking God to minister to the person we pray for.
Many times, in my life, someone has prayed for me when I needed it and I have experienced a profound sense of God’s presence, God’s help, and answers to my prayers.
One of the most vivid for me was just a few years ago at a prayer meeting held up in Tekapo.
I was feeling dry, a little out of touch with God’s love and goodness, tired, and honestly just in need of some encouragement.
A random person from a prayer team walked up to me, put his hand on my shoulder and prayed. As he did, God’s love poured out over me in such a tangible way I found myself overwhelmed. Tears flowed, it was like a tank that was empty and dry was being filled up, and I walked away changed.
God knew it was just what I needed, and in his grace he ministered to me through this person.
When we pray, we are not just dabbling in poetic words, or nice ideas out loud about God – we are reckoning with the living God – inviting him to move in our midst. This is serious business and stuff happens!
In John chapter 17 we see Jesus offer this profound ministry to his disciples. As we read John 17 this morning, we learn a lot about Jesus’ heart for us and for this world. We learn a lot about how Jesus wants to minister to us and through us.
So, let’s look at this passage together. I invite you to turn to your Bibles.
The setting – Farwell.
In John 17 Jesus has gathered his disciples together to farewell them. Before he goes to the cross, he shares his heart with them, and he prays for them.
Jesus must go to the cross to fulfill his mission and he knows that his disciples will need great courage, they will need protection, they will need guidance and help to carry on his mission in the world.
Jesus acknowledges that his disciples have believed that he has come from God, but that is just the beginning. They will need equipping for what will happen next.
And so, Jesus prays for them.
But not only them…
Jesus prays for us too…
-Jesus prays for his disciples and in verse 20-21, he extends the prayer to those who will follow on from the disciples.
Jesus says: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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.”
So, what does Jesus pray for his disciples, and for his church:
Jesus prays for three things for his disciples, for those who follow Him:
-For unity
-For protection from evil
-That they may be “sanctified”, made holy, set apart, for mission.
We are going to explore the significance of each of these elements of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples this morning.
The first thing that Jesus prays for is unity.
UNITY (11b-13) – Unity in Jesus’ name
Jesus prays: “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”
Unity is deeply important to Jesus. He asks that his followers are one. They are called to be community, gathered around Jesus.
Church history as it has played out has unfortunately seen many splits and factions in the church. (diagram).
However, struggles with unity isn’t a recent phenomenon. Early on in the church it was difficult for people to be united. We see this in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians as he is writing to them to remain in good relationship with each other, gathered together around Jesus.
We now live in a world with lots of denominational differences.
Sometimes I hear Christians talking badly about Christians of other denominations – why they are wrong and what we do is better. This is so deeply out of line with what Jesus prays that when we hear it, we should pause to challenge it.
Despite all our denominations and differences, the call is the same - Jesus prays that we would be one, that we would be united.
This unity doesn’t mean we will agree on everything. It doesn’t mean that we will be the same. Rather, we unite around Jesus. We share what we can share together which is the basic call to be his disciples, his followers, and to make disciples – reaching out to a broken and hurting world with God’s love.
So how might we be people who respond to Jesus’ prayer for unity…
How can we join Jesus’ prayer with our own and live into it?
We can do this on various levels:
Firstly, we are invited to recognize that we are a global church. People from every culture and place are called to follow Jesus and be united in Him.
In the book of Revelation, which gives us a picture of what will one day be when God’s kingdom comes in all its fullness, we are given a picture of worship:
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10)
This beautiful passage shows us the big picture of the church throughout time and across the world. When we say in the creed “I believe in the holy catholic church – that is what this word catholic means – it means “universal.”
And so, it is good for us to be aware of the global church – to pray for our brothers and sisters across the world, and with them.
A wonderful initiative over recent years has been the initiative started by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York called “Thy Kingdom Come.”
"Thy Kingdom Come is a worldwide prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension to Pentecost. Since its launch by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in 2016, Christians from 172 countries and 65 denominations have taken part in praying for friends and family to come to faith in Jesus Christ.”[1]
CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT
This beautiful initiative encourages churches from all around the world to pray together for the unity and mission of the church. I’ll share links on Facebook page today and invite you to sign up for their devotional material and prayers over this next week.
A way that you can be involved locally here in Timaru is to get together with other Christians in town from different church traditions and backgrounds to talk and pray and serve the community.
In an official way, we do this as a Timaru Christian Ministers Association.
Since I arrived in 2015, I have been astounded at just how well the churches do work together. The pastors connect monthly for coffee, prayer, and to share with each other their highs and lows.
But not only this, twice a year we get together as churches – once at Easter, and once again for a service of combined prayer later in the year.
To me this is a wonderful witness to our community that we are not just about our own denominations or our own concerns, but rather that together we are called to love and serve our communities.
So, we can practice unity on a global and a local scale, and we can also practice it in our own congregation as we seek to worship together with people who are different to us. Jesus holds us together, even when we disagree.
Unfortunately, in the cultural moment that we live in – unity is massively undervalued and hard to come by.
We live in a very individualistic society. If I disagree with you or we have an altercation, I just ‘unfriend’ you on Facebook.
This can be true on a personal level, but it is even more troubling on a community level. We have seen over recent years a greater polarization in politics.
On various sides of the spectrum, no matter where you sit politically, what is most troubling is our inability to listen to each other without demonizing the opposition. We live in what I think can be described as a society with little room for genuine tolerance.
And so – in the face of all of this – I actually think there is a beautiful and unique opportunity for the church to model genuine unity.
So, Jesus prays for unity.
PROTECTION (14-15) – Protection in Jesus’ name
Secondly, Jesus prays that his disciples may be protected.
Prayers of protection are something that we are probably reasonably familiar with.
Often when we find ourselves in a jam we will fire off one of these prayers – God please help!
The Psalms give us lots of language for this kind of prayer.
Psalm 54 for examples, says:
“O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might.”
(Ps 54:1)
Jesus prays for protection for his disciples.
He knows that he is about to go to the cross, and that when they follow him they will need to take up their own cross – they will likely face suffering and trouble for following him.
Jesus doesn’t pray that they won’t face trouble, but rather that they will be kept from the evil one.
As 1 Peter puts it:
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
The early church wrestled with difficulties as they followed Jesus. We will face these too – Jesus’ prayer in these times is that we would be protected from evil, that we would remain faithful. He reminds his disciples in his prayer that they belong to God – that they are safe in his care – he has their eternal destiny in His hands, and ours too.
Though things might get hard, they are not to be taken from the world, but rather sent into it.
As one commentator puts it:
“Moses and Elijah and Jonah all prayed that they be taken out of the world (Num. 11:15; 1 Kings 19:4; Jon. 4:3, 8), but in no case was the request granted. The place for the people of God is in the world, though, of course, not of the world. The church has often sought to contract out, to become a kind of holy club. But this is not the prayer of the Master.”[2]
SET APART FOR A TASK (16-19) – Sent in Jesus’ name
And so, the final thing we see Jesus pray for his that his disciples may be sanctified and sent out.
To be sanctified in the truth is to be made holy.
To be made holy is not what we think at first glance.
It isn’t to become the person with a halo over our head.
To be holy is to be set apart for service.
Jesus consecrates his disciples for a task – to go out in the world to bear witness to him. (John 15:27). They will do this by telling the world what Jesus has done, and by loving the world as Jesus loves it.
Just as God the Father has given Jesus everything he needed to fulifll his calling, so now Jesus will ask God to give his followers everything they need to do what he is calling them to do.[3]
Like the first disciples who were sent by Jesus, we might not feel up to the task. Yet, it helps to know that Jesus is praying for us, and as we will celebrate at Pentecost next week – that the Holy Spirit comes to equip us and help us as we go out to serve.
So, as we hear about Jesus praying for his disciples this morning, the invitation is for us to know that Jesus prays for us too. He prays that we may be united, that we may be protected, and that we may be sent into the world.
A prayer for us - (based on John 17)
Holy Father, keep us in your name, which you have given Jesus, that we may be one, even as you and Jesus are one. While Jesus was with his disciples, he kept them in your name, which you have given Him. May we have Jesus’ joy fulfilled in us. Jesus has given us your word, and the world has hated us because we are not of the world, just as Jesus is not of the world. Do not take us out of the world, but keep us from the evil one. We are not of the world, just as Jesus is not of the world. Sanctify us in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus has sent us into the world. May the world believe in Jesus through our witness to him. May the love with which Jesus has love us be in us and work through us. Amen.
Preached by Joshua
[1] https://www.thykingdomcome.global/
[2] Leon Morris, NICNT: John
[3] Andrew T. Lincoln, Black’s New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel According to Saint John.