John 17:1-26
In this chapter, we are drawing toward the close of a meal Jesus and His disciples are sharing together, the meal that has come to be called the last supper. As a bit of background, in the days leading up to this meal Jesus had been speaking increasingly about His death, the necessity of it, and He had indicated that it would happen soon. During the meal, Jesus had already dismissed Judas, yet the remaining disciples did not recognize that Judas would betray Jesus.
Satan had entered Judas, and Judas was at this very moment in the process of betraying Jesus and leading the Jewish authorities to Jesus to arrest and ultimately kill Him. Jesus had also already had the conversation with Peter where Peter said he would die with Jesus, following Him anywhere, to which Jesus replied that in short order Peter would deny Jesus three times. All of this was no doubt tremendously troubling, discouraging, and even shocking to the disciples.
Jesus then began a long discourse to encourage the troubled disciples. He told them to trust in God and in Him and that He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father's house, in heaven. He said they knew the Way, and when they asked what He meant, He said that He was the way and the truth and the life.
Jesus then explained that He would answer prayers made in His name, prayers that would bring glory to the Father, and said that those who had faith in Him would do even greater things than what He was doing. He also told them that they would not be alone, that they would be given a Counselor, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, who would come and teach them and remind them of Jesus’ words. In addition to all this, He told them that He would leave His peace with them, a supernatural kind of peace. Elsewhere this is called a peace that surpasses understanding.
Jesus offers encouragement by sharing things with them before they happen. It is like how a compassionate doctor takes the time to explain a procedure or surgery and how it will help you and how it will all be all right in the end. Jesus here says to the disciples, I will leave you, but I am coming back. It will be scary, it will be hard, but it will be for the good, the best of all.
Jesus is the true light; in Him is eternal salvation, complete salvation. And Jesus is the true bread; in Him we will never hunger nor thirst again; in Him not just our stomachs but our souls, our hearts, our everything, will be forever completely satisfied. And so, in the same way, Jesus tells them He is the true vine; the perfect vine.
God the Father is the vine dresser, and He tends the vine. He loves and cares for the vine. We are the branches on the vine, living branches bearing fruit. That’s us. God the Father cares for us because we are living branches. We are in the vine, attached to the vine. For God the Father to care for us, we must be connected to the vine, to Jesus. Apart from the vine (apart from Him) we are just dead twigs.
Jesus spoke also of the persecution which the disciples would face. That the world would hate them not because they would be aloof and sit in judgment over people, but rather because the disciples would be like Jesus, loving people, having an assurance beyond the power structure of this world.
Jesus also reinforces the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the trinity, three-in-one. All three are on the same page. The Holy Spirit will pick up where Jesus leaves off and guide the disciples into all truth. All that the disciples would need to do in the future, the Holy Spirit would reveal one step at a time. Tim pointed out to us that God reveals His will for us just a little at a time? If we could see now everything in our future, we would likely be overwhelmed.
Jesus explains again that he will leave and there will be a time where the disciples will not see him. Though there would be grief, a time of joy is coming. Jesus would rise from the dead and no one would be able to take away their joy. He also said we have direct access to God the Father through prayer. There is no intermediary. Jesus does not relay our prayers to the Father. Jesus has made a way for us to speak to God the Father. Because we loved Jesus, the Father loves us. Chapter 16 concludes with the assurance from Jesus that though we will face trouble, “Take heart, [take courage],” He has overcome the world.
We made it to chapter 17!
Let's take a moment and pray before we jump in.
Lord Jesus, open our hearts and our minds to Your truth. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that enabled all these verses to be recorded for us to read and hear and receive encouragement. May we receive Your love and be built up in unity with You and with one another. Thank You that You prayed for us even before You went to the cross. Thank You for all the assurances You give us. In Your name we pray, Amen.
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the hour has come.
Lord Jesus, open our hearts and our minds to Your truth. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that enabled all these verses to be recorded for us to read and hear and receive encouragement. May we receive Your love and be built up in unity with You and with one another. Thank You that You prayed for us even before You went to the cross. Thank You for all the assurances You give us. In Your name we pray, Amen.
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the hour has come.
John 17:1
After all that we have reviewed so far, everything that has gone before, Jesus turns to prayer. The hour has come. I marvel at the patience and assurance of Jesus at this most difficult, most stressful of moments.
I don't know about you, but I get nervous. If I have to travel, I'm nervous until I'm on the plane. I'm worried that I'm going to mess up somehow and miss my flight. I'm nervous in front of a group of people or even in front of a few people. Will I say the right thing? Am I going to forget something important? Am I going to say something wrong?
And here's Jesus, knowing fully that Judas has betrayed him, and yet He gives the disciples the deepest teaching that has been recorded. He says things which He has not told them before. And now that the hour has come, the mob very well on its way, Jesus turns to prayer.
This is the longest prayer of Jesus in the Bible. There are roughly three sections. First, Jesus prays for Himself, then He prays for the disciples, and he concludes by praying for the believers who would come after the first disciples.
Usually, we go verse by verse through a passage, but I'd like to read the entire prayer before looking into the details. In addition to just reading, I'd like us to put our hearts in a posture of prayer. I encourage you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
After all that we have reviewed so far, everything that has gone before, Jesus turns to prayer. The hour has come. I marvel at the patience and assurance of Jesus at this most difficult, most stressful of moments.
I don't know about you, but I get nervous. If I have to travel, I'm nervous until I'm on the plane. I'm worried that I'm going to mess up somehow and miss my flight. I'm nervous in front of a group of people or even in front of a few people. Will I say the right thing? Am I going to forget something important? Am I going to say something wrong?
And here's Jesus, knowing fully that Judas has betrayed him, and yet He gives the disciples the deepest teaching that has been recorded. He says things which He has not told them before. And now that the hour has come, the mob very well on its way, Jesus turns to prayer.
This is the longest prayer of Jesus in the Bible. There are roughly three sections. First, Jesus prays for Himself, then He prays for the disciples, and he concludes by praying for the believers who would come after the first disciples.
Usually, we go verse by verse through a passage, but I'd like to read the entire prayer before looking into the details. In addition to just reading, I'd like us to put our hearts in a posture of prayer. I encourage you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I
know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them,
and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may
be in them and that I myself may be in them.” --
Amen. It is enough just to hear the words of Jesus, isn't it?
It is a beautiful prayer made even more remarkable by the conditions under which it was uttered. I take great comfort that I can read a prayer in which Jesus prayed for me.
The prayer is layered like a tapestry, and at first, I found it hard to distill. One of the keys to understanding is to look at what Jesus asked the Father. I was surprised how few things He asked for.
He asks that the Father would glorify the Son, glorify Him.
Jesus tells the Father that He is praying for those the Father has given to Him, his disciples. He lifts them up to the Father.
Specifically, He asks the Father to protect them. And, He asks the Father to sanctify them.
John 17:1-26
Amen. It is enough just to hear the words of Jesus, isn't it?
It is a beautiful prayer made even more remarkable by the conditions under which it was uttered. I take great comfort that I can read a prayer in which Jesus prayed for me.
The prayer is layered like a tapestry, and at first, I found it hard to distill. One of the keys to understanding is to look at what Jesus asked the Father. I was surprised how few things He asked for.
He asks that the Father would glorify the Son, glorify Him.
Jesus tells the Father that He is praying for those the Father has given to Him, his disciples. He lifts them up to the Father.
Specifically, He asks the Father to protect them. And, He asks the Father to sanctify them.
He then tells the Father that He is praying for those who
will believe in Him through the disciples' message, (that's us). He lifts us up to the Father.
He asks that we will be one and that He (Jesus) may be in us. Again, He prays that we may be one and additionally that we may be brought to complete unity.
He concludes by stating His desire. Jesus wants us, the ones given to Him, to be with Him, to see His glory.
In the simplest outline, I would paraphrase the prayer in this way:
1. Glorify: Make Jesus' dignity and value, his true identity, manifest, apparent, so that it can be recognized and acknowledged.
2. Magnify: Protect the disciples so that they may have unity, connection to Jesus, and protect them from being prevented from proclaiming Jesus. Sanctify or set them apart so that the truth will not be diluted when they go into the world.
3. Unify and Amplify: That we would be connected to Him, the Father and one another. That He would be in us so that the world may believe that Jesus was sent by God and that God has loved the world as His own Son.
At the eleventh hour, this is the heartbeat of Jesus. That everyone should know and that everyone who will may love and adore God.
Looking more closely at the tapestry, I find that Jesus is interweaving connections and relationships. Causes and effects. There are four primary entities: the Father, Jesus His Son, the disciples, and the believers that would come after the first disciples. Nearly all the prayers relate one or more of these groups to another in action or provision.
For example, in verse 1, Jesus said, “Father … Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” In this case, there is a couplet. The Father glorifies the Son with the express purpose that the Son may glorify the Father.
The prayer continues in the subject-verb-object type of structure whether Jesus is making a request or an acknowledgment or a confession, adoration, or praise. In an effort to visualize the prayer all at once, I drew four circles on a piece of paper, wrote in Father, Jesus, Disciples, and Believers. Then, I started drawing arcs for each verb or provision. I came up with 26 connections.
I don't know about you, but for me it kind of had the look of a flower.
As I continued to prepare, I took a more careful view. I realized that I left quite a few of the connections out. I did it again, and I counted 46 links. Honestly, there are even more, but as some of them are repeated, I did not single out every one.
Sometimes you get into a passage of Scripture, and it just surprises you. How did Jesus pack so much into those 26 verses? The opening of I Peter is like that. You just wonder how Peter got so much doctrine crammed into two verses. Let's step through a few of these connections and watch them unfold.
v.1 Father glorify your Son,
that your Son may glorify you (Father).
v.2 For you (Father) granted the Son authority over all people that
He asks that we will be one and that He (Jesus) may be in us. Again, He prays that we may be one and additionally that we may be brought to complete unity.
He concludes by stating His desire. Jesus wants us, the ones given to Him, to be with Him, to see His glory.
In the simplest outline, I would paraphrase the prayer in this way:
1. Glorify: Make Jesus' dignity and value, his true identity, manifest, apparent, so that it can be recognized and acknowledged.
2. Magnify: Protect the disciples so that they may have unity, connection to Jesus, and protect them from being prevented from proclaiming Jesus. Sanctify or set them apart so that the truth will not be diluted when they go into the world.
3. Unify and Amplify: That we would be connected to Him, the Father and one another. That He would be in us so that the world may believe that Jesus was sent by God and that God has loved the world as His own Son.
At the eleventh hour, this is the heartbeat of Jesus. That everyone should know and that everyone who will may love and adore God.
Looking more closely at the tapestry, I find that Jesus is interweaving connections and relationships. Causes and effects. There are four primary entities: the Father, Jesus His Son, the disciples, and the believers that would come after the first disciples. Nearly all the prayers relate one or more of these groups to another in action or provision.
For example, in verse 1, Jesus said, “Father … Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” In this case, there is a couplet. The Father glorifies the Son with the express purpose that the Son may glorify the Father.
The prayer continues in the subject-verb-object type of structure whether Jesus is making a request or an acknowledgment or a confession, adoration, or praise. In an effort to visualize the prayer all at once, I drew four circles on a piece of paper, wrote in Father, Jesus, Disciples, and Believers. Then, I started drawing arcs for each verb or provision. I came up with 26 connections.
I don't know about you, but for me it kind of had the look of a flower.
As I continued to prepare, I took a more careful view. I realized that I left quite a few of the connections out. I did it again, and I counted 46 links. Honestly, there are even more, but as some of them are repeated, I did not single out every one.
Sometimes you get into a passage of Scripture, and it just surprises you. How did Jesus pack so much into those 26 verses? The opening of I Peter is like that. You just wonder how Peter got so much doctrine crammed into two verses. Let's step through a few of these connections and watch them unfold.
v.1 Father glorify your Son,
that your Son may glorify you (Father).
v.2 For you (Father) granted the Son authority over all people that
the Son might give eternal life to all those (Disciples and
Believers) that
you (Father) have given the Son.
v.3 Now this is eternal life: that they (Disciples and Believers) may know you (Father), the only true God, and
v.3 Now this is eternal life: that they (Disciples and Believers) may know you (Father), the only true God, and
that they (Disciples and Believers) may know Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent.
I think that you get the idea. It really is like the prayer is woven together. There are distinct threads and yet the ultimate purpose is unity; all the pieces fitting together in harmony, supporting, encouraging, developing without conflict, strife, or envy, each activity in its own turn. It is through this thriving vital interdependence that God will build His kingdom. In the end, this is why we're still here.
I want to walk separately through the activities of God the Father, Jesus and believers (us). For God the Father, the actions are:
1. Glorify the Son
2. Grant the Son authority over all peoples
3. Give all who will believe to the Son
4. Give the Son His work on earth
5. Send the Son
6. Give the Son all the Father has
7. Protect the Disciples by the power of His Name
8. Give His Name to the Son
9. Protect the Disciples from the evil one
10. Sanctify or set apart the Disciples (so that the would be “not of this world.” How? By the truth, through the Word. Remember John 1, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.)
11. Be in the Son
12. Love all Believers the same as He loves His Son
13. Love the Son
14. Enable Believers to be with Jesus in heaven
I think that you get the idea. It really is like the prayer is woven together. There are distinct threads and yet the ultimate purpose is unity; all the pieces fitting together in harmony, supporting, encouraging, developing without conflict, strife, or envy, each activity in its own turn. It is through this thriving vital interdependence that God will build His kingdom. In the end, this is why we're still here.
I want to walk separately through the activities of God the Father, Jesus and believers (us). For God the Father, the actions are:
1. Glorify the Son
2. Grant the Son authority over all peoples
3. Give all who will believe to the Son
4. Give the Son His work on earth
5. Send the Son
6. Give the Son all the Father has
7. Protect the Disciples by the power of His Name
8. Give His Name to the Son
9. Protect the Disciples from the evil one
10. Sanctify or set apart the Disciples (so that the would be “not of this world.” How? By the truth, through the Word. Remember John 1, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.)
11. Be in the Son
12. Love all Believers the same as He loves His Son
13. Love the Son
14. Enable Believers to be with Jesus in heaven
As I was writing these up, I maintained a distinction
between the disciples and the believers that would follow. However, I do not think they are meant to be
isolated from one another as verse 20 says, “My prayer is not for them alone
[the disciples], I pray also for those who will believe.” God will protect us by the power of His Name
in the same way that He protected the disciples. We likewise are sanctified or set apart as
were the disciples so that we are consecrated, dedicated to God and made pure.
The actions of Jesus are:
1. Glorify the Father
2. Give eternal life to all those the Father has given the Son
3. Reveal the Father to those the Father has given the Son
4. Give the Disciples the words the Father has given the Son
5. Pray for the Disciples
6. Give the Father all the Son has
7. Protect the Disciples while the Son was on Earth
8. Say these things that the full measure of His joy will be within His Disciples
9. Send the Disciples into the world
10. Sanctify or set apart Himself so that the Disciples will be truly sanctified
11. Pray for future Believers who will believe in Him through the message of the Disciples
12. Be in the Father
13. Give the Father's glory to Believers that they may be One
14. Be in all Believers
15. Know the Father
16. Make the Father known to Believers and continue making Him known
I think Jesus too intends that the full measure of His joy will be in us as well as the disciples. Likewise, we are sent into the world. We're still here, therefore we are not yet sent into heaven. All the things that Jesus does are done out of submission to the Father. He loves the Father and allows us to see that love relationship in submitting to the Father.
For us (Disciples and Believers), the activities are:
1. Know the Father
2. Know Jesus Christ, His Son
3. Accept and obey the Word of the Father
4. Know and believe that Jesus came from the Father
5. Bring glory to Jesus
6. Experience the full measure of Jesus' joy
7. Be one (in unity with one another and with Jesus and the Father) as the Father and Jesus are one (in complete, perfect unity)
Do you notice how the Father and Jesus do all the heavy lifting? Look at the verbs ascribed to us: know, accept, obey, believe, honor, experience, be. The things that we must do are passive, responsive. We shouldn't strike out from God on our own and ask Him to bless us. We are to abide in Him and follow Him.
I was struck this week by something that happened which brought to mind how much God supports me, protects me in my weaknesses. God's design is to work out our circumstances in such a way as to bring us into unity with Him either by breaking up our delusions (usually gently) or removing distractions.
What I find so interesting about these lists is how Jesus overlapped the individual ideas one after the other in His prayer. I said before that the diagram looked kind of like a flower. Well, here is the picture of a real rose. See how the petals encompass one another, each one folds over the next. Our experience with the Father and the Son is meant to be like that. Our hearts and our minds should be intertwined with theirs. If we are living alone, distinct from God, then we are not abiding in Him as we should. If our prayers are more “God bless this or that thing I'm going to do,” rather than “God what would you have me to do,” then we are going to experience feelings of emptiness or loneliness. Our times in the Word will be dry, and our prayers will feel like they are bouncing off the ceiling. Jesus intends our relationship to be dependent. Sometimes that's tough to think about in our self-esteem focused, self-actualized, me-first culture.
I have a short clip that I want to show you from Toy Story 2. Have you seen the movie? If you haven't seen it, the idea is toys come to life when nobody is around. To set up what we'll see you need to know, Woody the cowboy toy has no idea that he was actually based on a famous TV character from the 1950's. He thinks of himself only as a generic cowboy toy.
We'll pick up the scene where another toy taken from the old TV show says to Woody, “You don't know who you are do you?”
We happened to watch this movie on Friday night as a family, and this scene grabbed me. It just made me ponder what God's living room must look like. I don't think He has just one room with miniature portraits of millions of people spread all over the walls. I envisioned instead rooms filled with “you” and “me” memorabilia. Pictures of you taking your first steps. Pictures of you before you were even born. T-shirts with your picture on them from the day that you got saved or perhaps from your baptism that God would wear. You know the look I'm talking about. That dopey, goofy smile you had when every burden had been lifted and you were fully reliant on Jesus. Imagine your face on the cover of a magazine on God's coffee table. You are the most important thing to Him, front-page, above-the-fold.
Carl said a few weeks ago that if we could really grasp how much God loves us, we would be undone. I think for sure we would be standing there slack-jawed, sighing out, “Whoa...” just like Woody. God loves you that much. He desires your relationship with Him to be just as intimate, just as close as it is between the Father and Jesus. Psalm 40:5 says “Many, O LORD my God, are ... Your thoughts toward us ... If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count.”
May we rest in Him and be filled up with His love until it is overflowing, until it just oozes out of us. And may we remember that there are so many people who are just like Woody was. They don't know who they are. They don't have an inkling of their place in God's heart. God loves the whole world. He sent His Son for the sins of all mankind. He desires that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. May we respond to Him sending us and be a light to a lost and dying world.
May we remember that Jesus Himself prayed for us while He was here on the earth. May we also be assured that He continues to intercede for us at the Father's side even right now.
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.--Romans 8:34-35, 37-38
Thank you, Jesus. Let's pray.
Lord God, we thank You for the incomprehensible truth that You have reconciled us to You perfectly so that we can experience a relationship as close as You have with Your Son Jesus. Grant us boldness to take up that treasure and experience the full measure of Jesus' joy. Clear away the lies and philosophies of this world which confound the purity and holiness You have created. Thank You for everything. In Jesus' name. Amen.
1. Glorify the Father
2. Give eternal life to all those the Father has given the Son
3. Reveal the Father to those the Father has given the Son
4. Give the Disciples the words the Father has given the Son
5. Pray for the Disciples
6. Give the Father all the Son has
7. Protect the Disciples while the Son was on Earth
8. Say these things that the full measure of His joy will be within His Disciples
9. Send the Disciples into the world
10. Sanctify or set apart Himself so that the Disciples will be truly sanctified
11. Pray for future Believers who will believe in Him through the message of the Disciples
12. Be in the Father
13. Give the Father's glory to Believers that they may be One
14. Be in all Believers
15. Know the Father
16. Make the Father known to Believers and continue making Him known
I think Jesus too intends that the full measure of His joy will be in us as well as the disciples. Likewise, we are sent into the world. We're still here, therefore we are not yet sent into heaven. All the things that Jesus does are done out of submission to the Father. He loves the Father and allows us to see that love relationship in submitting to the Father.
For us (Disciples and Believers), the activities are:
1. Know the Father
2. Know Jesus Christ, His Son
3. Accept and obey the Word of the Father
4. Know and believe that Jesus came from the Father
5. Bring glory to Jesus
6. Experience the full measure of Jesus' joy
7. Be one (in unity with one another and with Jesus and the Father) as the Father and Jesus are one (in complete, perfect unity)
Do you notice how the Father and Jesus do all the heavy lifting? Look at the verbs ascribed to us: know, accept, obey, believe, honor, experience, be. The things that we must do are passive, responsive. We shouldn't strike out from God on our own and ask Him to bless us. We are to abide in Him and follow Him.
I was struck this week by something that happened which brought to mind how much God supports me, protects me in my weaknesses. God's design is to work out our circumstances in such a way as to bring us into unity with Him either by breaking up our delusions (usually gently) or removing distractions.
What I find so interesting about these lists is how Jesus overlapped the individual ideas one after the other in His prayer. I said before that the diagram looked kind of like a flower. Well, here is the picture of a real rose. See how the petals encompass one another, each one folds over the next. Our experience with the Father and the Son is meant to be like that. Our hearts and our minds should be intertwined with theirs. If we are living alone, distinct from God, then we are not abiding in Him as we should. If our prayers are more “God bless this or that thing I'm going to do,” rather than “God what would you have me to do,” then we are going to experience feelings of emptiness or loneliness. Our times in the Word will be dry, and our prayers will feel like they are bouncing off the ceiling. Jesus intends our relationship to be dependent. Sometimes that's tough to think about in our self-esteem focused, self-actualized, me-first culture.
I have a short clip that I want to show you from Toy Story 2. Have you seen the movie? If you haven't seen it, the idea is toys come to life when nobody is around. To set up what we'll see you need to know, Woody the cowboy toy has no idea that he was actually based on a famous TV character from the 1950's. He thinks of himself only as a generic cowboy toy.
We'll pick up the scene where another toy taken from the old TV show says to Woody, “You don't know who you are do you?”
We happened to watch this movie on Friday night as a family, and this scene grabbed me. It just made me ponder what God's living room must look like. I don't think He has just one room with miniature portraits of millions of people spread all over the walls. I envisioned instead rooms filled with “you” and “me” memorabilia. Pictures of you taking your first steps. Pictures of you before you were even born. T-shirts with your picture on them from the day that you got saved or perhaps from your baptism that God would wear. You know the look I'm talking about. That dopey, goofy smile you had when every burden had been lifted and you were fully reliant on Jesus. Imagine your face on the cover of a magazine on God's coffee table. You are the most important thing to Him, front-page, above-the-fold.
Carl said a few weeks ago that if we could really grasp how much God loves us, we would be undone. I think for sure we would be standing there slack-jawed, sighing out, “Whoa...” just like Woody. God loves you that much. He desires your relationship with Him to be just as intimate, just as close as it is between the Father and Jesus. Psalm 40:5 says “Many, O LORD my God, are ... Your thoughts toward us ... If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count.”
May we rest in Him and be filled up with His love until it is overflowing, until it just oozes out of us. And may we remember that there are so many people who are just like Woody was. They don't know who they are. They don't have an inkling of their place in God's heart. God loves the whole world. He sent His Son for the sins of all mankind. He desires that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. May we respond to Him sending us and be a light to a lost and dying world.
May we remember that Jesus Himself prayed for us while He was here on the earth. May we also be assured that He continues to intercede for us at the Father's side even right now.
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.--Romans 8:34-35, 37-38
Thank you, Jesus. Let's pray.
Lord God, we thank You for the incomprehensible truth that You have reconciled us to You perfectly so that we can experience a relationship as close as You have with Your Son Jesus. Grant us boldness to take up that treasure and experience the full measure of Jesus' joy. Clear away the lies and philosophies of this world which confound the purity and holiness You have created. Thank You for everything. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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