"THE GREAT HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER" PART II

JOHN 17:12-26

INTRODUCTION

          A father took his children to the county fair one day. Since they were obviously not interested in the prize pig or calf, the father bought a whole roll of tickets for the various rides at the fair. As each of the children approached a ride, they would hold out a hand to get a ticket from their father. At one ride, after all his children had received tickets, a strange boy whom the father had never seen came up and held out his hand, out obviously expecting a ticket.

          The father drew back his roll of tickets. He wasn’t about to give this boy a ticket. Upon seeing this, the man’s son Stephen turned and said to his dad, “It’s okay, Dad, this is my friend. I told him you would give him a ticket.”

          Do you know what the father did? He gave the boy a ticket in Stephen’s name. That boy had no right to a ticket, but since his son had said he would do it, the father honored the name of his son by giving that strange boy a ticket.

I.                  PRAYER FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE IMMEDIATE DISCIPLES VV. 12-16

Last Sunday, I told you that Jesus does not pray for the world which has rejected Him. Admittedly, God sent Jesus into the world because of His love for the world, but in His High priestly prayer, Jesus doesn’t pray for the world. Jesus leaves that responsibility in the hands of His disciples. The Book of Acts is the historical account of what the Holy Spirit did with the early disciples in the world. The early disciples have since parted from the scene. They have given the mantle of service and mission to us today to continue from where they left. Because the salvation of the world depends upon the witness of those the Father has entrusted to Jesus, He prays for their protection. During His ministry, Jesus protected the disciples and kept them safe in the name the Father gave Him.

Those that the Father entrusted to the care and protection of Jesus, He guarded them safely so that none perished, except Judas Iscariot. If you are not careful, you may conclude that Judas was doomed to destruction before his birth. That is farther from the truth. In fact, Judas had equal opportunity to be saved like any of the rest of the disciples, but he sold out to the devil. The phrase son of perdition points to Judas’ character, rather than his destiny. He was characterized by lostness, not that he was predestined to be lost. If you have genuinely been born again through the agency of the Holy Spirit, you should not fear. But if you have not made that spiritual discovery, you can do that today. You don’t have to end up like Judas Iscariot. You must be born again. In any true community of faith, there may be traitors and apostates, but the presence of such persons cannot endanger God’s elect, God’s chosen ones, because Jesus prays for our protection. Humans are not robots; we are responsible beings. Judas was a responsible person and acted freely, but God used Judas’ evil act to fulfill His purpose. No matter how evil you choose to become, you can never hinder the will of God. God protects His own. This is an encouragement to Christians who are filled with fear. This is also an encouragement to those of you who rely exclusively on the prayers of others. Before Jesus went to the cross, He prayed for your protection and safekeeping. Not only that, the Bible also says He lives to make intercession for you (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:24-25). This however, does not negate your own prayer. You must learn to pray because prayer is the way you communicate with your heavenly Father. Jesus the supreme and eternal High Priest has given you access to the mercy seat.

          Jesus continues to pray that the faithfulness of the disciples will be preserved and their joy made full. This is important because the world hates Christians, because our way of life is diametrically opposed to that of the world. Notice that Jesus does not pray that His disciples may escape from the world, for that would be to frustrate the divine purpose. Neither does Jesus pray that His disciples may be immune from the world’s hatred, for it is inevitable that the world’s hatred will be directed against Jesus and His disciples because they and Christians today cannot conform to the standards of the world. In His prayer, Jesus does not isolate or insulate His disciples from the world. The Middle Ages or Medieval Times were rightly called the Dark Ages when the Church retreated from the world into Monasteries. I have news for some of the cults and so-called churches that withdraw from the world. Jesus says, "You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world." If Christians retreat from the world, then we are saying in effect that the world should go to hell. I always feel pity for those who become Christians and sever their relationships with their friends in the world. I believe when you do that Jesus weeps and grieves for you. If you sever your relationship with your friends in the world, how can you tell them about Jesus? Jesus was maligned as the friend of sinners. When Matthew the tax collector was saved, he threw a party, invited all his friends and Jesus to the party. Jesus did not say because of your unsaved friends I am not coming. Jesus used that moment as an opportunity to save some. Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus has left us in the world with a mission. Our place is still in the world. It would be bad and disastrous for the world if the disciples were taken out of the world. Moses, Elijah, and Jonah all prayed that they be taken out of the world (Num. 11:15; 1 Kings 19:4; Jonah 4:38), but God did not grant any of the request.

          God has placed His church in this world for a purpose. The place for the people of God is in the world, though, of course, not of the world. The church of Jesus Christ is not some sort of holy club. The church is the spiritual hospital of Christ where those who are bruised, beaten, and battered by sin and Satan come for healing and transformation. Jesus rather prays that His disciples be protected from the evil one. Jesus recognizes the power of the devil and prays for His own to be protected from the adversary. Why do many pastors and Christians put too much emphasis on the devil in their prayer? Instead of praying for the Kingdom of God to come and the will of God to be done, some people waste all their time in prayer against Satan. Let me ask you a question, how much time do you spend worshiping and praising God? Compare and contrast that with the amount of time you spend binding, casting out the devil from your food, marriage, home, family, and work. You are afraid of Satan and his demons because you have something that belongs to him in your possession. There are some habits and ways of life that you live that belong to Satan that is why you are very afraid of him. Jesus said before He went to the cross, this is the hour of the evil one, but he has nothing against Me. He who said that Satan has nothing against Him is the one who prays for you. Why then are you too scared? Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus prays that you will be protected from the evil one. You can go home today and praise Jesus and the Father and have sound sleep tonight. The one who is praying for you is Christ, the Son of the Living God; He is God in the flesh. He has also given you a Helper, the Paraclete—the Holy Spirit to help you. He who is in you is greater than the one in the world (1 John 4:4). We are in the world but we don’t take our cue from the world. We are in the world, but we don’t dance to the drumbeat of the world. We dance to a different drummer. We belong to a different Master and His name is Jesus Christ. We are in better hands.

II. PRAYER OF SANCTIFICATION VV. 17-19

          Jesus prays that His disciples will be sanctified. The word sanctify comes from the Greek word hagiazo from which we get the adjective hagias, which means holy. Ladies and gentlemen, the way you live your life as Christians is very important to Jesus Christ. The moment the disciples put their faith in Jesus Christ, He sanctified them. Here the sanctification, the set apart is for mission. The means of this sanctification is the truth. Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth. The Father will immerse Jesus’ disciples in the revelation of Himself in His Son. The Father will sanctify them by sending the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth (15:13). This part of the prayer is a more serious matter. Jesus’ disciples would be set apart from the world, reserved for God’s service, insofar as we think and live in conformity with the truth, the word of revelation (v. 6), supremely mediated through Jesus Christ. Some pastors, evangelists, and lay Christians who did not take their sanctification seriously have been sidelined because they have become casualties to adultery, immorality, embezzlement of funds, child molestation, etc. Some of them are serving prison terms because they did not abide and set themselves apart in the truth. They have disqualified themselves from the service of Christ.

          Jesus did not ask the Father to remove believers from the world, but instead to use them in the world. Because Jesus sends us into the world, we should not try to flee from the world, nor should we avoid relationships with non-Christians. As the Father sent Jesus on mission to the world, Jesus also sends us on mission to the world. The protection that Jesus has prayed on behalf of the early disciples is because of our mission to the world. The truth of the matter is that, the world, which is our mission, is enemy territory; therefore, we need divine protection. God has provided this divine protection through Jesus’ prayer and the indwelling Spirit. I have said it and I will say it again. The reason God saved you is not that you will be happy or comfortable. His primary reason is that you will glorify Him. The next reason is that you will be His ambassador to the lost and dying world.

          Young people, you are ambassadors of Christ in your schools to bring some of your mates to Christ. Workers and business people, you are ambassadors of Christ to those you work and make business with. You and I are the extension of the mission of Jesus Christ. If you think it is the sole responsibility of the Pastor to preach and share Christ with others, I have news for you. Jesus says, "As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." Jesus sanctifies Himself as He sets His face like a flint to the cross. Jesus has made up His mind. His work on earth is finished and there is no turning back.

III. PRAYER FOR SUBSEQUENT DISCIPLES VV. 20-26

          Jesus prays not only for His immediate disciples, He also prays for you, me, and others who are yet to be born into God’s family. It is one thing for you to pray for me and, I thank God for that. It is one thing for this church to pray for me and I thank God for that. It is one thing for my friends in Ghana to pray for me and I thank God for them. It is good to know that my wife prays for me everyday and I thank God for her. But it is another thing to know that Jesus prays for me. The Savior of the world, the Christ, and the Lord of lords is praying for you and me. Why then are you so obsessed with fear when Christ is praying for you? This should rather give you confidence to work for His Kingdom. Jesus prays for the unity of His disciples. This unity is to be enjoyed only in Jesus Christ. This unity is not unity at all cost. This unity is discriminating in the sense that you cannot unite with a person who does not believe in Jesus Christ. You cannot unite with a person or religions that think that there are other ways to God besides Jesus. It is the unity predicated upon the revelation of truth in Jesus Christ. This unity has its focus on Jesus and its source in the Triune God. Our unity in Christ is essential because it is through our love and unity that the world will know that we are Jesus’ disciples. Christian brother or sister before you slander, gossip, assassinate the character of another person, and injure another Christian, remember Jesus’ prayer—"that they may be one." You may agree to disagree. You may have different opinions about certain issues, but don’t consider the other Christian your enemy. How can your brothers and sisters become your enemies? When we are united in Christ, we can present a powerful witness to the world. Are you helping to bring unity into the body of Christ? You can pray for other believers, build others up, avoid gossip, work together in humility, give time and money, exalt Christ and refuse to get sidetracked avoiding unnecessary arguments and divisiveness. The unity that Jesus prays for is supernatural in character. Therefore, anyone who fabricates stories to create disunity in the church is demonstrating a character and spirit that contradicts the person, mission, character, and prayer of Jesus.

          Jesus frankly expresses His will to the Father, which is nothing less than the will of the Father. Jesus prays that the early disciples and all subsequent believers will be with Him and see His complete glory. While on earth, Jesus showed a glimpse of His glory to some of the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. I say a glimpse of Jesus’ glory because we cannot see the complete glory of Jesus until we see Him face to face in His second coming. That is why Jesus says; Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is (1 John 3:2). The glory of Jesus that we will see is the pre-incarnate glory; in other words, the glory of Jesus before He became one of us and offered His life on the cross for our sins. Nobody actually knows the Father except the Son of God, who has revealed the Father to us. The verb known is a perfect tense denoting something that happened in the past, but the result still going on.

          You and I who have become the disciples of Jesus are not expressing blind faith. The early disciples of Jesus did not follow Him blindly. They saw the uniqueness of Jesus in His character, authoritative teaching, His power to heal, and His miracles. It is upon this discovery that the Holy Spirit inspired them to write the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. I hope you are not following Jesus blindly. I believe Christ has done something in your heart that has transformed you and convinced you that He is the Lord and Savior of the world. If you have not made that discovery, take a step of faith and come to Christ today. I hope when someone asks you why you are a Christian, you will be able to answer the person of the hope that is in you.

          In this prayer, Jesus has described the Father in a way that is unique to the writings of the Apostle John in the NT. In verse 11, Jesus describes His Father as Holy Father. Here in verse 25, He calls the Father, Righteous Father. Both epithets are full of meaning. God’s holiness is the guarantee that He will keep His saints from the evil of the world; His righteousness forbids Him to abandon His saints. Therefore, if you are a Christian, you have the holiness of God that protects you from the evil of the world and the righteousness that guarantees that He will never leave you nor forsake you. It is imperative that you live a life that reflects the character and person of Jesus Christ.

          Finally, we know Christ and the love of God is in us because of the indwelling of Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit. Take this prayer to heart, ponder on it, believe it, live for Christ, and share Christ with others and your life will be victorious. Our only mission is to bring others to Christ.