Glorified

Today we are going to study a very important chapter from the Gospel According to John.   

The Gospel of John, presents a lot of stuff that is not existing in the other gospels.  The reason why Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because they contain similar stories about Jesus, they cited similar events, similar parables.  But John presents the Gospel in an entirely different way.  Matthew traces Jesus’ ancestry from Abraham, on the other hand, Luke presents the genealogy of Jesus from Adam but John …he traced Jesus from the creation of the world…”In the beginning was the Word , he said and He was with God from the beginning giving an emphasis on Christ’s pre-existence even before time began.   John presents a "higher" Christology than the synoptic Gospels, meaning that he describes Jesus as the incarnation of the divine Word through whom all things were made, and more explicitly that He is God incarnate.

There’s a verse in the Old Testament, Psalm 34:8 that says “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  In the Gospel of John, you’ll read several times, an invitation to come and see and experience God.  And that’s what the Gospel is all about … in John 1:39,  Come and you will see.”  In John 1:46, John wrote “Come and see!  In John 11:34,  Come and See.   And of course, who among us does not know the Gospel in a nutshell – John 3:16.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

What comes to your mind when you hear the words THE LORD’S PRAYER?    “Our Father, Who art in heaven…” right?  It’s in Matthew 6 and in Luke 11.    Traditionally we have called it the Lord’s Prayer but actually it’s prayer taught by Jesus to His disciples and that’s why we’ve been using it as some sort of a pattern because He said this is how you should pray.  

Our reference for today,  John 17 is a PRAYER.  It’s the prayer of Jesus Christ.   So John 17,  I think should be more appropriately called the Lord’s Prayer. It’s His prayer to God the Father on the evening of His arrest, after the last supper  and after Judas had gone out into the night to betray Him.  Jesus had only just finished a long discourse to His disciples, in which He explained to them about the tribulations they would face, He said to them “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

So the circumstances of that night were dangerous and tense.   The disciples were afraid, and Jesus wished to show them the only way to deal with their fears was through PRAYER.  Like what I’ve said earlier, if this will be our last day here on Earth, we’ll most like call our loved ones, the people closest to us… JESUS did the same, He called up to the FATHER.  Are you with me?

John 17 is rich with deep theological truths.  The passages here have been used in countless debates.   Passages that have been misused, misinterpreted and taken out of context by other denominations or even cults.  Let’s look at John 17 as we have no other goal but to GLORIFY the Lord Jesus Christ as we read His prayer to the Father on His last evening here on Earth. 

Read John 17:1 - 5

Five times the word “glory” was mentioned here.

Glory -  Hebrew word כָּבֹוד "kabod" meaning “of heaviness and weight,”  worthiness, reputation, great honor.   Greek word is  δόξα "doxa" carries the idea of spendor, brightness, praise, value and wonder. 

In 2^nd Samuel, you know the story of Eli, he had a wicked son Phinehas.  When Phinehas & Eli died and the Ark of the Covenant was captured by Philistines, the widow of Phinehas named her son “Ichabod” which means “the glory has departed.”  

Another thing I want you to pay attention here was the manner Jesus prayed. Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed. We have been taught, since time immemorial, that when we pray we should either SIT or KNEEL. Sometimes , we’re asked to CLOSE OUR EYES, right?  Pretty much like towards the end of the service – close your eyes, bow your heads – no peeking.   Some people, when you ask them to close their eyes during prayer, they’ll close one eye and look around.    

Lesson no. 1:  God is glorified when we pray genuinely from our hearts: whether standing, kneeling or sitting.

Whether our hands are open or closed; eyes opened or closed; in a church, at home, or outside; in the morning or at night—these are all side issues, subject to personal preference, conviction & appropriateness.   Of course, if you are driving and you want to pray, you cannot pray with your eyes closed.  God’s desire is for prayer to be a real and personal between Himself and us. Sometimes our tendency is to judge our brother or sister in the way they pray .. If they can’t kneel or if they can’t fall face down… what if they are having difficulty kneeling?  What is important is the condition of our hearts when we pray.  Sometimes we judge another person, because he does not pray as long as we do.  You know, in most cases, unless you have a very long list of prayer concerns, prayer does not have to be very long – especially if you are just going around in circles.   John 17 – is Jesus’ longest recorded prayer in the Bible.  If you read it, it won’t even take you 3 minutes.  Jesus said “when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetitions like the pagans, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”

Also in Jesus’ prayer was that He was asking the Father to glorify Him in order that He may glorify the FATHER.  When we pray, we should bring glory to the Father.  When we pray, we should honor God.  Sometimes we insult God with our prayer concerns.

From these verses in John 17, we can read that:

Jesus is God’s Son and He gives eternal life to all that God gives him, 

which is a claim to being absolute Deity since only God can give eternal life.

Jesus existed in glory with the Father even before the world was created (did you see that in v5?)

Jesus demands to be glorified by God, something which no mere creature could ever demand.

So the context is clear that Jesus’ statement about the Father being the only true God was in no way meant to deny that His own Deity since He goes on & make claims that only God could make. Jesus is simply addressing the Father for being the only true God since this is what He truly is, and yet we know from the same Bible that the Only One True God exists in three Persons. The Holy Scriptures plainly show that both the Son and the Holy Spirit are also truly God.

Jesus can speak of one member of the Trinity as the only true God without implying that the other members are not the one true God.

Are you confused?  Please don’t. Because…

Lesson no. 2:  God is glorified when believe and understand the true Deity of His son Jesus Christ.

In verses 6 to 19,  Jesus prays for His disciples.  He knew how distressed and distraught His disciples were.  He knew the challenges that they will eventually face. So he prayed for them.  Let me verses 6-19.  

Read John 17:6-29

If you read Luke 6:12, Jesus prayed for His disciples before He chose them.  In John 6:15, He prayed for them during their ministry.  In Luke 22:32, he also prayed for them at the end of His ministry.   And now in John 17:6 – He was praying for them before He leaves them.   Jesus’ concern for His disciples were manifested by His intercession…by His prayers.

Jesus was telling the Father – these disciples came from the world. He said they were yours. I remember during Moses time and he was praying to God, he said “they are your people, why should your anger burned against them, you brought them out of Egypt.”   This time Jesus is saying, they are your people and you brought them out of the world.

Christ’s prayer (in vv. 6-19) was particularly for the Eleven disciples, He said that “none has been lost except for one doomed to destruction – obviously He was referring to Judas.   At this point, He was not praying for the world.  Again this is subject to a lot of misinterpretation.  Some people say that “O see?  Jesus was not concerned with the world…He is not praying for them. “  That’s not exactly what this meant.  Jesus was not praying for the world in its hostility and unbelief.   Jesus prayer was very focused, very specific .  This prayer is for two things: (a) the disciples’ protection (see verse 11) and (b)  the disciples sanctification (see v. 17).   Sanctify means to set aside for a special purpose.  

Since the disciples would be in the world, Jesus prayed for their protection. The hostility against Jesus would now fall on His disciples.  As Christ’s disciples, we are IN THE WORLD BUT WE ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD.

Before I proceed, let me talk about another passage here that is controversial.  Look at verse 15:  MY PRAYER IS NOT THAT YOU TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD BUT THAT YOU PROTECT THEM FROM THE EVIL ONE.   Dr. Myles Munroe, a famous preacher from the Bahamas was among those Word of Faith preachers like Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, etc.  The teachings of Myles Munroe were taught by some leaders of the church – in their home groups and even in the pulpit.  Myles Munroe said that “Jesus does not want us in Heaven.  He wants us to stay here on Earth and have dominion.”  He said that Christians pray that they’ll go to heaven  but Jesus is praying that we should stay here on Earth.  Who do you think God the Father will listen to…Jesus Christ of course…therefore, we wont go to heaven.  And he quoted this verse (John 17:15) as his supporting verse.    Is that what Jesus meant in this prayer, when he said “do not take them out of this world.” Of course not!  Jesus wants a stronger band of disciples because He knew there is an enormous task that awaits them.  He prayed for Father’s protection among His disciples.  

Read John 17:20-26

You know, this is probably one of the most comforting chapter in the BIBLE,  that Jesus is praying all believers.  He is praying for us.  He is praying for you.  He is praying for me.  There is one particular area of concern here that JESUS has prayed, it’s UNITY among believers.  I know I have talked about this more than 10 times probably.  I just think this is very important in our church. It’s just so sad that even Christian churches today are not united.  You’ve seen hundreds of denominations.    

Here in JOHN 17 it’s very clear that Jesus wants all believers to be united.  Jesus won’t mind if our ministry projects are not that successful… or our music team does not have enough equipment…Jesus won’t mind if Richmond church won’t win the bowling tournament.… but He’s concern is our UNITY!   Jesus was not talking here of denominational unity alone but more importantly, spiritual unity.  The unity Christ desires for His church is the same kind of unity the Son has with the Father, Jesus said:  just as You are in Me and I am in You .

In a war, an army must present a unified front. If an army is fighting with itself, how can it conquer the enemy? We are in a battle and we must be unified. In a world that has so much disunity, hate, ethnic barriers, economic barriers etc, a strongly unified church of males and females, poor and rich, young and old can be a strong testimony for God.

Lesson #3:  God is glorified when the church is spiritually united in Christ.

CONCLUSION:

 Jesus glorified the Father by making His love known to the world through His own death.   The Father made His love known to the Son by raising Him to glory.

Jesus glorified the Father by doing His will on Earth and the Father glorified Jesus for that.  His prayer to the Father surely glorified Him , look at how Jesus ended His prayer:   ”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.”  Jesus in His prayer promised that He will be in us.  That’s the ministry of the Holy Spirit that through the Spirit, Jesus Christ indwells the hearts of those who believe him.

For the longest time, mankind has searched for the meaning of its existence.  It’s unfortunate that some people were born and got old and died without knowing what his purpose in life is.  We are fortunate that the Bible has clearly indicated “what on Earth are we here for?” Isaiah 43:7 says:

‘… everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

We are created to glorify our Creator.  The big question is:  ARE WE GLORIFYING GOD IN OUR LIVES?

 Our sole purpose is for God to be GLORIFIED in our lives.

Are we doing this?  Honestly… Are we an effective witness for Jesus?  

In our offices, schools, neighbourhood, with our friends, etc? 

Are we a channel of blessing? 

 Are we glorifying God in our lives?    

PRAYER

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life.  Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Savior and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.  Amen.

(The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCF Richmond on January 26, 2014)

(I apologize if there are grammatical and spelling errors.  If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website for more information at www.wordchristianfellowship.com)