The Perfect Prayer of Jesus-Part 2
The Trial of the Christ • Sermon • Submitted
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“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to John, chapter 17. We started this morning with a prayer. The prayer that is most commonly known as the Our Father, or the Lord’s Prayer. We call it that because it comes right out of Matthew 6, where Jesus tells the disciples how they should pray. How should we pray? I think it is a rather profound question, because off the cuff it sounds like a no-brainer. I mean, everybody knows how to pray, right?
But, what Jesus offers us in the Lord’s prayer is not just some set of magic words. Rather, it is a formula for what effective prayer looks like. The Lord’s prayer can, basically, be broken down into three sections. The first section of the prayer is focused on glorifying God, asking God to glorify Himself through the accomplishment of His will in all things. As His Kingdom grows in our hearts, we ask God to use us to carry out His will on earth, just as He does in heaven.
The second section of the prayer is focused on God’s provision, salvation and protection of His people on earth. We ask God to forgive us and to lead us in forgiving others. We ask Him to provide for our needs, knowing that for us to have success in the things He has called us to do, He will have to act on our behalf. We ask Him to protect us from temptations and the schemes of evil that look to stop us from doing what God has called us to.
Finally, the prayer closes with a focus on the sure future of God’s continued eternal reign as the All-powerful and glorified King of the universe. Keeping our focus on Him with the understanding of this reality, helps us to look at life in the right perspective and makes it harder for us to fall in our current struggles.
Truly, Jesus gives us a beautiful model for prayer in Matthew chapter 6, and the Lord’s prayer. but we’re in the Gospel of John. We are in John, where we have been for quite some time. So, why start off our morning with such a long look at the Lord’s prayer?
Well, the answer to this is that John 17 is a prayer of Jesus. It is known as the High Priestly prayer. And last week, we started examining it. We’ll continue in it this morning, and we’ll finish it next week, because what we are going to see is that this prayer also breaks down into three basic sections. And it’s not a coincidence that the three sections of this prayer line up with the three sections of the Lord’s prayer because Jesus practices what He preaches.
And so, we’re going to continue this morning in John 17. We’re going to start in verse 6, right where we left off, and as we do so, I invite you to honor the Lord with me, if you are able, by standing with me as we read together from His word. Let’s go to the Word of God together:
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
“Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You;
for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;
and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.
“I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Would you pray with me? Lord, Jesus, we praise You for Your goodness to us, and for the opportunity to be able to come before You in prayer at all. We are gathered together here this morning because we want to magnify Your Name. We want You to be glorified by Your church in all things, and so we ask this morning that You would inhabit the praises of Your people. Would You come and change us as we study Your Word together, that we might more greatly glorify You in the way we live our lives out before You until You come again. Would You make clear those things that are not clear to us and challenge us through them to be more like Your Son Jesus. It is in His Name that we pray, Amen.
Thank you, you may be seated. Last week, we focused in on the first 5 verses of this prayer. You’ll remember how we were discussing that those verses teach us things about the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, while also modeling some things to us as to what effective prayer looks like. And we were saying that effective prayer selflessly seeks God’s glory, is centered on His purposes, is born out of obedience, and is in view of the end. And when you look at these things together, what we see is that the first five verses of Christ’s prayer parallels the first section of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. In those first five verses, Jesus focuses on praying for God’s glory and will to be accomplished.
And in the same way, our passage this morning parallels the mid-section of the Lord’s prayer. In the verses we are considering today, Jesus is praying for you and me. In this section of His prayer, Jesus is praying for His followers and for the things that we need from God the Father. This group of verses reveals some things that are true for us because we are in Christ, and, just like last week, these things also reveal to us more keys to effective prayer. Let’s look at the text together, starting in verse 6:
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
“Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You;
for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
In these verses, Jesus is talking to God the Father about the disciples, and about me and you. And it’s important for us to note that Jesus isn’t telling the Father anything that He doesn’t already know. Just as God the Son knows everything, God the Father knows everything. So, why is Jesus praying these things? He is saying them because in His prayer, Jesus is modeling something to us.
You see, God doesn’t need reminding. God never forgets. He is perfect. I don’t have to tell Him anything. He already knows. But I need reminding, and that is especially true of what Jesus is talking about in this passage. And the very first thing that we see about ourselves because we are in Christ is this: that,
Those who believe were chosen by God and Given to Christ
Those who believe were chosen by God and Given to Christ
Jesus says, those that follow Me, You gave them to follow Me. And because You gave them to Me, I gave them Your Word, and they believed it, and they believe in Me now because these are the ones that You chose.
Beloved, I don’t think that you and I can be reminded of this fact enough. I think that it should be evident to us when we look at our lives. Why God would choose me will always be a mystery to me. But the reason I can’t understand His choice is the same reason I know it was Him that made it, and that is that there is no merit in me. I have nothing of value that I can add to the Lord. There is nothing that I can give to Him, and so that I am His has to be because He chose to make it that way.
In my home, I have some things that don’t have much value of their own. If someone were to break in and steal them, these things wouldn’t get them any money; but they are precious to me. They are valuable, not because of themselves but because of the value I give them. Jesus gives you and I value.
You and I are valuable because God chose us. In His great mercy, He chose us, and He gave us to Jesus. Paul says it like this in 2 Corinthians 4:7,
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
Our value is not our own, it comes from the One inside of us, the One that fills us, the One that we were given to, so that it is Him who shines through us, and it is He that gets the glory. And it is important for us to remember this, and to remind ourselves of it in prayer because it points us to yet another point towards effective prayer, that
Effective prayer is confident in Christ
Effective prayer is confident in Christ
It is good for us to be humble. It is right for you and I, the created, to be humble before Almighty God, our creator. However, we must also come to Him with confidence, remembering that He chose us. And if God chose us, He wants us. And so, if you and I are in Christ, we need to have confidence when we pray.
When we pray, we close by saying “In Jesus Name.” This isn’t just a catch phrase. It is because Jesus told us to pray in His Name. We are asking the Father for something on behalf of the One that we belong to. And when our prayer is selfless, and centered on His glory, and in line with His purposes, and born out of obedience, in view of the end, and it is spoken in the confidence that can only come from one who belongs to Jesus, that, my friend, is an effective prayer.
James says it like this
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
You are the chosen of God, given by God to His Son, in whom You believe. Come to your heavenly Father in confidence. Let’s continue. Verses 9-11:
“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;
and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.
“I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
Jesus says here that He is asking for something for us. Jesus is asking God the Father for something for you and I. Do you remember when Jesus told us that we could ask for anything from the Father in His name, and the Father would do it? Here, Jesus asks for something for us. We don’t even have to ask for it.
And what He says is that the Father and the Son hold all things in common. Nothing belongs to the Son that doesn’t belong to the Father as well. If you belong to Jesus, you belong to God the Father. And this is so important for us to remember, because what Jesus asks for here amounts to a promise for you and me. In fact, the second truth we see in this passage for those who are in Christ is this, that
Those who Christ saves, the Father will keep
Those who Christ saves, the Father will keep
Now, that sounds nice, but what does it mean? It means, beloved that those of us that truly belong to Christ belong to God forever. If you have been born again, if you have been changed into a new creation you have been brought by God into an intimate relationship with Him. If you are truly in Christ, you have been given the blessing of glorifying God. Remember that a moment ago we were talking about the fact that our value comes from the one who is in us? No one looks at a clay pot full of gold and dumps the gold to keep the pot.
Rather, they pick up the pot and they treasure it because it is full of gold. God chose you. And He chose you to fill you with Himself. He chose you to bring you to a place of intimately knowing Him. I love Christ’s prayer at the end of verse 11, as He says that He wants you and I to be one even as the Father and the Son are one. In other words, Jesus wants us to know Him the way that He knows the Father. He chose us, and He intends on keeping us.
When I was a teenager, someone broke into my grandfather’s garage. They stole a bunch of tools, but that didn’t upset him. What upset him was that they stole his field knife, a trusted weapon that reminded him of places he had gone and things that he had done that he was proud of. He didn’t need it, but he chose to keep it and would have never gotten rid of it had it not been stolen.
How much better is God at keeping what He wants than we could ever be! And what this means is that the salvation of those who are in Christ is sure, even as Paul wrote
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you are truly saved, friends, there is nothing that anyone can do to change that. You belong to God. Period. End of story. And Knowing this, beloved, and truly understanding it and relishing it and choosing to live in it, should draw us to a place of intimate relationship with our Father, because the Father will draw close to Him those that are dear to Him. And as you grow in your love for Him, you will draw closer to Him as well.
And this brings us to another key to effective prayer, that
Effective prayer is drawn from intimacy with God
Effective prayer is drawn from intimacy with God
We’re not talking about “get out of jail free-card” kind of faith here. Those that are truly saved are changed. They can’t go back to the way life was before because they aren’t the same people that they were before. What’s more, they have a new drive inside of them to know God and to make Him known.
And the more that we come to know our Father, the closer that we grow in our relationship with Him, the more our prayers will begin to reflect the nature of our relationship. When Bethany and I were just truly falling in love, I liked to get her gifts, but my understanding of her was only just beginning. The gifts that I give her now are far deeper and truer reflections of my love for her because in them she can see my ever deepening and growing understanding of her.
The closer you grow to the Lord, the more intimate your knowledge of Him will be, and the more your prayers will reflect what He desires for you. And because He has promised to always keep you, there will always be room for you to grow closer to Him than you already are.
Moving forward, Verse 12
“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
As Jesus prays here, what He is saying to the Father is that while He was here on earth and with His followers in person, He was able to keep them with them. And more specifically, He was able to protect them and teach them. In fact, Jesus says that only Judas was lost from among those that God had given Him. Only the betrayer was lost. But now, that was changing. Now Jesus was returning to the Father.
Now the hatred of the world was going to be felt by the body of Christ. Now the things that Christ absorbed on our behalf will be felt by us, and Jesus knew that you and I would not do well on our own. And so, in this prayer, Jesus puts us into the hands of the Father. And what I want you to see here is that Jesus is making a provision for us. The God who chose you is also able to keep you, and
Those who Christ saves, the Father protects
Those who Christ saves, the Father protects
We have a relentless enemy, friends. He is constantly at work himself and through those that are in his control, even among those that don’t realize they serve his purposes. He doesn’t take a vacation, and his goal is to kill, steal, and destroy. He wants nothing less than your destruction. He is cunning, divisive, audacious, and persuasive.
Consider, for a moment, that our enemy attempted to draw the Son of God into sin through temptation, and he used Scripture to do it. He attacked God the Son using Scripture. That is audacious. Our enemy is powerful. In fact, he is stronger than you and me. I can’t beat Him on my own…but my God already has.
On my own, I don’t stand a chance against such an opponent, but because I belong to Jesus, I am protected by the Father. Those of us who are in Christ have the protection of God the Father. God the Father can protect us. He is able to keep us and to protect us from the schemes of our enemies. And I want us to see that the Word of God is key here.
How is it that we grow in the intimacy of God? How is it that Jesus says we were drawn out of the world so that the world hates us and that the Father protects us? Is it not the Word of God? In other words, is it not our knowledge and understanding of God. Is it not our relationship with God through Christ that draws us into His protection in the first place?
And this is what you and I can see here and apply to our lives so that our prayer life will become what it was meant to be, that
Effective prayer comes from a place of weakness
Effective prayer comes from a place of weakness
We know that our enemy is stronger than we are. We know that we need the strength of the Lord to stand in courage against Him. But in our lives, we don’t act like it. In our lives, we try to stand in our own strength. We don’t come to God in confession of our sin. We don’t cry out to Him for His help with our temptations. We act like we’ve got it under control, but the reality of it is that we can only fall the strength of the Lord when we come to Him in weakness.
We are afraid of weakness. We don’t want anyone to think that we can’t do it or that we aren’t enough. There are some, who when I said moments ago that I am not strong enough to stand against our enemy on my own, they knew the truth of it, and yet everything inside of them resisted the idea that it could be true of them as well. Yet, let me assure you that weakness is the best place that you and I can be.
God isn’t impressed by us. He isn’t interested in the front that we put up. He already chose us, when we were dirty, wretched sinners living far from Him with no hope, and He loved us enough to send His Son to die for us. God isn’t impressed with you. And so, for us to come to Him in prayer, the best place that we can start is in honest humility. Try and chase after God in your own strength, and you will soon find your weakness. In fact, the closer to God you become, the more acutely aware you will become of just how weak we truly are. Paul said it like this in 2 Corinthians 12
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!
Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Effective prayer, friends, comes out of a place of weakness, because it is only in our weakness that we utterly depend on God the way that we must because it is in those moments that we finally see it is our only option. It is okay for us to be weak, because He is not. It is okay for us to lean on Him, because He is strong. Our Savior died to Save us, our God and Father is more than strong enough to keep and protect us. Let us draw near to Him in our weakness and find that His protection will sustain us.
Finally, let’s look at the last few verses, starting in verse 16
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Friends, the last truth for the saved in Christ through this passage is this:
Those who Christ saves, the Father sets apart
Those who Christ saves, the Father sets apart
The word sanctify means to set apart for a purpose. And so what Jesus is saying here is that He is asking God the Father to set us apart for His purposes. That even as Jesus came in the glory of the Father so that the Father would be glorified through Him, Jesus sends us out so that we can bring glory to both the Father and the Son.
You and I who are saved are saved out of our sins. But we are also saved into the purposes of God. In other words, you and I were saved with a purpose. We have a lot of dishes in our home, and we use different dishes for different things. But there is a special set of dishes, fine china, that we have set apart. We only use it for certain types of occasions. They have a purpose that is different from the other dishes.
And so it is with you and I. God has set us apart for His glory in carrying the Gospel to a lost and dying world around us. We are set apart for making disciples of others around us, teaching them how to follow Jesus, showing them how to be obedient to His Word. Jesus has set us apart to carry truth to those who have not heard it. He has prayed to God the Father and asked specifically for this, that you and I would be set apart for knowing Him and making Him known.
And so, when you and I pray,
Effective prayer is fixed on our mission from Him
Effective prayer is fixed on our mission from Him
We are chosen and saved and kept and protected and set apart by God so that we can bring Him glory by accomplishing the task of knowing Him and making Him known. And prayer that is effective is centered on these things. It isn’t a coincidence that Jesus gives us a road map for prayer and then models it to us.
And the thing about my prayers is that my prayers tend to be focused on me. They focus on my temporary problems and wants and needs. They tend to be centered on me and on those that I love and care about. And it isn’t that these things should never be a part of our prayer. We are weak and we need God’s help in all things. He loves us and He cares about everything going on in our lives, our health and livelihood, our family, our interests.
But the thing about it is that all of those things are focused on me in the context of what I want. And if God made me and chose me and saved me and kept me and protected me and set me apart, and sent me out; If God has the perfect plan and is the strength in my weakness and my shelter in the storm and my provision in need and my rock of defense, and my Champion that drives back the darkness, then it would seem to me that my life is really about Him and not me. And it looks like His mission is my mission. And if my desire is that God would move in and through me when I bring things to Him in prayer, then my prayers must be confident in humility and intimacy and weakness before Him as I seek out
That His Kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
I am ready for a more effective prayer life. Jesus has given us the road map. And this morning, the altar is open to anyone that is ready to follow it. I could think of no beginning more appropriate than to go to the Lord in prayer:
Let’s pray: Father, we come before You today in boldness as Your sons and daughters that You chose and have saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. And we praise Your great Name, that You are able to keep us, drawing us ever closer to Yourself; that You are our Protector, as we can do nothing on our own. We are humbled, Lord, that You would set us apart to be used in the glorious unfolding of Your will. And so, we come to You, and we ask You to glorify Your Name in us! Let Your Kingdom go out into all of the earth through us. Would You use us mightily for the purposes that You made us for. Would you forgive us where we have been failing, where he have pursued things in our own strength. Would You meet us where we are in our weakness, that we can once again find that our God is more than enough. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.