Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

If we want to know why Jesus came, we must look at what Jesus prayed.

The prayers of Jesus reveal the heart of Jesus as He obeys the will of His Father in Heaven.

This Christmas season, we began preaching through John 17 — one of the great prayers that Jesus prayed, forever preserved for us in God’s Word.

This prayer is preserved for us because God wants us to hear it — we NEED to hear what Jesus prays here!

We need to hear WHY the Father gave His only Son to the world.

We need to hear WHY the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Not just for the sake of knowledge, but for the sake of faith.

So that we might act and pray in obedience to our Father’s will and for His glory too.

These are the Prayers of Christmas, which are the prayers of Christ.

As we prepare to hear God’s Word read and proclaimed, let us do so prayerfully, asking our Father in Heaven to strengthen our faith and guide us according to His will.

Prayer

Father,

You have “highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name…

Who is this “him”?

What is this “name”?

Your Word tells us:

So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

May the name of Jesus be exalted as Your Word is proclaimed today.

We gather in Jesus’ name.

Remove anything that hinders us from hearing, bowing our knees and confessing Jesus as Lord of all.

Strengthen our faith.

Give us eyes that we might see, ears that we might hear, and hearts that we might receive, believe and obey Your Word.

In the name of Jesus we pray, for Your glory, Amen.

I.

The Reading

This is a reading from John 17:1-16 —

This is God’s Word, if you receive it as such, would you Say Amen?

AMEN!

[ Scripture Reading ~4 min ]

II.

The Exhortation

Our preaching text focuses on verses 11-16 which have just been read in our hearing.

This is a portion of prayer that pertains not to Jesus and His glory as the Son or glory as man, but to the needs of Jesus’ followers.

Jesus is praying for His disciples that He is about to leave as He goes the way of the cross and returns to His Father in Heaven.

Jesus does not leave His disciples un-prayed for.

In the preceeding verses, verses 6-11, Jesus prepares for what He is going to ask the Father on their behalf.

Jesus rehearses in prayer the works He has accomplished for them, and continues to accomplish for these who have been called by Him, who have remained with Him, and now must continue on without His presence in the flesh as they have known.

In verse 11, Jesus now makes His request.

This is His prayer for His disciples.

And in making His request, He addresses His Father once again, but He addresses His Father in a way that is different from before, and it is worth our attention.

In verse 1, at the opening of this prayer, Jesus addressed His prayer to His, “Father.”

He said, “Father.”

“Father, glorify your Son...” (v.1)

Again in verse 5, Jesus said in the same way —

“Father, glorify me...” (v.5)

Twice, Jesus has addressed God as His “Father.”

But here in verse 11, in the middle of this verse, as He makes His petition for His disciples, Jesus changes the way He addresses His Father.

Instead of saying “Father,” Jesus says:

“Holy Father, keep them in your name...” (v.11b)

Did you notice the difference?

One word is added.

Every word of Scripture is significant and intentional.

Not one word is wasted.

Jesus adds the word “Holy” and that matters.

Not “Father,” but now, “Holy Father.”

Why the change of address?

Jesus is anchoring His appeal in the character of God.

Before Jesus prays for what He asks for, He begins with the revelation of God the Father.

Jesus knows that if His prayer is to be answered, it must agree with His Father’s purpose, and that His Father’s purpose flows out of His person.

Jesus does not ask His Father to change or conform to His needs so that His prayer might be answered.

Instead, Jesus conforms His prayer — He submits His prayer, to the revelation of His Father’s character and prays in a way that agrees with who His Father is.

We do this when we ask for God to heal someone.

We begin with God, and appeal to His revelation as “Healer” and the “Great Physician.”

We do this when we ask God to help us face conflict.

We begin with God, and appeal to His revelation as “Deliverer” and “Protector” and “Shepherd.”

Our prayers must agree with who our Father is.

Our prayers must begin with God as He has revealed Himself to us.

We must ask of our prayers —

Is this prayer consistent with the character of God?

Is this prayer reflective who who our Father is in His being?

Jesus begins with the revelation that His Father is holy:

"Holy Father.”

This is a unique combination of words that should not fit together.

In fact, I believe this is the only occurence in the New Testament where this combination occurs — where God is addressed in this way.

The word “holy” should stop us in our tracks.

It represents exclusivity.

Something that is unique, exclusive to God.

“His name is holy.”

For us human beings living in the world, as those who have sinned, who touch profane things, the revelation that God is “Holy” should be a bitter disappointment.

We are not holy.

We cannot approach holy.

We are undeserving of holy.

We are excluded from “holy.”

But Jesus begins His prayer for His followers with the address: “Holy Father...”

As “Father,” God is approachable.

Not based on our merit, not because we are deserving, but because we earn that right, but instead, because we belong to Him being made His children whom He loves.

From the mouth of Jesus, in this address of prayer, we have summed up for us the Gospel.

God is holy, AND God is Father.

God is unapproachable, AND God is intimately relational.

God is exclusive, AND God is invitational.

God is not one or the other — He is both!

As Jesus shifts His prayer to a prayer of intercession for His disciples, He shifts His address to His Father to remind His disciples, and to remind us, what we often forget to recognize in our own praying.

Yes — God is Father, but Yes — God is also holy.

And as God’s Word repeatedly exhorts us, we are to be holy as His people, too.

Let us not pray “Father, Father, Father....” and forget in our repetitive babble that our Father is holy.

Let us not fail to bow before Him with reverence, remembering His holiness.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray by pointing to the Gentiles and saying “don’t be like them…Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name.”

That is — “Father, may your name be treated as holy” (LEB).

That is what we are exhorted to do through this prayer: To treat God’s name as holy in view of what Jesus prays here for his followers.