Sermon for May 29, 2022 – Seventh Sunday of Easter

Psalm 97:1-12 • Acts 16:26-34 • Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 • John 17:20-26

This week’s theme is our response to seeing the salvation, goodness and love of God in our lives. In the call to worship Psalm, the psalmist tells us that because the Lord reigns, the whole earth should be glad. In Acts 16 we see the jailer who was overseeing Paul and Silas rejoicing because of his new faith in Christ. In John, we see Jesus praying that an unbelieving world will come to know that he loves them. And in Revelation it is promised that all who come to God will be filled with the fullness of life.

The Impassioned Prayer of Christ

John 17:20-26

Have you ever overheard someone praying for you? Whether it was a parent, a friend, or someone from church, it’s humbling to know what that person wants God to do in your life and what desires they are hoping God fulfills for you.

This prayer that Jesus is praying is part of an on-going prayer that starts at the beginning of chapter 17. Let’s keep in mind that Jesus is not giving a sermon here or even a to-do list for the church, as there was no church at that time. This is a prayer. And it is a prayer that allows the disciples to peek behind the curtain into the relationship between Father and Son. This allows the disciples to see the kind of things that the Trinity feels for the disciples and what their intentions are for them. And for us as well.

Let’s take a closer look at the impassioned prayer that Jesus prays for his disciples. A prayer that he prays within earshot of them. In the first few verses he prays for unity. After that, Jesus prays that they would see his glory, and lastly, he will pray about their intimacy with the Trinity.

“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.” (John 17:20-23)

In this first section, we see Jesus not only praying for his disciples, but for us and for all those who will come after us. His prayer is for unity in the body of Christ. That just as he and the Father are one, we would be one with each other.

Jesus prays that we would be unified in a such a way that at last the whole world will know that Jesus is Lord. And that would be accomplished by the way that we are in union with each other. Is the fact that there are literally thousands of denominations in the Christian church an indictment against us for our lack of unity? Perhaps, if we focus on the differences. But what if we focus on our agreement in Jesus? Isn’t this what Jesus is praying for – our unity as brothers and sisters in Christ? Unfortunately, we do focus on so much other than our unity.

The body of Christ is often guilty of insisting that if you are a Christian, you will stop doing certain things. That is true. We stop hating other people, we stop worshipping idols. But some take this idea and turn it into legalistic specifics, that by your outward conformity to their standards you will either be qualified or disqualified from their fellowship. But that is not unity, that is uniformity. It’s vital to understand we don’t all have the same interpretations, or maturity in the Lord, or have the same giftings or callings.

Ultimately, uniformity trespasses over the relationship that each of us uniquely has with our Savior and Lord. It holds us to a standard that our Lord has not asked of us.

The church has never been, nor will ever be in complete agreement on this side of heaven. What Christ desires and prays for us is that we would be one in love. We are to be perfected in love, and that through this love a lost world will see Christ.

 “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.” (John 17:24)

In this verse we see Jesus praying that the disciples would be where he is and that they would see his glory. The same glory that Jesus had with the Father because of the love that the Father had for him. So, what exactly is glory? It seems to be one of those mysterious religious words that gets thrown around in sermons and worship songs.

In this passage, the Greek word for glory is doxa. This has to do with ascribing worth and value to something. It is giving an accurate assessment of an object or person. In this instance, it is to recognize, value and to have an accurate assessment of God’s character and nature. It is being in agreement with who, and how God is.

Have you ever been told something negative about someone you haven’t met? Did it color your opinion of them even before you met them? This happens often. Then when you finally meet that person, you found out that many, or most of those negative things you were told about them were not true.

Of utmost importance to God is that we have an accurate representation of him. That as we see him for all that he is, we couldn’t help but honor, esteem and respect him and his ways. And this is the God we see in Jesus. And in having seen love itself in personal form how can you not love in return? This is giving glory to God.

When we see Jesus, we have seen the Father. In fact, that is where our view of God needs to start – not from the Old Testament, but from the life of Christ. For no one has seen the Father except the Son. (John 6:46)

Jesus desires his disciples – which includes you and me – to see his glory and to be in agreement with God’s character and nature as seen in Christ Jesus. Also, to acknowledge his sovereign right to his creation. To entrust ourselves to him and to the life he desires to live in and through us.

“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.” (John 17:25-26)

In the last part of this impassioned prayer of Christ, Jesus affirms that he has made known the Father to his disciples. His desire was that they would share in the love relationship that exists within the Trinity.

Before the very foundation of the world, before humanity was even a gleam in the Father’s eyes, this relationship of unity, glory, and intimacy existed. This greatest of all loves is the foundation upon which creation itself exists and is held together. God is not looking for automatons to blindly follow orders though coercion and ultimatums; he woos our hearts to participate in what has always been on his heart since the beginning of time. His desire is to draw us into that intimacy.

Through the Holy Spirit, we experience an intimacy that transcends all of our human relationships. It is an inseparable relationship where the Spirit of Christ has taken up residence and promises to never leave us. There will never be a moment when the Spirit of God is not present in your life. God has made a way for us that we would never be without him.

When we are captivated by our intimate union with God, it becomes easier to love our brothers and sisters in the faith. And as we do, the lesser things of this life begin to fall away. It is here where we truly begin to glorify God in our practice of unity. And in turn, an unbelieving world can start believing in a God worthy of praise and worship.

In Hebrews 7:25 we are reminded that, “He always lives to intercede for them.” Could it be that Christ is still praying his impassioned prayer over us? That he is still praying that the church may be one, that we would see and share in his glory and to participate in the intimacy with Father, Son, and Spirit? Perhaps we should join him in praying for these things as well.

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Small Group Discussion Questions