John 17:4, 6, 8 NIV
[4] “I have BROUGHT YOU GLORY on earth by FINISHING THE WORK you gave me to do…
[6] “I have REVEALED YOU to those whom you gave me out of the world….
[8] For I GAVE THEM THE WORDS you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”
How confidently Jesus reported back to the Father the completion of His work on earth! In this unparalleled prayer, He shared with the Father the success of His mission.
What had the Father sent Him to earth to do?
- “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do…”
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.”
Through centuries of disobedience and rebellion, God’s people had lost the reality of His love for them. Despite His reassurances, they rejected Him, rebelled against His laws, and turned to idols. Therefore, He had become to them a strict disciplinarian who punished them harshly for their sinfulness.
In Jesus’ day, this notion was compounded by the teaching of their spiritual leaders, who had added a plethora of laws to their aleady demanding religious system. This way of gaining acceptance with God through obedience to His laws didn’t work because they had no power to overcome their inherent sinfulness.
Jesus’ work, then, was to show them just how gracious God is by introducing Him to them as Father, and by treating them with the same love and mercy as is in the heart of the Father.
- “I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.”
His words and works…these were the most powerful witness to His identity as the Son of God! The entire success of His mission hung on His identity. If His disciples were convinced that He was the Son of God, they would believe what He said. Since who He was and what He said was the Word of God, His mission was to give them God’s words.
Why was this so important? God’s words were written by people through the Holy Spirit and preserved in written form through the centuries. Only in this way could they, we, and every believer throughout the ages, receive these words, and believe their message.
Not only this, but it is also in the power of these words that we can experience what they convey.
1 Peter 1:23 NIV
[23] “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
Since Jesus’ primary focus was on His disciples, to train them to continue His work on earth after He had left them, His last recorded prayer was about them and those who would follow them.
John 17:9 NIV
[9] “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.”
What was His concern?
Unity!
John 17:11 NIV
[11] “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”
During His time with them, Jesus had made every effort to protect His disciples from splintering into rival groups. They were not a homigenious bunch. Frequent quarrels broke out among them… constantly trying to sort out their pecking order.
Their leadership style was flawed. For them, leadership depended on who was the greatest. Jesus had to turn their philosophy upside down, not lording over but serving one another in love and humility. He knew that disunity would destroy their witness and their mission to reach the world with His message.
When we read through this relatively long prayer, we discover that Jesus’ requests focus on His two requirements for His church that will set His people apart from the world and be the witness to His identity and His mission… unity and love.
The world can never match what is in the church…the love and unity that is only made possible by the Holy Spirit. Paul expands on these qualities produced by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5:5 NIV
[5] “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Ephesians 4:3 NIV
[3] “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
Only through God’s power would His disciples be protected from the damage their sinful nature could cause.
John 17:15 NIV
[15] “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”
Jesus knew that the most powerful force against them was not the devil but the effects of their own evil hearts. The Greek word, “poneros”, unfortunately, mostly translated “evil one”, is not about the devil but about the results of the evil in the human heart. As in the Lord’s prayer, “deliver us from evil,”, so here in this prayer, Jesus’ focuses on what sin does in and to people.
Jeremiah 17:9 NIV
[9] “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
These men had yet to undergo the radical experience of the new birth. Only after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on them in transforming power, would they be ready to fight and win the battle over their sinful flesh.
John 17:15-17 NIV
[15] “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from (the) evil (one) . [16] They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. [17] Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
How beautifully, in His own prayer, Jesus gives us the way to overcome the sinful nature that constantly demands the satisfaction of evil desires. God’s Word has the power to change us on the inside from self-centred slaves of sin to unselfish servants of Jesus, serving one another in love from the heart.
John 17:20-21 NIV
[20] “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, [21] 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.
John 17:26 NIV
[26] “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.”
Love and unity, the greatest witness to Jesus! In His so-called “high-priestly” prayer, Jesus gives us His modus operandi to reach the people of the world. He called His disciples to BE His witnesses. When the world looks at the church, what do they see?
The love and unity that are the only true witnesses of His powerful presence in the church are only possible through the Holy Spirit. Yet, so much of the church is not really His church but the counterfeit woman of Revelation. Why? Is it because doing replaces being? Doing “Christian” things like prophesying etc., can never replace being “in the vine” as the witness to Jesus.
Matthew 7:21-23 NIV
[21] “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ [23] Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
Is Jesus prayer being answered? Yes and no! Yes, when the fellowship of the church mirrors the prayer of Jesus. No, when the people in the church act like the world.
1 Corinthians 3:3 NIV
[3] You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?
In the end, it’s all about fruit. Love begets unity, hence the commandments of the Old Covenant are distilled into two in the New Covenant.
1 John 3:23 NIV
[23] “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. “