So our scripture reading today is John 17. And as I said, we've been if you're if you're kind of in and out this summer, we've been we've been looking at prayer. We've been considering, you know, asking questions about prayer. What is prayer for? What's the point of prayer? If you're If you grow up in a more kind of reformed setting of the church, you know, you hear a lot about God's sovereignty and God's perfect will, that He has an eternal decree and all of these things are true. And sometimes when we hear those things, it causes us to ask, OK, well, if that's all true, if God is sovereign, if God is God over all of providence and all things happen according to His plan, then why pray? What would be the point of praying if it doesn't change God's mind anyway. Now let me ask you a question, and I hear that question a lot, and I don't know if I'll ever give you a satisfactory answer to that, but let me ask you a question on the flip side of that. Let's say your prayers could change events. like could change how things go. And like, but you couldn't have any more impact on that than you can today. Like you could change this impact on the consequences of what that change accomplishes. Would that encourage you to pray more? Because for me, if I thought about it enough, I would be like, oh, Oh no, I'm not praying anymore. If my little moment of, God, I really think this is what should happen. Then God's like, OK, well, yes. And so two or three gathered in my mind, OK, we're going to do that. And then it's like, oh, well, that did not go at all the way I thought it was going to go. I don't know that God not being sovereign actually encourages us to pray more. If you actually fought, now maybe you're more, no you're definitely not, so that, I was gonna say maybe you're more egotistical than I am. But I know that you're not. But how full of ourselves would we have to be to think, I know exactly how things are supposed to go, and I'm going to tell God how it should go, and he will make the world go that way. Like that wouldn't cause me to pray more my. In fact, I am encouraged more by God's sovereignty. To pray. Because now I know God knows. He knows what's best. And so I can pray. And trust him. And I can I can cry out about what is unjust in this world and he sees it and he agrees with that. I can, it's not that he agrees with it, but we agree with his idea of justice. And so I can ask God for justice, but also trust him with that justice. I can ask God for deliverance, but also trust that even if I'm not delivered, he won't, I'm not abandoned. Because sometimes we assume that if my circumstance hasn't changed or doesn't change, it must mean God has abandoned me. But what we learn More often is that, okay, my circumstance didn't change, but actually that doesn't mean I'm abandoned. In fact, many of us have gone through such dark circumstances and realized that it was in those times that I realized how much God was with me. And so we looked last week at just sort of the general idea of Jesus praying during his ministry, and we saw that you're even allowed to pray for, I don't want what you have planned for me. Even Jesus in Gethsemane over and over says, I don't want this. If there's another way to go, let's do that. But if there's not, let your will be done. And so even Jesus shows us that you can pray out of anxiety, you can pray out of concern, you can pray out of fear, and know that God is hearing you, God is listening to you, and God will not abandon you. But there was one prayer of Jesus's that we didn't look at last week, and it's because it's the longest prayer we have of Jesus's in scripture. And it is the prayer that he prayed between the upper room and the Lord's Supper and Gethsemane. And so somewhere in there, either still in the upper room or perhaps on the walk from that room in Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane, while he's on that walk somewhere in between there, Jesus prays. And it's interesting because in his prayer, he prays for himself. He prays for his disciples. And then he prays for you and me. Because at the end of his prayer he says, not just for these disciples, but for everyone who will believe because of their words. And so every believer who has heard the gospel because of the disciples' eyewitness accounts, everyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ because of what the disciples have passed on to us, you were prayed for while Jesus walked to the cross to die for your sins. He prayed for you. So let's, I came up here without my Bible. I'm glad I sat in the front row today. So let's stand together for the reading of God's word. This is John chapter 17. And what we'll do is we'll break this down into his three sections of prayer. And so we'll only read right now the first five verses. And then we'll read the rest of his prayers as we get to those sections. But this is John 17, verses one to five. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. The grass withers and the flowers fade, and yet the word of the Lord stands forever. You may be seated. I realize that this is a huge undertaking, and so I'm going to tell you at the front end, we're not going to cover everything in this prayer. Some of you maybe know Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, a preacher in England. When he preached on John 17, he preached 48 sermons on John 17. James Montgomery Boyce, who was a longtime pastor at 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. When he preached on John 17, he preached 16 sermons, so that's a little more manageable. The chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Manton, preached 45 sermons on John 17. And those are all good things to do. I, myself, have preached three sermons on John 17 in the past. Just a Jesus prays for himself, Jesus prays for his, you know, it breaks down very nicely. But also, as Presbyterians, that's a nice three-point outline. And so we're gonna try to look at just Jesus's prayer as a whole. And so we're gonna miss things. Well, not miss them, but we're gonna skip them. Because there's so much, it's so full. There's so much for you to meditate on in this prayer. Because Jesus, Jesus in his prayer, remember Jesus is the son of God. He's a unique, he's kind of unique. So that when he prays, and he's praying in a like instructive way, Like, we should take that in. Like, we should be like, okay, like, he's not wasting prayer, he's actually using it so that I can learn also, not just how to pray, but from his prayer I can learn things about his relationship with God, God's relationship with me, and so it's good for us to see those. And so I hate that I'm breaking this down basically on the request side of all these prayers. Like, I'm not, in saying that, like, well let's just narrow it down to what was, what did Jesus ask for in each of these, As if, like, that's really the essence of prayer. Like, you can get through all the fluff. The bottom line is, what do you want? But that's a horrible way to look at prayer, but that's how we're going to sort of unpack Jesus' prayer today. What was his ask? And so when it comes to himself, when he's praying for himself, well actually, if you look at, it's in your bulletin, Jesus' ask in all of these, he wants God's glory, your security and our unity. Those are the three main asks of this prayer. He wants God to be glorified. He wants you to know that you're secure and he wants us to be united. And so let's look first here at he wants God's glory. It's the only thing he asks for as he's praying for himself. And even as he's praying for himself, he's saying, glorify your son so that your son may glorify you." He's not looking for like, hey, make me popular, make me successful, make me shine in front of others. He's asking glorify your son so that your son would glorify you. And we can talk about glory in the ways of like being like praise or honor. We glorify God when we sing His praises. We're singing His praises, we're singing about His honor. It could be that Jesus is saying that, but I think it more has to do with, to glorify someone is to also clothe them in splendor. And so you've got this sense where Jesus is asking the Father, clothe me with splendor, again, not in a self-grandizing way, but in a reverse, the self-emptying that I embraced when I came to earth. Restore to me the glory that I had when we were together in heaven. You know, Philippians two tells us that, you know, um, you know, let this mind be yours. That is, was in Jesus Christ that though though he was equal with God, he did not consider equality with God a thing to cling to, but he emptied himself. He humbled himself. And so Jesus is saying, reverse that. Restore me to the glory that I had before I came to earth. And so it's interesting, as Jesus is praying this, we have to think through like Jesus knows what it is going to take to get that restoration of glory. For Jesus to get back to the glory he had before requires the rejection by God's people, the wrath of God poured out on him for the sin of mankind, It requires the cross and the tomb. Jesus is essentially saying, finish, let's finish what we started. Let's take this all the way. He says, you know, you've given me authority over all flesh to give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they know you and they know Jesus, whom you sent. You know, it is. It is impossible, according to Jesus, to know God the father. Unless, you know, Jesus Christ. And that's a that's unpopular to talk about. today when we prefer to say, you know, there's many ways to know God. There's many paths to eternal life. But Jesus never embraced that idea. He said, if you want to know God, you must know God by knowing the Son, by knowing Jesus Christ. And we use know today in so many ways that sometimes it causes us to wonder, what does Jesus mean? What does it mean to know God and to know Jesus? Is it simply to be aware of Him? Like you know some people because you know they exist. My mailman, his name is Jeremiah, and I can claim I know him because I'm You know, I can kind of proudly say, you know, I'm one of the few, you know, in our neighborhood that probably, like when he first delivered our mail 17 years ago, he's still our mailman, I went out to the mailbox and asked him his name. And so I know Jeremiah by name. Is that, I mean, is that really like, I might say, you know, I know him better than most of my neighbors. Well, he's not inviting me over for Thanksgiving anytime soon. I mean, I know him. I have an I have this sort of awareness that Jeremiah exists. I have a great. The very good job, and so I know when he's on vacation. because my mail will be late. But is that what it is? It's just know that there's a God and that he exists? Is that what knowing God is? Or is it an intellectual ascent? I know some truths about God, I know some things, I know some doctrinally accurate things about God, and so that means I know God. It's interesting that James writes about that kind of knowledge and says, yeah, the demons have that kind of knowledge. The demons have a very orthodox knowledge of who God is. If you notice, like, when Jesus commands demons when he's on earth, they always obey. Like, they have, like, we as parents, we have this phrase of, like, first-time obedience. Well, demons are excellent children. Because when Jesus says, stop talking, they stop talking. None of us can claim that kind of obedience. When Jesus says, get out, they get out. In fact, they often have these great, if it weren't on the lips of demons, we might turn them into nice doxologies. Because demons will say things like, I know who you are, son of the living God. It's like, oh, that's pretty confessional. Is that it? Just some kind of intellectual assent to truths about God? It can't be just that. No, it can't not include that. It must include that. You have to know God according to truth. But it's more than that, to know God. I have given them eternal life, this is eternal life, that they know you and that they know the son whom you have sent. And it's, you know, not to be, like it is that, it's the, like think of the old King James when we're told in like Genesis three and four that Adam knew his wife and they conceived and had a son. It wasn't just that Adam knew there was a woman that existed. It wasn't that he had some kind of intellectual knowledge about her and her favorite colors or the foods she liked. Those things are included, but there was an intimacy. When the Bible says that Adam knew his wife, there was an intimacy to their relationship that resulted in life. When Jesus says eternal life, it's this, to know God. There's an intimacy that results in life. And to know God, you must know the Son. And this is what brings glory to God. Is that incredible? It brings glory to God to save sinners, to let us know Him intimately. So Jesus prays glory for the Father glory for himself. It's a simple thing that he wants from God. But then second, he prays for your and my security. When he continues the prayer in verse six, he says, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, for I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them, and they have come to know in truth that I came from you. And they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I'm coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me. that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth." So Jesus prays for God's glory. At any second he prays for your security. Keep them. Sanctify them. Isn't it interesting? Again, we don't have time to go deep into this, but isn't it incredible how Jesus describes the disciples in this moment? Like if you were to read this and not read any of the Gospels, you'd think the disciples really were stellar in their faith. He's like, He is so praising them, like, you know, they have kept your word, they have received your word, they've done it all, they've received it all. And like, here is Jesus praying to God, and is Jesus like, is He trying to mislead the Father? He's like, no, they really did an excellent job. No, don't pay any attention to that one. No, I know He's gonna deny me three times. No, don't worry about that. Or is it? Is it that it was never about the perfection of your faith? But that it was always about the perfection of the one you have faith in. You know, we. You're not you're not saved by the strength of your faith. You're saved by the strength of the one you have faith in. And again, like, the world doesn't really see it that way. It's just, you just gotta believe. It doesn't matter what you believe, just believe. Just be sincere in your faith, and you'll be okay. But we know that that doesn't quite work in normal life, does it? You know, I grew up on Lake Erie, and so most winters, the lake freezes over. But not every winter. And there are enough winters that it doesn't that you know enough that you should not necessarily just walk out onto Lake Erie just for fun. And yet, we do. Regularly. And it's not... I'm not going to survive walking on Lake Erie if I just believe hard enough. If I just have a strong enough faith that the ice is thick enough, then it will be thick enough. No, that's ridiculous. In fact, if I walk out on it sure that I'm going to fall through the ice and die, that doesn't affect the ice either. The ice is either thick enough to save me or it is not. The strength of my faith has nothing to do with it. You know, when we, you read about the crossing of the Red Sea and the Israelites, you know, I'm sure that many of them, there were millions, remember, I'm sure many of them were walking through that and like seeing like the waters piled up on either side, they're on dry ground, it's not even muddy, it's dry ground, and I'm sure that many of them were like, yeah, yeah, that's our God, that's right, that's right, Silly Egyptians. That's right. Our God can save us. Yeah. And they would just walk through head high. They were ready to take on the world. But I wonder if there were a few that were looking at the waters on each side and the Egyptians behind them and walked through the Red Sea going, we are going to die. We are going to die. We're going to die. We're going to die. We're going to die. Someone hold my hand. Just guide me. We're going to die. We're going to die. We're going to die. I'm sure they're right behind us. Don't touch my back. Don't touch my back. And do you know what? Both of those Israelites, if there was one in the other, John and Charlie, very Israelite names, they were both saved. They both made it through, not by the strength of their faith. by the strength of the one they had faith in. Jesus describes our faith in this prayer as if it's just stellar. And it's Him who makes that faith stellar. But His main concern, His main prayer for them is, keep them. I kept them while I was here, but I'm not going to be here very much longer. Father, keep them, protect them. It's interesting, isn't it? He says, now listen, I'm leaving this world. I'm not asking you to take them out of this world. Now, how many of us, if we are going to help Jesus with his prayer for us, would have liked to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, actually do, that's not what he meant, Father. He does want you to take us out of this world. Like, keep the bad things away, Keep everything hard from happening. Jesus says, I'm not asking you to take them out of this world. I'm just asking you to keep them from the evil one. Because the evil one would like nothing more than for all the hard things in this world to shatter their faith. Father, just keep them. Just keep hold of them. Don't let it happen. It's just this beautiful, He's just so concerned for His disciples. You are gonna face such hard times. Father, just keep them. Sanctify them. Make them holy. When we talk about holiness or sanctification, is it just a matter of like, to be holy is to like, do the right thing. It certainly includes that. But is that all it is? Is it just this morality thing? And if that's it, like is that what the angels are crying in heaven when they speak of God? Holy, holy, holy. Are they just saying moral, moral, moral? I think there's more to it than that. There's not less than that, but there's more than that. But holiness also has to be separated, to be separated out. Like the holy utensils for worship in the temple, they were separate utensils. They weren't to be used for anything else. So there's this separated idea. But is that what the angels are crying? Separate, separate, separate, Lord God Almighty. What? Maybe Holiness, because there's a morality side to it and there is a difference, a separate side to it, maybe it's simply because it's a godliness. When they're crying holy, holy, holy in the throne room of heaven, maybe they're simply crying you are God, you are God, you are God. Maybe the idea of sanctification, the idea of holiness is less I mean, it doesn't exclude being separate or being different or making good choices, but those things come because being holy is about being more and more like God. Jesus is praying, God, make them more and more like us. All mine are yours, all yours are mine, I'm glorified in them, keep them. I love that he says, Let them have my joy fulfilled in them. Like, I don't know that enough of us understand this, especially, again, I just, do we understand that, do you know that your salvation brings joy to God? Like, He wasn't tricked into saving you, like He didn't, Like, you didn't pray the prayer and he's like, oh, I wish I had set the bar a little higher. I did not want that one. Like, everyone who's saved fills God with joy. It fills the heavens with joy. I think if we gathered that more, it would help us in that sanctification side of things. You know, I think it's interesting that in Psalm 51, the psalm where David is confessing his sin of sleeping with Bathsheba, having her husband murdered, the whole cover-up, in that he's confessing the sin and it's a very kind of, like you don't really get much detail on what he's confessing. He doesn't go into great detail. He says, against you, against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your eyes. But at one point, the request in the prayer comes out. And the one request in the prayer besides mercy is, do you remember this? He says, restore to me the joy of your salvation. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. In other words, Like, what happened to even make all of that possible, in David's mind, for him to get to a point where he thought, this is a doable thing, this is a... Got him to that point was he had forgotten the joy of God's salvation. Like, he was not overwhelmed with the joy of just being one of God's children. And I think if we were more overwhelmed with the joy that the Father has in us and the joy that He offers us in our salvation, that might help us in turning away from the evil one. Like the full joy of God can actually keep us from the evil one. So, glorify your son so that your son will glorify you, keep them, and sanctify them. And third, unity or oneness. Jesus prays for unity in verse 20. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire also that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundations of the world. Oh, righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known. that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. So here again, he is praying, he's praying for himself, he's praying for his disciples, and now at the end he says, and not just these disciples, but everyone who will believe in me through their words. And so Jesus prays for you and me, and the heart of his prayer for you and me It is repeated so many times it starts sounding weird. Oneness. Make them, all those who will believe in me through this word, make them one. Not just one in a simple way, but one like you, Father, and I are one. Make them one like they are one with me. In verse 11, oneness shows up for the first time, and it's a result of being kept and guarded. So he's praying for his disciples, he says, keep them and guard them that they may be one. Now, it's not just a result of being guarded, it's the prayer request itself. Make them one. So that they may be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. He says this two times. He prays for our oneness and says so that the world will believe that you sent me. Our unity. Is a testimony to the world. Of the gospel. That we believe that Jesus, the son of God, came to save sinners. In verse 23, that they may be perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me. But that's not the only desire he has, our oneness. He also says in verse 24, I desire that they may be with me to see my glory. I just I don't know how to read this in any kind of, like, ethereal theological way. I just, like, what is Jesus asking for? It is, it just seems like, to read it simply, it's how much Jesus loves us. God, I just, I just want them to be with me. It's just, it's this beautiful picture of how much Jesus loves you. I just, I can't wait for them to come home. I talked about this last week a little bit about how, how fathers like, you know, like for Father's Day, there's like, there's nothing fathers really want other than their kids to be there. Like there's nothing that brings them more joy than their children being around them. There's nothing that brings a mother more joy than her children being with her. Here's Jesus saying to the father, Father, let them be with me. I want them, I've kept them, you keep them. The whole goal of this keeping them so that we can all be together again. He says, I want the love with which you loved me to be in them. Isn't that, I mean, that's really, you really have to take some time to meditate on that. That the love the Father has for the Son of God is the love the Son of God prays that you understand He has for you. God loves you that much. You know, when you look at unity, it's not, you know, it's not unison. You know, unison is cool, but it's not, I mean, it gets boring. Unison is boring. Like, you know, when you look at a choir and they're singing together, like sometimes it's cool when they can all sing in unison, but, but it's really cool when there's parts and like, And when those parts work best together is when they're working in a united way. That sounded like I'm saying some kind of, anyway, not the united way, but a united way. But because harmonies work best when they're united, when they're in the same key, that's always helpful. When they're on the same rhythm or path or at least going in the same direction. Unity doesn't have to mean that we're all in unison. It means that we're connected. It means that we're in this together. It means that we're committed. Like, you know, I'm going to bear your burdens. You're going to bear my burdens. We're going to rejoice with each other. We're going to weep with each other. We're going to work with each other. It's contentment. Unity Maybe one of the hardest things in unity is contentment. Do you know, and this is a spoiler for you, that even after August 3rd, there's going to be a church maybe closer to you with a prettier sanctuary than ours? I know, it's shocking. I know you don't believe that. I have it on pretty good authority. There's always going to be someone doing something better than we do it here at Hope of Christ. I mean, other than preaching. But there are, sorry, even preaching. There's always going to be someone doing it better than us. Can we in our unity and our oneness, even just within this body. I'm not even talking about yet that he was praying this for all believers, and so what does that look like? Even oneness beyond our walls, which is a huge thing, and that would be seven sermons in itself, but let's focus on what maybe we could not choke on. What would oneness look like within our walls? That commitment to each other. I won't let the sun go down on my anger. I'm going to talk to you about things that bother me. I'm going to talk to you when I sense that I've bothered you. I'm committed to this, and I'm going to stay connected. I'm going to look for ways to connect with you. And if the scheduled moments of connection don't work for me and my schedule, then here's the thing I'm going to do. I'm going to actually go beyond those scheduled moments, and I'm going to call you. I'm gonna send you a text and say, hey, do you wanna get coffee? And you know what? The response is never, is that in the bulletin? I didn't see that in the bulletin. Are we supposed to get coffee? Did someone say we're supposed to get coffee? Just get connected. You don't need our permission. Just be connected, but be committed, be connected, and be content. Listen, we're not the perfect church. I'm dropping so many unexpected truth bombs on you all. You probably didn't know this, we are not the perfect church. In fact, we're probably pretty dysfunctional. But we are your dysfunctional family. I mean, how many of you had siblings growing up and you talked so much trash about them? And the only thing that, the only thing that, like there was one thing that made you madder than anything at your friends, and it's when they talk trash about your sibling. Like you and your friends could even disagree on whether the Pittsburgh Steelers fans are all going to hell. You could disagree on all kinds of things, I'm just kidding. There's so many things you could disagree on and not come to fists over. But man, if I am making fun of my sister, and I hear you make fun of my sister, Oh man, that's it. It is over. It is on like Donkey Kong. What does it look like for us to be content in a way that like, yeah, this is a dysfunctional family, but it's my dysfunctional family. And I love them. And I'm committed. And I'm content. Because I'm connected. You know, to turn this back to like, how does this help me with my prayer? So one thing that I was convicted of as I was preparing this is my first thought when I pray God's glory. Before I get to any other requests, the first thing I want, God, just be glorified. Like if that means that this changed, be glorified let me sing your praises when this outcome changes if it means this outcome is not going to be changed be glorified let me sing your praises knowing that this is not change but you father and son be glorified be that's the first thing that I care about is that you would be glorified that you would be honored that you would you would receive all the glory for everything there and then just keep me. Just help me remember that you haven't let go. And while you're keeping me, just keep sanctifying me. And help me embrace the unity that you are calling me to. These are great ways for us to pray for ourselves, great ways for us to pray for each other in the church, great ways for us to pray for the church in the community, because When the community sees our oneness, they are drawn to Christ. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your goodness to us. Would you, would you glorify your name, be glorified in our hearts, in our lives, in our words, in our choices. God, help us to realize that when Jesus prays that we would be kept, you answer that prayer. He loses none of his own. And we're so thankful because we pull and kick and try to get away. But you love us. Would you continue to keep us, continue to sanctify us? and grant to us a unity that reflects your unity so that the world would be overwhelmed and amazed by you, not by us, for your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.