All right, good morning.
Okay, we're completing our mini-series on Jesus' high priestly prayer of John chapter 17.
So if you've got a Bible, whether it be an app or a real hard copy, please turn open to John chapter 17.
As I said, it's the finish of the series, so it's the last six verses, verses 20 to 26.
Up to this point, as we've been going through the series, we've found that Jesus has been praying from the perspective of the big picture.
He prays, glorify me at the very beginning.
He asked God to glorify him, and as we discovered in that, what he was really praying for was that God would actually glorify him at the cross.
That was where his glory would be most evident to us.
The hour for which he had come was that hour.
So he prays, glorify me.
And then with his disciples present, he turns his prayer to them, and he prays for his disciples, sanctify them.
He asks the Father to sanctify his disciples, to set them apart from the world, but within the world, and to actually go out into the world.
And as they do that, he asks that the Father will keep them.
The implication is that this is his will, and that this will have an impact.
As these people go out into the world, something will happen as a result.
And now Jesus gets personal, and I say personal for a couple of reasons, but one of them is that he's actually talking about me and you,
and the other is that he's actually becoming much more personal in his language, in the way that he's engaging with who he's praying for.
And he gets personal in a revolutionary way, because here he prays, not me, them, but us.
Unify us.
He asks the Father to unify us.
And by us, I don't just mean us here present.
I mean all of us, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and us.
Not just Christian with Christian, but Christian with Christian, with Father, with Son, with Holy Spirit.
So as we consider this, it's an amazing thing, the degree of personality that Jesus goes to at this point.
Let's just think about how that's actually panned out in our society this week.
Bo's already talked about Tower of Babel, which was several thousand years ago.
Just think about this week.
How good are we at actually promoting unity within our society, within our families?
Even our families, my goodness.
Within our church.
How good are we at doing that?
I think it's quite an interesting thing that we actually, the more we desire unity, the more we seem to be able to define how different we are.
And yet it's so difficult and so elusive it is for us to actually discover the reality of that unity, actually live in unity.
Have you noticed that?
There's this theory called intersectionalism, which is a really interesting theory.
It's a kind of a, I guess you call it neo-Marxist theory, that actually really is helpful at getting a sense of where we're different,
where divisions occur, and the power imbalance that actually creates those divisions and sustains them.
But one of the really interesting things I've been finding as I've been reading it is that even as we get better at understanding
our lack of unity, our lack of unity, we still struggle to move from that point to actually producing unity.
We just don't seem to be able to do it.
And it takes one virus for it to be every man for himself in the toilet paper aisle.
Have you noticed that?
One thing.
And boom, we suddenly break down into our constituent parts, don't we?
So easily and so readily.
So perhaps we should get some sort of sense into how we actually find unity by just looking at what Jesus even does,
which is to actually pray to the Father for unity.
He doesn't turn into himself or turn to an interesting or new philosophy.
He turns to a person and he asks for it.
Let's follow the passage through and see how that unfolds.
See, Jesus prays at the beginning.
We get a sense of who he's praying for in verse 20.
He actually says that he's praying for those who will believe.
I'll read that verse out, verse 20.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.
Jesus has just prayed for his disciples that he's sending out.
Remember, I've just said that.
And he absolutely expects there to be a response.
And so he prays for those who he knows will believe in him.
This belief will come through their word.
Their word is their testimony about Jesus' life and teaching.
But remember, they're not very quick to understand what Jesus is talking about.
It's been coming all the way through this whole upper room, this meal, this last meal together.
These guys, they don't seem to be like the sharpest tool in the shed at this point.
On their own, they didn't understand.
This testimony that they've passed down is based on the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
And you can read about that in John 15, 26 to 27.
It's something Jesus said at this meal table.
Through the Spirit, they would remember what Jesus said.
They would understand what Jesus did.
And we are those who have heard and believed their testimony.
Those whom the Father chose, sanctified by the Father through those who believed before us,
as Gareth taught with the kids about.
This message has been passed down and handed down.
So as Jesus lifts his hands to heaven and prays, he prays for us.
For you.
He knew even then that it would be you sitting here today.
Think about that.
I mean, when we pray alone or as a family or as a small group, in our small groups,
we're praying for the people around us that we love, aren't we?
We know their needs.
And we pray for them personally.
In the words of this gospel that John's recorded,
Jesus is praying personally for us.
Imagine yourself huddled around in that group and hearing these words.
So what does Jesus pray for?
In a word?
Unity.
That we will be one like God.
That's one aspect of it.
And the second aspect of this unity is that we will be together.
So let's have a look at that as it unfolds in the passage.
That's roughly the passage splits into two halves like that.
One like God and together.
So in verse 21, we look at the oneness aspect.
Jesus prays this.
He prays that they might 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.
Can you see some of the nuances of oneness
that are actually coming out here?
The first one is one like God.
Jesus prays that we will be one.
One like the Father and the Son are one.
I've got to say at this point,
we're diving into a mystery that's so profound it may be confusing.
I mean, I get some of these things done already.
Last week we've looked at election and predestination.
This week I'm actually getting the chance
to dive into the mystery that is the Trinity.
One God, three persons.
What the heck does that mean?
Well, I've got to say that in a sense we don't fully get it
and we'll need eternity to contemplate it.
We get eternity to contemplate it, which is great.
But Jesus is saying here
that we'll also experience something of it here and now.
We are becoming and will be one with each other
like the Father and the Son are one.
No less than that as our template.
One like God.
That's an amazing thing.
Now, let me try and say something
that's at least a start at grasping what Jesus is meaning here.
You see, the Father and the Son, if I was to describe them,
the Father and the Son are distinguishable and inseparable.
Distinguishable and inseparable.
Distinguishable persons in the sense that we can see
their distinctiveness, how they interact with each other
and in the world.
Their mutual glorifying of each other, self-giving love.
They're distinguishable and they're inseparably one.
So one that it is impossible to pull them apart.
I think perhaps at this point we're meant to think
of the marriage oneness that we read about
in Genesis 2, verse 24.
If you remember that, the man will leave his father and mother
and the two will become one flesh.
I think we're meant to kind of think of that sort of thing,
that distinctiveness of the marriage relationship,
serving one another, and our relationship in Christ
inseparably joining us together.
Now, you know, I've preached a few times here now,
and you know that occasionally I mention Joe,
and perhaps some of you think I can't stop talking about her.
But one of the things about marriage is this,
that when you are actually one with someone,
they are a huge part of your life.
You don't just step into a different place
and feel like you're apart from them.
There is an intimacy that you share in that relationship
that you carry with you wherever you go.
Well, I want to say to you this,
that oneness is something that marrieds experience in part,
but that married or single,
we experience in its fullness in Christ.
If you are single, you are not missing out on this promise.
You get the real thing.
Marriage is like the sermon illustration
that I so often use.
The oneness that's being talked about here in Christ
is the real thing.
And it's something that we're expected to express
as a community, a church community.
One like God.
The next point he goes on to make,
which he really focuses on,
it comes up in verse 21,
but he really focuses on in verse 22,
is that we're also one with God.
Let me read verse 22 out.
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.
It's the second time he speaks about being one.
Verse 21, verse 22, and verse 23,
he repeats this desire for us to be one.
So when we read these verses,
what we discover is that we're saved to be one like God,
and we're saved to be one with God.
The glory that Jesus shares with us
is his completed work at the cross.
We discover that in the first week of this series.
So three weeks ago, two weeks ago.
And remember that Jesus' prayer for himself was,
glorify me.
And here he's saying that we will share in that glory.
In other words,
we will experience the fruit of his saving work.
In Christ, we are one with God.
We are united so deeply and profoundly
through Jesus at the cross
that we are not just like the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Not just one like them,
but one with the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Distinguishable, dare I say,
distinguishable and inseparable from God.
Not God,
but distinguishable and inseparable from him.
And this is another truth
that I can only imagine
in terms of from lesser to greater.
So to think of the relationships
that I share with my friends and family,
and to think beyond that,
to realize that that is just a pale shadow
of what Jesus is talking about here
in terms of our relationship with God.
Jesus' prayer
is that we might experience this truth
in our lives together.
It's an amazing thing.
Finally,
so we've had one like God,
one with God,
and the final point he makes
is that we are one for God.
A lot hangs on this.
Jesus reveals in his prayer
that our unity reveals his nature.
He says in verse 23,
I in them and you in me
that they may become perfectly one
so that the world may know
that you sent me
and love them even as you loved me.
This unity is meant to be visible,
not in our statement of beliefs,
but in our actions,
our lives together.
Not in isolation,
but actually in the world.
Our unity is meant to be so clear
and distinct that the world knows
that Jesus was sent from the Father.
It's important to God
that the Son is vindicated before the world.
And there will come a time
when every knee will bow before Jesus,
but we are the first place
that this starts to happen.
The world will see Jesus' glory
through our unity.
unity.
This is the role that God has given us
in the world.
Our unity was meant to be so clear
and distinct that the world knows
that Jesus was sent from the Father
and that we are loved by the Father.
It's also the way God shows his love for us.
Unity like this is supernatural.
We can't do it ourselves.
We divide and divide and divide again
until we're comfortable with the people around us,
or lonely, or a mixture of both.
The unity that God is working in us
is astoundingly different.
It's not of this world.
And I don't use these phrases
to undermine the believability
of what I'm saying.
I use them
because that's what people think
when they see it lived out.
The unity of God
expressed by us
and with him
is astounding.
We were talking to some friends recently
and they were talking about
how they're moving
from one place to another
and how difficult it is
for them to settle in.
They're not Christians.
How hard it is
to break into a new community.
Have you thought about
what it's like
when you travel
from one place to another
as a Christian
and you go into a church community?
Yeah, they're a bunch of strangers.
You don't really know them.
But in some sense,
you really do know them as well.
And you feel so at home
and comfortable in their presence.
Friends,
Jesus' prayer is that
we might experience
this truth in our lives together
day by day.
But can I ask you this?
Is it our desire?
Is it our prayer?
Is it our goal?
Jesus gets personal
and this is the one thing
he emphasizes.
Is it the thing
that we yearn for?
I'm going to suggest
that even if it is,
we don't conform to it.
Now, if you're a visitor here
and you're starting to wonder
what's going on here,
what kind of church
have I come into?
Please understand
we're a bunch of people
who are not perfect.
We're not the finished work.
Jesus is praying here
that this might be perfected in us.
So please allow
that we're a work in progress
and the reality
that there are problems
within this church family
that we need to deal with.
Who do you feel awkward around?
So this I'm speaking
to the members
of the congregation here now.
Who do you feel awkward around?
Who do you avoid?
Who are you holding
a grudge against?
Who is holding a grudge
against you
that you know about?
Why have we allowed
separation
within
the inseparable?
Perhaps you're thinking,
well,
if only you knew
what they did to me,
then you'd understand.
Let me say this.
And I say this
knowing the challenges
of broken relationships.
Whatever they did to you
was an offense
against God first.
And God the Son
died
to deal with it.
Surely
we should be prepared
to do the same.
Surely
this is what Jesus
is calling us to do.
I'm going to encourage you
now,
right now,
to make a list.
Write down the names
or put them in your phone
or mentally log them.
The names of the people
you need
to reconcile to.
Log that list of names.
Resolve to deal
with that list
starting today.
begin where
Jesus began
by praying
that unity
would reign
despite the existence
of that list.
And if anyone
on that list
is too big
for you to contemplate
dealing with,
then seek help.
Talk to someone.
Talk to a friend.
Talk to your small group leader.
To an elder.
The thought of even this
may terrify you.
And perhaps you're in a place
where you really can't even
think about approaching someone.
You really struggle
to engage with someone
in a conflict type scenario.
I'm going to say something
to you
that I think
is wisdom.
And I hope,
I'm not trying to offend you
if you struggle
with the issue of psychology.
But I'm going to say this.
If the thought
of actually engaging
with someone
where a relationship
is broken down
and it's a brother
or sister in Christ,
then I would say to you,
seek professional help
so that you can
fulfill
Jesus' desire
and prayer
for us
that we might be unified.
Whatever it takes
to realize the unity
that Jesus died
to save us for.
For us
to be distinguishable
and inseparable.
To be devoted
to joyfully
giving ourselves
to one another.
What a wonderful thing
it is
that Jesus
is praying for here.
Let this,
if anything,
be our battle cry.
So Jesus prays
for oneness.
And then he goes on
to pray
that that oneness
might be experienced
together
in proximity.
All along,
Jesus has been praying
from the perspective
of the big picture
and you can see
how he keeps breaking
into how he's,
to shape his prayer.
But have you noticed
already how personal
this last section is?
Oneness.
And now,
this prayer
is about us
all being together.
He says in verse 24,
Father,
I desire
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 foundation
of the world.
Can you see
how we're just being
swept up
personally
in an eternal,
abrasive,
eternal perspective?
Jesus prays
for the elect,
the ones the Father
has given him
and his heart's desire
is that we be together
with him.
Notice that.
He's praying about us
like we're his close
personal family.
All this father
and son language
are now drawing us
in as well
to share in it.
You know,
even when we say
our farewells,
so for example,
yesterday was Joe's birthday
and so our daughter
came up from Sydney
and all the kids
came over
and we had a meal together
and even as we're leaving
at the end of that day,
even as we're leaving
after all the photos
are done
and Facebook posts
have happened,
all that sort of stuff,
even as they're leaving,
we're already,
if you notice,
how you're already thinking
about the next time
you'll get together.
Have you noticed that?
As we dropped Hannah off
at the train station
on the way to the church
this morning,
we were talking with her
about the next time
we would see her.
It's a natural thing
for us to do,
isn't it?
We love each other.
We want to be
in each other's presence.
This is the kind of imagery
that Jesus is invoking here.
These people I am praying for
are my close,
close personal family.
He's praying
with an eye
on the time
when he knows
that he'll be together
again with us.
And this prayer isn't just
for his own personal desire.
It's the same desire
the Father has.
So Jesus prays in line
with the Father's will.
The Father chose us
and sent the Son
to save us
and plan for us all
to be together
since before the foundation
of the world.
This isn't plan B
for a botched plan A.
This isn't a passing feeling
that God has.
Friends for now,
but you know,
one of these ones
that I'm going to kind of limit
the amount of posts
I see from them.
This relationship
is eternal in scope.
And it's headed toward a place
where Jesus' glory
is unveiled.
And glory unveiled
in the sense
of to be basked in
rather than feared,
to be delighted in,
to be shared.
But there's a pathway
that Jesus must walk first
because the Father
is righteous
or just.
Same word in Greek.
Jesus prays in verse 25.
O righteous or just,
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.
Verses 25 and 26.
Jesus prays,
Holy Father,
when he prays for his disciples
to be sanctified
in the last section.
Now he prays righteous
or just,
Father,
because justice
is the focus
of what's about to come.
Do you remember
when Moses got a glimpse
of God's glory?
Two weeks ago
we looked at this.
When Moses got a glimpse
of God's glory,
as God passed,
as we looked at Exodus
chapter 34
verses 6 and 7,
if you want to
look it back up,
Moses asked
to get a glimpse
or get to see
God's glory
and Moses got a glimpse
of God's glory.
As God passed by Moses,
he only showed him
a glimpse.
That's all Moses
could cope with
and live.
And as he passed Moses,
he declared his nature
in these words.
This is Exodus 34,
6 and 7.
This is God
declaring of himself,
the Lord,
a God merciful
and gracious,
slow to anger
and abounding
in steadfast love
and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love
for thousands,
forgiving iniquity
and transgression
and sin,
but who will by no means
clear the guilty,
visiting the iniquity
of the fathers
on the children
and the children's children
to the third
and fourth generation.
The experience
of God's people
right up to Jesus.
God is absolutely just.
No sin goes unpaid for.
Either it's paid for
at the cross
or you carry it yourself.
The cross is where
God's love
and justice meet.
So at the cross,
Jesus has made God
known to us
in his fullness.
Not simply in being present
in human form
or in his teaching
about God
or his example
of how to live,
all those things
are all important,
but in his dying for us.
This is the love
that Jesus is talking about
in John 13, 34.
So this is earlier
in his conversation
with his disciples
over this meal.
In verse 34,
he says this,
A new commandment
I give you
that you love
one another.
Just as I have loved you,
you also are
to love one another.
By this,
all people will know
that you are my disciples
if you have love
for one another.
Jesus' love
turns away
God's righteous judgment.
It opens the way
into God's
unfiltered presence.
It enables us
to see his glory
and live,
to know that
that point of family
reunification
is coming
and to not fear it
but to delight in it,
to long for it.
If we understand
the cross
as God intended to,
then we will see
what's about to come
in the Gospel of John
as love,
an expression of love.
If we believe in him,
then this cross-shaped love
applies to us.
It's our experience
of what Jesus
is praying about here.
just as I have loved you,
Jesus says.
The cross,
the moment Jesus
is glorified,
the moment we know
how loved we are,
the moment we are loved
beyond measure,
personally.
When you think of
Jesus' desire
is to be with us,
that moment in history
at the cross
is like those
family reunions,
the fierceness
of God's embrace,
the breath against our neck
as he envelops us,
the warmth of God's greeting,
the intimacy of bonds
that go beyond words.
This is the imagery
that's being used here
of what he's about
to do at the cross.
This is the eternal desire
of God for us,
for love and justice
to meet,
but not in our bodies.
Thank God.
And this love
is made possible
through the cross.
Love where justice
is turned away from us
is made possible
at the cross.
So friends,
we never move from the cross.
We never move on from it.
This isn't like basic teachings
and then you become
more mature as a Christian
and you start to understand
some of the bigger words.
We never move on from this.
It remains forever
the foundation of our unity
with God and with each other,
our pattern for relating
to God and to each other,
our personal experience
of the Father's love for us,
our way of loving the world
together.
This is what our friends
and family
who aren't yet Christians
should see modeled in us,
a cross-shaped love.
Not just see modeled in us though,
but they should experience it
when they're included
in our social gatherings,
when we celebrate
as we often do.
We should be celebrating
alongside our friends
who are still of the world.
Anyone who socializes with us,
whether that be members
of the LGBTI community
or the homeless
or anyone else,
should feel welcome
in our midst,
in our gatherings.
They should feel safe.
They should feel loved
with this distinctive kind of love.
This is the community
that God is calling us to be,
a community that just shows
just how wonderfully God
has loved us.
It doesn't just show it,
but actually enables people
who don't yet know Jesus
as their Savior
to experience it personally
through us
and to see their way toward
believing in Jesus too.
So in conclusion then,
Jesus prays that the Father
will glorify him
and he does at the cross.
Jesus prays that the Father
will sanctify his disciples
and through them
all who follow
and he does
by the cross.
And Jesus prays
that the Father
will unify us all
and he is doing
as a community of people
who experience
his love daily
through the cross.
Let me pray.
Father God,
we are so good
at building our own
kingdoms,
our own designs
around our lives,
even our own desires
around your church here.
We very quickly
come up with ideas
of what this church family
should look like.
But I pray, Father,
through looking
at the Son's prayer,
that Son's prayer
over us,
that we might have
a bit more of a sense
of what you desire
for us
and that you might stir
in our hearts
a desire for the same.
And as that desire
is stirred, Lord,
that you would grow
in us
this sense of awe
at the glory
that you've shown
of yourself
at the cross.
The sense of
unity that we have
through your Son
with you
through the cross
and that it might
colour and shape
everything we try
to build in your name.
In Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.