John 17:6–26 - Cameron Jungels Eastside Baptist Sunday AM March 8, 2015

“Jesus Prays for His Disciples” (John 17:6–26)

^{Cameron Jungels/Eastside Baptist/Sunday AM/March 8, 2015}

 

John 17:6–26 (NIV)

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

⁶ “I have revealed you  to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 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. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 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. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 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. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

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. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—²³ 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.

²⁴ “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.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 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.”

1.       Jesus Prays for his original disciples (6–19).

a.      Jesus affirms the faith of his chosen disciples, evidenced by their obedience (6–8).

b.      Jesus exhibits a special concern for his chosen, distinct from the world (9).

c.       Jesus prays for spiritual protection for his disciples (10–11, 15).

d.      Jesus prays for unity among his disciples, mirroring the unity of the Trinity (11).

e.      Jesus prays that his disciples might have full joy, even while they are hated by the world (13–14).

f.        Jesus prays that his disciples will be sanctified, set apart from the world, as they fulfill their mission in the world.

 

2.      Jesus prays for all future disciples (20–26)

a.      Jesus prays that our unity with each other and our union with God will have a gospel effect on the world (20–23).

b.      Jesus prays for the accomplishment of our future salvation, glorified in his glorious presence (24).

c.       Jesus prays for our abiding union with him so that we will continue to grow in truth and love.

 

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,  ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,  ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God.  (Philippians 1:9-11, NIV)

 

Main Idea: “May our lives (and our prayers) reflect Jesus’ glorious and holy purposes for us.”