Jesus Prays

Good Morning. I am so glad that we can be here together. Today is Palm Sunday. The day we celebrate and look at the triumphal entry of Jesus to to Jerusalem. The journey is almost over.

We return though to our series on the Farewell message of Jesus before he is arrested.

In John 17 we see that Jesus closes out this final moments of teaching with his Disciples with prayer. Now of course he followed his own example right.

Matthew 6:9–13 NIV

9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

No, He didn’t but that is a good prayer. Instead Jesus did something very different. Let’s Look together at this prayer.

John 17:1–5 NIV

1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Prays to be Glorified

Jesus opens by praying that he is glorified. I think Jesus is lucky he is probably the only person who should do this.

We probably shouldn’t open our prayers with.

Father, the hour has come for my sermon Glorify me.

(Duck under the Pulpit)

Just making sure I don’t get struck by lightning.

Jesus isn’t doing this for his Glory but he is doing it becuase he is lifting the name of God up to the worl because he is the Son who was sent to the world.

John 17:3 NIV

3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Jesus was bringing Glory for God. He was recognizing that he was about to complete the work he was sent to do and it was for God’s Glory.

He continues to pray though

John 17:6–19 NIV

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.

Prays for His Disciples

Can you imagine for a moment sitting there and listening to this prayer. This prayer that is being spoken for you as his disciple.

What a powerful moment.

Let’s look at some fo the highlights of this prayer for his disciples.

Prayer for Protection

Jesus prays that the disciples are protected. That they are about to enter into a time that they will no longer be protected by Jesus. They will face the coming world and have to deal with it away from Jesus.

Jesus wants for us to be kept safe to not be given over to the evil one. This necessarily safety from the physical forces of the world but the dangers of the spiritual ones that will come to attack them. This is the hope that they will not fall away like Judas.

Prayer for Joy

Jesus prayers for the disciples to have the full measure of Joy that He is giving them.

What does he mean by that though?

John 15:9–11 NIV

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

The Joy that is made complete and the full measure that Jesus wants for us is to be in the fathers love. The know that it can be made complete through him and we have this hope.

Prays for Sanctification

Jesus prays that his disciples will be sanctified. Uh Oh Pastor is breaking out one of those theological terms.

Sanctification is simply is the devoting or setting apart of anything to the worship or service of God.

We are called to be set apart. This is an essential part of our growth as Christians. It is the moment we move from simply belief to the deep recognition that our lives are for Him first and foremost.

Here his words again.

John 17:15–19 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. 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.

Our ability to be sanctified comes from Him. IT is through him and in Him that we are able to be set apart to become more than we are right now. To live a life that is commited and devoted to God.

Then Jesus expands the prayer to include more than just his closest followers.

John 17:20–26 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. 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.”

Prays for All Believers

The prayer for the future generations to come. Those who have not yet heard the good news of Jesus but will in the coming time from the message of his disciples.

The message that Jesus Christ cam and died on the cross for our sins. This moment that we realize that we need him more and more each and every day. That without him we are broken. That Sin is in our lives and it binds us and keeps us from being who we are meant to be.

It is through Him that we find freedom and that the Glory of God is shown. This message that has been passed down through the generations and reaches us today.

It is this message that we have in hope that we get to celebrate when people come to faith.

The Privilege as a Pastor is I am commissioned to testify to this but also to share with you the moments of our fellow brothers and sisters when they want to confess and share with the world that they have given themselves to Christ.

This morning we get to celebrate that with Garrison.

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