The Perfect Prayer - PT 3

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EDWARD McKENDREE BOUNDS was born in Shelby County, Mo., August 15, 1835, and died August 24, 1913, in Washington, Ga. He received a common school education at Shelbyville and was admitted to the bar soon after his majority. He practiced law until called to preach the Gospel at the age of twenty-four. His first pastorate was Monticello, Mo., Circuit. It was while serving as pastor of Brunswick, Mo., that war was declared and the young minister was made a prisoner of war because he would not take the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government. He was sent to St. Louis and later transferred to Memphis, Tenn. Finally securing his release, he traveled on foot nearly one hundred miles to join General Pierce’s command in Mississippi and was soon after made chaplain of the Fifth Missouri Regiment, a position he held until near the close of the war, when he was captured and held as prisoner at Nashville, Tenn. After the war Rev. E. M. Bounds was pastor of churches in Tennessee and Alabama. In 1875 he was assigned to St. Paul Methodist Church in St. Louis, and served there for four years. In 1876 he was married to Miss Emmie Barnette at Eufaula, Ala., who died ten years later. In 1887 he was married to Miss Hattie Barnette, who, with five children, survives him. After serving several pastorates he was sent to the First Methodist Church in St. Louis, Mo., for one year and to St. Paul Methodist Church for three years. At the end of his pastorate, he became the editor of the St. Louis “Christian Advocate.” He was a forceful writer and a very deep thinker. He spent the last seventeen years of his life with his family in Washington, Ga. Most of the time he was reading, writing and praying. He rose at 4 a. m. each day for many years and was indefatigable in his study of the Bible. His writings were read by thousands of people and were in demand by the church people of every Protestant denomination.

"Prayer honors God, acknowledges His being, exalts His power, adores His providence, secures His aid."

"He who is too busy to pray will be too busy to live a holy life. Satan had rather we let the grass grow on the path to our prayer chamber than anything else."

"No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack."

“The story of every great Christian achievement is the history of answered prayer.”

There is at least one person whose prayer life out shined even that of the great E.M. Bounds. There has only ever been one man who prayed perfect prayers, Jesus. The fact that Scripture records for us some of His prayers is an incredible gift. For through these prayers we learn about:

Him

The Father

His will

Ourselves

Prayer

Who Jesus Is Praying for:

Not only the 11 disciples - Neither pray I for these alone

Future Disciples (the church) - but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

The word “shall” indicates a future action.

Many other translations simply use the phrase “who will”

The future action that this group will take is that they will believe on Jesus - “believe on me”

Notice the vehicle or the means of their belief will be the “their word”. Their belief will come through their word.

Thus the disciples whom Jesus has already said that He is sending into the world (v. 17) will be at least partially successful in their mission.

So the key interpretive question for this verse is, who is this group of believers?

The answer is anyone whose belief can be traced back to the testimony and ministry of the apostles.

To be specific that is everyone who has accepted Christ since the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

To be simple it is the Church, it is you and me.

Application:

Consider just how precious this is, you have in front of you a copy of a prayer that Jesus prayed specifically for you.

This is not a generalized prayer of a human being praying for a large group that he cannot personally know. Please recognize that it the Almighty, all-knowing, and all powerful God who is praying this prayer, and it is not too much for Him to think of every name of every believer as He prayed this prayer.

You might say that I am taking this farther than I should, and maybe so. However, I serve a big God.

What Jesus Is Praying for:

Unity (v. 21-23)

The Importance of Unity

This is the second time that Jesus has prayed for unity among His current and future disciples.

Romans 15:5-6 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul instructs us to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

Helping us toward that unity are the gifts of the Spirit. God has given each Christian different gifts, and their exercise in the edification of the church leads to more and more unity. One purpose of the gifts is that “we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

In order to illustrate the importance of unity within the body of Christ, Paul uses a physical human body to illustrate his point. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

To be fair there are other churches whose doctrine is different enough from our own that it is best not to form official relationships with them. However, there is still a unity in the gospel especially on an individual level.

As Ephesians 4:13 intimates, we won’t reach full Christian unity until we attain “to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” So we probably won’t fully realize Christian unity in this world. But we strive for it. The unity that faith in Christ brings extends God’s love on earth and demonstrates the truth of who Jesus is.

The Reality of Christian Unity

Some look at the great divisions among Christian denominations and refer to this as Christ’s great “unanswered prayer.”

However, Scripture is clear that all believers are united with Christ because of our relationship with Him and with all other believers. We are all in the same family, even it at times we do not act like it. Therefore, unity in Christ has two aspects—one is objective fact, and one is subjective experience.

Our unity is first an objective fact because of who we are unified in, Christ. Once you are part of the family there is nothing that can separate you from it.

Our unity is also a subjective experience because believer often do not act as though they are a part of God’s family.

“Unity in Christ means that all believers are in a relationship with Christ and, by extension, to every other believer. All believers are united with each other whether they know it or not, like it or not, or feel like it or not. The challenge of Christian unity is to live up to the truth of that reality. Since we are all members of one body, we need to live like it. This means subordinating our individual needs to the needs of the body at large and using our individual gifts for the good of the whole body.” - Gotquestions

Deterrents to Christian Unity

Pride

Selfishness

Thoughtlessness

Unwillingness to deal with conflict biblically

Achieving Christian Unity

Philippians 2:3- 4 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Ephesians 4:1-6 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Presence (v. 24)

Didn’t Jesus just pray, asking the Father not to take His disciples “out of the world”?

Obviously Jesus’ desire that the disciples stay in the world was a temporary plan meant for the propagation of the gospel.

In this statement in verse 24 Jesus reveals the end game.

It is not surprising that we should want to go to heaven. What is surprising is that Jesus wants us in heaven with Him.

Jesus wants you

He wants to be with you, eternally.

You with all your faults, sins and mistakes.

Why? - His reply:

It glorifies My Father to love you in such a way and My Father in turn glorifies Me.

Is God’s love selfish?

If the chief reason God loves us is His own glory does that make Him self-serving?

We should not be thinking of God’s actions in human terms.

When a person acts like they are the center of the universe it always comes across as arrogant, prideful and selfish for the simple fact they are not the center of the universe.

However, why would we expect God to act as anything other than the center of the universe when He is the center of the universe.

Revelation (v. 25b, 26a)

In these phrases Jesus points out two things He has revealed to His disciples

That He was sent by the Father

Who the Father is and what He is like

Why does Jesus make His heavenly origins such an important point?

v. 18, 21, 23, 25 - see also John 11:42 “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”

According to Jesus a vital part of the disciples faith was that they believed that the Father had sent Jesus.

A major part of the Pharisaical rejection of Jesus was their refusal to believe that Jesus had come from the Father.

What does this imply?

Deity

Authority

A Jesus who is not God is not sufficient for salvation, and any perception of Jesus that rejects His deity denies what the Bible actually claims about Him.

The second thing that Jesus brings up regarding what He has revealed is the Father.

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

We cannot know the Father without the Son.

Why Jesus is Praying:

That the world may believe

v. 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me

Our unity that Jesus prays for is to be a testimony to the lost and dying world around us.

v. 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

The special and unique love that God has for those that are His also serves as a testimony.

The growth of those who believe

Specifically growth in unity

v. 23 that they may be made perfect in one

The word “perfect” often used in the KJV carries the idea of completeness.

That we may behold His glory

v. 24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

The reason that Jesus wants us to be in His presence is that we may behold His glory.

There is nothing better

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

There is nothing that will bring more contentment than simply and without sin beholding the glory of God.

That we may more fully know and experience the love of God.

v. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.