Sunday Sermon
sunday 26th morning service
John 17 how does Jesus pray?
Jesus praying throws up all kinds of questions for us.
Why does he pray? What does he pray for? How does he pray?
It is with these questions that I want to address the chapter
1st of all - why does Jesus pray in this way?
We ask that because we know that, Jesus does not need to pray like this.
That is because he is always in communication with the Father!
His spirit was always in tune with the Father.
“I and the Father are one” Jh10v30 “the words I speak are not my own” Jh14v10
So then why does Jesus pray in this way?
The answer is of course that this is all part of the good news of God.
He prays this way for our benefit! For our good! For us!
V13 - Jesus is praying all this specifically so that the disciples hear and are filled with joy!
Jesus is praying to be heard by men!
The very thing that we are often told not to do when we pray!
But it was public prayer, not private prayer!
Jesus wants the disciples to know the kind of things that He prays for,
Not so that they think how holy and good he was!
But so that they would be encouraged and built up!
What would encourage them and build them up?
Hearing the requests he makes for them!
Jesus expected that they would then be filled with joy - his joy, the full measure of his joy in them! The idea is that they rejoice together. Sharing in the joy of Christ, his joy becomes their joy.
App: What can we learn form this?
The grace of God - all he does is to the end of building up his people.
How delighted we are when we learn that someone has been praying for us.
How we long for people to pray for us.
Well rejoice - Jesus prayed for us and is praying for us still.
2nd what does he pray for:
A) the glory of God. V1 glory V5 glory V10 glory, v22 glory, v24 glory
This is always the starting point, middle point and finishing point.
To glorify is to make known, to praise.
When speaking of glorifying God the image is of making Gods known!
God is altogether glorious and that cannot be added to but it can be revealed more and more. To glorify the Son, is to make him known.
B) Jesus’ prayer is that God would be revealed. (continuation of glory theme)
That is his theme through the whole prayer:
V6 revealed, v21 that the world may believe, v23 to let the world know, v26
C) protection leading to unity v11, protection from evil v15
D) sanctify theme v17
Jesus prays that we would be made holy through the word of God.
In many Christian circles this emphasis on the word is being pushed to the side.
But the time honoured and bible testified way of holiness is through being steeped in the word. Praying over it, meditating on it, memorising it, practising it!
E) unity - “may be one” v21 (11), v23
Unity is not a work that we can do. Unity is a fact based upon our being “in Christ”.
In other words this is more of the good news that Jesus is praying in order for the fullness of joy to come our way!
We are to hear Jesus asking the Father for our admittance into the divine being!
We are to hear that and then live in light of it!
We are united to one another because we are united to God.
Equally we are not disunited because we have a different church name from other Christians.
The fact is we are united! There is no disunity in the kingdom!
F) glorification v24
This unity will ultimately be revealed in our final full salvation.
When we are with Jesus and see his glory - his fullness, we will ultimately join that fullness.
App: What are we to make of all these requests?
Above all else we are to delight in the goodness of Jesus Christ that he prays these things for us. This prayer is his ongoing prayer - the word of God once spoken is not revoked. The Lords prayer is still powerful and active.
We can participate in these requests by praying them too.
3rd how does he pray
Finally note the way Jesus prays. .
Very simply, no verbal manipulation - Elijah on mount Carmel
This open, honest, straight forward way of praying is what we are to aim for.
No special language is needed, not arm twisting required!
Simply let our yes be yes and our no, no.
This comes from realising who God is.
He is the One who really loves us. That means he is all the time seeking our best!
He wants what is best for us all the time. He never treats us out of love!
Never treats us as objects to be used for a perceived goal / purpose.
When we realise this is the great God who we deal with in prayer then we will begin to pray properly.
This is why the NT prayer directives are so simple and straight forward:
e.g. lacking wisdom? Just ask! James 1v5
Needing good? Just ask! Mat 7v11
Needing the Holy Spirit? Just ask! Luke 11v13 etc
How should we pray - 1Pet4v7: “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.”
Prayer is not a great mystery, it is not about trying to manipulate God, it is not a feeling, it is just very simply straight forward childlike.
Having said that the way we pray is very important.
If we get the way wrong then the prayer will be wrong!
But there is no reason to get the way wrong.
Just go before your loving heavenly Father and cast all your cares upon Him because he cares for you!
sunday evening service
Gen 20
What are we to make of this curious incident in the life of Abraham the Man of Faith?
Back in chapter 12 we have Abraham in Egypt making the same mistake has he not learned? Why this failure of faith, if that’s what it was?
Note there is the move out of the land again at the beginning v1 - did Abraham feel he was leaving the territory of his God? His was in the land of the Philistines!?
Then quickly the whole situation is put into place v2.
Then God intercedes very quickly v3.
The first three verses are very fast paced, as if it cannot move onto the main points as quickly as possible.
The main lesson here is from Abraham’s failure: v11-13
A. The man of faith wrongly judges v11
He thinks that because he is in a foreign place the people must be evil!
He thought that it was a godless place and that they would end up killing him so they could get to his wife!
In other words Abraham was afraid! And fear made him do stupid things.
Lesson one: watch out for fear.
There is no room for fear in the life of faith.
Why not? Because faith means that we are trusting God and God says “fear not”.
God fills the universe, God sends his angels as ministering spirits to help us.
God is utterly trust worthy - thus we need not be afraid of anything!
When we are afraid we are not trusting God and so we act out of character.
We end up doing stupid things, making wrong choices, lying, trying to manage situations in our own strength, saying our wife is our sister! etc.
Fear stops faith, fear stops the job of living - watch out for it!
B. The man of faith makes poor excuses v12
This was the same excuse he used the last time! Ch12v13
That she was his half sister was irrelevant for the time and culture of the place.
The greater truth of the situation was that Sarah was his wife.
Lesson 2: watch out for dishonesty
Honesty is one of the most important signs in the life of faith.
It is a sign because it shows where our trust lies- that is in God!
Telling lies or being dishonest is simply showing that we are not really living by faith.
We are not trusting God enough do deal with the whole of our lives.
There are still some parts that we need to control and handle.
“a lie is: an abomination to God and an ever-present help in times of trouble!”
Dishonesty and lies is part and parcel of everyday life outside of faith because people live as if they were really in control, thus they have to lie in difficult situations!
Only those who are trusting that God can take care of things can live without lies!
C. The man of faith trust his own plan rather than God v13
This plan was his worked out scheme from the beginning!
He had trusted God Almighty enough to leave his country and go to the place where God would show him, but if some difficulties arose there was this fall back option!
Understandable to use once and learn from all that, but now to use it again!
Abraham had not yet come to that place of complete trust in God!
He was still a learner, a disciple.
Lesson 3: faith may fall in the same way once, twice, many times!
There are many reasons for that but one is that we are always Learners.
Faith never leaves the stage of being a disciples, being a follower of God.
It is life we are involved in, time and circumstance may so work that our trust in God fails and our back up options come into play!
That is just plain simple fact, revealed in the lives of the saints down through the ages.
That is not to make an excuse, it is simply there to be recognised.
The much bigger problem is that we live most of the time trusting our back up plan and not Yahweh, not the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our moments of faith are as rare as Abraham’s moments of failure!
Finally we have the Good News of this chapter:
The intervening great gracious God of Faith v3f.
By verse 2 Abraham’s failure is clear. By verse 3 we have grace “but God came”.
What does God do? Basically he saves everyone involved in the whole situation:
1. He stops Abimelech - thus saving him v6
2. He warns Abimelech to return Sarah pronto v7
3. Makes Abimelech favourable towards Abraham v14-15
4. Heals Abimelech v17
5. Saves Abraham and Sarah out of all the mess!
This is the message of scripture is it not?
Abraham was in trouble - God came!
The world was in trouble - God came!
You were in trouble - God came!
That is God, he intervenes, steps in, works things out, provides salvation.
What is the lesson ?
Trust Him, trust Him!
The lesson is live by this gracious God, with Him seeking our good at all times we have nothing to be afraid of.
