John 17 gives us the high priestly prayer of Jesus. Some call it the greatest prayer ever prayed. Jesus prayed this prayer for you and me, for his church. Matthew 6:5-14 may contain Jesus’ model prayer, but this is really surely alsoa prayer that can be called the Lord’s prayer, Jesus’ prayer from the heart for those of us who would believe on account of the testimony of those who had gone on before.
Jesus prays for us. Jesus prays that God will be with us in the world. Jesus has prayed for you -- that all will be well with you. And that God will be with you in the world.
Then Jesus asks that we will have joy! This may be rather hard for us to understand. Jesus uses a kind of reasoning that turns all human reasoning upside down. It is God’s reasoning. Jesus prays that you and I have joy in the midst of all that pulls us in this world in which we live.
Jesus requests that we be sanctified. Sanctification is a word that we use too seldom. In fact, many of us may not even know what it means. Let’s all say it together: sanctification. It means purified or made holy. It is a process of transformation that only happens when we walk with God on a daily basis. It only happens when we consciously turn toward God and accept God’s love. Perhaps we can best understand sanctification from a human perspective in terms of discipline. It is the in the spiritual disciplines that we open ourselves to God. In the process God transforms us.
From God’s perspective sanctification is a setting apart. Our life in God is a life apart from many of the things that tug at us as humans. It is a life set apart for being God’s son and daughter. It is a life set apart for living in God’s kingdom.
Then, in John 17:20-26 Jesus prays for the unity of His followers -- that includes you and me -- and he says his praye is not just for the disciples but those who will believe. Praise God, that is us!
Jesus asks that the Church show the same oneness that exists between Jesus and the Father. This is a difficult one for us to understand. All churches -- congregations and denominations -- seem to be filled with divisions. It is Jesus’ continuing prayer for us that we will be one.
1. Our Unity Testifies To Christ’s Love (Verses 25-26)
•John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
•When we get along as a church we show that there is an abundance of love in the body of Christ. If we want to testify to Christ’s love we must love each other. 1 John 4:20 makes it very clear that if we can’t love each other whom we have seen we have no hope of loving God whom we can’t see.
•Some of our hearts are cramped and small – our love is insufficient how do we over come this? Pray, 1 Thessalonians 3:12 Paul prays, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.”
•Our love is dependent on God filling us with his love. Our love is insufficient, often for the people we like. His love is all-sufficient, even for the people we don’t like.
2. Our Unity Celebrates Eternity (Verse 24)
•We will be united in heaven with all believers – we’d might as well learn how to get along now. Revelation 7:9-10, every nation, tribe tongue, denomination…
•When we recognize our unity and celebrate it we get a glimpse of heaven. Our communion celebration is a prophetic event looking forward to eating of it in the kingdom of God when Christ will join us forever! (Matthew 26:29) I believe we ought to eat together and celebrate together it is practice for heaven.
3. Our Unity Shines God's Glory (Verses 22-23)
•In Albuquerque N.M. there is the Sandia National Laboratory which operates a reflective solar power plant, using over 200,000 mirrors aligned around a tower they reflect the sun onto one area in order to generate electricity.
•The church is like that, when we are all aligned and looking towards God hen we reflect his glory and show the world his incredible power.
•I don’t look in my rear view mirror to admire the craftsmanship of the hinge and reflective glass that makes it up, I look into it to see something that lies outside of my car. We are mirrors pointed to God, people don’t want to see us they want to see Jesus and that is our glory when people look at us and they see Jesus.
•We should point that back to Jesus Christ, just like the Trinity. Corner any member of the Trinity for worship and they reflect you to another member. The Spirit points us towards Jesus, Jesus points us towards the Father and the Father asks, “Have you met my son?”
•When we unite as a church – not just here but globally we most brilliantly reflect the glory of Christ. We also more accurately reflect his glory. When we forget that we’re not the only Christians God appears very anemic, lop-sided. But when we unite with other believers we fully reflect the glory of God.
4. Our Unity Starts With A Prayer -- the Prayer of Jesus that is Still Being Answered (Vs. 20-21)
•Jesus started our unity with a prayer and it is still in the process of being answered today.
•Today I want us to pray for unity, just as Jesus did. Let us follow his example. Let us agree with Jesus and his great prayer for unity. The unity can start right here in our church, in our community. It can start with us. John Bunyan said it best, “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
Today, my brothers and sisters Jesus continues to pray for us. Can you hear him? His last earthly prayers are for you and for me. May we truly love one another.May you have true joy! And may you be set apart -- sanctified -- service in God’s kingdom. May the Spirit unite us in His service. Amen and Amen.
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