Sermon Summary

This week, Pastor Chris brought our Pray Like Jesus series to a close with a powerful word on Jesus’s final prayer. In our scripture this morning, Jesus is hours away from being betrayed and arrested. He prayed with an understanding that the disciples were listening, and that his time on Earth was coming to an end. The High Priestly Prayer has everything to do with us and the way that we live today.

“This is truly, beyond measure, a warm and hearty prayer. He opens the depths of His heart, both in reference to us & to His Father, & He pours them all out. It sounds so honest, so simple; it is so deep, so rich, so wide, no one can fathom it.” – Martin Luther

“The most remarkable prayer followed the most full & consoling discourse ever uttered on earth” 

  • Matthew Henry

Jesus Prays for Himself

John 17:1–5 (ESV)

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

1 Chronicles 12:32 (ESV)

32 Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times…

Who is Jesus Christ?

  1. Son of God: “Son”
  2. Worshipper: “Son may glorify you”
  3. Sovereign: “authority over all”
  4. Savior: “give eternal life”
  5. Missionary: “Jesus Christ whom you have sent”
  6. God: “the only true God”
  7. Heaven: “they know you [Father]…and Jesus Christ”
  8. Eternal Creator: “before the world existed”

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:6–9 (ESV)

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 

Kingdom vs World 

John 17:10–13 (ESV)

10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 

John 17:14 (ESV)

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 

Loved by God vs Hated by world 

Truth vs Tolerance 

  1. Truth is revealed by God. It is not constructed or invented by individuals or communities.
  2. Objective truth exists and is knowable.
  3. Christian truth is absolute in nature.
  4. Truth is universal.
  5. The truth of God is eternally engaging and momentous, not trendy or superficial.
  6. Truth is exclusive, specific and antithetical .
  7. Truth, Christianly understood, is systematic and unified.
  8. Christian truth is an end, not a means to any other end.

John 17:15-17 (ESV)

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 

Truth of the Word vs Lies of the World 

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

John 17:18–19 (ESV)

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Jesus Prays for us

John 17:20 (ESV)

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

John 17:21–23 (ESV)

21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 

Mark 3:25 (ESV)

25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

Spiritual Unity 

1. Theological (Primary vs. Secondary)

  • Primary: Bible, God the Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Man, Salvation, The Church, Spiritual Gifts, The Enemy, Eternity, Kingdom of God & Final Judgment, Marriage, and Life.

2. Relational 

3. Missional 

4. Organizational

John 17:24–26 (ESV)

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Discussion Questions

  1. Read John 17:1-26 out loud. What part of Jesus’s last prayer to the Father strikes you the most?
  2. Where did Jesus claim that joy could be found? (Answer: unity) What can stand in the way of unity amongst believers?
  3. Do you struggle with loving the world or desiring to be accepted by the world? Share with the group. 
  4. Have you ever fallen into the trap of believing in subjective truths? What is the difference between subjective and objective truth?

Application Questions

  1. How much agreement do you have with the Father’s love over your life? Answer this question honestly this week.
  2. Do you struggle with fear or anxiety? Pastor Chris shared the reality that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Ask the Lord to reveal the truth of His love over you.