The Comfort of Having Christ’s Prayer
January 5, 2025 Preacher: Jeff Griffis Series: Communion in Christ's Love
Scripture: John 17:6–11
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The Comfort of Having Christ’s Prayer – John 17:6–11a
PRAY & INTRO: What do we do with a prayer of the Son of God to God? How are we to understand and apply such a prayer?
As we said last time when teaching on the first five verses of Jesus’ prayer of John 17, because this is Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, the Word of God Incarnate, his words here are indeed petition but to the listener they are also proclamation. They impart truth that the disciples, and we, evidently need to hear. He said this in their hearing so that they would have it and reflect back on it and could record it for us, so there must certainly be truth here that is of great benefit to us.
Secondly, Jesus is indeed asking things of the Father in this prayer, but since it is he who asks, who is one with the Father, these are things certain to be accomplished. We can therefore be sure that God did do these things in the lives of the Apostles, and that he will do in the lives of all true believers what Jesus prays for us as well.
Thirdly then, in this prayer he gives an account to the Father of having accomplished the mission for which he was sent. And although the key moment of his sacrificial death is just hours away in the future (and his resurrection days away, and his ascension weeks away), he can speak of all as having been accomplished: John 17:4 (ESV) “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
So, following the lengthy departure discourse with his disciples, Jesus prayed aloud in their hearing. His prayer flows from his first petition, for mutual glorification in the Godhead through his impending suffering and exaltation (in vv. 1-5), now to praying for his immediate disciples in particular (in vv. 6-19) and then for all future disciples who will believe in him through their message (vv. 20-26).
As we are now in the middle section, how are we to understand and apply a part of the prayer that is evidently for the benefit of the Apostles who are in his presence at the time? There are clear indicators like “Now they know” and especially the contrast between these ones Jesus has kept secure as compared to Judas, “the son of destruction,” in v. 12) And then at v. 20 he says, “I do not pray for these only but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” So it is indeed clear that this second section of the prayer, from vv. 6-19, is a prayer on behalf of his disciples.
But even as all of this departure discourse from John 13-16 has been directed at his disciples, preparing them for his departure (including his impending death and resurrection and ascension), we can and should also find comfort in Jesus words as he comforts his disciples about how they can and will continue his mission in his physical absence.
So too this prayer for his Apostles should apply to us in much the same way: He prays in their hearing so that they can be comforted and prepared with courage to continue. - In fact, the dichotomy in this section is less about their difference from us and more about their difference from the world: v. 9 - “I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”
I will apply this to us today in much the same way as Jesus intended for these disciples to apply it upon hearing his prayer.
Take comfort and courage from Christ’s prayer for his disciples.
Jesus’ prayer for his disciples is recorded for us not only so that we can trust what has been passed down to us from them, but also so that we too should find comfort and courage in the facts of his words and be filled with joy. John 17:13 (ESV) But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
In the first part of praying for his disciples, vv. 6-11a, Jesus gives an account of fulfilling his mission of revealing God to these disciples and gives the reasons why he prays for them specifically and not for the world. Then he will give the actual petitions for protection (keeping) and for setting them apart for service (sanctifying) (vv. 11b-19).
So today we are emphasizing verses 6-11a, where Jesus gives the grounds for what he will pray for them, and the reasons. In my mind the first three verses hang together as the grounds for this prayer, and then 9-11a as the reasons he prays for these ones given to him out of the world.
Also, the latter verses are the easiest to understand, so we’ll pick up speed there when we have done the work of understanding verses 6-8. [Let’s read them again.]
John 17:6–8 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.
First…
Take comfort and courage that Jesus manifests saving knowledge of God. (verses 6-8)
To manifest God’s name is to reveal who he is, his character, his works, and even his words (as v. 8 indicates, “for I have given them the words that you gave me”). - So we’re not really talking about a specific name for God, but all that God is and all that he does.
It’s also clear that Jesus is saying he manifested/revealed God in a unique sense to those whom God gave him out of the world, who “receive” God’s words and “know” and “believe” that Jesus is the unique One sent from God (v. 8). (not just that he is the light of the world in general, but that he has made himself known in the very reality of our relationship to him by faith)
Now, of course, the Apostle John is clear that Jesus reveals God in the world: the Son of God, who the eternal Logos… the Word became flesh.
John 1:1 ESV
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:4 ESV
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 1:9 ESV
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
But the mere presence of the light does not bring salvation. The “light shines in the darkness” (Jn 1:5) and lays bare everything as it really is. God the Son incarnate brings all of the truth of God’s worth and character and holiness to shine on the reality of our sinful rebellion.
But the existence of that light can confirm condemnation as well as bring salvation: Jn 3:18-19
John 3:18–19 ESV
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Again, on the other hand, Jn 1:12 (back in John’s prologue)
John 1:12 ESV
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
So God did truly display his love for all the world in sending his Son to be the light that offers life:
John 3:16 ESV
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
So this light of Jesus manifesting God must be received as God’s means of salvation. Jesus must be worshiped as Lord. That is what it means that these ones have “kept your word.” Their belief has become that Jesus is “the Holy One of God” and that he has “the words of eternal life,” which is the profession that Peter made on behalf of the disciples in John 6.
John 6:68–69 ESV
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
So Jesus can say here, as a matter of fact, even before his death and resurrection, and before they have received the indwelling and empowering Holy Spirit…
John 17:7 ESV
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
And again more specifically…
John 17:8 ESV
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.
(the words of eternal life… and that Jesus is the Holy One of God)
So even though this part of his prayer for today is on behalf of his immediate disciples, you must respond to Jesus as they did. John will explicitly invite you to do so in John 20:31 “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
And if you are a disciple of Jesus in the line of these first disciples, then…
[repeat] Take comfort and courage that Jesus manifests saving knowledge of God.
John 17:3 (ESV) And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
And here is a second way, in these verses, that the disciples should take comfort and courage as they listen to Christ’s prayer, and it’s the same for us:
Take comfort and courage from God’s initiative in saving us. (verses 6 & 9)
And respond in sincere gratitude.
Here’s another interpretive challenge in the middle of verse 6, stated matter of factly, and it’s in both sentences: that the Father gives these ones to the Son, the ones who keep/obey his word, who believe in him. Does the text say that he gives them to the Son because they believe? No, if there is any order of priority indicated here, it is the reverse: “Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”
In fact, Jesus is certain to be consistent with himself, so let’s go back to that earlier context in John, the one where we quoted Peter’s confession on behalf of the disciples, where Jesus explains more clearly and specifically what he states matter of factly in this prayer.
John 6:35 ESV
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Remember, this is the context where Jesus has fed the 5,000 but now people are wanting him to keep feeding him this same way, not even following him because of believing in him due to the miraculous sign. No, they just want to follow him to get more free food out of him.
So Jesus has been explaining that he is “the bread of God […] who comes downs from heaven and gives life to the world.” (v. 33) But which ones in the world will receive him and gain this life?
John 6:36 ESV
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
Not these ones who just want to follow him to get more food out of him. No, the ones who will gain this life are those who will come to him rightly, even though he exposes their evil and their inability, their need. And how or why will they come to him rightly, and to what result?
John 6:37 ESV
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Although this order of the Father’s priority is clear, it is not as though God is doing this against their will, but rather through their will.
When the Jews grumble at what Jesus is saying, he responds, “Do not grumble amongst yourselves.” (Jn 6:43) And then in v. 44 he continues…
John 6:44 ESV
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
God can be consistent with himself to create human beings with volition (which we experience and use on a daily basis… and which is expressed in a multiplicity of ways in God’s word), but God can also use that will—our will—to accomplish his purposes. And all this is consistent with biblical theology, even these very words from Jesus, that we are depraved and unable to come to God apart from him drawing us.
But those whom the Father has given will come (because he will draw them), and they will dwell secure and be raised up on the last day (vv. 37 & 44).
Now I readily admit that this is perhaps one of the hardest theological truths for our limited human reasoning to wrap our heads around, but our limited reasoning should not limit God’s reason and ability and freedom to do his will. Reason is to understand, to make sense of, that which conforms to reality. And so we are well-reasoned to take God at his word, who is perfect Reason, true reality.
[subtitle slide again] And why does God’s saving initiative give us comfort and courage?
The fact that God is the source and security of our salvation is not a problem, but the solution. We should be comforted that our faith is not in our ability to respond to Jesus on our own (bc what if I lack, even in some small way?). Our faith is not in the strength or sincerity or sufficiency of our faith… but our faith is in God.
So too we move forward with courage, knowing that no one who is in Christ will be lost, but he will raise us up on the last day.
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Let’s turn our attention now from the grounds for Jesus’ prayer for his disciples, to the reasons he prays for them and not for the world, as he says in verse 9.
John 17:9–11 ESV
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. 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.
He prays for his disciples because they are the ones who belong to God in the unique sense of having saving knowledge of him through Jesus. “for they are yours… all mine are yours and yours are mine” (vv. 9-10a)
Jesus prays for them because he is glorified in them. (v. 10b)
Jesus prays for them because he will soon no longer be physically present with them in the world. (v. 11a)
Going back to the first of these three, we can…
Take comfort and courage that we who truly follow Jesus belong to God. (verses 8-10a)
The first reason Jesus gives is in verse 9 and flows out of all the statements of fact, the grounds, in vv. 6-8. The first reason Jesus prays for these ones and not for the world is because “they are yours.” “All mine are yours and yours are mine.” These are the ones who truly belong to God.
If we know that Jesus has the words of eternal life because he is the Holy One of God, we therefore by faith treasure him as the supreme relationship to have found in this life, and we follow and obey him with our lives. Then we can take great comfort in knowing the security of belonging to God. We are his, and he will not lose a single one.
So too…
Take comfort and courage that Christ possessing us brings Him glory. (verse 10)
When you come to know God through saving faith, you have begun to recognize and value his worth, and so you greatly desire that he be glorified, even as Jesus prays for with the certainty of accomplishment in vv. 1-5. By his saving work in our lives, which he alone accomplishes and will bring to completion… through saving the ones the Father has given him, he is glorified.
And in that we rejoice, and we take great comfort, and it gives us courage to continue in the mission he has given us.
Now finally…
Take comfort and courage that the lack of Christ’s physical presence has not left us unprotected and alone. (verse 11)
This thought flows into and from the petitions that follow in v. 11 and forward. But for today, remember that…
Comfort comes from trusting completely in the Supreme Caregiver.
Courage comes from knowing that we serve a bigger purpose, that our lives are not wasted. There is true purpose and meaning in knowing Christ and serving him.
So let us go from here today taking…
Conclusion: Take comfort and courage from Christ’s prayer for his disciples.
[repeat the list: that… that… etc.]
What Jesus prays you can take as truth. What Jesus prays you can take as certain to have been accomplished and to be accomplished. And if you are in Christ, be comforted and be given courage, and in gratitude let God fill you with joy in knowing that Jesus accomplished the mission for which he was sent, even your salvation.
There may be things going on in your life that have you troubled, even trembling. In the midst of life’s greatest trials, there is comfort and courage and joy to be found in knowing God through Jesus. Always rest first in belonging to God, and then continue to seek him as the supreme treasure, knowing that he will take care of you.
PRAY
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