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JOHN17:20-26JESUS PRAYS FOR US
JANUARY 19, 2014FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPIUSA
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
What is the number one thing?
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The glory of God!
1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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Ray Stedman 1917-1992
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William Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)
GotQuestions.org Copyright 2002-2014 Got Questions Ministries -Bible Questions Answered http://www.gotquestions.org/glorify-God.html#ixzz2qNfSZii1
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J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible
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This prayer in John 17 is the greatest summit meeting ever held between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as They are laying out the program by which the
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world would be reached!
Jesus Prays for HimselfJohn 17:1-5
Jesus Prays for His DisciplesJohn 17:6-19
Jesus Prays for UsJohn 17:20-26
John 17:20-26 NKJV
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.
26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17:20-26 NKJV
A Glimpse of the FutureJohn 17:20 NKJV
20 “I do not pray for thesealone, but also for thosewho will believe in Me through their word;
*Gradually in this section Jesus' prayer has been going out to the ends of the earth. *First, in John 17:1-5 He prayed for Himself as Hefaced the Cross.
*Second, in verses 6-19 He prayed for His disciples, and for God's keeping power for them. *Now His prayers take a sweep into the distant future, and He prays for
those who in distant lands and far-off ages will also enter the Christian faith (that would be us).*Here two great characteristics of Jesus are fully displayed.
First, we see His complete faith and His radiant certainty.
He maintained His confidence in the Father.
At that moment His followers were few, but even with the Cross facing Him in just a few hours, His confidence was unshaken, and He was praying for those who would come to believe in His name.
This passage should be specially precious to us, for it is Jesus' prayer for us.
Then, we see His confidence in His men. He knew that they did not fully understand Him; He knew that in a very short time they were going to abandon Him in His hour of sorest need.
Yet to these very same men He looked with complete confidence to spread His name throughout the world.
Jesus never lost His faith in God nor His confidence in men.
What was His prayer for the Church which was to be?
John 17:21 NKJV21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
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Jesus asked that we would be one as He and His Father are One.
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When His body is divided, He is the One Who bleeds.
John 17:22 NKJV
22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
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What was that unity for which Jesus prayed?
Ray Stedman says that in these three verses,John 17:20-23, Jesus prays for the unity of the churchthree times.
What is this unity?
John 17:2323 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
There is an effort that has been going on for sometime to bring about a union of believers, to unite them in one great worldwide church or some organization.
We are told that this will at last be the answer to this prayer of Jesus.
But it is impossible to accept that explanation.
Don’t believe for one second that the church has to wait twenty-one centuries before the prayer of Jesus is answered or that an organization like the
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World Council of Churches willaccomplish what the Holy Spirit (seemingly) has been unable to do.
The Holy Spirit has been answering this prayer from the very beginning, and when we understand the nature of the unity for which Jesus prayed, we will see that the prayer is
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indeed being answered and has been all along.
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What is the nature of that unity? Several things in this passage give us a clue.
The first is in verse 21--that all of them may be one.
What does all mean?
If you look back in verse 20 you will see that Jesus prays, “not for them alone”.
Who are them?
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The apostles, the eleven for whom He has been praying in the previous section is “them”.
Jesus continues, but alsofor those who are to believe in Him through the apostolic witness--the great body of Christians around the world and throughout the centuries.
These two groups, He now says, are all to be joined together, that all of them may be one. In other words, the unity of the church is a unity with the apostles.
And since the primary task of the apostles was to give us the truth about Jesus, this unity is that of shared truth--one faith delivered unto the saints, one set of beliefs about
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Jesus given by the apostles.
The only Jesus we know anything about is the Jesus of the apostles.Not the Jesus of the Mormons or the Jesus of humanism or the Jesus of Jesus Christ SuperStar.
Any deviation from the Jesus of the apostles is a forgery, an imposter!
Thus, the basis of unity in the body of Christ is the unity of shared truth.
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The second clue about the nature of that unity is found in John 17:22.
John 17:22 NKJV
22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
This is a unity based upon glory that Jesus gives to the Church just as the Father had given it to Him.
What is this glory?
Look back in John 17:6 –“I have manifested ThyName to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.”
And also in John 17:8 -
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John 17:8 -“I have given them the Word You gave Me.”
The power by which Jesus acted while on earth – in the power of the Name of the Father and the power of His Word – is the second level of unity.
First shared truth and now shared power! *We are one when we operate by the name of the Father and by the Word of the Father as Jesus did.
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To operate in the Name of God and by the Word of God is the glory of our church!
Whenever the church adopts the ways and means of operating by the world’s methods, it immediately loses all its distinctives and power.
As soon as you try to accomplish things by organization and by mobilizing human resources and by raising funds as if money were the key, the church
becomes nothing more than another worldly organization. *When the church remembers that it has a unique power, different from anything else, it has
the power of God in its midst!In the name of God with the Word of God to direct her, there is a glory that no other organization can possibly rival.
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This is the unity based on glory that Jesus prayed for here in John 17, the unity of a shared power.
The third level of unity that Jesus asks for is the unity of a shared life found in John 17:23.
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John 17:2323 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
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The third aspect of unity is found in the words, “I in them and You in Me”.
Jesus in us, the Father in Him, and thus, in the remarkable words of Peter, we may participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4).
2 Peter 1:3-4 NKJV
3 His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, (that’s the glory of a shared life!).
2 Peter 1:3-4 NKJV
One of the reasons that so many churches are so weak is that the Christians won’t believe this magnificient claim.
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Believers think that this applies to someone else like Paul or David or Abraham.
Do you ever think of yourself as linked with the life of God--so much so that you cannot be known or understood apart from that life?
Our Father loves us in our crippled condition and when the world makes fun of us He picks us up and says, “I’m proud of her, she is Mine!” and carries us through life.
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The belief in the power of a shared life is critical to understanding how unity is produced among believers.
Here is what Jesus is praying--that we may understand: the sharing of truth, the sharing of power, the sharing of life, and that we may be one.
What is the purpose of this unity?Twice our Lord tells us--once in verse 21: so that the world may believe that You have sent Me, and again in verse 23:
to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.
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When the church begins to demonstrate the unity of faith, the unity of shared truth, sharedpower, and shared life, the world is hit by an inescapable impression
that Jesus is Lord, that He indeed holds the key to history and to reality, that He is indeed the revelation of the invisible God.
Lord, You have made me one with believers in all places in all times!
May that unity be reflected in all that I do.
Life Application: What unity do we demonstrate so the world can see how Jesus holds the key to reality and is indeed the revelation of the invisible God? See v24.
John 17:24 NKJV
24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which
You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:24 NKJV
Jesus closes His prayer with a great, heartfelt expression of His desire that we may be with Him in glory, that all who believe in His name, from the beginning of Pentecost
until the end of time, may be with Him in His glory. What a magnificent basis for our hope of Heaven! And yet Heaven is Heaven only because we will be with Christ.
This is the hope of every believer, that one day we will be with Him.As Paul said, We ... would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8-9).
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Many places in Scripture bring that hope before us.
The joy of the Christian is that in Heaven we behold the glory of Jesus, the face of Jesus, the manifestation of all the glory that is in Him.It is a great hope!
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In the Scriptures we are not told a lot about Heaven, just enough to make us want to be there.
The hope set forth for us is that we will be with Jesus to behold His glory in answer to this prayer.
But we don't have to wait for Heaven.
There is a sense in which this prayer is being answered right now. I think our Lord intended it this way, for in the Spirit we are able, right now, to behold the glory of Jesus.
And it is the vision of that glory, of Who Jesus is, that changes us.
Paul tells us that we are now seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 2:6 NKJV
6 God raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Paul says in:2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
So the more we see and behold the glory of Jesus (now), the more we are being made like Him even though we may not be aware the change is taking place.
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Spouses start looking like each other after a while.
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Robert Zajonc (1923-2008)University of Michigan
Social Psychologist
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“that they may behold My glory” John 17:24b
What is this glory?
Our Lord defines it for us in John 17:26: I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in
them and that I Myself may be in them.
The glory of Jesus is the glory of love--the love of God for people.
That is what grips our hearts and changes our lives and makes us different people, forgives our sins, lifts us up again, and encourages our hearts.
*It is the realization that God indeed loves us as He loves Jesus.Thank You, Lord, that You have gripped me with this great love and given me the hope of glory!
Colossians 1:27b NKJV
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Because He is in us, we are even able to love each other as He loved us and by that, the world will know that God sent Him.
1 Corinthians 3:9 NKJV
9 For we are God’s fellow workers;
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In a crew, the coxswain or simply the cox is the member who sits in the stern facing the bow, steers the boat, and coordinates the power and rhythm of the rowers.
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Coxswains are traditionally thrown into the water after a regatta win.
How do you define glory?
Great honor, distinction, renown, adoration, praise, and thanksgiving offered in worship;
Definition of glory (cont.):
Majestic, brilliant, radiant, resplendent beauty;magnificence, a state of great splendor; deserving great praise.
The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit, it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is.
Hebrews 1:3 NIV
3 The Son is the radianceof God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful
word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven.
Hebrews 1:3 NIV
The glory of man is the beauty of man’s spirit, but unlike God’s glory it is fallible and eventually passes away.
In the human/earthly sense, glory is a beauty or vibrancy that rests in man or upon the material of the earth and it eventually fades.
The reason it fades is that material things do not last.
People and material things die and wither, but the glory that is in them belongs to God, and returns to Him when death or decay takes the physical/material.
James 1:9-10 NKJV9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.
Think of the rich man in James 1:9-10
“The rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.”
The verse is admonishing the rich man to realize that his wealth and power and beauty come from God, and to be humbled by the realization that it is God Who makes him
what he is, and gives him all he has. *The knowledge that he will pass away like the grass is what will bring him to the realization thatGod is the One from Whom glory comes.
God’s glory is the source, the wellspring from which all smaller glories run.
Psalm 49:16-20 NKJV
16 Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,When the glory of his house is increased;
17 For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;His glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives he blesses himself(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers;They shall never see light.20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,Is like the beasts that perish.
Man’s glory passes away but the glory of God, which is manifested in all His attributes together, never passes away.
It is eternal!
Partial glory is seen within man and in the earth, but it is not of them; it is of God.
We are the vessels which “contain” His glory.
We are carrying God’s glory “in jars of clay”(2 Corinthians 4:7).
2 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV
7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
2 Corinthians 4:15 NKJV15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
Isaiah 43:7 says that God created us for His glory. Man “glorifies” God because through man, God’s glory can be seen in things such as love, music, heroism and so forth—
things belonging to God since all the things we are able to do and to be find their source in Him.
Nature exhibits His glory.
In this way, God is able to reveal Himself to all men, no matter their race, heritage or location.
Psalm 19:1-4 NKJV
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;And the firmament shows His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech,And night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor languageWhere their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,And their words to the end of the world.
Psalm 19:1-4 NKJV
*Jesus said He has given believers the same glory that the Father has given Him. *In this passage, glory refers to dignity and honor.
What a wonderful truth and uplifting truth that Jesus imparts His dignity and honor unto those who by faith accept Him as their Lord and Savior.
How amazing that He states the glory He gives is the same glory the Father has given Him.
The purpose for bestowing His glory on believers is that they be one with Him.
Romans 8:16-18 NKJV
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
From Suffering to Glory18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Begin GotQuestions.org
What does it mean to glorify God?
To “glorify” God means to give glory to Him.
The word glory as related to God in the Old Testament bears with it the idea of greatness of splendor.
In the New Testament, the word translated “glory” means "dignity, honor, praise and worship."
Putting the two together, we find that glorifying God means to acknowledge His greatness and give Him honor by praising and worshiping Him,
primarily because He, and He alone, deserves to be praised, honored and worshipped.
God’s glory is the essence of His nature, and we give glory to Him by recognizing that essence.
The question that comes to mind is if God has all the glory, which He does, how then do we “give Him” glory?
How can we give God something which is His in the first place?
The key is found in 1 Chronicles 16:28-29, “Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due His
name. Bring an offering and come before Him; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness.”
*In these verses, we see two actions on our part that make up the action of glorifying God. *First, we “ascribe” or give glory to Him because it is His due.
No one else deserves the praise and worship that we give to glorify Him.
*Isaiah 42:8 confirms this:
"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give My glory to another or My praise to idols.”
*Second, we are to “bring an offering” to God as part of the worship that glorifies Him. *What is the offering we bring to God to glorify Him?
The offering we bring to God as we come before Him in the splendor or beauty of His holiness involves agreement, obedience, submission, and rehearsing His
attributes or extolling Him.
Glorifying God begins with agreeing with everything He says, especially about Himself.
In Isaiah 42:5, God declares, “I am the Lord God. I created the heavens like an open tent above. I made the earth and everything that grows on
it. I am the source of life for all who live on this earth, so listen to what I say.”
Because of Who He is, holy and perfect and true, His proclamations and statutes are holy and perfect and true (Psalm 19:7), and we glorify Him by listening to and agreeing with them.
God’s Word, the Bible, is His Word to us, all that we need for life in Him. (2 Peter 1:3)
2 Peter 1:3 NKJV 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
Listening to and agreeing with Him, though, will not glorify Him unless we also submit to Him and obey the commands contained in His Word.
Psalm 103:17-1817 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children—
18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts” (Psalm 103:17-18).
Jesus reiterated the idea that glorifying and loving God are one and the same in John 14:15: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
We also glorify God by rehearsing His attributes and His deeds.
Stephen, in his final sermon before he was killed for his faith, retold the story of God’s dealings with Israel from the time Abraham left his country in obedience to
God’s command, all the way to the coming of Christ, the “Righteous One,” whom Israel betrayed and murdered.
When we tell of God’s work in our lives, how He saved us from sin, and the marvelous works He does in our hearts and minds every day, we glorify Him before others.
Even though others don’t always want to hear our glorifying God, He is more than pleased by it.
The crowd who heard Stephen hated what he said, covering their ears and rushing at him to stone him.
“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the gloryof God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).
To glorify God is to extol His attributes—His holiness, faithfulness, mercy, grace, love, majesty, sovereignty, power, and omniscience, to name a few—
rehearsing them over and over in our minds and telling others about the singular nature of the salvation only He offers.
"What does it mean to honor God?"
Answer: Revelation 4:10–11 describes a scene in Heaven:
“The twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and . . . lay their crowns before the throne and say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.’”
The words translated “glory” and “honor” are closely related and often used interchangeably in the Bible.
But there is a subtle difference between them. The word most often translated “glory” means “something that has inherent, intrinsic worth” while the word translated
“honor” means “perceived value; to render or esteem glorious.”
Glory is a quality inherent in the one being glorified.
Glory can be thought of as a mirror that accurately reflects what is there.
*When we accurately reflect the character of God, we glorify Him. *To glorify God is to honor Him for who He really is. *God has glory because He is infinitely valuable.
Human beings have glory because we are created in the image of the One Who is all-glorious (Genesis 1:27).
We glorify God when we demonstrate through word or action His glorious character or deeds.
Modeling the character of Jesus is a way to glorify God, because we are showcasing His attributes.
When we glorify God, we bring Him honor.
*Honor originates in our hearts and refers to the value we personally place on something or someone. *Collectors hold certain items in higher esteem than non-collectors do.
What others overlook may be highly valued by someone else (Pawn Stars)and therefore honored.
We honor other people to the degree that we consider their position and contributions significant.
We are commanded to honor people because of their position, not their performance.
We are commanded to honor our fathers and mothers (Deuteronomy 5:16; Mark 7:10), the elderly (Leviticus 19:32), and those who rule over us (1 Peter 2:17).
When we honor God, we are demonstrating the high regard we have for Him. We are reflecting His glory back as praise and worship.
The Bible shows many ways to honor and glorify God.
We show Him high regard and reflect His character by being sexually pure (1 Corinthians 6:18–20), by giving of our income (Proverbs 3:9), and by living lives devoted to Him (Romans 14:8).
It is not enough to merely honor Him outwardly.
God desires honor that comes from our hearts.
“The Lord says, ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me’” (Isaiah 29:13).
When we delight in the Lord (Psalm 37:4), seek Him in everything we do (1 Chronicles 16:11; Isaiah 55:6), and make choices that reflect the place He has in our hearts, we bring Him the greatest honor.
Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/honor-God.html#ixzz2qbmFpoa5
End GotQuestions.org
