Third Avenue Baptist Church Sunday School — The Gospel of John Series April 18, 2021 Now we have seen that this is the high priestly prayer of Jesus. The word priest is a perplexity to some people because this is the most intimate prayer of Jesus. It's this long prayer. Jesus is praying to his father, of course the word priest doesn't appear in it. Why do we call this the high priestly prayer of Jesus? As we shall see, in its quintessence this morning in this text, this is a reminder of one of the three offices of Christ. Thinking about the doctrine of the person and work of Christ, we think historically of how the Bible has identified Christ to hold three offices. He is prophet and priest and king. Now, of course, if you look to the Old Testament, you see all three of those roles, those roles are not held by one person. The king cannot be a priest, the priest cannot be a king, and neither the king nor the priest is a prophet. But Jesus, as God in human flesh, and as the fulfillment of all the scriptures, and as the agent of our redemption, is infinitely prophet and priest and king, every single moment of our lives, not just at different aspects of our own experience of salvation—at every moment of our lives, we live only because he is prophet and priest and king as king. As king, he rules overall, and his kingdom shall know no end. It is as citizens of his kingdom that we have our ultimate identity, as we are United to him. His role as prophet is underlined by the fact that he is the teacher, and thus he came not only to die on the cross and to be raised on the third day; he came in order to teach. He came and ordered to instruct he left his, his church with his words. And as we saw in the gospel of John in our earlier study, he said, if you believe me, if you follow me, if you love me, keep my commandments. He is the continuing prophet of the church through the preaching of the word of God. Christ continues to instruct his church. The priestly role is Christ’s mediatorial role. That is the role of priest. And again, a lot of people, even who have been Christians for a long time, they think of a priest as someone who fulfills ministrations and has a sacred role when sacred right. Yet people fail to understand that the priest--in essence--is a mediator. The priest is a representative. The priest goes before God on behalf of the people. Now let's back up a minute. That's why we do not have I have one. That’s why we do not employ one. This church has no priest, we refer to no one as father, and we understand no priestly or sacred total ministry. We believe that such a ministry is unnecessary, and, if unnecessary, then Fundamentally wrong—misleading—because Christ is our priest. He's the only priest that we need. We need no other intercessor. Christ’s mediatorial role is now fulfilled in his session. That's a Latin word for seeding. You say a session of the legislature, that’s when they sit down and get to work. Christ is seated at the right hand of God, the father almighty right now, and he ever intercedes for us, says scripture. So we have a priest, and that is Jesus. But Jesus was priest even when he was with the disciples on earth. Jesus was to use a term that is archaic, but it was a real term. Jesus was “priest-ing” in the entirety of his earthly ministry. He was representing us before the father and representing the father to us in the entirety of his ministry, and he now does that. He does so from heaven, and he does so infinitely. If he did not do so, we would be destroyed, because he, even now, intercedes for us. So today, we arrive in the last few verses of John 17 in the high priestly prayer. In particular, we're looking at verses 20 and following. Jesus prays this: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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 see that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may be perfectly one so the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me may be with me—to see my glory that you have given me, because you love me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I've made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved may be in them, and I in them.” Now, remember that the last verses that we considered found their greatest thrust in verses 17-19, when Christ prayed, “sanctify them in truth—your word is truth. As you sent me into the world. So I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself, that they may also be sanctified in truth.” The hinge that comes in verse 20 is after Jesus has prayed that his church would be united and it would be consecrated in truth, that we will be bound together in truth—sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. Again, it is a reminder of the fact that our unity is in Christ, and that unity operates through a scriptural unity. We are United in the truth. This is not a false unity. It's not an institutional unity. It's not an ecumenical unity. It's not some kind of lowest common denominator, theological unity. We are unified in the fullness of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. We are sanctified in the truth. But Jesus, at this point is very clearly just as we think about the proximate picture. He's praying. He's about to be arrested. The sequence of the events that lead to his crucifixion are about to happen. So when Jesus prays for his own, who have they been? They were his own. They were his disciples, and the larger band of those who believed in him. He described them as his flock. He is the good shepherd. But the great change that comes—and this is something so important to us, brothers and sisters. This is where we find ourselves in this passage. We look at verse 20, and Jesus then makes clear to the father: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” So Jesus is praying this high priestly prayer for all of those who will be his. We're right here in this prayer in this agonizing prayer, and the intimacy of this prayer of the father, Jesus is not just praying for his disciples and followers as he knew them then. He is praying for us, and that's just astoundingly good news. Have you thought about the fact that Jesus, as he is here betrayed and about to be handed over to the authorities, as Jesus is soon to be crucified, that as he prayed for his own, he was praying for us. And just as much as he knew those disciples, then he knew us. He knew we were coming. Now, it's important that you recognize that he has told this before. He's spoken this way before. Look at John chapter 10. In chapter 10, Jesus described himself as the good shepherd. And you remember he said that my sheep hear my voice. They know me and they follow me. They obey me. But look at verse 16. “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” So now we can look in retrospect and understand what John what Jesus was talking about here in John chapter 10:16. Even as Jesus was describing himself as the good shepherd, it was describing his own as his flock. He said, there are others in my flock who aren’t here yet, and I will gather them all together. They're not going to be able to different flock. They're going to get the same flock. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. Now, as we have been thinking about John chapter 17, the issue of the unity of the church comes, up and it will come up again even before we conclude this passage this morning. The unity of the church here is affirmed once again, as a spiritual unity in Christ. It's a true unity in Christ, and there's one shepherd—that's it. There's just one shepherd, and there's just one flock. Now, no matter how many different labels may be put on, no matter how many different languages, how many different countries, no matter how many different centuries and generations, it doesn't matter. Christ’s church is one. If it's true—if we’re really brought into Christ—we belonged to his church, and there is only one flock. Well, this is a great reassurance, because we understand that the ultimate fulfillment of that one flock is eschatological. We’re all going to be before the thrown together. Just to speak of the current picture that people wonder about, all who are truly United in Christ will be there in that one flock. There won't be Methodists, and Presbyterians, and Baptists; there will just be Christ, but it's also through time. When I wrote a book on the Apostle’s Creed, there are some who will get thrown off when first confronted with be this historic creed, the, the most universal of all Christian creeds. And they get to that, that phrase, “I believe in the holy catholic church.” And I do believe in the holy catholic church, this is one Southern Baptist who emphatically believes in the holy Catholic church. And I'm not going to give the church that calls itself Catholic, the use of the word catholic. it's a “little c”, but it's a very important word. The word catholic means universal. And, and people say that that's affirming the fact that there's one church, and wherever it's found, any true church, all true Christians are a part of that true church. It’s everywhere. But the word catholic is very important in this sense, and the word Catholic—capital C—church. It understands this claim. It is not only across space, but it's across time. So it's one church made up of all those who've
