Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

John 17:6-10 “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. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.







INTRODUCTION







Every so often someone confesses to me that they are so upset with someone, that they feel so painfully wronged by someone, that they cannot bring themselves to pray anything good for them. At best they pray prayers of justice and imprecatory Psalms.







Jesus says in this passage that He is not praying for the world (9). Is that that? Having explained all the ways “the world” had been hostile and hateful toward Him and would be toward His disciples, was Jesus simply acknowledging that enough was enough; that they’d run out of chances and were now on their own?







That is emphatically not what we have here. Instead, what we have here is a simple clarification that Jesus wasn’t praying for everyone. He has a different heart for different people. And in this passage, He was sharing His heart for a particular group, not “the world”.







Stepping back for a moment, as I mentioned last week, Jesus’ John 17 “High Priestly,” prayer consists of four sections. We considered the first one last week. It is found in vs.1-5. In it, Jesus prayed primarily for Himself. This week, we’ll begin looking at the second section, the biggest section, which covers vs.6-19. In our text for this morning, 6-10, once again, Jesus’ clarified precisely who He was and who He wasn’t praying for. Once I get back from vacation, starting in v.11, we’ll consider the content of His prayer for them. The third section is in vs.20-24. In it, Jesus prays for all of His future followers (including all of us). And finally, in vs.25-26, the fourth part of His prayer, Jesus simply shares His heart with the Father.







Well, if not for the world, who, then, was Jesus praying for in this passage? He was praying for those whom He manifested the name of the Father. But even more specifically, He was praying for a particular group among those whom He manifested the name of the Father. He was praying for those whom the Father had given Him, from out of this world, who responded to the Word of God in particular ways. In short, He was praying for His current disciples. He was praying for His true followers. He was praying for those whom He’d commissioned to carry on His mission and promised to preserve through persecution.







The big idea of this passage is that Jesus prayed for His disciples and in the processes gave a clear description of His disciples: Those to whom He manifested the Father’s name and who were given to Him by the Father, from out of the world, to receive the Word of God. The main takeaways are to pray for and call people to Jesus, out of the world, according to the Word of God.







PRAYING FOR HIS DISCIPLES







Immediately after sharing with His eleven disciples what was to come for Him and them, Jesus turned to His Father in prayer; first for Himself to glorify God, and second for His disciples. We don’t find much of the content of His prayer for His disciples until the next section. Once again, in our passage for this morning, Jesus makes clear who His disciples are and that He is praying for them alone. Specifically, Jesus named four things that mark His true followers: that He manifested the Father’s name to them,

John 17:1-5 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.







INTRODUCTION







The entire chapter of John 17 is one long prayer of Jesus. It has four main parts. In the first part, vs.1-5 (our passage for this morning), Jesus prayed for Himself. In the second part, 6-19, Jesus prayed for His disciples. In His third petition, Jesus prayed for all His future followers (including you and me!). That’s in vs. 20-24. And finally, in vs.25-26 He finished His prayer by simply talking to His Father.







More importantly than the structure, however, is the content of the prayer. This is a remarkable chapter, with remarkable insight into the relationship between the Father and the Son—a fitting theme for Father’s Day. There is a great deal for us to learn and marvel at in our passage for this morning, Jesus’ first petition.







The big idea of this text/sermon is that Jesus’ first impulse regarding the challenge ahead of Him was prayer and His first prayer was for the glory of God and the first prayers of glory were rooted in eternality, authority, salvation, and fulfillment of mission. The main takeaway is to prayerfully seek Jesus’ heart in prayer.







PRAYER FOR THE PURPOSES OF GOD







Immediately after sharing His final instructions with His disciples (concerning His imminent suffering, death, and resurrection and their imminent persecution for carrying on His ministry), Jesus ______. If you didn’t already know the answer, how do you imagine that sentence ending? Performed a miracle? Shook the heavens? Set His eyes to the cross? Hugged them all? Rebuked His persecutors?







How does a sentence like that typically end for you? Once you’ve helped your kids or friends understand what God would have them do (particularly in a time of hardship), what do you usually do immediately after?







The answer for Jesus was prayer. Having spoken plainly about what was to come and what needed to be done about it, Jesus turned to His Father in prayer.







1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said…







We’ll come to the content of Jesus’ prayer—what He said—in a few minutes. For now, let me simply remind you that prayer is the primary means by which God has determined to accomplish His purposes in His people. In a kind of glorious mystery, God often works His ways through the prayers of those who love Him.







Even more significantly than that, though, through prayer, we acknowledge God as God. We acknowledge our recognition of our dependence on God. Through prayer, God grants us the wisdom necessary to obey His Word. Through prayer, God grants us the necessary strength to obey His Word. Through prayer God communes with us and helps us to know that we are His and that His commands are good. Our prayers are a humble admission of all those things.







Jesus understood all of this and so, before He did anything else, He prayed.







As we move our way through (one of?) the most significant prayers of all time, I invite you to briefly consider Jesus’ earlier, familiar teaching on prayer (from Matthew 6:5-13).







5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

John 16:25-33 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”







29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”







INTRODUCTION







For the past several months we’ve been able to listen in on Jesus’ final words to His disciples. Since chapter 13, Jesus and His closest followers have been sequestered so that Jesus could tell them more plainly than ever before what was to come for Him (His betrayal, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension) and them (carrying on Jesus’ ministry, persecution, and the coming of the Holy Spirit).







The events recorded in chapters 13-16 all take place on the Thursday evening of Jesus’ betrayal and before the day of His crucifixion. Chapter 17 takes place on Thursday evening as well, but in a different context. Instead of talking to His disciples, Jesus talks to His Father in one of the most moving prayers of all time.







The upshot of all of this is that we’ve come to the end of a significant section of John’s Gospel. Jesus will exchange a few more words with the disciples prior to His crucifixion, but nothing at all like we’ve been seeing. In these last few sentences (of chapter 16), we find three main ideas (the three main sections of the sermon): (1) The growing clarity of Jesus’ teaching, (2) Concerning His relationship with the Father, and (3) The results for those who believe Him.







Combined, the big idea of this passage is that Jesus was newly clear about the facts that He had come from, was going to, and was always with the Father and that all who believe Him concerning these things will know persecution, the love of the Father, and peace that surpasses understanding; and all of that because Jesus overcame the world! The main takeaways, therefore, are to seek out all of Jesus’ teaching, believe it, and live in light of it no matter the cost.







GROWING CLARITY (25, 29)







In the previous passage in John’s Gospel (16:16-24), we saw another example of the disciples being confused by Jesus’ teaching. In that sermon I mentioned that the two main reasons for their confusion then, and ours today, was our finitude and fallenness. In our passage for this morning, Jesus adds another reason for the disciples’ confusion, “I have said these things to you in figures of speech” (25).







That is an echo of John’s words back in chapter 10(:6), “This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.”







“These things” (in v.25) refers specifically to the whole of things Jesus said to the disciples on Thursday evening.







Acknowledging that He’d been speaking in figures of speech is not to say that Jesus had previously tried to mislead the disciples or keep good things from them. Rather,

John 16:16-24 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.







INTRODUCTION







In our passage, as Jesus’ neared the end of His final message to His disciples (Thursday night before His crucifixion), He continued to focus on their grief over His departure, the growing hardship that would surely follow, and how they were to live in light of those things.







They loved Him, they trusted Him, and they’d come to depend on Him. They’d followed Him away from nearly every known and comfortable aspect of their lives, into a life of uncertainty, difficulty, and persecution. All of that was a significant challenge while Jesus was with them. As they contemplated trying to continue on after Jesus left, though, it took on a whole new level of confusion and overwhelmedness.







Rather than seek to dispel them of this notion, Jesus promised it. His message to them wasn’t, “Don’t worry, it won’t be as bad as you imagine.” His message to them was, “It’s going to get far worse in some ways before it gets better. While I was with you, I took on most of the hardship for you. Now that I’m leaving, much more of it will fall on you.”







Grace, one of the things this sermon is meant to help us see is that we must settle on this if we are to continue to become the kind of church God made us to be. Parents, you must settle on this if you are going to raise the kind of kids God commands you to raise. Non-Christian, you must settle on this as you contemplate trusting in Jesus. To become a Christian is not a call to comfort and ease or merely a ticket to heaven. It is a call to lay our lives down and take up our cross. It is a call to make war against everything that sets itself up against God within us and proclaim the good news of Jesus to everything outside of us. It is a call to live by faith in the promises of God, while knowing full well that we will look foolish to the watching world.







Jesus was not subtle or unclear about these things. He didn’t try to hide or minimize them. There was absolutely no bait and switch in His approach.







The perpetual question that this put before everyone who first heard His message, as well as everyone who has heard it since, is, “Is it worth it? Does the benefit of following Jesus truly outweigh this steep cost”? And the thing for us to see is that as clearly and consistently as Jesus described the cost, He described the reward. You will weep and lament. You will be hated and you might be killed. But all of your suffering will be turned into joy; full,

John 16:4b-15 “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.







INTRODUCTION







What comes to mind when you think of an advantage? What does it mean when something is to your advantage? Have you ever felt like you had a significant advantage in life?







I recently came across a family video of my brother-in-law and I playing basketball against our boys. It was from 2011 so Jeremiah, the oldest, would have been 10. TJ and I were blocking everything, dunking on the boys (the rim was lowered), and flexing on them repeatedly. We were older, stronger, taller, and had considerably more understanding of the game at the time. We had every possible advantage over them and it showed.







An advantage is a benefit. It is something that works in your favor. It is something that makes things easier for those who have it than for those who don’t.







Our passage for this morning describes two great advantages that God has given to His people as they seek to be faithful to Him in a hostile world. One is implicit and the other explicit. The implicit advantage of this text is the gradual revelation of Jesus’ nature, will, and plans. The explicit advantage is (a familiar one,) the sending of the Holy Spirit.







Again, remember, we’re now in the final ¼ of John’s Gospel. It recounts the final days/hours of Jesus life on earth. And in our passage, we find Jesus giving some of His final words of instruction to His closest followers, His disciples. His main message to them was that although He was leaving (dying, rising, and ascending to heaven), they needed to continue His ministry of telling people how to be reconciled to God and brought into His kingdom. More specifically still, Jesus spoke to them about the help He would give them to navigate the hardships that would certainly befall them as they obeyed.







The big idea of his passage is that truly following Jesus in a world that rejects Jesus will often be marked by significant hardships, but Jesus has left us with every advantage we need to persevere through them; namely, His Word and His Spirit. And the main takeaways for us are to glorify God, by reading Jesus’ Word and doing what it says, in the power of the Spirit, no matter the resistance. Let’s pray that it would be so among us in increasing measure (and with the child dedications fresh on our minds, let’s pray that God would be pleased to work these things out in our children as well).







GRADUAL REVELATION (4-6)







Have you ever noticed or wondered about the fact that God only gradually revealed His nature and will to His people? He could have simply dropped a completed Bible in Adam’s hands from t...

John 15:26 – 16:4 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.







16:1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.







INTRODUCTION







We had a modified staycation last week. Thanks for sending us away and thanks for welcoming us back.







I was able to listen to John’s sermon on Tuesday morning. Well done, John. There is much we can all learn from John’s grasp of biblical theology. I especially appreciated John’s description of God’s nature and its implications for our lives.







To quickly bring you up to speed, we’ve made our way, passage by passage, through the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel. In his Gospel, John recounts much of the life and ministry of Jesus, and all for the primary purpose of convincing his readers (original and continually) that Jesus is the Christ/Messiah that God promised to send. And that, in order that his readers might believe in Jesus and be saved from our sins and reconciled to God and His creation. May that be the effect among us today and until Jesus returns!







To zoom in a bit, the words Jesus spoke in chapters thirteen through seventeen were all said on the night before His crucifixion. They were spoken to His disciples (minus Judas).







To zoom in one more time, in my last sermon (on 15:18-25) we read of Jesus’ promise that His followers would be hated by the world around them to the degree that the world around them hates Jesus and they lived as Jesus commanded and modeled.







That’s rough news and Jesus knew it. That’s why our passage begins with the word “but.” Jesus told His followers that while He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, living in light of that in this fallen world would be hard…BUT when the Helper comes, more help will come.







Two sermons ago in John, Jesus described one means of God’s grace to defend against and heal from the sting of the world’s hatred: The love and friendship of other Christians. In our passage for this morning, we find a second significant means of God’s grace to protect and heal His people from the world’s persecution: The Helper whom Jesus promised to send.







Do you live among a people who hate the idea of Jesus being the Son of God? If so, life will be hard for you if you truly follow Jesus. At the same time, however, it will be much more bearable if you are surrounded by other Christians who love you well and if you have the Spirit dwelling in you.







The big idea of this passage is that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, will help us when honoring God is costly. And the main takeaway is to courageously live godly lives in complete confidence that the Spirit makes every righteous risk right.







Let’s pray.







WHEN THE HELPER COMES, MORE HELP COMES







Our passage records the third time (of four) that Jesus has mentioned “The Helper” in John’s Gospel. All four occur during His final, upper room discourse.







In the first, John 14:16, Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…” in that context, Jesus promised the Spirit to help His followers keep His commandmen...