Praying the High Priestly Prayer Today

Copyright: South Bay Community Church
Sermon Reflections: Praying the High Priestly Prayer Today
Date: 7 April 2024
  Speaker: Elder Philip Thompson
Scripture Text: John 17:1:26
Sermon Preamble
            After Jesus’ death and burial, His disciples were experiencing feelings of deep shock and depression. Life as they knew it was completely suspended. The relationships they had invested in, the hopes and dreams they had pursued appeared to be no more. They witnessed first-hand justice by a spineless political administration and occupying authority with cooperation and encouragement from a self-serving and religious ruling class. Days earlier, the crowd had heralded Jesus’ arrival into town, but then in their fickleness, they turned and called for Jesus’ crucifixion. If you were there as a disciple, what feelings would you have had? When your dreams, hopes, and ideas of a future appear to be shattered, do you have questions for God like: “How come, why, what now, who’s next, and am I going to be okay?” Finding partnership and support in our journey with God is crucial. In moments of crisis, remembering the promises and the word of God that have been spoken into and over our lives is essential for making it through. Then, when we experience the issues of life, we are not easily thrown because we are in community and communion as we remember Jesus’ Words. Jesus intercedes for us today, joined by the Holy Spirit. Based on John 17:1-26, there are 7 petitions of the high priestly prayer that Jesus is asking His Almighty Father to grant to the ones Jesus loves: (1) Protection by the power of God’s name - verses 11 & 12; (2) Safety from the evil one - verse 15; (3) Sanctification to regard as special, consecrated –verse 17; (4) Oneness in accord with oneself – verse 21; (5) In-ness (made up word) meaning the condition in which something operates from the inside- verse 26; (6) Perfected in unity revealing God’s love working through the process in stages to reach the final phase - verse 23; (7) To be with God the Father and see the glory of the Son – verse 24. In the high priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17: 1-26, there are also three reasons identified why Jesus and the Holy Spirit pray for us: (1) Jesus loves His Father and all the things of the Father – verse 2; (2) Jesus wants us to experience the fullness of the joy of life in Jesus Christ –verse 13; (3) Jesus wants the world through us to know Jesus in His fullness – verse 18.

John 17: 1-26 Scripture Text
1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.3Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
6I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”
9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”
12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.23I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
25Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I 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.”

Jesus’ high priestly prayer is of intercession, of prophetic revelation, of spiritual dedication, and of comforting assurance
            “But I have prayed for you, Simon that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32). “I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message (John 17:20).  “He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf” (Hebrews 7:25b). In the Upper Room, Jesus prayed not only for Simon Peter and the other disciples: Jesus also prayed for you and me. Christ has not stopped praying for you and me since then.
            “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groaning that cannot be expressed in words” (Rom. 8:26). Not only is Christ making intercession for us today, but the Holy Spirit has also joined Jesus in making intercession. We have seen pictures of a cartoon angel on one shoulder and a cartoon devil on the other shoulder speaking into their ears. Scratch that image, for the reality is that Jesus is interceding on one side and the Holy Spirit is interceding on the other side. We are totally covered!

Christ petitions His All Mighty Father to do or grant to believers the following:
 
The first is protection by the power of God’s name
            The original hearers and readers communicated to in the Greek language understood the meaning of protection as to keep, guard, observe, and watch over, with the manifestation or revelation of someone’s character. “Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name…I protected them by the power of the name you gave me” (John 17:11-12).
            “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty (1 Samuel 17:45).
            “The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10).
 
The second is protection from the evil one
            God provides safety from pain and laborious trouble from the evil one. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
            “But I tell you do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:39).
            “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
            In the first two petitions, Christ asks protection for His disciples. “God answers before we call. God hears us while we are still speaking” (Isaiah 65:24). UPS, Amazon, Fed Ex has nothing for speedy delivery on God!

The third is sanctification
            “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). To sanctify is to regard as special, to consecrate, to dedicate as separate.
            “As you come to Him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4).
            “Jesus answered; ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).

The fourth is oneness
            “I pray…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21). Oneness is singular, in opposition to a division into parts, and not at variance with, but rather in accord with oneself.
            “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in you all” (Ephesians 4:5-6).
            “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

The fifth is in-ness
            “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” (John 17: 26). In-ness means the condition or state in which something operates from the inside.
            Remain in Me and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me (John 15:4).

The sixth is perfected in unity that reveals God’s love
            “May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me” (John 17:23). Perfected means reaching the end stage after working through the entire process in stages to reach the final phase.
            “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4).

The seventh is to be with the Father and see the glory of the Son
            “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24). Being with the Father and seeing the glory of the Son denotes association, union, accompaniment, and companionship.
            “Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me” (John 12:26).

John 17 identifies why Jesus and the Holy Spirit pray for us:
 
First, Jesus loves His Father and all the things of the Father
            “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him” (John 17:2).
            “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John3:16).
            “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to son-ship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will” (Ephesians 1:4-5).
 
 
Second, Jesus wants us to experience the fullness of the joy of a life in Jesus Christ
            “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them” (John 17: 13).
            “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
            “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11).
           
Third, Jesus wants the world through us to know Jesus Christ in His fullness
            “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18).
            “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
            “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1Peter 2:9).
            “God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10).      

Applying the high priestly prayer to our life journey
            Jesus calls followers of Christ, like the disciples in John 17, to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19a). We are joyful for the promises and presence of God in all of life’s circumstances. Christ and the Holy Spirit continue to pray for us. Like the disciples in John 17, we are obligated to fulfill the purpose of the prayers of Jesus and the Holy Spirit for us. Furthermore, we are to pray that prayer for who God has called us to pray. “I have prayed for you…that your faith may not fail. So…strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). Who has God given to you to pray over like Jesus did? Do you know where and to whom you are sent? What are you doing about it?  

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS INCLUDING FAMILY GROUPS          
Sermon Preamble

-As Jesus prays the high priestly prayer in John 17, why is it critical to remember the Words that Jesus prayed as a high priest to the disciples? Why did Jesus pray these truths for His disciples?
John 17: 1-26 Scripture Text
-This prayer covers three distinct matters: Jesus’ prayed on consecrating Himself (verses 1-5); Jesus prayed for the disciples (verses 6-19); Jesus prayed for all believers present and future (verses 20-26). Consecration for God’s purpose pervades the whole and the interconnecting of all three matters. For life application, read John 17 without interruption. What resonates with you?
Jesus’ high priestly prayer is of intercession, of prophetic revelation, of spiritual dedication, and of comforting assurance
-Both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit intercede for believers. Why are believers totally covered for any sin?
The first is protection by the power of God’s name
- The name “Jesus” is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Jehoshua, which means “the Lord saves.” Jesus was also called Immanuel, which means “God is with us.” Why is there power in these names God gave to our Savior, Jesus Christ?
The second is protection from the evil one
-Why is it important that God provide protection for disciples from the evil one? How does God protect us from the evil one even before we request it?
The third is sanctification
-What does it mean to be sanctified by the truth of God into a holy priesthood?
The fourth is oneness
-Why is it important that your spiritual self not be separated from your secular activities in the world?
The fifth is in-ness
-Why is it important to become from the inside
transformed by God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and operate from the inside?
The sixth is perfected in unity that reveals God’s love
-What is included in the stages of the process we work through to get closer to perfection in unity as the final phase for disciples of Jesus Christ?
The seventh is to be with the Father and see the glory of the Son
-Why is Immanuel, God with us, so important for followers of Christ?
John 17 identifies why Jesus and the Holy Spirit pray for us:
First, Jesus loves His Father and all the things of the Father
-For followers of Christ, in what ways is Jesus Christ the key to ongoing life with the All Mighty Father God?
Second, Jesus wants us to experience the fullness of the joy of a life in Jesus Christ
-In what ways have you experienced the joy and fullness of life even in difficult circumstances?
Third, Jesus wants the world through us to know Jesus Christ in His fullness
-In what ways has God sent you into the world for God’s purposes?
Applying the high priestly prayer to our life journey
-Who has God given to you to pray over like Jesus did?
-Where and to whom is God sending you?
-As you look to your future activities, what are you going to do in your high priestly prayer for others?

1 Comment


Ms.Debra Brown - April 18th, 2024 at 9:31pm

Application from this sermon is critical to forwarding intimacy with Jesus.At the Name of Jesus, Every Knee Will Bow, and Every Tongue Will Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Question= Is He Lord over every area of your life? You are but a Vapor- Thank Him each day you have the opportunity to communicate with Jesus!

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