Word of Salvation – Vol. 41 No. 34 – September 1996

 

Things Our High Priest Prays For

 

Sermon by Rev. W. F. Van Brussel on John 17:13-19

Scripture Readings: Haggai 2:10-14; John 17:6-19

Suggested Hymns: BoW 111:1-4; 111: 5-7 after prayer; 467:2-3; 426:3-4;
            335; 503:1, 2, 5, 6; 91:1, 2, 5, 6; 465:1 after benediction

 

Beloved Congregation.

Wouldn’t it be helpful for us as Christians, at least from time to time, to ask ourselves the following question: “Have I grown in my life as a Christian over, say, the past twelve months?”  The passage with Jesus’ high priestly prayer, in John 17, which we have open before us right now, will certainly help us in finding an answer to this important question.

However, before we are going to look for that answer, it may be good for us, first of all, to be aware of the fact that this passage is part of a precious prayer of our Saviour and Lord.  He directed this prayer to His Almighty Father on behalf of His disciples of all times.  He was praying for His disciples, then and there, as well as for those who were still to be found throughout the world and throughout the ages.

Do you ever rejoice in this, that we have a risen and ascended Saviour, who is not only in the world today, but who is in the very presence of God, continuously, even eternally, and that it is He, who makes intercession for us, non-stop?  This means that He has also been making intercession for us in the past.

You see, John 17 is the record of a prayer of the Lord Jesus which He prayed for Himself, for His disciples around Him, and for the Church at large.

Our text is part of the second section, the prayer for His disciples, which covers verses 6-19.  Since that is a bit much for one sermon, we commence at verse 13, where we find “things our high priest prays for”.  A close look at these seven verses will help you to see that, among other things, Jesus was asking for three blessings for His disciples in particular, namely,
            JOY,
             PROTECTION and
              SANCTIFICATION.

1.

Chapter 17 comes straight after the three chapters in which we find recorded the talks our Lord gave to His disciples in preparing them for the time when He would no longer be with them; the time when the Holy Spirit would have arrived to take His place.  Up till this time, Jesus had been with His disciples, which – apart from many questions – had also left them with a fair measure of joy.  It had been so obvious to them, and increasingly so, that Jesus was very special and entirely different from any other man.

The Master did not want them to lose that joy; on the contrary, He wanted that to deepen and to grow stronger.  He prayed that they might receive the full measure of His joy.  The full share of what it means to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, for now and for ever.  They knew Who Jesus was; they knew the Name of God and the power of that Name (vs.11).  Through all that they had seen in Jesus, and heard from His lips, they knew now who God was.  That He was their heavenly Father, who loved them as His very own children.

Did you notice that Jesus prayed that they might have the full measure of His joy WITHIN THEM!  When, later on, Paul in his letter to the Galatians, enumerated the fruit of the Spirit, one of those was JOY!  It’s a wonderful reality in our hearts which nobody can ever remove from there.  Yet, it can and must grow.

They had been transplanted into God’s new world.  They did no longer belong to this present world.  They had become citizens of the Kingdom of God – that Kingdom which is not of this world, as Jesus Himself stated when He stood before His judge, Pilate.  This new condition should be a cause for lasting, ever increasing joy to them.

2.

Jesus did, however, not only pray for JOY in their hearts, but for PROTECTION as well.  When we belong to Jesus Christ, and people who do not love Him notice that, then we won’t be automatically accepted and popular in our surroundings.  Christians who are popular may well ask themselves whether they are truly behaving as Christians.  “The world has hated them,” Jesus said.

You may have noticed this, that when people become aware that you love the Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him, and in particular when you express your joy about that, they may make you feel uneasy in their presence.  They most probably think, it’s all a bit funny.  Others go further and tell you that you are stupid.  People who hate Jesus are not going to love you in a hurry.

We’ll have to accept this consequence of belonging to our Lord.  Our belief in Jesus Christ and our desire to live under His Kingly rule from day to day does not exactly fit in with this world’s mood and opinions.  Our Lord Himself had to face that reality.  And, as you well know, He did!  He wants you and I to be as consistent as He was in this regard, through the power of His grace.  That’s why He prayed – and you can be sure that He did not stop with this – “MY prayer is not that You take them out of the world, but that You protect them from the evil one.”

We must confess that we receive the benefit of His prayer for protection quite often, quite regularly, even in our particular situation.  We live in a free country.  We know, however, that thousands of fellow Christians do not experience that protection to the same extent as we do.  That’s why our intercession for our persecuted brothers and sisters is urgently needed.  How many would there be in detention camps and prisons right at this very moment?

And yet, even such people frequently tell us how God has protected them in terribly adverse conditions!  It’s great for them, too, that Jesus in His glory intercedes for them, especially when it looks as though they are forgotten.

It is not an easy thing to be a Christian in today’s world.  And now we do not refer to areas of persecution.  We’ll look at this from a different angle for a moment or two (refer to the Haggai reading).  The world may not be too hostile to us, in our particular situation.  It may even tolerate us, because tolerance is in, very much so.  But then, the danger is not entirely imaginary that the world will start influencing us.

This is perhaps a greater danger to us in the free world than we are prepared to admit.  We do not always seem sufficiently aware of that hazard.  Are we as careful as we ought to be, for example, in the kind of reading material we bring into our homes, or what kind of films are watched in our very own home?  We seem to underestimate only too often the danger of allowing a worldly atmosphere to get hold of our living areas.

Do you realise that our Lord Jesus also would pray for our protection against those particular kinds of dangers?  When we were made Christians by the power of God’s grace, we were certainly not made temptation-proof.  Our Lord does not want, nor expect us to expose ourselves to the degrading influences of a godless society.

Most of us have been Christians long enough to know that this Christian joy and Divine protection do not come or stay automatically upon our prayers, and even our High Priest’s prayers.  They do not last of their own accord either.  Haven’t we been brought up with the phrase:

ORA ET LABORA – pray and work?

Our praying Lord does not expect us to allow ourselves to be tempted unnecessarily!

You may remember that Peter gave Christians the name of aliens, strangers in this world.  Our older members may remember that we used to have a hymn in the old Psalter Hymnal which went like this:

    “I am a stranger here,
     within a foreign land;
     my home is far away,
     upon a golden strand;
     ambassador to be
     of realms beyond the sea,
     I’m here on business for my King!”

Yes, we have been saved for a purpose.  We are called upon to help promote the business of our Lord and King.  Do we really see our need to have an interceding High Priest in the presence of our Father in heaven, God Almighty?  Does that leave us with a sense of joy, and not less of security?  We do not always remember that we are no longer of this world.  Are there times when we do not even want to remember that?

3.

With this ‘being-on-business for our King’, we have already arrived at that third point: our SANCTIFICATION.  Verses 17-19 touch on that.  Let us look closely at this verb, ‘to sanctify.’  All of us would know, perhaps, that this word stands for ‘to make holy.’  It is in that particular connection that we are told that we ought to grow in holiness.

We have been made new by the power of God’s grace, but we must become newer still until we are totally new.  The latter will not be attained until after this present life.  That, however, does not mean that we can take it for granted that in the end, it will all come good.  Here it is where the ‘labora,’ the work part comes on to the scene.  Pray and work!

However, looking at the verb once more, we see that our Lord uses the verb in a slightly different sense.  That becomes clear when we see that Jesus said (vs 19), that He sanctified Himself.  Did He mean that He needed to be made holy like we need to?  No, of course not!  There has never been a single moment when He failed to be holy.

By ‘sanctifying Himself’ He meant that He had dedicated Himself completely to His Father in His obedient service all the way, including His ultimate sacrifice on the cross for our redemption.  He had fully dedicated Himself to the task for which God had sent Him into our world.

And thus, He prays that we, too, be made willing to consecrate ourselves for the purpose for which we have been set free.  We are to dedicate the totality of our redeemed life to the business of our King, to the cause of His Kingdom.  This starts in our own personal life, our family life, and continues in the widening areas of society in whatever we become engaged in work as well as leisure-time wise.

The Lord wants His work accomplished on earth to bear fruit, in the sense that His work continues, even after He has left.  That is, that it bears fruit, not only because the Holy Spirit has come to replace him, but in particular that His redeemed, through that Spirit, become more and more dedicated and inventive in promoting His Kingdom.  Jesus Christ keeps praying that we would make ourselves available for Kingdom work in a progressively more hostile world, where God is being pushed out of public life, increasingly.  You are aware of that, aren’t you?

Finally, in coming back to the original question we commenced with, “Have you and I grown in our new life?”  Is this a matter of continuous concern to you?  Have you become more positively available for your King’s service?  Have you been responding to the Lord’s tremendous grace in your life?

Is your JOY alive, and growing?  Is your PROTECTION a reason for thanksgiving?  Do you really feel secure in your attempts to take a stand for your King?  And what about our SANCTIFICATION?  And that in the sense of our dedication and consecration.  Does the cause of Christ benefit from your participation?

In case your answer is yes, then you have much to thank God for.  If your answer is no, then you have an ongoing challenge ahead of you as you leave this church today.

Whatever your answer, let this day become a fruitful day of quiet reflection before the Lord.  Meanwhile, let’s thank God for our Lord’s ongoing, never-failing intercession on the basis of His own sacrifice on the cross!

Amen.