Series: John

John 17 - Mark Buckley

I’m going to ask you four questions that are going to be answered in this message. The first one: If you had one last prayer to pray, what would it be? If you had one strategy to reach the world, what would it be? If you could give any gift to everyone you love, what would it be? And if you could protect people you love from any two things, what would they be?

We’re going to look at how Jesus answered those questions. Let’s pray together.

Father, I pray that you’ll help me to speak your word clearly and boldly. And let your Holy Spirit make this word come alive, that we could be set free by the truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Okay. We’re going to go right into John 17:20 and 21, looking at the strategy that Jesus has for revealing himself to the world.

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 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.

There are all kinds of evangelistic initiatives that all kinds of believers do throughout the world. And most of them are the most well-intentioned you could imagine. Many of them have measures of success. But the strategy Jesus gives us is laid out here in verse 21. He’s praying that we would be one with the Father, that he would be in us, and we would be one with the Father, and that we would be one with each other.

I’m involved in five different groups that meet every month. I’m involved in a John 17 group with people literally from all over the world. There was one girl in it recently from Lebanon. They were rebuilding houses after the major explosion in Beirut. There are Catholic bishops in the group. There are regular old guys like me.

I’m involved in a group called Grace Association where we have been, for over twenty-five years, uniting churches here in the Valley to work together, to build and strengthen leaders. We’re involved in Pastor in Covenant groups where we meet every month, open our hearts, talk and pray, and share our lives. I’m in a Zoom group with United Pastors of Arizona, which are large church pastors from all over the Valley. I serve them as a consultant and an encourager. I also have a Zoom group with guys that I’ve worked with for the last forty-nine years from Washington, California and Arizona.

The purpose of all of those is to fulfill what Jesus said. His prayer for us has two aspects: that we would be one with the Father, and that we would be one with each other. If we’re close to the Father, then people can sense the reality that God is in us. They might not understand why, that there’s something different about us. They may not recognize it’s the Lord all the time, but they can sense the difference. They can sense the grace.

Then, if we’re together, if we can appreciate one another, if we can celebrate the diversity in the various parts of the Body of Christ—rather than judge each other because some people have preferences for communion one way, and others take it another way; some people have preferences for worship one way, others worship in a slightly different way—rather than judge each other for the preferences, we celebrate each other.

One of the things I’ve learned from all of these groups that I’ve participated in, I’ve learned that our God is a big, big God. I’ve learned that his grace is manifested in every single part of the Body of Christ, that every part of the Body of Christ has a treasure. If I can receive from that treasure, if I can learn from those people, then my walk with God is enriched.

Let’s go to the first verse. John 17:1:

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

May you shine a light on your Son, and may your Son shine a light on you.

2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

So Jesus is saying, “I’ve got authority over all people.” And how is he going to use this authority? To give us a gift. What’s the gift? The gift of eternal life. What is eternal life? Eternal life is the knowledge of God.

He could have given his disciples anything. He could have given them a treasure in gold. He could have given them castles on hillsides. He could have given them anything on earth, and he chose to give them eternal life. Because, when you know the only true God, you can be secure in his love for you. He has made you unique. He has made you special. He has given you everything you need in Christ. And what he has given you enables you to overcome fear, anxiety, and depression and enables you to understand the meaning and purpose of your life,

In spite of the fact that you fall, he lifts you up. In spite of the fact that you sin, his Son died on the cross to forgive us for our sins. In spite of the fact that we don’t know everything, he has linked us together with others who do have knowledge, understanding and wisdom; and we can share together and grow.

It says the fullness of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. So when we discover the treasure in Jesus, not just individually, but the treasure in Jesus in his Body, then we have the fullness of wisdom and knowledge.

Being in unity with people is a challenge. I’ve been married for forty-seven years. In a very real way, when a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves unto his wife—as it says in Genesis—the two become one. You become united in a sexual union, you become united as one. You’re flip sides of the same coin. And God doesn’t look at you like you’re more spiritual than your spouse. He looks at you as one.

Yet, my wife has got problems. I’m one of her problems. Another problem is she likes Country music and I don’t know why, but she does. When I get in her car and I happen to turn on the ignition and the radio goes on, I realize she has never left that plague. It’s still there. So I quickly change the dial. Another thing she has learned to do over the years, when we go to a Thai restaurant, she orders super, super hot, number five on the scale of one to five. Because she is married to a guy who will steal off her plate whatever she hasn’t quickly eaten. And when she brings something home and puts it in one of those little white containers, it disappears before she has time to eat it for lunch—unless it’s super, super hot.

But, in spite of the fact that we don’t always have the same taste in food or in music, we really do love each other. We really do enjoy life together. We do not major on the minor preferential distinctions in our marriage. Whether she votes for somebody else, or she has a different way of enjoying her Sabbath day than I do, we give each other freedom. We give each other honor. We try and encourage one another and bless one another and celebrate each other. We don’t try to control each other. I don’t try to form her into a little masculine mini-me, if you know what I mean. I want her to be all that God has created her to be in her feminine glory.

I believe that one of the great challenges that we face in our friendships, we face in our businesses, we face in the church, we face in our nation, is how do we celebrate our differences. How can we honor one another even when we don’t always see things the same way. We’re not designed to always see things the same way. We’re not designed to be a one-party nation, to be a one-perspective people. We represent a multi-faceted God.

So Jesus prayed. He gave them the gift of eternal life. Verse 4:

4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

It’s interesting. All the things Jesus could have kept doing, but he knew his work was finished. Some of us think our work is never finished.

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
6 “I 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. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For 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.

He gave them his words. The word of life. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to forgive so we don’t get stuck and hung up on the problems of the past. He taught us how to love. He commanded us to love so that we’d build relationships that will enrich our lives forever. He taught us how to give so that we, in our generosity, can use what God’s given us to build and bless others and he can pour more into our lives.

9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

This is really interesting. Jesus says to the Father, “Everything you’ve got.” The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. All the people and all the land belong to Him.

One of the first unity meetings I ever went to, I met a guy named Lee Balderelli. He gave me his business card and he said, “If you ever want to come up to Incline Village by Lake Tahoe and have a place for your family, feel free to give me a call.”

Well, I kept that little business card and I thought, Do I dare call him? And sure enough, as it got close to summertime, I called him and I said, “Mr. Balderelli, is it possible that your condo at Incline Village is available?”

He said, “Sure. Come on up. How long do you want it?”

So we went up there for two weeks. Even though I was a poor pastor with three little kids, we were able to have the most awesome vacation. And we went up there year after year until we finally moved to Phoenix. Because, at this unity meeting, God wanted to show me, “You know what? I’ve got everything. And when you meet with my people, when you meet with parts of the body of Christ that you’re not even familiar with, I’ve got a gift in them that I’m going to give to you.”

Since that time, I’ve not only gone to Incline Village, but to churches and places to preach all over the world. I’ve been to the Vatican to meet the Pope. I’ve been able to make acquaintances with people all over that have enriched my life.

When I came to Arizona and I was struggling because I felt like God had not answered my prayer, I was one of the Garth Brooks kind of thing, “Thank God for Unanswered Prayer.” I prayed that I would never have to move here. And I did. Our son had asthma. He wasn’t getting healed, so we had to come here to give him a new life. And I was down. I went to a pastors’ prayer summit and, at that pastors’ prayer summit, the guys all started praying. They started worshiping. And as they prayed and as they worshiped, something happened in my spirit. Grace began to come into me. My mind still said, Hey, you don’t know what you’re doing here. But my spirit began to say, Yes, these are my brothers and they love me and they’re lifting me and they don’t even know how much I need them. But I really, really need them.

What happens sometimes to us is that we go through times of discouragement. This is a time in our nation, right now, where people are stressed over COVID, they’re stressed over the election and, because they’re stressed and their friends are stressed and their families are stressed, people’s tempers are short and they are reacting against each other. As a consequence, our normal trials are magnified. If the Lord allows you to taste depression, discouragement or anxiety in this season, it’s not just about you. It’s because he is going to comfort you. He’s going to give you understanding. He’s going to give you grace. Because there are people out there who need Jesus.

There are people out there more discouraged than you’ve ever been. You’ve just tasted something, but they have had the whole meal. And you are called by God to lift them. If you will lift people when they’re down, they will never forget it. Invest in people when they are at their low point. If somebody is broke, that’s the time to give to them. If they’re hurting, that’s the time to take them out and do something with them. If they’re depressed, call them up. Show your love to them and they will remember for the rest of their life who showed up when they really needed them.

Verse 11:

11 I 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.

Protect them. He’s praying for protection. If you were going to protect people from any two things, I asked, what would they be? Here’s the first one. Protect them in order that they may be one. Protect them from division. Protect them from disunity. Protect them from the human tendency to get so frustrated with each other that they just push each other out of their lives. Because the consequences of disunity are very serious. It weakens us. It hurts us. There’s time when the Church has to exercise judgment if people are participating in evil deeds and they refuse to repent. That’s a different story. But “Protect them, Father, by the power of your name.”

It’s the name of Jesus that protects us. The name of Jesus represents to us the priorities of God. It’s not worth us being divided if something is not a top priority to our God and Father. The consequences of division in Christian circles, Paul says this, “Forgive such a one because we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices.” Satan wants to divide in order to frustrate, condemn and drive people into a place fruitlessness.

12 While 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.

Only Judas fell away, as long as Jesus was there. When he was there, when they began to squabble over who was the greatest, or who would sit at the right hand of at the Lord in his kingdom, he would just quiet them right down.

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.

Jesus is praying this whole prayer for us, so that we could have his joy. You know, our God is aware of all the sad things happening in the world. And there are a lot of sad things. And when we hear the news about what’s happening when there are horrible things, it makes us sad. But in spite of all the sadness that he was aware of, Jesus had joy. He was not discouraged. And he wants us to have his joy.

On our Zoom call the other day with these pastors that I’ve worked with for many, many years, we were laughing. We were laughing about what I used to do foolishly when we would argue. In the early days, in the seventies, I would tell the pastors, “You’ve got to wear a tie to church.” Some of these guys were ex-hippies and sort of still hippies, and they didn’t want to wear a tie. And I would force them to wear a tie. And the worship leader would break his guitar strings every week, and I would literally say, “I’ll give you a bonus in your check if you can go a month without breaking a guitar string.” And he never could. And they were all laughing at me on the Zoom call. We were enjoying the fact that God has helped us to grow up over the years and get over some of our little things that we thought were so important—especially guys like me. Sometimes leaders major on minors, and it causes grief to everybody that they’re working with. One of the great treasure of life is to have friendships that last years and years.

14 I 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. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

Jesus prayed that we would stay one, that we’d be delivered from disunity, and now he’s praying that we would be protected from the evil one. When believers are not protected from the evil one, they can get caught up in horrible things.

In the Civil War, there were born-again believers on both sides, trying to kill each other. In World War I, they literally stopped the battle one year on Christmas Eve. There were soldiers on one side of the trenches singing Silent Night in French, and on the other side, singing Silent Night in German. And when they realized that, they came together and sang together over No Man’s Land. And then the next day they went back to killing each other. What does that say? What that says is that somehow the evil one had so worked in those nations that they were warring because they thought one another were so wicked that they were willing to lay down their lives.

Jesus prayed that we would be protected from that. And that means that we have to have the kingdom of God as our highest value. It has to be more important than our political party. It has to be more important than nationalism. It has to be our highest value. Because we’re being tested right now. Sometimes we fail the test because we get so frustrated, right? “If only people would see things my way, we’d all be just fine.”

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus was sanctified. That means he was set apart. We get set apart by the word of God. The word of God makes us a little different. It does. We think a little different than the world. We have different values, different priorities. And we have to be so secure in Christ that we’re not going to conform ourselves to the world, but we’re going to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Then we’ll know what the will of God is. You know what the will of God is when you’re renewed in your mind by the word.

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 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.

You know, in a marriage, you’re going to teach your kids a lot of things that are your values and your priorities. But the most powerful way that you’re going to teach them is how a husband loves his wife, and how a wife loves her husband. You’re not going to teach them with your words. You’re going to teach them with your lifestyle. You’re going to demonstrate to them what your real values are. If you are unity, if you can enjoy life together, then they’re going to want to have a marriage like yours.

The most powerful thing that can happen in a church is if we’re really in love with each other here, if we really are committed to each other long term. And that means that, just like in a marriage, there are times when we’re going to have to forgive each other. There are times when we’re going to have to put up with each other. There are times when we’re gong to have to yield to each other. There are times when it’s not going to be your way.

I had one of the neatest things happen to me a couple of weeks ago. If you go back sixteen years ago, my first grandchild was born. Our granddaughter came into the world, and my daughter wasn’t married when she had this baby. And the natural father went to war against my daughter and our family for control of the baby. For the first time in our marriage, we were divided.

We were divided because I had one strategy for dealing with this guy, and my wife and daughter had another strategy and it got really ugly. It got ugly because he was taking us to court and the police were showing up at our house. And we had to figure out how we were going to respond to his attacks. And it got ugly because we weren’t in unity at home. The only way we came into unity is when I decided I’d better just die to myself. I’d better just give up trying to make this response to him my way, and we’re going to trust God, because the unity of our marriage, the unity of our family was more important than whether I was right, or whether I could play the card of being the head of at the house.

What happened two weeks ago was that my granddaughter’s dad, the guy we were at war with, sent me a picture of his ballot. He did a write in. He wrote my name in, not for president, but for senator. It just blessed so much. I never knew how it would feel to get a vote. It was my first vote in my life. You’re not actually supposed to show pictures of your ballot to somebody, but he did it to bless me. He takes my granddaughter to church. Every Sunday she’s not here she’s at church with him somewhere. He’s over at our house for dinner all the time. He’s a wonderful dad. Still a single guy and we love him and we pray for him. He joins us at all kinds of occasions. It went from a hellish battle to the kind of unity that I’m just so pleased with, and so thankful for.

The reason we’ve got that blessing is because Jesus said that unity was his priority. Not me as the head of the house being right. Not me punishing my daughter because she didn’t obey my instructions as to how to live her life. Not me doing anything other than to say, “Jesus, okay. This is our life. This is the way it’s come out. This isn’t what I wanted. But I’ve got to keep trusting you. I’ve got to keep following you. You’re the one who has eternal life. You’re the one who gives the gift. You’re the one who can protect us from the evil on.” Amen? Amen.

Last two verses:

22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I 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.

He said, “I’ve got one more gift for you. I’ve got one more thing that’s going to help you have unity with the Father, and unity with one another that’s going to enrich your life. I’m going to give them my glory. Father, I pray that you will give them my glory.” The glory that was upon him for being the perfect Son. The glory that came upon him when the Father said, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.” The glory that was upon him that allowed him to heal the sick. The glory that allowed him to teach words of eternal life. The glory that allowed him to multiply the bread and the wine and the whatever was needed. The glory that was on him, we get to share.

Wow. We don’t deserve it. But we get it. And don’t ever deny it. Welcome it. You’ve got a gift from God. You’ve got a treasure. You have value. It’s because Jesus is alive in you. And that reality allows people to discover that he is actually the one that was sent from God to do it for them too.

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