JOHN 17
It is the night before the Crucifixion.
Jesus is with His Apostles at the Last Supper and is spending His last
hours before going to the Cross.
In a few hours He will be dead, so He is
telling them He is going to leave them and they will be left to face life
without Him. He then concludes with a prayer, which makes this one of the
outstanding passages in the New Testament, telling His followers then, and by
extension to those who follow Him through the ages, what they will have to face
as Christians.
The Cross was the glory of Jesus because it
was the completion of the work God had sent Him to do. God had given Him authority over every man
and woman on earth; He had come to show the love of God and what He was
prepared to suffer for mankind. In His
glory He brings glory to God, and if He had not gone to the Cross, it would
have meant His work was not completed; to stop short would have suggested there
was a limit to that love. Jesus showed
there was nothing the love of God was not prepared to do and suffer for
us.
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus
could have escaped the Cross by never going near Jerusalem. The Cross was proof that men could do their
worst yet He could rise above their worst, and the Cross would not be the end,
for the resurrection was to follow.
For Jesus, life was life with a climax
and that was the Cross. When He spoke of
the Cross as His glorification it had a deep significance. It is one of the facts of history again and
again, that it was in death that some people’s greatness was recognised and
they would never ever know how they influenced others.
I once took a funeral of a young man who
virtually gave up his life by the way he lived, suffering from acute depression
and a feeling of achieving nothing.
Tributes were paid in the most sincere and outstanding words by men of
his profession, who went to considerable effort to do so, and it was sad to
realise the young man never knew how much he was valued. We see this in the life of religious figures
and in the world of music and art.
In verse 6, Jesus says ‘I have revealed
you to those whom you have given me’.
Jesus is here thinking of particularly of the Apostles with Him in the
Upper Room; those who turned and followed Him in His ministry; those ‘kept the
Word’, meaning they were obedient to the faith.
But this also equates to all who would one day follow Him.
Then Jesus goes on to say He was not
praying for the world, but for those who God had given Him. Jesus is teaching us that we are rescued from
the world. The world means all who are
opposed to God’s standards and way of life; those who live without reference to
God.
This means there are two types of people
in the world, which the gospel makes clear over and over again, those who are
loyal and obedient to God and those who are not Jesus was always quite unequivocal, that we
are either for Him or against Him, there is no neutrality or sitting on the
fence. Jesus is firmly black or white in how you respond to Him
It is like being on a mountain top; you
can keep to the laid down path and be safe, or make your own way which will
likely end in disaster. Jesus spoke of
two roads, one leading to eternal life, the other to destruction, so we have to
decide our course in life.
In the Bible names mean not only how we
are addressed, but also refer to people’s character. When Jesus says that God will protect us by
the power of His Name, He means the power associated with God’s character that
He will keep us and watch over us and guard us spiritually from falling from
Him. The Bible makes it clear we need to
obey the Word of God.
There are of course, religious orders
who lock themselves away from the outside world. They are truly dedicated men and women, who
sincerely believe they are serving God.
The kind of Christianity however, which shuts itself off in a monastery
or convent, would not have seemed to Jesus to be Christianity at all. The kind of Christianity, which finds the
essence of the Christian life in prayer and meditation in a life secluded from
the world, would have seemed to Jesus to be a sad version of the faith the He
died to bring to people.
It was Jesus insistence to be in the
hurly burly of life that we must live out our faith. Christianity was never
meant to withdraw men and women from ordinary people. It does not release us from problems, but
equips us to deal with them. It offers
not always peace, but triumph.
Jesus is saying He wants His people to
be in the midst of the world, mixing with non believers. Just as a lifeboat is of no use set
permanently polished in a station, but is needed to go out and rescue people
trapped in stormy seas, so we need to be rescuing those dear to us, trapped in
the perils of life in this world.
Jesus was saying His people are not
meant to be little ships which stay in harbour, although it is much safer, that
is not what ships are for, they are meant to be on the high seas.
Jesus prayed for the unity of His
disciples, and that they would be one as He and His Father were one. There can be no divisions between
Christians. If there are, the cause of
Christianity is harmed, and the prayer of Jesus is rejected.
Jesus never considered different
denominations which would be criticising one another, or considered one
denomination could claim exclusive access.
Jesus prayed we would be one, and there is no prayer of Jesus which has
been so hindered from being answered by Christians
Jesus warned us of the hostility we face
from a hostile world which hates Christians.
If you find that hard to accept, just consider the violence, even
murder, of Christians in Pakistan, Nigeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.
On a more subtle scale, in Australia and
Canada; where Bible preaching is under threat, and proposals have been made to
ban parts of Scripture.
You may say well this is England it
can’t happen here, but it is here. We
have people with quite manic attitude to Christianity. Now we have our faith under threat from
politicians and public servants who want to ignore Christian festivals,
restrict the wearing of a Cross, students of rich parents demonstrating about
issues they haven’t the intelligence to understand.
Christian Concern’, the organisation
which legally represents Christians suffering from secular repression and
harassment, is constantly defending Christians who have been suspended or
legally acted against.
The world hates biblical truth, and if
you take a stand publicly for the truth of the gospel, you will not be popular
and are likely to be called narrow minded at best, and a bigot at worst.
Finally Jesus prayed that His people would be
made holy by the truth, set apart for a purpose, and have the character
necessary for he task. If we are Christians set apart through the death of
Christ so we must go into the world with the Word of God.
The church is built upon the
apostles' teaching who took all Jesus had taught th and commanded them to preach,
and all Christians must share with the apostles in the apostolic faith. Such is
a manual for living the Christian life, for this is what Jesus endowed to
us.
Jesus was emphatic all
Christians must live in unity, and he would be distressed to see how badly we
have failed to be faithful to him. Jesus
treasured the relationship he had with God, and wanted that to be transmitted
to his followers, they were to be one just as he and his Father were.
There is however a
distinct difference between unity and
uniformity. We can be free to choose the
form of worship, as some of us prefer a less conformist service, whilst others
like a strict liturgy with much ceremonial.
But however the worship is
carried out there has to be a basic foundation of belief and doctrine, and not
the mix up we have where some Churches want a very loose version of the Bible,
which corresponds with society’s ideals to the contradiction of the Bible.
As Christians we should be
able to go to any part of the world and
feel comfortable and of one mind with the Christian people of that nation. One
family with one God, but many brothers and sisters in the family, with
different languages and people oif different colour, but all worshipping the
same Saviour.
Jesus gave total obedience
to God and demands we are just as obedient in our allegiance and faith. We should glory in doing what we are called
upon to do.
The Apostles obeyed Jesus
and took the gospel to many places without any of the facilities we have to-day
Whilst there are Churches
with large congregations, they are usually situated in large cities. Every
Church wherever situated should be constantly evangelistic in its outlook,
conforming to Scripture, and music can be a valuable means to attract. People like to sing, but they need melodic
tunes rather than chants an anthems
Music is often side=lined, and a minor-.issue. If anyone does have those views, just look at a Billy Graham meeting.
.
The Churches are falling
apart as they strive to be popular. It is time for us to face the challenge,
and provide what many people are looking for to- to be able to sing the
traditional hymns by the great writers,
and to hear the gospel told to them in the simple language of their native
tongue.
May God bless you and be with
you as you go in His Name
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