This is a sermon on John 17:1-5.
Our passage of scripture this morning is John 17 and I’ll be reading verses 1 through 5. John 17 verses 1 through 5. This is start starting what is really the Lord’s Prayer. You know the Lord’s Prayer we have in Matthew 6 which is really a prayer for us to pray. You could call it the disciples prayer that Jesus gives us but here is the Lord praying himself and today I’m just starting that prayer.
Note the correct uniqueness of the start of the prayer (John 17:1)
It’ll probably be the next two weeks that we finish this prayer. John 17 1 through 5. Jesus spoke these words, lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father the hour has come glorify your son that your son may also glorify you as you have to as many as you have given him and this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent I have glorified you on earth I have finished the work which you have given me to do and now Oh Father glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. The last time I preached which is actually a couple weeks ago I preached on Jesus’s mysterious statement at the end of John 16.
In John 16 16 he says a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me because I go to the Father. At that time I explained to you what Jesus had also explained to his disciples because they were very confused by what he was saying a little while a little while a little while and when he explained to them what he was saying one of the things one of the most important things I think he said was he would be after he died going out and he rose from the dead and they saw him but he doesn’t say you will see me after I raised from the dead but he says they will really see him verse 16 16 because I go to the Father and if you think of that when Jesus ascends up to heaven he’s out of their physical sight he’s with God in heaven we don’t see him physically anymore and yet he says that is when you will see me. This means we are supposed to see Jesus not physically he’s six foot tall he has brown hair or anything like that those things are not important about him but what’s important is his spiritual qualities and Jesus is telling his disciples at the end right before he’s you know this is his last words to them before he goes to the cross he’s saying you will see me because I go to the Father you will truly see me then which means they will see him spiritually they’ll see him for who he really is not his outward appearance but who he is as the Son of God.
This is not the first passage in John’s Gospel that speaks of seeing Jesus spiritually John 1:14 says that they beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. They beheld his glory as God’s Son the only begotten somebody totally different than anybody else because he’s the only one and full of grace and truth. Grace and truth are not physical qualities they are spiritual qualities and that’s what they would see they are moral qualities also in John 3 Jesus says to Nicodemus who is somebody who saw Jesus face to face he says most assuredly say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God and so to really see the kingdom even really to see Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords we need to be born again we need to have that spiritual experience and Jesus’s prayer here in John 17 begins a prayer that Jesus would be glorified and I believe he’s not talking about the physical Jesus but he’s talking about the spiritual and moral Jesus this is right before he goes on the cross and so I believe the cross is part of his glory that he’s praying for and God the Father would glorify Jesus in his work on the cross but it’s not the cross itself that is glorious because many criminals were were were crucified on the cross but it’s Jesus’s will willingness to morally do the right thing to morally do the gracious thing to take our place on the cross the place we deserved he takes that’s why he would be glorious in doing this and so knowing God speaking of knowing Christ in this passage which Jesus is praying for he’s praying that we would all know this that we would all know God that we would all know Jesus Christ I don’t think there’s anything more important that I could preach to you than this that knowing God is the most important thing knowing Jesus are important things and so let us examine the start of Jesus’s prayer his last recorded prayer before he took the cross for our salvation note the correct uniqueness of the start of this prayer John 17 once as Jesus spoke these words lifted his eyes toward heaven and said father the hour has come glorify your son that your son may also glorify you one thing I want us all to notice about this prayer is how beautifully opposite the posture of this prayer is from a correct sinners prayer in Luke 18 13 Jesus is speaking he’s talking the parable of the tax collector on the Pharisee and he’s telling us the tax collector prayed in the right way and what he says in verse 13 of Luke 18 is and the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner notice the difference Jesus’s prayer he lifts his eyes towards heaven he speaks confidently to God his father and why does he do that well he’s literally the Son of God he’s literally sinless he’s perfect he can look at God that way but the sinner he says should not even raise his eyes to heaven he looks down he’s ashamed of his sin he knows he’s done wrong and he comes to God in a very humble way Jesus prays for his own glory and none of us should ever pray for our own glory if if I start praying in front of you glorify Arnie as I preach glorify me as I preach you should fire me that day why because I’m a sinner just like you and and I am just a mere human being I’m not God I’m not the Son of God but when Jesus prays glorify me he’s right to do that it would be wrong for him even though he was humble as a man and very humble it would be wrong for him as the Son of God always to be only humble because he was the Son of God and so he praised that he would be glorified and he praised us you’ll see later as I go on not only for his good but for our good in Isaiah 42 8 it says I am the Lord that is my name and my glory I will not give to another nor my praise to carved images against Isaiah 48 11 be he says and I will not give my glory to another now God does not give his glory to others but Jesus was not an other there is one God when we look at scripture there’s one God in three persons the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one being who has you could say a trifold personality he’s three persons in one and so when we read in 1st John that God is love it doesn’t say God became love when he created somebody else he is love because he has relationship even within himself for all eternity the Father has loved the Son the Spirit has loved the Father and the Son the Son loves the Father and the Father and the Spirit and they always had this eternal love within you could say himself or themself however you want to say it they were three in one.
we’re not like that so we don’t understand it if we’re like that we’re schizophrenic there’s something wrong with us if I start talking to different people inside me I’m wrong but Jesus is God and he’s God’s Son so it’s right for him to pray for his own glory because he’s God he’s God’s Son and as I said for any of us to that would be that we would be glorified would be great and arrogant and would be wrong for us seeking his own glory was and is the sin of Satan Isaiah 42 12 through 15 says how are you fallen from heaven Oh Lucifer the son of the morning how are you cut down to the ground you who weaken the nations where you have said in your heart I will send to heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most high then then it’s said to him yet you shall be brought down to shield to the lowest depths of the pit and ultimately when we read the end of the book the end of the book of Revelation Satan is thrown down Lucifer is thrown down to the fiery pit and he will be there forever and evermore but his sin is that he wants to be like God his sin that he would tempt us to remember when he tempted Adam and Eve he says to Eve he says you will be like God knowing good and evil if you commit this sin and so the sin was to try to be that the sin was to seek our own glory seeking our own glory is wrong for us as mere men and women we are taught in Scripture to do just the opposite as I mentioned before the tax collector that Jesus mentions he’s praised by Jesus for his humble admission of his sins it says in Luke 18 14 Jesus is speaking and he says I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted if we exalt ourselves in front of God we will be humble we will be humbled remember Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel there’s a time and he’s the king of everything he’s over not just his own country but an empire and he looks out on his country and the things that he had accomplished and he says to himself is not this great Babylon which I have made with my own hand and God humbles him that very day and he’s driven insane and he eats grass like an ox and his fingernails grow super long and his hair on his body grows like like eagle feathers it says and he goes seven years in that insane way before God restores his senses and he realizes that God is God and that God brings kings up and God can set kings down and so he’s humbled and it’s wonderful when you read about him being humbled he’s more happy being humbled than he ever was being king because he knew God he realized God is God we are taught throughout scripture the value of humility Psalm 149 for is just one verses it said one verse that says for the Lord takes pleasure in his people he will beautify the humble with salvation Proverbs 16 19 says better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud that’s a very interesting passage because Proverbs 16 19 says it’s better to be on the losing side and be on a humble spirit with the lowly than if you’re proud when you’ve won it’s it’s it’s bad to be that proud person again James 4 10 says humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up if we humble ourselves in God’s sight he will lift us up he will exalt us that’s what happened with Jesus he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross and it says in Philippians 2 that God highly exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and the same thing though we don’t deserve it like Jesus did if we walk humbly and obedient with him he raises us up to heaven even our Lord Jesus because he took the place of sinners humbled himself and that’s just the same verse that’s in your note that I almost just read Philippians 2 8 says and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross and Jesus does humble himself and he asked God to glorify him Jesus’s humility and sacrifice as ordained by God and embraced by Jesus are so different than what is typical of man that they are deserving of glory Philippians 2 9 to 11 I kind of just quoted for you but I’ll read it again therefore God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven of those on earth of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father because he humbled himself because he was obedient up to death God exalts him and gives him a name above every name his God’s ways are not our ways Isaiah 55 7 through 9 says let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts nor your ways my way says the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts then your thoughts Isaiah 55 7 through 9 what a wonderful passage that’s telling us even though we sinned you know as other people might want revenge God is ready to forgive he’s gracious he he opens the door for us to heaven by what Christ has done Christ is different Napoleon Bonaparte the great leader and you can read many in quotes like this from Napoleon this is just one short of many quotes he had like this he said Alexander Caesar Charlemagne and I have founded empires but on what did we rest the creations of our genius upon force Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love and at this hour millions of men would die for him that was the case when Napoleon ruled and it’s still the case today there were more Christians in the world even in Muslim lands where they are put to death even in China there are many many Christians and they are put to death sometimes for their faith but they still follow him they still believe in they still count him King the book of Revelation shows us a heavenly response to Jesus’s glory as displayed on the cross it’s wonderful this passage I know I’ve read it to you many times but Revelation 5 9 through 14 it says and they sang a new song saying you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain meaning you were killed and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne the living creatures the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands sang with a loud voice worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and every creature which is in the heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such that are in the sea and all that are in them I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever then the four living creatures said amen and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever that passage is the passage where handle remember handle wrote what was called the Messiah that song that says hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah the heat is based on this earth and he got it the idea mostly from that passage that says and every creature which is in heaven and earth and under the under the earth which you know who is under the earth the worms Satan and in the sea fish and octopuses squid all suddenly getting voices and praising God and praising him so loud tens of tens and tens of thousands of men and angels all praising Jesus and why because he died for our sins because he was you could say he’s our hero he saved us from hell and we are in heaven praising him for that great deed today and it will happen this day there will be people at baseball games somebody will hit a home run and that home run will not do the person sitting in the stands any good his life will still be the same but that person will jump up his team hit a home run and he’ll be so happy but Jesus died for us what he did did us really good and that’s why we see Jesus correctly as a Redeemer in Revelation 5 we see this kind of praise that we would only see at a baseball game or at a football game or at a at some great rock concert and in heaven that’s the way it will be here on earth people are not seeing that they’re not understanding that they’re not knowing what Jesus did for them they’re missing it all together and that’s why Jesus told them in a little while you will not see me because they’d see him on the cross and even his own disciples would run or run away and but then he says in a little while you will see me you will rejoice they did rejoice when he rose from the dead but then when he went to heaven and sent back his Holy Spirit they really understood who he was and that’s why John could write things like this because God revealed it to him they see him glorified they see him who he is and when Jesus prays that
Jesus’ first goal in prayer and in His obedience unto death was to glorify God (John 17:1)
he would be glorified he’s praying that more and more people would know and see him for who he truly is they would see this and treat him as he deserves to be treated and so there we see who Jesus is secondly Jesus’s goal in the prayer and obedience unto his death was to glorify God father the hour has come glorify your son that your son may also glorify you Jesus’s death on the cross his merciful attitude expressed even from the cross when Jesus said Luke 23 34 father forgive them for they do not know what they do this death his forgiveness even expressed while he’s being crucified and people are yelling crucify him crucify him and they’re saying they’re saying yelling things like he saved others but can he save himself as he’s hanging on the cross and people are gambling for his clothing because he’s up there naked and he says father forgive them for they know not what they do he’s ready to forgive them and one of the soldiers says surely after Jesus died surely this was the Son of God he saw something there and we see this too Jesus is very extremely forgiving and we see this is true about God the Father it says in Psalms Psalm 103 10 through 14 he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our inequities for as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy towards those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us as a father pities his children so the Lord pities those who fear him for he knows our frame he remembers that we are dust he understands us he he knows we’re sinners Jesus even on the cross saw people not feeling sorry for himself while he’s dying but saw them sinning and said father forgive them for they know not what they do Jesus knew he would raise from the dead Jesus knew he would be in heaven and he died on the cross so that we might be saved that the penalty for our sins might be paid so that we would not have to pay it ourselves later in hell the God of glory prayed for by Jesus I mean the glory of God prayed for by Jesus is so needed in our world because God is too often as seen in as in the image of those he’s created yet have rebelled against him you know we are all created in God’s image even non-believers are created in his image and when you see things that are horrible going on in the world people murdering other people people doing horrible thefts and deceptions this becomes the atheist argument why would God allow such things they they blame God for their own deeds for their own sins and sometimes even those who claim to be Christians we do the same things we we sin and we fail and and we give Satan occasion to blame God for the wrong things you know it’s always said in why are there so many hypocrites in the church well that’s because we’re still sinners we still fail we still have faults and yet we have Jesus to save us we have Jesus because when there’s also tears with the wheat you know Jesus tells us that there are often non-believers that are even at church and tears with the wheat when we pray hallowed be your name as instructed by Jesus we are praying the same thing Jesus is praying in John 17 that God would be glorified we are not to pray for our own glory but it’s certainly right even for us to pray for God’s glory just like Jesus was he wanted to be glorified through his work on the cross because ultimately he was aiming to glorify God his father and we should do the same 1st Corinthians 1031 says therefore whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God we should aim for creative ways of glorifying our Lord each of us has different gifts different ways that we might do that the Westminster Shorter Catechism question number one asks what is the chief end meaning main goal of man and the answer is given man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever 1st Corinthians 1031 whether you eat or drink or whatever you do to all of the glory of God is one of those verses Revelation 411 you know five that we read some I read some from Revelation 5 which talks about us glorifying God and Christ because Christ redeemed us in Revelation chapter 4 were to glorify God because he created us and we see that in those two chapters number three point number three large point number three this leads to the second reason for Jesus’s prayer God’s and Jesus’s being glorified our knowledge of him leads to salvation starting even at the end of verse 1 it says glorify your son that your son also may glorify you as you have given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him and this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent our salvation our eternal life is dependent on upon how correct our knowledge of God and Jesus Christ are that’s why Jesus wants to be glorified that’s why he wants his father to be glorified because the more God is known in this world the more we know Jesus the more we see his glory the more likely more of us will be saved more of us will have eternal life glorifying God here is equivalent to making him known as the word made flesh Jesus did and does just that it says in John 1 14 that the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten father full of grace and truth if you remember John 1 it starts in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and then in verse 14 I just read it and the word became flesh and dwelt among us Jesus is the word he’s God’s he’s God but he’s also the communication to us from God you could say his becoming flesh makes him God in our language and so when he’s glorified when he’s made known God the father is also glorified and made known because we can’t see God the father he’s invisible but we see and know Jesus and now we don’t see even Jesus but we know him through his word it says also in in John 1 verse 18 no one has seen God at any time the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him and when it says he has declared him it literally is he has expounded him or he has preached him and Jesus preached to us who God is not only with his words and the things we read in the scripture but with his whole life and his actions even his death on the cross shows us how much God loves us and wanted to save us as Jesus is made known as he’s glorified so God the father and so the teachings of theology and knowledge and study of God through these things we attain eternal life the more we get to know God the more we have that life that he’s promised us this is the whole reason that the preacher preaches that pastors teach that we all aim to glorify God and that is to save souls to bring more to salvation and that salvation is ultimately not just eternal life during it duration but eternal life where there’s pleasures evermore eternal life where we’re fulfilling our purpose we are glorifying God and glorifying God even on this earth we are fulfilling that purpose that’s why it says in Ephesians 4 11 through 13 and he himself gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers and there’s me a pastor or a teacher for the equipping of the Saints for the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature and fullness of Christ this is why I preach to you not just one Sunday but Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday because our salvation isn’t just one time acknowledging hey I believe in God but it’s learning and growing and and and also representing God to a lost world these are all parts of our salvation as we know him and as we see in the answer to Jesus’s prayer Jesus glorified and God glorified this is the purpose of pastors and teachers but not of pastors and teachers only but of the entire church we are all called to glorify God that’s what it says in 1st Corinthians 1031 therefore whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do to alter the glory of God what is the purpose of life it is that we would glorify God number four Jesus’s view of his own work his own accomplishment accomplishment he says I have glorified you on earth I have finished the work which you have given me to do and now Oh father glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was that’s the last part of this passage Jesus did perfectly completely what we and all the rest of the human beings who ever lived fail at for all have sinned it says in Romans 3 23 and fall short of the glory of God even when we’re at our best that word sin sinned and fall short of the glory of God is an archery term it’s like you’re aiming at a bullseye and even when we’re best we tend to miss we tend to miss even when when we’re prayerful even when a preacher is preaching even when you’re doing your good deeds to your neighbor we tend to miss but Jesus never missed the bullseye he always hit it perfectly Jesus never missed one shot never miss spoke never failed to do every good deed never like to pray even every prayer even with perfect godly fervency how many times do we pray and we’re tired how many times do we pray when we’re not fervent in prayer how many times do we fail even at our best works well probably many many many times but Jesus never did he loved God with all his heart soul mind and might and he loved his neighbor as himself therefore he deserved glory and by God’s grace we rejoice because Jesus is glorious righteousness can be credited which it is it’s credited to us if I were to die tonight and God were to ask me why should I let you into my heaven I would not say well because I’m a pastor or because I preached about you or any of those things the only thing that I could say that would be right was your son Jesus Christ died for my sin and we could all say that none of us are perfect but Jesus died and his death if we are truly his people is counted for us and so it says in 2nd Corinthians 5 20 and 21 now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us we implore you on Christ’s behalf be reconciled to God for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him this was Paul’s task to go out and share this gospel to do what Christ asked God to do glorify him and Paul would also glorify Christ in offering salvation to those around him as his ambassadors to Christ we glorify God by telling others about him and living by the power of a spirit in a way that honors him we should live to hear from Jesus Matthew 25 23 says his Lord said to him well done good and faithful service servant you have been faithful over few things I will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of the Lord some of us have been studying Genesis on Wednesday nights and lately we’ve been studying Abram who is going to become or who’s becoming Abraham and we’ve seen his failings his answer estate they both are not perfect but God treats them as perfect why because they trusted in the Lord Abraham is called a friend of God he’s called a father of faith and when God looks at us and we look at us in Christ he only sees Christ’s righteousness he no longer sees our sins as it says in Psalm 103 our sins are as far from the east as is from the West he removes them from us and sees us in this wonderful way that’s why he can say to us when we’re truly following him when we truly believe in him when we truly trust in him when we finish this life even though we’re not perfect he still will say well done good and faithful servant Ephesians 2 8 for 10 says something similar where it says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast it’s not our works that save us but it’s the grace of God but then he goes on and he says for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared before him that we should walk in them God didn’t save us because of good works but he saved us in order that we would do good works that we would glorify him and show him to other people that they might be saved and also be doing good works good works that are the works not perfect but made perfect by Christ let’s pray father we thank you for this prayer of Jesus the start of it where he prays for his own glory father none of us could pray for our own glory because we’re not God and we’re sinners and where we fall short but Jesus could pray for his glory because he’s the Son of God and he was sinless and father he was glorified even in the cross where he was treated as a sinner because he wasn’t and he took our place and he died and resurrected that we might know that we have life even eternal life and father this eternal life is because we know Jesus your son and we know you and father I pray for each person in here there’s nothing more that I could do for anybody here than to help them to know Jesus if they know Jesus they have everything if they don’t know Jesus they have nothing father I pray for each one here that each one of us would know Jesus that we’d know God that we would know Jesus as the Son of God and that we would even strive to know him better and make him known to those around us father we pray these things in Jesus name amen
