By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
March 12, 2023 –John 17:8-15
We live in a country that is obsessed with safety. You see warning signs on Coffee cups that coffee is hot. – Duh. There are warnings on some chainsaws that say, “Do not hold the wrong end of the chainsaw.” Good advice, a little obvious, but good advice.
Since we have been talking about Cuba this morning – here is one of the things that I found out about that country. They are obsessed with security but not with safety. The government is all about security. Even people’s homes. – Take a look at this picture.
It is not a great picture as pictures go. But you will notice the bars on the bottom part of the house.
What I want you to see is the inset part of the roof. That door is the door to the church.
That is where the kids and adults go to church. You will notice that people, including kids, step out of the front door of the church onto a flat roof, a story up with no safety railings. With hydro wires strung all over the place. Safety is not a thing in Cuba.
For all our focus on safety, there are a lot of people in our country who feel very unsafe, insecure, and vulnerable. For all our attempts to find safety, we know that we live in an unsafe world. A bad diagnosis can come out of the blue. Car accidents or even slipping and falling on the ice is a threat to our safety.
But it is not just physical safety that is an issue. Emotional safety is an even bigger issue. At the basis of most anxiety is a fear for our safety. Am I going to have enough money? Am I going to be liked or appreciated, or wanted? What am I going to do if something happens to my significant other? Many of you are familiar with the 3 a.m. hamster wheel that spins in your mind.
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It was the last night of Jesus’ life on earth. He has eaten a meal with his disciples, and now he is praying for them. They can obviously hear this prayer. Jesus knows that we live in an unsafe world, and so he prays for the protection of his disciples, but he prays for protection in a different way than we might.
In fact, the way he prays for protection gives us the foundation for joy. He is praying for protection – and if his prayer is answered, we will experience joy.
Come with me to John 17. We have looked at the first part of this prayer in the previous two weeks, so we are picking up this prayer in the middle.
John 17:9–15 (NIV)
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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
There are a couple of things that I want you to note before we get into issues of safety and joy. First, who Jesus is praying for.
John 17:9 (NIV)
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
But it is not just them,
John 17:20 (NIV)
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
Not only is Jesus praying for his disciples, but he is praying for all who would believe in Jesus through the disciple’s message. You and I are included because all of us can trace our faith history back to the message of the disciples. Jesus is praying for you and me. He is praying not just for the disciples of his time, it for his disciples of all time. The first thing I want you to note is that he is praying for you.
The second thing I want you to note is who it is that is praying for you.
John 17:10 (NIV)
10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
Jesus says, God, all that I have is yours, and all that you have is mine. God, all your character qualities, all that you possess – it’s mine.
He is making a statement about His equality with God. None of us would say – all that you have is mine. But Jesus can say that because he was and is God. So, when Jesus is saying – I am praying for you – that means something.
So, now we get to his prayer for protection.
John 17:11 (NIV)
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.
Father, I am coming back to you. I am not going to be in the world – but my disciples will be. Here is my prayer – Protect them. Jesus is praying for the disciple’s protection; he is praying for our protection.
In praying this, he brings to bear the authority of his name. I am praying that you protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me. The name of God represents all that God is. He is bringing all that God is to bear on this prayer request. I pray that you will protect them by the power of your name.
If God the Father answers this prayer – look at what the answered prayer will look like. Protect them So that they may be one as we are one.
That isn’t the kind of protection I was thinking about. I was thinking of something a little more tangible, maybe a little more personal. Maybe, protect me from disease, or disaster, or disorder. But what do you mean, protect them so that they may be one?
Hang onto that question as we go a little further.
John 17:12 (NIV)
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.
Jesus is saying, I kept the disciples safe while I was with them. All except Judas. I lost him – that scripture would be fulfilled.
But the rest I kept safe. What does he mean he kept them safe. All the way through his ministry life, you see him praying. Before he picked the disciples, he spent the night praying. He would often leave early in the morning to pray. You can be sure that he was praying for his disciples. That was a form of protection. But the reason why the disciples were able to get along with each other was that they had Jesus in common. He was the glue that held the group to them.
So often, the disciples were prone to pride or fear. He protected them by teaching them God’s ways. Sometimes he would rebuke them. Sometimes he would encourage them. He protected them. He protected them from the temptation of wanting to quit. But they were protected because Jesus was at the center of their group. Now he says, I am leaving this earth, protect them so that they can be unified. – So that they will be one as we are one.
John 17:11 (NIV)
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.
Here is what I want you to catch. The biggest threat to your spiritual life, the biggest threat to your soul, is that in your soul that would cause you to be estranged from your brother and sister in Christ.
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The disciples were a hodgepodge of people. They were a mix of different social classes, different temperaments, different life philosophies. And yet they were all able to deal with each other for three years on the road. There is nothing like a road trip to test people’s unity.
John and Andrew were already cutting-edge, religious people. They were disciples of John the Baptist before they were disciples of Jesus. Matthew was a tax collector. He was despised by the Jewish people for being a collaborator with Rome. Peter was an impetuous, speak-your-mind kind of person. Those are the kind of people you either love or you don’t. Among Jesus’ disciples was a Zealot that wanted to overthrow the Roman government. The disciples had different views on politics. Yet in this mix of people, Jesus was able to maintain unity.
One of the things that you can take from this is that unity and conformity are not the same things. Where there is unity, there is no need for conformity. Where everyone must conform, there is no unity. When you see churches turning out cookie-cutter Christians, you will not likely find a true unity in that church.
But the possibility of disunity was what Jesus spent his time praying about. That is what he was praying for protection from. Disunity comes out of pride or hatred or jealousy of selfish ambition or envy or forcing people to take sides. Paul says that the acts of the sinful nature are obvious. Look at how many of them have to do with how we deal with other people.
Galatians 5:19–21 (NIV)
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Jesus is praying for their protection. If they are protected, they will be one in spirit. Jesus prays this for his disciples and or you and me because he knows that the biggest threat to your spiritual life, the biggest threat to your soul, is that in your soul that would cause you to be estranged from your brother and sister in Christ
But there is another reason he prays this.
John 17:13 (NIV)
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.
The result of being protected is that we will have unity. We will not indulge in the things that bring disunity. But more than that, he has prayed for our protection so that they may have the full measure of his joy with us.
Let me put it another way. The things in us, the pride, the envy, the selfish ambition, the jealousy that cause us to be disunified are the same things that steal your joy.
When Jesus talks about joy, he is talking about this deep sense of well-being. Even when life is bad, you know your soul is good. But there are things that steal our joy. The things that cause disunity are the same things that steal our joy.
Things like undealt with anger or unforgiveness will steal your joy. Things like jealousy or hatred will steal your joy. Things like unhealthy pride will steal your joy.
The same qualities that bring unity bring joy. The same qualities that bring disunity steal joy. In the previous chapter of John, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, Love one another.” When he is praying for the protection of unity – he is praying protection on their love.
If you want more joy in your life – look at your attitude towards other people, especially your brothers and sisters in Christ. Are you harbouring pride or unforgiveness, or envy? Are you full of love and grace towards them? If you want more joy – look at your heart towards other people.
I find this helpful. We are often tempted to make excuses for our bad attitude. I don’t like their politics. I don’t like what they said. I don’t like what they did. I have a right to my bad attitude. It is your attitude and if you hold onto that right, it also gives you the right to be joyless.
Maybe you were wronged. Sometimes you need to go to the person and work it out. Sometimes you just need to forgive. Someone said holding onto unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. Holding onto unforgiveness is like drinking a joy poison.
John 17:13–15 (NIV)
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. 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 said I gave the disciples your word and the world hates them. Tradition says that all the disciples except for John were martyred for their faith. They were hated because they followed Jesus. Jesus knew that would happen.
What does he pray? Not that they would be taken out of the world, not that they would be delivered from the hatred and the trouble that was coming, but that they would be protected from the evil one.
When you are hated, and when you are persecuted, it is harder to keep your soul whole. Not only that but the evil one, Satan, wants to capitalize on our troubles.
But Jesus is praying that we are protected even from that. Just because you are hated does not mean that you need to hate in return. Just because you are rejected does not mean that you have reject in return. The qualities that bring you joy can be yours because of the power of Jesus working in you even in the face of persecution.
Many times Satan will try to capitalize on your circumstances to foster those things in us which steal our joy. – Pride, unforgiveness, envy, hatred and the like. Jesus is praying that we will have protection from him, even in those kinds of times.
I find all of this helpful because one of my desires is to walk through life with a deep sense of joy. But we live in a world where, sometimes, life is hard, and people are difficult. How do you live in joy in that kind of world?
I find it helpful to know that joy is not dependent on my circumstances. It is dependent on my heart toward other people. If I am harbouring attitudes that will bring disunity, that will affect my joy. It is also helpful to know that Jesus is praying against those attitudes, and he wants to deliver us from those attitudes.
How about you? Do you want to experience joy? Then look at your heart. Are there things in there that would foster disunity. Ask God to deal with those things. Make choices that align with God’s heart. Let God develop the foundation for joy in you.
Sermon Questions
John 17: 9-15
Introduction
1. What are you giving thanks for this week?
2. What are you praying about this week?
Digging in
3. Read John 17:9-15
4. Read verses 9 and 20. Who is Jesus praying for? Read verse 10 – What does this verse tell us about Jesus?
5. Read verse 11. What is Jesus asking the Father to do? What will be the result of his answered prayer?
6. How is Jesus’ prayer for protection different from/same as your prayers for protection?
7. Read verse 12. How do you think Jesus protected his disciples when he was on earth? What were some of the challenges to their unity while Jesus was on earth?
8. The sermon said, “The biggest threat to your soul is that which is in your soul that would cause you to be estranged from your brothers and sisters in Christ.” What are some of the things in our hearts that can cause us to be estranged from the family of God? (See Galatians 5:19-21.)
9. Read verse 13. What is the connection between what he has just prayed and joy?
10. Read verses 13-15. Jesus prays for protection from the evil one in the face of hate. Why do you think he prays that?
Application
11. Are there attitudes in your heart that our stealing your joy?