“I’ll be praying for you.”

Think about the occasions when you have said those words. Perhaps you have been talking to a friend who was at the end of their rope. They may have been facing a physical, spiritual or relational crisis. Maybe they had just shared with you an area of growth that they were working on, or perhaps they were going to be traveling or doing some other activity that implied potential risk or danger.

“I’ll be praying for you.”

Think about the times when you have heard those words. Perhaps they were spoken to you as you left a good friend. They assured you that they loved you and cared for you enough to remember you before the Father. Or it may have been a time when you were facing a physical or emotional trial, and the words were said as words of comfort and promise – bringing you hope and peace. 

“I’ll be praying for you.”

Do the words sometimes feel hollow to you? When someone says, “I’ll be praying for you,” do you sometimes wonder if they really will or do? How often do you, when you’ve made that promise, forget to follow through? It happens, I know. Unless I write down the need in pretty short order, there’s a chance that I will forget, or not remember it as timely as I would like.

“I’ll be praying for you.”

Imagine how you would feel if you heard Jesus say those words to you. If you could look into the eyes of the Son of God, and see His loving gaze, and hear His promise, “I’ll be praying for you.” You would certainly have no doubt of His keeping that promise – or of the effectiveness of His prayer, would you?

Well, in fact, Jesus has prayed for you, and He is praying for you.

Today, as we continue our study of John’s gospel, we come to what many consider to be one of the highest points of the Scriptural landscape. Let me set the scene for you. It is the night before Jesus’ death. He has gathered with his closest friends in an upper room in Jerusalem to enjoy the Passover meal with them – the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar. The disciples are excited about what is happening – it seems to them that the pieces are all coming together – the crowds are excited about Jesus, everyone is expecting Him to lead the nation in throwing off the Romans and establishing the throne of King David forever – after all, that’s what the Messiah was coming for! The disciples have even argued about who will serve in the highest levels of the new administration.

But Jesus has been shattering those expectations one by one. He has told them one of them will betray him, he has told them he will be killed. He has told them He is leaving them, and they won’t be able to find Him. 

He follows those shocking revelations with words of comfort and promise. He is going to come back for them. They are actually going to be in a better position when He leaves, because the Holy Spirit will come, and they will actually have God living in them, not just with them. 

He has led them from the upper room toward the gates of the city. As He went, he stopped and pointed out the relationship of grape to the vine, and encouraged them to remain attached to Him. Just as a branch that has been separated from the vine will produce no fruit, and will die, a believer who is not attached to Jesus will be fruitless and their spiritual life will die. Jesus has promised that He will be in them by the presence of the Holy Spirit, and now He challenges them to remain in Him – maintain that close fellowship through obedience to the word and great care.

Now, as they walk toward the gate of the city, along the pathway toward the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus pauses, looks up into the starry night sky, and begins to pray. This prayer, found in John chapter 17, is the real Lord’s prayer. The prayer that we often call “the Lord’s prayer” is actually the Lord’s example for our prayers – but this prayer here is a prayer from Jesus to the Father, and in it He pours out His heart as Son to Father.

If you read the biographies of Jesus found in the Bible, one thing you will notice is that Jesus prayed a lot. He spent entire nights praying – the night before He selected the 12 disciples, for example. He prayed when facing difficulty – like the evening before He went across the Sea of Galilee and encountered a demon possessed man. He spent 30 days fasting and praying before He began his public ministry. And of course, He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemanee just before He faced the cross. 

Does it surprise you that the Son of God would have to be a man of prayer? Sometimes it surprises me – I mean, this is God Himself, in the flesh – why would He have to pray? And then I read it again, and I see that it is that very fleshly part of Jesus that necessitated the prayer. The Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are. He was not immune to temptation. He was harassed by Satan after that 40 day fast – in the Garden, His humanity cried out against his divinity to be released from the violent death that was to come. And we are told by Luke that after He prayed and angel came to strengthen Him. You see, Jesus was fully God and yet fully man. And it was that humanity that needed to be in prayer regularly, seeking strength and encouragement to resist temptation, make the right choices, endure through the difficulties. And if Jesus needed to pray, maybe you and I do to?!

If Jesus needed to be in prayer for insight and strength, to keep His flesh in check, then who am I to think that I can make it through this world on my own? It’s really kind of silly, isn’t it? 

Most of Jesus prayers are not recorded, though some are. John 17 is the most complete prayer that He shared with His disciples, and they consequently, shared with us. Let me just read for you the prayer in its entirety.

[Read John 17]

In this prayer we see that Jesus prays for Himself first – He doesn’t pray a selfish prayer, but He recognizes that He needs God’s personal intervention in His own life primarily. His prayer, while it is for Himself, is ultimately for the glory of God. “Father glorify me so that I can glorify you!” is His prayer.

But I want us to focus on the prayer that Jesus said for us – for His disciples and those who would follow after them. Beginning in verse 6, He reminds the Father that these have believed His word, they have received Jesus as the Son of God. And in verse 9, He begins, “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for hose whom you have given me.” Jesus prayed four things for those who follow Him.

1. “Keep them.”

In verse 11, Jesus says, “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me…”

I just love the care of this prayer. Jesus knows that He is about to leave them. He has promised the disciples that He will not abandon them like orphans, but will pray for the Father to send the Holy Spirit. Now we get to hear part of that prayer. “Father, keep them.” That word “keep” means “to guard, to watch, to pay careful attention to.” 

Over the last few months, I have prayed that exact same prayer – for my children. Our youngest, John, got his driver’s license early this year. Once again I found myself praying for my children as do the most dangerous thing most of us ever do – pilot a one ton vehicle down a 20 foot wide patch of highway at 60 miles per hour with other vehicles going past us at the same speed less than 5 feet away. I’m still not used to the idea of my youngest getting into the car, and driving off. Each time he does, I pray, “Father, keep him.” 

Over the last few weeks, we have dropped our two older children off at college. This fall, taking Andrew to the University of Wisconsin at Madison has been another one of those times when I find myself praying this same prayer. Alone in a strange town, at a school that is full of values that we do not share as a family or a church, I find myself praying for him daily, “Lord, keep him.” 

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Maybe this year you sent off your first child, or your last, to kindergarten, college, or off to war. If so, you know this prayer. Jesus is in the same place. He loves the disciples – He is concerned for them as He leaves them, and what does He do? He places them squarely in the hands of the Father. “Father, keep them.”

1. Keep them from the world

His concern is much the same as ours as parents. “Father, protect them from the world. The world does not accept you, the world does not believe your word, the world is against your truth and the world hates me, and the world hates them.”

2. Keep them from the Evil One.

Jesus prays further that the Father would protect thus from the Evil One. Satan is a very strong and powerful adversary. The Bible tells us that he wanders about like a roaring lion, seeking those whom he may devour. Satan tempted Jesus to abandon His mission. He did all he could to defeat Jesus through his demons and through the temptations of this world. Jesus knew that His followers, you and I, would face the same enemy, and we would need God’s careful protection and keeping to survive. 

As a parent, as a person who loves his wife, parents and siblings, I can relate to this prayer. It is a prayer from the heart of one who is deeply concerned for the life of people He loves. That is the prayer Jesus prayed for you.

2. “Sanctify Them.”

But Jesus prayed for more than our protection. He prayed for our Sanctification. Now, that is a big theological term that means simply, “separation.” Jesus prayed that we would not only be protected and guarded from this world and it’s evil, but that we would be separated from it. Now that doesn’t mean that we would be removed from the world, because verse 18 tells us that Jesus has actually sent us into the world – what it means is that He wants us to be kept separate from the world even while we are serving Him in the world. He is asking the Father to make us holy – to make us a godly, holy presence in this world, and that is done by His truth. Verse 17 says, “Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth.” 

Back at the very beginning of this book, John identified Jesus as “The word became flesh and dwelled among us…” The sanctifying work that is done is us is done by Jesus himself. Jesus said in chapter 14 that “the Spirit of Truth” would come, and as we said last week, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, living in us does the sanctifying work in our lives. It is the presence of God Himself, living in me, that makes me holy. I can not be holy on my own, I can only be made holy by the Spirit of God living in me. Jesus had promised his disciples that He would pray to the Father, that He would send the Holy Spirit, and here we have that promise fulfilled. Jesus prays that we, as His disciples, will be made holy by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

3. “Unite Them.”

Thirdly, Jesus prays for unity. It is amazing to me that unity in the body of Christ is something that is actually prohibited by some groups, but Jesus gives an incredible amount of importance to it! Look at verses 20 – 23. Twice Jesus says that the world will believe that He was sent by the Father as a result of the unity of believers! What does that imply will happen if there is not unity among believers? It implies that the world won’t believe! When we spend our days complaining about our church, and putting down other churches, we not only are doing damage to that church, we are prohibiting people from coming to the Father! We fuel their unbelief! 

The church should be the one place where people can come and feel welcomed, accepted, loved and cherished. If people come and see division, and pride, and judgmental attitudes, they are going to leave, and I don’t blame them! As we have done surveys door to door in Mayville, seeking out people who are not going to church, they often tell us that they don’t go to church because it is hypocritical, judgmental and “cliquish.” People won’t come because they don’t need that kind of hassle in their lives on Sunday morning – they get it all week at work! 

Now, that doesn’t mean that we abandon our beliefs, gather in a big circle and sing “Kum By Yah” every Sunday. There are legitimate differences in some areas of theology and style of service, but what it means is that we should never allow those differences to keep us from our mission – to show the love of God to our community and make more and better disciples for His kingdom. The day will come in this country, when churches won’t have the “luxury” of being snobbish and exclusive in their services and mission. The battle will rage so strongly against the church that we will value and cherish each other – despite our differences – for the survival of the kingdom. 

William Wallace, the leading character in the Academy-award winning move “Braveheart” chastised his fellow Scots for allowing minor issues, internal strife, and power struggles to stand in the way of their fight for independence from the English: “We have beaten the English but they’re back because you won’t stand together.”

The word “one” is another key word in John 17. It appears in verses 11, twice in 21 and 22, and 23. The unity of God’s church should reflect the unity of the Father and the Son. Verse 23 reveals to us the nature of this unity. The Son is obedient to the Father and the Father loves the Son (v 23). We are many members, but one body (Rom 12:4-5, Col 3:15).

To be one is not the absence of opinions, but the absence of divisions. The church’s greatest damage is the open sore that festers and swells and spreads after a disagreement or a misunderstanding. Disunity weakens, scatter, and muffles the church.

Bill Hybles said, “there is nothing on earth like the local church when it is working right. It has the power to transform and changes lives.”

4. “Let them be with Me.”

Finally, Jesus prayed that we would be where He was. That doesn’t necessarily mean heaven. Jesus wanted us to be where He was in His understanding of the depth of God’s love. Look at that last paragraph. 

24 Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

In the final analysis, Jesus wants us to know the Father, to know His incredible, unspeakable, incomprehensible love…

Jesus prayed for YOU – and He still does. Hebrews 7:25 says that “He always lives to make intercession for us.”

His prayers for you are still the same: 

Father, keep them.

 From the world

 From the evil one

            Father, sanctify them.

            Father, unite them.

            Father, let them be with me.

The next time you are feeling overwhelmed, like your world is falling apart, remember the prayer that Jesus prays for you, and find comfort in His love.