Make Known

In John 17, we are given the extraordinary privilege of listening to Jesus pray. This sermon explores Christ’s High Priestly Prayer, reminding us that eternal life is found in knowing God, that we are sent into the world on His mission, and that Jesus still intercedes for us today. 

Transcript

The Gospel of John. We've been in John, and this is going to be John chapter 17. John, chapter 17. We're going to start verse one, reading verses one through 11. When you get there, will you stand to your feet?

John 17. We are thankful for those in the sound booth that put the words up on the screen for us. We appreciate you guys. John 17, verses 1 through 11. This is what it says.

Jesus looked up to heaven and said, father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you. For the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them. And know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

I am asking on their behalf. I'm not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me. Because they are yours, all mine are yours, and yours are mine. And I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.

Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. Father, thank you for this word. Teach us, speak to us, encourage us, challenge us. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

And you may be seated. Throughout the past several weeks through our scripture reading, as we have gathered on Sundays, there has been an undercurrent of a theme, a theme that is going to reach its peak or reach its climax today. The theme is God wants us to know him and to understand that we are known by him. I want that to sink in. You are fully known by God.

You are fully known by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The one that created you knows you. Now. This word knows in the Greek ginosko, G I N O S K O ginosko. This word means to learn, to come, to understand, to perceive, to get a knowledge of to become known.

It's an intimate knowing. The word in the Hebrew, Hadah is the word as a man and a woman know each other, that are married. Very intimate a knowing to know in that way. A few weeks ago, I was preaching from the Gospel of Luke. And you remember the two disciples were walking away from Jerusalem.

They were going toward Emmaus, and Jesus himself came to them to make himself known, to reveal himself to them.

They went back and they told the other disciples how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Their eyes were open and they knew him. Jesus came. Jesus revealed himself, and they knew we were. Then In John chapter 10, we were studying the passage of scripture where Jesus says, I, I am the great shepherd.

I am the door. And Jesus revealed that the good shepherd knows ginosko his sheep, and the sheep know Ginosko him. We are the sheep and we are known by the great shepherd. Do you know him in that? Pastor Marshall then Preached John chapter 14.

We find Jesus teaching the disciples. And he said, if you know me, you know the Father. And then last week, our passage, Jesus is teaching on the Holy Spirit, the advocate who was to come. And he said this. He said, you know him, Ginosko.

Even though the Holy Spirit had not come yet, he said, you know him. How is that possible? Because they knew Jesus. He said, you know him and he will be in you. There was one day Pastor Marshall was Preaching John Chapter 14.

I was circling the word in over and over again. The word in is an intimate knowing. There's a lot of knowing in this gospel. The word ginosko is used in 49 different verses in the Gospel of John. And sometimes the word is used over and over in that same passage.

I find it interesting that the last time that word is used is in John chapter 21. And Jesus asked Peter for the third time, do you love me? And Peter says, you know Ginoska, you know that I love you. And Jesus says, feed my sheep. It leads us to today's text.

Repeatedly through the Gospels, you hear that Jesus would go away to pray. Jesus would pray. Very rarely do we get the words of his prayer. And today the prayer is recorded. It's the longest recording of Jesus that we have.

You might be familiar with Matthew and we call it the Lord's Prayer. But in reality, the Lord's Prayer is not a prayer that Jesus would have prayed. Jesus would have had no need to pray. Forgive us our trespasses. That was actually a prayer for the disciples.

He modeled that prayer for them. But this passage is Actually, the Lord's prayer, we call it the high priestly prayer. You may see it referred to as that. What that means is in the Old Testament, the high priest would serve as the mediator between God and the people. He would mediate between God and the people.

He would go in to offer sacrifices on the people's behalf. Here, Jesus is interceding for us. He is interceding for the people. He actually becomes the sacrifice, the true spotless lamb of God offering himself atonement for sin. In his prayer, we get a picture of what Jesus is doing right now.

Think about that. Jesus right now in the throne room of heaven, is interceding for us as we gather here to pray and to learn today. Hebrews chapter 7 says, Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for us. I don't know what you've been through this past week, but there is a God who was interceding for you. I found myself on Monday morning after Mother's Day last Sunday.

Sunday night, my mother fell. She had gotten sick and she. And she fell. And my husband and I were in the emergency room last Sunday night. And they admitted her in the wee hours of Monday morning.

Monday morning, I went home to sleep. I got up. I was about to go back to the hospital. I was in my. In my quiet time with Jesus.

And I was reading the Word. And the sweet Holy Spirit reminded me, he said, I am interceding for you. I am interceding for you. Can I tell you, friends, it is enough when Jesus himself is interceding for you. Oh, it's special when you hear that brothers and sisters are praying alongside you, and we need that.

But you know who has them pray? God. Holy Spirit, that is praying first. He comes to intercede for us. And no matter what the news the doctor says, no matter how uncomfortable the chair is you're sitting in, no matter what's going on in the world, when Jesus himself is interceding for you, that is enough.

That is enough. Today Jesus is interceding for us, and that is enough. In this text, we find Jesus. Just to get context, Jesus is with the disciples. This is after the washing of the feet.

This is after the Lord's Supper. This is after Judas has been sent out. This is before the garden. In this amount of time, Jesus began teaching with the disciples. This is his last words to his followers.

John, chapter 14 through 16, his teaching. Here you will find promises, you will find warnings. He will talk of the Holy Spirit, our advocate that is to come. This is important. And so I found myself a few weeks ago, I said, okay, Jesus, if this is the last words, then let me spend some time in John 14 to John 16.

What were you saying to them? What was so important on your heart? And you know what I found over and over again? It's this I in you, and you and me. Trinitarian language, over and over, I actually went through.

In every passage that talks, Jesus is talking about God, or Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit, or Jesus is talking about us in relationship with Him. I took those verses and put them together and I studied just those verses. And I want to read to you just a Little John, chapter 14. If you're reading it about in that context, this is what Jesus is saying about God. You believe in God, believe also in Me.

No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know Ginosko me, you will know my Father as well from now on. You do know him, and you have seen Him. Do don't you know me, Philip? Even after I've been among you such a long time?

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say, I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father living in me. I am going to the Father, and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so the Father may be glorified in the Son.

I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I love the Father, and I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. Do you hear it over and over again? He is pointing to the Father. He is pointing to the Father, and then he speaks of the Holy Spirit. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever.

The Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows Him. But you know Him, Gnoska, for He lives with you, and he will be in you. But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. And then he includes us.

I will come back and I will take you to be with me where I am, that you may be there with me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will be Ginosko. You will know that I am in my Father and you are in Me, and I am in you. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father and I too will love them and show myself to them.

My Father will love them and we will come to them and we will make our home with them. They belong to the Father who sent me. I wanted to read you. That's just from John, chapter 14. It's over and over again.

John chapter 15 is the whole abide in me. Remain in me as I remain in you. The gardener, over and over again. This intimacy, this knowing, this relationship within the Godhead. I tell you, it's too much for our intellect to understand all of that relationship between God the Father and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

But here it is an experiential knowing. And it is pointing to another. And then Jesus says, I want to welcome the disciples. And I want to welcome all of you into that conversation. So where I am, you can be there.

I and you, you and me. I want the world gathered together. That is the last words. He is speaking to the disciples, is telling them who. And he is in trinitarian language here in these words we have this prayer.

It's a holy moment. You think about hearing someone pray and how intimate that is between them and the Father. And so when Jesus has taught the disciples all of this and he stops teaching and he begins to pray out loud and the disciples can hear him praying to his Father. Imagine that. And we have the words recorded so we can listen in as well.

It's a holy moment. In John 17, it begins by saying, after Jesus said this, After Jesus said what? All of that trinitarian language. That's what he's just said. After that.

This pointing to the Godhead, pointing to another, pointing glory to another. I want you to understand the unity between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. A oneness. It's more than just a knowing. It's an indwelling.

It's in them, in them sweet communion. I and you, you and me. And Jesus says, I want to bring that to Harvest Point. This intimacy between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. I'm inviting you to participate in that divine conversation, in that divine nature, in that parakoresis, that dance, if you will.

The shared love and intimacy. I want you in the middle of it. This is his prayer. Now. I wish we could study the whole prayer.

I tell you, I would love for us to do a series. And we could spend several weeks on John chapter 17. It is beautiful. And I'm going to try to outline and talk about three key points that I feel like he wants us to have today. But if You're a note taker and you want to look at the outline of the whole prayer.

Jesus prays for himself in verses 1 through 5. 1 through 5, Jesus prays for himself. He prays for his disciples in 6 through 19. It's a lot longer. And then he prays for us.

Specifically in verses 20 through 26. Any of the prayer for the disciples in 6 through 19. He is actually praying for us as well. He begins in the top 20 talking with his prayer for himself. And he says, the hour has come.

You remember, the hour had not come over and over again. It's not time. It's not time now. He says, oh, the hour has come. The very reason I'm here.

What was that? It was for you. The very reason he came. The cross atonement, the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God. Now the time has come, our redemption.

And he starts his prayer for himself. And he starts with this idea of glory, glorify. And it's bookends. He ends the prayer for himself about glory. You'll see that.

And right in the center of the prayer for himself is us. Right in the middle of it, right in the heart of it, you'll find us. He starts with glorify. He says, father, glorify your Son so your Son may glorify you. Even in the prayer for himself, he is actually pointing to the other.

It's actually bringing glory to the Father. And you say, okay, how is that possible? Well, to glorify the Son, what that means is in the resurrection, in the ascension, in the coronation, it is bringing glory to the Son, Jesus. But in that God the Father is glorified. Why?

Because the power of the resurrection. Only God could do that. God the Father is glorified for the resurrection. God the Father is glorified because of the mercy and the love and the compassion of sending his Son for our atonement. He is pointing to another.

He says, you have given the son authority. Matthew 28. All authority in heaven and earth has been given. You have given him authority to give eternal life. One of John's I am statements says, I am the resurrection and the life.

I am the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is life, friends. Jesus is life, including eternal life. And right here in the middle of Jesus prayer for himself, you find us. He says this beautiful, beautiful verse.

This is eternal life. Have you been wondering what that is? He tells us right here, and this is eternal life, that they would know you, the only true God, Jesus Christ. This eternal life is Zoe life, not bios life, but Zoe Life, spiritual life. This is the life he's talking about.

That you would know him. Personal, intimate, experiential, Knowing. Knowing Jesus. In the hours before the cross, Jesus is praying to His Father and you are on his heart that you would know him. That you would know him.

Right in the middle, he's thinking of us.

If you're a note taker, because I am, I like to do this. Number one, if you're taking notes. We are sent. We are sent. He says here, this is knowing that you would know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom God the Father sent.

When you study John chapter 17 and I would challenge you, read the whole prayer each day. This next week. John chapter 17. Read it each day, the whole prayer. Six times he uses that phrase, God the Father sent me six times in this one chapter.

Why do you think it's important that Jesus wants us to know that God the Father sent him? It brings glory to the Father. It brings glory to the Father. Father's love and mercy and kindness for us. That out of God's love for the world he sent His Son to rescue us.

John 3:16. That God would come for us. That he would send His Son to come for us. It reveals the character of God. If you have a friend or you know someone who doesn't believe in God and doesn't know anything about God, you might start there.

Who is God? Well, the God that I'm talking about is a God that has so much love and compassion that he sent His Son for us to rescue us. He keeps reiterating the sent. Now God loves you most and he sends the Son in full authority. If you give someone a mission and you tell them to go on your behalf, they walk in the authority of the One who sent them.

God the Father gives the Son authority to give eternal life. And he walks in that, bringing glory to the Father. And likewise he says in verse 18, as you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. Here in this portion of Scripture. He's praying for the disciples and he is praying for us.

He is sending us in the same way that God the Father sent God the Son and God the Son brings glory to the Father. Jesus Himself is sending harvest point out into the world to bring glory to the Son, bringing glory to the Father. When he tells us to go and he sends us, we walk in his authority. We walk in his authority. We are on mission and that brings glory to God.

Do you ever wonder, how could I bring glory to the Father? You bring glory to the Father by reminding the world that he came for them. That's how we bring glory to to the Father, sharing that God the Father sent Jesus for our behalf. And we get to walk in that authority filled with the Holy spirit. In Matthew 28, when he says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples. The authority he's given to you, go and make disciples. Walk in that. Teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. The mission of Jesus, reconciling humanity to God the Father.

We have that assignment. We have been sent into the world. Do you know you were sent? Do you know your sentness? Do you know the privilege of bringing glory to the Son and bringing glory to the Father?

It's a privilege. And you have authority to walk and to teach and to proclaim in his name. We have the example of Jesus Christ. He is our example of going into the world and sharing him. That's what we get to do and not our own.

But we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who enables us to walk the way he wants us to walk. He says, go. He says he starts his prayer with glory. He ends his prayer with glory. He says, I have brought you glory by finishing the work you gave me.

Isn't that interesting? The cross hasn't even happened yet. He says, I finished it. Total obedience. The work he's talking about is our redemption, defeat of death, hell and the grave.

He is confident. He knows the cross is before him, but he knows the work is finished. Finished. He is determined. He has turned his face and he knows.

And he says he prays, father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Only God can say that. Only God could pray that. He's saying, father, would you restore me back to that intimacy and the communion and that in that relationship that we had in that way before the world ever began. Reminds us of John, chapter one.

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. He says, the hour has come.

Bring me back to that shared glory and fellowship. Jesus had a longing for things the way they were. Isn't that interesting? Can you even imagine it? We are sent friends.

And number two, not that we're just sent, but also his prayer for unity. His prayer for unity, verse 10. He says, all mine are yours and yours are mine. And I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world.

But they are in the world and I am coming to you, Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so they may be one as we are one. You think about oneness, verse 10. All I have is yours and all you have is mine. The intimacy, the mutual sharing and fellowship of the Father and the Son. But not only that.

He's talking about the oneness they have. And right after that he thinks of us and he says, holy Father, protect them. It's interesting that he calls them Holy Father as he's just talking about the world. And you see that contrasted with the Holy Father. He says, protect them, Holy Father, that they may be one as we are one.

This is talking about the body of Christ. He is praying for us right now, as we live in this world, that we would be united and that we would be one in the same way that they are one. Can you imagine it? Are we one in that way? He is praying right now for the unity of believers, that we would be united.

It's important to Jesus. He wants us united, not just with him, but with each other. Brothers and sisters united.

And then he prays specifically for us. Let me read this. Verse 20. I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, meaning any who come to know me through the sharing of the Gospel, that they may be one Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. Here he goes again.

Same thing. Oneness between God the Father and God the Son. He repeats that unity. And then he says, may they also be in us. We are invited, you're invited into the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.

He says, I want you there. That intimacy. He invites us in that unity, in the shared trinitarian life. Hours before the cross picture it, Jesus knows what is coming. He is going to be arrested.

The cross is coming and he is praying to his Father in the last words of Jesus as he prays to the Father, it is that you and I would be one. It is for our unity, unified, one body in him and unity with each other.

As I was studying this, the Holy Spirit reminded me that the only way we can be united as a body of Christ, it is if only we are united to him first. We will never have shared unity if we are not unified with God the Father first. Paul says in Ephesians 4, verse 4, there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all. And in all, we live in harmony.

For the mission of the Gospel. It's important to God that we be unified. We are sent. He prays for our unity. And he also wants to be made known to the world.

To be made known to the world. Look at verse 23. I in them and you in me. That they may be complete, completely won. Why?

Why? He says, so the world may know, Ginosko, that you have sent me. That the world may know. Friends, when we partake in the divine nature, in the divine life of God, the world notices. The world takes notice.

When we are unified. When we are unified to the Father, the world notices. And can I remind you here that the world is on the heart of Jesus. The world is on the heart of Jesus, not just us in Alabama. The world is on the heart of the Father.

The one that is lost on Bourbon street right now is on the heart of the Father. The world is important to the Father. So his last words. Here he is praying that the world would know that God sent me. That's what he wants.

And he models the same thing again. Oneness, verse 22. That they may be one as we are one. He repeats it. Verse 23.

So you've got oneness in the body of Christ and then oneness with God. Verse 23. I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. Why? Why do you want us unified so much, God?

Why? He says it again. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Not only that you sent me. Sent me.

That you love. You love the world. Loved how? Loved like the Father loves the Son. That's love.

In the same way that God the Father, loves the Son. He says, I want the world to know that I love them like that.

As mothers, as fathers, as siblings. We want our family to know that we love them. And God the Father saying, I want the world to know that I love them like that. The same love I have for the Son, I have for this world. Friends, our unity in the body of Christ is essential for fulfilling the Great Commission.

We have a job, we have an estate. But we need to be unified and listen to the final words of his prayer. It's beautiful. Verse 25. This time he says, righteous Father, speaking to his character.

Earlier he said, holy Father, Righteous Father, the world doesn't know you. I know you. And they, the disciples, know you sent me. I have made you known and will continue to make you known in order that. Why?

Why does the Son make God the Father known. Why will he continue to make God the Father known? So that the love you have for me may be in them. Them. In them.

Jesus is saying, I know I have experienced your love, but I want the world to experience it. Do you know the Father's love? Have you experienced it? We should be sharing that with others so they can experience it. Jesus prayer should be our prayer.

And not only that, not only is love, but friends, it gets even better. Look at what it says. Not only love, but he says that I myself may be in them. Jesus himself coming to live within us. Jesus himself coming to live within us.

He comes to live within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Son was sent by the Father and the Son sends us. Jesus prayed that they would be one as God the Father and God the Son were one, that we would be one and that the world would know Him. That the world would know him. Friends, we are invited to know Jesus.

We are invited to know him. And we are commanded to make him known. Are you making him known? Are you making him known to the world? We are sent and we are enabled by the Spirit.

I know that Satan wants division. We talked about this in our small group this morning. Satan wants division so that the message of God would not go forward. Jesus says, I'm praying. I'm interceding right now for the unity within the church.

Make Jesus known to the world. Make him known.

When we think about the fact that we are sent and that Jesus prayed for our unity and that he wants to use us to make him known to this world, you think about all this knowing. You think about the Trinitarian language and the shared love and joy and peace and communion and intimacy within the Godhead that we're invited to participate in now as we walk through this life, God wants to use us on mission. You may think, who am I? He wants to use you. He wants to use you to invite the world that doesn't know the love of the Father to share in that.

He wants us to participate in the divine life now. Eternal life. He says, this is eternal life. That you would know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent. That's eternal life.

And that starts now. That is eternal knowing. Oh, there will be a day when we will see Him. We will be in his presence. We get to start the eternal life.

Now after this prayer, Jesus would end this prayer and he would go to the garden. Hours later, he would make Himself known by way of his death and his resurrection and his ascension and the sending of The Holy Spirit. Pentecost Sunday, which is next week.

Verse 3. This is eternal life, that they would know you, the only true God. This is eternal life. You put your name there. This is eternal life that Emily would know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

I found a verse in Hosea this past week, Hosea 6, 3. This is the words. It says, oh, that we might know the Lord. The word is Hadah. That's the Old Testament word for ginosko.

Oh, that we might know the Lord. It says, let us press on to know him. Let us press on to know Him. It says, he will respond to us as surely as the arrival of the dawn or the coming of rains in early spring. He is faithful.

Draw near to him, and he will draw near to you. As you leave today, let us carry with us verse 26, as it says, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them. We're invited to share in the divine conversation, the divine love and intimacy of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And he pulls us into that, and he says, I want the whole world to experience it. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Let's.