The transforming power of the word, John 17:6-19

Last week we began to look at what is the longest prayer of Christ that is recorded, and perhaps the most instructive of His prayers.  It is exemplary from many different perspectives.  The prayer can be broken down into three main sections; vs1-5 Jesus prays concerning Himself, vs 6-19 Jesus prays concerning the disciples, and vs20 -26 Jesus prays concerning the church. 

Now as we saw last time, one of those perspectives is that Christ’s prayer teaches us to pray. His prayer as recorded in the first five verses is an example of effective prayer, prayer that is acceptable to God.  In vs 1-5, we noted that Christ’s prayer was to the right person,  then in the right timing, for the right purpose, according to the will of God, according to the knowledge of God, that He might do the work of God, that all would be done to the glory of God’s Son.  If we emulate Christ’s example of prayer, then we can be confident that God accepts our prayers.

This week, we are looking at the middle section, or His prayer for HIs disciples.  And in this section we see that Christ is obviously praying for our benefit.  He prays for the benefit of His disciples and also for us, as evidenced by vs.6 and 20. But in praying for us, He is also praying as an example for us. He is praying not only to edify us, but to educate us.  And so contained in this prayer is a healthy measure of doctrine that is being taught.  

Doctrine is simply a term used to designate truth or principles of truth.  So as Jesus prays for the disciples, He is also concerned that He prays for them according to the truth.  That is the key to effective prayer, or prayer that will be accepted by God.  Prayer, to be acceptable to God, must be in accordance with God’s nature and character.  I frequently find an attitude among naive Christians that uses prayer as a form of existentialism.  Whereby acting in what they think is faith, they speak things that they want to be true, but which often are not founded on the truth.

Such prayers are not effective, because God is concerned about truth.  There is no truth outside of God.  God is truth.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.”  So we cannot access God without truth.  Jesus said again, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

So as Jesus prays for the disciples, He prays according to the truth, and He is teaching that truth as He prays.  There are three points He makes in this middle section of the prayer, which is particularly directed towards the disciples, but exponentially to us as well. The three principles build on one another.  The first principle is the manifestation of the truth, which produces separation by the truth, which produces sanctification through the truth.

I want to focus our attention first upon the manifestation of the truth.  Jesus praying in vs.6 said, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”  

The first way that the truth of God was manifested to the disciples was by Jesus Himself.  “I have manifested Your name.”  That means that He manifested, or revealed, brought to life, the nature and character of God.  He was the invisible God made visible.  To make manifest is to take what is obscure or mysterious, and make it clear. Jesus Christ made God visible.  Hebrews 1:3 says, “And He [that is Christ} is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of [God’s] nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”  

Also, Colossians 1:15 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

And John 1:14 speaking of Christ says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  The point being, that Jesus Christ was the exact representation of the nature and character and word of God. He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the truth of God, made manifest to the world.  

There used to be a popular song on the radio that had the lyric, “tell me all your thoughts on God.”  And that is a popular sentiment in society today.  I saw an interview with a well known rock musician the other day in which she was expounding on what she believed God was like.  But in reality, they are telling you what they want God to be like.  However,  to design a god according to your sense of what he should be like is actually a form of idolatry.  That is creating a god according to your image.  God has already declared Himself as to who He is, through Jesus Christ. And we must worship Him in accordance with His truth.

And then Jesus says there is a second way that God is manifested.  Starting in vs.6b, “they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.”  

It’s no coincidence that in John chapter 1 Jesus is called the Word who was with God and who was God.  And now that person called the Word, who is the manifestation of God, gives them the word of God and that word manifests the truth of God; that Jesus is from God, and is sent by God. 

The difference between us and the disciples is that we don’t have the physical person of Jesus Christ here with us today.  We cannot see Jesus.  But we do have His word.  And His word manifests Christ and manifests the Father.  God has manifested Himself to us through His word, and the Holy Spirit works through the word in us to make known to us the truth of God.  Thus Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit again and again as the Spirit of Truth.  

I said last week that it was important to pray.  Perhaps one of the most important disciplines we can exercise as a Christian is to pray.  It should stir up our faith in all areas of our lives.  But I do not say that to diminish the importance of the word of God.  It is the foundation for all that we do.  So when we pray, we must pray according to the truth of God’s word.  If our prayers are to be acceptable to God, then they must be in accordance with the character and nature of God, which is revealed to us in the word of God.

Note also vs 8 shows that the manifestation of God through the word produces salvation. “for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.”  That is salvation in a nutshell.  To receive Christ, to believe in Him and all that He has said concerning Himself constitutes saving faith.  We are saved by grace through faith. Simply seeing the light of the truth of Jesus Christ and receiving Him as your Savior and Lord and believing in Him constitutes saving faith.  And Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes through the hearing of the word.  Romans 10:17, “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

That leads us to the second doctrine that Christ is teaching in His prayer, which is separation by the truth. Once we are saved, the truth of God separates us from the deception of the world.  Jesus prays in vs 9, “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.”  

Look at how this works; we are chosen by God, given to Christ, separated unto God and Christ, and as a result we glorify Christ.  That’s amazing, isn’t it?  God glorifies Christ, Christ manifests the Father to us, we are saved, and then we glorify God by manifesting Christ.  It comes full circle.  And don’t miss the security that is given there.  We are not only separated unto Christ, but kept by God and by Christ.  Jesus spoke of that security in  John 10:28, saying, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”  He will not lose those who are His.  He keeps us, forever.

Then back in our text in vs 11 Jesus says our salvation results in us being unified with Him, and in turn unified with the Father. “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” We are unified with God by the indwelling Spirit of God. Paul said in 1Cor. 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”  And in  1Cor. 3:16, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”  

Listen, we are not of the world, but separated unto God, because we are the temple of God and He dwells in us.  We aren’t separate from the world because we think we are better than they are, but because we belong to God.  

1John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  So we separate from the world because we are not of the world.  We belong to Christ.  We have been bought with a price. And we have been separated unto Christ, we are unified with God,  because the Spirit of God indwells us.

When we are unified with Christ through separation from the world, then we know the joy of the Lord. Vs.13, ““But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.”  I said last week and I will say it again; a life lived for God’s purposes produces joy.  Whereas a life lived for yourself produces dissatisfaction.  Living for God will bring you true joy.  Living for yourself will maybe garner a few moments of happiness, but in the long run it is a joyless experience. But when you live to glorify God, then you can know the joy of Christ, which is everlasting joy, even in the midst of tribulation.  Hebrews 12:2, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

And let me just add this thought; if you are truly a Christian, living in the world will make you miserable.  The devil will try to seduce you with promise that you can find happiness in the lusts of the world, but it will only end up making you miserable.  Because if you love the world, then you are in rebellion with God, and that goes against your new nature.  So don’t fall for the temptations of the world.  They will not bring joy.  Joy comes from separation from the world and unity with God.  But I’m not suggesting that you need to become a monk and go live in a monastery on some remote mountain to find joy in the Lord.  We are in the world, but not of the world.  That simply means we don’t fulfill the sinful lusts of the world. We don’t live according to the dictates of the world’s philosophy.

While separation from the world unto Christ produces joy, it conversely produces hatred from the world.  Vs.14, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”  Because they hated Christ, they will hate us as well. They hate us because we are different.  We have a different perspective about life that separates us from them. That hatred of the world is why we endure tribulation.  But that is also why He promises us joy first.  So because of the joy set before us, like Christ we can endure the suffering and despise the shame. Knowing that if we suffer with HIm, we shall also be exalted with Him. That one day we too will sit on thrones with Christ.

Vs.15, Jesus prays, “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”  Now how is that accomplished?  How do we keep ourselves from the sin which so easily besets us, from the snare and trap of Satan?  I suggest that the answer is found in Christ’s prayer.  Note that He has bracketed vs15 on the front end and the back end with the same phrase: “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”  Twice Jesus says it, to show it’s imperative for keeping ourselves unstained by sin, and unfettered by vice.  To be not of the world is to keep oneself from the captivity of the evil one.  

When we try to see how close to the world we can get and still be ok, we put ourselves at risk from the trap of the evil one, who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour.  But when we stay far away from the lusts of the world and the paths of sin, then we free ourselves from many temptations.  Paul illustrates this through the lust for money in 1Timothy 6:9, “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Jesus said you cannot serve God and mammon, or money.

The third major principle Jesus illustrates in His prayer builds upon the principle of separation we just looked at, and that is sanctification through the truth. Jesus prays in vs.17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”  This is one of the greatest principles in the New Testament.  First, a definition of terms; sanctification means to be set apart.  To be consecrated, set apart from profane use to holy usage.  It means to be made righteous. That is the purpose of separation.  We are no longer of the world, but we are set apart for fellowship with God.

Now note that Jesus says, sanctification comes through the truth. What does that mean?  It means when we look at Christ, we see the standard for righteousness.  We see God’s standard for holiness.  And when we emulate Christ and obey His word we become conformed to His image, we become conformed to His righteousness. 2Cor. 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

So the Spirit of God, working in us through the truth of God’s word produces obedience to the word, produces in us the image of Jesus Christ, by which we manifest Him to the world. That is sanctification, when we become holy vessels used for service to God.

Secondly, Jesus affirms, “Your word is truth.”  That’s extremely important.  Because the inerrancy, inspiration and sufficiency of scripture is under attack today.  But Jesus says unequivocally  that His word is truth.  Absolute, irrevocable, eternal truth is found in the word of God. 

Every year, Oxford Dictionaries chooses a word or expression to “reflect the passing year in language.” For the Word of the Year in 2016, they chose “post-truth.”  They define  “post-truth” as “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

So basically, what they are saying is that our society doesn’t believe in absolute truth anymore.  They believe in relative truth, as defined by their emotions and personal inclinations.  

And that’s why the world hates us. Because the Christian’s worldview is completely opposed to this post-truth mindset. Christianity is grounded in objective truth. Jesus said in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  Objective truth only exists because we have God’s Word.  Jesus says in vs17, “Sanctify them in Your truth. Your word is truth.”  Both Paul and James describe the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). Psalms 119:160 says, “The entirety of your word is truth.” When Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6), He wasn’t expressing His personal belief or opinion. He was speaking the truth of God, a fundamental reality that doesn’t change from person to person or age to age. It doesn’t matter if our culture thinks truth is subjective or dependent upon their preferences. The truth of the matter is “no one comes to the Father but by Jesus Christ.” There is God’s truth as revealed in the scriptures, and there is no other truth.

The final principle we see in this section of Christ’s prayer is that sanctification not only comes through separation and the word, but through service.  Vs.18, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”  

So sanctification means to be set apart for good works. Eph. 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

The temple of God was for service to God, for worship of God. They are really one and the same; service and worship.  You cannot have one without the other.  Romans 12:1 illustrates that perfectly.  It says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  And notice how that service and worship is accomplished by the way; by separation from the world, vs.2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

What is our purpose in sanctification? That in being conformed to the image of Christ we may be the manifestation of Christ to the world. Jesus models this Himself. "As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." Just as Christ was God's instrument, sent to be the Light to  a blind and dying world, so He sends us to do the same. We are sent to the same work, sent with the same resources, and thus we are continuing the work of Jesus in the world. That is the process of sanctification.  We serve the Lord, as the temple of God.

Further, he prays, this will be made possible by his death on the cross: "For their sake I sanctify myself." He dedicated Himself to be used as an instrument of righteousness by going to the cross. In order that we might be sanctified in the truth. And as the outcome of that death of Jesus on our behalf we are granted righteousness, and holiness, and the indwelling  power of the Spirit by which we too may become ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.

The High Priestly prayer of Christ, John 17:1-5

Once we are born again, we are converted, become a new creation in Christ Jesus, it is necessary that we grow in our new life, mature to the full stature of Christ Jesus.  And to that end, if I had to make a recommendation for a spiritual goal that you could make which would have the greatest possible impact in your life, not only for yourself, but also on your church, your family, friends and coworkers, I would suggest that you resolve to be a better man or woman of prayer.  That doesn’t mean that I think reading your Bible is not essential to Christian health, or that other godly disciplines are not profitable.  But it simply means that if you become a man or woman of prayer you cannot help but become more attuned to the things of God.  A committed prayer life will immeasurably enrich all areas of your spiritual life.  You cannot have a vibrant prayer life and be a lukewarm Christian.  A diligent, effective prayer life will elevate your spiritual maturity in all areas.  It will improve your devotional times, it will improve your ministry involvement,  it will empower your witness to others, and it is a means of loving one another. 

However, I should emphasize that for such results, there must be effective prayers.  Not merely going through the motions.  As Jesus said in  Matt. 6:7, “…when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.” Obviously, praying the rosary over and over again is just meaningless repetition. So it’s not the quantity of our prayers that matters as much as the quality of our prayers. As James said, “the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.” I think that James is saying that for a prayer to be effective with God, you must be righteous.  As David said in the Psalms, “If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me.”

So with effective prayers as our goal, then we should look to the supreme example, and that is of course Jesus Himself.  The Bible records many instances of Jesus praying.  But while we see many instances in which we are told Jesus prayed all night or that He spent much time in prayer, the Bible records only brief sentences of His prayers.  We have what is called the Lord’s prayer, but it isn’t a prayer which Jesus prayed.  It was a model prayer for the disciples so they could learn to pray.  But as we come to this 17th chapter of John, we have a tremendous opportunity to study the prayer of Jesus in full.  It is a comprehensive prayer, and as such it is one in which we can study and emulate in full confidence that we are praying according to the will of God, which Jesus told us is the key to effective prayer.

We’re going to look then at the beginning of this prayer which Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion.  This is widely known as His High Priestly prayer.  In that sense, it is a prelude to His heavenly ministry.  Jesus ends His earthly ministry by interceding through prayer in His heavenly ministry.  Hebrews 7:25 says, “He ever lives to make intercession for us.”  And so this prayer is a foretaste of His ministry in heaven as our Great High Priest, the mediator between God and man.

I want to point out for you seven essential components of effective prayer as illustrated in the first five verses of this prayer of Jesus.  First we must pray to the right person, then in the right timing, 3rd, for the right purpose,  4th, according to the will of God, 5th, according to the knowledge of God, 6th, that we might do the work of God, and last, that all would be done to the glory of God’s Son.

Now there is some overlap there, but I think that will serve as a sort of outline by which we can examine this prayer for our benefit.  Let’s notice first, praying to the right person. Jesus addresses His prayer to the Father.  Of all the ways God could have chosen to be called, and out of all the names of God, Jesus uses the title Father.  And we know that in the disciple’s model prayer, known as the Lord’s prayer, Jesus told the disciples as well to address God as our Father.  

The title Father illustrates that God is not some distant, aloof, or abstract god far off in the universe, or far beyond our comprehension.  But God is our heavenly Father, which speaks of the person and the personality of God.  It reveals the relationship we can have with the Father through Jesus Christ.  And it reveals the love of God towards His children.  It reveals the privilege we have with God, by which we can say, “Abba, Father.” 

Now of course, you must have been born again by the Spirit in order to call God your Father. If you have been born again, then you are a child of God, and as such, you have a special privilege to come to God as your Father.  There is no one else we are instructed to pray to.  We are never told to pray to Mary, or to the Saints.  We pray to God our Father.  To pray to anyone else is really a form of idolatry. 

So Jesus calls God “Father” and He instructs us to call God “Father” which means that we are the children of God and thus co-heirs with Christ.  As Jesus is the Son of God, He has brought many sons to glory, bought by the redemption of His blood, so that we may be called the children of God.  That relationship of Father and child is the basis for effective prayer.  Because as Jesus said in Matt.6:8, “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”  It means we can come to Him whenever we want, wherever we are and know that He hears us, and that He loves us and  wants to help us, and that He will give us what is best for us, even with the same confidence that Jesus could appeal to His Father.

Secondly, note that Jesus prays not only to the right person, but in the right timing.  Jesus says, “the hour has come, glorify your Son.”  All throughout the Lord's ministry He has said, "My hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come." But now as he approaches Calvary the hour has come. He is speaking of the hour in which He is offered up as a sacrifice for sin on the cross.  

Jesus makes it clear that His hour was the hour of His crucifixion in John 12:27, Jesus said, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.”  He went on to clarify what that meant in vs.31, ‘Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”

We too must pray according to the timing of God.  Our timetables are not necessarily God’s timetables.  I’ve seen that illustrated in my own life time and time again.  For instance, we want a new car, so we get a loan for a car, and that becomes a monthly bill.  Now every month when the bill is due I look to God to “supply my needs.”  I think, surely, God knows that it’s the first of the month.  What’s He waiting for?  And when He doesn’t supply what I want just when I think He should I start to doubt the goodness or the love of God.  But I need to remember that God didn’t sign that contract, I did.  I let my glory, and my lusts and my desires set a timetable that God didn't have any say so over.  We need to remember Isaiah 55:8, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.  

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.”  Jesus knew that God had appointed Him to die at the right time, and so He prayed in accordance with the timing of God, confident that God’s timing was perfect. We don’t always know the timing of God, but we can wait patiently for it, trusting that our heavenly Father knows what His perfect time is.

Thirdly, Jesus prays, and we should pray, according to the purpose of God.  “Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify You.” It’s interesting that Jesus asked to be glorified, because the hour had come to be glorified, but that glorification resulted in His death.  That’s ironic, isn’t it? You know, the word glory can have different meanings, but the one I think is appropriate for this use of glory is; “high renown or honor won by notable achievements.”  Jesus considered it glory to die on the cross for us, that we might be reconciled to God, so that He might bring many sons to glory.  His glory came at the expense of His suffering.  And His glory was to glorify the Father.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question; what is the chief end of man?  And the answer is, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  When we aim to glorify Him, then we will find the joy of Christ that He promised we would have.  Joy is not found in self glory, or self gratification, but it is found in serving the Lord, and doing all for His glory.

So when we pray, we need to remember that principle.  We must ask ourselves when we pray for things, are we praying to achieve God’s purposes or for ours, for our glory or for God’s glory?  God’s glory requires that we die to ourselves first and then He will glorify us.  James said in  James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”  Selfish motives in prayer is a form of self glorification.  Our desire should not be to glorify ourselves, but to glorify God.  Jesus could ask God to glorify Him because everything He did glorified the Father.  How can we pray for God to glorify us?  To reveal us as His people, as His children, as made in HIs likeness and conformed to His image.  When we are obedient to Him, and thus reflect Him, then we glorify God, and in return He will glorify us.

Romans 8:17 tells us though that our glory comes the same way Jesus did; through suffering.  “and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  

Fourthly, we need to pray as Jesus prayed, not only to the right person, in the right timing, and for the right purpose, but also according to the will of God.  Now that may seem a little redundant. There cannot be much daylight between the purpose of God and the will of God. But perhaps we might think of the purpose of God as referring to His eternal purpose.  Ephesians 3:10 speaks of this eternal purpose; “that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  So that speaks perhaps of the eternal plan of God, whereas the will of God achieves that purpose as it is acted out in the daily events and exercises of our lives.  

So in an example of praying according to the will of God, Jesus says in vs.2, “even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.”  The will of God is rooted in the authority of God, which He has delegated to Christ.  The Lord Jesus Christ has all authority over life.  He is the Creator of all. John 1 tells us “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”  Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Christ upholds all things by the word of His power.

So doesn’t the Creator have authority over His creation?  And since the Creator gives life to His creation, should not  creation recognize His authority to determine the ebb and flow of our lives?  Should we not recognize that He gives us life, and thus His will should be our will?  Then certainly when we pray, it shouldn’t be to try to shape the will of God, but to seek and to submit to the will of God.  

Jesus prayed according to the will of God.  In the Garden of Gethsemane a few hours later, He prayed while sweating drops of blood, “not my will, but yours be done.”  When we are attuned to the Father’s will, then our prayers will be answered.  We subordinate our will to the Father’s will because He knows what is best for us.

Doing the will of God is kind of like going on a diet. The diet says, no ice cream.  But you want ice cream.  You love ice cream.  And so the diet is hard for you. It’s difficult to stay on track and you are constantly in a battle of will power.  But if you could somehow become a different person - one that hated ice cream, well, then you would have no trouble in keeping the diet, would you?  Because you hate ice cream, and the diet restricts ice cream.  Now your will is in agreement with the diet plan.  And so the diet is no longer difficult.  

So it is with God’s plan for us. When we were of the world then we loved the things of the world. But when we are saved we become a new creation. We are converted, changed.  God gives us a new nature.  Now we hate what God hates, and love what God loves.  So His will becomes our will.  And our prayers are not a battle with God to get what we want, but they are in accordance with His will. And His will is clearly laid out for us in His word.  Knowing the will of God is found in the knowledge of God revealed in His word.

That leads to the next point, we need to pray as Jesus did, according to the knowledge of God.  Jesus prayed in vs.3,  “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”  We can know God, and know the will of God, because we have known Jesus Christ and believed in Him.  Hebrews 1:3, speaking of Christ says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.”  

So if we want to know what God is like, we need only to look at Christ.  He was God in the flesh.  God made manifest to man.  And when we believe that, then we exhibit saving faith, by which we are saved from our sins and given eternal life. Jesus came to teach us the truth of God, the knowledge of God, and to give us the word of God.  So when we pray, we can pray according to the revealed knowledge of God. And we can know the will of God, because we have the word of God, which reveals the mind of God.

Sixthly, we need to pray that we might do the work of God. If we really want to pray according to the will of God, then we must do the work of God.  Jesus prayed in vs 4, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”  So many times when we pray, we pray that God will do something for us.  And God does many things for us.  The Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from above.  The Bible says that God gives us the ability to make money, to be prosperous and successful.  Jesus said God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust.  

But how often do we pray that we might do the works of God?  That God would strengthen us to be a witness at work?  Or that God would give me the opportunity to talk to my neighbor about the Lord?  How often do we pray that God would give us a gift that we might serve His church?  Prayer is an essential part of service.  And service to God is worship of God.  Far too often we think that all God requires of us is to attend a meeting once a week or so and sing some songs and that constitutes worship.  That may be the beginning of worship, but it certainly is not the end of it.  Romans 12:1 says you are “to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  

Present your body to God as a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual service of worship, to do what?  Well, the rest of the passage says it is to exercise your spiritual gifts within the body of Christ, that is within the church.  Paul goes on to say these spiritual gifts are not for self edification, or to glorify yourself, but to build up the church through means of prophecy (that is preaching), or in serving, or in teaching, or in exhortation, or through giving, or in leading, or in showing mercy, and all is to be done in love for one another.  “Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”  Those are just some of the good works we have been saved to do. And we need to pray that God will give us His grace that we might do them.

Finally, we need to pray that all would be done to the glory of Christ. Our godly works are to bring honor to Christ. Jesus prayed in vs 5, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”  We traditionally tack on the end of our prayers the phrase; “in Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.”  And we do that because Jesus Himself said whatever we ask for in His name the Father will do.  

But to ask in Jesus’s name is not just some ritualistic appendage to our prayers, but it is an understanding and desire that all would be done to glorify Jesus Christ.  He is worthy of all glory.   Philippians 2:6 says about Christ that “although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (or held onto) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  

Jesus was asking in this prayer that He might once again take His rightful place in glory with God, with the same glory that He had with God before He laid it aside to be humiliated in the flesh.  And God answered that prayer, according to Philippians 2.  God gave Him the name above every name, that every knee would bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  

This really goes back to the authority of Christ.  He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  And so when we come before Him to pray in His name, we pray to the Father in the name of His beloved Son, whom He has exalted at His right hand, and with whom He shares all glory.  This same Jesus is our Redeemer, our Advocate, our Mediator, our Great High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us.

All of our works then should be for His glory.  Our lives should be lived for His glory.  Everything we do should reflect Jesus Christ.  That is the purpose of the Spirit of Christ who now lives in us, that He might do the works of Christ in us.  That is the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit, that we might be enabled to do the works of Christ.  

When we understand these principles of prayer as illustrated by Jesus’s prayer, then we will find our prayers effectual.  We will pray without ceasing.  We will pray fervently.  We will pray for leading, for strength to do His will. We will pray for our fellow believers. We will pray for our enemies. We will pray for our government. We will pray for the expansion of Christ’s kingdom.  And when we pray that way, it will elevate all areas of our spiritual lives to a higher plane, so that we may even more reflect Jesus Christ.

We are going to continue to look at Christ’s prayer for at least a couple of more weeks.  But for now there is a lot here that we can begin to emulate.  Peter said that Christ is our pattern, that we might trace our lives over His example.  Considering how important our prayer life is, there can be no more noble goal than to become a greater man or woman of prayer.  And the way to do that is to pattern our prayers after Christ’s example. That we might pray to the right person, in the right timing, for the right purpose, according to the will of God, according to the knowledge of God, that we might do the works of God, and that all would be done to the glory of God’s Son.