Jesus Prays for Us -- John 17:20-23

Introduction

The way we view prayer is interesting.

Most of us believe that prayer is effective. We believe that God hears prayers, and that He answers prayers in His own time.

We believe that, but I think secretly we don’t believe our prayers are that effective. It’s not that we don’t believe God hears our specific prayers, but we aren’t convinced that our personal prayers are getting through as well as they might.

It’s not that God doesn’t like us as much. Granted, we may feel that God is less likely to hear our prayers because we believe deep down that we aren’t really where we should be in our relationship with God. Most of us aren’t really skilled in the discipline of prayer. We know how to ask God for things, but we may not be very good at listening for His response. And we may think that what we’re praying for isn’t that important to begin with.

There are times, though, that we really do need for God to work in our lives in a specific, special way. There’s a crisis, or a special need that we really feel passionately about, and in those times we truly want God to know that not only are we really serious but that we really want and need His intervention. It’s at those times we turn to others to intercede on our behalf. We ask others to pray for us, and it’s not unusual for us to seek out “prayer warriors” at this time.

You know the “prayer warrior.” She or he is that person that seems to have a spiritual depth to them, someone we believe has that closer walk that we fail to have. We sense that the prayer warrior is the one who really knows how to converse with God, and that they really have God’s ear. At that time, we want the prayer warrior to speak to God on our behalf.

When my cousin John was waiting for his new heart, he described the day that he and his wife realized their wait was ending. John had been ordered to eat by his doctors, because John was slowly ebbing away. They needed him to keep his strength up for his health and for the anticipated surgery. One day, John called down to place his meal order and was told that he was not to be allowed to eat anything that day. After a time, he and his wife Stacy began to strongly suspect that John was to have surgery, but it couldn’t be confirmed until the replacement heart was finally settled. John describes that moment when both he and Stacy realized that the prayers that had been prayed for him were now filling the room. They were being bathed in prayers, prayers of close friends and family, prayers of people they had never met but had heard of their need. The prayers washed over them and brought that peace that passes understanding to them.

We want those prayers; we need those prayers. And we particularly want the prayers of the prayer warriors.

There is no greater prayer warrior than Jesus Christ. The Bible assures us that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, intervening on our behalf. But we also know in this passage of Scripture that Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God and Savior of the World, intervened on our behalf. In that upper room on the night He was to be betrayed, Jesus prayed for us.

Central Truth: Jesus’ prayer is that we may find unity so that others will know God sent Him.

What Jesus wants for us is:

Jesus is very specific in v. 20 for whom He is praying. He spent the first few verses praying for Himself, then the lion’s share of the prayer has been for those who are with Him on this special night. Now He turns His attention to those who will come to Him as a result of the apostles’ message. It is a prayer for all the believers to come, from that moment to our present and into the future until He returns again to our world. Jesus prays for us, and in that prayer there are three interwoven requests, each of them important and each of them related to each other.

1. Unity

The first we see in v. 21 is that we be one, that we will be united in our belief and in our message.

Jesus identifies this unity as being the same as His unity with the Father—“just as You are in Me and I am in You.” It is this unity of purpose and spirit that has driven and defined Jesus’ ministry. Jesus once told a crowd, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. The one who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him” (John 8:28-29). It is this submission to the Father and constant awareness of the Father that has enabled the Son to be so effective in His ministry. Those who heard Jesus said He spoke as one having authority because He only spoke what the Father told Him to say. That is authority.

This is not to say that Jesus is secondary to the Father; far be it. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are different facets of the Trinity, and they are equal in nature. Granted, Jesus ceded His equality with the Father while He came to earth, but God has answered Jesus’ prayer and now Jesus is glorified with the Father.

The unity between the Father and the Son is to be our unity, as well, according to Jesus’ prayer. He understands that we have to have one message, one faith, one hope. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). He also wrote to the Philippians: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Philippians 4:3-6).

Unity doesn’t mean we become robotic in our message or in our being. We are called to follow God as the individuals we are. We each come to the Father with different experiences, different passions, different fears, different likes and dislikes. But we all come to the same Father through the same Son and indwelt by the same Spirit. We are different, but we are one because the Spirit within us makes us one. We all have the same message that we may express in our own unique way. We may not agree on everything, but we all agree that salvation comes through Christ. We find a commonality in our fellowship. We are one because Jesus has asked the Father to make us one.

1. Fellowship

The second thing Jesus prays for is that we have fellowship with the Father and the Son. Jesus repeatedly references us being in them as they are in each other and as Jesus is in us.

Jesus had told this to the disciples earlier in the evening. “Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14:19-20). I always try to look at this statement as a sponge inside a basin filled with water. The basin is the Father; the water is the Son, and we are the sponge. When a sponge is dropped into a water-filled basin, the sponge absorbs the water. When the sponge is removed from the water and is squeezed, the sponge gives up the water within it and still remains damp.

This promise was given to the men in the upper room. Now that promise is in Jesus’ prayer for us. Just as the sponge gives up the water, so we, too, will let others see Jesus in us as we are in Him and He is in us. That relationship that shaped Jesus’ earthly ministry will be carried on through us as we receive the message from others and share the message with those around us. This fellowship we have with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit allows us to become more like Christ and allows us to have a Christ-like influence in our world.

The idea is that we surrender ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, as Paul talks about in Romans 12:1-2: “. . . offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

This idea of fellowship—us being in Christ, Him being in the Father, and Christ being in us—allows us to hear the voice of God, to know the thoughts of God and to be close to the Father and the Son. This is Jesus’ prayer for you and me.

Verse 23 also adds the assurance that we are loved by the Father in the same manner that He loved the Son. Can you think of any greater gift than to know that same love God the Father poured out into His Son is also extended to us?

1. Continuity

Jesus asks these things of God in order that the world may know that the Father sent Jesus into the world. Twice Jesus references this reason for our unity and fellowship—in v. 21 and again in v. 23.

The reason Jesus is returning to the Father is because He is about to complete His reason for coming—to die for our sins and to be raised to give us hope and eternal life. It is this message that Jesus gave to the disciples when He sent them out into the villages of Judea. It is the message Jesus will give to the disciples in Acts 1:8 prior to His ascension into heaven. It is the message He gives us today.

Our message is that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. He gave His Son so that Jesus could die for our sins, cleansing us and redeeming us, allowing us to become children of God if we will only believe in the One whom God has sent. We make disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We teach these new converts, reminding them of the words of Jesus and the promises of God. We encourage them through our fellowship and our unity in Spirit. We let the love of Christ be evident in us and we will show the world that Jesus is real, that Jesus saves and that Jesus offers hope.

Conclusion

To be the subject of Jesus’ prayer in the upper room, the night of His betrayal, is a statement of His love for us and His belief in us. He wants us to be like Him and the Father, united in love, enjoying fellowship with Him and continuing His ministry on this earth by letting Him live through us.

How will respond to this great testimony?