“A Prayer for Safety and Preservation” (John 17:9-26) Sunday, October 29, 2017 @Jesus Center Community Church “We exist to exalt King Jesus by serving, connecting, and loving people”

Some preliminary matters to consider about Jesus’ intercessory prayer on behalf of believers Verse 9 establishes the reason why such invocation is necessary: because Jesus’ followers belong to Jesus the same way they belong to God Himself. (This is the basis of all prayers uttered to God. We pray because we belong to God. We are God’s. We are his own.) By contrast, Jesus does not pray specifically for those who do not follow Him because they do not belong to God (9b).

Verse 10 reiterates the seriousness of the union between God and Jesus, and the union between the Trinity and the believers in Christ. Jesus prays for reciprocal unity. The Father will answer the prayers of believers because what belongs to Jesus is also God’s, and that what belongs to God is also Jesus’s (v.10). Believers belong to Jesus; therefore, they are God’s own possession.

***The Son’s central plea to the Father: I am praying for them because you have given them to me. They belong to you and me, and that believers are dear to the Father’s heart.

Let us now consider the Fivefold Requests of the Son to the Father For the Father to keep the Son’s followers in his Name (v.11) “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

Supporting details: Reason # 1: Jesus asks for the divine preservation of the believers because he is going away to the Father (v.11). Reason # 2: Jesus asks for the divine preservation of the believers in order that they also can be united with God as the Son and the Father are united and one (11b).

Reason # 3: While in the world and as Messiah of and from God, Jesus maintained the security of his follower’s salvation through God’s explicit name (No one perished, except Judah so the credibility of the Word of God could be affirmed), now, he is requesting that God does the same in his own right, not through the mediation of the Messiah—since the salvific work of the Messiah is about to be accomplished through his cross (at least temporarily) and that the Son-Messiah is going back to his Sender, the missionary-God (v.12).

 Reason # 4: The Son’s eventual departure to the Father, through his death and crucifixion (the cross), will bring full joy to his followers (v.13). Jesus also affirms that his teachings are God’s own words and the totality of his life which he lived on earth, and that the words spoken to his followers provide salvific security and generate joy in them (15:11; 14:12). The Word of God is salvation and a lamp to our feet.

2. For the Fathers to make the believers one (v. 11b) “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

Supporting details: Reason # 1: the unity of believers will bring people to saving faith in Jesus Christ (v.21; 20:31). Reason # 2: the unity of believers will show that Jesus is the true Messenger from God (v. 23).

Reason # 3: The unity of believers will also confirm that followers of Jesus are loved by God (v. 23).

3. The Father will keep believers from evil one (v. 15) “ I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one”

Supporting details: Reason # 1: the world is ruled by the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19). Reason # 2: Jesus prays that his followers will overcome the devil’s attacks and threats upon their lives and ministries so they could remain faithful and bear fruit to God.

Reason # 3: Jesus prayed for Peter Luke 22: 31-32. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

4. The Father to sanctify believers in the truth of God’s Word (v. 17) “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”

Supporting details: Reason # 1: Sanctification in God’s word is necessary because of the imperative of mission and evangelization in the world. Reason # 2: By abiding in Jesus’ words, his followers will be much fruit (15:7)

Reason # 3: To be sanctified by God’s word is to abide fully in God’s love and walk in obedience (15:9).

5. The Father may bring believers to where Jesus is (v. 24)  Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Supporting details: Reason # 1: the whole purpose of salvation is to behold the glory of God in Christ Jesus (v.24b). Reason # 2: the telos of salvation is to delight and enjoy God in Christ Jesus (v.24b).

Reason # 3: salvation means to be saturated with the love of God (v