Tawa Baptist

The Whole of the Moon

Scripture: John 17:20-26

Title: The Whole of the Moon

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus prays for us to be one
  • Made one by Jesus’ glory (love & suffering)
  • Made one for a purpose (that others would know & believe)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

[Play the first 2 mins and 5 secs of the song: ‘The Whole of the Moon’]

 

I pictured a rainbow, you held it in your hands.

I had flashes but you saw the plan.

I wandered out in the world for years, while you just stayed in your room.

I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon, the whole of the moon.

You were there at the turn stiles with the wind at your heels

You stretched for the stars and you know how it feels to reach too high, too far, too soon, you saw the whole of the moon. 

I was grounded, while you filled the skies.

I was dumbfounded by truth, you cut through lies.

I saw the rain dirty valley, you saw Brigadoon.

I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon.

Can anyone tell me the name of the band who wrote this song? [Wait]

–         That’s right – The Waterboys

–         It’s a song about someone who has the vision to see the bigger picture, beyond the immediate, beyond the here & now

 

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working our way through Jesus’ prayer in John 17

–         Jesus prayed this prayer the night before his trial, crucifixion and death

–         He knew very well what was coming

–         If it was any of us I imagine our focus would be quite narrow – we would be thinking about the pain of the next day – the here & now

–         We would struggle to see beyond Good Friday

–         But Jesus has a bigger perspective

–         Yes, he prays for himself, but his vision stretches higher & further than that

–         Jesus sees the whole of the moon – not just the crescent of his crucifixion

–         He looks out across the centuries and sees the millions who will believe in him and come to know God’s love

–         From verse 20 of John 17 Jesus prays for us…

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 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.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading

 

Jesus prays for us to be one:

Jesus’ prayer in these verses is that we, who believe in him, may be one

–         What then does it mean to be one?

Well, to be one can mean a number of things

–         Last week we heard how Jesus prayed for his disciples to be one and I connected this oneness with integrity, because in the context Jesus was talking about holiness and integrity is an aspect of holiness

From a mathematical perspective, to be one is to be whole or to be 100%, as opposed to something less than one, like a half or some other fraction

–         So when Jesus asks God the Father to make those who believe in him one he could mean he wants us to be whole – both whole in an individual sense but also whole in a collective sense

 

To be whole in an individual sense means to be undivided, completely committed to God and without split loyalties

–         Being one is akin to being pure in heart, not having mixed motives and not serving two masters

–         In Matthew 5 Jesus promised that the pure in heart will see God

–         There is a certain peace & joy which comes with being one thing and not a whole lot of different things

–         So, in praying for us to be one, Jesus could mean he wants our personal undivided loyalty – he wants the whole of us not just some part

 

To be one (or whole) in a collective sense means having no one missing from the group

–         Last week I used the analogy of a football team being one (or having integrity) when all 11 players are on the field and in the right position

–         If a player gets sent off or out of position then the team loses something of its integrity or its oneness

–         In Luke 15 Jesus tells three parables: about a lost sheep, a lost coin and two lost sons

–         In each of those stories Jesus is making the point that God’s purpose is to restore, to make things whole again – make them one

–         The shepherd’s flock of a 100 sheep is not whole if one is missing

–         Just as the woman’s set of 10 silver coins is not whole if one is missing

–         And the family is not whole (it doesn’t have integrity) if either one of the sons becomes estranged from the father or each other

–         So, in praying for us to be one, Jesus could also mean he wants no one to be lost

 

Looking more closely at the context of John 17, Jesus says in verses 21-23…

–         I pray… that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.

This tells us the oneness Jesus has in mind is relational – we are one with each other in the same way that God the Father and God the Son are one

–         Jesus seems to be talking about an ontological oneness here – a oneness of being, something intrinsically shared

–         God the Father and Jesus the Son are not the same person but they share the same essence, the same Spirit, the same DNA so to speak

–         Likewise, we who believe that Jesus is from God share a oneness of being

–         We share the same Spirit, or the same spiritual DNA

–         This oneness of being is given and inherent – it is not something we create ourselves through some sophisticated organisational structure

–         For example, we Baptists, here in New Zealand, are one with Coptic Christians in Egypt, even though we are different in other ways

Unity, as you know, does not mean uniformity – it doesn’t mean everyone being the same

–         Unity allows for diversity while at the same time holding some things in common. So what is it we hold in common?

–         Well Jesus says, I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one…

–         This tells us we are made one by the glory of Jesus

 

Made one by Jesus’ glory:

Once again the glory God gave Jesus can mean a number of things – two things in particular from the context:

–         God gave Jesus the glory of being loved and the glory of suffering

The glory of love

–         First the glory of love. Jesus says in verse 24…

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

  • – And then in verse 26 he says…

“Righteous Father… I…will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them….”

God loved Jesus and Jesus passes that love on to us, therefore the love of God makes us one – we are all loved by God, we share this in common

–         What did the one lost sheep share with the other 99 who didn’t go astray?

–         The lost sheep was loved just as much as the other 99

–         What did the younger (prodigal) son share in common with the older (resentful) son?

–         They were both loved equally by the Father

–         To see the glory of Jesus is to know that we are loved by God

 

I don’t know if you have ever been in love, or if you can remember, but when you love someone they populate your every thought

–         You find it hard to be without them, hard not to talk about them

–         And you become quite jealous where they are concerned – not jealous in a bad way but jealous in the sense of wanting the best for them

–         When you love someone it hurts not to be able to express your love – you want to tell them of your love and show them love in any way you can

 

Jesus is saying in his prayer that he wants us to know the glory of his love, which is essentially the love that God the Father has for him

–         And this is remarkable really when we consider that Jesus was about to be crucified – At a time when most of us would be focused on ourselves, because of the ordeal that lay ahead, Jesus’ thoughts are populated by us

–         Although he is about to depart this world, while we remain here, Jesus ultimately wants us to be with him where he is

–         Jesus is jealous for us – not jealous in a bad way but jealous in the sense that he wants the best for us

–         He wants us to know how much we are loved by God

There are times in this life when it is difficult to believe that we are loved by God – times when circumstances are against us and darkness closes in

–         We see the crescent – we see only in part – we don’t yet realise the full extent of God’s love for us

–         But Jesus sees the whole of the moon and he wants us to see the full glory of God’s love too

 

We are talking about the glory that Jesus has given us – the glory that makes us one: first there is the glory of love, but there is also the glory of suffering

 

The glory of suffering

Suffering is the natural partner of love

–         Suffering strips away illusion – it proves the truth of love, actually helps us to see love in all its glory

 

I’d like to play you part of Joni Mitchell’s song, ‘Both Sides Now’ …

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels

The dizzy dancing way that you feel

As every fairy tale comes real

I’ve looked at love that way.

But now it’s just another show

And you leave them laughing when you go

And if you can don’t let them know

Don’t give yourself away

I’ve looked at love from both sides now

From give and take and still somehow

Its love’s illusions that I recall

I really don’t know love

I really don’t know love at all

 

There are two sides to love aren’t there

–         There’s the wonderful high we get from love – the dizzy dancing way you feel – and then the fairy tale comes real

–         There is the joy of being with the one you love and then the pain & grief we feel when we lose our lover

“Love’s illusions” are normally felt by us in the early stages of a relationship, when we are blind

–         Love’s illusions makes us think the good feeling will last forever

–         Love’s illusions lead us to make grand promises we can never keep – to imagine we are invincible and the rules don’t apply to us

–         Love’s illusions is what we recall because the pain of love:

o   The giving of ourselves when there is nothing in it for us,

o   The long haul commitment,

o   The things that irritate us and make us mad,

o   The way our lover shows us a mirror for a faults,

o   The grief we feel when death separates us,

o   All the suffering of true love, we prefer not to face

–         Love’s illusions are sweeter

 

There can be a romanticism in Christian faith that actually sets us up for a fall

–         Sometimes we believe in a fairy tale, don’t we – one in which God’s love for us equates to a dizzy dancing feeling that we think will last forever

–         We imagine our faith to be invincible and we make grand promises in the worship songs we sing and the prayers we pray, promises we can’t keep

–         We might think, for our faith to be true we must always feel peace & joy,

–         But then the ‘fairy tale comes real’ and God seems distant

–         We might feel alone, like God has abandoned us to sickness or despair or the violence of our unwanted thoughts & compulsions, the tyranny of self

We find that sanctification, being made holy, becoming like Christ, includes being shown a mirror of all our faults and it’s too much to take

–         Sometimes being a believer in Jesus is bliss – but much of the time it’s just hard graft, in this world at least (I’m not sure what the next life holds)

–         And ‘still somehow its love’s illusion we recall – we really don’t know love at all.’

 

Suffering is the natural partner of love

–         Suffering strips away illusion – it proves the truth of love, actually shows us love in all its glory

–         We can’t know how much God loves us until we look in the mirror and see what we are really like

–         Nor can we know how much we love God until we give ourselves to him when it seems there’s nothing in it for us

 

Jesus gives us the glory God gave him and that glory includes both love and suffering

–         We might not all suffer in the same way, but we all suffer, and so our oneness comes from carrying our cross, as Christ carried his cross

–         We are to love one another because God first loved us and because we are all hurting in our own private way

–         We don’t ‘give ourselves away’ when maybe sometimes we should

–         Life is hard – we need to be on each other’s side

 

Made one for a purpose:

There is purpose in the oneness of our love & suffering

–         We are made one, not just for ourselves, but primarily for others – that the world would know and believe that Jesus comes from God

In verse 21 Jesus says…

Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

–         And in verse 23 he says…

…May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

In verse 21 Jesus prays for our oneness so, that the world may believe and in verse 23 he asks that we be brought to unity, that the world may know

–         Believing & knowing go hand in hand in this context

–         It seems the kind of knowing Jesus has in mind here is not just a superficial mental awareness but the knowing of deep conviction

–         Believing it in your core – trusting the knowledge

 

The relationship between knowledge & belief is found throughout the Bible

–         In Psalm 9, verse 10, for example we read…

–         Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

 

To help us understand the relationship between knowing and believing, imagine you are standing on one side of a huge chasm

–         There is no way around and the only way across is a narrow swing bridge

–         To get to the other side of the chasm you need to know where the swing bridge is and how to get to it

–         But simply knowing where the bridge is, is not enough in itself to get you across

Once you have reached the bridge you then need the faith to cross it

–         You need to believe that it will hold your weight and that the destination on the other side is worth the risk

Jesus is the bridge

–         The miracle of our oneness is the sign which points to the bridge so people know where to cross

–         And knowledge of God’s love for us helps people to believe in Jesus, to trust him – it gives people confidence to cross over to the other side

–         (Because if God can love us he can love anyone)

 

In John 9 Jesus heals a man born blind

–         This man then gets interrogated by the Pharisees

–         The Pharisees say, ‘We don’t know where Jesus comes from’

–         And the man replies:

–         “What a strange thing that is. You don’t know where he comes from but he cured me of my blindness… Unless this man came from God he would not be able to do a thing.”  

–         The Pharisees didn’t like that logic so they expelled the man from the synagogue

At that point the man born blind can see the crescent but he can’t see the whole of the moon – he knows that Jesus is a prophet, who comes from God, but he doesn’t yet realise that Jesus is far more than a prophet

When Jesus heard what had happened he found the man and asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

 The man answered, “Tell me who he is, sir, so that I can believe in him!”

Jesus said to him, “You have already seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you now.”

“I believe, Lord!” the man said, and knelt down before Jesus.

 

Knowledge and belief go hand in hand

–         Knowledge enables us to see the crescent

–         Belief helps us to see the whole of the moon

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard how Jesus prayed for us, who believe in him without ever having seen him

–         Jesus prayed that we may be one as he and God the Father are one

–         We are made one by the glory Jesus gives us – the glory of God’s love and suffering

–         And we are made one for a purpose – so the world may know & believe that God sent Jesus

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    Have you had the experience of seeing the crescent of something and then being shown the whole of the moon? What happened?

3.)    What do you think Jesus had in mind when he prayed for us to be one?

–         Discuss (or reflect on) the possibilities

4.)    What did Jesus say makes us one?

–         What is the glory Jesus has given us?

5.)    To what extent do you (personally) know you are loved by God?

–         How do you know this?

–         Why is suffering necessary to love?

6.)    Listen to Joni Mitchell’s song, ‘Both Sides Now’

–         What are you in touch with as you listen? (What do you feel and remember?)

7.)    Why did Jesus pray for us to be one?

–         Why do we need to love one another?

8.)    Thinking of the man healed by Jesus in John 9, what is the relationship between knowledge and belief/faith?

–         Why is knowledge necessary to belief, and vice versa?

 

Tawa Baptist

Passing the Baton

Scripture: John 17:9-19

 

Title: Passing the baton

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Sent into the world
  • Protected by the name
  • Sanctified by the truth
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

In some ways Christian history is like a relay where the baton is passed on from one person to the next, one generation to the next

–         No one runs the whole race by themselves, not even Jesus, but each of us has our stage to complete

Today we continue our mini-series on Jesus’ prayer in John 17

–         Jesus prayed this prayer the night before his crucifixion and death

–         Last week we looked at the first 8 verses of John 17, where Jesus asked for glory for himself and for God the Father

–         This morning we focus on verses 9-19, where Jesus prays for his disciples

–         Jesus is about to finish his stage of the relay and is at the point of passing on the baton to his disciples

–         Jesus is leaving the field but he wants his disciples to stay on track and run with his message to pass on to others

–         From John 17, verse 9 (in the NIV) we read…

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

There is a lot going on in these verses and I’m not sure it’s possible to fully understand it all – but here are three handles to help us grasp some of the main points at least:

–         Jesus sends his disciples into the world

–         The disciples are protected by the name of God

–         And they are sanctified by the truth

–         First let’s consider the disciples in the world

 

Sent into the world:

If you go scuba diving in the ocean you need to put on the right gear – a wet suit, a weight belt, a mask, flippers and oxygen tanks

–         This is because we human beings don’t belong underwater – we need special protection & equipment to survive in that environment

–         It’s the same principle with space travel – we don’t belong in space and so we would need a special suit and a space craft to exist outside the earth’s atmosphere

–         Or, coming back down to earth again, we don’t belong underground

–         If we go caving we need ropes and a helmet and a torch

–         Even with all this gear though we can’t stay underwater or in space or in a dark cave for very long – it’s not our natural environment

 

Jesus has quite a bit to say about the world in relation to the disciples in John 17

–         The ‘world’ is on the lips of Jesus 11 times in this morning’s reading

–         Now when we hear the term ‘world’ we tend to think of planet earth, our natural environment, a place where we belong

–         But in the gospel of John the ‘world’ is not the natural environment for Christian believers

–         In John 17 the ‘world’ refers to a spiritual domain, an atmosphere of darkness and unbelief where the light of truth and the oxygen of faith is in short supply

–         Or as William Barclay puts it, the world in John stands for ‘human society organising itself without God’

–         The ‘world’ then stands in contrast to the ‘Kingdom of God’

–         The world, as Jesus describes it here, is unsupportive of Christian faith, much like being underwater or out in space or in a cave is not conducive to human life

In verse 11 Jesus says to God…

  • – I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.
  • – Then in verse 14 he says…
  • – I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
  • – And in verse 18 Jesus says…
  • – As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

It is from these verses that we get the old adage: ‘Christians are to be in the world but not of it’

–         Elsewhere in the gospels Jesus uses the image of salt & light to get this idea across – In Matthew 5 Jesus says to his disciples…

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

 

Sometimes, in my role as a pastor, I’ve visited people in prison and every time I go inside I feel uneasy – I’m very conscious that I don’t belong

–         It feels like a different world in prison, although it’s not entirely different

Sometimes, as Christians, we might feel uneasy in this world, like we don’t belong, like we are visiting a prison

–         It is natural we might feel this way because this world is not our home

–         We are citizens of God’s kingdom

–         Like Abraham and Jesus, we are sojourners, pilgrims passing through this world

Christ sends his disciples into the world – that is, into an environment which is not supportive of Christian faith, an atmosphere of darkness and unbelief where the light of truth and the oxygen of faith is in short supply

–         With this in mind our Lord prays for protection for his disciples

 

Protected by the name:

If you are a hockey goalie then you need to wear quite a bit of protective gear

–         And if you are a bomb disposal expert you wear a special suit for protection, or when you go boating you wear a life jacket

–         This equipment is designed to keep people physically safe – it doesn’t provide any guarantees but it certainly helps

 

In verse 11 Jesus prays for disciples saying…

–         Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name…

At first this sounds a bit odd – how exactly does a name offer any sort of protection?

–         Well, I’m not sure a name can be relied upon to give us physical protection, in the same way a life jacket or hockey pads or a bullet proof vest might

–         The kind of protection Jesus has in mind here is of a spiritual nature

God’s name is basically his revealed character – his integrity, his identity

–         Proverbs 18, verse 10, says: ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.’

–         There is strength in knowing who God is, knowing his character

For example, if we know deep in our core that God is just, then this protects us from seeking revenge when we are wronged

–         We may be less inclined to try and get even because we know God will ensure that right prevails in the end

–         Likewise, if we know deep down that God is merciful then this protects us from being too harsh with ourselves (or others)

–         We may be less inclined to give up when we fail (or someone fails us) because we know God’s character, he is patient & wants to restore

Looking at the whole of verse 11 in its context we see the sort of protection Jesus has in mind…

  • – Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. …

Jesus is saying here, the name of God has the power to protect us from losing our oneness

–         To be one can mean a number of things including having integrity

–         We (in Western culture) tend to think of integrity in individual or personal terms. For example we might think, if I ‘walk the talk’ or ‘practice what I preach’ then I have integrity, I am at one with myself

–         But I expect Jesus’ disciples would have thought of integrity in more collective or community terms.

–         For example, if all 11 players of a football team are on the field and in the right position then the team is playing as one – it has integrity

  • – But if a player gets sent off or out of position then the team is not playing as one – it loses its integrity
  • – Jesus, the Captain, brought his team of disciples together as one
  • – Now he is leaving the field and he wants them to keep their integrity, to continue playing as one – he doesn’t want any to be lost
  • – Or, returning to our relay metaphor, he doesn’t want the chain to be broken – everyone needs to finish their stage of the race

But in saying this Jesus is quick to acknowledge the reality that one (namely Judas) has been lost

  • – None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled
  • – This almost sounds like Judas was predestined to be lost – that he had no choice in the matter; that God needed Judas to betray Jesus, or the whole plan of salvation would have failed
  • – Well, God doesn’t need anyone – He could have easily arranged for Jesus’ crucifixion without Judas’ betrayal
  • – Judas was not a robot – he was a responsible person and acted freely
  • – We don’t know what Judas’ motivation was in betraying Jesus
  • – Perhaps it was greed, or maybe he was feeling disappointed & resentful that Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah he had hoped for
  • – Maybe Judas was trying to manipulate the circumstances so that Jesus was put in a position where he was forced to act to protect himself
  • – Whatever his motivation Judas made a poor choice, as we all do from time to time. Sadly, for Judas, this was a choice with massive consequences

If we think of God’s name as an umbrella, protecting us from the rain, then Judas stepped out from under the umbrella during a downpour

  • – Or if we think of God’s name as a school bus, getting us to school safely, then Judas got off the bus at the wrong stop – he left his classmates, ventured out on his own and got lost
  • – If we try and do it on our own we make ourselves more vulnerable to the evil one – to Satan
  • – But if we remember that God is one, like a team is one – Father, Son & Spirit all working together in harmony – then we are less inclined to go it alone and more inclined to take our position on the field with our team mates

 

In verse 15 Jesus asks God to protect his disciples from the evil one

  • – (The evil one being Satan or the Devil)
  • – This indicates quite clearly that Jesus and his disciples are engaged in a spiritual battle, where Satan is the General of the enemy army

Before I became a minister I was dismissive of talk of spiritual warfare

  • – It seemed to me a bit flaky or at least extremely subjective and therefore unreliable
  • – But since becoming a minister I’ve had my eyes opened to evil
  • – This world, as the gospel of John understands it, is a battle ground
  • – There are malicious spiritual forces at work in this world
  • – I still don’t think we can blame every bad thing on the Devil
  • – A lot of hurt & pain in the world can be put down to the choices we human beings make – we have to take responsibility for our actions
  • – By the same token we would be naïve to pretend the Devil doesn’t exist
  • – I’m not saying this to scare you – I say it because it is part of reality which we can’t necessarily see

Now when Jesus prays that God would protect his disciples from the evil one, that doesn’t mean the disciples would never face any opposition

  • – God’s protection (in this context) doesn’t mean, nothing bad would ever happen to the disciples
  • – All of Jesus’ remaining 11 disciples encountered opposition – some were thrown in prison, some were killed and others exiled
  • – They all suffered in this world for their witness for Christ, but none of them was lost from God’s kingdom
  • – God allows Satan to make life difficult for Jesus’ disciples, and for us
  • – (At times it does my head in to think that God allows Satan to mess with people – but at the end of the day I have to acknowledge the limits of my understanding and trust that God knows what he’s doing. God won’t allow us to be tested beyond what we can handle)

I think Jesus, in his prayer, was asking God to protect his disciples’ faith, to keep them safe for eternal life, to deliver them from apostasy

  • – God’s protection allows us to complete our leg of the relay, to remain faithful to Christ (and each other) through whatever the enemy throws at us

 

There’s a TV drama series ‘On Demand’ at the moment called ‘Broken’

  • – It’s not easy to watch in places (it’s a bit gritty & real) but it’s also the best series I’ve seen in a long time
  • – Broken is a fictional story but it contains so much (gospel) truth
  • – The main character of the show is a Catholic priest by the name of Michael Kerrigan
  • – Michael is a good priest – he ministers to broken people out of his own vulnerability
  • – He is, to borrow Henri Nouwen’s phrase, a ‘wounded healer’

Every time Michael gives the Mass, he is confronted in his mind, by the bad things he has done to others and the bad things that have been done to him

  • – Ironically the most sacred thing in his life has become a hellish torment
  • – Although the show doesn’t directly talk about spiritual warfare, using something sacred (like communion) to torment a good priest is exactly the sort of thing the evil one does
  • – It is plain to see that Michael (a disciple of Christ) is in a very real battle against evil – it is a battle which rages both inside him and in the wider community in which he works, a battle in which we can’t see the enemy

The Devil wants to mislead people, to put them on a path that leads to destruction, by whispering half-truths (if not full blown lies) in our ear

  • – He wants to undo our oneness by turning us against God and against each other – that’s why Jesus prays that the disciples would be one, that they wouldn’t turn against each other

There’s this wonderful scene towards the end of the Broken series when Michael has given up on prayer, so a fellow priest intercedes for him saying:

  • – ‘Lord, I bring before you Michael Kerrigan. He’s a good priest, quick to forgive others but slow to forgive himself. Give him peace.’
  • – This prayer is offered in a spirit of oneness, with Michael present to hear it – the prayer shows Michael that he isn’t alone, that he has a friend in the faith who understands
  • – It also reminds Michael of God’s name, God’s character – that the Lord is gracious & compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love
  • – Do you have a friend in the faith like that?
  • – We can’t complete our leg of the relay alone

 

Sanctified by the truth:

Our defence against the lies of the evil one is truth

  • – So Jesus prays that his disciples would be sanctified by the truth

What then does it mean to be sanctified by the truth?

  • – Well, the word sanctified means holy, as in set apart for a special purpose
  • – A surgical theatre is sanctified in the sense that it is set apart for the special purpose of performing operations on people
  • – One doesn’t use a surgical theatre as a butchery for carving up animals, nor as a kitchen for preparing meals, much less a workshop for fixing cars
  • – A surgical theatre has to be kept clean & hygienic, and it needs to be available in case of emergency, so it isn’t used for any other purpose

 

The disciples were set apart for the special purpose of being witnesses for Christ

  • – This means they were to tell others the truth of their experience of Jesus – that he lived, died and was raised to eternal life
  • – More than just telling the facts of Jesus’ life though, the disciples were to bear witness to the love of God they experienced through Jesus

We, like the disciples, are made holy by a divine revelation of the truth

  • – Jesus is the word of God – he is the truth – and the disciples were sanctified, or made holy, by being in his presence and hearing him speak

 

If you get a tomato sauce stain on your favourite white t-shirt then it won’t come out by simply putting it through a normal wash cycle, even if you do use a special stain remover

  • – Once your shirt has been through the wash you need to hang it on the line in direct sunlight – it’s the sunlight that sanctifies the shirt and makes the stain disappear
  • – It’s similar with sanctifying (or purifying) water – E-coli, Rotavirus, Giardia, Salmonella, Cholera, Campylobacter are all eradicated by 6 hours exposure to sunlight

The light of the truth about Jesus is what sanctifies (or purifies) us

  • – But we have to be exposed to the truth in our inner being
  • – The light has to penetrate our darkness and that’s not usually a pleasant experience

Peter was sanctified by the truth

  • – At the last supper he told the Lord he was ready to lay down his life for Jesus, but the Lord predicted Peter would deny him three times and it happened as Jesus said it would
  • – At cock crow Peter remembered Jesus’ words and was confronted by the bitter truth about himself, as he went away weeping bitterly
  • – But that wasn’t the whole truth – what happened at cock crow was simply Peter’s realisation of his failure
  • – After Jesus’ resurrection the Lord took Peter aside to restore him
  • – Three times Jesus asked Peter, ‘Do you love me?’ and each time Peter said, ‘Yes Lord’, and Jesus responded, ‘Feed my lambs’
  • – Jesus saying, ‘It’s ok Peter. I trust you’.
  • – It was in the light of Jesus’ forgiveness & restoration that Peter was sanctified and the tomato sauce stain of his denial removed

In a way Peter’s failure actually made it possible for him to be a more credible witness to Jesus’ grace and forgiveness

  • – Peter could now talk about God’s forgiveness first hand, from his own experience

 

Jesus also sanctifies himself for the sake of his disciples

  • – As a priest would sanctify (or set apart) an animal to be sacrificed to God, so too Jesus (who is both high priest and sacrifice) sanctifies himself before he goes to the cross
  • – Somehow, in a way that we can’t fully comprehend, our sins are atoned for and we are made holy through Jesus’s sacrificial death

 

Conclusion:

As Jesus finishes his stage of the relay he hands the baton onto his disciples, sending them into a world which is hostile to them, praying that God will protect them and sanctify them, so that they too may finish their part and pass the baton of God’s love & truth to others

 

Let us pray. Lord God, help us as we journey through this world

  • – Protect us from the evil one by the power of your name – help us not to turn on one another but to remain faithful to you
  • – And sanctify us by the truth – both the truth about ourselves and the truth about you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    Have you ever felt out of place in this world?

–         What does the term ‘world’ mean in the context of John 17?

3.)    What is meant by “God’s name”?

–         How does God’s name protect us?

4.)    What do you think Jesus had in mind when he asked God to protect his disciples from the evil one?

–         What sort of protection can we expect?

5.)    Are you aware of any spiritual opposition in your own life?

–         Can you describe what this is like?

–         Where / when does this usually happen?

6.)    Do you have a friend in the faith, someone trustworthy you can talk with and who can pray for you?

–         Do you know someone who is battling at the moment, who you could listen to and pray for in a spirit of oneness?

7.)    What does it mean to be sanctified by the truth?

–         Can you think of a particular experience, in your own life, when you were sanctified by the truth? What happened?

 

Tawa Baptist

Glory

Scripture: John 17:1-8

Title: Glory

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Glorifying God (Jesus is the glory of God)
  • Enjoying God forever (Jesus gives eternal life)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

There are moments in our lives when someone older and wiser tells us something meaningful, but at the time we don’t fully appreciate what they mean – it’s not until sometime later that their words sink in with the help of the spade of experience

–         I remember sitting by my grandfather’s bed as he was dying – his kidneys had failed and he was slowly drowning from the inside

–         He said to me, ‘Son, life goes by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was young and starting out. It all went so quickly.’

–         At the time I was 24 and didn’t think too much of it

–         ‘Life goes by so fast’ sounds like a cliché – it’s something older people often say to parents with young children, ‘It goes so quickly. Make the most of it while you’ve still got them’

–         When I was a parent of young children it felt to me like time was slowing down – I welcomed the thought of the kids growing up so I could get a decent night’s sleep and not have to change nappies

–         But looking back now the last 20 years has gone quickly

‘Life goes by so fast’. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate what my grandfather was trying to say

–         There he was dying slowly and uncomfortably and yet he wasn’t thinking about that – his perspective was on the whole of life, not just the end

–         He was considering the bigger purpose & meaning of life

–         If 72 years seems short to a man whose days dragged long then that begs the question: Why are we here and what is the best way to use our time?

–         When you get to the end you don’t want to be thinking, ‘I wasted it’

 

Today is the third Sunday in Lent

–         Lent is traditionally a time when Christians prepare for Easter by remembering Jesus’ obedience to God the Father in going to the cross

–         This remembering isn’t just a casual recall of the Easter story though

–         Lent is an opportunity to get back in touch with the bigger purpose and meaning of life: Why am I here? Is it just for me and my own temporary concerns or is it for something bigger?

–         Is it for Christ and things of an eternal nature?

 

The night before his crucifixion and death Jesus took his disciples aside and spoke with them to help them with what was coming

–         The gospel of John chapters 13-17, also known as Jesus’ farewell discourse, capture much of that (death bed) conversation

–         Probably the disciples didn’t fully appreciate all that Jesus was saying at the time but they would appreciate it in the days, weeks and years ahead

Please turn with me to John 17, page 140 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         John 17 is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus we have

–         In this prayer Jesus takes a look at the bigger purpose and meaning of his life and how he has used his time on earth

–         There is a lot going on in this prayer but in broad terms we could say that Jesus prays for three things: He prays for glory; He prays for his disciples; and he prays for us

–         Today the message focuses on the first 8 verses of John 17, where Jesus prays for glory – both for himself and for God the Father

–         From John 17, verses 1-8, we read…

After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you. 2 For you gave him authority over all people, so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him. 3 And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent. 4 I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do. 5 Father! Give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

6 “I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word, 7 and now they know that everything you gave me comes from you. 8 I gave them the message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Glorifying God:

The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us (and I paraphrase here)…

–         The chief purpose of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever

–         It is difficult to improve on that really

–         This statement seems to capture in a nutshell what Jesus is talking about in the opening verses of his prayer in John 17

–         There is certainly a lot of talk of glory on Jesus’ lips here

–         What then does it mean to glorify God?

The word glory has to do with honour, distinction, esteem, beauty, splendour, magnificence, mana and the like

–         Glory isn’t a word we New Zealanders are comfortable with – we tend to shy away from glory a bit – but to people in the ancient world the concept of glory was highly important

 

Now when we talk about ‘glorifying God’ we don’t mean adding to God’s honour and splendour and mana – God already has glory and there is nothing we can do to add to it (or take away from it)

–         From a human perspective, ‘glorifying God’ means revealing something of God’s glory – so in glorifying God we’re not adding something to him we are simply showing others what is already there

If we think of God’s glory as a bank account – then in glorifying God we’re not depositing any more money to his account, it’s more like we are showing others his bank balance

 

We glorify God like a lightbulb glorifies a beautiful person

–         If it is dark and the light is off you can’t see the person’s face let alone admire their beauty

–         But when the light is switched on the person’s beauty is revealed

–         The lightbulb doesn’t add anything to the person’s beauty – it simply helps others to see that beauty better

–         Of course, as lightbulbs we don’t have any power in ourselves to give light – God is the one who gives us the electricity to shine

 

Or take this apple as another example: While it’s in the bowl you can’t see it, the glory of the apple is hidden from you

–         For me to glorify this apple, I need to take it out of the bowl and hold it up for everyone to see

–         But seeing an apple from a distance doesn’t really reveal the apple in all its glory – to properly glorify this apple I need to bring it close so you can smell it and taste it – because the glory of the apple is in its taste

–         Obviously there is nothing I can do to make this apple taste better

–         The most I can do is reveal its glory by giving you a piece to eat

It’s similar with glorifying God – I can’t improve on God’s glory

–         The most I can do is offer you a piece of his glory to taste

–         When we love one another, forgive one another, show patience with one another, share good things with one another, and so on, then we let others experience a small taste of God’s glory

–         The thing is we can only really reveal God’s glory to the extent we have experienced (or tasted) it for ourselves

–         It’s only when I eat God’s apples and enjoy them that I’m impelled to share some with you

 

Glory is a weighty thing – if something is glorious it has substance, it affects us, it moves us

–         Consider the moon in the night sky for example

–         On the face of it the glory of the moon is in its radiance

–         Some nights the moon is more glorious than other nights

–         The moon is perhaps at its most glorious (or most radiant) on a clear night when it is full and close to the horizon

–         But it’s not just the sight of the moon that is glorious

–         The moon’s glory is a weighty thing – whether we can see the moon or not it’s gravity is moving the oceans of the world, drawing the tide in and out twice a day

–         There is nothing I can do to change the tide – all I can do is stand on the beach feel its power

It is similar with God – we can’t see God but we can feel the weight of his glory and power drawing whole nations here and there in accordance with his purpose

As the creator of all things – God is the one who gives the apple the glory of its taste and the moon the beauty of its radiance and the power of its gravity

 

In John 17 Jesus begins his prayer by saying…

–         Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you…

The context of Jesus’ request is a Father / Son relationship, one in which Jesus the Son depends on God the Father for everything – his identity, his existence, his message, his everything

‘The hour has come’, refers to the hour of Jesus’ trial, suffering and death on the cross – so when Jesus talks about glory here it is with the cross in view

Jesus asks God to glorify him (the Son)

–         At first glance this might seem a bit ego centric or selfish but it’s not – Jesus is asking an entirely reasonable and good thing

–         Jesus is saying, make my suffering count – give it weight, reveal your love for the world (and our love for each other) through my death

–         Because if I’m going through all this I want the tides of history to be moved by it – I want people’s hearts to be changed

God the Father and Jesus the Son are one – they are so closely connected that in asking for glory for himself Jesus is really asking glory for God too

–         When a sports team wins against a difficult opponent, that reflects well on the coach

–         When a river is clean, that reflects well on the people who live near that river

–         When a plane lands safely on just one engine (or in a howling southerly in Wellington), that reflects well on the pilot

–         When a 71 year old man at prayer greets a gunman with ‘hello bother’, that reflects well on his courage and humanity

–         When a Prime Minister (and her people) respond with compassion & justice to a mass shooting, that reflects well on the whole country

–         When God’s Son endures the suffering of the cross with dignity & grace, that reflects well on God the Father

 

In verse 4 Jesus has some more to say about glory…

–         I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do.      

What does it mean that Jesus has shown God’s glory on earth? How did Jesus do this? What is the work God gave Jesus to do?

 

The first thing Jesus did to reveal God’s glory was to become human – we call that the incarnation, when God became human in the birth of Christ

–         This means that Jesus is, in fact, the glory of God in human form

–         Jesus doesn’t just shine a light on God’s beauty, he is God’s beauty

–         Jesus doesn’t just share the apple of God’s glory, so others can taste God’s goodness, Jesus is the apple

 

Returning to our apple in the bowl – when Jesus was born God’s glory was plucked from the tree of heaven and put in a bowl on earth

–         Jesus, the very glory of God, stayed in the bowl hidden from sight for 30 years, until John the baptist lifted Jesus out of the bowl and said…

–         ‘This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’

–         This is the glory of God in human form

–         Throughout his ministry Jesus taught the people and healed the people and forgave the people and delivered the people from all sorts of evil

–         And each time he did that he cut off a little piece of himself so that those who believed in him could taste something of the glory of God

 

Now, at the hour of his death, Jesus had got down to the core of God’s glory – suffering out of love to save others – giving himself completely to redeem creation

 

In verse 5 Jesus asks God again saying…

–         Father, give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

 

The obvious implication in these verses is that Jesus (the Son) was pre-existent with God the Father

–         John has already said this at the beginning of his gospel when he wrote:

–         Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God and he was the same as God. 

–         Jesus, the glory of God and the apple of God’s eye, is looking forward to returning to the tree of heaven

–         Here on earth God’s glory is veiled – we can’t see God, although with the eyes of faith we can see where he has been, much like we can see where the rain has been because the grass is green and not brown

–         In heaven though God’s glory is plain to see – there is no drought

 

There are two parts to the Westminster’s statement on the chief purpose of human beings:

–         We’ve talked about the first part, of glorifying God

–         The second part is enjoying God forever – which is rather a nice way of describing ‘eternal life’

 

Enjoying God forever:

In verse 3 Jesus says: And eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

 

We have to pay close attention here because this definition of eternal life goes beyond our normal categories

–         For many years I thought eternal life simply meant time without end, so that one was immortal and never died

–         And while living forever may be one by-product of eternal life it isn’t the star of the show

–         Eternal life isn’t just quantity of life, it is more importantly quality of life

–         And that quality of life comes from knowing God & Jesus

 

Now when Jesus talks about ‘knowing’ in this verse, he doesn’t just mean knowing something in your head – he means knowing it in your experience, knowing it, intimately, in the core of your being

–         I might be able to learn some facts about someone by stalking them on Facebook – I might be able to find out when they were born, what their favourite colour is, how they spend their time, where they went on holiday, that sort of thing, but that doesn’t mean I know them

–         To know someone I’ve actually got to meet them and spend time with them, listen to them, hang out with their friends, do life with them

–         Then, after building a relationship with them, I can say I know them

–         Eternal life is essentially a wonderful relationship in which we know God in our experience, as a friend, and enjoy Him forever

This means that eternal life isn’t just something a way off in the future after we die – if eternal life is a relationship with God then eternal life is something we can experience now, through Christ

 

Once again we note the close relationship between God and Jesus – they go together – we can’t know God the Father without knowing Jesus

–         Jesus (the glory of God) shows us what God the Father is like

–         Trying to have a relationship with God the Father without Jesus is like trying to use a computer without a keyboard or a screen – Jesus is the interface between God and humanity

–         Trying to have a relationship with God the Father without Jesus is like trying to cross the ocean without a boat – God is infinite. Being ‘in Christ’ is what supports us and keeps us afloat in the sea of God’s love

–         Trying to have a relationship with God the Father without Jesus is like trying to have a conversation without sharing a common language – Jesus is the Word of God (a language we can understand) by which we comprehend something of the mystery of God

 

In verses 6-8 Jesus gives us a few more clues about what it means to know God

I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word, and now they know everything you gave me comes from you. I gave them the message that you gave me and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

Jesus is talking about imparting eternal life to his disciples by making God known to them

–         Of course a relationship is a two way thing – the disciples have to receive that knowledge, the penny has to drop for them, they have to get it

–         And the key to getting it – the key to knowing God – is obeying Jesus

–         It is with obedience that understanding and relationship forms

–         This means that we have to obey in faith or in trust – we have to do what God asks without knowing for certain what the outcome is going to be

 

The disciples obeyed Jesus in faith – they left their work, their families and their homes to follow Jesus without knowing where it would lead

–         But through that act of obedience they came to know God – they formed a friendship with God and with one another, through Jesus

–         The kind of knowing that is in view here is not a scientific, evidence based knowing – it’s the kind of knowing which comes through obedience & belief

 

The classic Biblical story of knowing God through obedience and belief is the Exodus story

–         When God instructed Moses to approach Pharaoh and ask for the Israelites’ freedom, Moses wasn’t that keen at first – he could see it was big ask

–         It wasn’t until Moses obeyed God, and God delivered the people, that he knew God’s character

 

It was similar with the nation of Israel themselves

–         Before the exodus from Egypt, Israel’s experience was one of suffering &  oppression – the evidence for God’s care & concern for them was a fairy tale from the past – it wasn’t part of their present reality

–         Before they could know that God cared for them – that he was a God of justice & compassion – they had to take a step of obedience in leaving Egypt

–         Their obedience (like ours) was a faltering obedience and so they were 40 years in the wilderness learning to trust & obey God

–         When it was time to leave the wilderness and enter the Promised Land, they had to take another step of obedience in crossing the Jordan River

–         It wasn’t until they literally took that first step into the waters of the Jordan that the river stopped and they were able to cross

–         But through that obedience the people knew that God was powerful and was with them as they entered Canaan

 

Eternal life is knowing (and enjoying) God in our personal experience

–         We come to know God through believing in and obeying Jesus

–         I expect many of you have your own stories of knowing God’s goodness and provision through faith & obedience

 

Conclusion:

The purpose of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy him forever

 

Let us pray…

–         Father God, glorify yourself we pray, especially through our suffering

–         May Christ be lifted up in our life in both the ordinary & extraordinary

–         May people taste & see that the Lord is good through their interaction us

–         And may our relationship with you be a source of delight & enjoyment

–         Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    What do you think of when you hear the word ‘glory’?

3.)    What does it mean to glorify God?

–         How might we glorify God in practical terms?

4.)    Why does Jesus ask for glory for himself?

5.)    How did Jesus glorify God?

–         How is this different to how we might glorify God?

6.)    What is eternal life?

–         What does it mean to know God?

7.)    What is the key to knowing God?

–         Can you recall a time in your life when you obeyed God in faith and came to know him better? What happened?

8.)    Take some time this week to enjoy God