This week, we come to the second petition or part of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. Last week, we looked at the first five verses of this chapter in John’s gospel and noted that the beginning of this prayer was Jesus’ praying for himself. He was praying to God to give him the strength to do what need be done. He prayed that the plan of salvation that he was sent to achieve would be completed with the work that was at hand. He prayed that the shedding of his blood that was soon to come would save all those whom the Father had given to him. In the midst of his pain and suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, our Savior was overcome with the joy that he felt in the ever-approaching reunion that he was to have with his Father in heaven. They were to be reunited in heaven just as they had been since before the foundation of the earth. Our Savior is crying out to the Father as tears of both fear and joy stream down his face.
Here, in our text for this week, we find Jesus praying for a group of people who are very near and dear to his heart: his disciples. He was praying for the group of men that the Father had given him during his earthly ministry. Now, although we tend in our modern time to look upon the disciples in a little too negative a light because of our revisionist history, we have to remember the important role in which they played in both the life of Christ and the establishment of his church. Yes, the first thing that many want to point out in terms of the disciples is their numerous flaws and their lack of understanding or misinterpretations when it comes to Christ’s teachings. We often point to the fact that they just simply didn’t get it even though Jesus was telling them what they needed to hear. In our study of John’s gospel, I will admit to you that I have taken a much more sympathetic approach in my view of the disciples. You see, we read Scripture today and don’t understand it. What makes the fact that they heard it and didn’t understand any more or less of an issue? After all, both Christ’s teachings and Scripture come directly from God. There sin of misunderstanding is no different than our own. In reality, the disciples had to “get it” at least somewhat because they were the ones that after Christ’s death spread His Church. They were the ones who fulfilled the words of Christ at the time of his ascension by being Christ’s “witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” They were the ones who proclaimed the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection. The torch just didn’t go from Jesus to Paul. The disciples were the ones who carried on Christ’s ministry, many of them paying for it with their own lives.
Jesus knew the hardships that the disciples were to face. He knew that the fact that he would no longer physically be there to lead them was only the beginning of their troubles. He knew that they would face temptations, hardships, persecutions, and imprisonments. He knew that their faiths would be tested in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead in a way that it had not been during their time together with Jesus during his earthly ministry. He knew that there were dark times ahead for these men that he had loved so much, these men who supported him, cared for him, and followed and protected him during his earthly ministry. So Jesus prays for the Father to keep them, and he doesn’t mean for them to simply to be kept alive. He prayed for none of them to be lost or stray from the Christian faith. Jesus prayed for the Perseverance of the Saints; a doctrine that states that once someone is truly transformed by the power of God and a change truly occurs, then that person will never fall away from the faith. If a person does slip away, then that commitment or change was never really a genuine one to begin with. The writer of this gospel in his first epistle talks about such people when he writes in 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
You see, my understanding of the Perseverance of the Saints and God’s keeping of his own is like this, how could we ever get away from God? Think about that for a second, how could we possibly think that we have the power and ability to escape and run from God if He has truly called us to Himself? We’ve already seen and said that God does not forget about us or forsake us, so if someone is to fall away then it would have to be an act of man. Well, that would lead us to the conclusion that we have the ability to overcome the power of God and escape and run from our being called to Him. I just don’t buy it. I don’t believe that there is anyone who has the power to run from God when He is truly calling them. Sure, we may evade His call for a time, but ultimately it always ends the same way and it always will. I know this because I have experienced it. The last thing I wanted to do with my life was end up in pastoral ministry. I was a newly married man with a great job and a pretty nice little life. Amy and I were this young married couple who were financially sound and ready to begin starting a family of our own, but God had other plans for me and for us. I ran and I ran and I ran, and I was able to avoid it for nearly three years, but ultimately, God’s call was too big and too powerful for me to overcome. No matter how much I thought I wanted one thing, it wasn’t God’s plan, so eventually my plan and God’s plan simply became only God’s plan and then it became reality.
Jesus prayed that God would keep the disciples strong and that he would give them the perseverance that they needed to weather the storms that lay ahead. Jesus also spoke about the way in which the disciples would now interact with the world around them and he asked for this to continue. Jesus asked for their continuing to be “in the world and not of the world.” He doesn’t pray for the disciples to be kept away in some ivory tower or secret cave so that they may be kept alive and away from all temptation and danger. Jesus prayed for them to be out and active in the world, but that they would not be shaped by the world around them. He prayed that the disciples would have a greater impact on the world than the world would have upon them. A fear that I must admit is still very real for Christians today, particularly those in America.
One of my favorite descriptions about the Christian faith and the church in general comes from the Father of the Reformation Martin Luther. Luther once said that Christianity is a “profane faith.” Now, we hear the word profane and we immediately are confused. But you see, the word profane literally means “out of the temple.” In other words, we are to be out there doing the work of Christ and spreading the good news of the gospel. We’re not to be as R.C. Sproul calls it, “gathered together in ‘holy huddles.’” Now yes, it is important for us to surround ourselves with Christian friends, gather regularly for corporate worship, and to have that support system in place, but we can’t stop there. If we are Christians and we only interact with other Christians, then how is our faith spread? It’s kind of like how an organization or a church could never really hope to grow when the only people who it associates with are already members. In order for Christ’s Church to grow, we must look to dine with the sinners as well as the saints. Christ prayed for the disciples to have that spirit amongst them. “Father, don’t let them just do business with like-minded businessmen; make them deal with the castaways, the refugees, the outcasts.” That’s what Jesus wanted for the disciples, not that they would just be kept in the faith and that they would help keep each other’s faith, but that they would bring others to the faith by their being active for the gospel in the world around them.
One of the great tragedies of the Christian faith is that we so often look at things that are going on in the world around us and our reaction is to turn inward instead of outward. The decisions reached by the Supreme Court this week show us just how true this notion can be. Now, we will explore what Christ says in his prayer for the Church next Sunday, but think about this aspect of the Christian faith for the time being. How in the world could we hope for the Christian faith (and churches around the world as well as our own church) to grow when we run from those who are unchurched? How could we possibly think that by insulating and isolating ourselves from the world around us and by hiding from the world that we are actually going to change the world? In reality, the world is becoming more sinful and more broken each and every day, and our reaction is to bury ourselves further and further away from it. We really only concern ourselves with our protection and nothing more. We only worry ourselves with what directly affects us. We would much rather be out of the world than in it, which is exactly the opposite of what Christ calls us to do.
It’s not often that I actually have a goal for everyone to try and achieve at the end of the sermon, but I do this week. My goal, my challenge to each of you is to speak to at least one person who you consider to be a friend about their faith. Let it be either someone who you don’t know the status of their faith or that you know is a non-believer. You don’t have to invite them to church with you (which you are certainly welcome to do), but just ask them about their faith. Ask them if you can pray for them in any way. Show them not only how much you care for them, but how much Christ cares from them. I can promise you that you will not be make a gesture in vain. After all, how can we impact the world if we keep the good news of Jesus Christ all to ourselves? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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