1Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; 2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. 5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
6“I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word. 7Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you, 8for the words which you have given me I have given to them; and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are. 12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. 14I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world. 19For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
20“Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. 22The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one, 23I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me. 24Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me. 26I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17 – Live in Unity
20 “Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.22 The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one,23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.
This chapter is one of the heaviest theological chapters in the New Testament. As we hear the words of Jesus, we have a glimpse into the mind of Christ. Famous Welsh theologian, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, wrote several books and hundreds of pages on what goes on in this chapter. It has been discussed and debated by many Christian thinkers. In the first four verses, we hear Jesus, God in the flesh, praying to God the Father in heaven. Those who deny the divinity of Christ sometimes point to these verses, showing that in no way did Jesus claim to be God, because how and why would God pray to Himself? But the stickler is there in verse five. Jesus says, “5 Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed (v.5). Jesus clearly states that He was there, in the beginning, “with the glory which I had before the world existed.” There was none there at the beginning, before the world began, other than God Himself. In short, Jesus is God in the flesh.
His prayer continues. He prays for those with whom He has had contact and fellowship while here on earth in His earthly ministry. He prays for His disciples and others in the world at that time, and then He gets to us! “Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word.” He is talking about you and me, who have believed in Him through the testimony of the disciples, which has made its way down to each one of us. If you read this, and you are ‘in Christ’, you heard the gospel message, and you received it. Jesus is praying for our unity. He is praying that we may be one in Him as He is in us. Unity is important to God. The Shemah Yishrael states, “Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is echad (unity)”. (Deut 6:4). Unity in the family of God is also very important to God. We derail this unity when we create division over all kinds of things. The Holy Spirit speaks through the Psalmist when he says, “See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1 WEB) God is interested in our unity. Interestingly, He doesn’t call for our uniformity.
We disrupt this unity in the Church when we argue or create division over peripheral issues. What are peripherals? That word means the “outer boundaries.” So, the outer boundaries of what? I would say the outer boundaries of the faith's core tenets. When we argue about the color of the carpet, the inadequacy of the youth pastor, the delivery of the associate pastor’s sermon, the timing of Jesus’ return, the intricacies of exactly how God saves us when we come to Him. The last one is a doozy because we pretend to have the theological imagination to fully understand the mind of God. These can easily become divisive. I am not saying these things might not be important. I am saying that they are not to be ARGUED over. They are not to be the central thing. They are the peripheral things. We are clearly warned in Scripture that God doesn’t like those who create needless division, and He gives great scrutiny to those who sow discord. “There are six things which Yahweh hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to him, and he who sows discord among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16a and 19b WEB) Jesus prayed for unity. Now do your part to live in unity. That is what God loves.