Jesus' prayer for us:

Gloria in reciprocity

John 17

Our bible talk this morning centres around a conversation. It is a significant conversation. Not one of those light, fluffy and breezy chats, but an earnest exchange that is life-changing. It deals with some very profound issues; issues like what's really important in life.

What do you think is important in life? I'll bet that most of us would come up with the same answer: relationships. People, friendships, mates, family, love, laughing, crying, sharing, being together, having someone else who cares, someone else who would do anything for you, someone who likes you, who honours you; whom you like, whom you delight to honour, whom you would do anything for.

I spoke to a bloke on the beach recently who had just spent $200,000 organising a party for his business associates. Imagine having that as your budget to blow on a party. He spent $100,000 of his budget just on the entertainment. And yet that same bloke, standing next to me chatting on the beach, could very happily not have gone to the party.The more we spoke, it was obvious that hewas really only interested in his family, his sons playing on the sand beside him. They were his passion in life. Family was what really mattered to him.Money, success, status-- it seems the more you have the less its worth. Blow that all away: as human beings we thrive on relationship. For that is what we were created for.

This kind of relationship-- where someone gives their all for you, and where you freely give your all for them-- is what this life-changing conversation is all about. We're going deep below the surface talk of weather and washing, of kids and chores, of work and cricket. This is the kind of conversation you want to have, you need to have, before your life gets crowded with the mundane.

But in this conversation we are not one of the speakers. This conversation is between the Son of God and God the Father. Yes, John 17 invites to be eavesdroppers on the conversation that takes place at the heart of this universe, the conversation between Jesus and his Father, where God speaks to God. And as we read this passage and follow the conversation, amazingly, it turns out that we are the topic of the conversation.

Remember, of course, that on this last night before Jesus goes to the cross, he has just finished speaking directly to his disciples. Now in John 17 he prays—first for himself (vv1-5), then for his disciples (vv6-19) and then for those who will believe through their testimony (vv20-26); that is, for us.

Glory

And there are a few important threads that keep coming up in the conversation. Jesus has revealed his Father.Jesus is now going to the Father, so he prays that his followers will be protected from the Evil Oneand sanctified—made holy—living in the world but not being of it.And all this is to result in unity; with God and others.

But the first of these threads woven throughout this conversation is 'glory'. So we hear Jesus, in verse 1, pray:

^{John 17:1}  ÒFather, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

In this amazing window in on the relationship that he has with his Father, Jesus' first concern is glory. Jesus wants the Father to glorify him, so that he can glorify the Father.

To glorify something usually means to bring honour, to lift it up, to exalt and praise it. It's what the crowd does when it acclaims the champion, when it pays tribute to on the victor, showering him/her with accolades. To be glorified means to lifted up. Jesus will also be lifted up, when he goes to the cross. That is particularly how he will glorify the Father, by completing the work he is given. That's why he continues this way in verse 4:

⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus, as the second person of the triune God, had always and forever been gloriously praised and worshipped and honoured. But since he was made man, born in a stable, walking the dusty roads of Israel, teaching and testifying to his Father, he had set aside that glory and taken on the clothing of a servant [1] . Now it was time to return; to be given the glory he had rightfully has in the presence of his Father.

And here's the beautiful thing to notice about this relationship between Jesus and his Father: glory is reciprocal. One gives glory to other, who gives back glory to the other. They are like two mirrors facing each other, reflecting glory onto the other into eternity.

So, you see, this relationship between God the Father and God the Son is one of incredible self-giving love, where each one seeks to bring glory to the other. Their quality of love one for the other is such that nothing brings more delight to one than seeing the other honoured. The Son brings glory to the Father by completing the work the Father gave him to do on earth, that is, making the Father known to us.The Father, in return, will glorify Jesus in his death, resurrection and ascension back to heaven.This is relationship of mutual self-giving love and glory [2] .

Isn't that the way that friendship, true friendship, is supposed to work? It's the complete opposite of selfishness. How many sons have a relationship like that with their father? How many marriages look like that? Notice what Jesus says in verse 10:

¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 

Glory goes to the Father because people receive the words of Jesus as the word of God, and believe that he has come from the Father. Did you notice how we become involved in bringing glory to God: we believe Jesus, we accept his testimony to Father, we trust his words—and so glory goes to the Father through the Son.

In fact, by the time we get to verse 22, Jesus has begun praying directly for us—that is, those who believe through the apostles' message. Look at what Jesus prays for you and I in verse 22:

^{John 17:22} I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:  ²³ I in them and you in me. 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.

^{John 17:24}  ÒFather, 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.

The amazing truth here is that, not only do we end up the topic of the conversation between God the Father and God the Son, we are invited to join in, to participate in this relationship,where glory is give, one to the other. Verse 22 says the same glory given by God to Jesus has been given to us. Isn't that staggering? Jesus prays that you will share his glory, the same glory bestowed by the Father. Why? So that we may be united together and united with God, in the same way that the Father and the Son are united. So that the world will see it, and understand, and fear; because God has sent his Son as Saviour.

The more we read and re-read Jesus prayer, this conversation between God the Son and God the Father, the more we our perspective right on the world. Earlier I described it as the conversation at the centre of the universe. You see, this universe, this creation is not about us. It does not revolve around you and me; around my wants, around your needs, around his $200,000 party; it's just not about us. God has created all that we know, even us, and he done so for his own greater glory.

We get our perspective right when we recognise God at the centre and us on the periphery—he achieves his purposes through us and in us; but this is his show.

We get our perspective wrong when our problems, our issues, our frailties, our ambitions and our bits and pieces take centre stage. It's not that they aren't real or don't make it onto God's radar—it's just that they need to be viewed in the right perspective.

We get the perspective right when we recognise that the purpose of all creation is to bring glory to God. So no matter what situation we find ourselves in, the key question is, 'How can I bring glory to God through this?'

Glorifying God in our relationship with him

One of the chief ways we bring glory to God is by knowing him. This is, after all, the purpose of Jesus coming to us. We saw this clearly back at the beginning of chapter 17. Right after Jesus' call to be glorified so that he might glorify the Father, in verse 1, he unpacks this in verses 2-3. Have a look it it with me:

 ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  ³ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

You see, in John 17:3 Jesus makes it very clear that we have been made to know God. And when we realise that this is our highest purpose for being, the very reason we exist; and when we pursue this life purpose, we find that every aspect of our lives is changed. The ordinary becomes extraordinary.

You see, knowing God is not some kind of optional extra that might be useful in filling an empty space in your life. No, I am convinced that the reality of knowing God, actually living in a day-by-day relationship with him, will utterly transform our lives in the most practical and down-to-earth ways: our friendships and marriages will be different, our working lives will change, when we look at ourselves in the mirror in the morning, what we see in ourselves will even be different.

Knowing God, really engaging in relationship with him, really getting to know him well, not just superficially, is going to do that. It is the aim we should set ourselves in life. We were made to know God.

In fact, once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.

How many people have you met who say: 'life is just a bad joke'? Or how many people have you met who suffer from that kind of sensory overload where everything just seems bland, they are bored with life such thateven the best things in life do not really satisfy. For lots of people everything in life has become both a problem and a bore because nothing seems worthwhile any longer.

Maybe we don't even know what we want for ourselves anymore [3] . If you could have anything you wanted in the world, do you really think it would change things for you? Would $1 million be enough? Probably not. Would replacing your body with that of an 18 year old athlete or beauty queenreally make you content? Not for long. Would a red sports car and a new spouse actually fill up all the deep longings of your life? I don't think so.

What's our problem when life seems like a bad joke or when nothing seems to deeply satisfy us? Our problem is that we are looking for contentment and satisfaction in all the wrong places.

We have been created as a relationship partner for the living God. Our highest calling, our greatest achievement and our very reason for existence is that we know God. Mid-life crisis is just one symptom of living too small a life. Boredom and stagnation and dissatisfaction are signs that what you've been trying so hard to achieve is ultimately unfulfilling.And unless you truly know him, of course life seems like a bad joke, of course everything seems bland and uninteresting. There is nothing higher, there is nothing better for you than to know your God. That's what eternal life is, says Jesus in John 17. Consequently, I want to invite you to take very seriously God's invitation to know him.

Us with God Now

It seems to me that the climax of this conversation between God and God, is the establishment of our relationship with him now. Have a close look at verse 26:

^{John 17:26} 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.Ó

Imagine how much God the Father loves Jesus. Imagine the strength, the power and intensity of that eternal and all-powerful love. Well now Jesus prays that this same love will be in us. Staggering? Beyond our comprehension? But that is God's plan for us: we are included in the divine relationship in this way! Indeed, Jesus prays that he himself will be in us—a request fulfilled at Pentecost with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all believers.

As Christians we are meant to grow up, not to remain stagnant. Christian maturity is a product of knowing God.Your physical health, your financial prosperity, whatever Spiritual gifts God has given you— all of those things are no reflection of your maturity as a Christian [4] . 'Growing as a Christian', 'going deeper', 'pressing in', 'moving on': these are all relationship terms. They are ultimately tied to your knowing God and his ways.

Can God heal people of their sicknesses and past hurts? Can God repair broken hearts?Can he bring financial success?Of course he can; and much more besides. But they are incidental to the substance of eternal life. They are not the measure of how you are going with God: eternal life is a relationship.

So it's time to grow up as a Christian and get to know God himself. Because that's what eternal life is.

We are invited us into the heart of this relationship between Father and Son.We become his friend, his confidante, his trusted ally—and he ours. It's meant to be a two-way thing. We become familiar with his ways, just as he already is with our. We know his thoughts and share his opinions. We come to see the world through his eyes. Our hearts beat with his compassion for the lost.

Can you see just how high a calling it is to know God? There is nothing else that can come close to this in terms of significance, but also in terms of personal satisfaction. We are most truly ourselves, we become who we have always been meant to be, when we are knowing God.

We are to share in the intimacy that the Father shares with the Son. That's what it says in verse 21. Have a look at it.

^{John 17:21}[I pray]É 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. 

So the kind of relationship that Jesus pictures is far greater and more significant than we might have imagined. The God of the universe says to us; 'I made you to be my friend, my relationship partner.' And since this is why we have been created, then it makes sense that we will only know true satisfaction and fulfilment in life in this relationship with God.