Jesus’ Prayer for Us: Part IJohn 17:20-26

SchaefferI believe very strongly in the principle and practice of the purity of the visible church, but I have seen churches that have fought for purity and are merely hotbeds of ugliness. No longer is there any observable, loving, personal relationship even in their own midst, let alone with other true Christians.

SchaefferLove – and the unity it attests to – is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world.

John 13:34-35A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

1John 3:23And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

1John 4:7-8Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

SchaefferAnything that an individual Christian or Christian group does that fails to show the simultaneous balance of the holiness of God and the love of God presents to a watching world not a demonstration of the God who exists but a caricature of the God who exists.

John 17:20I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word

BruceBy worldly standards of success Jesus had little to show for his mission.

TenneyThe entire tone of the farewell discourse is built on the assumption that after the resurrection they would renew their faith and carry on a new ministry is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

2Thessalonians 2:13-15But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

2Timothy 1:13-14Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Romans 10:17-18So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Romans 10:14How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

2Corinthians 5:20-21Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Your Word• They have kept Your Word (John

17:6).

• I have given them Your Word (John 17:14).

• Sanctify them in the truth: Your Word is truth (John 17:17).

John 5:24Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 6:63It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

John 8:51Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

John 17:21…that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

1Corinthians 10:16-17The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Revelation 7:9-10After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Hendriksen…engraved upon the breastplate of the great High Priest are the names not only of those chosen out of the tribes of Israel but also of those drawn from the world of heathendom.

John 10:16And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

BruceIf the Father is in him and he is in them, then the Father is in them: they are drawn into the very life of God, and the life of God is perfect love.

SchaefferLove – and the unity it attests to – is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world.

BeggWe are called not to find unity but to keep unity.

SpurgeonWhy are we not one? Sin is the great dividing element. The perfectly holy would be perfectly united. The more saintly men are, the more they love their Lord and one another; and thus they come into closer union with each other.

MaclarenIt is the Christ-given Christ-likeness in each which knits believers into one.

SpurgeonBeloved, those in whom Christ lives are not uniform, but one. Uniformity may be found in death, but this unity is life. Those who are quite uniform may yet have no love to each other, while those who differ widely may still be truly and intensely one. Our children are not uniform, but they make one family.

1Peter 3:8Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

John 17:21…that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

CarsonEven when he prays for their unity, he looks beyond their unity to the still unconverted world which stands in need of the witness generated by that unity.