Our Destiny: to Receive and to Give Divine Love --John 17

Our Destiny: to Receive and to Give Divine Love —John 17

—John 17:24–26 (Part 28)

Andrew Fountain – May 24, 2020

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Goal:

To be deeply moved and touched that we are loved so much,
to be awed by our destiny,
and to know how we can respond.

Plan for today

A quick walk through the whole prayer in John 17
Jesus prays for his heart’s desire
The Father’s desire to be known

Structure of John

1–12 ”Book of Signs”	13–21 ”Book of Glory”

John 13–21 “Book of Glory”

13 A meal with the disciples

14–17 New Teaching
from Jesus
to the disciples

18–20 Arrest
Crucifixion
Resurrection

21 A meal with the disciples

Prayers of John 17

(1–5) I have completed your mission and brought eternal life to humanity, so the time has come for me to come back to your side in glory.
(6–10) You entrusted me with your loved ones, so I gave them your words and they received them. I pray for them now because they belong to us both.
(11–13) Now I am leaving them, please keep them safe, and especially give them the kind of unity that we have.
The disciples could overhear Jesus talking to the Father with so much care for them. Feel what it is like to be cared for so deeply!
(14–17) The world will hate them, but don’t take them out, rather keep them safe.
On the one hand we are to be kept safe from the world, but on the other NOT to be taken out. Why not?
(17–19) Dedicate them to the truth and send them out to continue the mission that you sent me on.
Because we have a new mission—to be sent into the World, and to be 100% dedicated
(20–23) And as the mission grows, may the world see their love and unity and so believe in your love!
Jesus has give us the hardest task, but also the most wonderful task—to demonstrate to the world a love and unity that can only be supernatural, and must have come from the Father of love
(24–26) And finally, I want them to be with me forever, seeing your true character, and enveloped in our love.

Response to Prayer 6

Recognize how important this love is—the greatest task of your life!
Ask God to show you the who and the how
Tap into his love within you to empower you

Plan for today

A quick walk through the whole prayer in John 17
Jesus prays for his heart’s desire
The Father’s desire to be known

2. Jesus prays for his heart’s desire

As we come to the conclusion of the prayer, Jesus asks something very personal for himself

Let’s dig down into the text now Link to John 17

Once again, this structure is not based on our English translation, but on the original Greek ../John_17-01/John17_01-greek.html
The word “desire” here is the same word Jesus used when he spoke to the man who had been paralysed for 38 years: Do you desire to be healed
This moves me so much, because what Jesus wants for himself, is to have us with him.
What does it mean “that they may see my glory?
- If you love someone, you want to share yourself with them, and in particular show them special things about yourself
- A very common trope in stories through the ages is the member of royalty who dresses up as a commoner, mixes with the common people and falls in love with one of them.
  They marry and the common person now gets all the glory of royalty.
A couple of true stories:
There was an 18 year old Greek sailor called Philip, studying at the Naval College in England
It was planned that there would be a visit from the Royal Family, but as the day approached, there was an outbreak of mumps and chickenpox
- Philip was and one of the few healthy sailors so he was put in charge of looking after two young girls while the grown ups did their thing
- He impressed them by jumping over tennis nets, and the older of the girls, Elizabeth, who was 13, was also impressed by the amount of shrimp he could eat.
He and Elizabeth kept in touch and gradually developed a relationship
8 years later they married in the wedding of the century, and she took him home to the palace
Another story, from the tiny kingdom of Bhutan, where a 7-year old girl Jetsun Pema, was told by her family they had been invited to a special picnic.
- At the picnic she was quite taken with a teenage boy who was there, bounced up to him, grabbed his hand and said “I want to marry you”
- He was a bit confused, and said “Why?”, “Because I like you!”
  - I’ll tell you what, when we’re grown up, if we are both single and fall in love, then I will marry you!
- Many years later, she was just completing her undergrad in the UK, and they met again.
  - Guess what, in 2011 they were married and they had a ceremony where he came down from his throne, put a crown on her head, and then led her up to a throne next to his.
Now these are just human stories, but something rises up within us when we hear them.
Of course they are a pale comparison with the story of Jesus and his Bride
- But I am telling you this because:
When you love someone deeply, you want to share yourself
I want you to be moved by these verses like I am
- There will be a wedding! We are the bride!

Read v.24 again

Respond to Jesus’ Love

Simply receive and believe his love
1. What pleased Jesus most while on earth was when people simply believed him
2. Jesus wants you with him! —spend time with him, even now!

Plan for today

A quick walk through the whole prayer
Jesus prays for his heart’s desire
The Father’s desire to be known

Righteousness

Old Testament: About keeping a relational commitment
Faithfulness to the covenant -the unrighteous person breaks the covenant’s laws
God’s righteousness is his faithfulness to those he has made promises to. e.g. Psalm 71

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me!
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,of your deeds of salvation all the day,
So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?

Moses asks to see God’s Name: Exodus 34

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD.
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD,
the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…

Your Name - Psalm 109

But you, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads.
Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to your steadfast love!
Let them know that this is your hand; you, O LORD, have done it!

Why is his name important?
Back in 1864, a Frenchman called Louis Pasteur made one of the biggest breakthroughs ever in human health
He discovered what germs were, and how to disinfect
Horrific diseases.were passed to human’s through cow’s milk
such as listeriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and brucellosis
His process of decontaminating milk was called “pasteurizing”
If his name was trusted, millions of lives could be saved
If you were a public health official at the time, and you had seen total health transformation in one part of the country
- They you started to work in another part, and you heard people laughing at the name of Louis Pasteur,
- You would be very upset, because hygiene was the #1 public health problem
- His name and work was the answer that could save millions of lives
- To laugh as him was to laugh at hope
So we should be concerned about the name of God because is the only hope for billions
There are such horrible distortions of God
- The world does not even know him, they just know a bad caricature of God
- What God wants is for his name to be truly known
- When it comes to it, most evil comes down to these two: injustice and hatred
- God is the antithesis of this!
- So when God wants his name to be known, it is because he alone can bring hope
But actually it is even more than that
- God is so wonderful, and so beautiful, that to know him is eternal life!
And Then Jesus ends by how this is achieved:

Let’s read it again Link to John 17:25

How will the world know his name? —v.26

Plan for today

A quick walk through the whole prayer in John 17
Jesus prays for his heart’s desire
The Father’s desire to be known

Our Destiny

To Receive and to Give Divine Love

Simply receive and believe his love
1. What pleased Jesus most while on earth was when people simply believed him
2. Jesus wants you with him! —spend time with him, even now!
Having taken in this love, give it out in God’s name
1. Because it is the only hope for the world
2. And because we are so in love with God that it is our joy for people to see his loveliness

Our Destiny

Simply receive and believe his love
Having taken in this love, give it out in God’s name

We are a gift from the Father to Jesus: beloved companions for him
He gives our love back to the Father as a gift:
to be revealers of God’s self-giving love to the world (and universe)
This is the highest expression of the Christian faith you will ever hear.
More than that, it is the highest point of human existence