We stopped last time in verse 12, right in the middle of Jesus' prayer for the eleven. We have seen how Jesus' prayer draws on the themes of the sermon that he has just preached in chapters 13-16. He told his disciples that "whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you." And now he is giving them an example of the sorts of things to ask.

Jesus prays first for himself-(verses 1-5) "glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed." This should be the center of all prayer-the God would be glorified in his Son. But then Jesus prays for the eleven (verses 6-19). Jesus' mission depended entirely on these eleven men. If they failed, then the gospel of Christ would never be known. If they didn't "get it," then no one would get it. And we should continue to pray for the spread of the apostolic teaching. As we have seen so powerfully throughout the history of the church, if those who preach the Word get it wrong, the church suffers horribly. When pastors are led astray by their own folly, then the blind follow the blind, and both end up in a pit. And finally Jesus prays for all "who will believe in me through their word." (Verses 20-26) In other words, he prays for the whole church throughout all ages. He prays for you and for me.

We have noticed before John's usage of the word "world"-or "kosmos" John uses "world" 76 times in his gospel--18 times in these 26 verses.

So watch how the world changes over time in this prayer. It starts at the end of chapter 16. "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." That statement conditions the discussion of the kosmos in Jesus' prayer. In verse 5, Jesus speaks of the glory that he had with the Father before the world existed. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. But then in verse 6, Jesus says that he has revealed God's name to "the people whom you gave me out of the world." The eleven are those who have been called out of the world. The world is under the power of the Evil One, and Jesus has come to cast out the ruler of this world. (12:31) In this respect, the world is corrupt and wicked, and the people of God must be called out of the world. In verse 9, Jesus says explicitly that he is not praying for the world, "but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours." There is an explicit contrast between the "world" and the people of God. In verse 11, Jesus even says that he is no longer "in the world." He is returning to the Father. He will no longer speak to the world, but the eleven will. Therefore he says in verse 11, "they are in the world." They must continue to preach the kingdom of God in the midst of the world that was corrupted by its evil ruler. Verse 13 then includes an interesting twist. "But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves." One of the main themes of chapters 13-16 was that Jesus is returning to the Father How is that a good thing for the disciples? It is a good thing if Jesus goes away, because only then can he send the Spirit. Only then can the power of the resurrected Christ be with his people always. Only then can his joy be fulfilled in them, as they speak his word in the world. But verse 14 makes it clear that the world will hate them. While the ruler of this world is cast out in the death of Christ, that does not mean that the world is instantly converted to Christ. The world still loves its deposed ruler. The world still hates the new king. The world hates the eleven, because "they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." They are in the world, but they are not of the world. They are heralds and ambassadors of a heavenly kingdom. But Jesus does not ask the Father to take them out of the world (verse 15), but rather pleads that "you keep them from the evil one." The ruler of this world is cast out in the death of Christ, but he is not destroyed. He is like an exiled ruler that still plots and schemes from a distance. He doesn't have the power to regain his throne- no longer can he hold the nations under his sway- but he can still do mischief in a small, mean way. In verse 16 Jesus repeats what he said in verse 14. "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." Jesus rarely repeats himself verbatim. He often says similar sorts of things, in order to communicate the same idea in different words. But he rarely repeats himself. Jesus thinks that this is important enough to repeat verbatim. "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." It is something they will need to remember. Because all too often they will forget. The world is what we see everyday. We live our lives in the world. But Jesus reminds the Father that the eleven are no more of the world than he is. After all, this is a prayer. He is speaking to the Father. And Jesus reminds the Father that the eleven are not of the world. There is nothing wrong with reminding God of what he already knows. He knows everything. You are never going to inform him of something he didn't know! In our OT lesson, Moses reminded God of his covenant. Remember how you took this people out of Egypt. If you destroy them, what will happen to your great name? Moses is concerned for the name of Yahweh. Remember what you have promised, O Lord! Jesus has asked his Father to keep them in your name, and he reminds his Father that they are not of the world. They are of the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And so he asks the Father to "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." In verses 17-19, Jesus uses the verb "to sanctify" three times. Twice to refer to his disciples, and once to refer to himself. This, too, is bound up with Jesus' understanding of the world In fact, if we translate it "consecrate" here, it might make better sense. Jesus' work in the world is seen as parallel in some sense with the disciples. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth. Jesus consecrated himself for service, speaking the truth to them, So that they might be consecrated for God's service as well, speaking the truth to others. Jesus' work in the world is the proclamation of the truth. This is what he has said, when he declared that his work is finished. He has "accomplished the work that you gave me to do." His work was to speak the Word of God to the eleven. Now they will be consecrated-sanctified- set apart for the service of the preaching of the Word. As consecrated preachers of truth, they are now sent into the world. That is why he said that they will accomplish greater works that Jesus. He brought eleven men into the kingdom. He trained eleven men as ministers of the gospel. They will do much more. Through their preaching, the world-that hostile realm ruled by the devil- will be saved. Because immediately after saying that he will send the eleven into the world, he begins to pray for "those who will believe in me through their word." Indeed, he prays 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." Wait-the world may believe? Didn't Jesus just pray, "I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me?" And yet now Jesus is praying that the world may believe! Jesus prayed first for himself, for the kingdom of God is rooted in his glory. But then he prayed for the eleven-because the kingdom of God won't go any further without their preaching. He was praying very specifically for them, that they might receive the same consecration to preach the Word of God. But now he prays for those who believe through their word. He prays for the church. And in praying for the church he prays that the world might believe. You see, from the standpoint of history- from the standpoint of where Jesus stood with his disciples, which is the same place we are today- we are called out of the world. We are then consecrated-set apart-for the service of God's kingdom even while we live in the world. But from our perspective, the world is hostile to Christ. But Jesus also speaks in terms of the salvation of the world. John 3:16-God so loved the world John 3:17-God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him John 12:47-I did not come to judge the world but to save the world This is, you might say, the eschatological perspective. In the end the world will be saved. This does not mean that every individual will be saved. John makes it quite clear that the one who does not believe in Jesus is condemned already (John 3:18). But through the preaching of the apostolic message, the world will be saved. Adam's fallen race will be redeemed. Humanity will be brought back into favor with God. Indeed, the whole world-the whole kosmos-all of creation, will be regenerated. The new creation, with the new humanity at its head, will one day be revealed in the glory of the Son of God.

That is why Jesus prays "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us." The Father revealed his glory in the Son. And the glory that the Father gave the Son, he has now given to his church. The glory of the new creation is revealed in us. The world can see a glimpse of heaven in the church- a foretaste of the kingdom of God. "The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one." The unity of the church reflects the unity of the Father and the Son. And notice how strongly Jesus puts this: "I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." Through the glory of the church, united as one, the world will come to know that the Father sent the Son. The unity of the church is a demonstration of the glory of the Son.

Is it any wonder that the world is not responding well to the gospel? It is not just the multiplication of denominations. That's bad enough, but it's not really the denominations that are the problem. It's not our relationships with people we don't see. It's our relationship with those we do see. It's the way in which we relate to our brothers and sisters in Christ- whether those in this congregation, or those around in-in our presbytery, in our region, in our neighborhoods. The glory of the Triune God-the glory of the exalted Christ- is to propel us toward unity with one another. This is why we encourage you to spend time with each other. This is why we invite our neighboring churches to worship with us. Faith PCA from LaPorte came last Sunday night. In two weeks we've invited Grace Reformed from Walkerton. Next month we've invited the Elkhart RPCNA. This is why the session has offered to visit the LaPorte church once every three weeks. Today as we take the diaconal offering after the Lord's Supper, we are giving to the physical needs of one another- but also for needs outside our own body. The session has also authorized a gift of $150 each month from our diaconal fund in order to assist the LaPorte church in their time of trouble. These are small ways in which we show forth our unity in Christ. But we cannot stop here. If all we ever do is fellowship with other Reformed churches, then we are only showing some unity. We need to demonstrate our unity with orthodox Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist and Wesleyan churches.

It is easy to use this passage to point out all of the defects of the modern church- even of ourselves! But I would be remiss if I left you there. Because that is not where Jesus leaves you. Jesus is not talking about something that "might" happen. Jesus is not talking about something that we can destroy. He is talking about the glory that the Father has given him. THAT glory-the glory of the only begotten Son of God- is what he has given to us. NOT that he will give to us if we do our job right. No. Jesus has given his glory to his church. We are consecrated/sanctified in the truth so that we might be sent into the world to proclaim that truth. We are one. This is why we confess "one holy catholic and apostolic church." Even when we fail to act as one, we are one. Just because the church is messing up doesn't mean that Jesus has failed. The corporate unity of the church is very much like our individual salvation. You are saved. Do you always act as a saved person should? The church is one. Does the church always act as one? And there is no more excuse for church disunity as there is for individual sin.

Jesus concludes his prayer with yet one more comment about the world. "O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

The world does not know the Father-nor the Son. But Jesus has made known to us the name of the Father, and by his Spirit he continues to make it known to us. Why is it so important to know the name of the Father? Because it is through dwelling in that name- it is through being a part of that family- that we are loved with the love of the Father and the Son. His love dwells in you because his Son dwells in you.

His final words to his disciples before going to the cross were "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." Now his final prayer for them concludes with his request that he might dwell in them. The only way that we can persevere through tribulation is if Christ dwell with us.

Copyright © 2004 Peter J. Wallace