October 2024 ~ Matt Mitchell

“That All of Them May Be One, Father”

Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of John

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

October 27, 2024 :: John 17:20-26

The Lord Jesus was praying for you.

On the night before He went to the Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed the most profound and heartfelt prayer consecrating Himself to do His Father’s will to fulfill His Father’s mission, sanctifying Himself to suffer and die for us. And we’ve been listening in to His prayer.

Do you remember that? It’s been a month since we were here in John 17. I hope it’s coming back to you.

We’ve spent the whole Summer and Fall studying what Jesus taught His disciples the night before He went to the Cross. We call them “The Farewell Teachings.” And the last thing He said to them was our memory verse:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33 NIVO).

And then He began to pray. And pray and pray and pray. The longest recorded prayer of Jesus in the Bible. I’m so glad that His beloved friend John wrote it down for us to study today.

Because you can learn a lot about someone by listening to them pray. You can tell what they really care about by what they say to God when they are really praying. I’ve often called this, “The Real Lord’s Prayer” because it’s what our Lord really prayed to His Father just hours before He was killed. When you really listen to someone pray, you can learn a lot about their heart.

This prayer expresses the heart of Jesus. And do you remember what we’ve learned about the heart of Jesus?

Jesus began (in verses 1 through 5) by praying for Himself. In fact, He prayed for His own glory. Father, “Glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify You” (v.1). Jesus prayed, for Himself, that He would get the glory (the shining beauty of His greatness) in His crucifixion, in His resurrection, and in His ascension and present session at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Jesus prayed that He would get the glory that was His, is His, and will be His forever. And that that glory to the Son would bring glory to His Father forever and ever, in an endless circle. Glory was Jesus’ number one priority in His prayers. And it should be ours, as well.

But He didn’t stop there. He went on in verses 6 through 19 to pray for His disciples circled around Him. Jesus was concerned about them. He saw the danger that they were soon going to be in after He was gone so He prayed for their protection. He prayed (v.11), “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name.” Do you remember this? Jesus was afraid that His disciples were going to be blown apart from one another and sucked back into the world and knocked off course from their mission. And so He prayed for their protection by the name of God Himself, for their unity and joy, from the evil one, and in and into the world. Remember all that? Remember how important the prepositions were in His prayers? Jesus prayed for their protection by the name of God Himself, for their unity and joy, from the evil one, and in (but not of) and into the world. And the Father said, “Yes” to these prayers for His disciples. And He still is.

But Jesus didn’t stop there either! Jesus didn’t just pray for Himself and His Father’s glory, and He didn’t just pray for the eleven disciples circled around Him and their protection. That night also prayed for you. And He prayed for me. Did you hear it when Keagan read verse 20?

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message...”

That’s us, brothers and sisters. That’s you and me. Jesus gave the disciples the gospel message, and they took it to the world, and it has reached central Pennsylvania so that you and I sitting in this room today believe in Jesus through that message. And on the night before the Cross, Jesus said to His Father, “I am praying for them.”

These seven verses should be so precious to us. The whole thing is, of course, but we can put our names in verse 20.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for...Matt Mitchell. I pray for all of them at Lanse Free Church. Everybody who believed in me through the gospel message that I gave to these eleven disciples. I’m praying for them.” This is precious.

And what did He pray for? What was on His heart for us? Look at verse 21.

Jesus said, “I pray...that all of them may be one, Father...” That’s gotta be our title for today.

“That All of Them May Be One, Father.”

Jesus was praying for our unity. He was praying for oneness, wholeness, togetherness, love.

Jesus was looking down the corridor of time and earnestly praying for all His disciples over all of the years (more than 2,000 by now) and praying that all of His future followers (numbering now in the multi-millions) would be one. Jesus was praying for our unity.

Want to know what Jesus cares about? Want to know what is on Jesus’ heart? Jesus cares that His future followers are unified so much so that He prayed for it as Judas and the Romans were coming to kill Him.

We’ve seen this again and again. How much Jesus cares about His disciples loving one another. He’s been talking about it all night. He’s been showing them how to do it. Some of their feet are still wet from Him washing them and saying, “Do this to each other.”

In chapter 13 He said to them, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Jn. 13:34 NIVO). That’s been our theme as a church for all of 2024. Because it was one of Jesus’ biggest themes! He’s commanded it. He’s shown them how to do it. And now He’s praying for it. He prayed for it in verse 11, “Holy Father protect them by the power of your name...[why?] so that they may be one as we are one” (Jn. 17:11 NIVO).

And He’s praying for it here in verse 21. And He says it again in verse 22, “That they may be one.” And in verse 23 He says, “May they be brought to complete unity...”

Perfect unity among Christians. That was Jesus’ prayer. Is it yours? Is it mine? Do we pray for unity with anything like the passion our Lord did? Do we strive to see that prayer answered in our lives anything like our Lord did?

Because unity does not just happen. It’s not easy.

It’s not easy because we not the same. Notice Jesus doesn’t say that He wants us all to be the same. He wants us to be one. He is very happy that we are different from each other. Where the differences are not foolish or sinful. Last night at the membership seminar, we looked at how the Bible says that we are all like different body parts. Some of us are elbows and some of us are pinky-fingers and some of us are lungs.But we are all one body. Or at least we’re supposed to be.

It’s good that we’re not all elbows, right? Imagine a body that is just all elbows. We’re supposed to be different. Racially, ethnically, both genders, all ages, all demographics, all socio-economical levels, married and single, different political parties, different jobs, different interests, different giftings, different complementary perspectives on a whole range of things. But all one in Christ.

“...that all of them may be one, Father...”

I don’t think He’s talking about one organization or one human institution like one great big denomination. No, He doesn’t pray that we would be one organizationally but relationally. Missionally. Purposefully. Spiritually. See what He says to the Father in verse 21 about what this oneness should be like. Verse 21.

I pray, “...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”

Did you catch that? Our oneness is to be modeled after the oneness of God the Son and God the Father!

Our oneness is supposed to reflect their oneness! Which we have also seen again and again in the Gospel of John. He says it again in verse 22. Skip down to that. “...that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me.”

I’ve got four points this morning to try to summarize this precious paragraph (which is impossible to sum up! But here we go).

“I pray that all of them may be one, Father...”

#1. LIKE WE ARE ONE!

Like the Son of God is one with God the Father.

Now, of course, that cannot mean that we are one in every way as the Father is with the Son. They are both God, and we are not. But the analogy stands. Jesus insists on it in His prayer. He wants our unity to be like their unity. And that should just blow us away. Because what is their unity like? It’s perfect, isn’t it? It’s unbroken and unbreakable.

They are so united that they it’s right to say that they are IN each other, right? Their oneness is IN-ness. Look at verse 21 again. I pray “...that all of them may be one, Father just as you are in me and I am in you.” It doesn’t get much closer than that!

And that’s the model for our unity. We need to, on some level, think of ourselves as IN each other. And that’s because we are in Christ. That’s what He prays for in verse 21.

“May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Jesus prays that we would all be in the Father and the Son (and we know from chapters 14-16 that the Holy Spirit is there, too). Jesus prays that we would all be IN the Triune God. And that if we’re all spiritually IN the Triune God, then we are IN one another. Jesus says that this is only possible because of the gift of His glory. Look at verse 22.

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one...”

And I just don’t know exactly what it means, but it sounds wonderful! There are bunch of things it could mean that Jesus has given us His glory. Of course, there are some things it cannot mean. It cannot mean that we are now shining with the same glory He is. I can tell just by looking around the room. But He says that He has given us the glory that Father gave Him. I think that, at least, it means that we have seen a glimpse of His glory, a taste of His glory as we have looked at Him.

And it probably also means, on some level, that He was giving us His glory as He went to the Cross. Just like it meant that in verse 1. The time had come for Him to glorified in the Crucifixion and then the Resurrection. He was giving us His glory by laying it down only to take it up again.

And it probably means that He was giving us a mission to be like Him in His glory to humble ourselves, as well, only for Him to raise us up.

But my guess about the main thing He’s saying here is that Jesus gives us His glory spiritually because we are now IN Him. It’s all of that other stuff and it’s because we are spiritually located in Jesus.

And that makes us one with Him and with everyone else who is in Him.

And that makes us one with Father, too! Because He is in Jesus. Do you see it?

It’s like of like Russian dolls, right? You know what I mean? Those wooden Russian dolls that nest inside of each other? There’s the big one, you open it and there’s another and then another and so on.

Look at verse 23. I almost named this sermon by the first phrase of verse 23. “I in them and you in me.”

The big Russian doll is us. All of us. And then open us up, and there’s Jesus and His glory. He’s given it to us! Jesus is in all of us. And then, look. Open that up. Look who is inside of the Son? It’s the Father.

“I in them and you in me.”

But it goes the other way, too, right? Like no Russian doll you ever saw before. Open up the Father and what do you find? Verse 21 says, “You [Father] are in me and I [Son] am in you.” [And we know the Spirit’s in there, too!] So open up the Father and you find the Son. And what does verse 21 say next? “May they also be in us...”

That’s what He means by “complete unity.” All of us so intimately bound up with one another that we are “IN” each other. And if that is true of us, why wouldn’t we be unified? Why wouldn’t we be loving?Why wouldn’t we be totally together? That’s what Jesus was praying for. And that’s what we should be praying and striving for, too.

Notice that the Father never stops being the Father. And the Son never stops being the Son. They are still different. We are all supposed to stay different from each other in lots of ways that aren’t foolish or sinful. But we are supposed to be one. Like the Son and the Father.

And, number two, we’re supposed to be one so that others may believe.

#2. SO THAT OTHERS MAY BELIEVE!

Did you catch that in verse 21 and in verse 23?

There is an evangelistic purpose to this prayer for unity. Look at verse 21 again.

“[I pray] 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 sent me.”

Do you see the connection?

The world is watching the church. Outsiders are asking themselves if they want to come in to Christ. They are wondering if this gospel thing is true.

“Did the Father send the Son? Did God so love the world that He gave His One and Only so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life?”

Some of you may be asking that question right now. “Is all this stuff true?”

How will they know? One way is by looking at us to see if our lives have truly changed. One way is by looking at Christians to see if we actually love one another. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn. 13:35 NIVO). How are we doing at that?

Are followers of Jesus known for our genuine love for each other? Are we one?!

I know it’s hard. It’s not easy love each other especially because we’re so different and because we’re all sinful. We are not all lovable. We are often unholy and unlovable.

But that didn’t stop Jesus from loving us.

And it didn’t stop the Father from loving us.

And we can’t let it stop us. Look at verse 23.

“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.”

We love each other so that others will know how much they are loved.

I love how much this church family is loving each other these days.

I see it all over the place. The Fall Retreat last week! I loved seeing everybody passing around the babies. Playing board games. I laughed so hard at one with multiple generations playing that I was crying.

And the Ladies Fellowship group on Wednesday mornings? Those ladies sing and do crafts and study the Bible and share their testimonies and check up on each other. They call each other and pray for each other. And make gifts for others. They sent me with a gift to give to John Walter. I was so glad they made that and asked me to deliver it because it meant that I got to see him one more time just last week before he passed.

And the Community Group and Youth Group and Prayer Meeting and Choir. Those are all healthy expressions of oneness.

This meeting right here. A big bunch of loving people loving on each other. How you stick around afterwards and love on each other.

This especially true when we get unlovable. Forgiving each other. That’s when it gets real. When we sin against each other and have to confront each other and then ask forgiveness and then actually forgive each other? That’s when you see oneness! And when we bear with each other? When we’re tolerant of each other. When we’re patient with each other? When we are longsuffering? That’s when the world has to sit up and take notice.

When people who shouldn’t be one are one, that’s when our witness kicks into high gear.

That’s when people start to say, “Maybe the Father did send the Son and loved ME even as He loved His Son...”

“He loved ME enough to give up His Son? ... I believe!”

Let me ask you a question. Has the Father answered this prayer request of Jesus?

We’ve seen what’s on Jesus’ heart. What is the Father doing with this request? I’ve gotta say that He’s in the process of answering it with a YES.

Like other prayer requests in verses 1 through 19, there is a sense in which they have been be answered and, yet, there is still more to come.

I look around, and I see a lot of disunity in the Body of Christ. And I feel it in my own heart. I often grow cold in my love for other Christians, especially when they sin against me or when they choose paths that seem foolish or wrong to me.

And I see some Christians trying to bring unity in the wrong way. Often by trimming the truth or pretending that something is holy that I unholy. But, remember, Jesus prayed for our unity and He prayed that we would be sanctified by the truth in the very same prayer (17:17). We have to be unified in the truth, not in lies.

But Jesus prayed to His Father that we would all be one, and I believe that the Father is saying YES to that prayer request, one Christian relationship at at time. And, one day, every Christian relationship at the same time! And how glorious will that be?!! Jesus can hardly wait. Look at verse 24.

“Father, 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.”

Want to see the heart of Jesus?! This is what Jesus wants. The old King James has “I will.” It expresses the deepest desire of Jesus’ heart.

“Father, I want those you have given me [remember that’s us, we are the gift of the Father to the Son, I want those you have given me] to be with me where I am...”

Not so much in the Garden or at the Cross but in Heaven where He was soon headed.

“With me where I am...and to see my glory...”

#3. SO THEY SEE MY GLORY!

He’s back to praying about His glory, but He’s not just praying that He would be glorified or that His Father would be glorified but that we would see His glory! That we would be up close and personal and see the shining beauty of His greatness.

There’s no way of describing what that beatific vision will be like. He is the most glorious being in all of the universe. He’s everything we ever need or could imagine. He’s everything we’ve sung his morning and so much more. And the Father has given Him this glory because He’s loved the Son forever and ever! “Before the creation of the world.” Long before anything else existed the Triune God existed in an endless circle of love and glory! Always and forever have been and will be.

And what’s amazing is that Jesus wants you and me to be caught up in it! The Lord Jesus was praying for you that night that you would be with Him and see His glory!

He promised it in chapter 14. “In my Father's house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn. 14:2-3). And He told us the way to get there. He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (14:6).

And here He’s praying that we could believe and be close to Him and see His own glory. You know what? That’s where John is right now. That’s what He’s getting to see. I’m jealous. But our day will come soon enough if we are trusting in Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross.

In the last two verses, Jesus promises His Father that He won’t stop until all of His people know Him and know that they are in Him and are full of His love.

“I pray that all of them may be one, Father...”

#4. SO THEY ARE FULL OF ME AND OUR LOVE.

Look at verse 25.

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you [in fact, they have often rejected you], I know you, and they [my disciples] know that you have sent me. 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.”

How’s that for a way to end a prayer?! Jesus tells His Father that He’s on mission and He’s not going to be deterred. He’s been revealing the Father all along just like it says in chapter 1, verse 18.

“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.”

In fact, it literally says, “I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known.”

We look at the Son and we learn of the Father. And He’s going to keep on doing it even though it means His death. In order that the love that the Father has for the Son may be in us. And so that the Son may be in us, too!

The Lord Jesus was praying for you. He was praying that you would have the son inside of you through faith in His name. And He was praying that you would have the love of the Father for the Son inside of you, too. And if you’ve got that, then you have everything you need to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Because we all have that, too!

Are you full of Jesus and full of the Father’s love for Jesus? Then you can have the same passion for unity as your Savior. And you can strive like Jesus that we would all be one. Then you can pray like Jesus that we would all be one.

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Messages in this Series