The Gospel of John: John 17-1-26

Read and meditate on John 17.9-12.
Jesus kept and prayed for His disciples. Now that He was leaving, He asked His Father to continue keeping them, and to keep them one, that He might be glorified.

               ⁹“And I pray for them. I do not pray
for this world. But the men You gave Me, they
are Yours, and I pray for them. ¹⁰And all Mine
are Yours, and all who are Yours, they are Mine
as well. And I am glorified in them.
¹¹And they are in the world, although I am
no longer in it, and I come to You.
O holy Father, keep I pray, keep through
Your Name those You have given Me, that they
may all be one, as We are. ¹²In Your Name
I kept them while I was with them. Those You
have given Me, them I have kept unto
You. None of them is lost, but only one,
he who is everlasting judgment’s son,
that Scripture all might be fulfilled.”

- John 17.9-12

Reflect
1.  Jesus was very specific that the focus of His prayer – this prayer, John 17 – was on His friends and followers, those who were with Him during His earthly sojourn, and all those who would descend from their witness (v. 20). Was Jesus saying we shouldn’t pray for lost people (cf. 1 Tim. 2.1-8)? If we should pray for lost people, what are some ways we might pray for them? How do you pray for the lost people in your Personal Mission Field? Complete this prayer: Father, because You love the world, I will pray for it, beginning with…

2.  OK, we can pray for the world, even for lost people. But on this occasion, Jesus was praying for us, and His prayer reveals the priorities of His agenda for us, first, that we might know that we are kept, safe, and secure from being eternally lost and condemned. How can you see that in these verses? Thank You, Father, that because of Jesus, and the work He did in glorifying You, I…

3.  Jesus indicates that we need prayer because we are “in the world” (v. 11). What is it about being “in the world” that makes prayer so necessary (recall Jn. 16.33)? What does it suggest about prayer that it is useful for such a situation? How would you describe Jesus’ attitude toward prayer (cf. also Heb. 7.25)? Is your attitude toward prayer the same as that of Jesus? Explain. Lord, I want to be more faithful and diligent and fruitful in prayer! Today, help me…

4. In what ways are the Persons of the Trinity one? That is, what do they share that makes each God, and them all together God? How does Their oneness help us in thinking about what it means for us to be one? Should we follow the example of Jesus and pray for the oneness of His Church? Explain. Make us more truly one body, Lord, that the world might…

5.  Jesus prayed that the Father might keep us through His Name (v. 11). Based on what we see in verse 12, what does that mean? How does the Father keep us? How should being kept by Him affect us as friends and followers of Jesus? Bring together into one prayer the prayers you wrote for questions 1-4.

Summary
“In a word, what the soul is to the body, Christians are to the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians throughout the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body but is not of the body. Likewise, Christians dwell in the world but are not of the world. The soul, which is invisible, is confined in the body, which is visible. In the same way, Christians are recognized as being in the world, and yet their religion remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul and wages war against it, even though it has suffered no wrong, because it is hindered from indulging in its pleasures. Similarly, the world also hates the Christians, even though it has suffered no wrong, because they set themselves against its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it and its members, and Christians love those who hate them. The soul is enclosed in the body, but it holds the body together. And though Christians are detained in the world as if in a prison, they in fact hold the world together. The soul, which is immortal, lives in a mortal dwelling. In a similar way, Christians live as strangers amid perishable things, while waiting for the imperishable in heaven. The soul, when poorly treated with respect to food and drink, becomes all the better. And so Christians when punished daily increase more and more. Such is the important position to which God has appointed them, and it is not right for them to decline it.” Anonymous, Letter to Diognetus (third century AD)

We cannot be the soul of the world if we’re always allowing our differences to divide us. Christians can’t be the soul of their community if they fail to establish and maintain oneness with other friends and followers of Jesus in that community – other churches (Eph. 4.3). Do you think Jesus would want us to work harder to realize the oneness for which He prayed? Explain.

Closing Prayer
Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the great mountains;
Your judgments are a great deep;
O Lord, You preserve man and beast.
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light.
Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

Psalm 36.5-10

Psalm 36.5-9 (Landas: My Faith Has Found a Resting Place)
Your lovingkindness, Lord, is great, it reaches heav’n above;
Your faithfulness mounts to the skies, and keeps us in Your love.
Your righteousness like mountains high and judgment like the deep
Preserve Your creatures one and all and in Your mercy keep.

How precious is Your love, O Lord; we shelter in Your wings.
We drink refreshment to the full from Your abundant springs.
You give us freely of Your grace, we drink it with delight;
Life’s fountain is with You, O Lord, in Your light we see light.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.