Jesus Cares About You
Jesus Cares About You
John 17
Good morning, City Awakening! If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn to John 17.
This morning, we’re transitioning from our study of The Lord’s Prayer into a look at The Last Week of Jesus’ life on earth, which will take us right up to Easter in just a few weeks. I want to encourage you to mark your calendars for our Good Friday service on April 3rd at 6:30 pm and our Easter celebration on April 5th at 10:30 am. Invite someone to come with you—there are invite cards on your seats. Easter is one of the easiest times to invite someone to hear the gospel.
Many people believe in Jesus. Many people believe Jesus died for our sins. But they struggle to believe something more personal: That Jesus actually cares about them. John 17 shows us the heart of Christ. Because here we don’t just see what Jesus did for us…We hear what Jesus prayed for us.
John 17 is a unique chapter in Scripture for several reasons. It is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus. In The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus provided a basic model for us to follow, but here, we get a very personal insight into how Jesus prays. Secondly, this is called The High Priestly Prayer because it marks a transition from Jesus’s earthly ministry to his ministry of intercession. From this point on, Jesus is not ministering to people, but on behalf of people. And what I find really intriguing is how quickly Jesus makes this shift. Look at verse 1.
1Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come.
When it says “he spoke these things,” John is referring to the previous 3 chapters, which make up the Upper Room discourse. It’s when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and shared the last supper with them. He taught them about abiding with him in John 15, and that a helper, the Holy Spirit, would come because he was going away…. But, here in Ch. 17, we see that one moment Jesus is speaking to his disciples… and the next moment he lifts his eyes to heaven and begins praying.
The weight of what is coming—the cross, the separation, leaving his disciples—presses on him, and his instinct is to go to the Father. That’s a beautiful picture.
When I was studying this, I noticed that my heart felt some of that burden with Jesus, and it took me back to 2014. Brittany and I were getting ready to make our first trip out of the country together as parents. The day before we left, we had a family picnic. The kids were playing and laughing, but my heart was heavy.
As adults, we start thinking about everything that could happen… all the “what ifs.”
In that moment, I realized I couldn’t control anything. The only thing I could do… was pray. I had to go to the Father, and I think that’s where we find Jesus in John 17. His heart is burdened, and he goes to the Father.
What’s also impressive is the way that he prays so openly in front of his disciples. He invites them into his communion with the Father. As Christians, we should aim for more of that….more vulnerability and willingness to share real, honest prayers. Jesus is demonstrating some important aspects of prayer here.
But this is not just about how he prays, but what he prays. As we walk through this prayer, we’re going to see three things Jesus prayed for His people:
He prayed that we would be unified,
that we would be sanctified,
and that we would be multiplied.
Big Idea: In other words, Jesus cares about our place and our purpose in His Kingdom.
Look again at verse 1.
Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. 3 This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent —Jesus Christ.
Jesus starts by praying for himself, and it may not be immediately obvious how that demonstrates his concern for you. But in these verses, we see a relationship between the Father, the Son, and the people who believe in him.
The Father gives authority to the Son.
The Son gives eternal life to those the Father gives Him.
And eternal life means knowing the Father through the Son.
So the most loving thing Jesus could pray for… is that God would be glorified… through his plan for salvation.
This is consistent with The Lord’s Prayer,…your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven…and reiterates the point that God’s will and God’s glory should be the foundation of every one of our prayers as well. The most loving thing you can do towards God, for others, and for yourself, is to pray for Jesus to be glorified through his will being done. Jesus models that for us here.
As we move into verse 6, we’ll see exactly who Jesus is praying for.
6 I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, 8 because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.
Jesus identifies four characteristics of people who belong to Him:
They have seen.
They know.
They have received.
They believe.
This is important because some people see God, but they don’t know him…Jesus revealed himself to many, but only a few followed. On the other hand, some have seen him and know all about him. Some great Bible scholars know a ton about God, but don’t belong to Him because they haven’t received him. Sometimes, knowledge can be a hindrance because we think we know too much, so we have a hard time admitting our need for Jesus. But a true disciple sees, knows, receives, and believes in Jesus for their salvation. There is a clear distinction between those who belong to Jesus and the rest of the world.
So, before we move on, I want to invite you to evaluate where you are in that. Have you seen, known, received, and believed in Jesus? If not, I hope you know that Jesus cares about you, too. He said he would leave 99 of his sheep to go after just 1 that was lost. Maybe today is the day you receive and believe, so that you can be counted among those who belong to God….those who Jesus is praying for here….his disciples - past, present, and future (aka. The Church).
As we move to verse 9, the first thing Jesus prays for is unity.
9 “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours… 11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.
Jesus knew that one of the biggest challenges the disciples would face was division. There had already been arguments about who was the greatest, and concerns about other people preaching the gospel who weren’t part of the twelve. Without Jesus physically present to intervene, there would certainly be a risk of them being divided over misunderstandings, interpretations, and preferences.
Division has always threatened the church.
In the early church, there was division over doctrine.
In more recent years, it’s been ministry philosophies.
Today, one of the biggest threats, which is much more subtle, is consumerism.
We live in a culture that tells us to find the church that meets our needs. Consumerism teaches us to ask: “Does this church serve me?” But the gospel asks a different question: “Am I willing to serve this church?”
Jesus didn’t pray for a church built on preferences. He prayed for a church built on oneness. The consumer mentality goes against that prayer because genuine community and discipleship are inconvenient. Both require sacrifice, time, commitment, and presence.
Now, I want to say that churches do carry a burden of responsibility, too. I know there are people in this room who have either been hurt by a church or church leaders, or who left a church because of a genuine conviction that they were no longer teaching the truth of God’s Word, and both of those are problems.
We want you to know that we’re glad that you’re here and didn’t give up on your faith in Christ or his Church.
We are not a perfect church, but at City Awakening, we desperately want to be a genuine community of believers who remain united in our faith. We are going to have different opinions and preferences, but part of our code (core values) is that the Gospel is our common ground. That means that if we agree on who Jesus is and the core components of our faith, then we can work through the rest…but that kind of unity is difficult. There are going to be inconvenient time commitments, uncomfortable conversations, and messy needs. But like other things in life that require commitment and sacrifice, there’s a reward that comes from it.
In verse 13, Jesus says,
13 I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy completed in them.
“Our joy complete” means that we continue in our faith until the day that Jesus returns and we enter into his presence. So, our unity is directly tied to our joy, which is the opposite of the individual, consumeristic mindset that is marketed to us. To put it very simply: We need each other. Because Jesus cares about our place in his Kingdom, he cares about our oneness as believers.
Here are some simple ways we can protect unity:
Don’t gossip
Don’t isolate
Be committed
Be known
Be forgiving
Pray for one another
Pray for your leaders
Pray together
**21 Days of Prayer, 24 Hours of Prayer, Good Friday Service
Praying together cultivates unity, but it is also a catalyst for our continued growth. And the second thing Jesus prays for is that we will be sanctified.
14 I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Sanctified means consecrated, set apart, different. In Christian theology, our justification occurs the moment we put our faith in Jesus. We are justified before God. But our sanctification is the ongoing process of refinement that follows. The Apostle Paul talks about this as putting off the old self and putting on the new. It does not occur in a moment, but over the course of a lifetime.
God has always wanted his people to be set apart and to reflect him - from the Levitical priests to the Israelites as they entered Canaan. Jesus has a consistent desire here in John 17, and notice that he gives us the means and the method for our sanctification.
The means is the truth of God’s word. When we are continually holding ourselves up to God’s word, we will be refined by it. It’s like taking a light and shining it directly on our lives. It can expose all the hidden beliefs and sins that need to be dealt with. It’s why we say we will read the Bible and let the Bible read us. We submit to God’s word as the ultimate authority, the ultimate truth in our lives.
The method that God uses for sanctification is to let us go through the fire. Jesus said he’s not praying that we won’t have to endure the world, but that we’ll stay faithful while we’re in the world.
The best example is probably one you’ve heard, but it’s the process of refining gold. The metal is placed in an extremely hot furnace, and as the gold melts, the impurities rise to the surface and are skimmed off. The goldsmith repeats the process again and again until the gold becomes pure.
Someone once asked a goldsmith, “How do you know when the gold is fully refined?” His answer was simple: “When I can see my reflection in it.”
That’s a picture of sanctification. God allows the heat of life—trials, pressure, difficulty—not to destroy us, but to refine us. And the goal of that process is that when people look at our lives…they begin to see the reflection of Christ.
We shouldn’t be surprised by suffering; we should be prepared for it. And we should understand that it plays a key role in our sanctification. John Piper says that,
In suffering, we come to hope more fully in God and put less confidence in the things of the world….[And] we come to know Christ better when we share his sufferings.
Suffering doesn’t mean God has abandoned you. Sometimes it means God is shaping you.
Without the word of truth, we won’t see that. Our hearts will be hardened instead of refined. We’ll grow cynical and move away from Jesus and question his love for us. But when we combine the truth of God’s Word with our suffering as disciples, it moves us towards Jesus and away from the world. We learn that he is more than enough for us, he cares about us, and he has a purpose for us.
That brings us to the third thing Jesus prayed for his disciples - that we would be multiplied.
20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word.
Jesus says, “I pray not only for these…” Not only for Peter. Not only for John. Not only for the twelve men in that room. “But also for those who will believe in me through their word.”
That’s you. Two thousand years ago…before the cross… before the resurrection…Jesus was already praying for you.
21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”
Jesus leaves us in the world not just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others. The Church is God’s plan for carrying the salvation of Jesus to the world. We have an important part in the Kingdom, and it’s not just pastors or church leaders. Jesus is praying for ALL of his followers. It is our mission to make the Gospel known, and Jesus reiterates four ways for us to live with purpose. First, is by our word or our testimony. We should give verbal witness to what we know. Second, is by our unity as believers. Divided people give a divided message. Third, is by our sanctification. The world will (should) know we belong to Jesus when they see that there is something different about us. We’ll either stand out or blend in. Lastly, we have to rely on the power of Jesus and not ourselves. Verse 23 says, “I am in them and you are in me…” Jesus sent his Spirit to live in us, but not as second-level support.
Sometimes we treat the Holy Spirit like a golf caddy—give us advice and carry the bag. But Paul Miller says the Spirit isn’t a caddy. He’s the engine in the powertrain of our lives.
Our prayers move the Spirit who is one with Jesus, who can do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine (power).
Jesus has a purpose for our lives. He wants us to be multiplied, but he doesn’t expect or want us to try to fulfill that purpose on our own.
One of our codes at City Awakening is that multiplication is not an option; it’s a must. We believe that every believer is called, every believer can be equipped, and every believer should be sent. That’s why our vision is to see skeptics and believers seek truth (sanctified), find joy in community (unified), and live with purpose in our city (multiplied). If you want to know what we’re about as a church, it’s really just that….trying to disciple every person to fulfill Jesus’ prayer in John 17. Everything that we do, whether it’s inviting you into covenant membership, helping you join a small group, asking you to serve on a team, pushing 21 Days of Prayer, or encouraging you to invite people to our Easter service, is because Jesus cares about your place and purpose in his Kingdom.
Notice what Jesus didn’t pray for.
He didn’t pray that we would be comfortable.
He didn’t pray that we would be wealthy.
He didn’t pray that we would be successful.
Jesus prayed that we would be unified, sanctified, and sent. Because Jesus didn’t just save you from something. He saved you for something.
Big Idea: Jesus cares about your place and your purpose in His Kingdom.
Think about this moment in John 17. Jesus knows the cross is hours away. The betrayal is coming. The arrest is coming. The suffering is coming. And what does He do?
He prays. And who does He pray for?
His disciples…and everyone who would believe through their message.
That means He was praying for you. And the Bible says something incredible in Hebrews 7:25—that Jesus still intercedes for us today.
Right now. At this very moment. Jesus is praying for His people.
So if you ever wonder, Does Jesus really care about me? Come back to John 17. Because here we see the heart of Christ. He prayed that we would be unified, sanctified, and multiplied. And ultimately…He prayed that we would be with Him forever.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am…”
That is how much Jesus cares about you. He wants you with him.
