Jesus Prays For His Disciples

So in John chapter 17, once again, this is the prayer on the eve of his crucifixion.

John 17 · chapter mention

He just then finished his instructions to his disciples, and now the Son speaks to the Father.

We see this right at the beginning of chapter 17 in verse 1 through 5 as his appointed hour is approaching.

Now, these words, they give us this remarkable glimpse of what Jesus has taught to his disciples, and not only what he has taught to his disciples, but also what he desires for them and the security that he has found for his people that the Father has entrusted to him.

This is a truth worthy of our careful reflection.

Now I want you to ponder this for just a minute with me.

Think about this.

Jesus, the Son of God, the creator of all things, prays for his disciples and all those who will come to him by faith.

Think about that for a minute.

What an all-inspiring truth that Jesus, God Himself, is interceding for his people.

What a beautiful thought.

This is what the writer of Hebrews says to us in chapter 7, verse 22.

He says this Jesus makes, this makes Jesus the guarantor of our better covenant.

What is Jesus?

What makes Jesus the guarantor, the better person for our covenant is that he lives forever.

He lives forever.

And so he continues, the writer, he says, this makes Jesus the guarantor of our better covenant.

The former priest were many in numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing in the office.

They would die.

But verse 24 says this, but he, Jesus, holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

Therefore, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

What a beautiful picture of our Lord and Savior.

It says, Therefore, he is able.

This means that Jesus is fully capable.

His power is unbreakable to accomplish salvation and to completely save us for all eternity.

Jesus is able.

Nothing can hinder him.

Nothing is beyond his capacity.

One non-author says this.

He says, salvation is threefold.

It's past, present, and future.

God is able, through Christ, to keep us forever.

And then the writer continues on.

He says, therefore he's able, but not only he's able, it says, since he always lives, his saving power never expires.

Our salvation is secure as long as Christ lives.

And guess what?

He lives forever.

He's not going away.

And so this is a promise for us.

Since he always lives, this is the ground of his power, his saving power, and it is indestructible.

Unlike the Levitical priests, right?

Unlike them, they died.

They were interrupted by death, but Jesus is not.

He lives forever.

And so in Jesus, his life never ends.

Therefore, our salvation is guaranteed forever.

Those who belong to God, he will continue to intercede for them.

And so his eternal life, it guarantees his eternal intercession.

And so there is a there's never a moment when he ceases to represent his people before God.

And so Christ's priesthood, it does not depend upon the descendants of the Levites, right?

But on the power of his indestructible life.

And it was publicly upheld in what?

His resurrection, right?

He didn't die.

Publicly, we've seen this.

He was risen.

They've testified of it.

There's witnesses of it.

They've accounted for it.

And so in his resurrection, this is upheld.

And we see that he is now at the right hand of his father forever.

Now, Romans 8, 34, which Teddy read this morning, gives us a great picture and helps us understand the continual intercession for the saints.

It says this in Romans 8, verse 34, it says, Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, more than him just dying.

Romans 8:34

Here it is.

He who is at the right hand of the Father, who indeed is intercessing for us, is because he was raised.

It wasn't that he just died.

And so more than that, he raised and he intercedes for us on our behalf.

God is so good, is so good.

But now that we have seen Jesus' eternal high priest, who is able to save us completely, he's completely able to save us and to keep all those who draw near to God through faith.

Let us listen to the rest of his prayer.

Let us listen intently to what he continues to pray.

And so in these verses, we will hear three things.

We will hear that the Son speaks to the Father about his people that were given to him.

We will also hear the word that they received, and then we will see the glory that is displayed through their obedience.

Through their obedience.

Listen with me as we read.

Starting in verse six, it says this I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.

Yours they were, and you gave them to me.

They have kept your word.

Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you, for I have given them the words that you have gave me, and they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

I am praying for them.

I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours, all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

And so the first thing we see here is that the obedient Savior receives a people as his own.

God gives Jesus a people who belong to him, a people for his possession, that he may bring glory to God through them.

And so he says this.

Jesus begins this section here in his prayer by emphasizing his faithful obedience to the Father.

He has made his name known to the people that the Father has gave him.

That's why it says here.

What he means here is when he says, I have manifested in verse 6, he says, I have manifested, I have made known, I have made it plain to the people.

All those there I have made known.

I have made known what?

It says, I have made known your name.

I have manifested your name to the people.

I have made it plain.

Jesus has made the Father's character, his attributes, his love, everything about the Father is represented in Jesus, and he has plainly made it known to the world.

He's not trying to disguise it.

He's not trying to hide it within the secret passage or the secret way.

He's saying, no, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the light.

He's revealing it all to them plainly.

How?

Well, I think a lot of times when I think myself, and I and you're probably familiar with this, but oftentimes when we try to explain someone to someone else, we try to give their character, right?

I think of a worker that works for me, has been working for me over 20 years, his name's Pedro, and he frames houses for us.

And we send him over to people's houses.

Sometimes we're not there, but we're like, look, he's a great dude.

Like he's he's seen my kids raise.

I would trust him with my own kids.

He's a good guy.

Like we're trying to speak on his back.

We're trying to show that he's trustworthy, his character, right?

And so because this person has never met Pedro, they're thinking, I don't know who Pedro is, but I'm trusting you.

And so Jesus is saying that if you've seen, if you've seen me, if you've heard me, you've actually heard the Father.

I'm trying to display the characteristics, the attributes of Christ.

And so if you've seen him, you've seen me.

And we see this in John, in John 1.18, he says, Jesus, he, Jesus, explains him, the Father.

And so he's saying, I've explained him.

Also in Colossians chapter 1, verse 15, he says, He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the one you can't see.

Colossians 1:15

You can actually see him.

You can see him in me, the way that I live.

Jesus then goes on in Hebrews, it says this, he says, Jesus is the radiance of his glory, the exact representation or the exact imprint of his father's nature.

Jesus represents the Father.

So how did he manifest the Father's name?

Well, through his words, his teachings, and also through his works.

Through his works, we've seen this, right?

Nicodemus himself says, no one can do, in chapter 3 of John, said, no one can do the works that you are doing if you're not a part of God, if you're not of God, right?

He's saying, we've seen it.

We've seen it later on.

The Pharisee says, this guy teaches like no other.

He's like no other person we've ever heard in the temple teach.

Jesus teaches this way.

And so through his words, through his word, Jesus reveals the Father's character and his saving will.

Now, although Jesus reveals this plainly, plainly to the world, not everyone will believe.

Not everyone will be delivered from this evil.

But those who have been given to Christ, those by genuine faith, the Father says he will keep them.

Look at the end of verse 6.

It says, And they have kept your word.

Those who have shown genuine faith, they have kept your word.

And their keeping of the Father's word, it reveals who they are, that they are a people graciously given by the Father to the Son and secured through the Son's obedient work.

That's why I love what 1 Peter 2.9 says.

1 Peter 2.9 says, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into marvelous light.

Once, he says, Once you were not a people.

You were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

In Christ, God made you his people.

In Christ.

Wonderful picture of our saving and rescuing Father that he rescued us.

Peter says this, he rescued us from the darkness, from the deceptions of this evil world, and he pulled us out of that system and he called us to live for his glory.

And because we, we, those true believers, belong to the Father, we have been given to the Son, then we should live with humble assurance.

Humble assurance, meaning what?

Knowing God is able, knowing he is able, and that he is faithful and obedient.

So we must trust his sovereign work, even when we can't understand what's going on, when we don't understand the circumstances, we must trust that he is working it out for his people, that he's interceding for his people.

And our salvation, therefore, is not rooted in our own effort.

It's not rooted in what we can do, but in God's gracious purpose and Christ's obedient work.

You've heard it said probably before, you are saved by works.

Not your works, but the works of Christ.

That's what we're saved by.

We're saved by his obedient to the Father, his obedience.

And so keep his word, not to earn a place with him, but because you already belong to him.

As those in true faith, you belong to God.

And so let your daily life show that you treasure Jesus as your Savior who has made you known to the Father.

And so we must ask ourselves, what would those within my circle of influences say that I treasure?

Have you ever thought about that?

What do you treasure?

Is it self?

Is it family?

Is it my reputation?

Is it my wealth?

Is it success?

Is it the things of the world?

Or is it Christ?

Is it his all-sufficient work?

Is it his love displayed for the glory of God and for the good of those who believe?

What is our treasure?

What do we treasure?

The second thing we see is this the divine mission of Jesus is finally understood and applied by the disciples.

It's understood and it's applied.

See, the greatest challenge, I believe, in the Christian life is not just knowing, but applying, right?

Too many people say, Well, I know Jesus.

I love Jesus.

I know him.

I know this.

I know I can tell you all the stories in the Bible.

I can quote you a few scriptures.

But are you applying it to your life?

This is a challenge.

When the world pushes back, do we stand in boldness?

Do we really believe what we're reading?

Do we believe that this is God's word and we're applying it?

And so we see here that Jesus reveals this to the disciples and they finally understand and they begin to apply it.

In verse 7, it shows that the disciples understand, uh, this shows the disciples' understanding rests on his divine revelation, right?

He says, now they know, now they know that everything that Christ possesses, everything that he has accomplished has come from the Father.

It's come from the Father.

The disciples finally understand that Jesus is not, he's not working independently of the Father.

He's not doing his own thing, he's not trying to build his own kingdom.

He's working with the Father.

He's carrying out the eternal purpose of the Father.

And so this is what the Son is doing.

He's trying to accomplish the saving mission that he is here for.

And Jesus has already said this to us in John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

We know this because in verse 19 he says, So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing on his own accord, but only on what he sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

And then he continues in verse 30 of the same chapter.

He says, I can do nothing on my own, as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

Jesus is not acting independent of the Father.

He's walking with the Father in a divine relationship, this deity, this oneness.

And so we see this.

John declares this again in chapter six that he came from heaven to do the Father's will.

He says in chapter six, verse 38, he says, For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who has sent me.

And so the disciples acknowledge knowledge is therefore more than just knowledge of facts.

It is a spirit-given recognition of who Jesus truly is.

And so they are seeing this.

They're seeing Jesus truly as the Son, sent by the Father, that they're one.

And we see this, it's explained in verse 8.

If you look at verse 8, it explains how they came to this knowledge.

The Father gives the word to the Son, the Son gives the word to the disciples, and they receive it.

This word receive in here means to apply it.

It doesn't mean it's just one ear and out the other, or they somehow retain this knowledge that they could tell their friends.

This word in the original language means they applied it.

And Jesus is praying.

He's thanking God for this.

They've received it and now they're using it, they're applying this knowledge.

Now, they're not perfect in it.

We know this.

They're not perfect in it.

But they begin to apply it.

And so Romans 10:17 teaches us that faith comes through hearing the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17

It says, so faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

This is why we cling to the word of Christ, is that which gives us direction, is that which empowers us, is that which teaches us obedience and that which glorifies God.

And so then again, in John 6, verse 63, shows that Christ's life-giving words are truly received only through the Father's gracious work.

John 6:63

Says this it is the Spirit who gives life.

The flesh is no help at all.

In and of ourselves there's no help.

But because of the Spirit, we have life.

And it says, the word that I have spoken to you are the Spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.

There will be some who do not believe.

For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him.

And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.

The Father draws you.

It is the Father who draws.

And by faith we believe, we accept.

And just like the disciples, they accepted the word that led to a settled conviction in their heart, believing that Jesus came from the Father, that he is truly the Son of God, and that the Father sent him to be the propitiation for their sin, to be the Messiah, the ultimate sacrifice.

And so notice here the pattern of saving faith, right?

Notice the pattern in the scripture.

God reveals his truth through his son.

His people receive that truth, and then they rest in Christ, the one who sent them, or who was sent for their salvation.

And Peter confesses this.

Peter says it in John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

He says in verse 68, he says, Simon Peter to answer and said, Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

You have them.

And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.

This is our confession.

This is Peter's confession.

He wasn't perfect here, but there was initial belief.

He's believing, he's starting to see.

And this is why Jesus is praying throughout his three years ministry.

He's praying right now in the high priestly prayer that they have finally believed and understood and they're starting to apply it.

And so Christ's words of eternal life, Christ has, sorry, Christ has the words of eternal life, and his disciples believe, and they come to know that he is the Holy One.

And so do not confuse familiarity with faith.

This is us.

This is not faith.

It's possible to know all the biblical language, all the lingo, all the stories without truly receiving Christ's word.

And so ask whether scripture merely informs you or whether it governs what you believe, what you love, and who you obey.

Think about that.

Receive Christ on the Father's testimony.

Saving faith does not fashion Jesus of its own choosing, right?

It's not like we don't get to choose how Jesus fits in our life.

But we do that.

Time and time we do that.

We want to package Jesus in this neat little package that fits my life and makes me feel good and secure about who I am.

That's not what the gospel is.

That's not saving faith.

Saving faith instead it embraces the Son as He is revealed in Scripture, the suffering servant, right?

The one who served others, the one who took on the penalty that we were due.

This is who we serve.

And so we must embrace this God of Scriptures and not the one that we fit into our own imagination.

So let what you know become visible in how you live.

James 1:22.

James 1:22

That's what James says.

He calls believers to be doers of the word, not only hearers.

And so trust Christ's promise, promises in fear, submit to his command and temptation and speak his truth to those who still dis who are still deceived by the world.

And lastly, I would say examine yourself.

Has the word brought you to a settled confidence that Jesus is the Father, or Jesus is the Father sent Son?

Or are you resisting what God has made known, what God has made plain about Jesus being the Son of God?

Are you resisting that?

True knowledge of Christ produces faith, and genuine faith increasingly bears fruit.

This is why we abide.

This is why we remain in the vine.

It's because we were true believers and we produce fruit.

The third thing we see here is this the sovereign Savior prays for his disciples' strength for their coming mission.

Verse 9, knowing that they will face pain and the temptation to flee, Jesus prays for his disciples.

He says, I'm praying for them.

I'm not praying for the world, but for those who have given me, you have given me, for they are yours.

Now, at first glance, we look at verse 9 and we think, man, this is this sounds kind of harsh, right?

Why does Jesus say that he's only praying for his disciples and not for the world?

This doesn't mean that Jesus never prayed for unbelievers, right?

This is not what he means here.

Rather, this is a passage he is offering a particular prayer for those who are the fathers, who have been given to him by the fathers.

So this is a particular prayer.

He's praying for them to continue in the mission, right?

In the middle of this hostile world.

And so, yes, God does show love and goodness and compassion to all people, agape, right?

The love that is general, a general love for all people.

But here there's a brotherly love.

There's the the phileo love, right?

The one, the intimate love that speaks of a particular people who have been covenanted by God that He is going to.

Keep and protect and love, right?

Those who belong to him, they are the father's gift to the son.

And so the son intercedes for them.

This is what he's doing: he's praying for them.

So why are they the object of his special care?

Not because of their obedience, not because they've earned his love, but because the father gave them to the Son.

Their faith and obedience are the fruit of belonging to Christ, right?

This is the fruit.

This is the great gratitude and appreciation that God has saved them.

And now they're obedient.

They're not being obedient to gain God's favor.

And so in verse 9, Jesus identifies the people for whom he's praying for, those whom the Father has given him.

And the following verses make this clear that they remain in the world while Jesus returns to the Father.

So he's interceding for their preservation, right?

Their unity, their holiness, their faithfulness on their mission.

This is why he says in Matthew, when he stands before and he preaches his first sermon in Matthew chapter 5, he says, You are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, or on a stand, and it gives light to all the houses.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to the Father who is in heaven.

This is our mission.

God is praying for us to be that city on a hill, to be that light that's on a stand, not in a back under a basket.

And then he continues, or Paul says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

He says, Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ.

We are ambassadors for Christ.

God making his appeal through us.

You hear that?

God makes his appeal for his divine nature, for his holiness through his people, through you and I, through true believers.

He says he's making his appeal through us.

And so Paul says, we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

For our sake, he made himself to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We might become the righteousness.

What an honor, what a privilege that God looks to us, wretched people, imperfect people.

And he makes something so good out of those who surrender their life to him.

The disciples will remain in the world as Christ's representatives, just like us, bearing witness of him through their words and through their lives.

And here's the beauty of their mission it doesn't rest on their own strength.

You and I, it doesn't rest on our own strength.

This is where fear comes in when we think we can do it.

When we think we're able, we get fearful and we back, we shrink back.

But when we put our confidence in his strength, it doesn't matter.

And so we must trust that he is interceding for us, the Savior who was sent.

And so the hope of the disciples is not in their own strength to survive this world because it's coming.

They're about to they're about to face plenty of hard times, but it's knowing that the sovereign savior is faithful to do what he says, and he says he will preserve them.

And he did.

And so here's the encouragement, church.

The one who sends them and us into the world also prays for us.

He also keeps us and he supplies all that we need to finish our mission for his glory.

And so rest in Christ's intercession.

When you feel weak, when you feel opposed, when you feel tempted to withdraw, remember that your security does not rest on the strength of your grip to Christ, but on the strength of his saving and preserving grace.

So rest in that.

Rest in his intercession.

Also remain faithful to his word, to his instruction.

Christ prays, not uh prayer is not a reason for passivity, right?

We're just not being passive like Jesus intersected.

We can just do what we want, we'll just wait, right?

It's not a call for us to be passive, but it should give us confidence to obey his command, to endure the hardship, to resist the pressures of the world and the temptations of the world, and to continue to trust what he has entrusted to us.

And so we remain faithful to his word.

We represent Christ wherever he sends us, wherever he sends us.

Let your word, let your conduct, let your love, let your good works bear witness to the Savior, to the one to whom you confess to obey, confess to have surrendered your life, the Lordship over to.

Let your life represent that.

Let it bear witness for God's glory and for the good of others.

And then last, pray for the believers.

Do we do that enough?

Pray for believers who are under the pressure.

Look, not only the missionaries, there are missionaries that are across the pond in places that are seeing serious persecution.

And we should pray for them absolutely.

But there are people who are near to you that we need to pray for.

There are sister churches in our community that we should be praying for because it's not about our glory.

It's not about the glory of the church at Magnolia Hill.

It's about the glory of God.

And so pray for them.

Use Christ's example here, like He's doing.

He's praying for the disciples.

We too should be interceding on behalf of our fellow brothers and sisters who are facing persecution in our communities and across the world, asking that God would preserve their faith and make them fruitful in their mission.

And then the last thing we see is this in verse 10.

The unity of the Father and the Son is magnified through his disciples.

It is magnified through his disciples.

And like the disciples, when we recognize Jesus as Savior and Lord, he is glorified through our lives.

Right?

We can't just recognize him as Savior.

We have to recognize him as Savior and Lord.

If you look in Scripture, it's always that.

It's always Savior and Lord.

It's never one or the other.

He's our Savior and our Lord.

We've submitted to Him.

And so we must see that.

And when we do that, when we live our lives surrendered to Him and His Lordship, God is glorified.

God is glorified.

And so this is in verse 10.

Jesus moves us from the unity of oneness with the Father, and he reveals his mission of the disciples here in verse 10.

And it begins in the beginning, begins to pray for their provision and protection, right?

We start to see this after verse 10.

He starts to pray for provision and protection.

We see this in verse 11 through 19.

And he says this in verse 15.

He says, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

So he's not saying, Don't remove them, right?

Keep them there.

They are not of the world, verse 16, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them in truth, and your word is truth.

And so Jesus is going to begin to pray for their provision and their protection as their own mission.

Now, next week, Eric will unfold the rest of this prayer from the disciples, from Jesus to the disciples.

But before we look at this passage, I believe it is important to recognize the pattern that Jesus establishes here, the pattern he establishes in verse 10 to entrust to his disciples and ultimately to extend to the church.

And so right here in verse 10, here's the transition verse between his prayer for his disciples and their provision.

And he says this.

And so the Son gives all that belongs to him to the Father.

Jesus does not act independently.

We talked about, he's not acting independently, he's not seeking some kind of separate glory of his own from the Father.

He's working together.

And so his people, his work, his mission are wholly devoted to the Father's will and his glory.

And we see this.

John chapter 5 and verse 19, he shows that the Son does not do anything apart from the Father, right?

John 5 · chapter mention

We talked about this in chapter 16.

He affirms that all that the Father has belongs to the Son.

This is a perfect unity, a perfect purpose and possession and glory that Jesus has with the Father.

So he says, All mine are yours.

Then he goes on to say, Yours are mine.

And so the Father entrusts his people to the Son.

He's entrusting them to the Son.

This statement goes beyond the language of a servant receiving like this assignment, like here, take care of these people.

No, no, no, no.

Jesus claims what belongs to the Father belongs to me.

And so we see this claim to deity.

All mine are yours, and yours are mine.

It's a beautiful picture.

And so the Son gives, or we see this also in chapter 10 when he says, look, the Son gives eternal life just like the Father.

And we talked about the sheep.

He's the great shepherd, right?

He says, His sheep eternal, he gives his sheep eternal life, and he declares that no one can snatch them out of my hand, nor can they snatch them out of the father's hand.

He says this in chapter 10, and you see this relationship, you see this divinity, this deity of this oneness.

And so the disciples therefore belong securely to both the Son and the Father.

And then we get to the end of verse 10, and he says, I am glorified in them.

And so all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

The Son displays his glory through his people, through those who belong to them.

The disciples do not add to Christ's divine glory.

What I mean by that, look, God is glorious with or without us.

We're not adding anything to his glory, to his divine nature, to his godhood, right?

The person of God, but rather their faith, obedience, and witness and worship and the fruit that they bear make his saving power visible to a lost world.

And so we're on mission.

We're the means to which they see salvation in Christ.

Jesus says in John 15, 8 that the Father is glorified when his disciples do what?

Bear much fruit.

Matthew 5, 16 teaches that the good works of God's people should direct others to the glory of the Father, right?

They should see your good deeds and glorify God on that day.

They shouldn't see you and glorify you.

They shouldn't see you and think more about you.

They should think more about who Christ is and what he has done.

And so the church continues this pattern, right?

Of belonging to Christ, receiving his word, and then living so that his character and saving work is displayed to the world.

If Christ is glorified through those who belong to him, then this truth, the truth of the gospel, listen, the truth of the gospel must move from what we confess with our lips to what we display through our lives.

This is the truth.

It must move, not just from what we're saying, but what we're doing.

And so live with the security of knowing you belong to Christ.

You belong to Christ.

Your standing with God does not rest on your performance, but on the saving work of the Son and the unbreakable unity that he has with the Father, the Father and the Son.

Therefore, resist fear and rest in Christ, who gives his people eternal life and will never let them go.

Submit every part of your life to the Father's will.

Jesus devoted his people, his work and his mission to the Father's glory, and so should we.

Excuse me.

And so in the same way, whether your plans, your relationship, your work, your priorities, all these should display a submission to God, to his desires, not to your desire to build your own kingdom, but to build his kingdom.

So make Christ visible through faithful obedience and faithful service to him.

Christ is glorified in his people when his word shapes their conduct.

Think about that.

You're glorified.

God is glorified by the way that you conduct yourself, the way that you love, the way that love governs your relationships, the way that his mission is part of your witness and part of your worship.

And so let others see the character and the saving power of Jesus through the way you speak, the way you serve, the way you forgive, the way you endure, the way you proclaim the gospel.

Examine what your life says about your Lord.

What does your life say about Christ?

If those closest to you judge Christ only by what they see in you, would they see that he is worthy?

Would they see that he's sufficient?

Would they see that he's glorious?

What would they see by the way that you live your life?

Ask God to expose whatever hides Christ's glory and to produce the fruit that directs attention towards him and away from you.

Here's the main ideas.

Man comes back up.

True believers belong to God through faith in Jesus and glorify him by obeying his word.

Simple.

This is what Jesus is praying.

He's praying that those who belong to him, that their faith would so shine forth that they would trust in what he has done and what he continues to do in their life, and that the world may see him glorified through the way that they conduct themselves, the way that they live, the way they love, and through their character.

And so I would say to you, because you belong to Christ, those who confess to be believers, live so that your faith, your obedience, and your witness makes his glory unmistakably visible to those around you.

Let me pray.

Father.

God, thank you for our high priest.

Thank you that Jesus came to not represent himself independently, but that he came in union with the Father.

And Father, we thank you that those who have been gifted to him, God, that he intercedes for them continually because he lives forever.

There's never a moment when he is not interceding for his people.

And so, Father, teach us how to trust the sovereign work of his hand.

Teach us how to be obedient to his word and to live on mission, that the world may see his glory and his good deeds, and that he may be glorified on that day and not us.

Remove anything in our lives that puts the attention on us and not on him, Father.

May we be a people for his possession.

That the Father may be glorified in all that we do, Father.

Show us how to be obedient.

Give us the faith we need and the strength we need to accomplish the mission that was given to us through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Father, we thank you.

May our lives represent Christ in all that is none and all the day.

For it's in his great name we pray.

Amen.