What Jesus Wants

What Jesus Wants

John 17:1–26

“Why don’t you just tell me what you want?” One of the most challenging things in relationships is wanting to please another person but not knowing what they want. I have seen so many relationships struggle because the other person can’t figure out how to please the one they are with. They want to love their spouse but just don’t know how. We are left frustrated and say, “Why don’t you just tell me what you want?” Things are a lot easier when the other person lays it out for you. 

At the end of the movie Hoosiers, right before the final big game, Coach Dale didn’t need to share anything new because they just needed to be reminded of what he already said. So they get in their final huddle, he gets close to them and simply says, “I love you guys.” John 17 feels something like that. I am thankful for John 17 because Jesus tells us what he wants from his people. He lets us hear clearly what he desires for his people. 

Jesus has spent the last several chapters teaching his disciples, correcting them, preparing them, and telling them what is about to happen. The cross is only hours away. And now Jesus wraps up his formal ministry, by praying for his friends. We get to listen as the Son speaks to the Father about what matters most to him for his people.

So if you want to know what Jesus wants for you, and what Jesus wants for us as a church, listen to how he prays.

Jesus Wants Us to Know God (vv. 1–5)

After Jesus lays all his commands and instructions to the disciples, he models for us what we should do next. He prays. He goes before the Father as He knows that only God gives spiritual life. John 17:1–5,

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 

You will see some repeated themes throughout this chapter: glory, unity, sanctification, the relationship between the Father and Son, and eternal life. The prayer begins pointing to where the whole Bible has been pointed since Genesis 3. 

Glorify the Father

Jesus begins, “The hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” Jesus’ aim has always been to glorify God. His perfect obedience, his comprehensive completion of the Father’s mission, and his love for the Father have led him to say, “The hour has come.” He is ready to die and bear the wrath of God for the people the Father has given the Son. In asking the Father to glorify the Son, Jesus is asking that the Father bring his mission to completion through his atoning sacrificial death and then raise and exalt him. The cross and the resurrection are intertwined.

If we know God, we will desire to glorify God through Jesus Christ. To glorify God means to recognize, display, and declare his greatness and worth. We do not add anything to God’s glory, as though he were lacking; we make much of the glory that is already his. We glorify God when we obey him, trust him, worship him, speak of him, serve others in his name, and choose his will over our own. Jesus glorified the Father by faithfully completing the work the Father gave him to do, and we glorify God in the same way: by faithfully doing the work he has given us to do through Christ.

Receive eternal life

Jesus was given all authority over everyone on the earth and since he has authority over all flesh, he can give eternal life to all those the Father has given him. This means the Son wants us to have eternal life. He does not want any of his people to perish but all to come to repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus prays one of the main topics of his ministry. John 3:36

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Jesus wants you to believe that he was sent from God so that you may have eternal life. 

Know God through Christ

And how do you receive eternal life, you know God. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Your greatest goal in all of life is to know God. That means you should use all things in your power to help you know God and to cut out things that will hinder you from knowing God. This is what Hebrews 12:1-2 is getting at, 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

We lay aside every weight and sin that slows us down from running with endurance and looking to Jesus. So what things weigh you down to hinder your walk? Where do you spend your time that is keeping you from knowing God? This is your main thing. To know God is to have eternal life. So what is keeping you from knowing God? Some of you need to repent of something specific that has become a life dominating struggle leading you from knowing God. Many of you may need to modify the amount of time you do something you enjoy because it is not helping you know God. Is knowing God the most important thing in your life?

Behold the Son’s eternal glory

Jesus asks the Father to return to the Father’s presence with the glory he had before the world existed in verses 4-5. As Jesus has said, ‘before Abraham was, I am.’ Jesus is the eternal second person of the trinity. He was with the Father in perfect glory before the world existed. And after his death and ascension he will be seated again in glory. Paul says it this way in Ephesians 1:20-21,

 according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that has been named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 

Jesus wants to be glorified for his glory is connected to the Father’s glory. And thus, he wants his people to behold his glory. The glory of the only Son with the Father. 2 Corinthians 4:5–6

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

Beloved, Jesus is praying for God’s glory. Is this how we pray? Jesus is telling us what he wants to happen and what is on his heart. And God’s glory is in his heart and on his mind!! Is God’s glory in our heart and minds? If you recorded all your prayers, what would they reveal about what is in your heart? For out of the heart the mouth prays. What do your prayers reveal what is the most important thing in your life?

Jesus Wants Us Kept Holy (vv. 6–19)

Jesus continues his prayer focusing on his people. And one thing you will notice is how his people are distinct from the world. Their distinctness is a sign they are being kept by the Father. 

Given to Christ

Jesus emphasizes that his people are given to him by the Father. This should be incredibly encouraging to us because of how eternally binding it is for us to belong to God. Just listen for Jesus emphasis in this prayer, John 17:6–10

“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, and 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 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. (emphasis added)

The disciples have been given to Jesus by Father. And Jesus says he is praying for them. He is not praying for the world but those the Father has given to the Son out of the world. This is a beautiful picture of the church: a people given by the Father to the Son, taken out of the world to belong to God. This is what we testify each and every week when we gather as the church. We are saying to the world, our citizenship is in heaven. We belong to God and do not belong to the world. The gathered church is like an embassy of our true homeland, a visible outpost of the kingdom to which we belong.

One of the best things about traveling is coming home. After being away from my family for a week, when the alarm clock rings that final day. I spring out of bed with a new found excitement because I’m going home. Do you feel that on Sunday morning? You have been away from home all week and you now get to come home for a few hours. Beloved, there is nothing like coming home. 

We have been given to Christ by the Father. We no longer belong to the world. We belong to Christ. 

Kept by the Father

Beloved, Jesus wants us to know the Father and be kept by the Father. We hold fast to God because God first and finally holds fast to us. John 17:11–15

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

Jesus is continuing the same theme. We have been given to Jesus and do not belong to the world. Although we have a new citizenship, we will not be removed from the world. We will live in the midst of the world by keeping his word. 

Beloved, Jesus wants us to know the Father and be kept by the Father. We hold fast to God because God first and finally holds fast to us. Think about a dad walking through a Walmart parking lot holding his little daughter’s hand. She may think, “I’m holding on to Dad.” And she is. But her real safety is not in the strength of her little hand. Her safety is in the strength of his hand holding hers. Cars are moving, people are backing out, there are dangers she does not even see, but her father sees them and keeps hold of her.

That does not mean her grip does not matter. She should hold on to her dad. But underneath her grip is his stronger grip. In the same way, Christians are called to hold fast to Christ, but underneath our perseverance is the preserving hand of God. We hold fast to him because he first and finally holds fast to us.

There are two fatal errors people make when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. Legalism says my obedience makes me right with God. Licentiousness says grace means obedience does not matter. John 17 rejects both. We are kept by grace, and that grace keeps us from the evil one.

Paul gives the same warning in Ephesians 5:5: “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” To be kept by God means being kept from the evil one and from the path that leads to destruction. In verse 6, Jesus identifies his people as those who will inherit the kingdom by those who keep his word, “Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” Again in verse 8, “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they received them.” Christians are marked by how they hear, receive and keep God’s Word. 

Jesus did not lose any of those who were given to him. He kept them all except Judas, the son of destruction, whose betrayal fulfilled the Scripture. Judas had lived among the disciples and heard the words of Christ, yet his betrayal revealed that he did not truly belong to Christ. His life stands as a sober warning that outward association with Jesus is not the same thing as truly belonging to him. He did not keep God’s word. 

Paul brings both the warning of judgment and the grace of salvation together in 1 Corinthians 6:9–10: 

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived…” 

He then lists patterns of unrighteousness and says that those who persist in them will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the key verse is the next one, 1 Corinthians 6:11, 

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

That is the gospel. We no longer belong to the world because Jesus Christ has rescued us from it through the gospel. We have been washed. We have been justified. We have been sanctified. And our sanctification is not finished. God is still changing us, still setting us apart, still keeping us from the evil one. This is exactly what Jesus prays for his people.

Sanctified by the truth 16-17

John 17:16–17, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” We are set apart by the truth to live in the truth of the gospel. And the word of God is truth. One of the primary ways God keeps his people is through his Word. He gives us his truth, and by that truth he sanctifies us, strengthens us, and keeps us walking with Christ.

Remember when Jesus asked his disciples after many people turned and walked away, he looked at the disciples and asked, John 6:67-69,

So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 

Are you like Peter? Do you view the Bible as the source of eternal life? If so, how much time have you spent in the word this week? Again, I don’t want to sound legalistic but I want us not to fall off into the other error. How can we be sanctified in the truth, his word is truth, if we are never in the truth?

Years ago, a man named Randy Leamer learned that his five-year-old daughter needed a kidney transplant. He was tested and discovered that he was a perfect match. There was only one problem: Randy weighed nearly 300 pounds, and doctors told him the surgery would be too dangerous unless he lost a significant amount of weight. Suddenly losing weight was no longer about looking better or feeling better. His daughter needed him. Randy changed his diet, cut out sweets and fats, began exercising, and ultimately lost 103 pounds so he could donate his kidney to his little girl.

What had been difficult before suddenly became clear because something mattered more. He had a singular focus. Every time he was tempted to eat something he should not eat or skip the exercise he needed, there was something greater in front of him: his daughter.

That is the kind of focus Hebrews calls us to when it says to “lay aside every weight.” If knowing Christ is eternal life, and if God keeps and sanctifies us through his Word, then there are things in our lives that simply are not worth holding onto. What weights do you need to lay aside so that you can give yourself more fully to knowing Christ through his Word?

Sent into the world 

Jesus also wants us to share his word, the words of eternal life, to the watching world, John 17:18–20,

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

Jesus has sent us into the world with his word. What a privilege that we have to go into the world with the gospel to call people out of darkness into his wonderful life? 

We have a mission. Jesus wants us in the world but not to be of the world. He wants us to rescue people from the world. John Harper was a Scottish Baptist pastor and evangelist known for his passion for the gospel. He had been invited to preach at Moody Church in Chicago and was traveling there aboard the Titanic with his young daughter. When the ship struck the iceberg, Harper made sure his daughter was placed safely in a lifeboat, but he remained behind with the other passengers.

John Harper understood that he was surrounded by dying people. The Titanic was sinking, the Atlantic was freezing, and he knew there was almost no hope of physical rescue. Yet even as he faced his own death, he kept calling people to Christ. Survivors later said that he moved among the passengers urging them to believe in Jesus, and even after he was thrown into the freezing water, he continued speaking to those around him about the gospel.

Four years later, one survivor stood and testified that Harper had found him floating in the darkness and asked whether he was saved. When the man said no, Harper urged him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. The waves separated them, but then brought Harper near him again. Harper repeated the appeal. Not long after that, Harper slipped beneath the water and died, but the man survived. He later testified, “I am John Harper’s last convert.”

Church, we may not be standing on the deck of a sinking ship, but we are surrounded every day by people who will one day stand before God. We have been entrusted with the only message that can save them. The question is whether we believe their eternity matters enough to tell them.

In the last night before his death, Jesus was not only thinking about his disciples but he was thinking about those who would believe in him for eternal life. He was thinking about the others that the Father had given him would believe and keep his word. Again, this is what Jesus wants. He wants others to know him. 

Beloved, I am so thankful for Pastor Whit and Patrick and their zeal for the lost. They are faithful in actively sharing the gospel with those who are far from God. Paul writes of Jesus in Ephesians 2:17, “And he came and preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who are near.” Praise God we have men like Pat and Whit who are doing the same.

And it is not just them. I am encouraged by those of you sharing the gospel with people you meet at the gym. I am encouraged by the coffee and conversations happening on Winthrop’s campus, inviting students to talk about matters of faith. I am encouraged by moms and dads faithfully talking to their children about the gospel. I am encouraged by teenagers sharing Christ with their classmates. I am encouraged to hear so many stories of neighbors being loved with gospel words and deeds. So many in our church are taking seriously the mission Jesus has given us. My prayer is that all of us would grow in our zeal for the lost and learn to live sent lives, because this is what Jesus wants for his people.

Jesus Wants Us United  (vv. 20–26)

Jesus finishes his prayer thinking about us. Jesus now prays beyond the eleven for all who would later believe through their word which is including us. John 17:20–26,

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of 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.

Notice how important unity is here as Jesus finishes his prayer. 

United through apostolic truth

He is asking for those who will believe through the word of the disciples. Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. We must share the truth. Of course, we want to be kind and gracious and loving, but we also must speak the truth. This is what God calls the truth to do, Ephesians 4:15-16

Rather speaking the truth in love, we are built up in every way to him is the head, into Christ…when each part is working properly, make the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Truth and love. They should never be separated. And when we love one another, people will know we are Jesus’ disciples because we love one another.

United in the Father and Son

And this is what 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, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Do you see how important our unity is? When we are united we reflect the unity of the Father and the Son. And when the world sees that kind of unity, it bears witness that Jesus truly was sent from the Father.

In an orchestra the instruments are not all the same. A violin does not become a trumpet, and a trumpet does not become a cello. Their unity is not sameness. Their unity comes when all of them follow the same score and the same conductor. That is what the church is meant to be. We are different people with different backgrounds, personalities, gifts, and experiences, but we are brought into harmony around the same Christ and the same truth. Biblical unity does not erase our differences; it reorders them under Jesus.

So, let's do a unity test. Who are you harboring bitterness against? Who are you avoiding in the body? Who are you gossiping about? Who are you secretly slandering in your heart? If you are doing any of those things, you must stop it. Because if you are working against the unity of the church, you are working against the witness of the Holy Spirit in manifesting the Triune God to the world. Maybe take a moment right now and confess that sin to the Lord and work to find a time this week to seek reconciliation with the person you have been against in your heart. 

United in glory and love

Jesus ends his prayer with a desire for all those who believe in Jesus to be united to him in glory in heaven. Verse 24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given  me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world….Verse 26, “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 magnitude of these verses is staggering. Jesus wants us to be with him and wants us to see his glory. 

Conclusion

What do you want from me? Jesus has made it clear. Are we willing to follow what he wants from us? As I was praying for you this week, here are some applications that I think God wants from us based on this passage for the life of our church.

Jesus wants us to build deeper relationships.

The health of a church is often built on the health of its relationships. Jesus wants us to be one so the world will see a glimpse of the Father and the Son and want to know Christ. This takes work. We have to labor to know each other. Do you know what is going on with the people around you? Do you know their joys and sorrows?

In almost every membership interview, I read Hebrews 10:24: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” I love the word consider. We need to think intentionally about how we can help others grow in their love for God and love for others. How can you encourage a teenager under pressure? How do you love and see the single person for who they are, not for what they are missing? How can you encourage your elders and deacons as they bear the weight of leadership? Consider one another and build deeper relationships.

Jesus wants us to meditate on his Word.

Jesus’ prayer is so focused on his Word being believed and followed. He wants us to be sanctified in the truth. How can you grow in your meditation on the Word? I would encourage you to memorize Scripture and write it on your heart. I recently talked to a sister who was memorizing one verse on anxiety and one on pride per week. What a great practice.

Find someone to hold you accountable in reading the Word or read it together. Listen to music that brings the Word to life. Talk about Scripture with others. Commit to a Sunday School class so you can build your life around the Word with others. Join a sermon discussion group to take the sermon deeper in application.

Jesus wants us to share the truth of the gospel.

The world needs the gospel. We must share it. What are ways you can put yourself around people who are far from God? I am so grateful for the zeal that is in our church in sharing the gospel. I pray it grows more and more. I recently have been convinced that in my public teaching here and when I travel and speak about the church that this is an underdeveloped emphasis. We have been given a mission. Jesus wants us to share the gospel. Pray for one person you can share this week.  

Under all these applications and under everything in this high priestly prayer is this. What does Jesus want? He wants us. Three times in the gospel we read the Son of Man came. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). He came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). He came eating and drinking (Matt. 11:19). All of them center around one central truth, Jesus wants to be with us. And he knew that unless he came and died on the cross we would never have been with him. He came because he wants us with him.

Listen again to his prayer: John 17:24, “ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

The God of the universe wants to be with you. “God, why don’t you just tell me what you want?” He says, “I want you!!!”

How would your life change, how would my life change if we simply lived knowing that God wanted us. Jesus wants you. He wants to be with you.

Matthew 11:28,  “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger.”

John 7:37,  “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” 

Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

Jesus wants you so come. Come and hear his word. Come and see his glory. Come and rejoice in his love. Simply come and be with him. For that's what Jesus wants. He wants you. Jesus huddles with his disciples before the big day and says, “I love you guys.” What a truth to live by!