Unshaken: Chapter a Day

John 17 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

Share episode

Send us a text

What if the Father loves you the way He loves Jesus? John 17 confronts us with that claim and then builds a path to live from it: truth that sanctifies, unity that testifies, and mission that refuses to hide. We open the High Priestly Prayer and follow its three movements—Jesus praying for himself, for the disciples at his side, and for all who would later believe through their message—so we can see how glory, holiness, and love weave together.

We start with Christ’s request to be glorified with the glory he shared before the world existed, a stunning affirmation of his divinity and preexistence. That reframes the cross as the display of God’s character, not a tragic misstep. From there, we move to the disciples’ vocation: kept in the Father’s name, protected from the evil one, and sent into the world. Holiness becomes presence with purpose, not withdrawal or compromise. We unpack consecration and sanctification in plain language, showing how God’s Word functions as truth—not motivational content, but the standard that shapes identity, ethics, and endurance when culture pushes back.

Finally, we arrive at the prayer for all believers: that we would be one so the world knows the Father sent the Son and loves us as He loves Him. Unity here is not uniformity; it’s a deep alignment around essential truth that crosses traditions, cultures, and preferences. When the church loves across differences, the world sees a signpost to heaven’s reality. Along the way, we name the hard parts—the world’s hatred, the pull toward division, and the temptation to chase relevance at the cost of truth—and then offer grounded practices: pray for people by name, return to Scripture to be sanctified, refuse gossip, pursue reconciliation, and live sent in your city with resilient joy.

If you’re longing for a faith that is sturdy, warm, and mission-minded, this conversation will help you recover confidence in Jesus’ intercession and the Father’s keeping. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review with your biggest insight from John 17. What line from the prayer is shaping you this week?

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

Welcome back to a chapter a day.

Pastor Holland:

Keeps the devil away.

Pastor Plek:

I'm Pastor Pleck along with Pastor Holland. We're going to be talking John chapter 17. We're going to outline it. We're going to find some observations, some interpretations, and some application for you to take along with you along your day. And I'd love to see that, Holland, you are in a cozy environment by the cool morning fog. All right. So John 17, let's outline it real quick. Jesus is going to pray for himself, verses 1 through 5. He's going to ask, God the Father, glorify him, and he will. Then in 6 through 19, Jesus is going to pray for his disciples that were there in the room with him. And then this is also the time where he prays for you and for me, those who believe in Jesus, even today, in verses 20 through 26. Powerful prayer called the High Priestly Prayer. And I can't wait to get into this. Holland, what are some observations you've made about this text? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_02:

There's nothing in my mug. All right, let's restart this, all right?

Pastor Plek:

Listen, you just gotta roll with it, all right? You can't like this is part of all right. Here we go. Here we go. Five seconds.

SPEAKER_02:

And welcome back to a chapter day. Keeps the devil away.

Pastor Plek:

I'm Pastor Pleck, that's Pastor Holland, and we're talking John chapter 17, aka the high priestly prayer. In the first five verses, Jesus. All right, let's start one more time. Five seconds. And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Holland. We're talking John chapter 17, aka the high priestly prayer, where uh we are going to outline it. We're gonna find some observations, give you some interpretations, and finally get some applications to take along with you today so that you don't forget about Jesus on your way. So uh the first five verses are Jesus praying for himself, six through 19 is Jesus praying for the disciples that are in the room with him, the high priestly prayer for them, and then the high priestly prayer for us, for all believers, is in verse 20 through 26. And that's something to get really excited about where Jesus prays for you if you are a Christian specifically. What are some observations you can give us about that text?

Pastor Holland:

Okay, verse five, Jesus says, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed. And so you get uh some information um that's already kind of been revealed in chapter one, but you know, Jesus goes back to this idea of his pre- you know, his existence pre-the world being formed. Um, and so the world has not been around forever. It was created by God. Before that, Jesus already existed. So this really it speaks to the divinity of Jesus, um, that he existed before the incarnation, um, that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have all they're eternal. Um, each person of the Trinity always existed. I think it's very interesting. Um, yeah, that you see that right there.

Pastor Plek:

I love the fact that he keeps saying uh in the world. Yeah. That uh he is in the world, but not of the world, just as the disciples are in the world but not of the world. And he's making a definite distinction of what it means to be a Christian. It doesn't mean that you're taken out of the world. He prays specifically, not that they be taken out of the world, but while they're in the world, they represent who Jesus is.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Yeah. The goal is a world that is filled with the glory of God as waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 214. And so when we get saved, we don't get zapped to heaven immediately, but we get left here in the world to transform the world that we live in.

Pastor Plek:

And do you think it's odd that the world is portrayed as hating or being hateful toward believers? No. It's kind of normal, right? It's like what you should expect. If you're not a follower of Jesus, the the claims that Christians are making are too extreme for you to be like, nah, I don't really. I mean, someone's gonna say as a follower of Christ, I know the way, the truth, the life, I am going to heaven, and you are not. And I think that inevitably is gonna cause some tension in any relationship. Right. Yeah. Um, okay, now the part that I think I get the most excited about is in verse 23, I believe it is. Okay. Uh, where uh he says this he's getting to I and them, you and me, that they may become perfectly one, meaning us, meaning Christians that believe, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me, which means that the love that Jesus has, and this might get into uh uh an interpretation of character of God, but Jesus loves Christians, or sorry, the Father loves Christians equal to the way the father loves Jesus. That whole oneness with, you know, I and you, you and me, they and us means that we are one. And so God, the Father, can't love us any differently than he loves his own son, Jesus, because we are one with him. Yeah. That unity of the faith is, and this is why you don't talk bad about other Christians. This is why you you um seek to um cause the unity of all things. I don't know if we can do that. Are you guys still there? That was unfortunate, because that was really great.

Pastor Holland:

That was really cool. I did love that. Um Yeah, no, I'm gonna I like it. I'm gonna keep it. Man, it's so hard for me to not laugh when you say just you know uh Jesus today to take on your way. What do you say? And I'm just like, I never know if you're just gonna keep it going, or like, I don't know if it's supposed to be funny or if you like it. It's supposed to be slightly funny, but you're not sure. Okay, well, that is the effect that it has on me. You're just like sort of confused, but you're like, oh, that was funny.

Pastor Plek:

And then you just like it keeps you interested to keep listening. Okay. Are we ready? Let's try this one more time.

SPEAKER_02:

You guys ready in there? Five seconds.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Holland, and we are gonna be talking John 17 today. We're gonna outline it, we're gonna find some observations, give you some interpretation, and finally get some application that you could take along with you today so you can pray along your way. Now, Holland, uh, the outline first is simply where Jesus is gonna break down the first five verses. He's gonna be praying to God about himself. And he's gonna ask God, the Father, to glorify him in what he's doing. Then in the next uh verses, really, it's verses six through uh 19. Jesus is gonna ask for God to bless, protect uh the disciples that are right in front of them to give them their joy, sanctification, and mission in the world. And then finally, he's gonna land the plane in this chapter with praying for you and me. He prays for all believers. In fact, if you wanted to write your name in there, you can in verse 23, where he says, I prayed that you would love them even as you have loved me. So you can just insert your name right there. That's where who's praying for. He's praying for you if you're a follower of Jesus. Now, Holland, let's get into some observations about this text.

Pastor Holland:

All right. Right off the bat, first five verses, you see the divinity of Jesus. So, once again, for the people who are like, Man, Jesus never claimed to be God. You know, he was just a good man or a prophet or something like that. Well, in these first five verses, Jesus says to the Father, glorify your son. And we know that God does not share his glory with anyone. Right. So for God to glorify the Son is a claim of the divinity of the Son, that God is um giving glory to his son because his son is God. Um and so you see Trinitarian theology here also in verse five, he says, again, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. And so even before the world existed, Jesus um, you know, before the incarnation, before he took on flesh, you have Jesus and the Father, um, and the Holy Spirit, and uh each each person of the Trinity having glory.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, I'm gonna give you one that's kind of interesting. Here's the observation I'm making. Well, notice in verse nine, I am praying for them. And he's talking about um the people who he has who God has given him out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me. Now, down to verse nine. I'm praying for them. And then he he wants to make sure that either A, God doesn't know what He's if he's making, you know, if God are you who are you talking about again? I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. So I don't think it's because uh like God wasn't really sure who he was praying for, but I think the disciples need to be sure that he they knew that they were sort of special. Like there is like a God has a heart special for those who follow his name. And he's not Jesus here isn't praying for taking care of those who are not Christian. I just thought that was sort of an interesting thing that he had to clarify that either A for God or B for the disciples. And I'm probably thinking it's for the disciples.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, yeah. For the yeah, there's a when he called um Lazarus out of the tomb, he prays out loud, you know, and he's saying, you know, I I know that you always hear me, God, but I'm praying for their sake. Right. So you have, you know, a little bit of the purpose of out loud public prayer is teaching and discipleship of those who can hear the prayer. That's good. Or who can read it for us.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Okay. Um, and then also he wants they're not of the world, verse 16. There's this whole not of the world of the world back and forth talk of like who these disciples are. And he's sent them into the world, and for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. What does that mean? He's consecrating himself. Is he not already consecrated? And doesn't consecrate just mean set apart for God's specific use?

Pastor Holland:

Yes.

Pastor Plek:

And he consecrates himself that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Pastor Holland:

What does that mean? Right. Um he's uh I think part of this prayer, you know, it's called the high priestly prayer. Um, in that uh, not that he was, you know, a he's not a high priest in in terms of like the tribe of Levi, like he was not from the priestly line. He's a priest, as Hebrews tells us, after the order of Melchizedek, and he's praying in a high priestly kind of uh way, saying, you know, in this prayer, I am setting myself apart as he prepares to um head to the cross. Right. And he's praying that um his followers would would follow his example. So he's consecrating himself particularly um in uh the uh in the cross, basically in the suffering that's coming for him. That's good.

Pastor Plek:

Um how about the the thing that probably struck me the most, and I get most, and I alluded to it earlier, but verse 23. I mean, I'm just gonna read it one more time because it's it blows me away. I and them, you and me, that they may become perfectly one. He's praying for the you the I and them, the them is us. You could like write your name in there. And then in you and me, that they, that's us, they become become perfectly one. His desire is for unity within the body of Christ so that the world may know that you sent me. So what happens whenever churches divide, and there might be great reasons for a church to divide, I don't want to get into that. Um, but ultimately there's something special about the oneness of the body of Christ when Christians come together that the world knows that God sent Jesus. Yeah. Okay. And then that you sent me, and then the other part loved them even as you have loved me. Like Jesus is praying here, and it's not like he's like praying that hopefully God will answer us. It's he's praying that the world would know how loved we as Christians are, loved equal to the way the Father loves the Son. And that's mind-blowing. Because of that unity with God the Father and with God the Son, there is this fact that the world would know that Jesus sent or God the Father sent Jesus because of how well we are loved. And I love that idea. And I think that if we walk around grumbling and whining and complaining, uh, there's a tendency for the world to be like, I don't really know if you really believe that this Jesus guy was sent. But that when you we love one another really well, when we love, when we walk around as secure people in Christ's love and our future set in him, then we show the world a greater hope.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, and I think it's important to point out the unity, you know, does not mean necessarily uh like organizational unity of like everyone has to be the same denomination, right? Or something, you know, we know that there's uh, you know, different traditions, different denominations, but um, there's still this same sense of like, hey, we can, even among all these differing denominations and traditions, we agree on, you know, um the essentials of the faith. The Nicene Creed, for example. Yeah, the Nicene Creed, the Apostles' Creed, we can confess those things and say, hey, we baptize differently than that church over there, or we, you know, our liturgy is different than that church over there, but um, we're we love each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. I love that.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, uh, let's get into some uh truths about the nature of man. What do you got? We need to be sanctified.

Pastor Holland:

Nice. He says to, and we need to be sanctified, he says, in um truth. And then he says, your word is truth. And so there's a need for us as Christians. If we're gonna live as set apart, holy people for God, um, we need the word of God to um to do that for us.

Pastor Plek:

And to that end, verse 25 the world doesn't know you. The apart from divine specific revelation that you get for your soul, you are gonna be clueless about who the Father, who Jesus is, who the Holy Spirit is, and you're gonna be stuck in darkness.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Um, what else you got?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, the the the hatred from the world, verse 14, I've given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. So the the sinful nature of man, again, um not just kind of like casually rejects God, but hates God and his word and his people. Yeah. Um, that's the rebellion in our hearts.

Pastor Plek:

How about the world looks at unity as weird when you can go across the classes, across the tribes, across the languages, across all of that to have unity and oneness. That's wild. And that speaks to something very divine, very godly in your connection to one another or yeah, because of who God is. Uh so the world doesn't operate like that. Amen. Okay. Uh how about let's get to some truths about the character of God.

Pastor Holland:

Simply, God's one. Yeah. Yeah. God is one. Um, Jesus is God. Uh his word is truth. His word is not just um, you know, uh any I've I've talked to people before, you know, who go, you know, it's inspiring stories that you read in the Bible, or you know, it's just it's encouraging, or you know, but it's not necessarily truth. You know, you have your truth and my truth and stuff. And Jesus says, no, your word is truth. This is the standard of what is true and what is false.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, it's good. Uh, how about this? God protects and sends his people. So he protects them uh from the evil one, but then sends them into evil territory. So look at verse 11, keep them in your name, which you've given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. Uh while I was with him, I kept them in your name, which you've given, and I have guarded them. Uh so there is a real sense of protection uh by God in this. And then verse uh 23, that the world may know that you sent me. So they are gonna be loved so well that they're gonna be on mission, they're gonna have to communicate this love uh to the world. Yeah. Uh what else you got?

Pastor Holland:

Verse 25, Jesus calls him oh righteous father. Um, so just the the righteousness of God. And sometimes, you know, you read these passages about I, you know, I'm not praying for them, I'm praying for them. And you know, you have God's election here. You have God choosing some people out of the world for the sake of being witnesses in the world and obviously not choosing other people. And um sometimes it can cause us to doubt, you know, is that right? And here we go, Jesus affirming the Father is righteous. Wow.

Pastor Plek:

Wow. Okay. That's gonna be offensive for some people, but that's good. All right, so let's talk about application. Uh, we want to find a sin to confess or avoid, a promise to claim, an example to follow, a command to obey, and knowledge to believe. Uh, what about a sin to confess or avoid? How about uh the sin of trying to be like the world? Uh at the at the cost of disunity with the church. Right. And I think there's there's sometimes I've heard people say, I can't stand church people. And that's who Jesus died for.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Yeah. Um, and but I mean, like we get it, you know, sometimes church, we expect more from church people. Right. You know, you're a church person, you should know better. You know, it can be frustrating sometimes. At the same time, you can't let that drive you away from the very people that Christ loves and gave gave his life for. And you don't always know if those church people are Christ's people.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. I mean, the He's gonna separate the sheep and the goats one day, and the sheep will enter into his pasture, and the goats will be Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

And but yeah, we see from Christ a deep love for the church, a deep love for his people. And so we that's an example to follow. Love the church that Jesus gave his life for.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, how about a promise to claim Jesus will keep us? He keeps those whom are his. And so it no matter what despair, frustration, circumstance, you don't need to worry if Jesus is gonna keep you or not. Um he is perfect, he is righteous, he promises to keep you.

Pastor Holland:

Amen. Um I like uh verse 26. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known. And just as an example to follow of making the name of God known to other people, do some evangelism.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, or maybe even just find some uh time to pray instead of scroll uh for some non-believers you know. Maybe in fact, while you're scrolling all your friends, you start praying for them person by person.

Pastor Holland:

That's good. Okay. Yeah, pray. Yeah, pray. Pray for unity of the church as well. Pray for your city and for all the churches in your city to be unified um together, to be one as Christ and the Father are one, and to be sanctified in the truth. Um, you don't ever seek unity at the expense of truth, right? You seek unity in the truth. That's what Jesus emphasized here.

Pastor Plek:

How about knowledge to believe? Uh, God's word uh sanctifies us. And that uh the sanctification process isn't one that's always pleasant. It can be discipline at times. As he sets you apart for his great work, it can be a little challenging. But just know that that's part of what he came to do and why he had to consecrate himself so that we would be sanctified for his work. Amen. All right. Hey, thanks so much for joining us today. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.